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Home/Lockheed Martin Awarded Desert Hawk 3 Contract from U.K. Ministry of Defence
Lockheed Martin Awarded Desert Hawk 3 Contract from U.K. Ministry of Defence
September 18, 2015	Uncategorized Leave a comment
The U.K. Ministry of Defence has awarded Lockheed Martin on the 17th of September a contract to support the Desert Hawk 3 programme and establish the small unmanned aerial system (UAS) as a Core Defence Capability.
"Desert Hawk has served the U.K. military well in providing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance to tactical warfighters," said Jay McConville, Lockheed Martin director of business development for Unmanned Solutions. "We look forward to continuing this record of success through the award of the Desert Hawk Core Support Programme, and we continue to enhance its capabilities based on user feedback. Desert Hawk's maturity and proven performance, as well as the enhanced capabilities now available, make it a crucial asset on the modern battlefield."
Desert Hawk 3 has flown more than 30,000 hours, mostly under austere conditions, to support critical mission needs such as enhanced situational awareness, security and counter-IED operations, threat detection, route reconnaissance and battle damage assessment.
Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: "Desert Hawk has proved its worth on operations in Afghanistan, providing our Armed Forces with vital intelligence and allowing our commanders to stay one step ahead of the enemy. We recognise that unmanned and remotely-piloted air systems are increasingly important in today's operational environment, and our protected Defence budget and GBP160 billion investment in equipment has allowed us to bring Desert Hawk into our core programme."
The battery-powered Desert Hawk 3 is designed for portability, ruggedness, rapid employment and reliability. The hand-launched system weighs only 8 lbs. (3.6 kg) and can fly for up to 90 minutes with a 2-lb. (0.91 kg) payload. Recently the U.K. Desert Hawk 3 was upgraded to a digital data link achieving Ministry of Defence Full Operational Capabilty on schedule.
Lockheed Martin recently upgraded Desert Hawk 3 to the Desert Hawk 3.1 configuration by providing simplified launch, deep stall landing, all- environment capability, longer endurance, updated sensor payloads and operation using Lockheed Martin's mobile ground control system. Desert Hawk 3.1 is a modification kit to a Desert Hawk 3 configuration.
With five decades of experience in unmanned and robotic systems for air, land and sea, Lockheed Martin's unmanned systems are engineered to help our military, civil and commercial customers accomplish their most difficult challenges today and in the future.
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Strategic Operational Commands
December 20, 2012 by Dmitry Gorenburg
Challenges Facing the Russian Defense Establishment
The following article originally appeared on the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). You can find the original version here.
Over the last four years, the Russian government has undertaken an unprecedented effort to reform the structure of its military. As part of this effort, it has sought to begin the process of shifting the military to a more professional manning structure, providing it with modern weapons and equipment, and reorganizing it to be prepared to fight the conflicts it is most likely to face in the coming decades. While the reorganization process has proceeded fairly quickly, a demographic crisis and continuing problems in the defense industry will present grave challenges to the military modernization effort in the coming decade.
Military reorganization
At the start of the reform process, Russian military forces had few combat-ready units; most units were staffed only with officers, with the expectation that these officers would command units made up of reservists called up in the event of a major conflict. Planners expected it to take a full year to bring the military to full readiness in such circumstances. This type of structure worked for the Soviet military engaged in the Cold War confrontation with NATO but did not make sense for a military that expected to be involved primarily in local, counter-guerilla and counter-terrorism operations. Being prepared for this type of conflict leads to far less stringent requirements in terms of army strength and mobilization capability, while emphasizing greater professionalism and combat readiness on the part of the military.
To better prepare the military to fight in 21st century conflicts, the Ministry of Defense mandated major changes in command structure to improve command and control. As part of this plan, traditional military districts were eliminated in favor of four Unified Strategic Commands (USCs). Each USC was given responsibility for all conventional military units in its region, in both peacetime and wartime. This was the first step of an effort to create truly joint military forces in which troops belonging to various services are under a single command and able to easily communicate with each other. As part of this change, the military shifted from a four-tier to a three-tier command structure, with combined arms armies and brigades below the USCs. The goal was to make the military more compact and mobile and to allow for rapid troop deployment, all as part of an effort to prepare the military to fight smaller local wars, rather than the huge frontal conflicts of the past.
The second part of the reorganization involved making the brigade the basic unit of the military. The reform created modular brigades that combine three infantry or tank battalions with dedicated reconnaissance, artillery, air defense, logistics, and repair units. These brigades are much more self-sufficient in combat than a regiment, but at the same time more mobile than a division.
The reorganization process was largely completed in 2011. However, the Ministry of Defense is still facing challenges in maintaining the newly formed brigades at a high readiness level and in providing communications equipment to facilitate joint operations involving multiple armed forces branches. These challenges are related to the two greatest problems facing the Russian military: inadequate staffing and outdated equipment.
A continuing manpower shortage
Despite the need for an increase in the number of professional soldiers, the Russian military has largely failed to resolve its manpower shortage. Although it officially has a one-million-man army, actual staffing is around 750,000. The gap between the official position and reality, of course, implies that 25 percent of billets are currently vacant. This does not bode well for the concept of fully manned permanent readiness brigades, which have been at the core of recent military reform efforts.
The manpower shortfall is due to a combination of a rapid decline in the number of 18-year-old men eligible for conscription and an inability to recruit enough contract soldiers to fill the gap in the number of conscripts. Presently, there are no more than 700,000 men reaching the age of 18, of whom only about 400,000 are considered draft-eligible because of various deferments and health exemptions. Furthermore, the severe drop in the birth rate in the 1990s means that within the next two years, the number of 18-year-olds will decline by a further 40%, leaving less than 300,000 draft eligible 18-year-olds. The number of conscripts called up annually has already declined to 270,000.
Some politicians have sought to address the manpower shortage by proposing an increase in the length of conscript service to either 18 months or two years. This is a politically unpopular measure that will most likely lead to popular protest. Given the fragility of the current political regime, it seems fairly unlikely. Furthermore, if it happens, it will signal the rollback of military reform and the victory of the old guard over the reformers.
The military is instead banking on vastly increasing the number of contract soldiers serving in the military. This has been the stated goal of military reformers for many years. But so far they have little to show for their efforts. In fact, over the last 15 years Russia has actually regressed in its ability to attract professional soldiers. In 1995, the Russian military had 380,000 contract soldiers and NCOs in service. Because of a combination of financial problems and resistance by senior generals, by 2003 this figure had shrunk to135,000. Since then, there has been a modest increase to190,000. The MOD has set a target of reaching 425,000 contract soldiers by adding 50,000 per year starting in 2012. To this end, it has increased salaries and improved living conditions for soldiers. Despite these actions, it is falling short of its recruiting targets for this year and is not assured of continued financing for contract soldier recruitment going forward. Given its manpower problems, the military would do better to abandon the fiction that the Russian military has one million personnel and admit that 800,000 is a more realistic target going forward.
Outdated armaments
The Russian military is also facing a crisis in its equipment. Because of a lack of funding, the military received virtually no new equipment between 1993 and 2008. As a result, the vast majority of its armaments are both physically old and based on outdated designs. To deal with this problem, the Russian government has begun to implement a 10-year and $650 billion State Armament Program. The program's goal is to ensure that 70 percent of the Russian military's equipment is modern by 2020. The program's top priorities are to re-equip the Strategic Rocket Forces, the air force, the air defense and space forces, and to provide more advanced command and control equipment for the military.
The program suffers from a number of problems. First of all, when Russian officials discuss their goals for procuring modernized weaponry over the next 10 years, they never define their terms. They do not have a list of what types of armaments are considered modern. In some cases, systems that are based on 20-50 year old designs are described as modern. This inevitably leads to the conclusion that the MOD is implicitly defining modern equipment as any equipment that was procured in the last few years, rather than equipment actually based on new designs.
More importantly, analysts have grave doubts that the program will actually be carried out. Prominent Russian political figures have argued that the government cannot afford to spend such sums on rearmament given the need to revitalize the country's civilian infrastructure and the need to fund social programs in a deteriorating economic environment. Last summer, senior officials were considering a decrease in procurement funding for the next several years. Some sources indicated that the entire State Armament Program would simply be extended for three years—that is, it would run through 2023 rather than 2020.
Even if procurement funding is maintained at planned levels, there are grave doubts about the Russian defense industry's ability to produce modern weapons. Only a few enterprises have modernized their facilities and begun to work on new designs. The rest have outdated equipment and are not prepared to fulfill the military's needs. Most are continuing to lose skilled workers because the civilian sector can pay higher salaries. This is in addition to the disappearance of an entire age cohort (ages 30-50) who didn't go into the field over the last two decades because of its lack of financing and low prestige. Even companies that have modernized are dependent on subcontractors for their supply chains, and these subcontractors are often in much worse shape.
There are also problems with the defense industry's organization. As part of Russia's overall re-centralization under Putin, the Soviet-era sectoral ministries were largely restored as holding companies (United Shipbuilding, United Aircraft, Rostekhnologii). Many of the constituent units of these companies are dysfunctional — with the more effective units used to keep the effectively bankrupt ones afloat. All this means that the modernization of the industry has only barely begun. And it is difficult to understand how the State Armament Program can be fulfilled without the modernization of the defense industry.
Posted in Russian military reform	| Tagged ETH, ISN, manpower, military modernization, state armaments program, Strategic Operational Commands | 4 Comments
July 19, 2010 by Dmitry Gorenburg
Vostok-2010: Another step forward for the Russian military
The recently concluded Vostok-2010 exercises showed that the Russian military is making progress in achieving its goals of major structural reform. This was the first major Russian military exercise in recent memory that did not involve a scenario consisting of a major frontal battle. As Alexandr Golts pointed out in his analysis, this sort of scenario is very convenient for public relations purposes, but does not contribute much to improving military preparedness. Instead, the exercises consisted of a number of smaller episodes, consistent with the announced scenario of fighting irregular armed formations, counter-terrorism and (for the Navy) anti-piracy operations. The exercises focused on mobility, with a particular emphasis on ensuring success in the logistical sphere. According to General Nikolai Makarov, the Chief of the General Staff, the location of the exercise in Siberia and Russia's Far East was selected specifically in order to make the transport of troops and their resupply relatively difficult, due to the large distances, sparse population, difficult climate, and poor state of transportation in the region.
Testing a Force Projection Capability
The exercises showed that the Russian military is capable of projecting force over long distances relatively quickly. For this purpose, a large number of bomber (SU-24) and fighter-bomber (SU-34) aircraft were sent directly from central Russia to the Far East on what was supposedly the longest non-stop flight for these types of planes. This was made possible through multiple in-flight refueling operations. Furthermore, an infantry brigade was sent from Ekaterinburg to Primorskii Krai, though it was transported without heavy weaponry, such as tanks and artillery, all of which it received from a local base upon arrival. Golts notes that this was the first time in his memory that the Russian army had conducted such an operation.
It was carried out successfully and in the assigned time period, though Golts also points out that the weapons provided for the brigade had been selected in recent months especially for this purpose. Had this been a real emergency and the brigade forced to make do with randomly chosen stored equipment, they would have almost certainly faced severe problems due to mechanical failures. But this is a known problem for the Russian military, and one that is to be addressed over the coming decade through a rearmament program. The important takeaway from this exercise is that Russian military planners are seriously preparing for contingencies that require the rapid transfer of troops from one region to another. Golts is right in arguing that if this capability becomes widely developed, there will be no need for the military to maintain a million-man army in order to protect Russia's gigantic territory. Instead, planners will simply need to make sure that they have well-maintained supply depots located in all likely zones of potential conflict and be prepared to send brigades to those regions in the event a conflict suddenly broke out.
Simplifying the Command Structure
The new simplified command structure was the second aspect of the reform that was tested by Vostok-2010. The replacement of divisions by brigades was the first step of this effort, and it was successfully completed last year and tested to some extent in last falls major exercises. The current exercises went further, examining the possibilities provided by the recently announced transition to a joint command system, where four geographically-based strategic operational commands (SOCs) control all of the troops on their territory, including ground forces, the air force, the navy, and assorted support staff. The goal is to reduce the levels of command from 13 to three. In the previous system, in addition to the command system "center-military district-army-division-regiment," troops also received commands from their service headquarters and various central General Staff commands. The current system will consist of three levels — SOC – operational command – brigade. This reform will lead to the elimination of thousands of officer positions in various headquarters in Moscow and around the country. According to General Makarov, this transition will be completed in early 2011 and will mark the end of the military's structural transformation.
The new system received a preliminary test in Vostok-2010, with a single SOC commanding troops from the Siberian and Far Eastern military districts, as well as the Pacific Fleet and assorted air force units, including those from other districts brought in specifically for this exercise. Initial reports indicate that the system performed according to expectations. At least, there have been no indications so far of problems with the command system during the exercises. Furthermore, whereas electronic command systems were present only for show during Zapad-2009 and the other major exercises last fall, this year for the first time such systems started to play a role (though still only limited) in the actual conduct of the exercise. These included (according to media reports about the exercise) videoconferencing equipment used in decision-making, computer modeling used in targeting anti-aircraft missile systems, and digital analytical systems.
Not a big deal for most armed forces, but certainly an advance for a military that is still not able to provide each soldier with his own analog radio, much less any kind of modern electronic communications system.
One item that was noted repeatedly by generals discussing the conduct of the exercise was that conscripts who had only been in the service for 1-2 months exceeded all expectations of their performance. It was made clear that they did not do as well as contract soldiers or those conscripts who had been inducted last summer, but it was clear that the military leadership was trying to emphasize that the army could continue to function despite its problems with attracting a sufficient number of contract soldiers to fill the new brigades.
Overall, the Vostok-2010 exercise made it clear that the leadership of the Russian military has a clear vision of the kind of army they would like to build and that they are making progress in achieving that vision. One aspect of that vision is a significantly reformed logistics and supply system, a topic I will discuss in detail in my next post. Once this system is restructured and the new Strategic Operational Commands are stood up next year, we will likely see the end of the constant organizational changes that have marked the first two years of reform. The period of structural reorganization appears to be drawing to a close and the next steps are likely to be focused primarily on solving the manpower problem and endowing the newly restructured military with new weapons and equipment.
Posted in Russian military reform	| Tagged command structure, equipment, exercises, Nikolai Makarov, Strategic Operational Commands, Vostok-2010 | 8 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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St. Davids is a small rural community in United Counties of Prescott and Russell, Ontario.  St. Davids is located approximately 6 km from the border with Quebec and approximately 5 km south of Voyageur Provincial Park.

Communities in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
package org.sagebionetworks.repo.manager.principal;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.UUID;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.sagebionetworks.ids.IdGenerator;
import org.sagebionetworks.ids.IdType;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.manager.AuthenticationManager;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.manager.UserManager;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.AuthorizationConstants;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.UnauthenticatedException;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.UserInfo;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.UserProfile;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.UserProfileDAO;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.auth.LoginRequest;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.auth.NewUser;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.dao.FileHandleDao;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.dbo.persistence.DBOCredential;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.dbo.persistence.DBOTermsOfUseAgreement;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.file.S3FileHandle;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.principal.AliasType;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.principal.PrincipalAlias;
import org.sagebionetworks.repo.model.principal.PrincipalAliasDAO;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;

@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration(locations = { "classpath:test-context.xml" })
public class PrincipalManagerImplAutowiredTest {

	@Autowired
	private PrincipalManager principalManager;

	@Autowired
	private PrincipalAliasDAO principalAliasDao;

	@Autowired
	private UserManager userManager;

	@Autowired
	private AuthenticationManager authenticationManager;

	@Autowired
	private FileHandleDao fileHandleDao;

	@Autowired
	private UserProfileDAO userProfileDAO;

	@Autowired
	private IdGenerator idGenerator;

	private UserInfo adminUserInfo;
	private UserInfo testUser;

	private DBOCredential credential;
	private final String password = "A User's Pa$$word";

	private String fileHandleId;

	@BeforeEach
	public void before() throws Exception {
		adminUserInfo = userManager.getUserInfo(AuthorizationConstants.BOOTSTRAP_PRINCIPAL.THE_ADMIN_USER.getPrincipalId());

		NewUser nu = new NewUser();
		nu.setEmail(UUID.randomUUID().toString() + "@test.com");
		nu.setUserName(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
		credential = new DBOCredential();
		DBOTermsOfUseAgreement tou = new DBOTermsOfUseAgreement();
		tou.setAgreesToTermsOfUse(Boolean.TRUE);
		testUser = userManager.createOrGetTestUser(adminUserInfo, nu, credential, tou);
		authenticationManager.setPassword(testUser.getId(), password);
		S3FileHandle fh = new S3FileHandle();
		fh.setId(idGenerator.generateNewId(IdType.FILE_IDS).toString());
		fh.setKey("key.jpg");
		fh.setBucketName("bucket");
		fh.setContentType("image/jpg");
		fh.setEtag("etag");
		fh.setCreatedBy(testUser.getId().toString());
		fh.setFileName("profile pic.jpg");
		fileHandleId = fileHandleDao.createFile(fh).getId();
	}

	@AfterEach
	public void after() throws Exception {
		principalAliasDao.removeAllAliasFromPrincipal(testUser.getId());
		userProfileDAO.delete(testUser.getId().toString());
		fileHandleDao.delete(fileHandleId);
	}

	@Test
	public void testClearPrincipal() {
		String username = UUID.randomUUID().toString();

		// Add some aliases to make sure they get removed
		PrincipalAlias orcid = new PrincipalAlias();
		orcid.setPrincipalId(testUser.getId());
		orcid.setType(AliasType.USER_ORCID);
		orcid.setAlias("https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000");
		principalAliasDao.bindAliasToPrincipal(orcid);

		PrincipalAlias usernameAlias = new PrincipalAlias();
		usernameAlias.setPrincipalId(testUser.getId());
		usernameAlias.setType(AliasType.USER_NAME);
		usernameAlias.setAlias(username);
		principalAliasDao.bindAliasToPrincipal(usernameAlias);

		// Verify that we can log in before we change the password
		LoginRequest loginRequest = new LoginRequest();
		loginRequest.setUsername(username);
		loginRequest.setPassword(password);
		authenticationManager.login(loginRequest);

		// Modify the existing profile to ensure content changes
		UserProfile profile = userProfileDAO.get(testUser.getId().toString());
		profile.setUserName(username);
		profile.setDisplayName("Some display name");
		profile.setFirstName("First");
		profile.setLastName("Last");
		profile.setPosition("Job");
		profile.setCompany("Organization");
		profile.setEmails(Collections.singletonList("email1@gmail.com"));
		profile.setLocation("Seattle");
		profile.setOpenIds(Collections.singletonList("OpenID1"));
		profile.setProfilePicureFileHandleId(fileHandleId);
		userProfileDAO.update(profile);

		UserInfo adminUserInfo = new UserInfo(true);

		// Call under test
		principalManager.clearPrincipalInformation(adminUserInfo, testUser.getId());

		String expectedEmail = "gdpr-synapse+" + testUser.getId() + "@sagebase.org";
		// Verify that information has been cleared.
		profile = userProfileDAO.get(testUser.getId().toString());
		assertEquals(expectedEmail, profile.getEmail());
		assertEquals(Collections.singletonList(expectedEmail), profile.getEmails());
		assertEquals("", profile.getFirstName());
		assertEquals("", profile.getLastName());
		assertEquals(Collections.emptyList(), profile.getOpenIds());
		assertFalse(profile.getNotificationSettings().getSendEmailNotifications());
		assertNull(profile.getDisplayName());
		assertNull(profile.getIndustry());
		assertNull(profile.getProfilePicureFileHandleId());
		assertNull(profile.getLocation());
		assertNull(profile.getCompany());
		assertNull(profile.getPosition());
		List<PrincipalAlias> pas = principalAliasDao.listPrincipalAliases(testUser.getId());
		assertEquals(1, pas.size());
		assertEquals(AliasType.USER_EMAIL, pas.get(0).getType());
		assertEquals("gdpr-synapse+" + testUser.getId() + "@sagebase.org", pas.get(0).getAlias());

		// Verify that the password has been changed
		assertThrows(UnauthenticatedException.class, () -> authenticationManager.login(loginRequest));
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Moogfest 2014 Announced
Moogfest is a celebration that honors the creativity and inventiveness of Moog Music founder Dr. Robert Moog, and pays tribute to the legacy of the analog synthesizer.
Asheville, NC (October 15, 2013) -- Moogfest is a celebration that honors the creativity and inventiveness of Moog Music founder Dr. Robert Moog, and pays tribute to the legacy of the analog synthesizer.
For over 50 years, Bob Moog and his company Moog Music have pioneered technology that has advanced popular music and culture, and ushered in a new era of artistic expression through sound and experimentation. It was in this very spirit that Moogfest was born. Now featuring an experimental lineup of daytime conference programming, curated by a soon-to-be-announced lineup of cultural, artistic and technological luminaries, and punctuated by nightly landmark music performances, Moogfest is a five-day event dedicated to the convergence of technology, art and music.
Since its inception in 2004, Moogfest has been a magnet for artists, engineers, and enthusiasts of Bob Moog and his legacy to meet, share, create and collaborate. When Moog brought the festival home to Asheville in 2008 it adopted a three-day multi-stage format to include contemporary bands and producers that exemplify the innovative spirit of Moog and electronic music. This year, Moogfest is further expanding its program to include a five-day innovation conference featuring leading futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, artists, and musicians from various fields that will expand the mind as well as entertain.
"We have evolved our thinking to create an event that truly celebrates the pioneering spirit of Bob Moog; uniting art, music, and innovative technology to explore the dimensions of creative expression. This is the heart of what makes Moog Music special and our fans around the world." - Moog Music President, Mike Adams
WHAT IS MOOGFEST?
Moogfest is a five-day music festival and conference dedicated to exploring technology, art and music, honoring the creativity and inventiveness of Bob Moog and paying tribute to the legacy of the analog synthesizer through a platform of events both day and night.
Moogfest welcomes futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, artists, scientists, musicians and Moog devotees to participate in a conversation that celebrates new technology and creative expression.
Five days of mind-expanding conversation, experimentation, and collaboration for creative and technology professionals across seven venues in downtown Asheville. The conference is guided by pioneers of music and technology, and co-curated by some of the most important thinkers of today.
5 days of New Media art installations and interactive technology experiences/exhibitions
5 days of talks, presentations, and film screenings with futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, artists, and musicians
Synth building workshops and other interactive education
An open source hardware hackathon
Five evenings of landmark musical performances by new trailblazers, early pioneers of electronic music, and major headliners in over ten venues across the city, including arena concerts, experimental performances, and new music showcases. Past Moogfest performers include Brian Eno, James Murphy, Richie Hawtin, Terry Riley, Massive Attack, M83, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Suicide, TV On The Radio, Grimes, Sleigh Bells, Hot Chip, St. Vincent, Amon Tobin, Tangerine Dream, Keith Emerson, Orbital, Squarepusher, Flying Lotus and more.
Moogfest also hosts free events open to the public:
4 day street festival, including new media art installations and live music
2 day North Carolina Tech Expo & Interactive Job Fair
5 day new electronic instrument pop-up shop
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
Moogfest is partnering with the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) to produce a first of its kind Tech Expo and interactive Job Fair. This unique event will host innovative tech companies with a presence or headquarters in the state of NC. On April 26 and 27, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and experience the companies that are creating the tools and technology of tomorrow. Attendees will have the ability to network with these companies and discover employment opportunities. Companies will have the opportunity to meet like-minded businesses and forge new bonds, while exhibiting the technology that has made Asheville an innovation incubator.
TICKETS / FURTHER INFO
The event will attract 50,000 people (10,000 per day) from a cross-section of creative professionals, hackers, influencers and trendsetters, circuit benders, designers, programmers, audio engineers, new media artists, coders, and bedroom producers, seeking to be inspired in their work.
Tickets go on sale to the public on November 14, 2013. Moog Music thanks its loyal supporters by offering a limited run of $99 tickets to each of these three groups: Asheville locals, registered Moog instrument owners, and those that have signed up on the Moogfest mailing list.
Stay connected to Moogfest through www.moogfest.com or the Moogfest Facebook page and watch for future announcements regarding Moogfest's programming, such as: Circuit Bending Challenge, Artist Installations, Hackathon, Workshops, Conference Curators, Music Showcase Curators and Official Lineup.
MOOG Fest
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When a neighbor's sloping pasture brings torrents of floodwater across your property every time it rains, what can you do? Muddy grass is hard to mow, and not good for our environment. Instead of grass, we created a rain garden and used plenty of organic compost to supplement the soil. We suggested sun-loving native species that would drink up this water willingly, and provide a beautiful landscape feature that both humans and butterflies would enjoy.


We believe that the ownership of a piece of luxury Monaco real estate should be a pleasure, and never a chore.
We are pleased to offer clients our bespoke and exclusive property management service.
Renting out your property is a major commitment. Our team knows the market and understands the rental process, and will secure maximum return on the property by selecting the most qualified and reliable tenant.
We will streamline the rental process, targeting the right tenants, conducting viewings and provide you with valuable feedback. Monaco's rental market has its unique specifics and it is therefore crucial to be assisted by a team that has in-depth knowledge of the ins and outs of the marketplace, renting and rental contracts.
Furthermore, we will manage rent collection, organize the monthly charge payment to the co-owners association, arrange hands-on management tasks and manage all time-consuming formalities involved.
From the day-to-day running of the property to assisting with the administration, Rosengart's Luxury Real Estate has your best interests at heart.
Our private, full-time concierge is there to makes sure that every aspect of your property's management is looked after, and will be on hand to personally facilitate you and your family's settlement in Monaco if you so desire it.
What's more, we are pleased to offer this in the traditional and welcoming family style that is so important to us.


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The Flash Adds Another Speedster, Villain and Brings Back Fan Fave
Posted on August 25, 2015 by Pop Goes the World Staff in The Flash, TV News // 0 Comments
According to TV Line, the CW's The Flash is adding another speedster to its line-up and this time it's Jesse Quick, played by newcomer Violett Beane. Beane will appear in multiple season 2 episodes. In the show, TV Line reports that Jesse is a brilliant but quirky college student who gets caught up in the battle between The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Professor Zoom. In the comic books, DC Wiki describes her as "the alter-ego of Jesse Chambers, a heroine with super-speed powers. Chambers is the daughter of Golden Age heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle; she would later go on to adopt her mother's name. Her speed powers are accessed by speaking a special formula, although she also has her mother's abilities."
The Flash — "Crazy for You" — Image FLA112A_0045b — Pictured (L-R): Candice Patton as Iris West, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen and Malese Jow as Linda Park — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2015 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
Comingsoon.net also reports that Demore Barnes, whom we remember here on CTV's The Associates, has been cast as Henry Hewitt, aka the villain Tokamak. The article writes that Hewitt in the comicshas energy absorption powers and was a manipulative businessman. In the series he's described as "a charming, but cocky scientist who was affected by the same Particle Accelerator explosion that created the Flash. When Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) recruits him to join the team at S.T.A.R. Labs, Hewitt jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his destiny as a powerful meta-human."
In other news, fan favourite Malese Jow will return for multiple episodes in season 2. Entertainment Weekly reports that Jow will be seen as Iris' colleague at Central Picture News and her past relationship with Barry will put both Iris and the Flash in unexpected danger.
As a reminder, Jow first appeared last season as a love interest for Barry and while the relationship was short-lived the two parted amicably much the disappointed to us here at Pop Goes the World. Could Wally West joining the show be a reason why Linda Park is back too? In the comics, Linda marries Wally. Time will tell but if this brings Jow back, then we are all for it.
The Flash returns on October 6, 2015 at 8pm ET/PT on the CW and CTV
Jesse Quick


Last night's Noir at the Bar in Baltimore, part of the CHILLED TO THE MARROW N@B series, was fantastic.
Host Nik Korpon put together a great lineup of authors to to help raise funds to cover medical expenses for Evie Swierczynski, who was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Evie is awesome, and she's the daughter of Duane Swierczynski, author of a lot of amazing novels and comic books.
The show was held at Zella's Pizzeria, and I can personally (and heartily) recommend the calzone.


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For Such a Time as This Eric Reed
Label: Smoke Sessions
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Artist: Eric Reed
FLAC 96 $ 13.20
1Paradox Peace01:04
2Western Rebellion04:19
3Thelonigus05:31
4Stella by Starlight03:51
5It's You or No One05:50
6Walltz06:45
7Bebophobia05:50
8Come Sunday02:52
9We Shall Overcome03:55
10Make Me Better05:26
11The Break08:17
12Hymn of Faith02:28
Info for For Such a Time as This
For more than three decades, Eric Reed has been one of the most influential and beloved jazz musicians. He's recorded close to 30 accomplished leader albums showcasing his virtuosic chops, intellectual clarity and unwavering will to swing. Most remarkable is his ability to refract and coalesce a wide range of musical, spiritual, and personal influences into a single stream of consciousness. This is perhaps the most personal of them all.
For Such a Time as This is a powerful and uplifting program framed by the realities of global pandemic anxiety, persistent racism and racial injustice, and an acrimonious, fraught Presidential election season. It was in Los Angeles in early 2020, when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a city-wide shutdown, that Reed made the decision to record the album with local L.A. musicians. By the end of June, he was ready and had assembled a gifted, young quartet to record a set of recently penned originals, carefully chosen standard old chestnuts, and - as he has done regularly over the past 15 years - some restorative Gospel selections.
The group (drum virtuoso Kevin Kanner, Australia-born bassist Alex Boneham, tenor and soprano saxophonist Chris Lewis) nonetheless displays the chemistry of a long-established band. Reed's original composition Make Me Better is sung by the soulful Henry Jackson, who "puts a fine point on everything I'm hoping and wishing for – that I will be made better by this experience, and that I will encourage other people to be better as well."
"This record is the first I've done framed by this kind of specific circumstance," Reed concludes. "But even though we had to do it with these pandemic restrictions, it seemed normal because we were in the recording studio, where there's no audience anyway. It's the circumstances surrounding the creativity that were so different. All of that had an impact on the music." (Eric Reed)
Eric Reed, piano
Kevin Kanner, drums
Alex Boneham, bass
Chris Lewis, tenor and soprano saxophone
Eric Reed
Everybody Gets the Blues
is an influential fixture in music as pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and champion of young musicians. From his cultural roots in his father's Baptist church in Philadelphia, to his West Coast tutelage under the likes of Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wilson, and Buddy Collette, through the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Buster Williams, and Wynton Marsalis, Eric has amassed a laudable discography of iconic recordings, an extensive repertoire of compositions and arrangements, and an impressive list of credits in film & TV scores, musical theater, and in prestigious venues the world over. Affectionately known as "Poppa Reed", Eric encourages bourgeoning artists through complete access and endless conversations on becoming not only professional artists, but also individuals who can have a positive impact on humanity. His latest recording, Everybody Gets the Blues, moves Eric closer towards his goal of "wanting to connect on a deeper level to the human spirit and heart through the beauty of artistry."


There was a TV moment early in this game that induced a completely different reaction from me than what the commentator meant to provoke.
Mike Mayock was on the Philly announce team for this game, and the camera popped over to a shot of Eagles GM Howie Roseman watching the game's proceedings. Mayock paused for an infomercial for his employer, saying something to the effect of: 'You really have to give Howie a lot of credit as a GM (said as if he was a defender)…for trading up to get Carson Wentz." Mayock meant that as a 'drop the mic' moment.
It should be the statement that gets both Roseman and Mayock removed from football in another 2-3 years, but it won't.
How many times will football/draft analysts push the Blake Bortles bust QBs of this world, and never have to answer for it? It's a crime. The crime is on the public and the NFL GMs, because all most of the NFL GMs and scouts do is follow what highly visible analysts say when it comes to draft evaluations. Carson Wentz (6-9 for 56 yards, 0 TD/0 INT) is the new Blake Bortles…their draft stock pushed way too high without the resume' to deserve it. Both were not that great in college. Both with elongated, problematic throwing motions…their release time from decision to throw is far too slow for the NFL. Bortles is just a bad mindset/poor decision maker/throw up for grabs guy at QB, much less the problems with his mechanics. Wentz has more physical tools but is a dink and dunk FCS QB, who threw for 0 or 1 (I'm not looking it up but it's one of those two) 300+ yard games for his college career on a dominant FCS offense/team. He's not comfortable in the NFL intermediate and deep passing game. Jimmy Garoppolo's FCS work against similar competition in college compared to Wentz is laughable…and yet Wentz becomes a top guy while Garopollo falls in the draft to who knows what team…probably one that doesn't know anything about quarterbacks. Wentz will probably hang a little longer before the world turns on him like they finally are with Bortles.
As I watch Wentz in-game live and on re-watches, I never see 'it'. His decisions take too long. His throwing motion, accuracy and velocity in real games, not in shorts and t-shirt drills, is terrible (for a supposed top QB prospect). Most of the passes Wentz has completed this season have been him scrambling from the pocket because he's taking too long to decide to throw, him running for his life and flipping a pass to a receiver popped open from broken coverage because the play lasted too long to hold contain. Wentz dumps it off in the chaos and then the receiver gets him extra yards. Rare will you see Wentz drop back in the pocket, settle in for a moment and then pick apart the defense. Dak Prescott handles all that it like a veteran with a flick of the wrist release. Hell, Trevone Boykin…Kyle Sloter…Brandon Allen…I could name young backup QBs all day who stay true to a pocket, keep looking over the field, and make rapid fire throws…all better than Wentz on his best day.
So, yeah…I AM ready to give Howie Roseman all the credit for this one, this move to get Wentz. Really, the credit/blame belongs on Mike Mayock – he was a one-man show pushing Wentz. Not with malice…just suckered by what they all get suckered by – what someone looks like, and the vibe in shorts and a t-shirt. That's why they all proclaimed Logan Thomas so great back when I used to go to Mobile for Senior Bowl week – he was a great-looking passer when there was no threat of getting hit. A top pick for Arizona because of 'the push' from analysts…a career 1-for-9 passer, now Buffalo Bills tight end. He was the future QB in Arizona…they didn't dream it up, he was pushed on them – just like Wentz.
To be fair and balanced, Tyrod Taylor (8-18 for 53 yards, 0 TD/2 INT) shouldn't be an NFL team's starting QB either. I mean, he's not terrible, per se, but you're basically saying you don't want to chase Super Bowls if he is your QB. Tyrod appeared to safe to be the Bills' opening day starting QB but his weak passing skills are starting to rise to the forefront. He was picked twice in this game, lucky to not have been picked 1-2 other times…completing 44% of his passes in this game. Unlike Philly or Jacksonville, the Bills have no one to turn to, currently – and they have themselves to blame. They decided to extend Tyrod…this current regime – one of the only missteps Sean McDermott has made. They decided not to pursue a veteran QB or draft a decent one. They're stuck unless McDermott wheel and deals again into a new QB. If not, Nathan Peterman will be starting, or at least given a shot by Week 12, I suspect.
A quarterback who could be a mild shock to land in Buffalo in the next two weeks…Brett Hundley, Green Bay.
— We got to see more of Zay Jones (3-42-0/6) and he really looked good. Crisp routes, good hands, tough catches – he's a professional WR. He's like a smaller Jordan Matthews…a Stefon Diggs-like WR. He may be their #1 WR opening day if JMatt isn't ready.
— You see Roto-notes on how LeGarrette Blount (5-8-0, 2-15-0/2) looks 'unimpressive' – let me tell you…this whole offense looks unimpressive. Terrible blocking in the preseason. Wentz is a mess. Blount doesn't have the Patriots line/offense to prop him up to another level. Terrible WRs. It's a mess.
This is why the Eagles were my top over/under win total bet for 2017…the under 8.0 wins for 2017. If they lose opening day at Washington — my bet is in the bag. If they lose to Washington Week 1, they may not win a game until Week 8 vs. the 49ers. They have at KC, at SEA and two at L.A. games (long roadies) on the 2017 schedule. If they go 2-4 in division and lose to KC and SEA, plus lose at least one L.A. road game – that's 7 losses. I need one more loss in their other six games to 'push'. Two losses to cash in.
Where was I? Oh, don't blame LeGarrette Blount…blame Howie Roseman.
— How Alshon Jeffrey (2-23-0/5) is trading as a top 20 WR is surprising to me. Jeffrey is OK, but the Wentz factor is going to be brutal. Maybe garbage time will help…and the fact that the Eagles have pure garbage otherwise at WR. OK, I'm talking myself into Jeffrey as a WR1 all of a sudden.
— I thought Mack Hollins (1-6-0/5) was headed to the Hall of Fame, per the analysts, after he caught a short pass on a broken play and ran it in for a score last week. You would have thought the second coming had happened. Hollins didn't step up in JMatt's trade away void left behind this week.
— IDP Mychal Kendricks (2 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 1 INT) looks rejuvenated. He's been rumored to be traded for so long – I wouldn't be surprised if ex-Eagles assistant Sean McDermott obliges and snags him from Philly. The Eagles have traded away Eric Rowe and Jordan Matthews the past two seasons…why not add to the stupidity and add Kendricks to the list. It's funny/sad watching Howie Roseman carry out a vendetta and gut all Chip Kelly's guys and/or picks…and slit his own throat at the same time.
— Some mild buzz on Philly UDFA WR Marcus Johnson (2-45-0/3) this preseason — he looks capable, which means he won't make the team so some disaster like Donnel Pumphrey (3 carries for -3 yards, 2 rec. for 20 yards on 2 targets) can stick. See more on Johnson in our draft guide.
Don't see more on Pumphrey at College Football Metrics.com – he wasn't worth digging into deeper.
— Nathan Peterman (10-20 for 167 yards, 0 TD/0 INT) is not my favorite rookie QB…far from it, but what's funny is – after watching Wentz-Tyrod scuffling, Peterman looks like Tom Brady. Peterman is not an answer he's a stop gap.
— Bills rookie DB Tre'Davious White (4 tackles, 1 TFL) has looked like a solid ballplayer. He's going to have to – a likely starter Week 1 as a rookie. He was pretty aggressive in coverage and making tackles.
— Eagles UDFA rookie TE/WR Billy Brown (4-37-0/4) looks slimmed down and like a legit convert from big WR to TE. It will take 2-3 years most likely but he's looked very capable the first two weeks, especially in the passing game. I think he looked better than Buffalo QB-to-TE convert Logan Thomas (3-16-0/4).
— Bills rookie UDFA WR Brandon Reilly (4-39-1/5) caught a TD pass late, a nice stretch for the ball and score. Reilly has looked a little stiff to me in the preseason – a guy not likely to make this or any squad.
— Philly top pick DE Derek Barnett (2 tackles, 1 sack) is either lucky or subtly great. I watch him and never go 'wow', but then somehow he's getting a sack a game. He has a neat little head dip move on his pass rush…maybe that's the secret sauce for him.


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The Stiletto Gumshoe
A Writer's Blog That's Not.
A Trip Into Darkness.
Call him a poet of noir, or what you will. Author Jim Thompson (9.27.06 – 4.7.1977) was born today, 114 years ago. Regrettably, Thompson received far too little critical acclaim during his lifetime, but thankfully the work is there now for us to delve into whenever we're eager for a trip into darkness, though it's amazing how many bookseller and library mystery/crime fiction sections often carry no Thompson works.
Detectives In The Shadows.
Georgetown University professor Susanna Lee's Detectives In The Shadows (2020 Johns Hopkins University Press) is subtitled "A Hard-Boiled History", and some may quibble with that. Lee's 216-page hardcover (the last 46 pages comprised of appendices and footnotes) is less a 'history' of fictional hard-boiled detectives and more a close look at how a shortlist of exemplary private eye characters from literature and broadcast media represent and echo their eras.
If you've been burned in the past by academics' books, I can relate. Susanna Lee previously authored Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction And The Decline Of Moral Authority, but also Proust's Swann's Way and Stendahl's The Red And The Black among other titles, and those might give anyone the willies if they're disinterested in a return to high school and college required reading lists. (You say 'Proust' and I'm automatically fleeing the other way, one particularly disastrous college term paper still nagging at me to this day.)
But, fear not. Detectives In The Shadows is engaging and readable throughout, and I for one would've been happy with another 100 pages to devour. She selects a key hard-boiled detective to represent different periods, starting with Carroll John Daly's Terry Mack as the start of the hard-boiled detective sub-genre, soon supplanted by that same writer's more popular Race Williams, both of them Black Mask magazine staples. Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op and Sam Spade embody the late 1920's and early Depression years, Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe represents the 1930's-40's, and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer violently echoes the post-WWII Cold War era. Lee dismisses the 1960's altogether, considering its social upheavals unfriendly to hard-boiled private eyes' rugged individualism and quasi-vigilanteism. She jumps to the 1970's with Robert Parker's Spencer and his first appearance in The Godwulf Manuscript in 1973. From Parker's Spencer, Lee switches from fiction to the screen with HBO's The Wire and True Detective series, and lastly, Netflix' Jessica Jones. Brief mentions of broadcast television's The Rockford Files and David Janssen as Harry O may still leave some readers scratching their heads. Wither Kinsey Milhone and V.I. Warshawski? Lew Archer and Easy Rawlins? The roster could continue, but again I'll point out that Susanna Lee didn't assemble a laundry list of hard-boiled detectives, but instead, aimed to show how the uniquely American literary invention of the lone-wolf hard-boiled P.I. represents evolving periods in modern history.
Coming from a steady diet of cozies and ready to take a peek at the dark, violent world of hard-boiled detective literature? Then pick another non-fiction book to provide you with an overview, but keep Susanna Lee's Detectives In The Shadows on hand for a later read when you want to delve deeper into what these iconic characters represent.
The Dawn Is For Dying.
(Spotted at that most excellent of reference sites, Notpulpcovers.com)
Back in 1944, 'Noir Prince' David Goodis penned a dogfight story titled "Dusk Is For Dying" under his own name for Fighting Aces magazine. For Goodis, any time may have been a good time for dying, dusk or dawn.
But let's assume that "The Dawn Is For Dying" (above) by Lance Kermit doesn't deal with heroic American airmen blasting Zeroes, Messerschmitt's or whatever else Fighting Aces magazine showcased.
Actually, "Lance Kermit" was one of several pen names David Goodis used for the pulp magazine market (though he used his own name for many stories too). Not that I'd consider Adventure magazine a prestige venue…or any of the men's adventure or 'sweats' mags, for that matter. But a David Goodis story graced by an Al Rossi two-page B&W illustration is prestigious enough for me, even if Rossi's art is pure vintage sleaze at its 'best'…or worst, depending on your point of view.
Now that I think about it, this April 1959 issue would've been on the newsstands during my own The Stiletto Gumshoe project, the hoped-for series' first novel set in April and May of that same year. As it happens, "Sharon Gardner/Sasha Garodnowicz" (the Stiletto Gumshoe herself) inherited a soft spot for mystery fiction and true crime pulps left behind by her old man, and she'd have been sorely tempted by "The Case Of The Deadly Doll" and "Are You A Slave Of Desire?". But I know she'd have snickered at "Land Of The Love-Captive Girls" and John Stygna's cover art with its sword-wielding sheik and harem girls. My bet: A quick thumb-through of the rag would've probably found her settling in to Kermit/Goodis' "The Dawn Is For Dying".
The "There" And The "Then".
Not everyone re-reads novels, but I do, returning to a few classics and cherished favorites every few years, sometimes just grabbing a previously read book purely on a whim. But it's rare for me to re-visit a book finished less than a year ago. Nonetheless, that's just what I did with Laura Lippman's 2019 Lady In The Lake, even though the to-be-read pile on the writing lair's endtable is filling up (overflowing, actually) with new books waiting to be started.
Sure, I enjoyed Lippman's tale of Baltimore's mid-1960's upper middle-class Jewish homemaker Madeline 'Maddie' Schwartz, her abrupt decision to leave her family for a new life in an edgy part of town, finagling her way into a bottom-rung newspaper job, and her ambitious and potentially dangerous investigation into the largely ignored death of Eunetta 'Cleo' Sherwood, a young African-American woman. Lady in The Lake is crime fiction. It's definitely a mystery. But it's also a coming-of-age story, though the age in this sorta-kinda homage to Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar is Maddie Schwartz' late-thirties, her own teenage years' self-discovery tabled for marriage and homemaker roles.
Read the first time only months earlier, there were no new revelations to be discovered in the plot. And Lippman scores no better or worse than most writers do with the "there" – that is, immersing the reader in the place in which the story unfolds. I've never been to Baltimore, Maryland, and Lippman's laundry list of stores, restaurants and street names didn't conjure up any specific sense of place. That's not a criticism. The fact is, having been raised on a century of Hollywood films and television shows, we all can recognize a handful of Los Angeles and New York street and neighborhood names and landmarks. But the main drags in Tulsa or Spokane? The upscale department store in Denver vs. the dime store chain in Minneapolis? The fancy dining spots in Pittsburgh and the greasy spoons in Cleveland? Of course not.
For myself, I've chosen not to agonize over pointless geography lessons in my own writing, confident that no reader will spot check my rendition of Chicago (much less Chicago over 60 years ago) on Google Maps to uncover a fabricated street name or question if the Rexall drug store was really on the southwest or northeast corner of an intersection. The "there" – the real sense of place – has to be conveyed via much more than a tour guide's itinierary.
But the "then"?
Laura Lippman's handling of the "then" in Lady of The Lake was masterfully done, and why I opted to revisit the novel, this time like a high school/college class reading assignment, taking careful note of the different ways she kept the reader firmly rooted in the Autumn of 1965 through November 1966 (with a brief coda some twenty years later). Just as a sense of place is established – and maintained – by much more than meaningless address lists, the elusive sense of "then" must first be conveyed (and then repeatedly but, hopefully, not intrusivelyreinforced) with much more than pointing out cars' make and model years, household product brand names or some other pop culture references. In Lady In The Lake, everything really feels like it's 1966, from the characters' body language to the pervasive dismissiveness Maddie Schwartz constantly navigates through. Spiro T. Agnew may be running for governor, The Sandpipers playing at the theater, but those only matter if a contemporary reader even knows who Agnew was or can picture Steve McQueen on screen. Chronological cultural cues are sprinkled throughout, of course, but it's the actions and dialog that constantly define the time, if not the place. How precisely Lippman accomplished all of this is not so easy to decipher.
My own work is set in the ethnic blue collar bungalow belt of 1959 Chicago. Neighborhood borders – and ethnic/racial boundaries – are as rigid and insurmountable as real walls, and a viaduct or railroad line as formidable as the Brandenburg Gate in Cold War era Berlin. I think I've managed a sense of place pretty well without getting bogged down in street names and local landmarks that couldn't resonate with readers. But that doesn't mean that all the maps, downloaded photos, vintage magazines and hours of research were pulled together for nothing. They've played their part in helping me to establish – and maintain – an essential sense of the "then" as much (if not more so) as the "there". Am I doing it as handily as Laura Lippman? I doubt it. But a re-read of her Lady In The Lake is helping to keep me on the right track.
Photo: Andrey Dubinin
Mystery, Money & More.
There's not much reason to be familiar with Racine, Wisconsin. Unless you're a fan of old-time radio shows, that is, and remember Fibber McGee & Molly's sponsor, the Johnson Wax company of Racine, Wisconsin (S.C. Johnson today, mega-corporate marketers of Windex, Pledge, Glade, Drano, Saran Wrap, Raid, Ziploc bags, Off and many other branded products probably lurking somewhere around your home). There's a chance if you attended college anywhere from Chicago to Milwaukee that you might've taken a field trip to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed S.C. Johnson corporate campus for an architecture class. But that aside, Racine has been eclipsed lately by its small city/big town neighbor just a short hop down the road, Kenosha Wisconsin, which has been in the news much more than it would like.
I've been to Kenosha and Racine and all points in between Chicago and Milwaukee, that 100 mile+ stretch along lower Lake Michigan's western shoreline, more or less one continuous metro area straddling two states (even been to that diesel-punk shrine S.C. Johnson campus numerous times on day job chores). But I never expected to see Racine mentioned in the pages of Mystery Scene magazine, much less to learn that one of my wordsmith heroes resided on the north side of that town for a year and half back in the mid-1960's.
With his writing career briefly stalled, Lawrence Block (a name mentioned often enough here at The Stiletto Gumshoe) found himself relocating from Buffalo, New York to Racine, Wisconsin for a year and half, working a regular day job at Whitman Numismatic Journal (numismatics being coin collecting). The job offer was based in part on one particular 1964 article Block wrote: "Raymond Chandler And The Brasher Doubloon". That essay (also available in Block's collection of non-fiction pieces, Hunting Buffalo With Bent Nails, 2019), is reprinted in the latest Fall 2020 issue of Mystery Scene magazine, and it's an intriguing read for Block fans and Raymond Chandler enthusiasts alike. Whether you know Chandler's story from his 1942 Philip Marlowe novel The High Window or the 1947 film adaptation (the second, actually) The Brasher Doubloon with George Montgomery and Nancy Guild, do check out Block's essay.
This Fall 2020 Mystery Scene issue is full of the usual tasty stuff, including all the new book release ads and reviews, some of which I've added to the orders refilling the writing lair's to-be-read endtable. But there's more, of course, like Pat H. Broeske's excellent (but all too short!) "Love On The Run" article, which takes a look at some of the many Hollywood films inspired at least in part by the notorious exploits of the real-life Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, including Joseph Lewis' Gun Crazy (1957), Arthur Penn's Bonnie & Clyde (1967) naturally enough, Nicholas Ray's incredible They Live By Night (1948) and others. They Live By Night is a particular fave of mine and overdue for a fresh viewing soon. It's odd that such a noir classic is mostly seen in cheesy omnibus disk set editions found in bargain bins. If you haven't seen this one, perhaps Italian illustrator Averardo Ciriello's gorgeous film poster art below will send you off to find this incredible piece of doomed, dark romance with Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell. The faces Ciriello painted for that poster are truly haunting.
As for Mystery Scene magazine, go get your own copy of the Fall 2020 Mystery Scene now…
Meyer's Murmurs And Me.
Never a member of 'Team Edward' or 'Team Jacob', I'm just not much of an expert on Stefenie Meyer's Twilight series. Or much of a fan, to be honest. I skimmed a few pages of the first Twilight novel in a bookstore years ago, and have only seen random snips of the movies while channel surfing. But maybe I should say thanks to Stefenie Meyer. Well, more accurately, I do owe Rachelle Hampton for her funny 9.2.20 piece at Salon, "All 349 'Murmurs' in the Twilight Saga, Charted And Ranked". (link below)
According to Rachelle Hampton, Stefenie Meyer seems to be "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with the word murmur…there are hopeful murmurs and bleak murmurs, warm murmurs and tense murmurs, low murmurs and…well, even lower murmurs". She went so far as to assemble an Excel spreadsheet charting Meyer's use of the word murmur, discovering that the new Midnight Sun sequel/prequel included 67 murmurs, while the original Twilight series novels tallied 349 (which is a lot of murmuring). For the record, Breaking Dawn boasted the most, coming in at 111 murmurs.
While I may not be particularly interested in vampires that sparkle, moody teenagers or the Pacific Northwest, Rachelle Hampton's analysis of Stefenie Meyer's wordsmithing (and the gentle way she's poking fun) prompted me to give the MS Word Advanced Find And Replace tool a go in my own work, something I probably should've been doing all along.
I was relieved to learn that I'd only used murmur twice in the completed Stiletto Gumshoe manuscript currently being queried – one murmured and one murmuring to be precise, and those over 200 manuscript pages apart. So far, no one murmurs even once in the in-progress follow-up novel, that one about halfway complete.
Still, that double-check prompted me to do similar word search/counts on all kinds of other words and phrases, terrified I'd discover that I employed word crutches or writerly 'darlings', those awful go-to words and phrases writers of all sorts turn to in a crunch or type almost by default. The result? Relief, once again, though just to play safe, I did change a word or two just to have something to show for the effort.
As an avid reader of postwar PBO mysteries, crime fiction and private eye series (some of which boast eye-catching covers but pretty awful insides) I can verify that many writers – particularly those of the pre-computer 'first draft is the only draft' school – beat some words and phrases to death. And no, I'm not going to assemble an Excel spreadsheet for you in order to prove this. Just take my word for it. At the very least, there were some very popular P.I. series wordsmiths sharing more or less the very same descriptions for every slinky female client, femme fatale and damsel in distress encountered, and using those again and again.
Not too much murmuring going on in a lot of those novels, though.
Right or wrong, I suppose that I lump Stefenie Meyer's Twilight series in with the notorious E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey series: Mega-selling publishing phenomena that spawned super-successful film franchises, presumably leaving both writers more than comfortable for life. As well as their heirs. And their heirs. The two series seem to go hand in hand, appropriate since the Grey books began as Twilight fanfic. While some might grimace at the writing itself, there's no denying that the novels caught on with the book buying and movie-going public, so any griping about their success just comes off as sour grapes. There'll be no griping here, only gratitude to Rachelle Hampton, Stefenie Meyer (and maybe E.L. James, too) for reminding me to watch out for those word darlings and to double-check every so often in case things have gotten out of hand. I imagine I'll automatically picture a sullen Kristen Stewart the next time my fingers start typing murmur.
Photo: Vincenzo Centrone
https://slate.com/culture/2020/09/twilight-murmur-analysis-stephenie-meyer-midnight-sun.html
The Phineas Poe Trilogy.
Don't let a noir protagonist's quirky name fool you. Will Christopher Baer's Phineas Poe is not Auguste Dupin or Hercule Poirot. Hell, he's not even Mike Hammer or Jessica Jones. The mean streets of Manhattan or L.A. have nothing on Phineas Poe's darkest nightmares. If you want to read something uplifting – or at least reassuring – move on. The closest familiar comparison I can offer you to Baer's three Phineas Poe novels would be Peter Medak's unrelentingly dark (and almost surreal) 1993 neo-noir thriller Romeo Is Bleeding, scripted by Hilary Henkin.
Baer's Phineas Poe is a former cop and drug addict fresh from the psych ward and promptly mixed up with Jude, a classic noir femme fatale who abandons him (and I won't tell you precisely what he discovers has occurred when he awakes to find her gone), and his tortuous, violence filled quest to find her – to reunite, to rescue her or to seek revenge – takes Poe on a dark journey through drug induced dreams and violent episodes populated by two-bit crooks, Goths, hackers, sociopaths and killers. It all plays out in a nightmare landscape that may be Denver, Colorado and desert-noir Texas, but is more like Dante's nine circles of hell. Sound like fun?
It is. Oh, it really, really is.
There are three Phineas Poe novels: Kiss me, Judas (1998), Hell's Half Acre (2000) and Penny Dreadful (2004), each readily available individually both new and used and also conveniently offered in three-novel omnibus editions. The reader may take a while to adjust to Baer's writing style, its rapid-paced yet surreal language and almost bratty taunting with 'normal' structure, punctuation and grammar. But a few pages in, Baer's dark poetry will have you hooked, and structural norms largely forgotten.
I was shocked to discover Baer's Phineas Poe books (individual editions and one omnibus…I'm not a collector but always acquisitive) missing from the writing lair's too-many and overstuffed bookcases, presumably squeezed out by new additions at some point in recent years. Shame on me. But that's a mistake that's easily rectified. I have Greg Levin's Criminal Element article "12 Neo-Noir Authors Too Good Not To Be Crazy Famous" (see the preceding post) to thank for prompting me to look for my Baer books and to order new ones right away. There'll be other new books ahead of Baer's Phineas Poe trilogy, but now I can't wait to get really weirded out all over again.
Dark, Dangerous And Crazy-Good.
The to-be-read pile on the writing lair's endtable looked ready to topple over by late August, mystery/crime fiction titles strangely absent in the imposing stack. Though I expected late Summer to be short on reading time (due to day job and daily life stuff rudely intruding) I've managed to work through most of the heap, from a depressing list of current events/politics titles to Isabel Wilkerson's Caste – The Origins Of Our Discontents, and winding up with a real change of pace for me, Lisa Morton and Leslie Klinger's new anthology Weird Women – Classic Supernatural Fiction By Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852 – 1923. But even while I whittled the pile down, I'd phoned in over a dozen new books to the local indie for curbside pickups, ordered a few more direct from their specialty press publishers, and still more – 'pre-owned' books and POD-only editions – from the Seattle behemoth. Some of these are showing up quicker than expected, the to-be-read pile re-growing quickly.
'Course, that doesn't mean I can't always make room for more…
Linked via Crime Reads, Greg Levin's 9.9.20 "12 Neo-Noir Authors Too Good Not To Be Crazy Famous" at Criminal Element (link below) was just what I needed to help with the replenishing. Levin looks at a dozen edgy contemporary noir writers, like Sara Gran, one of my faves, though as much as I love her Claire DeWitt series, her third novel Dope (2006) eclipses even those for me and remains one of my all-time beloved books. Craig Clevenger, Lindsay Hunter, Holly Goddard Jones and others have spent time on that same to-be-read pile in the past, and Levin's article prompted me to add a couple of them to my current book ordering frenzy (have to get ready for Autumn, don't I?) even if they'll be re-reads. But in particular, Levin prompted me to look at Will Christopher Baer, maybe the darkest on his neo-noir list, and for me, way overdue for a re-read. More about Baer's magnificent Phineas Poe novels in the next post…
12 Neo-Noir Authors Too Good Not to Be Crazy Famous
From Paused To Un-Pause.
I've been more or less on 'pause' with my own writing projects since late March. Specifically, the outreach/submission chores have been on hold, for good or bad, waiting till Labor Day before 'un-pausing'.
Queries previously circulated for the completed The Stiletto Gumshoe novel (that's actually not it's title) while I continued work on its follow-up for a hoped-for mystery/crime fiction series. But with NYC the epicenter of all-things-bad back in the Spring, it seemed sensible to halt any further outreach. Considering the frustrating ratio of replies (even when they're 'thanks-but-no-thanks') to so-called NORMANS (no reply means a no), why send things out to empty workstations and unopened inboxes? Offices had emptied out, folks were huddling in their homes and apartments, and we all had bigger things on our minds than genre fiction queries.
Things loosened up a little in some parts of the country (New York in particular) while we drifted into Summer, a time of year considered by many (though not all) as the publishing marketplace's down-time. Though 'real' Summer's still with us for another two weeks-plus, Labor Day's the traditional end of the season, and I'm ready – even eager – to get going again. So, just to get back in the groove, I pulled the untouched-for-months manuscript out and gave it another once-over…what writer can forego making another tweak or two?
As for the in-progress sequel? It hasn't progressed as much as I'd like, not for lack of inspiration or due to writer's block, but simply a matter of time. I never could've foreseen how the day job would change once everything went haywire back in late March: Staff working from home, me on-site, access to assets, info and more from Brazil, Germany, the UK and other faraway places all delayed. Bottom line: Everything takes half again longer than usual to complete. Mind you, there'll be no whining here. I'm working. So many still are not.
Writing, publishing and bookselling sites, blogs and the trade press provide a mixed bag of news and opinions on what's-what in the marketplaces. The good news: Print unit sales have been up, by more than anyone foresaw, and the numbers seem to show some staying power. On the other hand, book production's been disrupted, not only by pandemic related issues but supply-chain and other problems with the main book printing mega-companies. Still, new titles are coming out. Deals are being made. All eyes may be on the latest political tell-all hardcover right now, but we assume that'll fade sometime soon. So, while pressing pause when the pandemic first swept over the country and everything initially shut down seemed prudent, lingering in neutral for too long can only lead to inertia. Time to get back to work.
Literary Agent Jessica Faust's excellent Bookends Literary Agency blog (link below) recently posted "Keep Moving Forward", recounting the ups and downs (mostly ups) of the scary days in the Spring, and offers, "My tip for my clients is the same as I gave my agents. Keep moving forward…Keep submitting, even if it's summer or a pandemic or the world looks bleak. Keep moving forward and controlling the one thing you can control: What you're doing." Makes sense to me. Whatever the 'new normal' is or will ultimately be, there's no point sitting on the sidelines with a wait-n-see attitude. So next week I'll reopen that buzzkill of a query/submission spreadsheet, revisit my continually-added-to literary agent lists, revise and refresh my queries and get back to work.
Y'know, I'm getting revved up already.
Photos: Laura Chouette, Natalia Drepina, Janko Ferlic
Mystery Muses.
Filling and then whittling down my writing lair's to-be-read endtable yields a lot of books, some few keepers finding their way onto already over-stuffed bookshelves, the rest crammed into cartons headed for the used booksellers. This time it took two trips to turn in three hefty cartons, most of those the non-keepers from my sheltering-in reading. No point in grousing about the out-of-pocket spending for those boxes-o-books vs. what I got back. Reading isn't a business, after all. Usually all that fresh cash is burning a hole in my pocket before I can leave the store anyway. This time I behaved, more or less, and only walked out with one book (hard to believe).
Jim Huang and Austin Lugar's 2006 Mystery Muses – 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers is a follow up to their 100 Favorite Mysteries Of The Century and They Died In Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated And Forgotten Mystery Novels. Huang and Lugar are just the editors, letting 100 mystery writers ranging from the well known to some newcomers (newcomers fifteen years ago, that is) comment on classic mystery novels that inspired or played a seminal role in their own mystery and crime fiction careers. This 224-page trade pb was a quick read, though I'll need to revisit it again, this time with a pen and notepad handy. I'm embarrassed to admit that there were quite a few classics I still haven't read (and a few I'd never heard of!) but also, the participating writers included a number of names I wasn't familiar with and, in some cases, now want to know more about.
The Stiletto Gumshoe Archive
The Stiletto Gumshoe Archive Select Month November 2020 (19) October 2020 (42) September 2020 (40) August 2020 (28) July 2020 (38) June 2020 (41) May 2020 (29) April 2020 (29) March 2020 (33) February 2020 (30) January 2020 (36) December 2019 (23) November 2019 (27) October 2019 (34) September 2019 (32) August 2019 (38) July 2019 (34) June 2019 (45) May 2019 (42) April 2019 (52) March 2019 (47) February 2019 (61) January 2019 (71) December 2018 (47)
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International association of information professionals/special librarians in corporations, business, science, government, and academic institutions that use /produce specialized information.
New York Public Library's "Science, Industry and business" section has numerous business Category Reference libraries Subject Specific businessScience, Industry and business Library (SIBL) Apply Now! The Researchlibraries ACCESS Card COLLECTIONS • Scope of the Collections.
Columbia University Area Studies - Primarily a links page.
Extractions: African Technology Forum (Cambridge, Massachusetts) "African Technology Forum is the premier source of information on science and technology in Africa. We provide practical information to corporations, individuals and institutions in the US, Africa and the rest of the world." Note : This site includes electronic versions of "feature articles" only from selected back issues of ATF's journal, "Forum". The printed version of this journal has been suspended.
Knowledge management products, such as knowledge audit and knowledge mapping workshops, for special libraries and other business units offered by Stanford Solutions.
Selfpublishing business of Marshall R. Chamberlain, author of Creative Self-Publishing in the World Marketplace . Site offers self-publishing classes, and workshops for libraries and writing Organizations, and consulting services for writers.
The web presence of the library. Lists help, search, course reserve, account, suggestions and business contact.
Extractions: Welcome to BISON BISON allows you to search the Libraries online catalogue for books, journals, and other items both in the Libraries local collections or available through the web. In addition, the multi-database search facility allows you to simultaneously search the collections of other libraries, both within Manitoba and beyond. Use the buttons on the left side of the page to access all of BISON's features. The appearance of BISON has been changed as part of the new site design for the University of Manitoba Libraries. The functionality of the system has not been affected. None of the buttons have changed, no new screens have been added. The only change has been to give BISON the same new look as the rest of the main Libraries' web site.
Software to compose legal documents for attorneys with specific forms for business, corporations, real estate, wills and trusts.
Servicing the communities of Aldinga, Aberfoyle Park, Noarlunga, Seaford, Willunga and Woodcroft. Features include Independent Learning Centre, Fasttrack business Research and job and career information.
Extractions: Home Complete list of UK business lists Click here Hamilton House Mailings Ltd Members of the Direct Marketing Association Raising response rates in direct mail Hamilton House sells mailing lists of schools, businesses, libraries, doctors, hospitals, clubs, societies, universities, colleges, bookshops and many more.
Extractions: Whom can the CEO believe when it comes to funding a new project? Answers to these types of critical questions are why for over 25 years SAI Business Research Reports have been used by the best companies in the world to stay leaders. Click on the report of your choice to get full information and view a sample page. Then order the data that can keep you way ahead of the pack.
Directory of businesses including advertising, art galleries, and restaurants. Links to area libraries, newspapers and media.
Magazine for library directors, administrators, and others in public, academic, and special (e.g., business) libraries. Combines news, features, and commentary with analyses of public policy, technology, and management developments.
Extractions: The New England Journal of Medicine announced formation of the NEJM Library Advisory Board to focus on building relationships within the academic and hospital library community, advise on strategies and policies for a new institutional online license, and give perspective on the changing roles and future of medical librarianship.
Library and collections information, and a subject guide to print and electronic business resources.
Official town web site. Community calendar and public notices; town government departments, meeting minutes, and ordinances; links to local libraries, schools, and newspapers; and local business and organizations directories.
Extractions: photo source: © Leslie O'Shaughnessy Upcoming Events Continuing Education Courses - The Hollis/Brookline Community Education evening program is ongoing. New Classes starting each week. Click here for more details and contact information Employment Opportunities None at this time. Announcements Do you have comments about our cable company, Charter Communications?
Research collections include African studies; art, architecture, design, and photography; elementary and secondary teaching materials, the Joseph Schaffner Library of business and management science; Seeley G. Mudd Library for Science and Engineering; the Pritzker Legal Research Center; and transportation, government documents, and rare books and manuscripts. Research affiliations Association of American Universities, Association of Research libraries, Center for Research libraries.
Subject guides for business law, international business topics, and retailing. With information regarding services, collections, and remote reference assistance.
Official site. Links to government, business, education, and libraries.


text:
Meet Safe & The City's Founder: Never Feel Unsafe On The Streets Again
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 by Liz Rosling
Safe & The City was founded by Jillian in March of 2018. Having previously experienced sexual harassment, Julia came up with a mobile app to help people plan their routes around 'dangerous' areas where high number of sexual harassment incidents have been reported.
As part of our #WomenInSMEs campaign we chatted to Jillian, an advocate for gender equality, about her journey as a female founder in the world of tech.
1. Hi Jillian, thanks for sitting down to chat! Can we start by finding out how you got the idea for Safe & The City?
The idea for the app came after I experienced sexual harassment herself. I trusted the standard navigation apps to get me around London, but found that navigating the fastest route wasn't necessarily the safest. One evening, I was guided down a dark, narrow, empty alley, where two male kitchen staff on break said vulgar acts about what they wanted to do to my body.
I ignored them, put on a brave face, but felt scared knowing I was walking where I couldn't easily escape or seek help. Their threats turned out to be empty, but I started thinking about younger or more vulnerable persons walking there where the situation could have escalated. With Safe & The City I want to empower others to have all the information to help them feel and actually be safer.
2. Can you explain to our readers how the crowdsourcing GPS app works?
Safe & The City enables its users to report incidents based on how safe a route feels to mobilise tangible changes to improve safety on streets. In combining crowdsourced information on underreported experiences, like sexual harassment, with accurate data from the police, this unearths a wealth of invaluable data in a functional, everyday tool capable of making real impact.
The app, currently available on iOS and Android free of charge, features helpful prompts to stay alert before intersections where sexual harassment and crimes have happened more often as well as 2-click access to 999 emergency services. After walks are completed, users can quickly rate elements of their walk, such as street lighting, to inform others of conditions and pattern behaviour that may make it better or worse to walk in a particular street at a certain time. In the future, the app will allow to share walks with friends and family to track real-time location and seeking help.
3. That sounds great! Congratulations on winning the Women of Innovation Award at WINTRADE. Can you tell us a bit more about this experience?
Thank you. It was an honour to be recognised alongside so many incredible women and men creating meaningful change across a wide-ranging number of industries. I was even more touched by the experience because Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a role model to me, was part of the organisers that selected me. This has opened many other opportunities to me so I would highly recommend others to attend the next one.
4. How is Safe & The City funded, and from your own experience, do you think there should be easier access to funding for startups and SMEs?
Safe & The City has been funded to-date by grants, awards, and crowdfunding. The process is competitive in London and the UK to access funding which can create barriers for less represented businesses and business owners. I believe there is ample opportunity for more innovative solutions to decrease the gap of funding which needs to be a high priority nearing the BREXIT decision.
5. Thanks Jillian, can you explain how other businesses can get involved with the app?
We have many ways businesses can work with us to create safer cities together.
We offer a street-smart and bystander training to businesses who want to be listed on our app as a 'Safe Site' for people who feel nervous, scared or need assistance to quickly navigate to. We can also provide insights to businesses about the patterns and trends of what happened to people and how safe they think it feels. We can make key recommendations about environmental and social changes and a means to measure these changes to build safer more inclusive places to work, shop, study and live.
Other apps will soon be able to integrate with us so that their users can navigate to their next date, tube or nightclub safely.
We also collaborate with a number of partners, including Voxos who believe in safety on-the-go through their smart-wear glasses that means you can connect to your phone without having it out.
6. What would you say has been Safe & The City's greatest success to date?
Creating a community of users, advocates, partners and allies has by far been our greatest success to date. Safe & The City has been built, shaped and expanded from the network of these supporters and will continue to as we remain transparent, accountable and responsive to them.
7. What prompted you to found FemTechTalks and do you think any progress has been made towards equality in the workplace?
Founding FemTechTalks with a few other amazing women was inspired by the lack of visibility, recognition and solutions to many invisible issues women in STEM and business faced. It was based not to raise our concerns but to learn from each others experiences, who were the allies we could trust and reflect on the progress we still have made to date.
8. We couldn't agree more! As a founder and CEO, do you find it difficult to achieve a work life balance?
It's a very difficult challenge balancing work and life as the lists, emails, problems and opportunities never cease to grow. It has increasingly been important to dedicate more time to personal well-being as we continue to grow. Finding a balance is an art and will look different for different types of people but is essential to run a successful startup.
9. What would be your advice to other female entrepreneurs and women working in tech?
Like many other aspects of women's lives, there will be pain along the way, however becoming an entrepreneur in technology and inspiring other women and young girls has been the most rewarding experience. My advice would be not to hold back because of the anticipated hurdles ahead as following your dreams will always be worth the investment.
10. Thanks! Finally, what are your main plans and goals for Safe & The City for 2019?
We have big plans for Safe & The City celebrating our 1-year birthday on International Women's Day this March. We are looking to move into other cities, new types of spaces like festivals, and ensuring what we learn is shared with the wider network to maximise our impact and vision to create safer cities.
Connect With Safe & The City
Instagram: @safeandthecity
Facebook: Safe & The City
Twitter: @safeandthecity


This water proof cable is mainly used for the connection of AC motor. The temperature can't surpass 85 centimeter degree. One end of the cable is in the water, and five core cable distribution system engineering separate neutral line and the zero line, which makes the system run more stable and protect the safety of operating personnel. The stable system can guarantee the safety of operators.