text:
Is the specialist defensive midfielder a dying breed in England?
It's quite evident that the English game lacks solid defensive minded midfielders but have some of them in the lower ranked teams been overlooked? Abhijit Bharali takes an in-depth look at some of the current defensive midfielders in England to provide us with a better judgement.
When Southampton boss Ronald Koeman started with center-half Toby Alderweireld as a second pivot alongside Morgan Schneiderlin in a center-heavy 4-2-3-1 against Tottenham, he must've felt the sheer absurdity of letting go former Chelsea man Jack Cork to Swansea City in January.
Cork is essentially a defensive central midfielder, far less of the archetypal English mold but more of the fleet-footed passer from the back. Koeman prefers two holding midfielders to one; this is basically an approach to mitigate Southampton's limitations of personnel.
Should they play with two center forwards, which they currently don't have and which will mean making lesser use of an in-form Graziano Pelle up front, it would usually imply sacrificing a midfield body. Against Spurs in that 2-2 draw though, Koeman was forced to use Alderweireld in the suspended Victor Wanyama's absence. He could've easily called upon Cork had he not been sold. Cork at Swansea is the long-term like-for-like replacement for the ageing Leon Britton. Like Britton, Cork's role in a midfield triumvirate at Swansea is recycling the ball quickly and intelligently. Their presence in the final third is negligible, but both can be fairly efficient with their distribution. With compatriots Jonjo Shelvey and Britton, Cork often forms one-third of a decent-looking English axis at the base of Swansea's midfield.
England's last competitive international fixture against Lithuania featured only four specialist central midfielders in the 23-man-squad— Jordan Henderson, Michael Carrick, Fabian Delph and Ryan Mason. Of the quartet, Carrick remains the only holder; the rest more or less are gradually growing into their roles as midfield shuttlers or box-to-box midfielders at their respective clubs. Carrick aside, the trio of Henderson, Delph and Mason boasts an average age of 24 which makes them firm bets to run England's engine room for years to come.
Now the question is, how has Roy Hodgson managed to miss the likes of Cork who clearly has had an edge over Mason in recent months? Revolutionary football statistics source WhoScored.com rates Cork's performance since arriving at Swansea at 7.17, which is higher than Mason's 6.84 for Spurs. Although Mason isn't quite the England regular a la Henderson, his familiarity in a box-to-box role alongside Nabil Bentaleb in Tottenham's double pivot makes him a choice by logic. While on the other hand, Cork rarely drives from midfield and his suitability to the role of the deepest of the three central midfielders in Swansea's 4-3-1-2 makes him a luxury rather than a necessity in Carrick's presence.
England's now-template 4-3-3 setup lacks width and is victim to ill-advised personnel selections (Theo Walcott as a forward against Italy!). It seems like a rushed fix to a system handicapped by lack of tactical improvisations and propensity to play with systems to accommodate the best players rather than the other way round. Only four Englishmen make the EA Sports Player Performance Index for the top 20 midfielders in the Premier League 2014/15. And as a matter of fact, all the four (Sterling, Downing, Henderson, Puncheon) are either wingers, second strikers or, in Henderson's case, a box-to-box player. Of the top 20 Premier League midfielders, only Nemanja Matic is an orthodox holding midfielder while Yaya Toure and Santi Cazorla have had spells in the base of midfield but feature mainly due to their contributions in the attacking third.
The 3 band, narrow 4-3-3 setup that England generally employ.
Is the specialist holding midfielder a dying breed in England? Has the national game been affected by not being flexible enough to the tactical evolution within the game? England manager Roy Hodgson largely prefers the narrow 4-3-3; this comes as little surprise because Wayne Rooney is so important a part in it. Michael Carrick has been highly preferred as the deepest of the three midfielders in band II, although against Italy in their last friendly international, England experimented with Phil Jones as the lone holder. What is baffling here is the sheer lack of options in Carrick's absence.
Jones is a center-half by trade, although his composed ball playing often marks him out as a square peg to fill the round hole of a position that is the holding midfield. There isn't really a lack of options, though. Joey Barton, Mark Noble, Lee Cattermole and Dean Marney might not be the fanciest of names on the national roster, but they certainly have done well for their respective clubs to warrant a national call-up ahead of the likes of Gareth Barry and James Milner. Or Carrick even.
In the current league season, the trio of Carrick, Milner and Barry averages 1.33 interceptions per 90 minutes, 1.86 successful tackles per 90 minutes and 0.83 key passes per 90 minutes. Of course, the larger picture is that Milner operates further up the pitch as a wide midfielder while both Carrick and Barry provide the midfield base for Manchester United and Everton respectively which skews the averages somewhat. Moreover Barry's lack of decisive involvement poses quite a few questions about his suitability in his role as unlike Carrick, he
often has a partner (McCarthy/Besic) operating alongside him.
Interestingly enough, Joey Barton, who retired from international duties last year, has been the standout English defensive midfielder in the current Premier League season. Barton's cultured approach might be too little for QPR to stave relegation away, but he is what an English regista (or playmaker) should be defined as. Strong in the tackle, Barton averages 2.9 successful tackles per 90 minutes, which makes for a remarkable 69% success rate while his final third passing, too, has been exemplary by English standards. The Liverpudlian averages 2.1 key passes per game, which is significantly higher than the combined average of the aforementioned England regulars.
Excellent though his stats may be, but drawing parallels with Barton's counterparts from across Europe in the top five leagues tells a rather sorry story for the English game. Young German sensation Johannes Geis, who plays at Mainz, averages 2.3 key passes per game of which 61% are long balls which marks him out as the most impressive deep-lying playmaker across Europe. While Atletico Madrid's Gabi's average of 3.5 successful tackles per game comes as little surprise given the tactical state of Diego Simeone's physical yet intelligent midfield, but the high tackling efficiency of 71% shows how good the Atleti captain is.
Tactical rejigs at big English clubs too could have a knock-on effect on the present state of the base of England's midfield. Manchester City have the battering rams of Yaya Toure, Fernandinho and Fernando alternating in the half-back roles in City's 4-2-3-1 setup which seems a far cry now from last season's striker partnerships.
Consequently James Milner, who had his most prolific year playing centrally for Aston Villa in the 2009/10 season, has more or less been used as a spare choice in wide positions or, at most, in big games due to his workmanlike attributes. Similarly Arsenal fare better without Jack Wilshere in the side than with as Francis Coquelin has emerged impressively this season. Coquelin's improvement will only mean an advanced role for Wilshere at Arsenal or perhaps a fixed spot on the bench beckons. Jonathan Wilson discussed the possibilities of Wilshere in a deep role for England and saw many positives, but a stalling club career could hardly have worsened matters any more.
Liverpool's system which depends on width; halfspaces are
strategically stronger areas to attack with its 360-degree reach.
Of clubs that have an English identity in their back of midfield and those that matter to Hodgson and The FA, Liverpool sporadically field the retired Steven Gerrard in a deep-lying role with Henderson shuttling alongside him. Liverpool's 4-midfield setup has only two central midfielders while the other two are wing-backs. Brendan Rodgers' side emphasizes on vertical football, which often bypasses the control zone of the back of midfield. Among others, Aston Villa are worth a shout with their young trio of English midfielders. Tom Cleverley and Ashley Westwood can both play as a specialist defensive midfielder, but both are quite different in their styles. Cleverley is more of Cork's
ilk; he recycles the ball well and often puts in a good tackle whereas Westwood is of the European kind; he prefers the early ball into the forward zones and does it with good regularity.
Aston Villa usually aren't an attacking side. Midfielders in advanced
positions have defensive responsibilities.
That Cork's move to Wales has been a step in the right direction in his career has been analyzed with the help of some brilliant statistics from WhoScored.com. Cork averages 2.3 tackles per 90 minutes while he makes a league high 2.8 interceptions per game, comparable to Barton but better than the likes of Carrick, Cleverley, Westwood et al. Cork on the bench at Southampton was a wasted talent; he has now found safe haven as a regular in Swansea whites with his consistent performances.
Another undervalued English holding midfielder is Lee Cattermole. Cattermole falls in the old-school destroyer category, but his rare good season has culminated in a downturn of fortunes for Sunderland. Cattermole's stats are better than most; he remains one of the better performing English central midfielders in the current season. His 4.7 attempted tackles per game has had its own share of failed attempts leading to his 12 yellow cards, but a 57% tackle success rate at basement club Sunderland is very decent while his fairly higher-than-average 2.2 interceptions per game makes him a steady albeit highly unfancied alternative. Sunderland currently lie 18th on the league table, but not much blame can be apportioned to Cattermole for that.
English football's deaf ears to their needs has rendered the art of a holding midfielder irrelevant. In recent years, the Manchester Uniteds and Chelseas have often relied upon imports for the very un-English of jobs on the pitch. The problem probably lies in the mere fact that national squads often favor players from the traditional big four clubs and more recently, from Manchester City and Tottenham. This isn't at all against logic as players at the big clubs are likely to be more accustomed to big game pressures as they continually compete for top honors every season, which is akin to the pressures at international level.
This leaves the likes of Cork and Cattermole at smaller clubs hopeless and suffering by the English game's continued aversion for tactical maneuvers or by doing all the right things at a wrong club. Koeman's doubts over Cork's suitability in the back of midfield leaves the impression that English players do not make natural holding midfielders and bigger clubs rarely take a chance on a local lad when they could import specialists from France or Spain. Seen through the bigger lenses, this sheds some light on the general distaste towards the role of a specialist holding midfielder and the English players in that role.
Now well into his 30s, Joey Barton enjoyed only 18 minutes as an England international. Attitude problems aside, Barton has been a fine footballer all his career, sidelined from England duties in favor of under performing stars at big clubs mainly because he never played for a "priority club". Barton, statistically at least, towers over his national peers. Could England have achieved more had Barton been given more chances? The Cattermoles and Corks are into their mid-twenties, and an England call-up has ever eluded them. Age is on their side, but the persistent inability of the English system to identify the significance of a specialist defensive midfielder should see a stockpile of Joey Bartons in the near future.
Written by Abhijit Bharali
Abhijit Bharali
Abhijit Bharali is a freelance football writer who specializes in analytical writing. A first generation Liverpool fan, and an engineering undergrad. You can find some of his other work here: https://thenutcrackfootball.wordpress.com/
Latest posts by Abhijit Bharali (see all)
Analysing Belgium's tactical approach at the 2018 World Cup - June 17, 2018
Tactical Analysis : Sevilla 0-0 Villarreal: Villarreal's off-the-ball discipline denies Sevilla - February 8, 2017
Indian Super League: Indian Team of the Tournament (League Phase) - December 12, 2016
Related Topics:defensive midfielderEnglandFootballfrancis coquelinjack corkJack Wilsherejoey bartonLee Cattermolemichael carrickroy hodgson
The dilemma of a Middle Eastern footballer
The exciting future of football on the island of Saint Helena
U17 World Cup 2017 Tactical Player Report: USA 1-4 England
Scout Report: Ezri Konsa | Charlton's Rising Star


text:
Crafts Round-up
Awards / By Bill Desowitz
Inside the Academy, Drama Builds on Which Craft Winners to Edit Into the Live Oscar Broadcast
Nothing's official, but the cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing, and documentary branches volunteered to be edited during the Oscar telecast.
Feb 7, 2019 2:42 pm	/
Oscars: Evaluating the Best Sound Contenders
Feb 18, 2016 2:04 pm	/
Oscars: Evaluating the Best Costume Design Nominees
Feb 11, 2016 10:48 am	/
Oscars: Evaluating the Best Editing Nominees
Feb 4, 2016 12:58 pm	/
The Oscars' Year of the Crucible: Evaluating the Nominees for Best Cinematography
Jan 28, 2016 12:34 pm	/
Design for Living: Evaluating the Oscar Nominees for Best Production Design
Evaluating the Nominees in the VFX Oscar Race
Jan 15, 2016 1:44 pm	/
6 Best Sound Oscar Contenders That Make Us More Active Participants
Jan 7, 2016 1:44 pm	/
Listen: 6 Best Original Song Oscar Contenders Get Deeply Personal
Dec 29, 2015 1:06 pm	/
6 Best Editing Oscar Contenders: There's More Than Survival at Stake
Dec 22, 2015 12:35 pm	/
The 6 Best Score Oscar Contenders Explore Emotional Resonance
In the Top 5 Costume Oscar Contenders, Getting Dressed for Transformation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine
Joshua J. Tu, Victoria Maksimova, Lee Ratner, Amanda R. Panfil
Division of Oncology
Bursky Center for Human Immunology & Immunotherapy Programs (CHiiPs)
Roy and Diana Vagelos Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences (DBBS)
Section of Molecular Oncology & Developmental Therapeutics
DBBS - Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis
DBBS - Molecular Genetics and Genomics
DBBS - Cancer Biology
Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic human retrovirus which causes a lifelong infection. An estimated 5–10 million persons are infected with HTLV-1 worldwide – a number which is likely higher due to lack of reliable epidemiological data. Most infected individuals remain asymptomatic; however, a portion of HTLV-1-positive individuals will develop an aggressive CD4+ T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), or a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Few treatment options exist for HAM/TSP outside of palliative care and ATL carries an especially poor prognosis given the heterogeneity of the disease and lack of effective long-term treatments. In addition, the risk of HTLV-1 disease development increases substantially if the virus is acquired early in life. Currently, there is no realistic cure for HTLV-1 infection nor any reliable measure to prevent HTLV-1-mediated disease development. The severity of HTLV-1-associated diseases (ATL, HAM/TSP) and limited treatment options highlights the need for development of a preventative vaccine or new therapeutic interventions. This review will highlight past HTLV-1 vaccine development efforts, the current molecular tools and animal models which might be useful in vaccine development, and the future possibilities of an effective HTLV-1 vaccine.
Frontiers in Microbiology
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
HTLV-1
glycoprotein
retrovirus
10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
Dive into the research topics of 'The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Deltaretrovirus Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Vaccines Medicine & Life Sciences 53%
Tropical Spastic Paraparesis Medicine & Life Sciences 31%
Adult T Cell Leukemia Lymphoma Medicine & Life Sciences 27%
Spinal Cord Diseases Medicine & Life Sciences 24%
Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 Medicine & Life Sciences 17%
Virus Diseases Medicine & Life Sciences 10%
Molecular Models Medicine & Life Sciences 9%
Tu, J. J., Maksimova, V., Ratner, L., & Panfil, A. R. (2022). The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, [897346]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
Tu, Joshua J. ; Maksimova, Victoria ; Ratner, Lee et al. / The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine. In: Frontiers in Microbiology. 2022 ; Vol. 13.
@article{3b41d35a5c2843c6ae62b1123c809a20,
title = "The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine",
abstract = "Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic human retrovirus which causes a lifelong infection. An estimated 5–10 million persons are infected with HTLV-1 worldwide – a number which is likely higher due to lack of reliable epidemiological data. Most infected individuals remain asymptomatic; however, a portion of HTLV-1-positive individuals will develop an aggressive CD4+ T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), or a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Few treatment options exist for HAM/TSP outside of palliative care and ATL carries an especially poor prognosis given the heterogeneity of the disease and lack of effective long-term treatments. In addition, the risk of HTLV-1 disease development increases substantially if the virus is acquired early in life. Currently, there is no realistic cure for HTLV-1 infection nor any reliable measure to prevent HTLV-1-mediated disease development. The severity of HTLV-1-associated diseases (ATL, HAM/TSP) and limited treatment options highlights the need for development of a preventative vaccine or new therapeutic interventions. This review will highlight past HTLV-1 vaccine development efforts, the current molecular tools and animal models which might be useful in vaccine development, and the future possibilities of an effective HTLV-1 vaccine.",
keywords = "HTLV-1, envelope, glycoprotein, retrovirus, vaccine",
author = "Tu, {Joshua J.} and Victoria Maksimova and Lee Ratner and Panfil, {Amanda R.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute, P01CA100730. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 Tu, Maksimova, Ratner and Panfil.",
doi = "10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346",
journal = "Frontiers in Microbiology",
Tu, JJ, Maksimova, V, Ratner, L & Panfil, AR 2022, 'The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine', Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 13, 897346. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine. / Tu, Joshua J.; Maksimova, Victoria; Ratner, Lee et al.
In: Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 13, 897346, 04.05.2022.
T1 - The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine
AU - Tu, Joshua J.
AU - Maksimova, Victoria
AU - Ratner, Lee
AU - Panfil, Amanda R.
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute, P01CA100730. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Tu, Maksimova, Ratner and Panfil.
N2 - Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic human retrovirus which causes a lifelong infection. An estimated 5–10 million persons are infected with HTLV-1 worldwide – a number which is likely higher due to lack of reliable epidemiological data. Most infected individuals remain asymptomatic; however, a portion of HTLV-1-positive individuals will develop an aggressive CD4+ T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), or a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Few treatment options exist for HAM/TSP outside of palliative care and ATL carries an especially poor prognosis given the heterogeneity of the disease and lack of effective long-term treatments. In addition, the risk of HTLV-1 disease development increases substantially if the virus is acquired early in life. Currently, there is no realistic cure for HTLV-1 infection nor any reliable measure to prevent HTLV-1-mediated disease development. The severity of HTLV-1-associated diseases (ATL, HAM/TSP) and limited treatment options highlights the need for development of a preventative vaccine or new therapeutic interventions. This review will highlight past HTLV-1 vaccine development efforts, the current molecular tools and animal models which might be useful in vaccine development, and the future possibilities of an effective HTLV-1 vaccine.
AB - Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic human retrovirus which causes a lifelong infection. An estimated 5–10 million persons are infected with HTLV-1 worldwide – a number which is likely higher due to lack of reliable epidemiological data. Most infected individuals remain asymptomatic; however, a portion of HTLV-1-positive individuals will develop an aggressive CD4+ T-cell malignancy called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), or a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Few treatment options exist for HAM/TSP outside of palliative care and ATL carries an especially poor prognosis given the heterogeneity of the disease and lack of effective long-term treatments. In addition, the risk of HTLV-1 disease development increases substantially if the virus is acquired early in life. Currently, there is no realistic cure for HTLV-1 infection nor any reliable measure to prevent HTLV-1-mediated disease development. The severity of HTLV-1-associated diseases (ATL, HAM/TSP) and limited treatment options highlights the need for development of a preventative vaccine or new therapeutic interventions. This review will highlight past HTLV-1 vaccine development efforts, the current molecular tools and animal models which might be useful in vaccine development, and the future possibilities of an effective HTLV-1 vaccine.
KW - HTLV-1
KW - envelope
KW - glycoprotein
KW - retrovirus
KW - vaccine
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
Tu JJ, Maksimova V, Ratner L, Panfil AR. The Past, Present, and Future of a Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Vaccine. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2022 May 4;13:897346. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.897346


What are the generic drug sources for clarithromycin and what is the scope of clarithromycin freedom to operate?
Clarithromycin is the generic ingredient in three branded drugs marketed by Abbvie, Sandoz, Sun Pharm Inds Ltd, Actavis Labs Fl Inc, Allied, Ani Pharms Inc, Lupin Ltd, Mayne Pharma, Ranbaxy, Sunshine Lake, Apotex Corp, Aurobindo, Hec Pharm, Ivax Sub Teva Pharms, Mylan, Strides Pharma, Teva, West-ward Pharms Int, and Wockhardt, and is included in twenty-four NDAs. Additional information is available in the individual branded drug profile pages.
There are twenty-one drug master file entries for clarithromycin. Thirty-seven suppliers are listed for this compound.


text:
How Gotham Saved Its Subways
Restoring order and making key investments brought the riders back.
At 10:20 PM on Sunday, September 2, 1990, 22-year-old Utah resident Brian Watkins, accompanied by his parents, brother, and sister-in-law, entered the New York City subway system in midtown Manhattan, intent on a short D-train trip uptown for dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. They never got there. A group of teenagers surrounded Watkins and his family on the subway platform. They attacked Watkins's parents, slashing his father's pants open and hitting and kicking his mother. When Brian and his brother tried to defend them, the muggers plunged a knife into Brian's chest, killing him. The murderers then fled to the nearby Roseland Ballroom, using money they had stolen from the Watkins family to buy tickets.
Watkins's killing made national headlines. Time ran a cover story on "The Rotting of the Big Apple," with its soon-to-be-famous image of the I ❤ NY logo with the heart split asunder. The event "summoned forth horror and soul-searching in a city that has already known too much of both," People noted. Coming in the first year of David Dinkins's mayoralty, the murder would help propel Rudolph Giuliani into the mayor's office three years later, as Democratic voters turned to a Republican prosecutor to get a seemingly ungovernable city under control.
Yet Watkins's death was not so unusual. His was the 18th killing in New York's subways in 1990, and eight more would follow by the end of the year. The year before, underground assailants killed 20 people. Indeed, such violence was familiar already in 1981, when 14 lost their lives in the subways. Many considered these deaths an inevitable part of living in the big city. In 1985, for example, the New York Times blithely reported that the subways were safe enough, at least "for those who avoided the most dangerous stations, the ones with all the ramps and posts and connecting passageways in Midtown."
By contrast, more than three decades later, New York really does have a safe subway system. Last year saw two subway murders, the same as the year before. Over the past 11 years, 26 people have been killed waiting for or riding on trains—matching the number killed just in 1990, the year of Watkins's death. Today, few would worry that it might be unsafe to ride a train at 10:20 PM on the weekend. Trains at that time of night are packed with passengers.
Policing played a huge role in making Gotham's subways safe, as it did in reducing crime throughout the city. In fact, the New York crime turnaround began in the subways, and what the police discovered about violence underground would prove essential to the broader battle for the city's streets. The police could not have done it alone, though: in the decade before 1990, New York was already taking the first halting, yet critical, steps toward saving its subway system.
When I was eight years old, I used to ride the subway by myself," recalls Ray Kelly, New York's police commissioner under Dinkins and later again under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That was just after World War II, when subway crime was negligible. Kelly remembers, too, the "feeling of danger and disorder" that set in during the early 1970s.
By then, the whole system seemed to be crumbling into ruin, as budget-crunched state and city officials slashed maintenance costs. In 1974, the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city subways, even stopped doing routine track inspections in an effort to save money—thus ensuring derailments, which began happening regularly. The trains were ever more decrepit, with 10 percent of the cars out of service every day, resulting in constant delays. "It was horrendous," says David Gunn, who headed the subway system from 1984 to 1990. "The thing was a physical wreck," he adds, with "each car breaking down every week." In a recent speech to a Chicago audience, Tom Wright, president of New York's Regional Plan Association, observed: "For folks who weren't in New York back then, it's hard to imagine today what the system was like. I was a kid in New York. Cars derailed on a daily basis, caught fire; you'd pull into the station and the doors wouldn't open. Of course, everything was covered with graffiti."
Violent crime began its seemingly inexorable rise. As late as the mid-1960s, subway murder was rare; during one stretch, only two people died over more than a year. In 1973, however, nine were killed. A year later, reacting to public alarm at higher violence, New York mayor Abe Beame decided to close the rear cars of subway trains, seeking to keep riders nearer to the conductor's car, and presumably safer. Ceding space to robbers and killers proved an ineffective crime-fighting strategy, and the body count climbed. Most victims, like Watkins, were civilians, including Eric Kaminsky, a 22-year-old music student stabbed to death waiting for a train in Manhattan, and 32-year-old Jose Hugo Martinez, pushed to death from a platform in Queens. Transit workers and police lost their lives as well: in 1979, clerks Venezea Pendergast and Regina Reicherter burned to death when teens firebombed their Broad Channel (Queens) token booth; in separate incidents in 1980, transit cops Joseph Keegan and Seraphin Calabrese were murdered with their own guns at the busy Columbus Circle station when trying to apprehend lawbreakers.
By the time Bernhard Goetz made national headlines in 1984 for shooting four teenagers whom he claimed were menacing him on a Manhattan subway train, the public was on his side: a grand jury at first refused to indict him for attempted murder. Yet the growing outrage didn't translate into safety gains. Gunn remembers another token-booth clerk killed when he was in charge—Mona Pierre, burned to death in 1988, in the third robbery attempt at her Bushwick station that year.
New Yorkers started shunning the subways. Between 1970 and 1980, annual ridership fell from nearly 1.3 billion trips to just over 1 billion, a percentage drop more than double the city's 10 percent population loss. With no safe way to get around a dense city via public transportation, the New Yorkers who stayed began using their cars more, increasing congestion and pollution in a city getting harsher by the day. Richard Ravitch, who chaired the MTA from 1979 until 1983, recalls telling a reporter in 1980 that he wouldn't let his 12-year-old son ride the trains at night; he came home to the preteen complaining, "You humiliated me."
Even as subway violence intensified, the city and state had been putting conditions in place that would later prove crucial in the fight against crime. In 1984, Gunn and his boss, MTA chief Bob Kiley, made the decision to go after graffiti, which they saw as a symptom of the city's disorder. For years, Mayor Ed Koch had urged transit bosses to clean graffiti from their trains. In 1981, the MTA had even deployed two guard dogs to scare potential taggers away from a train yard. New York also launched a public-service campaign, telling would-be train defacers to "make your mark in society, not on it." The MTA repainted some train cars white, Gunn says, but "it was a stupid idea." Transit officials would mix the clean white cars with dirty cars on the same train, so "you would have a pair of clean cars in the middle. You might as well have a sign that says, 'Paint me next.' "
In 1979, two clerks burned to death when teens firebombed their Broad Channel (Queens) token booth.
Kiley and Gunn nevertheless sensed an opportunity. In the early 1980s, MTA chairman Ravitch had won over the city's business community to support new taxes to fund investment in the MTA—investments that were necessary to regain control over the subway system. Badly needed new train cars were now coming online. Yet, notes Gunn, there were no plans to keep the new cars clean. "They were just going to send the new fleet out and it would be covered with graffiti."
Subway managers came up with a strategy: start with just two lines—the Number 4 and the Number 7—and clean the trains on those lines. And then keep them clean, washing and repainting to get rid of any new graffiti before trains could go out again, even at the expense of delays. This sent a clear message to vandals: spraying trains would no longer be worth the effort, since the MTA would never let customers see new graffiti. "It took 40 cans of paint and as much as 12 hours to complete a mural," the New York Times reported a graffiti expert as saying. "Now it is hard even to snap a photograph before the work is cleaned off."
Police also began cracking down on the vandals. Steve Mona was a "train buff growing up," he says. He took the police exam and fortuitously "wound up in transit" in 1985, and soon had a new beat: keep tabs on the subways and see which graffiti tags appeared most frequently. "I would stop kids, and ask, 'What does that say? Who is Jon156?' " He also started subscribing to graffiti zines. The city's transit police (a separate force from the NYPD until 1995) eventually learned who was responsible for a disproportionate amount of the tagging and went after those people. "The narcotics mentality of 'grab everyone, shake the net' " didn't work in this context, Mona says. Instead, the vandal squad that he headed "would stake out homes, art shows," looking for specific targets.
As Mona explains, the MTA's new interest in combating graffiti made the police effort more effective. The district attorney's office now had a graffiti victim, willing to testify: the MTA regularly sent witnesses to court, tallying up the damage from vandals so that prosecutors could pursue felony charges. "We had a built-in complainant," Mona says. "The court could not look away from it."
The law-enforcement goal was not to put small-time graffiti "artists" behind bars for years. In fact, the police and the MTA established a restitution program for taggers. "I guess you could say we're making our mark in society instead of on society," quipped one 19-year-old vandal, repeating the line from Koch's PR campaign as he spent a day scrubbing subway cars. "I guess it's fair that we pay for what we've done." Often, Mona says, visits to vandals' parents' houses were enough to get the tagging stopped. "Parents would say, 'My kid does graffiti only at home,' " but officers would find notebooks in the house with tags identical to those found in the subways. Still, hard-core recidivists did face real prison time. By 1990, many said, "That's it for me," according to Mona. "They found out this was a kind of badge-of-honor scrutiny you didn't want."
The culture surrounding graffiti changed, too. Mona spoke to high school groups; at first, the kids would reject the idea that graffiti was a crime. After he explained that their parents would have trouble buying groceries in vandalized neighborhoods because no one would want to open stores there, however, "two-thirds of the class would get it."
By 1989, the trains were clean. These days, they're so clean that people will go up to police officers and say, "This train car has graffiti on it," says Vincent Coogan, the current assistant chief of the transit police. No one would have done that back in the 1970s or early 1980s, when graffiti was everywhere.
As the MTA worked to solve its graffiti problem, it also began to improve the transit system. Slowly, and with an infusion of state cash, workers repaired tracks, stations, and turnstiles. Service grew more reliable, and people started to use the system again, albeit slowly. Annual ridership rose, in the 1980s, by 19 million. That represented a modest increase of 2 percent, but the hemorrhaging had stopped.
The newly clean and better-functioning trains set the stage for the fight against violent subway crime. As Joseph Fox, chief of the NYPD's transit bureau, observes: "It's a simple correlation"; the defaced trains and dilapidated system gave "the appearance that no one was in charge." This demoralized not only the public but also the police. When he started at the NYPD in 1981, Fox says, "there was really no focus" on violence. "Nobody was giving us direction."
The turnaround in the transit system accelerated in 1990, the year that William J. Bratton came to New York to head the transit cops, armed with sensible ideas from criminologist George Kelling. At the time, Kelling recalls, Kiley and Gunn, fresh from their graffiti victory, wanted to make the subway a safer, more welcoming place. They were frustrated by disorderly behavior such as aggressive panhandling, turnstile-jumping, and public urination—and frustrated, too, that the police seemed uninterested in doing anything about it. "The police would say, 'We tried this and this, it didn't work,' " says Kelling, "and Kiley blew up. He said, 'We just invested $8 billion' in new train cars and tracks. He was just sick. He couldn't get any answers."
Kelling was worried that the police, without the right strategy, would resort to "dirty work"—overly aggressive and perhaps illegal action to kick undesirable people out of the subways. Bratton and Kelling, who was consulting with the transit police, made clear that the cops would take the moral high ground, focusing on reducing illegal behavior underground and not on conditions. Homelessness was not a crime; jumping over a turnstile to avoid paying fare was. Going after illegal disorderly acts—what came to be known as Broken Windows or quality-of-life policing—would improve the lives of all New Yorkers who had to ride the trains to get around the city.
But before the laws against disorder could be enforced again, the public had to be warned. Every day, 250,000 people were beating the fare, Kelling notes, and "there were not 250,000 criminals—good people had got into bad habits." They thought that the ride was not worth the money or they had gotten used to broken turnstiles, frequently disabled by thieves trying to take the valuable tokens. "You don't want to arrest people, but the thing is to get them to stop," says Kelling. The MTA launched a PR campaign to "warn people, educate people," he adds.
The transit police had an advantage that aboveground cops usually lacked: you had to pay to get into the subway. That meant that the police could stop lawbreakers at subway entry points, whenever fare-beaters broke New York's theft-of-services law. The transit system has its own set of rules, including prohibiting walking between cars or taking up two seats, and breaking these rules will invite police attention. And then police made an important discovery: the fare-beaters and other bad actors were disproportionately criminals wanted for other crimes, often violent ones, and they often carried weapons. (The muggers who killed Brian Watkins had entered the system illegally, by not paying their fare.) Stopping turnstile-jumpers, in other words, helped prevent bigger crimes. "By cracking down on fare evasion, we have been able to stop serious criminals carrying weapons at the turnstiles before they get on the subways and wreak havoc," Bratton told Newsday in 1991.
Toward the end of Bratton's first year as transit police chief, misdemeanor arrests were up by 80 percent—and felonies began to fall. In 1990, transit riders were victims of 17,497 felonies—murders, robberies, rapes, assaults, and thefts. Two years later, the number had dropped to 12,199. As proactive policing continued, the subways got safer and safer. By 2000, felonies had plunged to 4,263, and in 2015, the figure was 2,502. New Yorkers once endured 48 felonies a day in the transit system; now, it's fewer than seven. The last time that more than two people were murdered in one year on the subways was 2007, when four lost their lives.
New York's subway system now has more users than at any time since just after World War II, when Ray Kelly was riding the trains as a child. New Yorkers, visitors, and workers take nearly 1.8 billion annual trips—nearly double the number who did so in 1980. New York wouldn't be able to cope with its record population of 8.5 million people—a 21 percent rise since 1980—without a safe, operable subway system. But then, New York's population wouldn't have reached its record level without that improved system.
People now feel so safe on the subways that they'll sit with a $600 piece of electronic equipment on their lap. "Snatches and runs are 50 percent of grand larcenies," says transit police chief Fox. He adds that half of the theft victims are asleep. Plainclothes cops patrol the subways based on reported crimes, looking for suspicious behavior: people who wait for a few trains to go by, perhaps looking for a potential victim sitting near the door with an iPhone, or riding a train from Grand Central Station to Union Square and then back again. Women are reporting more subway sexual assaults, particularly groping and grinding. That's likely due to several factors: more crowded trains, victims and witnesses getting cell-phone pictures of assailants, and a greater willingness on the part of victims to come forward. Further, with the most violent crimes down, officers now have more time to go after lesser offenses. The NYPD puts "wanted" posters up now for people who have allegedly committed lewd behavior; only violent criminals would have merited such treatment three decades ago. Just as people felt helpless in reporting graffiti to the police three decades ago, who, back in those days, would have bothered to report that an underground pervert groped her, knowing that the cops would likely never catch him? In focus groups of the time, Kelling points out, women would complain about being "insulted." He suspects now that they may have been referring to groping and didn't want to say so outright.
Technology plays a key role in keeping transit safe. It's hard to commit a crime today without someone catching it on camera. In early June, for instance, two Brooklyn teens allegedly beat up an elderly lady following a verbal dispute, and police arrested them after their mothers saw a video of the incident and reported it. The technology-driven MetroCard also means no valuable tokens to steal from booth clerks.
New York's subways face one threat that they didn't have to confront to the same degree in the 1970s and 1980s: terrorism. Kelly notes that 40 percent of global terror plots targeting Western cities involve transit systems, including the July 2005 London bus and Tube bombings, which killed 52 people. He can rattle off the names of terrorists who have unsuccessfully plotted against New York since 9/11. These include Queens resident Najibullah Zazi, born in Afghanistan, who plotted with two coconspirators in 2009 to suicide-bomb the subway. After undergoing training in Pakistan, Zazi drove from Colorado to New York with explosive charges. The FBI and the NYPD thwarted him as he made his final preparations to bomb crowded trains during the week of the 9/11 anniversary. The fact that the subways are a closed system makes them a prime target for terrorists—but it also helps in counterterrorism, just as it helped in the fight against crime. Cops can search patrons' bags before they enter, and the cops who watch for fare-beaters also know how to keep an eye out for "hostile surveillance"—potential terrorists who may be plotting, planning, or waiting to carry out an attack.
Technology plays a key role in transit safety. It's hard to commit a crime today without someone catching it on camera.
The relentless need to police the transit system for criminals—and their guns and knives—hasn't changed. In May, a criminal stabbed Efrain Guaman in Brooklyn, stealing his phone and badly injuring him; the attack was one of a spate of slashings and stabbings over the past year. In 2015, the NYPD took 40 illegal handguns and 597 knives out of the hands of fare-beaters, weapons seizures that likely prevented other crimes. When cops nabbed 26-year-old Trevale McCall in the Bronx after he tried to jump the turnstile, they allegedly found a loaded nine-millimeter handgun in his bag. It turned out that McCall was also wanted for questioning in a murder case. In May, an officer in a Greenwich Village subway station arrested Anibal Vargas for "manipulating the turnstile" in an attempt to ride for free. Vargas, who had been living under an assumed name for 26 years, was wanted for an attempted murder in Massachusetts in 1990. The only transit murder of 2016, so far, stemmed from fare-beating. In March, police say, Herbert Burgess was illegally selling MetroCard "swipes" when he fought with a woman, perhaps trying to snatch money from her. The woman's father stabbed Burgess to death. Though swipe-selling is not by itself a violent crime, it causes serious damage, constituting a big part of the $17 million in annual costs that the MTA incurs in vandalism and fraud at its MetroCard machines.
With crime near record lows in the city, cops and prosecutors feel growing pressure to ease up. Last year, New York's city council floated the idea of decriminalizing fare-beating. But more than 70 percent of the nearly 85,000 people caught beating the fare last year weren't even arrested; they were summoned to appear in court on misdemeanor charges. The other 30 percent were arrested because they were "transit recidivists"—that is, they had been caught jumping the turnstile before or had outstanding warrants or were on parole or probation already—or were breaking other laws at the same time. Under a policy recently implemented by Bratton, now in his second stint as NYPD commissioner, anyone caught beating the fare who can't produce identification can call someone to bring his ID to the police station. An unknown number of people get off with warnings. Of course, the NYPD doesn't get everything right. Mona retired in the mid-2000s because he sensed that falling crime was leading to pressure on cops to make more arrests and issue more summonses. But New York City isn't throwing mischievous schoolkids in jail for sneaking rides on the subway.
With crime under control, the subways are more crowded than ever, giving New York a different challenge: how to fit everyone in. Kelling notes that people now stand on the far ends of train platforms, looking at their iPhones, and women often stand alone. They would never have done that in the old days, he says. "They would have been targets." Now, they're just hoping to squeeze on to the next train.
Nicole Gelinas is a City Journal contributing editor, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the author of After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street—and Washington.
Top Photo: A gleaming car illustrates how far the transit system has come from the squalid conditions of decades ago. (DAVID M. GROSSMAN/THE IMAGE WORKS)
Rent Control's Resurgence in New York
Nicole Gelinas, Howard Husock, Seth Barron 10 Blocks podcast
Who Should Run the MTA?
Nicole Gelinas A lack of accountability has plagued New York's struggling transit system for decades.
Three Fires, Three Skylines
Nicole Gelinas If it learns from the mistakes of New York and London, Paris could rebuild impressively.
Bottom Shop
The demise of British Home Stores reminds a nation why it's mad at the political and business establishment. Nicole Gelinas August 4, 2016	Economy, finance, and budgets, Politics and law


text: <script src="../../../bower_components/underscore/underscore.js"></script>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Salem Communications released second-quarter earnings showing significant growth in a down-turned economy. According to the company, net broadcasting revenue increased nearly 37 percent to $34 million from $25 million in the second quarter of 2000. Broadcast cash flow also saw an increase of just over 12 percent to $13 million. That's up from $11 million during the same time last year.


text:
or-logo-fill
Theatre Theory
Theatre Aphorisms
Religious Imagism
Playwright Preface
© 2021 OR; Theatre All rights reserved
Sustaining a Weakness
|In Religious Imagism, Theatre Theory
|By Ian Kent
The craft of the theatre artist creates the presence of the impulse. Weakness allows its fruition originating in decisiveness, in continual collision. Initially, always and among, the Character of Image collides with the impulse, colliding from and into an awed weakness that makes one the impulse and Character of Image. From that initial violence, which frees the oneness, the Character of Image becomes weak enough, vulnerable enough, to fall into the discovery of the impulse. The impulse makes vulnerable so it can be accepted. The initial acceptance of weakness bleeds into the continuance of the impulse in order to continually accept it and be borne by, along and with it. It expends mental and physical force. It wearies the soul.
The vulnerabilities of fear, of pain, of doubt question the very process of artistic being. It is easy to accept the impulse for a brief moment and then discard it, discarding the fear, the pain, the doubt, the very process of artistic being. The initial instinct of artists, and humans generally, is to be rid of these vulnerabilities. The craft of theatre demands them to be prolonged. The difficulty of the craft must be accepted.
The sustaining of weakness becomes vital. It is the heart of the theatre artist's craft. To sustain it, the artist constructs a foundation from an idea that examines character eventually shaping it into an image that unites itself to the character, consistently birthing images into movements and unmovements sustaining the image among the story itself. The strength of the creation relies on its ability to shift, to break, to be made new, to revitalize its ancient structure, yet still weaving within the foundation of the Character of Image—conflicting, paradoxical weakness.
To discover its shiftings, its shapes, its breakings, the Character of Image relies on the truth of its construction, the foundation that gives it strength (strength unto weakness) to fling itself into the impulse (the collision). To sustain it, the inner core, the soul, must be constantly and willingly flung. It must be willed. The willing sustains. It is a releasing of tension so that the tension of the Character of Image can be discovered in its changeable, unified, conflicted form. It is a rising from the body with the eye of a holistic disembodied picture willing itself into the being of the impulse back into the specific necessity of action. The impulse is a being, the Character of Image itself. These practices can be made into an organic process whereby the choice is already present. The theatre artist merely steps into it, as if it is effortless, which belies the amount of effort actually put into it. If the craft is meticulously formed and consistent, constantly refreshed and examined, it will create the habit, or the technique, of weakness, revealing a seeming easiness—the craft disguised. The trust of its construction must always be its foundation. And it has boundaries. It is not free-flowing. It is decisive. It creates freedom.
The impulse is simultaneously outside and within the Character of Image. It must be seen in its totality so the Character of Image can be the particularity of it. To sustain the weakness, the Character of Image must be constantly freeing itself into choice (decisiveness)—the confines of freedom. The sustained weakness distinguishes itself among the Character of Image and its impulse within and without it, constantly unifying them seamlessly, enduring the weakness and vulnerability in order to find the great joy of expression. And it is great. Its perfection is impossible, but achievable.


With her willowy frame and innate sense of style, it comes as no surprise to hear that Tessa Wheeler not only has a fashion background but is also mother to an internationally renowned model. And she is more interested in telling me about Jacquetta, who was 'discovered' when she was only 15 by the Italian fashion designer Stephan Jansen while on holiday with her parents and two sisters in Tangiers, than talking about herself.
Later that same year, Jacquetta was stopped outside Vidal Sasson's London salon by noted fashion photographer Mario Testino – whom she hadn't heard of – and by 17, was on the cover of French Vogue and the face of Gucci for two seasons.
Tessa relays the tale with a mother's pride, and is full of praise for Kings School Canterbury, who supported her middle child throughout her GCSE and A-level years. Sisters Sarah and Charlotte were also pupils there. "However, the minute Jacquetta left school, having made a lot of money, she announced that she was going to live in New York," says Tessa.
But it's wealth that has done considerable good in Kent, her adopted home county – despite Tessa's initial reluctance to leave London, where she'd always worked and lived since leaving home in Rutland.
Born into the Codrington family, one of her ancestors is Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, who fought and defeated the Turks at the Battle of Navarino in 1827.
Fortunately they discovered beautiful Chilham, initially living at Dane Street House but spending the working week in their Clapham home. Kent soon won Tessa's heart and today the family not only know plenty of the county's great and good but are also seen locally as generous benefactors, excellent organisers, colourful characters and jolly good neighbours.
Stuart Wheeler, whom Tessa met through mutual friends in London and married in 1979, founded the spread betting company IG Index, retiring a multi-millionaire in 2001.
A year later he and Tessa bought their castle and, over the next two years, with the help of a dedicated team of architects, historians, builders, friends and interior specialists, lovingly restored, renovated and refurbished the house, gardens, lake and parkland to make it one of the finest country house estates in England.
Chilham Castle is inextricably linked to the rest of the village of the same name - once its feudal 'tenant' – and the Wheelers have embraced life here to the full.
There is a lovely story about why they ended up in 'the big house,' as Tessa explains. "Stuart started grumbling about Dane Street House and saying it was small and pokey and we couldn't get more than 10 people around the dining table.
"When he was a young man one of his friends had terribly rich parents who lived in Kent and they loved it when she brought a crowd of her young friends down.
Apart from buying a large table (helped by the renowned furniture consultant, Christopher Gibb, who made Chilham his last project before retirement) one of the first things they put right was modifying the huge, solid front gates erected by the previous Greek owner so that everyone could see into the grounds once again.
And every year on the second Tuesday of the month, from April to September, Stuart and Tessa throw open those spectacular grounds to the public. Tessa also hosts highly successful equestrian events in the park, which has been established as a top cross-country venue since 2004 and was shortlisted as a training ground for the London Olympics 2012.
Its 300 acres of 18th-century parkland have been transformed to hold 21st-century equestrian events, providing local riders with a professional venue for eventing, combined training and hunter trials.
Last year Tessa was behind a series of fund-raising events at Chilham Castle that included a sell-out commemorative Jane Austen costume Ball, a run through Chilham Park – the Chilham Chase – re-instated after 150 years, plus a village fête, school fair and antique car rally.
Equestrian events are held throughout the summer, including the Chilham Castle International Horse Trials from 1-3 August, and again it's all very much Tessa's domain.
She is supported by her friends Ali Ferry (who runs the livery yard and teaches up to affiliated level) and Margaret Butcher.
"Ali is responsible for the course, all the competitors, entries and prizes, Margaret is a whizz on the computer and has a brilliant business head and I'm responsible for the volunteers and the sponsors. I'm helped by my PA, but it's still a huge job," says Tessa.
With around 160 volunteers for the three-day August event alone, plus judges and sponsors, who all need organising as well as feeding (starting at 6am with hot bacon butties), I'm not at all surprised.
It may seem a far cry from Tessa's early days as a mail-order fashion photographer, which she "fell into slightly by accident – I just knew I didn't want to be a secretary," – but it does return her to a youth filled with horses and dogs. Otto, her devoted rescue staffy cross greyhound, is rarely from her side during out meeting.
And when Tessa was first an assistant, then fashion photographer in the sixties, there weren't teams of stylists on hand, so she quickly learnt to be super-organised.
While photography has become more of a hobby these days, she did have a book of photographs Spirits of Tangier, published by Arcadia Books in 2008.
Tessa has always had a special interest in Tangier, where she owns a house that belonged to her grandfather and was given to her by her mother in the 1970s. It's where she holidayed as a child and later would take her own family every summer.
Describing her decision to move out to Tangier for a couple of years as "great life move, but no so good for my career," it did give her the opportunity to not only travel but also extend her range.
The idea for the photography book on Tangiers was born all those years ago and Tessa set about photographing all the famous people living out there at the time.
However, starting to run out of money, she returned to London and the book never happened. Thirty years later it finally came to life, with the added benefit of being able to use precious negatives and photos from a land that had since changed so much.
There has been a castle at the site of Chilham for more than 800 years. It's changed hands many times and has been home to a host of colourful, sometimes eccentric families. It was once occupied, briefly, by the heir to the French throne, on his way to invade London (he didn't succeed). The Jacobean house is a Grade I listed building, built in 1616 for Sir Dudley Digges on the site of a Norman castle. Its vast polygonal stone keep, dating from 1174, stands in the grounds and is still inhabited. The site now hosts the Chilham Park Equestrian Centre.


In a characteristically dominating performance, world record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain took her third New York City Marathon laurels in 2:23:56. Radcliffe now joins nine-time champion Grete Waitz in the ranks of women who have won in New York three or more times. Ludmila Petrova of Russia, who'd won in New York in 2000, was second in 2:25:43, a new world masters record. Kara Goucher, who was born in New York City, took third in 2:25:53, the best-ever marathon debut performance by a U.S. woman. Goucher is the first American woman on the podium since Anne Marie Letko in 1994. American Katie McGregor was 10th in 2:31:14. In the men's race, Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco appeared to have the race won until he ran out of gas on Central Park South and was passed by 2006 champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil. Gomes won in 2:08:43 and Goumri took second in 2:09:07. Third place went to Kenyan Daniel Rono in 2:11:22. American Abdi Abdirahman finished sixth in 2:14:17, leading four American men into the top 10: Josh Rohatinsky, 7th, 2:14:23; Jason Lehmkuhle, 8th, 2:14:30; and Bolota Asmerom, 10th, 2:16:37.


Navigating the world of online resumes and social media can be daunting. LinkedIn has made it much easier to keep yourself in front of the people you want viewing your resume but it also has it's own rules and etiquette. Many of us make simple mistakes in how we handle our profiles that can cost us great opportunities.
Amber Beam is here to talk about the top 5 mistakes she's seen when helping people just like you. Amber is a career coach for women in STEM who want to land their dream job, transition to a new field, or score a promotion. For nearly 15 years, as an I-O psychologist in HR, she helped executives design and implement corporate programs to attract, develop, and retain STEM professionals.
Whether you're looking to score more work life balance, jumping into a completely new field, or eyeing the corner office, Amber will show you how to promote your skills with authenticity and authority to land the most coveted jobs on (and off) the market.
These common mistakes are not to say that you're profile is bad or that you haven't put in a lot of effort on creating a good profile. They are here to show you how to better your professional image on social media, specifically LinkedIn. As platforms come and go you'll be able to use these no matter the job site or social media network you find yourself using. So take a moment and review your profile for these common errors that people make.
Before you do anything, turn off your "sharing profile edits" in the settings. (under settings & privacy) so that your network isn't constantly pinged with the changes you're making.
It's an easy trap to fall into…but using your job description for your headline neglects your personality and isn't memorable. Instead create an eye-catching headline that has personality and SEO-cred. Want help? Grab Amber's How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Headline in 5 Minutes cheat sheet.
You've been taught that resumes are formal and professional. Thus, you assume LinkedIn is as well. Nope. LinkedIn thrives on a more conversational tone. Using "I" statements and dissolving the use of third person. Personality is essential.
Resumes are limited to an 8.5 x 10 sheet of paper. Black ink is the only color. But with LinkedIn you can excel at visual storytelling. Want to keep a recruiter's attention for longer than 6 seconds? Create a visual presentation of your work.
You're so busy worrying about quantifying your accomplishments, you forget to make connections, add your email address, and update your location. If your goal is to get more attention from a diverse group of people, then you must tie up these loose-ends.
You've written an essay on your journey in tech. Too bad no one will ever read it. Instead, create a brand statement that paints a picture of your experience and passion. Keep it between 450 and 650 characters.
Stanza is an internationally recognized artist, who has been exhibiting worldwide since 1984. His art focuses on the participatory system the 'city'. He represents the city through real time environmental data, surveillance and security data, news and real time information systems. His themes include the urban landscape, surveillance culture, and the real time city. He uses networked IoT devises to explore concepts of the behaviors, activities, and changing information. He works by "bringing data from the outside to the inside, then presenting it back out again." His work focuses on the now and the present moment that we live in all the time. It is about patterns and systems in the city.
Will didn't write anything this week. The first person to submit a write up of his Tricks of the Trade will get a Complete Developer Podcast water bottle and mentioned on the show.
We had some technical issues with recording this episode. We did the best we could but could not remove all the pops and clicks.
Failure is one of the greatest teachers in life, and that is why all of your unit tests should fail before they pass.
Cheers from Brazil. I enjoy your podcast and how you explain the subjects.


Here are the photo's from MarathonPhoto from the race. As I was on my own, these are the only photo's I have. There will be one time I will take a decent race photo. For some reason, (probably because this is Vancouver), I am usually soaking wet. So I don't anticipate a decent race photo any time soon.
Have a good laugh - if you some bizarre reason you want any of these photo's then go to MarathonPhoto. (I have mentioned this, so they won't be too Pee'd off at me for publishing them). I am doing them a favour by providing the proofs - saving you and them time!
Lovin the smile and the rockin pink VFF!


text:
Q: C++ how to differentiate between template for container and native type I have the following problem:
template<class T>
void set(std::string path, const T data)
{
   stringstream ss;
   ss << data << std::endl;
   write(path, ss.str();
}

template<class T>
void set(std::string path, const T data)
{
    std::stringstream ss;
    for(typename T::const_iterator it = data.begin(); it < data.end(); ++it)
    {
       ss << *it;
       if(it < data.end() -1 )
          ss << ", ";
    }
    ss << std::endl;
    write(path, ss.str());
}

I get the following error:
error: 'template<class T> void myclass::set(std::string, T)' cannot be overloaded
error: with 'template<class T> void myclass::set(std::string, T)'

Is there a way to differentiate between container types and other types in templates?

A: Use a trait:
#include <type_traits>

template <typename T>
typename std::enable_if<is_container<T>::value>::type
set (std::string const & path, T const & container)
{
    // for (auto const & x : container) // ...
}

template <typename T>
typename std::enable_if<!is_container<T>::value>::type
set (std::string const & path, T const & data)
{
    std::ostringstream oss;
    oss << data;
    write(path, oss.str());
}

You can find a suitable trait in the pretty printer code.

A: In C++03 you can do this with a little bit of SFINAE to selectively enable different versions of the function for different types:
#include <boost/type_traits.hpp>
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

using namespace std;

template<class T>
void set(typename boost::enable_if<boost::is_pod<T>, std::string>::type path, const T data)
{
   std::cout << "POD" << std::endl;
   stringstream ss;
   ss << data << std::endl;
}

template<class T>
void set(typename boost::disable_if<boost::is_pod<T>, std::string>::type path, const T data)
{
    std::cout << "Non-POD" << std::endl;
    std::stringstream ss;
    for(typename T::const_iterator it = data.begin(); it < data.end(); ++it)
    {
       ss << *it;
       if(it < data.end() -1 )
          ss << ", ";
    }
    ss << std::endl;
}

int main() {
  int i;
  float f;
  std::vector<int> v;
  set("", v);
  set("", i);
  set("", f);
}

I used boost for convenience here, but you could roll your own if boost isn't an option or use C++11 instead.
is_pod isn't quite what you want really, you probably want an is_container trait, but that's not so trivial, you'll need to make a trait of your own and is_pod makes a good approximation for how to use traits to selectively enable functions as simple answer.

A: You might try Substitution Failure Is Not An Error (SFINAE) techniques here.
Firstly, you need a function to determine whether a type has an iterator member...
template <typename T>
struct Has_Iterator
{
    template <typename>
    static char test(...);

    template <typename U>
    static int test(typename U::const_iterator*);

    static const bool result = sizeof test<T>(0) != sizeof(char);
};

In the above code, the C++ Standard requires test(typename U::const_iterator*) to be used in preference to the vague "..." parameter match, so long as U is actually a struct/class with a const_iterator member type.  Otherwise, you have a "substitution failure" - which is not a fatal error stopping compilation  (hence SFINAE), and the attempt to find a matching function is satified by test(...).  As the return types of the two functions differ, the sizeof operator can test which one has been matched, setting the result boolean appropriately.
Then you can forward requests to print things to template specialisations that support them...
template <typename T>
void print(const T& data)
{
    printer<Has_Iterator<T>::result, T>()(data);
}

// general case handles types having iterators...
template <bool Has_It, typename T>
struct printer
{
    void operator()(const T& data)
    {
        for (typename T::const_iterator i = data.begin(); i != data.end(); ++i)
            std::cout << *i << ' ';
        std::cout << '\n';
    }
};

// specialisation for types lacking iterators...
template <typename T>
struct printer<false, T>
{
    void operator()(const T& data)
    {
        std::cout << data << '\n';
    }
};

A: As my predecessors wrote you have to use some kind of trait. You probably should use Boost for that, but if you don't want to you can just use something like this ( http://ideone.com/7mAiB ):
template <typename T>
struct has_const_iterator {
    typedef char yes[1];
    typedef char no[2];

    template <typename C> static yes& test(typename C::const_iterator*);
    template <typename> static no& test(...);

    static const bool value = sizeof(test<T>(0)) == sizeof(yes);
};

template <bool> class bool2class {};

template <class T>
void set_inner(const std::string &path, T & var, bool2class<false> *) {
        // T is probably not STL container
}

template <class T>
void set_inner(const std::string &path, T & var, bool2class<true> *) {
        // T is STL container
}

template <class T>
void set(const std::string &path, T &var) {
        set_inner(path, var, (bool2class<has_const_iterator<T>::value>*)0);
}

It's not an easy task to distinguish container from simple array, so I used here checking if type has const_iterator. Probably you should also check if it has begin(), end() and other things you would use in future code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Happy second week of February! For those of us in cold places that means that it is a little bit closer to Spring (and warm weather)! I always have had an interest in ad campaigns because I feel like they can be so inspirational. A beautiful ad can give you ideas for outfits, hair, nails and makeup! This is one of my favorite thus far for Spring 2010; the Hermès print ad featuring Karlie Kloss resting on a pile of the company's beautiful scarves. There is also one braided through her hair. So fab!
I hope that it inspires you! I know that I will be purchasing some orange nail polish in honor of this ad... or maybe this new yellow that I just bought from Essie?
I wonder how it looks on your nails... Can you do a swatch?
For you, anything ;) I haven't received it yet but I did get a pastel yellow this week from Models Own, so I will try and do a NOTD with it soon!


text:
Eastbury
A Pretty Place
Most of the Roman activity from Lambourn parish appears to have been in the Eastbury area. A highly interesting find is a bronze sceptre head in the form of a male bust. It may have been associated with a Roman temple whose whereabouts is, as yet, unknown. Perhaps it was the building on Stancombe Down, revealed by its roof tiles and floor tesserae; pottery, mortars and coins. Although this is usually interpreted as a villa. The graves of ten 4th century residents have also been found there.
Eastbury must be one of the prettiest villages in Berkshire. It has many old and interesting buildings which catch the eye as you pass along the Newbury to Lambourn road. There are huge medieval thatched barns, little cottages and Jacobean farmhouses. Pigeon House Farm is named after its well preserved flint and brick dovecote with room for 999 pigeons! Both buildings are dated 1620. The red-brick manor is also 17th century and features internal panelling and a fine chimneypiece flanked by caryatids.
As his name suggests, the family of the great Lambourn benefactor, John Estbury, who built the village almshouses, came from Eastbury Manor. His ancestor and namesake acquired it through a number of land transactions in the 1360s, during the lunacy of the rightful owner, Joan de Wanting!
The little church of St. James only dates from 1851, but the village has a medieval preaching cross. In the 16th century, it was stated that "on Wednesday in the procession week the procession of Esbery goes to Gombelton Cross and meets Lamborne procession and then both come to Esbery chapel. . . . Then Esbery goes with them in to the Wodlond on Holy Thursday and the procession of Esbery goes to Wodebery Crosse and there tarries for Lamborne's procession."


We need to stop focusing on the myriad of problems and attack the problem at its source. Individually we are weak, but when "We the People" compel our states to hold the Federal government accountable, we will begin the process of restoring our Constitutional Republic.
When our Constitution is strictly enforced, the rights of the people are secure, but when the Constitution is not enforced it becomes a meaningless piece of paper.
Instead of protecting us from the abuse of power it opens the door to the exploitation of the many by those we have elected to serve us.
The system is broken because the states are unable or unwilling to defend the Constitution. In the Tenth Amendment, it states that any power not granted to the government of the United States nor prohibited to the states is reserved to the states and the people.
The power to interpret the Constitution is a power that was not delegated to Congress, the President of the Supreme Court, It is the responsibility of the states collectively to determine what is and what is not Constitutional.
This is why the "Republic Review" is so important. It is the key to the restoration of the Constitution and the Republic.


text:
Spatialising Practices Landscapes, Mindscapes, Socioscapes
Pubblicato il 23 Febbraio 2013 da Mariangela Monaca
Research Group: Redescribing Graeco-Roman Antiquity 3rd Colloquium
23-27 June 2013, Loutraki – Greece
Organized by the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, University of South Africa In affiliation with the Greek Society for the Study of Religion and Culture and the Municipality of Loutraki
Colloquium administrator: Dr. Nickolas Roubekas
Email: spatialising2013@unisa.ac.za Fax: +27 12 429 3332 Colloquium webpage: www.unisa.ac.za/spatialising_practices_2013
The Redescribing Graeco-Roman Antiquity project regularly offers papers at the Society of Biblical Literature under the auspices of the Greco-Roman Religions section. The purpose of the project is to work towards a 'Redescriptive Companion to Graeco-Roman Antiquity' in which a taxonomy of analytical categories are developed from theory of religion as well as inter- and transdisciplinary study of culture and society. This will lead to reading ancient religion and culture longitudinally and synchronically through analytical categories that are both born from comparative work but will also allow cross-cultural and cross-epochal comparisons, and furthermore, will contribute to the general theorising of religion, society and culture. The project enacts a kind of interpretive analytic that simultaneously investigates its own analytical practices as culturally determined, contextually situated, and ideologically driven, and then performs scholarly descriptions that are not derived from insider categories, that is, are not replications or paraphrases of the sources. Metatheory and metahistory are the keystones here.
The colloquium is the start to a new phase of the project in that it is intended to explore and start defining such a taxonomic sets of redescriptive concepts, of which this first is 'spatialising practices'. The human sciences (especially the fields of history and sociology) have, in recent years, experienced a conceptual shift from time (as periodisation) to space as primary interpretive categories. In line with contemporary theories of spatiality, space is furthermore understood as a human construct – practices that construct space/s. But it also takes time to construct spaces, which means that space is fluid, flexible and changeable. Space is also multiple, so that a focus on space/s evoke/s multiple perspectives, positionalities and dis/continuums.
Our title, 'Spatialising practices,' therefore announces the core assumption and starting point for a 4- dimensional modelling of theorising religious practices in history. What is at the core of the investigation is how spatial arrangements underlie social arrangements – notably, hierarchisation of social relations. The arrangement of space with its imputed social meanings and social results spans a number of phenomena that are in the purview of this project. This hierarchised arrangement of
Spatialising Practices
Landscapes, Mindscapes, Socioscapes Towards a Redescriptive Companion to Graeco-Roman Antiquity
positionalities is achieved not only by ancient cityscapes in the way physical space is arranged (although this too is an important aspect, especially with the monumentalisation of cities in the Roman Empire), but also by the interweaving of such spaces with cultural performances (like ritual, festivals, and the like), authority-making practices (the function of shrines, temples, etc. and everything pertaining to that, including issues pertaining to the relation of centre to periphery), and the erection of social/cultural memory artifacts (that is, the function that such spatial arrangements are also pressed into fulfilling), and how human bodies are constructed to fit in with these social spaces and social boundaries. More pointedly, the concept of the sacred in its manifold manifestations is itself a spatial concept. Even scholarly reflections on these social space production sites are themselves products of social location and place/space making, and as such, themselves encode social trajectories, politico-rhetorical moves, and third order mythmaking. In all, this project aims at a way of thinking through the ideologisation of space such that it illuminates the interpretedness of space as salvific or, inversely, as dangerously threatening, that is, illuminating the spatial rhetoric of the social.
Governing our questions is the implied question that motivated the broad tradition of French Leftist thought which gave rise to spatiality theory and that is: why do we do what we do? As such this kind of project also has a kind of Foucaultian political moment to it, or as Edward Soja asserted, following Henri Lefebvre, there is 'no unspatialised social reality'.
Proposals are invited to address the following topics:
• Space in theory of religion/Reconceptualising religion as a spatial concept
• Spatialising practices
• Historical case studies of religious spatialising practices (a section of the program will be devoted
specifically to the Graeco-Roman world)
PhD students are particularly welcomed. We intend to include in the program a PhD workshop, where graduate students can engage with some invited scholars on spatiality theory in relation to their dissertation topics.
Delegates wishing to present their work to the Colloquium are requested to submit an abstract of their presentation (200 words) to the colloquium administrator, by February 15, 2013. The Organizing Committee will evaluate abstracts submitted by that date. Notice of acceptance of abstracts will be sent out by March 1, 2013. The registration form can be accessed online at www.unisa.ac.za/spatialising_practices_2013. The colloquium webpage also contains details of registration and payment.
English will be the official language of the Colloquium.
Registration to the Colloquium is made by completing the registration form and sending it by fax or email to the administrator.
Registration Fees: Delegate: €140 Student: €70


text:
Do You Know The Youngest Crowned King Ever In Nigeria Who Became King At Two Years Old?
By Desfillje (self media writer) | 1 year ago
The 'Dein Of Agbor', Obi Benjamin Ikenchukwu, the Keagborekuzi 1 ascended to the thrown of his father at the age of two years. In 1979 after the unexpected passing away of his father, Obi Benjamin who was then the crown prince was crowned as the new king of the kingdom.
The ascendancy of this king was very unique as the kingdom was thrown into a state of anxiety because the king was just a child at the moment. But the tradition was followed and he became the Obi Keagborekuzi 1 which means "What is Agbor saying again?".
However, the young monarch and some selected few of the royal family were taken abroad due to security reasons and to also study. He lived abroad for the first two decades of his life and return home in 2001 at the age of 22 years old.
Furthermore, his ascension to the king's thrown was documented in the Guinness Book of world record as he was acknowledged as the youngest crowned monarch in 1980. But in his absence a regent was appointed to rule in his place. He came back in 2001 to become the paramount ruler of Agbor people. His returns has yielded a lot of progress in the land of Agbor.
Moreover, the king celebrated his 43rd birthday in 2020 and he was appointed the chancellor of the University Of Ilorin from 2006 to 2015.
Share your thought about this article and keep following for more expository articles.
Content created and supplied by: Desfillje (via Opera News )
Agbor Guinness Book of Keagborekuzi Nigeria Obi Benjamin


text:
InfoComm To Pursue Accreditation from ANSI | Facility Executive - Creating Intelligent Buildings
InfoComm, the association for the professional audiovisual and information communications industries worldwide has announced its intent to become a recognized standards-setting body and is seeking accreditation through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These standards will be developed as international standards and, as warranted, will be presented for adoption by the International Standards Organization (ISO). […]
https://facilityexecutive.com/2006/12/infocomm-to-pursue-accreditation-from-ansi/
Home » Archive » Topics » Facility Management » InfoComm To Pursue Accreditation from ANSI
InfoComm To Pursue Accreditation from ANSI
InfoComm, the association for the professional audiovisual and information communications industries worldwide has announced its intent to become a recognized standards-setting body and is seeking accreditation through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These standards will be developed as international standards and, as warranted, will be presented for adoption by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
In its press release on the news, InfoComm noted
Standards define a profession, allow a profession to regulate itself and the activities of its members, and help express the profession's responsibility to the public. This new program will provide the industry with performance standards that AV companies can build their systems to meet and give the industry's customers clear industry standards they can rely on. It is also part of a larger effort by InfoComm to promote quality improvement programs in the industry and to associate itself with world-class organizations. The ANSI standards program and the recently announced ANSI/ISO certification accreditation program, along with InfoComm's education, exhibitions, information services, and membership programs all strive to help the AV communications industry grow.
Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D., executive director of InfoComm International, said, "Standards development is an integral part of the development of professions seeking to be recognized as legitimate and distinct. As the AV industry works closely with industries that use standards, such as architecture, IT, telecommunications and more, it became obvious that AV standards are necessary to grow the profession to the next level. InfoComm has already assembled a substantial body of knowledge through the development of its courses and Best Practices manuals, which makes becoming an ANSI Standards- Setting organization a logical next step."
The AV standards InfoComm intends to develop will focus on the physical measurements of systems performance, such as sound pressure levels and contrast ratios. The emphasis will be on system performance, not on individual product or technology standards. With these standards, designers can specify the output performance of systems and subsystems for customers, so that when the facility is put in use system performance can be verified against these standards.
InfoComm notes that it will lead this activity, but the standards created will benefit the whole industry and its customers. These standards will be developed through an ANSI process to reach consensus among everyone involved with AV systems. Through debate and compromise the industry will be able to establish standards that will guide designers, installers, and customers. To conduct this activity InfoComm will be establishing a Standards Committee and Joe Bocchiaro, CTS-D, CTS-I, has accepted the position as Director of the InfoComm Performance Standards program.
ANSI is a private, nonprofit membership organization focused on meeting the standards and conformity assessment requirements of its diverse constituency. It serves as a neutral, unbiased forum for the development of consensus agreements on technical, political, and policy issues and is a representative of U.S. interests to national, regional, and international bodies. Founded in 1918, ANSI serves as the coordinator for the development of voluntary standards by a broad variety of business, industrial, professional, testing, and governmental organizations. ANSI is also the U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In its international role, ANSI carries forward U.S. technical, political, and policy messages to the ISO and facilitates the development of allied relationships with regional organizations such as the Pan American Standards Commission and the Pacific Area Standards Congress.
ISO is a network of national standards institutes from 157 countries, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. It is a non-governmental organization that acts as a consensus-builder, striving to reach solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society, including consumers and end users.
InfoComm International® is the international trade association of the professional audiovisual and information communications industries. Established in 1939, InfoComm has 4,000 members, including manufacturers, systems integrators, dealers and distributors, independent consultants, programmers, rental and staging companies, end-users and multimedia professionals from more than 70 countries. InfoComm International is the leading resource for AV market research and news. Its training and education programs, along with its separately administered Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) and corporately administered Certified Audiovisual Solutions Provider (CAVSP) company credentials, set a standard of excellence for AV professionals. InfoComm International is the founder of InfoComm, the largest annual conference and exhibition for AV buyers and sellers worldwide. InfoComm also produces trade shows in Europe, Asia, and China. Additional information is available at www.infocomm.org.
FM Alert: ISO Publishes Two Facility Management Standards These voluntary, consensus standards focus on vocabulary for FM and strategic sourcing for facility management professionals.
InfoComm Seeking ANSI/ISO Accreditation InfoComm, the international trade association of the professional audiovisual and information communications industries, recently applied for accreditation for its Certified Technology […]
New Guidance On Achieving Joint Certification Of BREEAM, WELL A new briefing paper from BRE And IWBI outlines how projects can achieve joint certification of BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard.
Previous articleEx-military well suited for facility management, according to India's Minister of Defense
Next articleAmerica's Teachers Report Crumbling Schools And Unhealthy Conditions


text:
Q: Modify arguments to typing.NamedTuple prior to instance creation I was looking forward to using the somewhat new typing.NamedTuple class, which allows the creation of named tuple classes using the usual Python class syntax (including the ability to add docstrings and methods,  provide default values, type hints, etc etc).
However: the class at the bottom is producing the following error message:
AttributeError: Cannot overwrite NamedTuple attribute __new__

From this I gather just what it says: overriding __new__ is a still no-no. This is very disappointing.
The "old way" of going about this would be to inherit from a named tuple class, but this requires what I consider to be some ugly boilerplate code:
from collections import namedtuple

class FormatSpec(namedtuple('FormatSpecBase', 'fill align sign alt zero '
                                              'width comma decimal precision type')):
    __slots__ = ()
    def __new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                width, comma, decimal, precision, type):
        to_int=lambda x: int(x) if x is not None else x
        zero=to_int(zero)
        width=to_int(width)
        precision=to_int(precision)
        return super().__new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                               width, comma, decimal, precision, type)

FormatSpec.__doc__=_FormatSpec.__doc__.replace('FormatSpecBase','FormatSpec')

Is there some other alternate way I can cast the zero, width, and precision arguments below to int prior to the creation of the named tuple, but still using the same class creation syntax? Or am I stuck using the old way?
from typing import NamedTuple, Optional

class FormatSpec(NamedTuple):
    """Represents a string that conforms to the [Format Specification
    Mini-Language][1] in the string module.

    [1]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#formatspec
    """
    fill: Optional[str]
    align: Optional[str]
    sign: Optional[str]
    alt: Optional[str]
    zero: Optional[int]
    width: Optional[int]
    comma: Optional[str]
    decimal: Optional[str]
    precision: Optional[int]
    type: str
    def __new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero, width, comma, decimal, precision, type):
        to_int=lambda x: int(x) if x is not None else x
        zero=to_int(zero)
        width=to_int(width)
        precision=to_int(precision)
        return super().__new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                               width, comma, decimal, precision, type)
    def join(self):
        return ''.join('{!s}'.format(s) for s in self if s is not None)
    def __format__(self, format_spec):
        try:
            return format(self.join(), format_spec)
        except (TypeError, ValueError):
            return super().__format__(format_spec)

A: One way would be to split this up into two classes, and do the arguments modification in the child class:
from typing import NamedTuple, Optional

class FormatSpecBase(NamedTuple):
    """Represents a string that conforms to the [Format Specification
    Mini-Language][1] in the string module.

    [1]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#formatspec
    """
    fill: Optional[str]
    align: Optional[str]
    sign: Optional[str]
    alt: Optional[str]
    zero: Optional[int]
    width: Optional[int]
    comma: Optional[str]
    decimal: Optional[str]
    precision: Optional[int]
    type: str
    def join(self):
        return ''.join('{!s}'.format(s) for s in self if s is not None)
    def __format__(self, format_spec):
        try:
            return format(self.join(), format_spec)
        except (TypeError, ValueError):
            return super().__format__(format_spec)

class FormatSpec(FormatSpecBase):
    __slots__ = ()
    def __new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero, width, comma, decimal, precision, type):
        to_int=lambda x: int(x) if x is not None else x
        zero=to_int(zero)
        width=to_int(width)
        precision=to_int(precision)
        return super().__new__(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                                    width, comma, decimal, precision, type)

I don't much care for this approach, but at least it is more readable than the "old way" (even though it still needs that hanging __slots__ nonsense).
Another way would be a factory:
def MakeFormatSpec(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                   width, comma, decimal, precision, type):
    to_int=lambda x: int(x) if x is not None else x
    zero=to_int(zero)
    width=to_int(width)
    precision=to_int(precision)
    return FormatSpec(fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                      width, comma, decimal, precision, type)

fspec = MakeFormatSpec(*parse_format_spec(some_format_spec_string))

...or a factory method:
    @classmethod
    def make(cls, fill, align, sign, alt, zero, width, comma, decimal, precision, type):
        to_int=lambda x: int(x) if x is not None else x
        zero=to_int(zero)
        width=to_int(width)
        precision=to_int(precision)
        return cls(fill, align, sign, alt, zero,
                   width, comma, decimal, precision, type)

fspec = FormatSpec.make(*parse_format_spec(some_format_spec_string))

However, these are both pretty clunky compared to simply being able to do:
fspec = FormatSpec(*parse_format_spec(some_format_spec_string))


2018 Lexus LX 570 Interior Photo is free HD wallpaper. This wallpaper was upload at January 30, 2017 upload by Sam in Lexus.
One of the oldest luxurious crossovers is coming back as 2018 Lexus LX 570. New model brings a lot of new features on it, but maintaining its familiar look that we applied to it. Significant changes could launch new generation of SUV, but absolutely nothing was confirmed from company. Numerous changes are expected each in design, interior and engine, which causes increase of the worth. On the other hand, wide base of fans will recognize these modifications as upgrades and company could nevertheless count on benefit of it.
The 2018 Lexus LX 570 brings a good deal of new features, although upgrading these which might be identified in current model. Designers are preparing few interior trims which are breathtaking, according to plans. From dark brown, to lighter variants with wood accents, cabin of the crossover is elegant as generally. Dashboard parts weren't revealed, but count on new clusters, 3-spoke steering wheel and many other functions on it. Touch-screen display is feasible and navigation need to come as standard.
As a family members vehicle, people in Lexus will have to pay a great deal of interest to safety of passengers in 2018 Lexus LX 570. There are also upgraded assisting systems, including parking sensors and rear-view panorama cam. This is very beneficial, specially for parking in tight areas. There is also larger screen to have much better visual sight. There are also safety features such as Collision System for earlier pedestrian detection and radar cruise control A lot of airbags are positioned all over the crossover's cabin, and blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic are standard features.
The 2018 Lexus LX 570 is luxurious crossover, which delivers modern appearance, extreme comfort, and which is also crucial, infotainment system of highest grade. There will be Apple Siri Eyes Free technology integrated in 2018 year model, with iTunes and Apple Maps. Audio system is boosted with AM, FM, HD and satellite radio, CD player, Bluetooth, USB connection and several more features. Nevertheless, some greater levels also can offer you Premium audio package with more than nine speakers coming with base model of this luxury SUV.
12 photos of the "2018 Lexus LX 570 Review, Design and Photos"


Will you be making it available for sale? If so, I'm down for one. Thanks!
For Neutral Gray I mix black and white, either 50-50 or 40-60 (black to white). MM1711 and 2050 are not the same shade. I like Mr. Color No. 12 Olive Drab 1 for OD 41.
I'm working on a Hasegawa 1/48 F/A-18C and plan to do it in Desert Storm markings for VFA-81 Sunliners using the Bullseye sheet. They state, and photos seem to confirm, that there were no national insignia on the wings. I'm wondering if this was a widespread practice.
This may have been covered earlier in the thread, but I'm too lazy to track through all 166 pages: Does the AMK kit have provision for wings in overswept position as well as full forward?
Well, in that photo I think I'm seeing that the aft S.L. is definitely proud of the fuselage surface. Granted, AMK has them quite a bit too raised, but shouldn't it be really trivial to sand/file them down?
If the landing gear were to collapse, it wouldn't be the nose. All the weight would be brought to bear on the main gear, which act as the fulcrum; the nose would be just heavy enough to sit on the gear, not enough to collapse it.
Good project, but doesn't this thread belong in "In Progress Pics?" Re the panel lines, IMHO don't bother. It's a lot of tedious work for dubious gains, especially for the camouflage scheme you'll be doing. You're going to have enough fights to win getting everything to fit together. Just my 2 cents.
Actually, Collect-Aire did a fairly awful resin F-86H in 1/48. Check this link for some useful information and specs that can be compared: http://www.airvectors.net/avf86_2.html Deeper fuselage and intake, longer wings, extended exhaust, raised tailplane, flat slab tailplane, new ejection seat, clamshell canopy a la F-86D. I'm sure there's more.
F/A-18C - Early vs Late?
Thanks again, Quixote74. Now I'm really good to go, once I make up my mind which BuNos to build.
Thank you Quixote74 and GW8345! That clarifies things greatly. Do you know what the array of 5 bullet shaped things forward of the ventral blade antenna is for? If the Kinetic parts options are to be believed, they were present on some planes with the louvered vents and all of those with the mesh vents.
Well, that's certainly helpful. I think I'll just find the median BuNo of the C/D production run and declare it the turning point. Apparently few if any will be able to say I'm wrong!
Thanks for the reference. Being primarily a prop guy, I'm unlikely to be spending $40 on a book for one or two projects. I don't suppose anybody with access to either the Modern Hornet Guide or the Daco book would be willing to take a look and let us know what they find?
Good to know for that particular plane, but where can we look to find what to use for other BuNos? For example, I'm going to be doing two -Cs in the near future, and the short list of BuNos I'm considering includes 163464, 163467, 164252 and 164703. I presume the two 164XXX's would have the late configuration, but what about the 163XXX's?
I have asked the same question on this and two other forums and have yet to see a definitive answer. Apparently the vents on the nose under side changed from louvered to mesh at some point during C/D production, and based on the options that Kinetic offers, the array of 5 antennas (?) appeared at some point before the change from louvered to mesh vents. What nobody seems to know (or want to tell) is even roughly in which production blocks these changes occurred. I'd also like to know what those 5 bullet-shaped protrusions are.


Not sure what to get the tea lover in your life? Not sure if they need decaf, black or green tea? Take the decisions out of your gift giving conundrum and surprise someone special with a Gift Card! Gift Cards are delivered to the recipient by email and include instructions on how to redeem them at checkout. Our Gift Cards have no additional processing fees and never expire.