The Muskegon was once hailed as the handsomest boat on Big Stone Lake. It capsized in 1917 with nine passengers aboard.
For a state once considered a desert, South Dakota has a lot of water, thousands of feet of shoreline and a veritable treasure chest of lake and river adventure stories — some dating back a century and more.
The Kampeska Monster is among the wackiest. Boat-builders at Lake Kampeska were building a steamer in 1886 when they reported seeing a "20-foot long snake-like creature." They were not taken seriously until several days later when four prominent Watertown area businessmen claimed they also saw it.
Some of our water stories are fun, but others end in tragedy. At Big Stone Lake on July 10, 1917, nine people stepped aboard an excursion boat called The Muskegon. They never reached the other shore. Heavy rain fell and then, said a survivor, it seemed that two storms met in the middle of the lake, capsizing the 60-foot boat.
But the Muskegon did rise; it was pulled from the water and restored 10 years later by a wealthy businessman who renamed it the Golden Bantam. Today it is docked at a museum just across the South Dakota border in Ortonville, Minnesota, along with memorabilia and news clippings.
The clam industry dwindled in the 1940s due to over-harvesting, environmental changes in the rivers and, of course, the invention of plastic buttons.
Despite the placidity of today's tamed Missouri, adventures still occur on its waters. In 1992 a young Yankton couple saw a small object with a yellow flag on top being pulled upstream by a nylon rope. The object kept disappearing and surfacing around their boat, until the rope got tangled in the propeller and killed the engine.
They began to be pulled upstream, backwards, and to the husband's horror the boat was slowly being pulled down into the water. They traveled about 300 yards, with their transom only inches above the water's surface before he was able to cut the rope.
Huge fish were also reported by dam-builders when the reservoirs were built along the Missouri. Some divers saw fish 15 feet long floating at the bottom of the muddy river. Mysteries are still unfolding on land and in the waters of South Dakota.


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Q: Orthogonality and norm of Hermite polynomials I wish to prove that the Hermite polynomials defined as $$H_n(x) := (-1)^n e^{x^2} D^n(e^{-x^2})$$ are orthogonal  wrt the inner product $$\langle f,g\rangle = \int_{\mathbb{R}} e^{-x^2} {f(x)}\overline{g(x)} dx $$ and that $||H_n||^2=n!2^n\sqrt{\pi}$.
Not much else to do than compute $\langle H_m, H_n \rangle$.
The integral becomes $$(-1)^{n+m} \int_{\mathbb{R}} e^{x^2}D^m(e^{-x^2})D^{n}(e
^{-x^2}) dx $$
Let's look at the derivatives of $e^{-x^2}$:
$$ \begin{array}{|} \hline n &&D^n(e^{-x^2}) \\ \hline 1 &&-2xe^{-x^2} \\ \hline2 &&-2e^{-x^2}+4x^2e^{-x^2} \\\hline3 &&4xe^{-x^2}+8xe^{-x^2}-8x^3e^{-x^2}\\ \vdots && \vdots\end{array}$$
It is obvious $D^{n}(e^{-x^2}) = P_n(x)e^{-x^2}$ for a polynomial $P_n$ of degree $n$ where the leading coefficient in $P_n$ is $(-1)^n2^n$. It should also be apparant that $P_n$ only contains terms $\{c_kx^k |k \equiv n \mod 2, 0\leq k\leq n, c_k\neq 0\}$. However, I am struggling to find the rest of the coefficients of $P_n$ under closed form. So, I am looking for a way to compute this integral without having to find the coeffiecients. Alas, I still haven't found what I am looking for. Any ideas?

A: Orthogonality
Since $m\ne n$, we may assume $m < n$. Rewrite $H_n$ according to the definition, but keep $H_m$ as is:
$$
\int_\mathbb{R} H_m(x)H_n(x) e^{-x^2}\,dx
=  (-1)^n \int_\mathbb{R} H_m(x) D^n(e^{-x^2})\,dx
$$
Integrate by parts $n$ times, throwing the derivative onto $H_m$ each time. No boundary terms appear because of super exponential  decay of $e^{-x^2}$ at infinity, which beats any polynomial. Integration by parts results in
$$
(-1)^{m+n} \int_\mathbb{R} D^n(H_m(x)) e^{-x^2}\,dx = 0
$$
since the $n$-th derivative of $H_m$ is identically zero.
Norm
When $m=n$, we end up with
$$
D^n(H_n(x)) \int_\mathbb{R}  e^{-x^2}\,dx  = \sqrt{\pi} D^n(H_n(x))
$$
where $D^n(H_n(x))$ is $n!$ times the leading coefficient of $H_n$. That coefficient is $2^n$, as one can see directly from the definition $(-1)^n e^{x^2} D^n(e^{-x^2})$: to get $x^n$ here, one has to apply the derivative to the exponential part every time, getting the factor of $(-2x)$ each time.

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Petrofac is a major EPC contractor in the region [representational image].
A UK Government body is investigating a former senior executive of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracting giant Petrofac for making "corrupt offers to influence the award of contracts" in the Middle East. These contract awards are valued in excess of $4.2bn, of which $3.5bn came in Saudi Arabia and $730m in Iraq.


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FLSA – Wage and Hour
Commissions and Bonuses
Donning and Doffing / Changing Clothes
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Kansas City Employment Lawyer Blog
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US Supreme Court to Address Enforceability of Arbitration Clauses in Employment Agreements
Contributor: Michael F. Brady
On October 2, 2017, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument to decide whether mandatory arbitration clauses in employment agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
The cases come before the Court to resolve a circuit split on whether class action waivers violate employees' rights to engage in concerted activity under the NLRA.
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in Employment Agreements
Many employers include arbitration clauses in employee agreements that employees are required to sign as a condition of employment. These clauses require employees to resolve all disputes through mandatory binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Many of these clauses include language that prohibits employees from participating in class action lawsuits. The question before the Supreme Court will be whether these clauses violate employees' rights to engage in concerted activity, which is protected under the NLRA.
The NLRA mandates that employees be able to engage in concerted activity. Traditionally, concerted activity has referred to the ability to form and participate in union activities. However, as more and more employment agreements include class action waivers, courts have had to consider whether such waivers violate the NLRA.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken the position that employers violate the NLRA when they require employees to sign employment agreements that require the employee to forfeit the ability to have disputes decided through a class action lawsuit. If the Supreme Court agrees, employers will no longer be able to prohibit employees from participating in class action lawsuits. If the Supreme Court disagrees with the NLRB, it will close the courthouse doors to employees, who will not be permitted to file class action lawsuits to address grievances they have with their employers, and instead must resolve disputes through mandatory binding arbitration
US Supreme Court to Resolve Circuit Split
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to resolve a split between the Federal Circuit Courts. Three courts of appeal have held that class and collective action waivers do not violate the NLRA, while three other courts of appeal have held that they do.
In D.R. Horton, Inc. v. NLRB, 737 F.3d 344 (5th Cir. 2013), and Murphy Oil USA, Inc. v. NLRB, 808 F.3d 1013 (5th Cir. 2015), the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that class action and collective action waivers do not violate the NLRA. The 2nd and 8th Circuit Courts agreed, and enforced arbitration clauses in employment agreements that require employees to submit to mandatory binding arbitration.
On the other side, the 7th, 9th, and 6th circuits disagreed, holding that arbitration agreements that prohibit employees from participating in collective and class action lawsuits do violate the NLRA.
When Circuit Courts of Appeals come to different conclusions on the same point of law, this creates a circuit split, which makes the issue ripe for appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Questions About Arbitration Clauses in Employment Agreements? Contact Brady & Associates Today
The issue is unlikely to be resolved until the end of the year. If you have questions about your employment agreement, whether it contain a mandatory arbitration clause, and how that impacts you, contact the experienced employment law attorneys at Brady & Associates today.
Categories: Kansas City Employment Lawyer Blog
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New Law Provides Protections for Employees During Coronavirus Outbreak
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Wherein we discuss Big Sur, Pokemon Go, San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Final Fantasy XV, Hearthstone, Doctor Strange, Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, the proper way to say Hawaii, Finding Dory, The Shannara Chronicles, Ghostbusters, the ills of social media, Star Trek Beyond, Batman: The Killing Joke, and real proper nerd concerts. Starring Ryan Scott, Adam Fitch, Justin Haywald, Ryan Higgins, and Alice Liang.
Wherein we discuss drop bears, insane San Francisco geography, coffee culture, Captain Boomerang, the Canadian Captain America, insane import prices, the mechanics of teleportation, Pokemon Go, Ghostbusters, Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, Image Comics, Harley Quinn, Star Trek, our latest board game tips, and San Diego Comic-Con. Starring Ryan Scott and Ryan Higgins, with special guests Carlos Iacuccio and April Scott.
Wherein we discuss Pokemon Go, Overwatch, Ryan Scott's awesome new Twitch stream, The Wicked + The Divine, Flight of the Conchords, underappreciated movies, Dungeons & Dragons, PC upgrade nightmares, and Harley Quinn. Starring Ryan Scott, Justin Haywald, and Ryan Higgins, with special guest April Scott.
Wherein we discuss Independence Day, terrible movies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Super Mario Galaxy, World of Warcraft: Legion, Disneyland vs. Disney World, Overwatch, single-player Blizzard games, our games of the year (so far), No Man's Sky, Gundam, Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition, superhero video games, Batman: The Killing Joke, and Mario Kart 64. Starring Ryan Scott and Ryan Higgins.


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Paca Street Firehouse, also known as Truck House No. 2, is a historic fire station located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The architect of Paca Street Firehouse is John E. Lafferty. It is a 1909 two-story brick structure with a highly detailed stone Renaissance Revival  façade. The principal space is a large room subdivided at the Paca Street end into offices. It is one of three early 20th century firehouses standing and is the only one to retain its original features, particularly in the interior.

Paca Street Firehouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

See also
Fire departments in Maryland
Engine House No. 6 (Baltimore, Maryland)
Engine House No. 8 (Baltimore, Maryland)
Poppleton Fire Station

References

External links
, including photo from 2004, at Maryland Historical Trusthttp://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/md/baltimore/vacant.html

Downtown Baltimore
Fire stations completed in 1909
Neoclassical architecture in Maryland
Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore
Defunct fire stations in Maryland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Gunner's Mate 3rd Class Devunte Williams conducts maintenance on the Electronic Optical Sight on the forward mast of the littoral combat ship USS Sioux City while the ship is in port Kingston, Jamaica, May 7, 2021. Navy acquisition failures, including that of the Littoral Combat Ship, have put extreme pressure on the rest of the fleet. U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marianne Guemo
The 2018 Strategy Is Unworkable. We Need a Fundamental Defense Rethink
We can model our efforts to link long-term defense priorities and resourcing on a post-Cold War review.
Dave Oliver and Anand Toprani
By Dave Oliver and Anand Toprani
At some point soon, probably after his team has finished putting a knife in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, pushed through major legislation regarding pressing domestic issues, and revitalized the United States' international relationships, President Joe Biden will turn to reshaping defense. It is time. The Cold War ended last century, and 9/11 was literally a generation ago. The United States faces multiple regional challengers and the global threat of climate change.
For experienced Pentagon watchers, the most immediate problem will be the complete mismatch between desired strategic objectives and actual means. The vaunted 2018 National Defense Strategy assumed annual defense budget increases of 3 to 5 percent, which is simply not going to happen – not because the United States cannot theoretically afford it, but rather because of growing political opposition to unrestrained defense spending.
Now is the time for a fundamental rethink about linking long-term defense priorities and resourcing rather than "pie-in-the-sky" strategy – a process that has not occurred since end of the Cold War. Despite the end of major operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of the services have been significantly rebalanced for decades, although Marine Commandant David Berger's proposals appear to be a step in the right direction.
As the nation grapples with unfamiliar international challenges and domestic pathologies that should have been resolved decades ago, we cannot look away from the steel and sinew problems afflicting the U.S. military. The F-35 may get the lion's share of attention today, but the Air Force has been unable to certify its new refueling fleet for combat operations and has therefore for years had to compensate by devoting enormous precious maintenance funds to extending the lifecycle of the older airplanes. For the Navy, catastrophic acquisition failures such the Zumwalt class, the Littoral Combat Ship, and the new carriers have put extraordinary pressure on the rest of the fleet. Nothing better epitomizes the need for a rethink, perhaps, than the spectacle of a billion-dollar nuclear submarine (USS Boise) sitting idle at a pier for years because of inadequate shipyard capacity.
Reshaping and rebalancing the Defense Department is not a casual undertaking and cannot be accomplished by determined politicians alone. In fact, similar efforts – whether specific to a service or across the military – have usually failed in the past. What should we learn from these past misfires? The example of Adm. Frank Kelso, who was the Chief of Naval Operations as the Cold War ended, suggests a model that may have applicability to the entire Department.
History has not been kind to Kelso, whose reputation suffered from the fact that the Tailhook scandal occurred on his watch. This has had the unfortunate effect of overshadowing his remarkable accomplishments at repositioning the Navy and the Marines for the post-Cold War World.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Highlights Modernization, Innovation Activities as Budget Priorities
The National Defense Strategy Is No Strategy
Biden Appointments Signal Major Changes In Digital Operations and Acquisition
Having been a submariner during the Cold War, Kelso knew better than most of the true state of the Soviet Union and was not surprised by its swift collapse. He also recognized that the Navy needed to rethink its force structure for a constrained budget environment, which meant cancelling unnecessary programs, decommissioning extra vessels and aircraft, and shuttering superfluous bases. That said, Kelso did not develop some sort of master plan based on his own lifetime of military experience, nor did he gather a group of renowned outside experts to provide cover for him to make his preconceived decisions.
Kelso was at ease with himself and understood the complexity of the organization he headed. He was therefore willing to create an inclusive process involving 35 of his subordinate flag officers (including one of the authors), men and women with a full lifetime of experience working with all the myriad facets of Navy life, and permit them to spend months working together. This early-morning group had to reach a common understanding of the changing geopolitical environment, assess the likely effects on the defense budget, and evaluate the various alternatives for repositioning the Navy and Marines for the post-Cold War world. By using this process that was open, was transparent to the Navy and Marines' various communities, and that empowered their leaders, Kelso encouraged the leaders of both services to show unusual cooperation and develop alternatives that had sufficient institutional support to survive. As we show in a book we are writing, the Navy and Marines were successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams, while the Army and the Air Force paid a heavy price for not making tough choices early.
So how do we adapt the approach of Admiral Kelso to the present day? The first step would be creating an inquiry of how the military services have reacted in the past to major disruptions in the status quo, whether the impetus be the introduction of new technologies, changes in the domestic or geopolitical environment, or an unfavorable budgetary outlook. In the book we are writing, we have examined how the U.S. Navy adapted, or did not adapt, following World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, but similar studies of the other services and major defense agencies may also be necessary.
Our analysis of the Navy during periods of upheaval revealed various explanations of how the service reacted – both negatively and positively – as well as the relative contribution of the senior service leaders, members of Congress, private industry executives, and political appointees. Our findings suggest that there is a blueprint for accomplishing the sort of wholescale review of the Pentagon that is necessary. The defense enterprise is simply too complex and opaque for outsiders or even individual insiders to prescribe remedies. Instead, what the country requires is senior political and military leaders making a substantial investment of time, effort, and political capital.
The ideal process would be one in which the Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs establish a team that follows a (probably six- to t12-month) effort to explore:
• Expected (as opposed to desired) levels of future defense funding,
• Commercial practices relevant to defense, particularly in the areas of logistics, personnel and infrastructure.
• The utility and feasibility of every major program (including classified "black" programs) to meeting future challenges within expected resource constraints – not just financial but also human and infrastructural.
Just as a successful national security requires continuous reassessment of the threat environment, the defense establishment must be willing to adapt to new realities to retain its qualitative advantages and build resiliency to cope with the unexpected. It will not be an easy task, but historical experience enjoins us not to lose hope.
This article is adapted from a book the authors are currently preparing for publication. The views they have expressed are their own and not necessarily those of the U.S. government.
Rear Adm. Dave Oliver (USN, ret.) served as a political appointee as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, as well as the COO of the American portion of European Aeronautic Defense and Space (Airbus).
Anand Toprani is an Associate Professor of Strategy & Policy at the U.S. Naval War College and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
NEXT STORY: Shake Off the Pentagon's Industrial-Age Bureaucracy


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So fun! Here's the list of Zags and the countries they'll be playing for in China starting August 31:
Rosters aren't firmly set yet, so we'll have to wait and see who actually makes the cut, but this is a start.
FIBA World Cup Web Site
Rui Hachimura for Japan: Story from FIBA website says Rui will be joining Japan's team July 30 to prepare for the upcoming games: http://www.fiba.basketball/basketbal...n-s-yudai-baba
OKYO (Japan) - The cream of the crop of Japanese basketball have finally assembled to begin their preparations for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in earnest.
"The players who are ready to compete with the world have gathered," said high-flying wingman Yudai Baba, who is fresh from playing in the NBA Summer League 2019 for the Dallas Mavericks.
The Akatsuki Five's training camp officially tipped off a week ago, with the main goal of getting the team ready to pose a serious challenge to their fellow World Cup Group E sides Turkey, Czech Republic and Team USA.
"We have a good mindset right now because we participated in the NBA Summer League, and we are able to enter the camp in good condition," added star guard Makoto Hiejima, who also played at the Summer League for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The 28-year-old scoring machine is expected to be one of Japan's main weapons at the World Cup along with Rui Hachimura of the Washington Wizards and naturalized center Nick Fazekas of the Kawasaki Brave Thunders.
Meanwhile, Japan's two bona fide NBA talents, Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe, will fly in to join the team on 30 July.
As part of their World Cup build-up, Japan will face New Zealand at Chiba Port Arena on 12 August, followed by a series of tune-up matches at the Saitama Super Arena from 22-25 August against Argentina, Germany and Tunisia respectively.
Of course, Domas will be there, playing for Lithuania:
Absolutely awesome.
Thank you, ZN..really appreciate you always keeping us updated on international Zags & news.
I'd love to see Karnowski play again. Hope he is 100% healthy and Poland does well.
I think Clarke has decent shot of joining Olynyk and Pangos on Team Canada... eager to see that final roster. Afraid Wiltjers defensive liabilities may keep him off the team...but if Coach Nick Nurse prioritizes 3-pt shooting over D Wiltjer may stick.
Rui & Ira ballin out together for Japan! Hoping Japan has a Mali-esque run in this tourney...if not to gold medal game at least making it out of group stage
kitzbuel
It would be interesting to see what school has the most players competing in the FIBA WC.
'I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love.'
- Gandalf the Grey
Foo Time
Outraged
Why have a National footprint when you can have the world?
MDABE80
I wonder if the games might be televised. Hint hint for ZN
Too early to tell, but I'd be surprised if they weren't televised on ESPN3.
Originally Posted by MDABE80
I want to see Guy Landry Edi play again, this time for Cote d'Ivoire. His regular season job now is with Chalon-Reims, in the top league in France.
Guy's stats page for the FIBA African World Cup Qualifiers in February
Highlights in a Zag uni:
Highlights for Cote d'Ivoire in the African World Cup Qualifiers in February (Guy is #14):
Pretty sure Karno was not part of Poland's camp invite list. Probably hurt still.
And did you confirm Ira Brown is on Japan? I thought they replaced him with a better import.
I'll be surprised if Clarke makes Team Canada but KO is obviously a key player (top 3) and Pangos could easily make it as a deep guard.
Wiltjer you never know (I doubt it) - that is all on the coaching staffs whims. He can't see extended minutes though.
Karno not on camp invite list.
https://sportando.basketball/en/pola...g-camp-roster/
Ira Brown not on training camp list. He was replaced by Nick Fazekas a while back now as Japan one allowed naturalized player.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/...0#.XUB8SuhKjIV
Rui seems to be playing though - a rarity among NBA rookies.
Last edited by Mojo13; 07-30-2019 at 10:23 AM.
Originally Posted by Mojo13
I understand the rarity for NBA rooks, is it bc their contract is not covered for injury on an international team? And if so, might Rui be playing in no small part bc his real money is going to come from Japanese endorsements? Even more so than NBA money?
Markburn1
Originally Posted by DixieZag
I bet he gets more than $150k/yr from either source. If you get my drift. Haha.
Bouldin4Prez
Kennel Club Alum
Has a lot to do with acclimating them to the NBA lifestyle. The jump to an 82 game schedule is an absolute grind and is why a lot of rookies trail off the last half to third of the year. I'm sure they want them spending time with their conditioning/strength staff as well as the nutrition staff to get ready for his rookie year. Injury concerns are there as well no doubt.
Originally Posted by Bouldin4Prez
There are also a number of rookie orientation commitments to the NBA (and their club) they are supposed to attend that cover topics like - financial planning, nutrition, social media usage, NBA policy and procedures, groupie training etc. However I am not sure when these are and how they conflict with the World Cup or how mandatory they are.
The vast, vast majority of NBA rookies do not play FIBA their draft year. Sabonis and maybe Cedi Osman are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head over the last decade. Perhaps there are a couple more...it is just too big a jump to the NBA (injury concerns are heightened as well).
I think Dante Exum played for Australia his sophomore year (maybe it was rookie) and then proceeded to blow out his knee (derailed his career). So if you are a high draft pick you are getting loads of pressure from clubs, the NBA, agents etc not to play.
I'm sure you are correct. They are so protective of the rookies during Summer League and there are endless discussions about the rookies getting into NBA game shape. I can't imagine NBA teams letting rookies play in FIBA games.
I'm wondering if Rui is kind of an outlier to the norm?
With him becoming the face of Japanese basketball & the Olympics coming to Tokyo next year, I'm sure there is a push by the Japanese National Team to get him acclimated to those team mates as soon & as much as possible.
Japan Times story on Japan's FIBA team roster announcement
Big guns set to lead Japan at FIBA World Cup
Due to NBA regulations, which limits NBA players to be part of national team activities ahead of the World Cup to 28 days, Watanabe and Hachimura did not participate in the aforementioned training camp. The team will hold a seven-day training camp in Nagoya starting on Wednesday and the two will begin practicing with the team there.
During the Asian qualifiers, Fazekas, Watanabe and Hachimura were clearly difference-makers helping the team post eight straight victories. But all three never played at the same time.
"I played in a few games last year during the Asian qualifiers, but there was always someone missing," Hachimura said, referring to the Big Three. "Togashi's out, but now we have the full squad for the World Cup. And hopefully, I'll be leading the team with my leadership and my game."
Fazekas played with Hachimura in two games during the Asian qualifiers, while he met Watanabe in person for the first time on Tuesday. The Colorado native said that Hachimura "looks better than he did last time" he took the court with the 21-year-old forward, while Watanabe will give Japan good size at the small forward position.
"I'm excited for the three of us to get out there," said the 210-cm center, who played for the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers in the late 2000s. And it's just exciting we get the full team now."
Lamas has stressed that his squad will face tough challenges at the World Cup, where the Akatsuki Five will meet Turkey, the Czech Republic and the United States in the first round. Yet he said that the team he assembled is "the best version" the country is able to produce at the moment .
"This is the best team we can have. There's no doubt about it," the Argentine said.
IowaSERE
Hopefully someday soon we will have a player representing the US in the FIBA games.
exclusivelee
Originally Posted by IowaSERE
John Stockton in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, Zach Collins in the 2015 U18 3x3
soccerdud
Originally Posted by sittingon50
Originally Posted by exclusivelee
I'll give you John Stockton, but ZC hadnt worn a Zag uniform before the u18 3x3.
Japan kicked off a two-game home series versus New Zealand with a win.
By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Rui Hachimura powered Japan to the 99-89 victory against New Zealand on Monday. The 21-year-old forward of the Washington Wizards posted a game-high 35 points, also tallied 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in the first half of the home series versus the Tall Blacks.
Nick Fazekas followed with 21 points and 7 rebounds, Yudai Baba added 12 points and Joji Takeuchi 10. On the losing side, Tai Webster put up 18 points, Isaac Fotu had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Corey Webster added 14 points.
Japan is part of Group E in the World Cup alongside Turkey, the Czech Republic and the United States. New Zealand was drawn with Brazil, Montenegro and Greece in Group F. The two national teams will meet again at Tokyo on Wednesday.
ZagMan in Philly
Philadelphia Suburb
Good to see Rui hitting those threes. Free throws will come around more consistently.
This highlight film is in Japanese, but it's still fun to follow for the crowd reactions to Rui's heroics:
TexasZagFan
Leads to me believe that the speculation surrounding his shoe contract with the Jordan Brand could be worth more than $200 million is not unfounded.


Keeled Scales was started by two musicians in Austin, Texas. We put out our first release in June 2014.
Seth Whaland plays bass in Tres Oui. He also played in the band Literature and co-ran Natrix Natrix Records from 2004-2009, which was a cassette and vinyl label that also hosted legendary house shows in southwest Austin. Acts that played the Natrix Natrix House include Deer Tick, Woods, Real Estate, The Shivers, Jonny Fritz, Liz Isenberg, Simon Joyner, and Charlie McAlister.
Tony Presley has played music as Real Live Tigers since 2004, playing hundreds of shows in the US, Canada, and Europe. He's lived at several house venues, including the Natrix Natrix House, Jesse's Bed & Breakfast, and Track House in Austin, as well as the Dinosaur House in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He also co-ran an art space in Fayetteville called Lalaland that is still active.
Keeled Scales currently curates a house show series at Track House that hosts mostly acoustic touring and local acts. You can follow our facebook page for news about those.
We've also been really fortunate to add Elise to our staff as a project manager.


We Buy and Sell Games and Consoles as well as Host The Best Tournaments In CT!
Come Play our friendly FNM's every Friday. We have $5 Standard at 6PM and $12 Draft at 8PM.
Every Saturday 2:30PM - 6PM Free To Play for All Ages.
We have Video Game tournaments on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for over 7 differents games.


This is a must do for everyone's bucket list a ride on a Gondola in Venice.
Venice has always been one of the most enchanting and pleasant destinations in the world, a unique place that combines the wondrous beauty of its lagoon and the authentic layout of the city with a rich cultural heritage coming from many centuries of being an important maritime power. During this private tour, you will discover Venice aboard a typical gondola: an unforgettable experience that will last forever.
The gondolas of Venice have long been a favorite means of transportation among the web of canals and islands of the city. While for centuries only the noble and rich had the privilege of owning a gondola, today we give you the opportunity to embark in a gondola private tour of Venice and discover the authentic charm of the city from the water.
One of the most thrilling and romantic ways to explore Venice, a gondola tour is the perfect experience in this fascinating city. As you cruise the Grand Canal and other waterways, you will certainly be amazed by the lavish palaces and other landmarks that embellish the banks, such as the world-famous Rialto Bridge.
Discover the magnificent heritage of Venice while peacefully floating past the iconic views of La Serenissima. This private tour in Venice is truly worth experiencing by anyone who wishes to go beyond the usual tours.
During this private gondola tour in Venice, you will get to see and admire the true craft of the gondoliers, veritable artists at steering and making your ride perfectly enjoyable.
As much part of Venice as its built heritage, the traditions of gondolas and gondoliers can certainly add to the overall understanding of the destination. So get ready for a fascinating and unforgettable journey in Venice.
Please note that a maximum of 6 people per gondola is allowed. The price above refers to the minimum price per person, who will occur in the case of a party of 6 people sharing the gondola.
During the summer, we suggest you to bring solar protection and a bottle of water; durint the winter, bring an umbrella.


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Steve Evets and Eric Cantona share a Zen moment.
(2009) Family Drama (IFC) Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop, Gerard Kearns, Stefan Gumbs, Lucy-Jo Hudson, Cole Williams, Dylan Williams, Matthew McNulty, Laura Ainsworth, Maxton Beesley, Kelly Bowland. Directed by Ken Loach
We all need a little help once in awhile. Sometimes we turn to friends or loved ones, sometimes to a professional. However, when we are being advised by a personal hero, are we just hearing what we want to hear? Or is the advice worthwhile?
Eric Bishop (Evets) is a postal worker in Manchester whose life is falling apart. His stepsons are drifting into thuggery – especially his son Ryan (Kearns) under whose floorboards he finds a drug dealer's gun – and he regrets walking out on his wife Lily (Bishop) after the birth of his daughter Sam (Hudson), who now has a baby of her own.
He's 50 and the regrets of a life that he realizes has been messed up beyond all recognition are beginning to sink in. After an impromptu therapy session and the smoking of some stolen weed, Bishop hallucinates his favorite football (what he call soccer – not the American kind) hero Eric Cantona (playing himself) from his beloved Manchester United side popping in to give him advice.
At first Bishop chalks it up to the stress but when Cantona begins to turn up more often he kind of just goes with it. As Ryan's involvement with the drug dealer begins to escalate into a conflict, Bishop's friends try to help him out of his jam. However, can anything help him win back his lost love again?
Director Ken Loach is one of England's best-known and most respected directors. He has a knack for capturing working class Englishmen realistically and naturally. This may be his most mainstream film to date, looking at an ordinary Joe as he reaches the half century mark, full of regrets, stressed out by life and longing for simpler times.
The movie probably would have gotten wider release over here but the language and situation is steadfastly and unapologetically English; most distributors felt (and rightly so) that Americans wouldn't have the patience for a movie of this nature. I honestly can't blame them on that score.
However it is a shame – this is the kind of movie that leaves you with a very warm feeling inside. Evets and Cantona have a lovely rapport that infuses the movie with its charm and a certain amount of quirkiness. Cantona seems to have a gentle sense of self-parody, particularly with the image of a cocky, arrogant footballer; he plays trumpet, and he has a little bit of eccentricity as well that is refreshing. Professional athletes are often zealous about maintaining a certain image, so it's refreshing to see one that is willing to look a little bit out of the box in that regard.
Evets is to my mind a big find here. He plays the embattled postal worker with a certain amount of honesty and grace. His Eric Bishop isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, nor does he have all the answers. He's made some critical mistakes in his life and doesn't have a hope of erasing all the ill will he's generated over the years and yet he's willing to try and make amends. Better late than never, I say, and watching Evets occasionally stumble through his issues makes him more relatable to my mind.
This is a movie that I don't think was given much of a chance in the States and while I understand where distributors came from, this is one of those movies that I think deserve to be given a chance. There is always a small segment of American moviegoers who will find a movie that is well-made, even if they don't always understand the cultural norms behind it. I'm sure if I lived in England and understood the working-class Mancunian culture I'd have had a greater appreciation for Looking for Eric but like the multiple meaning title, there's plenty to appreciate even if you know nothing about Eric Cantona or the English working class.
WHY RENT THIS: As a slice of life for working class England, this is outstanding.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The jargon and accent may be a little difficult for the American audience to understand, as well as some of the football background.
FAMILY VALUES: There's plenty of foul language and a little bit of violence.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Both Evets and Cantona are better known for other professions; Cantona as a professional footballer, Evets as a former bassist for The Fall.
NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: While there isn't much on the DVD edition, the Blu-Ray has a couple of short films, a music video and a roundtable Q&A with director Ken Loach, star Steve Evets and soccer great Eric Cantona.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $11.5M on an unreported production budget; my guess is that the movie was profitable.
TOMORROW: Accepted
This entry was posted in DVD Review and tagged cinema, divorce, drug dealers, DVD Reviews, English cinema, Eric Cantona, family abandonment, family drama, Films, football, football fan, IFC, Ken Loach, Looking for Eric, Manchester, movies, postal worker, soccer, Steve Evets, thugs by carlosdev. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
package dialogflow.cx;

// [START dialogflow_cx_v3_detect_intent_sentiment_analysis]

import com.google.api.gax.rpc.ApiException;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.DetectIntentRequest;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.DetectIntentResponse;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.QueryInput;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.QueryParameters;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.QueryResult;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.SessionName;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.SessionsClient;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.SessionsSettings;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.TextInput;
import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

public class DetectIntentSentimentAnalysis {

  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, ApiException {
    String projectId = "my-project-id";
    String locationId = "global";
    String agentId = "my-agent-id";
    String sessionId = "my-UUID";
    List<String> texts = new ArrayList<>(List.of("my-list", "of-texts"));
    String languageCode = "en";

    detectIntent(projectId, locationId, agentId, sessionId, texts, languageCode);
  }

  // DialogFlow API Detect Intent sample with sentiment analysis.
  public static Map<String, QueryResult> detectIntent(
      String projectId,
      String locationId,
      String agentId,
      String sessionId,
      List<String> texts,
      String languageCode)
      throws IOException, ApiException {
    SessionsSettings.Builder sessionsSettingsBuilder = SessionsSettings.newBuilder();
    if (locationId.equals("global")) {
      sessionsSettingsBuilder.setEndpoint("dialogflow.googleapis.com:443");
    } else {
      sessionsSettingsBuilder.setEndpoint(locationId + "-dialogflow.googleapis.com:443");
    }
    SessionsSettings sessionsSettings = sessionsSettingsBuilder.build();

    Map<String, QueryResult> queryResults = Maps.newHashMap();

    // Instantiates a client by setting the session name.
    // Format:`projects/<ProjectID>/locations/<LocationID>/agents/<AgentID>/sessions/<SessionID>`

    // Note: close() needs to be called on the SessionsClient object to clean up resources
    // such as threads. In the example below, try-with-resources is used,
    // which automatically calls close().
    try (SessionsClient sessionsClient = SessionsClient.create(sessionsSettings)) {
      SessionName session =
          SessionName.ofProjectLocationAgentSessionName(projectId, locationId, agentId, sessionId);

      // TODO : Uncomment if you want to print session path
      // System.out.println("Session Path: " + session.toString());

      // Detect intents for each text input.
      for (String text : texts) {
        // Set the text (hello) for the query.
        TextInput.Builder textInput = TextInput.newBuilder().setText(text);

        // Build the query with the TextInput and language code (en-US).
        QueryInput queryInput =
            QueryInput.newBuilder().setText(textInput).setLanguageCode(languageCode).build();

        // Build the query parameters to analyze the sentiment of the query.
        QueryParameters queryParameters =
            QueryParameters.newBuilder().setAnalyzeQueryTextSentiment(true).build();

        // Build the DetectIntentRequest with the SessionName, QueryInput, and QueryParameters.
        DetectIntentRequest request =
            DetectIntentRequest.newBuilder()
                .setSession(session.toString())
                .setQueryInput(queryInput)
                .setQueryParams(queryParameters)
                .build();

        // Performs the detect intent request.
        DetectIntentResponse response = sessionsClient.detectIntent(request);

        // Display the query result.
        QueryResult queryResult = response.getQueryResult();

        // TODO : Uncomment if you want to print queryResult
        // System.out.println("====================");
        // SentimentAnalysisResult sentimentAnalysisResult =
        //     queryResult.getSentimentAnalysisResult();
        // Float score = sentimentAnalysisResult.getScore();

        queryResults.put(text, queryResult);
      }
    }
    return queryResults;
  }
}
// [END dialogflow_cx_v3_detect_intent_sentiment_analysis]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Tag Archives: Spy thriller
Mick Herron – London Rules
Posted by Lady Fancifull in Fiction, Reading, Thriller and Suspense
Book Review, London Rules, Mick Herron, Slough House Book 5, Spy thriller
Official (Mick Herron Avoider of Spoilers) Secrets Act Signed!
Mick Herron's marvellously funny, horribly plausible, politically too close for comfort, twisty, turny sequence of spooks-on-the-prowl novels continues, all guns effortlessly blazing for another 5 star review with this one.
For those new to Herron's 'Slough House, Jackson Lamb' series, good though Book 5 (this one) is, and despite the fact that yes, each book can be read as a stand-alone, I would strongly, strongly suggest you race away and get the first book in the series, Slow Horses, and then, with increasing immersion and enjoyment, book on book, work your way through Dead Lions, Real Tigers and Spook Street, in order. This one will still be waiting for you, and you will enjoy it even more as you will be meeting old friends and foes, and come to this one with even more pleasure than would have been the case if you began in the middle.
Herron with each book is rather taking on the changing political events that have happened since he wrote the previous book.
His books follow MI5 (his version of it) here cited as 'Regent's Park, and the various power struggles that might exist between M15 and the Home Office, not to mention the Prime Minister, and the police, in defence of the Realm.
However – don't think anything like the glamour world of espionage. Rather, what goes on at the grubby (very grubby) edges. 'Slough House' is where those who failed, spectacularly, to make the grade, get shunted, to carry out the tedious work which the glamorous ones will need – the checking of licence plates, the trawl through electoral registers, the watching of hours of video footage. These are the sorry Z listers of MI5. Each of them has a back story, each a present which seems hopeless, each still hopes, somehow, to get back to the cutting edge of spookiness.
The band of marvellous failures are led by a gargantuan figure. Jackson Lamb is Falstaff without the joy, cruel as a shark, savage in his wit, – he comes out of the same reprehensible mould as another much loved monster Gene Hunt from Life of Mars – except, Jackson is far far sharper in devious intelligence.
(I couldn't resist a glance back at the Gene Genie)
In this series Herron has a chilling finger on the button of the dangerous society we are sometimes aware we are living in, whilst managing to crack open the kind of back stabbing, juggles for power and position which we know goes on in large organisations, all wrapped up with cutting edge humour. And a delicious number of twists, turns, feints and dives to have the readers' jaws dropping over and over. Nothing will be quite what it seems, and Herron will have done something coming out of left field again. And will get this reader, almost every time. Sometimes with an 'oh no, oh NO' moment – the life of a spook is a dangerous one, after all – sometimes with a shout of joy at the audaciousness of an event.
For firm fans of the series – the Slow Horse in the spotlight here is geeky Roderick Ho. Against the odds, Ho, imagining himself as the cool, sexy Rodster (this one really does think he is James Bond) has acquired a girl friend. The other horses in the field at the end of book 4, Spook Street, are all in place. And back at 'Regent Park' Lady Di, still second desk, is plotting and planning as only she can…….
and with no need to caricature these caricatures, you might just spot not-a-million-miles-away…………………………..
In the world of Westminster and party politics are various figures who might seem more than a little familiar, or conglomerates of such figures. For example, the hail fellow-well met leader of a populist party and a vituperative columnist on a tabloid newspaper who is not at all averse to the spinning of fake news, especially if it will help her man into power. Any resemblance to any real figure is probably quite deliberate………
I received this, very gratefully, as a digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher, John Murray Books, and sincerely hope Mr Herron is well along with book 6.
London Rules UK
London Rules USA
Mick Herron – The List
Posted by Lady Fancifull in Fiction, Reading, Short stories, Thriller and Suspense
Book Review, Mick Herron, Spy thriller, The List
Slough House Appetiser before the banquet…..
Whilst waiting for my next big fix – Volume 5 of Mick Herron's wonderful Jackson Lamb series, I discovered the existence of this small novella. I think there may be more, similar, presumably little bonnes bouches which Herron crafts on the side for impatient fans of the series
Dieter Hess, an elderly agent, run by someone from Regent's Park, has died. Ferocious, steely Diana Taverner, Number 2 desk, and a brilliant creation in the series, discovers there is more to this than meets the eye. The agent's handler, John Bachelor someone on the verge of seedy himself (though urbane, sophisticated and classy compared to Jackson Lamb) is terrified of Tavener (isn't everyone except Lamb?) 'Lady Di' as she is known, without affection, makes it clear to Bachelor that any messes resulting from Hess's death will not be dealt with by her, and Bachelor will pay all prices – it appears Hess may have been a double agent.
Bachelor must come up with a skin-saving solution, and fast.
It was extraordinary, thought Coe, how much a badly dressed shoeless fat man could look like a crocodile
The denizens of Slough House are not really centre stage in this one, though Jackson Lamb and Catherine Standish do memorably appear in an encounter with a rookie agent who Bachelor fingers for his fall guy, just as Tavener has fingered him. Big sharks eat smaller sharks who feast on smaller sharks still
Catherine turned .."by the way, what is that round your neck?"
"Somebody's scarf. Found it in the kitchen" . Lamb scratched the back of his neck. "There's a draught."
"Yes, keep it on. Don't want you catching cold."
She went back to her own office to ring Coe, thinking: So that's where the tea towel went.
This takes a pleasurable hour to read, and reminds the reader, if they enjoy the teasing twists in this one, how much more nail-biting, heart-breaking, and audacious those twists are likely to get in the full length, London Rules, available early in February.
Not to mention, funny, amongst the darkness, Lamb is a glorious, obscene presence.
Modestly priced on Kindle, seriously overpriced in wood
The List UK
The List USA
John le Carré – Call for the Dead
Posted by Lady Fancifull in Classic writers and their works, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Reading, Thriller and Suspense
Book Review, Call for the Dead, Espionage, John le Carré, Spy thriller, The Cold War
The Freezing Fog of the Cold War : George Smiley 1
Despite being fascinated by espionage – the hidden stuff of it, and the psychology of those who do it, rather than the glitzy Bond aspects – I have somehow never read le Carré, nor seen or heard the TV or radio adaptations of his books.
This, then his first book, is my first outing too with George Smiley, loner, a quiet man, with a private life full of some sorrow, as his rather glamorous, society wife, an unlikely match, has done the more expected thing and run off with a glamour playboy.
Set in the late 50's/early 60's, as the Cold War was getting close to freeze point, this is as much a murder mystery as a spy thriller. Smiley recently interrogated a Foreign Office official who had come under the radar of possibly passing information to East Germany. He had been pretty certain that the man, Fennan, was in the clear, and had given him understanding that this would be his conclusion. The interview, an informal one, ended amicably on both sides. Except that Fennan then killed himself, and, even more curiously, posted a letter to Smiley on the same evening requesting a meeting.
The familiar face of George Smiley: Sir Alec Guinness in dry and wintry mode
I found this an interesting and atmospheric read, melancholy, cerebral and with nice and understated humour and a good evocation of time and place, as the following section shows. Smiley has gone to the dead man's Surrey home, there to try and make sense of events, which do not quite seem to add up :
Merridale Lane is one of those corners of Surrey where the inhabitants wage a remorseless battle against the stigma of suburbia. Trees, fertilized and cajoled into being in every front garden half obscure the poky 'Character dwellings' which crouch behind them. The rusticity of the environment is enhanced by the wooden owls that keep guard over the names of houses, and by crumbling dwarves indefatigably posed over goldfish ponds. The inhabitants of Merridale Lane do not paint their dwarves, suspecting this to be a suburban vice
There are some interesting relationships which are clearly quite strong ones, but hidden behind an understated English reserve. Aiding Smiley in his investigations are a couple of professional colleagues, Mendel and Guillam, both of whom go the distance in what is after all, a dangerous pursuit – the hunting down of those who are prepared to kill in the service of a theory and philosophy. There is a subtext of masculine friendships, strong, clearly, but the emotional connections are not spoken about: this is stiff upper lip land, in time and in place. 'Feeling' language belongs to Fennan's widow, Elsa, a German refugee, survivor of the war :
it's an old illness you suffer from, Mr Smiley………..and I have seen many victims of it. The mind becomes separated from the body; it thinks without reality, rules a paper kingdom and devises without emotion the ruin of its paper victims. But sometimes the division between your world and ours is incomplete; the files grow heads and arms and legs, and that's a terrible moment, isn't it. The names have families as well as records, and human motives to explain the sad little dossiers and their make-believe sins….The State is a dream too, a symbol of nothing at all, an emptiness, a mind without a body, a game played with clouds in the sky
There are obviously a lot of wheels within wheels plots to be unravelled, and the reader is in that rather enjoyable place where almost everyone might come under some kind of suspicion. Histories – both personal and the history of conflicts between states and ideologies are under investigation.
James Mason in Sidney Lumet's The Deadly Affair
This was filmed as 'The Deadly Affair, directed by Sidney Lumet, and starring James Mason, Simone Signoret and Maximilian Schell, it presumably takes some liberties, not least of which is the renaming of George Smiley as Dobbs
Call for the Dead Amazon UK
Mick Herron – Spook Street
Book Review, Espionage, Jackson Lamb series, Mick Herron, Slough House Book 4, Spook Street, Spy thriller
Fantastic, breathtaking, audacious and exhausting – but read the series in order for maximum enjoyment
Introducing Slough House and the Slow Horses for those coming to the series via Book 4 I though I strongly suggest, starting with book 1, and getting to this one in sequence:
The series follows a group of Z lister sppoks, and also the high fliers of the A listers of MI5, who run policy and do the high octane stuff. Slough House is where former MI5 personnel, who have fouled up in some way either through character defects or evidence of some kind of incompetence, are put out to paid grass. Someone has to do the boring stuff of videocam checks, and trawl through vehicle licence plates and phone records, and getting the disgraced 'Slow Horses' to do this, stops redundancy pay outs and legal cases. Chances are, the Slow Horse will resign due to extreme tedium, hence, no payout, and there will always be others to demote to Horsedom. To a man and woman, the Slow Horses regret their prior high flying status, and hope against hope that some kind of saving the world and defence of the realm activity will come their way, and they might, therefore return to the fold of MI5. In their own way, each of this fascinating group of misfits is more than capable
They are led by a monstrous, Rabelasian (at least in turns of various odoriferous bodily emissions and capacity to indulge alcohol, junk food and tobacco) man, Jackson Lamb. Lamb is the least lamb like creature imaginable. Irascible, bullying, grubby, obnoxious and lethal, sharp as a whole army of lasers and with, despite his lack of obvious appeal, a great loyalty to the band of 'joes' he rules and insults. Despite the drudgery of desk work, the Slow Horses are still involved in dangerous activities. Over the course of the books some have died, new characters have come to take their places, and some, there from the start, are still with us, though the danger of their work makes the reader wonder from whence the heartache of losing a strange old friend from an earlier book, will come
Herron brings different Horses into the leaders of each book's race, and some characters met much earlier might be very very slow horses, waiting their turn to gallop to the death or marginal glory finish.
Central to this book is the aging David Cartwright. Almost 'First Desk' during the Cold War, he is now living in quiet retirement in the country, beginning to slide into dementia. An elderly spook, becoming loose lipped and garrulous might have dangerous secrets to unwittingly spill. And there might be several interested in plugging such a leak before it happens.
I must confess to some small disappointment with the previous book in the series, Real Tigers, though not disappointed enough to not want to proceed on to the next.
Dazzle Ship – H.M.S. President
Very happily, Spook Street has gone stratospheric in my estimation. So stratospheric that I had to stop reading at times because Herron had taken me to a place where I hardly dared to advance, because of fear and grief of what might be to come. A writer does something particularly brilliant when they take a reader to a place of 'in denial' – I don't think I can bear to know more, I can't bear to not know. Suspense, anxiety, on the edge.
All through the series, from the very first page of Slow Horses, Herron has thrown justified shocks, surprises, feints, and reverses at his readers. This one though, has him pretty well surpassing himself, because, of course, we are now invested in each Slow Horse.
As ever I can't give any information (or very little) on this one, as each reader deserves to read in innocence, in order to get the greatest level of involvement and commitment to each of Herron's wonderful cast of characters
As in book 3 the main focus from which danger and bad deeds arise is internal – from within the organisation itself, where various individuals struggle for higher status and power over others. Some of the usual suspects are still to be found within MI5, but others are on the rise or fall. Danger of course also lurks without, from those who seek to undermine the system, but some of those within have shady ways of protecting the system, and shadier ways still of protecting their own selves.
The Horses themselves, flawed, flatulent, antisocial and strange as they may be, are still the ones with moral compasses – more than others who stalk these pages, they have a loyalty to each other, however much each of them may violently dislike or despise a fellow Horse
And London itself, as so often, is a major character in this book, in both her grime and her splendour
I am minded, whilst we now have a protracted wait whilst Herron decides how much further to ride his horses, to start a prior series by him, following the fortunes of a private detective, but with, no doubt his trademark signatures of sharp writing, wit, danger, strong characterisation, twisty plot – and surprises a plenty
I received this, as a serendipitous ARC from Amazon Vine. It certainly looked like an example of meaningful targeting as I bought books 1,2, and 3 in the series in extremely rapid succession. Payback time now though…as this one has only recently been published…now all I can do is wait. I hope Herron is writing, writing, writing
Spook Street Amazon UK
Spook Street Amazon USA
Mick Herron – Real Tigers
Book Review, Espionage, Jackson Lamb series, Mick Herron, Real Tigers, Slough House Book 3, Spy thriller
A little more formulaic than the earlier outings
Being so entranced by Mick Herron's Slough House series, which I discovered early this year, has had its down-side. Real Tigers, the third of (so far) 4, has been read pretty quickly after reading book 2, which was almost instantaneously dived into after finishing book 1.
Normally, readers will be waiting eagerly for the next to come out, and may well have forgotten an author's tics or tricks. Not so, this way of reading.
The last time I was feverishly sucked into total immersion by an author, was by Irish writer, Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, a couple of years ago. I read all of French's long books, – at that time, 5 of them within an intense 6 weeks. And I have to say that French survived this immersion fabulously, as I did not ever feel 'oh, that routine again'
Where she scores and where Herron just misses, is that French does not stay with the same central cast of characters, who must either develop or recycle themselves into their own predictability. Using the Murder Squad as a pool, or chorus, each of her books features a couple of members of that squad taking a place in the spotlight. She might allow some of the detectives more than one outing, even more than one outing in some kind of central position, but her characters don't outstay their welcome, and, anyway, are dynamic, shifting, developing.
Whilst Herron, in his wonderfully tense'second team' espionage books, does keep some kind of unpredictable page turning going, the challenge is, his central players stay the same, and the most archetypal,verge-of-caricature ones, can begin to feel as if they are running through their own grooves, merely driving them a little more predictably. So, in Real Tigers, it is the grossly unregenerate Jackson Lamb – flatulent, autocratic, bullying and disgustingly grubby, who comes off the worst. By book 3, I was well aware that we were heading up to another fart gag, another description of Lamb's far from fragrant aromatic ambience/ Likewise, sex-obsessed, but permanently sex-denied, geeky Roderick Ho continues to be a butt of some rather similar jokes and put downs.
I suspect I might have enjoyed Real Tigers rather more if I had read it at the time of publication, after waiting eagerly having finished book 2. Dead Lions, at its publication.
Nonetheless, Real Tigers, which has as its central motif the dark doings and power struggles within M15 itself, rather than the dangers posed by external villainry, was a still enjoyable and page turning divertissement, and Herron still gives lots of unpredictable excitement and surprises in the journey. But also, more clichés. There is a prolonged version of a Shoot-Out at the Okay Corral, and I did find it less than credible because I was always aware that I was reading that trope, which went on far too long.
As an aside, I continue to be quite amazed that (as far as I know) Herron has never been sued by the current denizen of the Foreign Office. Set after the 2015 election, but before the referendum, Peter Judd, (PJ) Home Secretary, a devious, bombastic, floppy haired egomaniac with manic ambition, ever prepared to plot and plan and shift with the wind in order to achieve his dream to become PM, is not so much a thinly disguised Boris Johnson, as one completely without disguise!
The most interesting character in this one, and one who has been developing across the books, is Catherine Standish, Jackson Lamb's PA.
I do recommend this – but also, recommend leaving decent gaps between the books!
Unfortunately though, this book follows reasonably hard on the heels of my last blog review, as though I have read several other titles in the last few weeks, not one of them was any better than 'okay' in my estimation, so have been un-reviewed here. The only one which will get blog space is so far in advance of publication that it will do the book no service to be blogged about for a couple of months. So its Herron and Herron!
Real Tigers Amazon UK
Real Tigers Amazon USA
Mick Herron – Dead Lions
Posted by Lady Fancifull in Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Reading, Thriller and Suspense
Book Review, Dead Lions, Espionage, MI5, Mick Herron, Spy thriller
"Grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind" (Ode: Intimations of Immortality, Wordsworth)
So………having encountered Mick Herron's first in his Jackson Lamb series, a bare week or so ago, I was utterly unable to resist downloading and compulsively devouring book 2. And (whispers): it might be even better
In Dead Lions, Mick Herron's second Slough House/Jackson Lamb series spy thriller, Herron has further sharpened his pencil, turned up the dry wit, turned up the reverses to wrong foot (justifiably) the reader. And he has turned up the shock and the darkness, having softened up the reader by the effortless amusement in the earlier part of the book.
there was something about him, even leaving aside the secondhand clothing, the stained walls, the desperate address. Something off, like that gap between the use by date, and the moment the milk turns
But, be warned, killer punches are coming
Of course I recommend, highly, starting with Book 1,Slow Horses, getting to meet the characters, as different members of the second division of MI5 (or, perhaps even relegated lower than that) will come to the forefront and centre of Herron's focus, and you will be deepening your knowledge of, and appreciation for, the spooks you meet (old and new) in Dead Lions
However, Herron has constructed his books well, and finds a way to introduce any needed back story and character details for new readers picking up book 2 by chance.
The storyline in this book, published in 2013, has Russia at its centre (and how topical might this be?) But this is a new Russia. Some of the spooks who have been around for a while are still stuck in an old Cold War scenario, where communism and capitalism square up against each other. Russia, as many have noted of late, has moved markedly rightwards, and its interests may no longer be in helping the workers of the world, who have nothing to lose but their chains, to unite.
An old, not very high flying, not very valuable, spook from the days of the fall of the Berlin Wall, sees a face he recognises. This (British) cipher clerk, was too lowly, too incompetent, even to merit deployment to 'Slough House' where spooks who have fouled up, get shafted to end their days as pen pushers, CCTV footage perusers, in order for government to avoid redundancy golden handshakes. In the fullness of time, is the thinking, the demoted ones will get fed up, and hand in their notice, saving payouts.
The ex-spook seeing a face from the past decides to trail the man from the other side, he last saw, memorably, at the end of the 80s. And so begins a whole, complex, twisty tangle of information, disinformation, plots, sub-plots, and things which are very much not what they seem.
It is set partly in the epicentre – London, and partly in that most English of English, safe, old fashioned, cosy part of the country, the Cotswolds – though a part of it not quite mainstream tourist destination:
Upshott has no high street, not like those in nearby villages, with their parades of mock-Tudor frontages gracefully declining riverwards….;whose grocery stores offer stem-ginger biscuits and seven kinds of pesto….. Because Upshott doesn't invite the epithet 'chocolate boxy' , so often delivered through gritted teeth. If it resembles any kind of chocolate box, it's the kind found on the shelf at its only supermarket: coated with dust, its cellophane crackly and yellowing
Some of the characters met in the first book are here again – but some are not. Espionage, even for the Slow Horses of Slough House is a dangerous game. And the more Herron invests the reader in each of the characters he develops, the more, I suspect, will reading subsequent books be a mixture of feverish page turning pleasure – and pain.
Yes. I cried, where I had laughed before.
Book 3 is now downloaded on the eReader, and I have book 4 (the latest) as an ARC Herron is THAT compulsive, THAT good.
Dead Lions won the 2013 CWA Gold Dagger Award, and was a 'Best Crime Novel of the Year' for BBC Radio 4's Front Row, and A Times crime and thriller book of the year. And I wouldn't argue with any of that
Dead Lions Amazon UK
Dead Lions Amazon USA
Mick Herron – Slow Horses
Book Review, Espionage, Jackson Lamb series, MI5, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, Spooks, Spy thriller
Borstal for spies; Herron trips, feints and cleverly deceives the reader every step of the way
Mick Herron's Slow Horses, the first book in a series set in 'Slough House' a kind of transfer to the bottom stream for spooks from MI5 who have made mistakes, is stunning. Absolutely stunning.
This is a highly intelligent, tautly written, compulsive page-turner, with a plot as highly charged and twisty turny as any reader could want, wonderfully complex, believable characters, and founded in a reality which seems terrifyingly plausible. It is bloody, violent – and, at times, very very funny.
He was aiming for a carefree delivery, with about as much success as Gordon Brown
I have found my series to compulsively read on – book 4 comes out this year and I've been fortunate to have bagged a copy as an ARC, but, 2 and 3 will be read in order first – if I can stop the dizzy spin I'm left in, reading this one.
The unfortunate challenge of writing a review, is that really, there is almost nothing I wish to say about plot – or even the cast of characters, because the best way to read this is to know as little as possible about the journey, other than to make it.
All that might be useful to know, is that the title, 'Slow Horses' is a kind of dismissive word play, accorded to the Z lister spooks, fallen from grace, who now work at Slough House. One and all, they were operatives who, for different reasons, had been attracted to the boxing-at-shadows work of MI5, recruited for their spook-needed skills, trained for this, but, in each case somehow failed the grade, dropped a catch, failed to tick the right box. Now, they all do the grunt work associated with counter terrorism, the endless checking of videocams, CCTV, paper trails. And all are resentful and yearn to be back at the high, respected levels of the job.
The only name I will provide is that of Jackson Lamb – as in, this is the first in Herron's Jackson Lamb series. He heads up the crew of misfits, who have ended up here. Bullying, and shambolic, disliked by his subordinates and superiors, he is none the less as devious, intelligent, astute at pulling wool over eyes and mastering dissimulation as a spook must be.
He resembled, someone had once remarked, Timothy Spall gone to seed (which left open the question of what Timothy Spall not gone to seed might look like)
Having finished this one, I have no real idea where Herron might go with the later books in the series. My instinct is that we will certainly be meeting some of the 'Slow Horses' denizens of Slough House – not to mention the MI5 high flier section, – again, and I suspect different characters will, in subsequent books, come into sharper relief, and take place centre stage. In this, the closet parallel I can find is to the magnificent Tana French, who does a similar 'Greek tragedy chorus' effect with her Dublin Murder Squad series – each book focuses on different central characters in the squad, some of whom may have made passing appearances earlier, and are now centre stage, and may well pass through again in a later book, as a minor character in someone else's story. When I first found French, I did a kind of total immersion and read all her books in the space of 6 weeks.
I can see myself heading the same way with Herron.
But, I have to hold back from saying even the most basic about plot, or other central characters beside Lamb because Herron starts the dissimulation and confounds the reader's expectations right from the start, and you will be best pleased to read as an innocent, without knowing or second guessing in advance.
this particular block seemed ordinary enough in the early morning, with its shared entrance and its buzzer system that blinked continuously. Only the sign promising CCTV coverage hinted at Big Brother's world, but signs were cheaper than the actual thing. The UK might be the most surveilled society in the world, but that was on the public purse, and building management companies generally preferred the cheaper option of hanging a fake camera
All I will say is that none of the sleights of hand, the cutting between different stories all heading in the same direction, deviously and twistily, is a gratuitous authorial series of tricks, coinicidences too far etc. The territory of the book, after all is one where no one is quite what they seem, because the territory of intelligence, counter-intelligence and their friends and enemies is, of its nature – hidden, deceptive, shadowy.
However…..this book was first published in 2010. There is a remarkably foresighted view of the future, and a thinly disguised character readers will 'enjoy' recognising. I guffawed out loud on a silent tube carriage………….Of course, humour gets laced with horror these days.
I wonder what else Herron is predicting in later books in the series, and sincerely hope book 4 (published in 2017) won't have World War 3 in mid-throes.
Slow Horses Amazon UK
Slow Horses Amazon USA


text:
Q: The number of the ring isomorphism, $\phi$ : $\mathbb{Z}_p[x] \to \mathbb{Z}_p[x]$ for prime number, $p$(please let me know my mistakes.) The number of the ring isomorphism, $\phi$ :  $\mathbb{Z}_p[x] \to \mathbb{Z}_p[x]$ for prime number, $p$
I knew the answer is $p(p-1)$ already.
Here is my solution. Since the $\mathbb Z_p[x]$ is a P.I.D and $\mathbb{Z}_p[x] \lhd \mathbb{Z}_p[x]$
So, $\exists f(x) \in  \mathbb Z_p[x]  s.t.$ $\langle f(x) \rangle = \mathbb Z_p[x]$
I don't know the exact form of the $f(x)$, But I can surely say the existence of the $f(x)$ because of the P.I.D. Considering a any unit(or constant) $c$ in $\mathbb Z_p[x]$, Then $f(x) \vert c(\in \mathbb Z_p)$. So the $deg f =0$, Hence the $f = c$ . (I.e. $\mathbb Z_p[x] = \langle c  \rangle$ for $c \in \mathbb Z_p$ ) So In this argument, If the $f(x)$ exists, the $f$ would be a unit owing to $c \in \langle f \rangle$ for $c \in \mathbb{Z_p}$
Then, owing to the $\mathbb Z_p[x] = \langle c \rangle = \langle u \rangle$ for $c,u \in \mathbb Z_p$(Here the $c$ and $u$ are units of the $\mathbb Z_p[x]$)
Only we just left is to find the $\phi : \mathbb Z_p[x] \to \mathbb Z_p[x]$ by $c \to u$
So there are $p-1$ units in $\mathbb Z_p[x]$, considering the each $c$ and $u$ respectively, so my answer is $(p-1)^2$.
Which point did I have a mistakes?
Thank you.

A: *

*every ring homomorphism of $\mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]$ its restriction to
$\mathbb{F}_p$ is an identity:

Let be $\varphi$ a ring homomorphism of $\mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]$, for every $n\in\mathbb{Z}$ we have $\varphi(n\times 1) = n \times 1 $, so
$$\varphi\left|_{\mathbb{F}_p}\right. = id $$

*

*every ring homomorphism $\varphi$ of $\ \mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]$ is determinated by $\varphi(X)$

*every ring isomorphism $\varphi$ of $\mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]$, $\varphi(X)$
is polynomial of degree $1$:
$\varphi$ induce an isomorphism:
$$\bar{\varphi} : \mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]/X \to \mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]/\varphi(X) $$
but $\mathbb{F}_p\left[X\right]/X \simeq \mathbb{F}_p$ so degree of $\varphi(X)$ is $1$. so $\varphi(X) = aX + b$ where $a\in\mathbb{F}_p^{\times}$ and $b\in\mathbb{F}_p$


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46th President of the United States: 2021 ‐ present
Statement on the Death of Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz
Few people did as much to shape the trajectory of American diplomacy and American influence in the 20th century as George Shultz. He was a gentleman of honor and ideas, dedicated to public service and respectful debate, even into his 100th year on Earth. That's why multiple Presidents, of both political parties, sought his counsel. I regret that, as President, I will not be able to benefit from his wisdom, as have so many of my predecessors.
For a man so inked into the pages of our history, his mind was always keyed toward the future. He focused on the possibilities of what could be, unhindered by the impasses or deadlocks of the past. That was the vision and dedication that helped guide our Nation through some of its most dangerous periods and ultimately helped create the opening that led to the end the cold war. And, while he and I sometimes argued the opposite sides of issues when I was a young Senator, I was proud to often find common ground on issues vital to the security and prosperity of the American people.
As the driving force behind the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty, Secretary Shultz made real the critical concept that we should work to negotiate with our adversaries where possible in order to make life better and safer for our people. I also admired Secretary Shultz's commitment to pressing for the rights and release of refuseniks, raising them directly with his counterparts in the Soviet Union.
He was a man of incredible courage. Whether it was donning the uniform of the United States Marines to defend the cause of liberty in World War II, or speaking out directly to the President of the United States when he disagreed with a policy, George Shultz knew when to stand and fight. For the young women and men whose minds he helped shape throughout his career, there was no better role model for a life of integrity and service than George Shultz.
Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the entire Shultz family: his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Our Nation mourns his loss along with you even as we honor his lifetime of patriotic service.
NOTE: The statement referred to Charlotte Shultz, wife of former Secretary Shultz.
Joseph R. Biden, Statement on the Death of Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/347968


The Ocean View Phuket Hotel is ideally located in Patong beach area in Phuket. This charming property is standing on the first hills of Patong beach, allowing breathtaking views of the area, while being only about 10 walking minutes away from the beach itself. The hotel is set in a lush tropical garden and enjoys a private outdoor swimming pool for the exclusive use of the guests.
The rooms are all very spacious and are equipped with balcony to enjoy the seaview to the most. The layout and design of the rooms has been done in tune with modern contemporary Thai design to make best use of space in a comfortable and pleasant environment. All the rooms are equipped with cable TV, CD/DVD players, electronic safe and fully stoked minibar, in addition to the furnished balcony Daily room cleaning as free WiFi internet access will make this property a favorite among frequent visitors to the Island.
Great place for relaxing, very peaceful. Staff super friendly and helpful. Clean rooms. Bed is super comfortable. It s a nice resort with a beautiful thai-style garden. Nice pool, wifi is good. We had such a relaxing stay with help from the staff. I can t help but praise this place enough. And for the money can t beat it. An excellent resort that we love it so much! Will visit it again.
Ocean View Phuket is a 10-minute walk from Patong Beach. It boasts an outdoor pool, bar and free private parking. A charming hotel ideally located on the first heights of Patong beach. An oasis of tropical trees and exotic flowers that offer calm and serenity.
Resort offers a combination of qualities and benefits: amazing sea view sea view from all rooms and terrace, pool and bar where you can enjoy the breakfast and later watch the sunset around a delicious cocktail.
Hotel very confidential, private access and its size and location will provide you security, serenity and privacy.
"Ocean View Phuket hotel" is the wise choice for those who want a stunning sea view on the Patong bay and the serenity and relaxing atmosphere while remaining close to the beach and entertaining/nightlife (2 minutes driving, 10 min walking). The Franco-Thai management will offer you advices and support in case of any difficulties you may have during your stay on the Phuket Island.
Ocean View Phuket Hotel is a 20-minute drive from Phuket Town and about 32 km from Phuket International Airport.
All hotel rooms are spacious (30 to 42 m²) have sea view and balcony, individual air conditioning, king size bed (185cm wide) or twin beds (2x105cm). Concept design and contemporary modern Thai style décor provide comfort and guarantee a good night.
Superior rooms with Kitchen are located on the ground floor and offer a sea view. Offering rooms with 32-inch flat-screen TVs their comfort and large dressing are especially appreciated by residents, alone or in couples, wishing to stay for long periods (several weeks to several months).
Superior rooms are located on the first floor of the Hotel and feature panoramic views over the bay of Patong Beach. Comfort and functional aspects are combined with a very reasonable price.
Deluxe rooms are on the second and final level of the hotel. One of the most beautiful panoramic view of Patong Beach. Large dressing room, 32 inch LCD Flat TV, DVD player with USB. Contemporary design and modern Thai style decoration. Rooms completely renovated in 2010.
Stunning sea view, located on the top floor of the hotel. The suite room has a very large wardrobe with safe high capacity, large terrace, lounge area with LCD TV 40 inch screen and DVD player, a spacious bar with large fridge and microwave. Rooms completely renovated in 2010.
Ocean View Phuket hotel offers a swimming pool in an area where exotic flowers and tropical gardens and sea view over the Patong bay are a tasty mix.
The bar is located next to the pool. Breakfast is served poolside with great sea view.
The restaurant/bar is located in a perfect setting for an early or late evening romantic with soft lights, relaxing music, bird songs.
The reception of "Ocean View Phuket" and the bar and terrace overlook the Patong bay and surrounding hills.
Panoramic sea views at all times. Relax with a cocktail party, lean back and enjoy the view.
A massage can be arranged at pool side or in your room Your laptop can be connected 24h/day to free Hi-speed Wi-Fi. You can also receive and send faxes.
"Ocean View Phuket" is working with some salons and spas on the island which offer many combinations of herbal therapies and remedies for beauty - a paradise for beauty and soul! Appointments with all spas, as well as your ticket can be arranged from reception.
The staff will gladly help you plan your trips or excursions: an office is available and displays all the important tours and destinations to visit the island. We select the best companies to offer you a memorable and competitive trip.
Hotel provide also laundry service and car/motorbikes rental: the best way to visit the island.
A charming hotel ideally located on the first heights of Patong beach. An oasis of tropical trees and exotic flowers that offers calm and serenity.


The origin of Grameen can be traced back to 1976 when Professor Muhammad Yunus, launched an action research project to examine the possibility of designing a credit delivery system to provide banking services targeted at the rural poor. This program later developed into a financial institution that provided micro-finance for the small businesses. At present Grameen has replicated its model in 42 countries with more than 7 million borrowers.
Family Bank's Grameen Program provides collateral free Islamic micro-credit to the needy families through door step services.
Grameen Program provides funds from BD500/- to BD3000/-. These funds are given based on the type of investment, business experience of member and number of investment funds taken in the past. All new members are allowed a limit from BD500/- to BD1500/- initially. Repayment period varies from 3 months to maximum 24 months. Once a member has repaid the investment fund initially taken then they are eligible to take the same amount or more, as Additional or second cycle funds, provided that they have paid their installments on time.
Grameen members are also obliged to open a saving account of BD10/- and encouraged to deposit minimum BD5/- every month with every installment. This method within the Grameen Program encourages members to save, manage funds wisely and depend on one self.
As a value added service, Family Bank provides free induction training (two days) to potential customers, through Ta'azeez Program, to enhance the standard of business awareness before financing the individual.


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Simpson, Matsuyama & Longshots to Go Low at Rocket Mortgage Classic
By: Kyle Cunningham-Rhoads
LAST WEEK ON THE PGA TOUR
With a loaded field and only a 65-golfer cut, there were a number of big names who missed the cut. Two of our five picks win, Gary Woodland and Scottie Scheffler, were among the golfers who missed the weekend along with the likes of Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Bubba Watson, and Collin Morikawa, who missed his first cut as a pro. However, three of our five picks to win made the cut, and our hot steak continued with Dustin Johnson hoisting the trophy. Sungjae Im finished tied for 58th and Xander Schauffele tied for 20th.
Now, it's onto the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.
The North Course at Detroit Golf Club is a par 72 course playing 6,936 yards. There are four par 5s, three of which are the easiest holes on the course. It's not a difficult golf course, and viewers should expect to see a barrage of birdies and consistently low scoring. In spite of the four par 5s, driving distance is nullified almost entirely at this course. It's the lowest correlation to success among all of our metrics. Par 4 Strokes Gained, Par 5 Strokes Gained, Scrambling, and Putting are the most important metrics this week.
This week, we've added an additional column to our course graphic. Variance describes where players have the chance to gain the most strokes over the field. The par-4 16th is a good example of a hole where little excitement occurs at all. Last year, it featured 334 pars and 118 non-pars. Compare that to the par-5 17th where there were 208 pars and 244 non-pars. If you're watching this weekend, it can be a handy tool for knowing what's expected of a golfer when he approaches a hole.
GOLFERS WE LIKE THIS WEEK
First and foremost, our model and picks describe value. When we recommend golfers, we're tipping those who are likely to outperform expectations. It's unlikely that we'll recommend top PGA tour players such as Rory McIlroy or John Rahm every week, because they're expected to do well. What we're interested in are golfers who have the skills to overperform their odds, like Daniel Berger three weeks ago, Simpson and Ancer two weeks ago, and Johnson last week. The field is slimmer this week, and the favorites are much more likely to win. There isn't as much value, so we'll focus more on some longshots than the favorites.
TWO FAVORITES TO WIN
Webb Simpson
At 11/1 odds, you wouldn't think we'd find any value here. However, we think a fairer price for him this week is down where Bryson DeChambeau is at in the 13/2 range. Simpson withdrew last week due to COVID-19 concerns, but he's back in the field this week at another course that suits his game. He gains a ton of strokes on par 4s, is pretty good on par 5s, and he's among the best scramblers on tour, converting more than 63% of his missed greens.
Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama disappointed with an early exit from the RBC Heritage, largely due to losing five strokes on the greens. He actually gained strokes with his ball striking, but it's hard to overcome losing that many strokes putting. This course lines up well for Matsuyama, as he does his best work on par 4s and 5s, gaining 0.07 and 0.13 strokes over the field per hole, respectively.
FIVE LONGSHOTS TO SURPRISE
Harold Varner III
By the time this is released, there's a good chance the market has adjusted to HV3, but his opening number of 100/1 is far too high. We'd expect his odds to settle around 70/1 before the tournament tees off. He's coming off a T32 finish at the Travelers Championship. where he gained 7.53 strokes with his ball striking, which was fifth in the field. He's hitting it about as well as anyone right now, and a birdie-fest tournament could be what he needs to get a trophy.
UPDATE: Varner is now at 66/1 odds to win, but his price on some DFS sites still reflects his opening line and is worth your attention there.
Mark Hubbard
Hubbard keeps on making cuts. Rarely do his odds get lower than 100/1, but he's always playing on the weekends, and eventually it should lead to a win. He's about as well-rounded a player as anyone on tour. He doesn't do anything particularly special, but he's good enough to rack up the birdies this week.
Maverick McNealy
McNealy was rolling before the break and has come back with mixed results. Like Hubbard, he's a well-rounded golfer. Unlike Hubbard, he's a little less consistent but has a greater variance on his scoring output. We introduced Super Hole last week, and McNealy's 0.494 is just about into the range where we start to pay more attention to him. What tips the scales this week for us is his ability to score on par 5s. He gains 0.087 strokes per hole against the field.
Sebastian Muñoz
Muñoz let us down last week with a missed cut, but if you look under the hood, there was a lot to like about his two rounds. When looking at Shots Gained on Ball Striking, he gained 2.94 strokes over the field. That was 34th for the whole tournament, and only one player who had more SG: Ball Striking than him missed the cut. The missed cut has reduced his price a little, into a range where we're happily backing him.
Lanto Griffin
Griffin came back from the break cold as ice, but he rounded into form last weekend. He gained strokes in all four facets of the game (Off the Tee, Approach, Around the Green, and Putting) last week, just one of 11 players to do so. Like McNealy, he's spectacular playing par 5s, and with four of them on the course this week, Griffin could turn in a top-5 finish.
TWO SUPER LONGSHOTS TO WATCH
D.J. Trahan
Trahan's rounds will depend almost entirely on how well he putts. Sometimes he looks absolutely lost on the greens, and last weekend was no exception where he lost four strokes in just two rounds. However, he's a good ball striker, and his price is so low that he's worth a small risk.
Tyler McCumber
McCumber snuck into the field as an alternate last week, promptly shot an opening-round 65 in a featured group, and then followed it up with a 73 to miss the cut by two strokes. In a weaker field, it's likely he would have made the weekend, and a weaker field is what we have this week. Like Trahan, his putting has been bad, but if it gets hot, he could surprise on the leaderboard.
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PGA Tour Simulator: Projecting the Winners and Surprises at St. Jude and the Barracuda
Kyle Cunningham-Rhoads
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The GSGB September Meeting was held in Croydon at The Addington Golf Club, one of the most attractive heathland courses in England and currently ranked in Great Britain & Ireland's Top 100 courses. Fifty four members even enjoyed a few hours of sunshine but more importantly two days of dry weather to finish off another enjoyable season for the Society.
The Addington is a classic Abercrombie design, many would say his best, dating back to 1913 and although not particularly long, offers a tough test of golf with numerous forced carries over heather clad valleys to contend with. Only 10 miles from the centre of London, the course is a haven of heather, bracken, pine and beech with a number of redwoods and other specimen trees adding to its beauty.
After Dinner we were joined by the Addington Captain Geoff Dolan who spoke of the club's junior programme and how it teaches golf to kids in the local area. GSGB Chairman Robin Moser presented Geoff with a £500 donation towards the club junior section.
The men's Barlow Seniors Trophy was won by George Clark from Effingham with 64 points and the runner-up was Nigel Hodges from Astbury with 70 points. Nigel had to settle for 2nd place as he is not yet 65 and therefore still too young to take home the Senior Trophy. The Ladies Trophy was won by Christine Hinchcliffe from Sand Moor who scored 61 points and the runner-up was Gill Hodges from Astbury who marginally lost out to Christine on countback.
You can view prizewinners and photos of the course here.
The opening Meeting of 2018 will be held in Kent at Prince's and Royal Cinque Ports on May 16th - 17th.


An estate tax is not levied upon the property of which an estate is composed. It is an excise imposed upon the transfer of or shifting in relationships to property at death.9 The tax here is no less an estate tax because the proceeds of the policy were paid by the Government directly to the beneficiary; the taxing power was nevertheless exercised upon 'the transfer of property procured through expenditures by the decedent with the purpose, effected at his death, of having it pass to another.'10 In an analogous situation, Federal bonds exempt by statute from all taxation have been held subject to a Federal inheritance tax.11 And State inheritance taxes can be measured by the value of Federal bonds exempted by statute from State taxation in any form.12 Similarly, the statutory immunity of War Risk Insurance from taxation does not include an immunity from excises upon the occasion of shifts of economic interests brought about by the death of an insured.
Section 302(g) Revenue Act of 1926, as amended 26 U.S.C.A. § 411(g).
43 Stat. 607, 613, 38 U.S.C.A. § 454.
2 Cir., 98 F.2d 734. State courts have differed as to whether proceeds of War Risk Insurance are subject to death duties imposed by the States. See, for example, In re Estate of Harris, 179 Minn. 450, 229 N.W. 781, Tax Commission v. Rife, 119 Ohio St. 83, 162 N.E. 390, Wanzell's Estate, 295 Pa. 419, 145 A. 512, Watkins v. Hall, 107 W.Va. 202, 147 S.E. 876 (holding these proceeds not subject to such excises); and Matter of Sabin, 224 App.Div. 702, 228 N.Y.S. 890, Matter of Dean's Estate, 131 Misc. 125, 225 N.Y.S. 543 (contra). In view of this fact and the importance of an authoritative interpretation of the Federal statutes involved, we granted certiorari. 305 U.S. 591, 59 S.Ct. 245, 83 L.Ed. —-.
See, 44 Stat. 9, 21, 22, § 211; 48 Stat. 680, 684, 754, §§ 12, 405(a), 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 12, 535.
Treasury Regulation No. 70, (1929 Edition), Articles 25 and 27; Treasury Regulation No. 80, (1934 Edition), Articles 25 and 27.
49 Stat. 607, 609, 38 U.S.C.A. § 454a.
Lawrence v. Shaw, 300 U.S. 245, 249, 57 S.Ct. 443, 445, 81 L.Ed. 623, 108 A.L.R. 1102.
New York Rapid Transit Corp. v. New York, 303 U.S. 573, 592, 593, 58 S.Ct. 721, 731, 82 L.Ed. 1024; Trotter v. Tennessee, 290 U.S. 354, 356, 357, 54 S.Ct. 138, 139, 78 L.Ed. 358; J. W. Perry Co. v. Norfolk, 220 U.S. 472, 480, 31 S.Ct. 465, 468, 55 L.Ed. 548; Chicago Theological Seminary v. Illinois, 188 U.S. 662, 672, 23 S.Ct. 386, 387, 47 L.Ed. 641.
Reinecke v. Northern Trust Co., 278 U.S. 339, 347, 49 S.Ct. 123, 125, 73 L.Ed. 410, 66 A.L.R. 397; Chase National Bank v. United States, 278 U.S. 327, 334, 49 S.Ct. 126, 127, 73 L.Ed. 405, 63 A.L.R. 388; United States v. Jacobs, 306 U.S. 363, 59 S.Ct. 551, 83 L.Ed. —-.
Chase National Bank v. United States, supra, 278 U.S. page 337, 49 S.Ct. page 128, 73 L.Ed. 405, 63 A.L.R. 388.
Murdock v. Ward, 178 U.S. 139, 20 S.Ct. 775, 44 L.Ed. 1009.
Plummer v. Coler, 178 U.S. 115, 20 S.Ct. 829, 44 L.Ed. 998.