SPLEEN GUY: So this is hamburger ... Looks preety normal ... Wha! ... WOah!
HEART GUY: ha! ha! Ha!
HEART GUY: heh. I missed, but you wont be lucky next time...FOR I AM THE HEART!
SPLEEN GUY: I thought hearts looked like this.
HEART GUY: that doesn't matter! ... I'm gonna kill you with my staple gun!
SPLEEN GUY: another weird gun?
HEART GUY: its NOT weird!
If you though the Full Moon last Staurday night (30 January, 2010) was big, it was. The Moon was the biggest we will see this year, due to the full Moon falling on the night of the Moons closest approach to Earth.
It was also a "Blue" Moon, the second full Moon of the Month. This year, we will have a second "Blue" Moon in March.
Opposition of Mars, January 30 2010, Observed.
Left Image: Mars as sketched through my 4.5" Newtonian Reflector. Right Image: Mars earthward facing side at the same time as I was sketching, via the JPL Solar System Simulator.
The opposition of Mars for 2010 was last night. It was never going to be an auspicious opposition, Mars having the smallest diameter since 2003 and the opposition being in Summer here, Masr never gets far above the horizon, where murk and turbulence interfere with viewing.
Given that it was 36 degrees C during the day, and still 25 degrees in the middle of the night, turbulence was going to be a big problem. Also given that it was eldest sons bithday party (he is a prime number old, which is the sum of MiddleOnes age (an even number) and half SmalestOnes age (his full age is an even number and half is age is a prime)) with kids rushing around it was not going to be a good time to get out Don the 8" Newtonian and my astrophotography gear.
Still, I was able to get out my unguided 4.5" Netwonian and combine my youth watching duties with observing the red world. I even got the kids to have a look at Mars, the "Blue" Moon and Saturn.
Despite the viewing being shocking, through my 6.5 mm Plosell lens the bright white polar cap was clearly visible. There were also sufficient moments of stillness where I could see some darker markings, and I got them down. Satisyingly, despite the conditions my sketch is in good agreement with the surface marking that were visible at that time. Not bad, seeing as the smaller circle in my sketch is approximately the size Mars looked like through my 6.5 mm lens.
Mars will still be good for most of February, so why not get out and have a look?
Sol as seen from a hypothetical planet around alpha Centauri A (Click to embiggen). Last week I looked at what the Southern Cross would look like from planets circling other stars. The week before that I made a stereogram of the Southern Cross by overlapping the view of the Southern Cross seen from Earth with that seen from Alpha Centauri A, only 4 light years away.
This week I'm looking at what our Sun, Sol would look like from the "surface" of alien planets.
To answer this I've used Celestia yet again, to travel to exoplanet locations and see what Sol woul look like in their skies. As with last week, most of these planets are "hot Jupiters" and the concept of surface is problematic, so I've shown the view from orbit. From a hypothetical planet around alpha Centauri A, Sol is a bright magnitude 0.5 star (almost as bright as Acrux) situated between Perseus and Cassiopeia. I wonder how aliens would incorporate Sol into their mythology of the skies? Would they merge the constellations?
Sol from from Epsilon Eridani B, 10.5 light years away. Sol is a 2.3 magnitude star, moderately bright (like Gacrux, gamma Crucis), in the constellation of Serpens. It would fit right in.
Sol as seen from the super earth Gliese 581 d, 20 light years away. Sol is a faint, 3.8 magnitude star (like epsilon Crucis, the fifth, dimmer star of the Cross), between the highly distorted constellations of Taurus and Cetus.
The "Blue" Moon and Mars, looking north-east at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time as seen from Australia.
This Saturday Mars is at opposition, where it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. It is also the night of the "Blue" Moon, and the Moon this night will have the largest apparent diameter of the year. So all in all a good night.
Mars will be easy to spot, it rises not long after the Moon and will be the bright red object left of the Moon.
Mars through binoculars. A few nights after opposition, Mars and the beautiful Beehive Cluster will be within the same binoculars filed of view.
Most of you remember the Mars Hoax email back in August, whch has circulated every two years since the Great opposition in 2003, which claimed that Mars would look as big as the Moon. Well, as you can clearly see tomorrow night it is not, Mars will just be a bright dot next to the Full Moon.
In binoculars (see image left) Mars will still be a bright dot. You will only see Mars as a disk in a telescope, and then you will need a medium to large telescope to see any detail. Still, even if you are just seeing a small disk, you are looking at an alien world, sister to our own, where robots are ceaselessly braving the harsh environment to gain knowledge. That's got to be impressive.
Mars as seen at this opposition through a 6" telescope with a 12 mm eyepiece.
So why is the opposition of Mars so rubbish this year. Basically because Mars is nearly at its furthest from the Sun, and Earth is nearly at its closest. Amongst other things it means light takes nearly 9 hours to reach Earth from Mars, while in 2003, it took only 5 hours.
Yeah, Okay you say, but why does it vary, why isn't Mars at the same distance each opposition? Because Mars's Orbit is not a whole number of earth orbits long, so the dates of perihelion and aphelion for Mars and Earth drift with respect to each other. (see the Hoax page for a more detailed description and this page for a better description).
So the upshot is that 2010 and 2012 are pretty poor oppositions, and we have to wait until 2018 fro a really good one (although 204 and 2016 won't be too bad).
I recently mused about why one of the most popular search terms to find my blog was "ring around the Moon". I think I may have found the answer, people are looking for reports of the Annular Eclipse of of 15 January.
Exoplanets.org have a new, interactive table system for their exoplanet data. You can sort, filter* and search the tables for orbital period, mass etc. The tables have hot links to publications and orbital data, which makes a Celestia fan like me really happy. There is also a plotting page, where you can graph statistical features of known exoplanets. Okay, so I'm a geek and nerd and find this sort of stuff cool.
The Big Aussie Star Hunt is now doing Summer Sky Tours! They have Skymaps, and audio guide with Fred Watson (AO), fast facts and more. Go on over and check it out. The Big Aussie Star Hunt is in the running for a Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) Award so you know it is good.
Astronomer, author* and science communicator Fred Watson, Astronomer-in-Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, was appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia on Australia Day. His award was for services to astronomy, in particular the promotion and popularisation of space science through public outreach. This is a great honour for Fred and recognition for his work to bring science to everyone (Many of you may have heard his voice on the radio). More details at ABC News in Science. Hearing Fred speak is inspirational (hearing him sing, not so much , but the kids love it).
*I loved his book "Stargazer, Life and Times of the Telescope" and have been a fanboi ever since. "Why is Uranus Upside Down" is pretty good too.
... "ring around the Moon" is currently my second most accessed post? And is currently the 83rd most popular search term (mildly hot) at the moment? Why are all these people searching using the term "moon January 25", what's so special about that (actually, I think they are looking for information on the occulttaion of the Pleiades)? And the person trying to find their homework answer to "Explain why scorpius would not be visible in the "real" sky at 10:15 am on December 28" by just Gooogling the phrase, good luck.
Carnival of Space #138 is here.
Carnival of Space #138 is now up at Nancy Atkinsons' blog. There's alien worlds (inspired by Avatar), controling HiRise, Astronomy on a budget, weird objects found by the Kepler telescope and much, much more. Fly on over and have a look.
While picking the kids up from the various places they have been sequestered at while I and the BEW have been working, I listened to an interview with Lord Monckton, visiting climate change denier, on ABC news radio.
In it he claimed that "Temperatures have not increased significantly in the past 15 years" and "there has been global cooling in the past 9 years". Would you believe he is wrong? Look at the graph to the left, see also here and here. 2009 tied for the second warmest year since records were kept, and the decade 2000-2009 was the warmest of all decades.
UPDATE: The Australian has an article on Lord Monckton, which is largely fact-free. A bit of research by that paper would find that his claims about climate forcings are wrong as well, (see also here). Most humorous moment in the article ""I'm boring, I check things," he says happily." Hmm, how about here, and here and here. Seriously, why does The Australian never bother to ask real scientists about these things?
UPDATED UPDATE: How did I miss this? "But that won't stop the torrent of claims and statistics and scientific data that pours out of Lord Monckton". Lord Moncktons' out put of scientific data is almost negligible, I can only find one actual scientific publication ( Christopher Monckton: "Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered", Physics and Society, 37, issue 3, p. 6 (2008) which is comprehensively refuted here) which is mostly just wrong-headed modelling not data, and his "stream" of statistics is rehashes of simplistic statistics with cherry-picked data (see here again). Again, journalists should have noticed this early on.
The Full Moon is Saturday January 30. This is a "Blue" Moon. Jupiter is the brightest object low in the western twilight sky. Mars is now the brightest object in the late evening sky and is closest to Earth on January 30. In the morning, Mars and Saturn are easily seen above the northern horizon near the bight stars Regulus and Spica. The Moon is close to Saturn February 2. Mercury is low in the morning twilight.
Morning sky looking South-east showing Mercury at 5:30 am local daylight saving time (4:30 am non-daylight saving) on Saturday January 30. Click to embiggen.
The Full Moon is Saturday January 30. This is a "Blue" Moon, the second full Moon of the month, there will be another "Blue" Moon in March and a "Blue" Last Quarter Moon in October.
Saturn is visible in the morning sky between the bright stars Regulus and Spica. On February 2 (morning February 3) the Moon is close to Saturn. Saturn is actually rising before 11 pm daylight saving time, but is still best seen in the morning and worth a look in a telescope.
The asteroid Vesta is visible in binoculars not far from Regulus and will become visible to the unaided eye in February.
North-eastern horizon showing Mars and the Moon at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time (9:00 pm non-daylight saving) on Saturday January 30, click to embiggen.
Jupiter is the brightest object very low in the western twilight sky. Jupiter's proximity to the horizon makes telescopic observation very difficult, and will get progressively more difficult this week with just over an hour between sunset and when Jupiter sets.
In the evening Mars can be seen from around 10:00 pm local daylight saving time low in the north-eastern sky as the brightest (and clearly red) object in the sky. Mars is at opposition this week on January 30, and now is a good time to look at our sister world in a telescope. Mars is a distinct nearly full disk in a small telescope, although somewhat small. Larger telescopes will be needed to distinguish surface features. On January 30 the Full Moon is near Mars. Red Mars is in the constellation of Cancer and from January 31 is within a binocular field of the Beehive cluster.
While the Moon didn't occult the Pleiades from Adelaide, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try my various combinations of binoculars and telescopes to see if I could get some good images of the Moon near the the Pleiades.
The binoculars (10x50, with an adaptor mount to attach them to my camera stand so they didn't wobble around while viewing) gave the best view, lots of little crisp craters and I could see the whole of the Pleiades in the binocular field of view along with the Moon.
In terms of photography, it was shocking. The Moon was grossly overexposed (as seen above) although the stars are okay and you can clearly see the shape of the Pleiades almost touching the Moon.
The view through the telescope (4.5" Newtonian) didn't get all of the Pleiades in, even on the smallest eyepiece. Still the detail in the craters was good, and it was nice seeing the Smaller Pleiades hovering above the Moon.
But even in the scope the Moon was vastly over exposed (not really surprising). but the Pleiades show up okay.
What the Moon looks like when not over exposed (click to embiggen, true for all the images). Not bad at all if I say so myself. All images taken with the help of my favourite toy.
Spleen Guy Rides again! This is the second chapter of MiddleOnes Web comic, it's the story of a spleen. This is the first page.
It should be read right to left Manga style, except when it's left to right (like this starting page) or out of sequence. The right side bar is usually the last panel (anyone who has read "Fruits Basket" will recognise the style). Spelling and punctutation mostly as in original.
RANDOM GUY: The Evil Hamburger, That's what.
RANDOM GUY: Its a burger somebody bit it and died!
SPLEEN GUY: Maybe it just tasted really bad!
RANDOM GUY: Okay but help us!
RANDOM GUY: uuuum ... spleen can be put into burgers!
SPLEEN GUY: ARE you gonna eat me!
The Moon in front of the Pleiades as seen from Darwin, facing north at around 8:00 pm ACST on Monday January 25. While impressive to the unaided eye, it will be even better in binoculars or a small telescope.
In the early evening of Monday January 25 the Moon passes in front of (occults) the beautiful Pleiades star cluster as seen from northern and Eastern Australia, South-East Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Australia will see the occulation from around 9:00pm AEDT (8:00 pm non-daylight saving time) with best views in the north of the Northern territory and Far North Queensland (where they will see bright Taygeta occulted). The rest of us will make do with 18 Tauri.
More information and local timings for the event is at http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm#Occult . Even in the west and central states, where we miss out on an occulattion, the sight of the Pleiades close to the Moon will be very lovely.
The over all best views will be in South-east Asia, the Philippines and New Guinea, for timings (Universal Time) in these locations set this IOTA table.
Visibility of the occultation of Taygeta, image credit IOTA.
Last week I made a stereogram of the Southern Cross by overlapping the veiw of the Southern Cross seen from Earth with that seen from Alpha Centauri A, only 4 light years away.
The Cross didn't look that much different, but how far would you have to go for the skies to begin to look strange? What would you see from the surface of alien planets?
To answer that I've used Celestia again, to travel to exoplanet locations and see what their skies would look like. As most of these are "hot Jupiters" the concept of surface is problematic, and I've shown the view from orbit.
The Southern Cross from Epsilon Eridani B, 10.5 light years away. The Cross is very distorted, but still recognisably a cross. Gacrux is only 88 light years away, compared to 320 Ly for Acrux, 352 Ly for Mimosa (beta Crucis) and 364 for delta Crucis, so Gacrux moves the most. Rigel Kentaurus (alpha Centauri) at only 4 Ly moves out of the frame.
The Southern Cross from Gliese 674 b, 14 light years away. The cross is very distorted now, despite being not much further away then Epsilon Eridani b.
The Southern Cross from the super earth Gliese 581 d, 20 light years away. The Cross is unrecognisable. In fact, the only recognisable part of any constellation from Gliese 581 d (assuming the atmosphere was transparent enough for you to see through) is the head of the constellation Scorpio, all else is distorted beyond recognition.
Remember this nice bright Kreutz comet that passed through the STEREO spacecraft's H1A camera's field of view on the 2nd of January?
Well it didn't survive passage of the Sun (see animation here, via Spaceweather).
Another Sungrazer which I still have to analyse also did a death dive today and vaporized (see animation here). As I mentioned before there's a lot of Kerutz comets about at the moment (CometAl found another one just recently), so maybe I have a chance to catch one.
Even though a new solar cycle (cycle 24) has begun, there has not been much sunspot or aurora action, in fact, 260 days of last year were spotless and there has been very little flare activity.
That changed yesterday (Jan 20), with a series of C and M class flares were blasted out by sunspot 1041 (on the edge of the Suns image bottom left). Two of the flares were the biggest seen for years (M2 & M1.7). See Spaceweather for an image of the large zone from the STEREO spacecraft. The Sun may finally be climbing from solar minimum.
Unfortunately for aurora watchers, even thought coronal mass ejections were produced, these are aimed away from Earth and will not provide any aurora. However, if 1041 remains active, there is a good chance of aurora, at least at high latitudes, in the coming week. For amazing images of colliding aurora, see here.
Carnival of Space #137 is here.
Carnival of Space #137 is now up at One Astronomers Noise. Cure the Avatar blues, get a commemorative shuttle patch, relive Gallieio's discovery of Jupiters' Moons, Ios' volcanoes pure Martian Awesomeness and lots, lots more. Pop over and have a read.
The First Quarter Moon is Saturday January 23. Occultation of the Pleiades Monday January 25. Jupiter is the brightest object low in the western twilight sky. Mars is now visible low in the late evening sky. In the morning, Mars and Saturn are easily seen above the northern horizon near the bight stars Regulus and Spica. Mercury is low in the morning twilight.
Morning sky looking South-east showing Mercury at 5:30 am local daylight saving time (5:30 am non-daylight saving) on Sunday January 14. Click to embiggen.
The First Quarter Moon is Saturday January 23.
In the morning, Mars is readily visible in the northern sky. Red Mars is in the constellation of Cancer this week. Mars is a distinct nearly full disk in a small telescope, and becomes bigger and brighter during the week in the lead up to opposition on January 30th. In the evening Mars can be seen from around 10:oo pm local daylight saving time low in the north-eastern sky.
Saturn is visible in the morning sky between the bright stars Regulus and Spica.
Mercury is low in the morning twilight, and passes close to some of the brighter stars of Sagittarius.
North-eastern horizon showing Mars and the Moon at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time (9:00 pm non-daylight saving) on Sunday January 24, click to embiggen.
Jupiter is the brightest object low in the western twilight sky. Jupiter's proximity to the horizon makes telescopic observation very difficult, and will get progressively more difficult this week with less than an hour between twilight and when Jupiter sets.
The Moon in front of the Pleiades as seen from Darwin, facing north at around 8:00 pm ACST. While impressive to the unaided eye, it will be even better in binoculars or a small telescope.
This is a nice bright Kreutz comet that passed through the STEREO spacecraft's H1A camera's field of view on the 2nd of January (click to embiggen). You can see that the tail is not quite straight, and in the animation below you can see it twist over 24 hours of its passage. Comet Al has a much better animation here.
There has been a veritable stream of Kreutz comets passing the H1 imager in January. A nice one is visible in pictures from the 14th at the moment. I may try and animate it tomorrow if I have time after the blogging panel at RiAus.
I represent the wrinkly old "I remember when we used punchcards" school of blogging, and with my fellow (younger and hipper) bloggers, we should have a very lively discussion about why science blogging is the best thing since thin sliced bread, and how you can be involved too. Afterwards you can watch Jupiter next to the crescent Moon as you walk home.
Cost: free ASC or RiAus members, $5 students, $10 non-members. Book now online and cash payment can be made on the evening at reception.
This is MiddleOnes Web comic, it's the story of a spleen. This is the final page.
This diorama is a clue to my new project (click to embiggen). If you can guess a) where the diorama is set, b) who the dude without the spacesuit is and c) what the overall theme of the project is, you will win a cartoon featuring yourself and spacesuits.
You can make your own diorama by downloading this PDF file. Print it and glue it to a sheet of card (DON'T use old Pizza boxes for backing, like I did). Cut out, assemble and colour your diorama, and send me a photo. The best diorama will be featured on the blog and you will also win a umm, err, ahhh.
A prize of some sort anyway. Go to it!
As the horrific images from the Haitian earthquake cross our screens, we feel helpless in the face of such destruction. We can help though, by donating to the Red Cross or Médecins Sans Frontières or Oxfam.
Carnival of Space #136 is here.
Carnival of Space #136 is now up at Simoastronomy. Packed with loads of New year astronomical goddies. Zoom over and take a look.
Space is big, very, very big. And the stars are very far away. Even though the stars are all different distances from the earth, they are so far away that they all look as if they are painted on a dome.
The get the same sort of change in perspective that we would get looking at ordinary objects if we moved just one meter, you need to move light years.
To demonstrate this, with the aid of Celestia, I've made a cross-eyed stereo image of Crux, the Southern Cross (the red-green anaglyph didn't give a strong stereo effect). Stare at the picture and cross your eyes until the x of Crux aligns, and the stereo version will pop out at you (you can click on the image to embiggen and get a higher definition view).
I made this by taking an image of Crux as seen from Earth using Celestia, then moved to Alpha Centuari A, 4 light years away, for the second image of Crux. Then I cropped and assembled the images in the Gimp for optimal stereo effect.
4 ligt years. For most objects, you can get perspective effets by hopping from one foot to the other, hopping 4 light years is a bit more difficult.
Head over to Astronomy Picture of the Day for an amazing image of the surface of the red giant star Betelgeuse. It's got spots!
Below are the details of the SA Science Communicators first event for 2010. It's going to be an interesting evening, and I'm one of the panel members! Come along for some interesting disscussion and practical blogging tips.
Science blogging - who and why?
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." A. J. Liebling of the New Yorker.
In the age of blogging, anyone can make themselves heard. Science blogs can communicate science in a way that few other media can. You can read about the latest research that you may not have access to without a journal subscription, or hear the daily gripes and grumbles of lab life, or follow detailed analysis of policy development or breaking news stories. The best part is blogging is open to anyone to give it a try and join the discussion. At this event we'll hear from several Adelaide-based science bloggers about why they do what they do, and where blogging fits in the spectrum of science communication.
Cost: free ASC or RiAus members, $5 students, $10 non-members.
Book now online and cash payment can be made on the evening at reception.
The New Moon is Friday January 15. Jupiter is the brightest object low in the western evening sky and is close to the crescent Moon on the Monday January 18. In the morning, Mars and Saturn are easily seen above the north-eastern horizon near the bight stars Regulus and Spica. Mercury returns to the morning sky and is close to the Moon January 14.
Morning sky looking South-east showing the thin crescent Moon and Mercury at 5:00 am local daylight saving time (4:00 am non-daylight saving) on Thursday January 14. Click to embiggen.
The New Moon is Friday January 15.
Mercury returns to the morning twilight, and is close to the thin crescent Moon on the morning of January 14 (although you will need a clear level horizon to see this).
South-Western horizon showing Jupiter and the Moon at 21:00 pm local daylight saving time (20:00 pm non-daylight saving) on Thursday January 18, click to embiggen.
Jupiter is the brightest object low in the western early evening sky. Jupiter's proximity to the horizon makes telescopic observation very difficult, and will get progressively more difficult this week with only an hour between twilight and when Jupiter sets. Jupiter's Moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope. Jupiter is close to the crescent Moon on the 18th.
The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday January 7. Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object low in the western evening sky. In the morning, Mars and Saturn are easily seen above the north-eastern horizon near the bight stars Regulus and Spica. Mercury returns to the morning sky and is close to the Moon January 14.
Morning sky looking north-east showing the Moon, Mars, Saturn, Regulus and Spica at 3:00 am local daylight saving time (2:00 am non-daylight saving) on Friday January 8. Click to embiggen.
The Last Quarter Moon is Thursday January 7.
Saturn is visible low in the morning sky between the bright stars Regulus and Spica. Mars, Regulus, Saturn and Spica from a nice line-up with the Moon on January 8.
Mercury returns to the morning twilight, and is close to the thin crescent Moon on the morning of January 14.
South-Western horizon showing Jupiter at 21:00 pm local daylight saving time (20:00 pm non-daylight saving) on Thursday January 7, click to embiggen.
Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object low in the western early evening sky. Jupiter is big enough to be appreciated in even the smallest telescope but its proximity to the horizon makes seeing surface features difficult, and will get progressively more difficult this week. Jupiter's Moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope.
Jupiter and its Moons as seen on September 5, 2009. The only decent view of got of Jupiter this year due to lousy weather (sob), and my image sequence was cut short by clouds. Click to embiggen. The Moons are a bit hard to see. Ganymede is to the left of Jupiter, and Io and Europa are close together on the right.
This animated GIF (or AVI if you prefer) shows the rotations of the cloud bands nicely. This AVI is overexposed to show the moons movements clearly. Images taken as AVI sequences with Don my 8" Newtonian using a Philips ToUCam, sequences aligned with registax then assembled in The Gimp.


Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt is to suggest that schools should focus on building pupils' character and resilience.
Demos has been running a number of pilot projects to find the most effective method for injecting the teaching of character into the curriculum, focusing in particular on white working-class pupils.
The programmes lay emphasis on activities such as sport, social action and volunteering and their impact on pupils' resilience, claimed the chief executive of Demos, Claudia Wood.
However, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) claims that schools are already focusing on many of these areas.


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The Bonus Conundrum
Rohan Carr, IRC Australia | June 7, 2015
The executive bonus has become a somewhat controversial topic in recent years and, in some countries, even the rallying cry for those wanting to apportion blame for the causes of the Global Financial Crisis.
However it is not just the "Wall Street investment banker" who is the recipient of remuneration outside the traditional monthly or fortnightly salary payments. Many, indeed most, executives today receive some form of bonus remuneration as part of their total compensation.
The original objective of the bonus system was as a means of incentivizing performance by motivating excellence in terms of employee output. However, increasingly bonuses are associated with motivating other than excellence — the reward itself has become the motivation.
At best many would argue that bonuses seem to be delivered merely for "turning up" rather than for delivering excellence. At worst they can actually incentivize "selfish" behaviour which may be contrary to the long term best interests of the organisation or its stakeholders.
In the hunt for the best and brightest, many organisations have convinced themselves that high bonuses are necessary to attract the best talent, despite the fact that contemporary research does not necessarily support this view.
While we are not advocating the removal of bonuses, indeed this would be extremely difficult given how they appear to have permeated the executive mindset, nevertheless there are a number of ways suggested to improve their effectiveness:
Bonuses are only effective in incentivizing excellence for individuals who have direct control over their own performance — ie external factors should be limited.
Bonuses should always be discretionary; a culture of automatic bonuses negates their effectiveness. An "automatic bonus" is a salary or fixed compensation, not an incentive!
Bonuses should be associated with long term collaborative behaviour and thinking — which is much more in the organisation's interests rather than short term individualism.
The allocation system should be reflective of differences between employees in terms of their performance. Differences in skills and abilities should be reflected in performance outcomes. If the organisation is not prepared to do this it should not pay bonuses.
A bonus system must be both objective and subjective. It should use an objective criteria to measure outcomes and performance, but a subjective system which also looks at how the outcomes were achieved. This will ensure that the way people achieve results will not be ignored, ensuring unethical behaviour is not motivated.
Finally and most importantly, but surprisingly often least recognized, is the importance of the bonus system being clear, transparent and understood by all.
Rohan Carr, IRC Australia
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Ecological solutions on the slopes of Mount Kenya.
Embassy of Poland in Nairobi supports the development project in Embu (Mount Kenya) "Rebuilding the Mount Kenya forest and the improvement of life of the local community."
The project involves the reconstruction of the forest and the distribution the seedlings of fruit trees and trees suitable for animal feed among the local farmers. The project partner "Trees for the Future" organization, works with groups of about 30 people (mostly women). The members of the groups help each other and work together, contributing to the empowerment of women in the local community. (Kenyan rural women often carry the burden of supporting the whole family. They are also still, excluded from the land inheritance proceedings, contrary to the provision of the Kenyan law). More than 1,500 people benefited from the project.
Paulino Mugendi Damiano, Trees for the Future.


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Valiant Shield 2006
Philippine Sea (June 21, 2006) – Quartermaster Seamen Stephen Schweppe and Matt Lenerville perform navigational duties on the bridge aboard the conventionally-powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) during night flight operations. Kitty Hawk is currently participating in Exercise Valiant Shield 2006. Valiant Shield focuses on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces, enabling real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces and in detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land and cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Adam York


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Australian actress Margot Robbie was nominated in the category of best actress in a supporting role, for her performance in Bombshell, but the news was not so good for Nicole Kidman, Toni Collette, Eliza Scanlen and Lee Smith.
Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 12, 2019
Gwynedd council has asked the ONS to consider the categories again.
The comments from Gates provide an alternate reality -- instead, Microsoft remains dominant with Windows on desktop PCs and in other categories like commercial productivity software, but no longer works on Windows for phones.
The Federal Court of Australia said the tax could not be applied to citizens of those eight countries who had been employed on category 417 or 462 visas.
Chủ Nhật, 6 tháng 10, 2019
Its competitiveness index in the category of visa requirements has made substantial progress from 116th in 2017 to 53rd this year as the government has been doing more to extend visa waiver policies.
Nguyen Thien Ngan has won the rapid chess category U14 at the World Youth Rapid and Blitz Chess 2019 held in Spain.
Even though Dorian has been "downgraded" to a Category 2 storm, it remains a powerful, potentially more dangerous hurricane Tuesday as it begins to lash the central Florida east coast.
Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 9, 2019
Dorian made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on Grand Bahama Island on Sunday night. Now a Category 4, Dorian has been crawling over the islands, and was stationary as of 8 p.m., according to the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory.
Chủ Nhật, 1 tháng 9, 2019
category 5 storm on Sunday Nghĩa: loại 5 cơn bão vào ngày chủ nhật
It is a political movement in Russia that claims that Russian civilization does not belong to either "European" or "Asian" categories but rather to the geopolitical concept of "Eurasia.
Dorian strengthens, heads toward Florida as dangerous category 4 hurricane
SEOUL: South Korea on Monday put Japan into its own new export category, intensifying a trade war between the two neighbours and US allies.
In the 45 kg category Nghĩa: Trong bảng xếp hạng 45 kg
The average annual cost of a prison place in England in Wales is now about £40,000, or £59,000 in a Category A prison.
The AFC Cup is Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the AFC for domestic clubs from AFC-affiliated countries that fall into the confederation's 'developing nations' category.
The leading GSP import categories were vehicles and vehicle parts, jewelry and precious metals, and stone articles, the website said.
Category 3 (includes corn flour, wine) went from 5% to 10%
Category 2 (includes aircraft parts, optical instruments, certain types of furniture) went from 10% to 20%
Roughly 5,000 items were affected, and they were split into four categories.
The new tariff rate hike is based on four categories of US goods valued at approximately $60 billion.
In January, the Lora DiCarlo Osé personal massager, marketed as a hands-free vibrator for "the holy grail of orgasms," was named as an Innovation Awards Honoree in the show's Robotics and Drone product category.
But a similar Cabinet Office survey carried out last December found that an estimated 613,000 people between 40 and 64 also fell into the category.
In the growing category of bilingual children's books, the Skippyjon Jones series is refreshing because of its irreverence.
As well as counting down the 10 best airports, Skytrax awards gongs for categories including regional airports, best airport staff, airport dining, baggage delivery and cleanest airport.
"My understanding is that he holds a Category A gun license and again I preface this, that my advice currently is that under that gun license he was able to legally acquire the guns that he held.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the suspected shooter accused of taking part in the mass shooting of 49 people in Christchurch, held a standard "Category A" gun license.
One thing to note: According to New Zealand police, a standard firearms license allows the holder to obtain any number of sporting-type rifles and shotguns (referred to as "A category" firearms).
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to grant a Category 1 rating to Vietnam soon, allowing direct flights between the two countries, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing two U.S. officials.
It was the first punishment targeted at an Internet café and the largest sum in its category in China.
Sixty companies will exhibit in the show's AI section this year, but the technology will make an appearance in products from almost every category.
Thứ Năm, 27 tháng 12, 2018
The film Widow of Silence by Indian director Praveed Morchale won the Best Film in Indian Films category at the same event.
National leading Grandmaster Lê Quang Liêm finished third in the Open category.


This capacity to be present to one another has led to an appreciation of every person in the congregation as a gift from the God who is shaping them all within their context. Chris describes the economy of shared gifts and skills which has emerged involving individuals and also partnerships with local organisations. (Video 19-25 mins).
 C. Christopher Smith and C. Pattison, Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus, (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP USA, 2014).
 Willie James Jennings, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, (Yale University Press, 2011).
 Willie James Jennings, Acts, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2017).


Iris.AI founder Anita Schjøll Brede has brought Singularity University's Global Impact Competition to Norway in 2016, guaranteeing the winner a spot at Singularity University's Global Solutions Program at NASA Ames Research Park.
The competition aims to promote ideas that will positively impact the lives a billion people, and help Norway move from oil into innovation and technology.
Singularity University was founded by futurist Ray Kurzweil and serial entrepreneur Peter Diamandis in 2009, with the goal of solving the greatest challenges facing humanity with technology. From thousands of applicants, Global Solutions Program chooses 80 participants annually from various disciplines.
The winner of the Oslo competition will receive a seat at the 10-week long think tank and accelerator, and five finalists will be chosen to go the Singularity University bootcamp in Copenhagen in March.
Anita Schjøll Brede, serial entrepreneur and current founder of Iris.AI, which launched February 15th. Iris.AI is an artificial intelligence that will enable users to easily find scientific research, even if they don't know the precise jargon or search terms used within the field.
Anita is a graduate of Singularity University herself, and found the experience so inspiring she made it a goal to help other Norwegians join the program.
"We need to move past the idea that the only way to help people is through charity. Solving global challenges actually opens an endless number of business opportunities. This way of thinking is part of a growing trend in Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurs and investors are now looking for new ventures at the intersection of emerging technologies and global problems. Singularity University's Global Solutions program gives very good skills to develop these solutions," she explains in a press release.
"On a more personal note, my time at Singularity University was the craziest adventure I've ever been on. It has not only opened an incredible amount of new doors and empowered me to start my newest project, Iris AI (an artificial intelligence which will read and understand all of the world's research) – but it has flipped my world view upside down. I would love to see more Norwegians have the same experience," she continues.
The entry period is open until March 2nd. Applicants may apply here.


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Q: ng-admin won't display dropdown stored values I really hope somebody can help me with an issue using ng-admin.
I created a dashboard with ng-admin and all works fine. There is only one issue, on models where I used boolean field with chooices. Of course there is displayed a dropdown field, but on edit an entry the correct value from database isnt't selected. I also tried to use filterChoices, but won't make any changes... it is still nothing selected after open edit view.
Here is my field declaration:
nga.field('copiable','boolean')
                .label('Copy')
            .choices([
                      { value: null, label: 'Please choose' },
                    { value: true, label: 'Yes' },
                      { value: false, label: 'No' }
                  ])
            .filterChoices([
                    { value: null, label: 'Please choose' },
                    { value: true, label: 'Yes' },
                      { value: false, label: 'No' }
                  ]),

And here you can see my JSON response object:
{xxx, xxx, "copiable":"1"}

Here is the MySQL structure:

Maybe I did a bad mistake here and somebody can help me.

A: If there is someone out there... who has the same issue.
I got the solution now!
MySQL stored boolean as integer 0,1 and my backend with PHP SLIM API takes these values and put it in the JSON response.
But ng-admin expects the values "true" or "false" only and can't work with 0,1 ... So I only had to customize my API response and now it's working fine!
Maybe this helps someone....
Greetings

A: You can use map/transform approach:
nga.field('copiable', 'boolean')
        .label('Copy')
        .choices([
            { value: null, label: 'Please choose' },
            { value: true, label: 'Yes' },
            { value: false, label: 'No' }
        ])
        .map(value => !!value)
        .transform(value => value ? 1 : 0)

map will convert incoming from API 1 or 0 to true or false accordingly.
transform wise versa convert true or false to 1 or 0 before send data to API

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
El proceso de candidatura de la Eurocopa 2024 finalizó el 27 de septiembre de 2018 en la sede de la UEFA en la ciudad de Nyon, Suiza, cuando se anunció que Alemania sería el anfitrión. Dos ofertas llegaron antes de la fecha límite, el 3 de marzo de 2017, que eran Alemania y Turquía como ofertas únicas.

Requisitos de organización
Las capacidades requeridas para los diez estadios son las siguientes:
 3 estadios con 50.000 asientos (preferiblemente uno de los cuales con al menos 60.000 asientos)
 3 estadios con 40.000 asientos
 4 estadios con 30.000 asientos

Fechas

Ofertas
La UEFA anunció que solo dos países, Alemania y Turquía, habían anunciado sus intenciones de albergar el torneo.

El 21 de septiembre de 2018, la UEFA publicó su informe de evaluación de la candidatura de la UEFA Euro 2024. La Asociación Alemana de Fútbol y la Federación Turca de Fútbol también publicaron sus respectivos libros de candidaturas.

Alemania

El 23 de octubre de 2013, el comité ejecutivo de la Federación Alemana de Fútbol (DFB), bajo la presidencia de Wolfgang Niersbach, votó a favor de presentar una oferta para albergar el torneo. El 20 de enero de 2017, el comité ejecutivo de la DFB bajo la presidencia de Reinhard Grindel confirmó por unanimidad la candidatura para la UEFA Euro 2024. El 1 de marzo de 2017, la DFB presentó una declaración oficial de interés al Secretario General de la UEFA Theodore Theodoridis.

Anteriormente, la Eurocopa 1988 se había celebrado en Alemania Occidental, así como la Copa Mundial de la FIFA de 1974 y la Copa Mundial de la FIFA de 2006.

Hasta el 17 de febrero de 2017, las ciudades y los estadios interesados en albergar el torneo podían presentar una declaración de interés sin compromiso a la DFB. Para la fecha límite, 18 ciudades y estadios habían presentado los documentos necesarios, incluidos los 12 anfitriones de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2006. El DDV-Stadion de Dresde fue el primer estadio rechazado el 1 de marzo de 2017, ya que no cumplió con la capacidad obligatoria de 30 000 asientos. La ciudad de Friburgo de Brisgovia retiró su oferta el 25 de abril de 2017, citando que las pautas anunciadas por la DFB no darían como resultado una solicitud prometedora para el estadio. El 26 de abril de 2017, la ciudad de Karlsruhe retiró su solicitud. El Fritz-Walter-Stadion en Kaiserslautern luego retiró su oferta el 15 de mayo de 2017 debido a un "riesgo financiero irresponsable", dejando 14 ciudades restantes.

Los documentos de solicitud completos para las ciudades debían presentarse a la DFB antes del 10 de julio de 2017. Esta fecha era originalmente el 12 de junio de 2017, pero se pospuso debido a un retraso en la recepción de los documentos de la UEFA. Las 14 ciudades restantes presentaron sus solicitudes a la DFB antes de la fecha límite. El comité de postulación de la DFB evaluó los documentos presentados en las siguientes semanas. Además, a finales de julio de 2017, la DFB visitó los 14 estadios para tener en cuenta las condiciones y examinar los posibles planes de reconstrucción y ampliación.

El criterio de selección utilizado para las sedes fue principalmente la capacidad del estadio. Para permitir la mayor cantidad de espectadores posible para el Campeonato de Europa, la DFB aumentó la capacidad neta de asientos requerida por la UEFA para tres estadios de al menos 50.000 a al menos 60.000.

Teniendo en cuenta todos estos criterios y condiciones, el comité ejecutivo de la DFB seleccionó las 10 ciudades y estadios el 15 de septiembre de 2017. Se seleccionaron los estadios de Berlín, Colonia, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburgo, Leipzig, Múnich y Stuttgart. Quedaron fuera el Max-Morlock-Stadion en Núremberg, el HDI-Arena en Hannover, el Borussia-Park en Mönchengladbach y el Weserstadion de Bremen.

Las siguientes son las ciudades anfitrionas y los estadios seleccionados para la candidatura de Alemania:

 Descartados en última instancia

Turquía
En abril de 2014, la Federación Turca de Fútbol (TFF) anunció que no presentaría una candidatura para la Eurocopa 2020, sino que planearía una oferta para albergar la Eurocopa 2024. El 15 de febrero de 2017, la TFF confirmó la oferta turca. Turquía solo ha sido sede de un gran torneo de fútbol, la Copa Mundial de Fútbol Sub-20 de 2013. Sin embargo, el país intentó anteriormente organizar la Eurocopa 2008 (en una oferta conjunta con Grecia), 2012 y 2016, pero fracasó en todas las ocasiones. El 20 de octubre de 2017, la TFF anunció las sedes de la candidatura turca tras una reunión con el comité de candidaturas.

Las siguientes son las ciudades elegidas y los estadios seleccionados para la candidatura de Turquía, el 26 de abril de 2018, la TFF presentó oficialmente su libro de candidaturas a la UEFA.

Resultados de la votación
El Comité Ejecutivo de la UEFA votó por el anfitrión en una votación secreta, y solo se requiere una mayoría simple para determinar el anfitrión. En caso de empate, Aleksander Čeferin, presidente de la UEFA, emitiría el voto decisivo. De los 20 miembros del Comité Ejecutivo, Reinhard Grindel (Alemania) y Servet Yardımcı (Turquía) no eran elegibles para votar, y Lars-Christer Olsson (Suecia) estuvo ausente por enfermedad, dejando un total de 17 miembros con derecho a voto.

Decidieron no postular

Dinamarca – Finlandia – Noruega – Suecia
El 4 de marzo de 2016, la Federación Danesa de Fútbol anunció la preparación de una candidatura conjunta con las Federaciones de los países nórdicos Suecia, Noruega y Finlandia para la Eurocopa 2024 o la Eurocopa 2028. Suecia fue sede de la Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 1958 y de la Eurocopa 1992 y Dinamarca fue uno de los 11 anfitriones de la edición 2020. Estocolmo (1912) y Helsinki (1952) fueron sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano.

Sin éxito, los países nórdicos unieron fuerzas para pujar por la Eurocopa 2008, perdiendo ante Austria-Suiza. También había solo diez estadios de más de 20 000 asientos que podían albergar partidos, y estos son: Solna (sede final), Gotemburgo, Estocolmo, Malmö (Suecia), Copenhague, Brøndby, Aarhus (Dinamarca), Oslo, Trondheim (Noruega), y Helsinki (Finlandia). Sin embargo, las federaciones abandonaron los planes para participar en la Eurocopa 2024 el 28 de febrero de 2017.

Estonia - Rusia
En diciembre de 2012, se informó que la Asociación de Fútbol de Estonia estaba negociando la posibilidad de una oferta conjunta con Rusia. Rusia fue sede de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2018. Moscú fue sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de Moscú 1980, cuando Rusia y Estonia formaban parte de la Unión Soviética. Estonia también fue sede del Campeonato Europeo de la UEFA Sub-19 2012 y originalmente estaba programado para albergar el Campeonato de Europa Sub-17 de la UEFA de 2020 antes del brote de COVID-19 que provocó la cancelación del torneo.

Países Bajos
El 23 de marzo de 2012, dijo Bert van Oostveen, Holanda tiene planes de albergar la Eurocopa 2024. En 2000, Holanda y Bélgica coorganizaron el torneo. Las ciudades serían Róterdam (dos estadios), Ámsterdam (dos estadios), Eindhoven, Heerenveen, Groningen, Enschede, Arnhem y Utrecht (más de 20 000 cada una con posibilidad de expandirse a 30 000 como mínimo). Ámsterdam fue sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano, en 1928.

Véase también
 Eurocopa 2024

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 uefa.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Provides computer equipment liquidation services and equitable solutions to companies by purchasing excess computer equipment, brokering assets, providing asset disposal and recovery, and offering consulting services for clients in transition.
Sheffield based company that specializes in internet speed testing, network monitoring and PC optimization.


BLACKSBURG (WSLS) - Dozens gathered in Blacksburg Thursday night for another open house meeting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Pipeline representatives set up various maps and displays, and spoke one on one with residents to answer questions.
Many attendees never went inside the open house, but rather protested outside. They even set up an alternative open house at the El Mariachi restaurant just down the street.
In January, the Mountain Valley Pipeline team will begin another round of open houses in West Virginia.


text:
Germany Says 'Sorry' Can't Build Siberian Village Road – Reports
The German government has said it is unable to help repair a Siberian village road in response to appeals from local residents, Russia's Sib.Realii news website reported Wednesday.
Residents of Verkhny Karbush, which was founded by ethnic Germans, sent two letters and filmed a video last month asking for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's help after they had exhausted other options with local authorities.
"Our government sadly did not hear us, so we're asking you for help. There are a lot of people here who have German roots," they wrote.
The villagers' request continues a yearslong tradition of Russians using video addresses to appeal to world leaders — including U.S. President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — for help with local crises.
Sib.Realii, a regional affiliate of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news organization, reported that the latest appeal's author, local deputy Irina Drozdova, received a response from Merkel's office.
"I understand that you're very dissatisfied with the state of the main street in your native village," the letter, which the outlet said it had obtained a copy of, stated.
"I ask you to understand that the Chancellor cannot take decisive action in this situation at your request. We're very sorry we can't help you in any way," it continued, urging the authors to seek assistance from the Moscow-based International Union of German Culture.
Drozdova said the original letter and Berlin's response has prompted authorities in the Omsk region some 2,500 kilometers east of Moscow to act.
"The officials, having received a magic kick in the form of our appeal to the German chancellor, came out of a coma and immediately promised to build the road in 2022," she said.
The local deputy added that, if the road does eventually get built, "it will be done exclusively thanks to Merkel."
The Kremlin on Thursday said the villagers' anger in response to the authorities' inaction was "justified."
Source: www.themoscowtimes.com
Culture Section: "What to read?" "Where to publish?"
Home / Articles / Germany Says 'Sorry' Can't Build Siberian Village Road – Reports


text:
Chris Keil has run a sheep farm, and has worked in journalism and as a teacher of English as a foreign language in a number of European countries. Recently returning to academic life, he has lectured and published on dissonant heritage and traumatic memory at Auschwitz and elsewhere. He has been writing literary fiction for the past ten years.
His first novel, The French Thing, was published in 2002, to widespread critical acclaim. He was elected to membership of the Academi of Wales for 'contributions to the literature of Wales.'
"Under the hallucinatory brightness of the Greek sun, in a place where ancient monuments adjoin concrete hotels, Geraint sees everywhere portals to realms of history and of alternative lives…
"Keil's writing, which is limpid and often arrestingly vivid, has a charged quality that conveys the mysteries pulsing behind the everyday surfaces of things." Nicholas Clee, The Guardian
"A subtle and intricate meditation on the blurry junctures separating us from the past, from each other, and finally from ourselves." Tristan Hughes
"Reading Liminal, a novel by Chris Keil from Welsh press Alcemi… Liminal's central enigma is rewarding and human." M. John Harrison
"In following Aled, each member of the search party is altered, all returning to their home soil changed; and realising that, as with Orpheus and Eurydice, the trick is not to look back." Planet
"I found the story most absorbing. Chris Keil's vivid descriptions paint a clear picture, not only of what is happening around them, but also the thoughts and the frustrations of the family looking for their loved one. Despite the urgency of the quest, the author cleverly portrays a gentle undertone as the search is carried out through the cities, towns and villages of Greece. A good read,with plenty for reading groups to discuss." newbooks magazine (newbooksmag.com)
"Liminal is a subtle and haunting novel which succeeds on many levels. It is simultaneously reflective and entertaining; philosophical and dryly humorous." Ceri Shaw, Americymru.com
Flirting at the Funeral is a philosophical novel in the best sense, beautifully written, as if G.M. Hopkins had turned to prose and lived to see the modern age… a very good novel – the product of a formidable and original mind. Ben Shephard Author of: A War of Nerves; After Daybreak; The Long Road Home
"This is an enchanting novel that continues to reveal its secrets long after you have put it down." New Welsh Review
"This intelligent novel shows those liminal moments where a door may open onto another world." John Jones, Western Mail
"Weaves a knot between Wales & Greece, between the past & the present & between what is above & below the surface of our consciousness. The tempo of the work develops the urgency of a crime novel & I read large tracts of the book in single sittings. Mysteries develop and are resolved, wholly or partially, against richly evoked backdrops. A cast of eccentric characters explore themes of philosophy & spirituality." amazon.co.uk
"There is much to admire in the novel, particularly the strength and lucidity of Keil's prose… Keil has an eye for the sensual world, evoking it with many an original turn of phrase." Jonathan Carr, Athens News
"A thoroughly professional story-teller… parades before us a fetching variety of entertaining characters." John Trethewy, Welsh Books Council
"Chris Keil's second novel Liminal has marked him out as a writer to watch." 'Meet the Author' Library Services Event, South Wales
[Flirting at the Funeral] "A sophisticated, deeply mature work, shot through with oodles of lovely writing and shored up by many insights and ideas. There were so many sentences I read with genuine envy, or respect, or simple out-and-out delight, and so many brilliant images. Real, abundant gifts as a writer – this is urbane, serious, but also seriously entertaining writing." Producer, former BBC Correspondent and award winning author Jon Gower


What our customers are saying about our Holiday Cottages In Ledsham To Rent.
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text:
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query art of deduction. Sort by date Show all posts
On Holiday . . . And the Pastiche, Revisited
by Dale Andrews
SummerSalt, Smuggler's Cove, Tortola
I am sort of taking a flyer this week. Things have been pretty busy around here. My younger son, Colin, graduated from law school on Sunday and, in celebration, on Monday morning the four of us in our family -- Pat, me, Devon and Colin -- took off for the Virgin Islands, accompanied by Colin's significant other Kyle. We met my brother Graham and his wife Nikki in St. Thomas, ferried over to Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, and on the day of this posting we are all ensconced in a rental villa, SummerSalt, situated just above Smuggler's Cove. Nice thing about traveling with 7 people -- renting a villa turns out cheaper than staying in a hotel! Where are we? well, if you have never been to Tortola, it is just across Drake's Passage from St. John's, which was the setting for David Edgerley Gates' last article, The Beachcomber.
Anyway, rather than throwing something together for SleuthSayers this week I am "on holiday." So, instead, I am posting the article I wrote last summer for Something Is Going to Happen, the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine blog. The article reviews the history of Ellery Queen pastiches that have appeared in EQMM over the years, and as such, is a bit of an introduction to my next Queen pastiche, Literally Dead, which (Janet Hutchings advises) should be included in the December, January or February issue of EQMM. You can rely on the fact that I shall keep you posted as to the exact issue!
The Misadventures of Ellery Queen
by Dale C. Andrews
Last May 25 a new anthology of Ellery Queen stories was published. Before stalwart Queen fans, especially those in the English speaking world, set their hopes too high, this volume, The Misadventures of Ellery Queen, published by Ronso-Sya, has been released in Japan and contains stories that have been translated into Japanese.
It is worth a pause, here at the beginning, to reflect on how popular the works of Ellery Queen remain in Japan. Iiki Yusan, the editor of the new anthology, is the president of the Ellery Queen fan club in Japan and has also authored book-length Japanese critiques of the works of Ellery Queen, including Ellery Queen, The Perfect Guide (2004) and Reviews of Ellery Queen (2010). Unlike the United States, where it has been virtually impossible to find a newly published Ellery Queen novel or anthology, in Japan the entire Ellery Queen library is readily available in current editions.
The Misadventures of Ellery Queen also contains no stories by the creators of Queen, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Rather, it is comprised of Ellery Queen pastiches, that is, mysteries that have been written by other authors, myself included, who have attempted to emulate the Queen style and formula in new stories featuring Ellery.
It is not unusual to find popular detectives re-born in stories penned by authors other than the original creator of the character. The classic example is Sherlock Holmes, who has lived on over the years under the supervision of a host of authors other than Arthur Conan Doyle. Indeed, in 1944 The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, edited by none other than Ellery Queen, collected in one volume various Holmes pastiches. While we still do not have a definitive English language companion collection of Ellery Queen pastiches, it is fitting that notable Queen pastiches have at least now been collected in Japan, where there is a devoted following.
Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee
Let's pause again here to reflect on what a pastiche is, and what it is not. If you Google "pastiche" looking for a definition, one of the first you will find is this: "a work of art that intentionally imitates other works, often to ridicule or satire." As seems true of a lot of internet research, to my mind the definition comes close but ultimately misses the mark. Not surprisingly the definition I prefer is one penned originally by Frederic Dannay, writing as Ellery Queen. According to Dannay "a pastiche is a serious and sincere imitation in the exact manner of the original author." The readily apparent distinction between these two definitions is that the former includes the parody – since it invites "ridicule or satire." In the latter, Dannay correctly excludes both. Nothing against parodies – by all accounts Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee liked parodies as well, and many Ellery Queen send-ups have appeared in EQMM over the years. But while the parody can easily bring forth a laugh, it is the pastiche that has the potential to tug at the heart by offering up new life to beloved literary characters who we feared were lost to us forever.
The pastiche, then, consistent with Frederic Dannay's definition, requires a more structured approach than does the parody. My own rule for constructing a pastiche is also the cardinal principle of the medical profession – "first, do no harm." If you are writing new stories carrying forth someone else's character, that character should be recognizable and ring true throughout the story.
Frederic Dannay was a huge fan of the pastiche and did much to popularize the genre. It should therefore surprise no one that Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has a long history of publishing pastiches, including salutes to Sherlock in EQMM's annual Sherlock Holmes edition. Equally unsurprising is the fact that EQMM over the years has provided a continued life to Ellery himself in a variety of pastiches that offer new adventures featuring the magazine's namesake. This has provided the opportunity for a number of noted mystery writers to step up to the plate.
Francis M (Mike) Nevins
Jon L. Breen
Francis M. Nevins, who knew Frederic Dannay well (and has, in fact, described him as the grandfather that he never had) contributed one of the earliest Ellery Queen pastiches, the classic Open Letter to Survivors (EQMM May, 1972). In Nevins' story the entire plot derives from the following obscure sentence that appears in the 1948 Ellery Queen novel Ten Days' Wonder: "There was the case of Adelina Monquieux, [Ellery's] remarkable solution of which cannot be revealed before 1972 by agreement with that curious lady's executors." In Nevins' pastiche, which plausibly spins out the story hinted at in Ten Days' Wonder, the young detective is never identified by name. But it is evident that Nevins' hero is Ellery. Jon L. Breen has authored both parodies of Ellery Queen – his The Lithuanian Eraser Mystery" (EQMM March, 1969), featuring E. Larry Cune is an example – but has also penned true Queen pastiches, such as the Gilbert and Sullivan Clue (EQMM September, 1999), where Ellery uses his intellect to outsmart a murderer while at sea. That same issue of EQMM, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the publication of the first Queen novel, The Roman Hat Mystery, also offers an Ellery Queen pastiche by Edward D. Hoch, The Circle of Ink, which features Ellery and the inspector confronted with a murder in a university setting. In his final Ellery Queen pastiche Edward Hoch revisited one of Ellery's favorite locales in The Wrightsville Carnival (EQMM September/October 2005), a story offered as part of the magazine's celebration of the centenary of the births of Dannay and Lee.
Ed Hoch
In each of these stories Ellery rings true: we encounter him as we would an old friend. To the reader he is the same character created by Dannay and Lee. It has been one of the great joys of my life that I have had the privilege to meet and visit with Mike Nevins, Jon Breen and the late Ed Hoch. In knowing them I feel that I have known Ellery as well.
As to my own involvement in the quest to keep Ellery alive, The Book Case (EQMM May, 2007), written in collaboration with my good friend Kurt Sercu, proprietor of Ellery Queen, a Website on Deduction, features an elderly Ellery solving one last case involving many characters from earlier Queen novels, including principally the 1967 mystery Face to Face. My other contribution to the Queen pastiche library, The Mad Hatter's Riddle (EQMM September/October, 2009), finds characters from the 1938 Queen novel The Four of Hearts, reunited, along with Ellery for the filming of an episode of the 1975 NBC Ellery Queen television series. [And my latest pastiche, the upcoming Literally Dead, is a Wrightsville mystery, with Ellery once again engaged in a duel of wits with Wrightsville Chief of Police Anselm Newby as they each struggle to solve a locked room murder.]
With the exception of The Mad Hatter's Riddle (which is premised, in part, on a poem that would lose a lot in the translation) and the then-unpublished Literally Dead, all of the foregoing Ellery Queen adventures (and more) are now available together in hardcover, at least in the Japanese market. The rest of us just have to continue to wait and hope!
What do each of the stories have in common, and what separates them, as pastiches, from parodies or satires? The answer has already been suggested. Further hints can be gleaned by examining some of the synonyms commonly used to define the word "pastiche." James Lincoln Warren, who has also authored pastiches, in his now-retired Criminal Brief blog often referred to this genre of fiction as "tributes." Another commonly used synonym for "pastiche" is "homage." These words, I think, help to add the requisite heart to the matter. We who have chosen to write Ellery Queen pastiches are not parodying the Queen formula. Perish the thought! In fact what we do is reverential -- we are striving to emulate Queen, and thereby keep Ellery and the inspector around for just a little while longer. Those of us who labor trying to bring back Ellery, or Sherlock, or Nero for new adventures do so because we simply can't stand a world without them.
We are, after all, still in love.
Posted by Dale Andrews at 00:01 3 comments
Labels: Dale C. Andrews, Ed Hoch, Ellery Queen, Francis Nevins, Jon L. Breen, pastiches, Tortola
Location: Smugglers Cove, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be . . . An Introduction
Introductions, awkward always, remind me of the opening lines of Emily Dickinson's poem: I'm nobody, who are you? Are you nobody too? While I am in august company on SleuthSayers, I am still pretty new to this game.
I came to fiction writing later in life, near the end of my stint as a Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at the U.S. Department of Transportation. There I wrote and (even more) edited the writings of others for over twenty years. But those writings were not narratives, worse still, they were legal briefs! I left all of that behind when I retired in 2009. Since then I list my occupation as "recovering attorney."
Although I have some stories "making the rounds," and others solidifying in outline form on the hard drive of my lap top, my published mystery fiction (as of this writing) numbers two stories. "The Book Case," EQMM May, 2007, was written with the assistance of Kurt Sercu, proprietor of "Ellery Queen, a Website of Deduction." (More on Kurt and his great website another week.) The story won second place in the 2007 EQMM Readers' Award competition (missing first place by one vote) and was nominated for the 2007 Barry Award for best short story. "The Mad Hatter's Riddle," a prequel of sorts, was published in the September/October 2009 issue of EQMM. Both stories are pastiches, tributes if you will, to a character with whom I literally (pun intended) grew up – Ellery Queen.
In a November 2010 column in Criminal Brief, James Lincoln Warren, during the course of commenting on his own efforts to write a Nero Wolfe tribute, said this of my stories:
But is it really a good idea to write these tributes, to put one's own spin on someone else's idea?
Well, in the case of Dale Andrews, the answer is a resounding yes, because if he didn't write an Ellery story or two, he probably wouldn't have published anything at all in terms of fiction, and the stories are very good.
I love the reference, and not because it is one of the rare comments addressing my writing. Rather, I love it because it is quintessential James. It is a compliment surrounding a cold, hard truth. For he is correct – at least at this stage my fiction is comprised solely of pastiches.
Ellery Queen -- Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay
As I pointed out some years back in a guest column I wrote for Criminal Brief, if you Google "pastiche" looking for a definition, the first one you will find is this: "a work of art that intentionally imitates other works, often to ridicule or satire." You might guess, if you have been following this, that the definition I will offer up instead is one penned originally by Frederic Dannay, writing as Ellery Queen. Dannay wrote that "a pastiche is a serious and sincere imitation in the exact manner of the original author." The readily apparent difference between the two definitions is that the former includes the parody – since it invites "ridicule or satire." The latter, I would argue, correctly excludes both.
My belief is that you have to approach characters created by other authors with reverence and with care. My own rule for writing pastiches is also the basic cardinal principle for the practice of medicine: "first, do no harm." To me this means that the protagonist who enters at the beginning of the story, and the one who emerges at the end, should be recognizable as the protagonist that you, the reader, expected. Liberties can be taken, and I have done so in my stories, but it seems to me the author must always ask whether each of those liberties should be taken. Constrained by Dannay's definition, the writing style, the characters, and the plotting should, to the extent possible, emulate the original. As such, a strict pastiche is an homage, or as James Lincoln Warren notes in his aforementioned article, a tribute. The pastiche, or tribute, is therefore a brittle form that calls for a deferential approach.
By contrast, liberties are taken regularly with Sherlock Holmes (a favorite subject of imitation since the Conan Doyle stories are now in the public domain). Some of these I cannot read, and certainly would not write. I remember as a teenager trying to read a Sherlock Holmes story that ultimately cast Holmes as Jack the Ripper and ended with Watson killing him. I hurled the book across the living room and only picked it up again to deposit it in the trash. Harm had clearly been done.
Benedict Cumberbatch as BBC's Holmes?
Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson?
Other transformations of Holmes are more difficult, perhaps, to judge. Should Holmes be relegated to the role of secondary character to his "wife" (who isn't even Irene Adler!) as Laurie King envisions the character in her very popular Mary Russell mysteries? And what about the new BBC series, which cuts and pastes Holmes into 21st century London, relying on blackberries and laptops? Inevitably it is up to the writers of pastiches to determine how far the rubber band can be stretched, and then up to the reader (or viewer) to determine whether the rubber band has, in fact, been snapped.
Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple??
A new battle is currently brewing concerning the further adventures, if you will, of Agatha Christie's timeless sleuth Miss Marple. Christie (famously) did not like the portrayal of her character as envisioned by Margaret Rutherford in the 1950s. She reportedly complained in one letter: "[w]hy don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." One can only suspect the reaction Dame Christy might have to recently announced plans by Disney to cast Jeniffer Garner as a re-invented young, hip and sexy Miss Marple. Seems to me harm may well ensue!
With Holmes there is no one to object when things go too far (as in the case of Holmes as the Ripper) since copyright protections have long since expired. Recognizable or not, Holmes and Watson are now afoot in the public domain; not yet the case for Christie or Queen.
Thus, with Ellery even if I did not follow to the best of my ability the constraint of "doing no harm," that constraint could nevertheless be imposed externally since each pastiche featuring Ellery as a character – whether by me, by Jon Breen, or by the late and truly lamented Ed Hoch – must be read and approved by the surviving children of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee before it is allowed to see print. I did not include Francis Nevins, author of "Open Letter to Survivors," surely one of the greatest Ellery pastiches of all time, in this list since Nevins never explicitly identifies his detective as Ellery. I suspect, however, that that story also only saw print after Frederic Dannay, then still very much with us, gave it his seal of approval.
So much for this Tuesday. What to expect in future weeks? Well, I like Golden Age mysteries, whodunits that are "fair play" detective stories. I also like to discuss how everyday events (and funny mistakes) can be re-cycled into ideas for stories and clues. However, I am not certain exactly where Tuesdays are headed since I have yet to hear anything from my partner in crime (fiction) TBA who, I am sure, is "TB" to his or her friends. I'd certainly like to hear from him or her by next week since I didn't sign on to be the only "weekly victim" in this particular whodunit!
Posted by Dale Andrews at 00:01 10 comments
Labels: Dale C. Andrews, introduction, pastiches
Location: Washington, DC, USA
A Sherlock Holmes Canon for Kids
by Joseph D'Agnese
In the summer before the pandemic, my wife and I went to a local minor league game with another couple and their three kids. When the youngest daughter, who was barely ten back then, announced she wanted to sit near good ol' Joe, I thought nothing of it. Like Archie Goodwin, I am convinced that dogs and children find me irresistible. It wasn't long before she spotted me paging through an ebook on my device.
"A book."
"What kind of book?"
"Uh, it's a Sherlock Holmes story."
"Really? Is it a mystery?"
"Well, yeah—they're all mysteries."
"What's the story? Can you tell me? Because, you see…" she said, her voice rising, "I like MURDER!"
One of the guys sitting in front of us—a total bro in sunglasses, Croakies, and a 20-ounce microbrew sloshing away in a flimsy paper cup—whirled around. "I don't know what's going on here, but this conversation suddenly got very interesting!"
Which was a hoot.
Except I didn't quite know how to quickly summarize the plot of the Holmes tale I was reading in language suitable for a child. Especially someone else's child. If the tale had been the Red-Headed League, for example, I might have focused my description on the strangeness of hiring gingers to copy the encyclopedia. Or, if it was the story of Silver Blaze, I would have treated her to Holmes's deductions regarding the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.
But this story, the Crooked Man, if I remember correctly, was a little too adult. Sexual jealousy and spousal manipulation is not something you want to delve into with a kid unless you've got parental consent forms filled out in triplicate. I was not going there. Instead, my little friend and I talked about about Holmes and Watson and sweet, sweet murder in the abstract.
Many of us grew up reading those stories. I loved them, but I also remember that many of them went over my head because I didn't have the maturity to understand what these grown-ups were yammering on about. When you couple that with archaic language, mores, customs and behaviors, it's not hard to see that the best Holmes for kids may well be cherry-picked Holmes.
Since I'm not going to be able to do that for everyone's kid, I've compiled the following list of children's book series that I think would make good introductions to the Canon. Understand: I don't propose these as a substitute for Canonical Holmes. Rather, I see them as a bridge to Holmes.
I recently read the first books of all the series I mention here. Incredibly, all of them are/were written by American authors.
Two caveats:
* The recommended age ranges are the suggestions of the publishers, not me. The child you have in mind may read at a higher or lower level.
* If you're buying for birthday or holidays, keep in mind that many of these books are available in boxed sets. It might be smarter to splurge on the set.
The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg (The Great Shelby Holmes Series, Bloomsbury, $7.99).
John Watson is an 11-year-old Black kid who has just moved with his mom to New York City for the first time, after years of growing up on US Army posts. John, a budding writer, is starved for friends in his new city. (John's parents are divorced, and his dad is bad about calling or visiting.) Their landlady Mrs. Hudson introduces John to the strange 9-year-old girl who lives across the hall of their Harlem apartment building, in apartment 221B.
Within seconds of meeting the Watsons, this girl deduces that John's mom is a doctor who sustained a hip injury while serving in Afghanistan. The girl, of course, is the brilliant, titular Shelby Holmes, who has made a name for herself cracking cases in her Harlem neighborhood, befriending the local shopkeepers and bookies, and irritating Detective Lestrade of the NYPD.
The plots of these charming series, currently in its fourth book, are loosely inspired by the original Holmes stories, and feature kids of all races and economic backgrounds. Illustrations here and there break up the text.
Since the character names are drawn so directly from the Canon, readers have to pretend that the original Sherlock and Dr. Watson never existed, since people would be referencing them any time they met our heroes.
But I assure you that as soon as I learned that Shelby has a smarter, lazy brother named Michael, that she was studying violin in school, and that she has for a pet an English bulldog named Sir Arthur, I was thinking, "Sherlock who?" Ages 8-12 years.
Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus/Cathy Hapka (The Great Mouse Detective series, Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, $5.99).
I adored the first two books of this series when I was a kid. The first one still holds up.
Basil, a mouse who lives in the basement at 221B Baker Street, learns deductive techniques by eavesdropping on the great sleuth himself. Basil's adventures are narrated by his mouse companion, Dr. David Q. Dawson. Together, the two battle crime in a Victorian "underworld" teeming with vicious cats, rats, and other threatening creatures.
The first Basil title was published in 1958, and inspired the 1986 Disney film, The Great Mouse Detective. Eve Titus, who conceived and wrote the first five books, died in 2002. The series—now eight books strong—was continued by Cathy Hapka. It warms my heart to see that the first five titles retain the original art by the late Paul Galdone. Really fun. Ages 6-9.
Basil in a Box!
The 100-Year-Old Secret, by Tracy Barrett (The Sherlock Files series, Macmillan/Square Fish, $6.99).
Growing up in 21st Century Florida, 12-year-old Xena and her 10-year-old brother Xander play an unusual game. They study strangers and deduce their occupations based on clues gleaned from these people's manner of dress and behavior. They've learned how to play the Game from their father, whose family has apparently "played" it for generations.
But when Dad, whose name just happens to be Mr. Holmes, is transferred to London for a year, the children discover the shocking truth: they are the great-great-great-grandchildren of a certain violin-playing denizen of Baker Street. When Dad's elderly Aunt Mary Watson presents them with a handwritten notebook of Sherlock's unsolved cases that the Watson descendants have carefully preserved for a century, the children become embroiled in the mystery of a precious stolen painting. It seems that Sherlock abandoned this case, as he cryptically notes in his casebook, "to pursue intriguing case of lion's mane."
Four books thus far in this series. They are much shorter than the Shelby Holmes books above, but have no illustrations. Ages 8-12.
The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer (Enola Holmes Mystery series, Puffin Books, $7.99).
Springer's knack for telling detail and research give us a marvelous rendering of Victorian England and the plight of women, young and old, during that period.
Her heroine, Enola, is Sherlock and Mycroft's younger sister. In the first book, Enola awakes the morning of her 14th birthday to discover that her mother—the only surviving Holmes parent—has disappeared. Wonderful bits of deduction, code-breaking, and the use of the language of flowers throughout the first book.
This series is the basis of the hit 2020 Netflix film, which as you might know attracted some bad attention from the Doyle estate for giving Sherlock "too many feelings," as one journalist cheekily put it. (The parties settled out of court.)
I'll talk about the film in a future post. Spoiler alert: I loved it. Solid family entertainment, though its plot departs significantly from the text of the first book. A second film is in the works, but get those kids reading the series now.
Short books, with no illustrations. PRH/Puffin pubs the first six books in the series; Macmillan pubs the seventh next month. Ages 8-12.
See you in three weeks!
josephdagnese.com
Posted by Joseph D'Agnese at 00:00 7 comments
Labels: Joseph D'Agnese, Sherlock Holmes
The 8th of November, 1951
Sometimes when I settle down in the evening in front of the television I think back to the origins of this strange little device that we have welcomed into our homes over the past 65 or more years.
Television actually got its start even earlier, in the 1920's, and for several years what was the first television station sending out commercial broadcasts, WGY – broadcasting out of a General Electric plant in Schenectady, New York -- contented itself with showing Felix the Cat riding around on a turntable for two hours a day. But regular commercial broadcasting likely dates from 1948, the year that Texaco Star Theater starring Milton Berle became the first "must see" TV.
The early years of television saw an avalanche of new programming hit the airwaves, some original series and some transplanted from the about-to-be-supplanted radio airwaves. Mysteries were a staple of radio and many moved readily to this new medium as well. Included in this rush to offer televised entertainment were three different series featuring my personal favorite, Ellery Queen, making the jump from radio. Ellery Queen series variously aired on the old Dumont network, as well as on ABC and NBC. These early television attempts at conquering the whodunit were a far cry from NBC's 1975 Ellery Queen series that graced the Thursday and then Sunday night schedule for one short year. The 1975 series is now available in a great DVD collection, but most of these early Queen televised adventures are now lost to us – they were either performed live, or on lost kinescope tapes. You can read about them, and their radio predecessors, either in Francis Nevins magnum opus Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection, or on Kurt Sercu's website Ellery Queen: A Website on Deduction. But watching those early shows, that's another matter. Well, maybe . . . . There are always exceptions, bits of the past lurking out there ready to be discovered (or re-discovered) by the intrepid detective.
So step with me, now, into Mr. Peabody's wayback machine, as we set the dial for November 8, 1951. When we get there, get comfy on the couch, or on the floor with a pillow. Pull the popcorn bowl up close. All eyes on that magnificent 9 inch black and white screen as we eagerly await tonight's Ellery Queen adventure -- "Murder to Music."
Note that Dale Andrews returns to SleuthSayers the last Sunday of the month, commencing 25 January 2015.
Labels: 1950s, Dale C. Andrews, Ellery Queen, television
Location: Chevy Chase, Washington, DC
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text:
Kuwait Airways Orders 10 Boeing 777-300ERs
Travel News Asia Latest Travel News Podcasts Videos Monday, 5 January 2015
Kuwait Airways has finalized an order with Boeing for 10 777-300ERs (Extended Range), valued at $3.3 billion at list prices.
"Kuwait Airways has plans to renew its fleet as well as expand its operations and the 777-300ER is a perfect airplane for our strategy," said Rasha Al Roumi, Kuwait Airways CEO. "The airplane has already validated its position in terms of high reliability, low operating costs and fuel efficiency. We are looking forward to having the 777-300ER join our fleet."
The 777-300ER can carry 386 passengers in a standard three-class configuration up to 7,825 nautical miles (14,490 kilometers), on non-stop routes.
"This order marks another feather in the cap for the 777-300ER which not only continues to be an integral part of the fleet of many of the world's airlines but is also being ordered by new customers who see the value of the airplane," said Ray Conner, president and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The aerospace industry in the Middle East continues to enjoy a phenomenal growth and we are proud to be part of that growth and look forward to an enduring relationship with Kuwait Airways."
Kuwait Airways, Boeing, Kuwait


Business textbook authors must be devastated that one the juiciest business case studies in recent years exploded into the headlines just a little too late to be included in the latest editions of their textbooks for the 2012/13 academic year. Without doubt, this one will be puzzled over and debated for many years to come in business studies classes and on MBA courses up and down the country and across the world. The central question that all this analysis will focus upon will surely be how could G4S get it so spectacularly wrong?
Today saw embarrassment heaped on embarrassment as Whitehall and the Olympic organising committee drafted in 1200 further security personnel from the army, navy and RAF to further supplement the private security guards that G4S were contracted to provide for the Olympics which start this weekend. This 1200 are in addition to the 3500 that are already standing post. The security firm has supplied fewer than 6,000 guards despite a contract to provide more than 10,000, with the armed forces forced to make up the shortfall so as not to compromise the security of the London Games.
This after Nick Buckles, G4S Chief Executive, was mauled by a parliamentary select committee this time last week. We learned there that despite the scale in the shortfall of staff recruited, he hadn't known about any issues with the contract till the 3rd July. Not that he feels any contrition for this. In an interview published in the Telegraph two days before the select committee hearing, he said when asked if he accepted responsibility for what had happened, "I don't actually, I really don't … I feel accountable, but not responsible."
Naturally, since he is not responsible for the debacle, he plans to keep the £57m management fee included in the contract on the grounds that they will be delivering a little over half of the promised security guards This is the equivalent of an electrician coming out to fix a light, disconnecting the mains then demanding his call-out fee because he has done a significant portion of what needs to be done.
The simple truth is that G4S has been caught out by the unique scale and scope of the London 2012 contract. The security contract is the biggest ever awarded in terms of manpower required. A £280 million contract to supply over 10,000 trained security personnel is without question a huge project. This could have been G4S's calling card around the world if the planning and execution of this project had been up to muster. However, blind optimism in the ability of his company to do anything it sets its mind on to do is no substitute for a workable plan to deliver what is by any measure a very challenging project.
Nick Buckles told the select committee that he had no reason to doubt his company would deliver as it had robust processes and plans in place. They accepted a contract and in doing so must have considered its delivery achievable. And when the number of staff required trebled they happily agreed they could still deliver. Except, patently, they couldn't. What G4S had in place was what Richard Rumelt, one of the world's most eminent thinkers on business strategy and management, would call a bad strategy not a good strategy.
Without question, G4S are ambitious but were deluded as to what exactly it would take to deliver a project different in kind from anything that they had really attempted before. On the 6th July, just a few days before the first tranche of 3500 troops had to be called in to meet security requirements for the Games, Ian Horseman-Sewell, MD of G4S Global Events was boasting that G4S could not only cover the Olympics here, but another one simultaneously in Australia!
"You have got to get them [staff] probably working about six weeks, so it's almost in between an event where you get them for one or two days and a full-time contract where they work for you forever.
"When you stand back and look at it, how many people can you find that want to work for six weeks and will go through all the process involved in that?
"They probably have to commit two and a half weeks of their own time, which they will be paid for, to get six weeks' work, whereas usually you commit two and a half weeks and you get a job for life."
Whilst G4S have enormous experience with contracts for both short duration events and full time security work, the Olympics was a different beast, a kind of halfway house between the two types of contract that they specialise in covering. The fundamental difference in this type of contract necessitates a different approach. So what was the approach they settled upon?
The problem was never a lack of interest from potential recruits. Indeed, over 100,000 people applied for the 10,000 positions G4S needed to fill. The principal risk to the project the G4S team identified was people accepting jobs months before the event and then pulling out. The company's plan to cope with the threat of people accepting was to recruit relatively late and recruit more staff than needed.
This plan if properly executed might have worked. Even an average strategy can work given excellent implementation. However, the dubious strategy coupled with poor execution is a recipe for disaster. At the select committee, here are just some of the words MPs used to describe the unfolding disaster: "fiasco", "shambles", "humiliating", "inexcusable", "astonishing", "amazing", "unacceptable" and "amateurish".
Nicola Blackwood told Nick Buckles: "Your performance today will lead quite a lot of people to despair." Before the meeting she had had little confidence in G4S. "Now we don't have any at all"
When the textbook case studies are written, any number of conclusions may be drawn from the debacle. These authors seem to use case studies like the ministers of the various creeds and denominations of Christianity use the Bible; to prove whatever they want. For our purposes, I think that there are three important lessons to learn from the whole sorry affair.
Ambition is not a strategy. A leader's job is to motivate their team with compelling goals and exciting visions of the future. The London 2012 contract was an example of a leader setting a great stretch goal. This was uncharted territory for G4S and as a British enterprise; this could have been G4S's proudest accomplishment to date. Unfortunately, a leader's job is more than to just point the way and call for superhuman efforts from the troops to be equal to the task. The job of a leader is to create the conditions that will make the push effective with a strategy worthy of the effort called upon.
An effective business plan needs to be a 'living document'. It's not enough to write it and wait for it to deliver. Instead it needs to be constantly monitored, checked and challenged. Circumstances change rapidly, so we need to ensure that your plan is flexible enough to change rapidly as well. Otherwise, don't be surprised if it falls short.
In his interview with the Telegraph last Sunday, Buckles says G4S has been treated fairly by LOCOG, but that the organisation was late in presenting the company with its final requirement, a document called the D41.
"Yes. There have been mitigating circumstances, but I can't say we weren't aware of all of that. There are things we could say we should have known.
"They were late in giving us a lot of information, which hasn't helped. But if that was the case we should have flagged it.
"I haven't been made aware of anything in the process to date that LOCOG had done to cause us problems or else I would have tried to deal with it."
The media backlash has led to G4S's chairman John Connolly stating that "if a contract was being given out by a government department or other large business at the moment, you can understand they would find it difficult to hand that contract to us". Prior to this statement, G4S remained largely silent on the topic of the ongoing relationship with government, a customer worth in excess of £600 million each year to G4S. So when LOCOG demanded an extra 8,000 security guards at short notice – a big ask for any organisation, even the world's largest security company, they simply said yes and did their best to oblige. The cost of openly criticising their best customer may have been even more frightening than the possibility of failing to deliver, so G4S just kept their fingers crossed that they could somehow deliver against all the odds.
With proposals being negotiated concerning the management of nine British prisons, and 1,100 back-office jobs supporting Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police, it is certainly in the long term interest of G4S to shoulder the blame. But I'm sure, behind closed doors, that there have been defensive discussions about the consequences of poor governance.
The concept of outsourcing – working with specialists to supplement your operation to achieve cost benefits and fostering innovation – cannot be blamed for failures. But there are cases where deals are not being managed effectively. You get out what you put in: that means investing effort into strategic alignment, relationships and governance procedures. To succeed, outsourcing clients simply need to know what they want, and how to make sure they get it.