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Look Before You Leap – Considerations Before Quitting
By: Dr. Helen Ofosu
blog, Career Advice, Mental Health, Workplace Culture
career advice, career coaching, career counselling, inclusion, online resignations, organizational climate, organizational culture, toxic workplace
https://ioadvisory.com/wp-content/uploads/speaker/post-13860.mp3?cb=1648910816.mp3
If the events of the past couple of years have inspired you to reevaluate your priorities and what you want out of life, you're not alone! I've written about the Big Quit – also known as the Big Resignation or the Turnover Tsunami – a number of times over the last year. The pandemic has caused many people to think more deeply than ever before about work, values, purpose, and a deeper search for meaning outside one's 9 to 5 existence. I also think that this reflection has parallels to making improvements within our homes. When the kitchen is fully renovated, suddenly the rest of the house feels shabby in comparison. Changes in one area often compel us to make changes in other areas.
While I really believe that people should be proactive about their career development and build a fulfilling, resilient career, I also fear that making an impulsive decision by jumping in on the "Big Quitting" trend may amount to taking a reckless gamble that could have serious consequences.
Quitting your job can be a scary prospect. It's a big decision to make, and it can feel like you're taking a leap into the unknown – because you are. But if you're feeling unhappy or unfulfilled in your current job, then it might truly be time to consider making a change.
It's always OK to "consider" making a change, as it doesn't mean you ultimately have to take the leap.
Step One: Evaluate Your Current Situation
Before you make an irreversible decision, it's important to take a step back and evaluate your current situation with clear eyes. Are you unhappy with your job for valid reasons (e.g., a toxic workplace culture, discrimination and feeling unwelcome, a lack of opportunity for development or promotion), or are you just feeling restless and bored?
It has been a long two years since we first heard the word "pandemic" in March 2020. The pandemic has affected all of us in one way or another. Often, it seems that we start to see some progress and cautiously breathe a sigh of relief that things will soon get better, then we suffer another collective setback. It's certainly taken a toll on mental health and is inspiring people to shake up their lives.
Instead of rushing into quitting your job, make sure you really examine where these feelings are coming from. Is it really your job or career, or are there other factors to consider?
Step Two: Figure Out What Is Within Your Control
Have you explored options or discussed with someone what aspects of the job that you dislike, and whether there are any ways to resolve those issues first? So many people feel stuck in a job they hate but also know it affords so many privileges that would be hard to give up. These "golden handcuffs" situations may not offer the career fulfillment they're looking for, but financial realities need to be factored into any decision.
Is there anything that you can do to improve the situation? We all go through ups and downs, and sometimes we need to take a good honest look at ourselves first to see if there's anything we're doing—or not doing—to help our situation.
There are situations where people feel pigeon-holed in a role that is far below their capabilities, their career development has stalled and their earnings have plateaued. They may see no way forward in their current organization. It's important to figure out if it's a bad fit and whether to start considering alternative roles.
Before quitting, try speaking to your boss about your concerns. They may be willing to work with you to address some of the issues that are causing you distress.
There may be other roles in the organization that could be an option. Plus, having a discussion like this could help prevent any hard feelings if and when you decide to leave later on.
If talking to your boss doesn't seem like an option — if your boss is the source of your unhappiness — or if it's a toxic situation that just can't be resolved, then it's time to start thinking about your next steps.
If you're sure that it's the right thing for you, don't go through it alone. Do you have colleagues or people in your network that you can discuss your concerns with first? What about a mentor, coach or counsellor? If you're not sure what to do, they may be able to offer different viewpoints or help you see alternatives you haven't considered.
Whatever you do, avoid letting frustration get the better of you by making an emotional, spur-of-the-moment decision. If you want to quit a job and really don't care what the boss thinks about you, really take the time to think again. The consequences of an abrupt departure could come back to haunt you in our internet and social media-connected world.
Please note that this blog is not a substitute for a professional consultation whereby a full discussion of pros and cons and any associated risks is explored. Consequently, this blog article does not constitute an official consultation.
Do you want to discuss a career, HR, or training-related matter? Reach out today for a free and confidential initial consultation by phone, email, or via direct message on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
More than career coaching, it's career psychology®.
I/O Advisory Services Inc. – Building Resilient Careers and OrganizationsTM.
by Dr. Helen Ofosu | Jan 21, 2023
Women are demanding more from work, and to get what they want, they're switching jobs at the highest rate possibly in history. The pandemic kicked off the Big Quit; now we're into "the Great Breakup." Women are no longer putting up with conditions that don't work for them. Some of them are even "rage-applying" …
by Dr. Helen Ofosu | Jan 7, 2023
Women are switching jobs in record numbers. The pandemic touched off "the Big Quit;" now, we are seeing the aftermath of that mass exodus: "the Great Breakup." And while there could be several reasons behind this trend, one thing is clear — women are no longer putting up with conditions that don't work for them, and they're changing jobs to get what they want.
by Dr. Helen Ofosu | Dec 10, 2022
The term "quiet quitting" is everywhere these days. On TikTok, more than 90 million videos are currently tagged #QuietQuitting. However, while the term "quiet quitting" is new, the concept really isn't.
Scary Work: Revisiting Some Haunting Past Situations
by Dr. Helen Ofosu | Nov 26, 2022
The real-life corporate psychopath usually isn't the over-the-top caricature of a masked, axe-wielding maniac chasing his victims down a dark alley. But, when we're unlucky, corporate psychopaths do walk among us. They can have an extremely detrimental impact on their peers and people who report to them, and can hurt the organization for which they work. There are also other things happening to some of us that make for scary work situations.


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HomeMusicInterview with YANAKIKU
Interview with YANAKIKU
Music, Music Interviews
YANAKIKU is a female vocal duo formed in 2012. They have performed for international audiences at Hyper Japan London 2013, TIFFCOM 2013 in Japan and J-POP SUMMIT FESTIVAL 2014 in San Francisco.
Known for their unique costumes named KIMOCOS (Kimono Cosplay) and their live Japanese calligraphy, YANAKIKU's high-energy performances and bright, funny personalities are winning over music fans worldwide.
Selective Hearing had the opportunity to talk with YANAKIKU about their debut album YANAKIKU NO ENBAN, their appearances outside of Japan and their future goals.
Please introduce yourselves to the readers of Selective Hearing.
YANA: I'm YANA. YANAKIKU's theme is Japan, and our goal is world domination (to unite the world with YANAKIKU's music).
KIKU: I'm KIKU. We, YANAKIKU, take in Japan with everything from songs to costumes, hoping we can introduce Japanese culture to people overseas in the YANAKIKU way.
Firstly, congratulations on releasing your first album, YANAKIKU NO ENBAN. How does it feel to have completed your first album?
YANA: I am so happy that we can finally deliver the compilation of our work from the past 2 years since we formed YANAKIKU.
KIKU: We put a lot of thought into the CD booklet, and it became like a mini guidebook for Japanese sightseeing! I would be happy if you enjoyed the whole package, not just the songs.
The songs on YANAKIKU NO ENBAN contain a dance music touch that includes influences from sub-genres such as EDM, Dubstep and House. (To name a few.) What was it like writing for such varying styles of music? Which songs were the hardest to write?
YANA: When we create songs, we always decide on a theme first, and we have fun as we bring each other's ideas together. We always look forward to how a song comes out. For this first album, I think we could express who YANAKIKU is with different types of dance music as the base.
KIKU: The hardest song was "Orihime." We changed the melody and chorus lines many times and rewrote the lyrics until the final "Orihime" was created! I'm satisfied, and it's my favourite.
What are your favourite songs on YANAKIKU NO ENBAN? Which ones would you recommend for those new to YANAKIKU?
YANA: My favourite song is "Hito Hito," and I like "Game Controller" for live shows. I recommend "Fujiyama Disco" for those new to YANAKIKU.
KIKU: My favourite is "Game Controller"! "Fujiyama Disco" is my recommendation for people who are listening for the first time! Same as YANA!!
You have made appearances outside Japan, including visiting London twice (Hyper Japan) and last year's American debut at J-POP SUMMIT in San Francisco. What has been your travels' most memorable moment or experience so far?
YANA: I have great memories of each country. In London in 2013, my first time going overseas, everything I saw was so exciting, and I remember it well.
KIKU: Same as YANA. The most memorable time was when we were in "Hyper Japan" for the first time and discovered that so many people are interested in Japan. I was both surprised and happy at the same time.
Do you have any plans to go overseas again soon? Are there any countries or places you would like to visit?
YANA: I want to go sing in any country at any time! We are waiting for the offers!
KIKU: I want to tour in America! The country I'd like to visit is France. "Japan Expo" in France seems like the gateway for artists who travel to the world from Japan, so I would like to participate there.
Do you have any unique or hidden talents that not many people know about?
YANA: I have a very keen sense of smell.
KIKU: Tongue stretching. (*laughs)
If you had not formed YANAKIKU, what do you think you would be doing today?
YANA: Since I love animals and kids, I'd be a veterinarian or a kindergarten teacher.
KIKU: I love clothing, so maybe a sales clerk in a retail shop.
What other Japanese artists are you listening to now?
YANA: I listen to foreign music mostly, but for Japanese artists, I listen to Mariko Takahashi.
KIKU: I like idols, and my favourite is Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku.
Thank you very much for your time. Is there anything you would like to say to your overseas fans?
YANA: I would be happy if you like YANAKIKU and Japan even more through YANAKIKU's music and live shows!
KIKU: I'd want people from many countries to know YANAKIKU! I want to have a live show in America again this year! Everyone, please support us!
NEW MV "Sabon no Yuwaku"
MV "FUJIYAMA DISCO"
TOWER RECORDS in-store promo
https://www.facebook.com/yanakiku/posts/837736162986530
NEW ALBUM "YANAKIKU NO ENBAN"
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2f0A7sZmtqtgfDZZ1O2SuG
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/yanakiku-no-enban/id959847850
YANAKIKU official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yanakiku
YANAKIKU official website: https://yanakiku.jp/
YANAKIKU Twitter: https://twitter.com/YANAKIKU
We would like to thank RESONANCE Media and YANAKIKU for this interview.
Interview with Trish Stratus and Amy Dumas
AK-69 – The Throne Review
Especia – Gusto Review
Music, Music Reviews
Especia is a Japanese idol group formed in June of 2012 and is known for its unique sound that is a throwback to 80's synth-pop, funk and disco. Are they another group riding the retro gravy train to early success, or is there something more than a trip down memory lane? […]
lol release new single, Baby tonight
Music, Music News
Japanese male-female dance-pop group lol recently released their new single, 'Baby tonight.' […]
babyraids JAPAN – Pretty Little Baby Review
Pretty Little Baby is the 10th single from babyraids and the second since their name change to babyraids JAPAN. It also happens to be a cover song, with the original performed by Connie Francis in 1962. […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Global Roundup: Senegal Activists Seeks Disability Inclusion, Japan Same-Sex Marriage, Honduras Women's Rights, Somalia Social Worker vs GBV, Brazil Artist Depicts Lesbian Couples
Photo credit: Sightsavers/Sidy Camara
Coumba Ndiaye is an activist and city councillor in Pikine, a Dakar suburb in Senegal, striving for disability inclusion. Her traumatic experience giving birth as a disabled person 22 years ago drives her activism today. When she sought care to deliver her baby, several health centres refused her, saying her disability would make the delivery "too complicated." The hospital she was finally referred to initially assumed she needed a caesarean section without examining her. After giving birth, she was not helped off the bed and fell, leading to her haemorrhaging. Later, she was told by the head midwife not to have another child.
Ndiaye engages with women's groups, the association of Senegalese midwives, female lawyers and community groups. She raises the situation of disabled women giving birth when she can, and sometimes helps individual women with disabilities in a personal capacity.
I lived through many experiences and that's why I'm confident today. I can fight for disabled women. I also know that I can talk with the authorities. -Coumba Ndiaye
Although inclusivity is progressing in Senegal, there was still a need for change "from the bottom to the top of society" Ndiaye says. She called for a goal to provide access to health centres to all people with disabilities, without them having to face problems. She also believes health workers need better training on how to provide equitable and respectful health services for people with disabilities.
Step by step, society will include people with disabilities. My dream is to make all delivery rooms accessible to disabled women… [and] have medical staff both skilled and kind. When the delivery room will be available for disabled women, I would say that I have reached my goal. -Coumba Ndiaye
Via Reuters
A Tokyo court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday but said a lack of legal protection for same-sex families violated their human rights. Japan's constitution defines marriage as based on the mutual consent of both sexes. Although Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling party has revealed no plans yet to review the matter or propose changes, several senior members support same-sex marriage.
Japan does not permit same-sex couples to marry or inherit each other's assets, such as a shared home, and denies them parental rights to each other's children, while even hospital visits can be difficult. Though partnership certificates from municipalities cover about 60% of Japan's population, they do not give same-sex couples the same rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
The Tokyo ruling promises to be influential as the capital has an outsized influence on the rest of Japan. It had been keenly awaited after hopes were raised by a 2021 ruling in the city of Sapporo that the ban was unconstitutional, although another decision in Osaka in June upheld the ban. The eight plaintiffs in the case said the ban contravened their human rights and demanded damages of 1 million yen, although the court rejected that.
This is hard to accept. -Gon Matsunaka, head of the activist group Marriage for All Japan
The plaintiffs, who unfurled a banner outside the courthouse reading, "A step forward for Marriage Equality" after the ruling, said they were encouraged. Two more cases are pending in Japan, and activists and lawyers hope an accumulation of judicial decisions supporting same-sex marriage will eventually push lawmakers to change the system, even if this is unlikely soon.
There were parts of this that were disappointing, but parts of it gave me hope. -Katsu
Legalizing same-sex marriages is just one part of making society a place where LGBTQ+ people can live freely. A lot of work goes into making these bare minimum policies a reality, but activists continue to fight for their rights.
Photograph: José Cabezas/Reuters via The Guardian
At her inauguration earlier this year, Xiomara Castro, the first female president of Honduras, ended her speech with a message showing solidarity with women – but 10 months into Castro's single constitutionally permitted term, many are losing faith that this moment in history will bring the changes they were promised.
We are in ways losing hope. I believe that at some point [Castro] will possibly fulfill some of the things, but the reality is that 20% of her term has already passed, and at least in terms of reproductive rights we do not see any substantive change in women's lives up to now. -Regina Fonseca, activist for women's rights in Honduras
The Guardian spoke with 10 activists in Honduras, nearly all of whom expressed a similar sentiment to Fonseca. Their main grievance was the failure to fulfill a campaign promise to legalize emergency contraceptives without restrictions. Honduras is the only country in Latin America with absolute bans on abortion and emergency contraceptives. A recent proposal to legalize emergency contraceptives in cases of rape sparked indignation. President Castro could lift the prohibition on emergency contraceptives with an executive decree, as she was expected to do within her first hundred days in office.
All issues are priorities, but there are some commitments that are easier to carry out, and [lifting the ban] is the simplest, because it doesn't even require a budget or generate an economic cost. -Jinna Rosales
More complicated is the issue of femicide, which preliminary data shows continues at a slightly reduced rate under Castro's government compared with last year. Two bills aimed at combatting violence against women have so far stalled in Congress. Castro is not responsible for Congress, but there is disappointment she has not made greater use of her pulpit to advocate for causes of importance to women.
However, Honduran activists did welcome some advances under the new administration, including the creation of a minister for women, the appointment of some feminists to important positions and more focus on gender issues, none of which would have happened under the previous regime. Still, Castro is perhaps another reminder that it is not enough to simply have more women in power if they are not committed to fighting the patriarchy.
Saferworld will be featuring stories from activists and journalists to highlight the power, resolve and solidarity of women activists across Somalia to mark this year's 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence.
Anifa (not her real name) is a 34-year-old social worker who lives in a camp for internally displaced people in Baidoa and is a single parent to six children.
the humanitarian crisis and conflict in Baidoa has displaced large populations and put many women and girls at greater risk of violence, including sexual violence at internally displaced people's camps. Gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence severely impact women's and girls' right to life, livelihoods and dignity. -Anifa
Anifa began helping gender-based violence survivors and advocating for women's rights in 2014, when she joined the Protection Department of a Somali humanitarian organization, at a time when women's rights were not taken seriously. Her neighbours (including women), clan elders, militia groups and local politicians threatened her because of her work, which they believed to be against Islam. Her (now ex-) husband also disapproved of her job and abused her.
In 2020, Anifa's husband had agreed to a divorce, but gave her an ultimatum: she could either give up all claims to her children and never see them again, or she could keep custody of them but renounce all rights to child support. She chose to keep her children. It was not easy for her to provide for the family on her own, despite working multiple jobs.
One day, the IDP community leader approached Anifa and invited her to join a United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF) project, which supports women activists and journalists through training and grants. Anifa immediately agreed, and has since undergone training in GBV case management. Now, she is a fully qualified social worker. Every Thursday, she raises awareness among the IDP community about the importance of protecting women rights, and of how and where to report GBV cases.
I will take this opportunity during the 16 Days of Activism to create awareness and share my story with fellow survivors to encourage them and to empower them to come out, seek help and rebuild themselves again. -Anifa
Jenifer Prince's likes to describe her work as "lesbian and Sapphic storytelling in a vintage-inspired aesthetic, especially comics and pulp illustrations." Her illustrations, which she posts on her popular Instagram page, feature queer couples stealing kisses in between rows of books at the library and then coyly reapplying their lipstick after a makeout session. The artwork is reminiscent of Todd Haynes' instant queer classic "Carol" and Prime's new more queer-forward reboot of "A League of Their Own" ― both of which Prince has created fan art for.
Given how rare it is to see old images of queer couples happily existing in private and public spaces, Prince looks at her work as a quiet form of activism. In 2016, the Brazil-based artist won a contest and had her work featured as the official poster of the San Francisco Dyke March, which spurred her to create more LGBTQ+ art.
In my work, I want to show that lesbians and bisexual women have always existed. Our love stories have always existed, even though they were erased from history. I believe illustrating with this vintage-inspired aesthetic helps to combat the erasure of our existence in history. That's why I like to draw positive and often wholesome stories. -Jenifer Prince
Prince draws inspiration from unearthed photos of lesbian and gay couples, as she likes imagining the story behind them, as well as midcentury advertising and pulp fiction work from artists like Tom Lovell, Gloria Stoll Karn and Stan Pitt. Her sexier, more noirish prints call to mind the covers of lesbian pulp fiction titles published largely from 1950 to 1969.
Lesbian pulp covers had sometimes very explicit, eye-catching art for that period of time when being gay was a crime. I particularly like the ones where there's a subtle look or touch between the characters. -Jenifer Prince


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Home/Google/Lenovo/Lenovo's new Duet Chromebook starts at just $279
Lenovo's new Duet Chromebook starts at just $279
IT News Ug May 12, 2020	Lenovo Leave a comment 203 Views
Google's Kids Space aims to make Android tablets more kid-friendly
Lenovo has released the Duet Chromebook, a 10-inch 2-in-1 that runs Chrome OS. The base model, which has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a MediaTek processor, costs $279, but only the $299 model, which has 128GB of storage, appears to be listed at Best Buy right now.
That's an attractive price, especially when other highly anticipated Chromebook releases this year have asked over $700. We have the Duet's size (10 inches is pretty small) and underpowered processor to thank for that. But Chrome OS doesn't require as much horse power as Windows — and it's possible we'll see a battery-life benefit from the weaker chip as well.
I've spent a few days with the new Chromebook, and it's been fun to use so far. The device is easy to flip between laptop and tablet use — it ships with a kickstand, keyboard, and touchpad, which are a breeze to fold, attach, and detach.
The keyboard and touchpad are (understandably) cramped, but they're usable, and I've gotten used to them after a few days. The compact display will be limiting if you really want to multitask, but if you're just browsing and YouTube watching, it renders a nice, crisp picture. And at just over two pounds, it's quite a light product and quite easy to carry around in a backpack or purse.
Essentially, don't expect to use the Duet Chromebook as a primary workstation, but it is shaping up to be a solid secondary browsing device or a nice choice for kids. Stay tuned for our full review of the product later this week.
Lenovo Duet Chromebook
This Article was first published on theverge.com
Previous Motorola's foldable Razr gets some new features with its Android 10 update
Next Oracle takes aim at workforce analytics with new HCM offering


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Dow Futures Slump, JPMorgan, Verizon and Disney, Huawei - 5 Things You Must Know
U.S. stock futures pull back sharply on Thursday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average records its largest daily point gain in history; some economic data won't be issued because of the government shutdown, which has entered its sixth day; JPMorgan to pay $135 million in a settlement with the SEC.
Joseph Woelfel
Dec 27, 2018 8:24 AM EST
Spencer Paltt/Getty/TheStreet Illustration
Here are five things you must know for Thursday, Dec. 27:
1. -- Stock Futures Slump After Wall Street's Wild Surge
U.S. stock futures pulled back sharply on Thursday, Dec. 27, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its largest daily point gain in history and the three major stock indexes posted their largest percentage gains since March 2009.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 290 points, futures for the S&P 500 were down 39 points, and Nasdaq futures tumbled 86.25 points.
The Dow on Wednesday soared 1,086 points, or 4.98%, to 22,878, the S&P jumped 4.96% and the Nasdaq climbed 5.84%. Stocks more than made up the steep losses suffered in a Christmas Eve plunge.
The gains came in a market suffering from extremely oversold conditions, according to many Wall Street analysts. Despite the sharp gains Wednesday, the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have declined more than 10% in December.
Global stocks traded mixed Thursday as many of the same drivers of Wednesday's gains - stronger-than-expected holiday spending, signals from the White House that Donald Trump wouldn't be firing either Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and a Bloomberg report of a trade delegation heading to China for talks with Beijing early next week - were in evidence Thursday. But the underlying issues surrounding weakening growth, political uncertainty and trade-related tensions remained.
2. -- Jobless Claims, Consumer Confidence Lead Thursday's Calendar
The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m. ET, the FHFA House Price Index for October at 9 a.m., and Consumer Confidence for December at 10 a.m.
New Home Sales data for November were to be released Thursday but the Bureau of Economic Analysis said it wouldn't be releasing any data during the government shutdown. Therefore, the agency won't be issuing data on the U.S. trade deficit on Friday.
Government Shutdown Hits Day 6; Trump Vows 'Whatever it Takes' for Wall Funding
3. -- Trump Considers Barring Use of Equipment From Huawei, ZTE - Report
Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China's Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The United States has alleged that the two companies - two of China's biggest network equipment companies - work at the behest of the Chinese government and that their equipment could be used to spy on Americans.
The executive order has been under consideration for more than eight months, Reuters reported. It could be issued as early as January and would direct the Commerce Department to block U.S. companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks, said sources from the telecommunications industry and the administration, according to Reuters.
Trump Mulling Order That Bans U.S. Companies From Dealing With Huawei - Report
4. -- JPMorgan Pays $135 Million in SEC Settlement
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) - Get Report will pay more than $135 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges related to what the agency contends was "improper handling" of American depositary receipts by the bank.
The New York-based bank "improperly" provided the ADRs to brokers "in thousands of 'pre-release' transactions when neither the brokers nor their customers had the foreign shares needed to support those new ADRs," the SEC said in a press release.
ADRs are U.S. securities that represent stocks in foreign companies. ADRs can be pre-released, meaning the U.S. securities can be released by a financial institution -- in this case JPMorgan Chase -- without brokers or their customers having to first deposit the foreign shares used to back up the securities.
However, while the regulations give brokers and their customers some flexibility when it comes to depositing those shares in a bank, they still must actually own the foreign stock used to back up the transaction.
Brokers and their customers were able to take advantage of this lending quirk to "inflate" the amount of foreign stock owned, which, in turn, led to "abusive practices like inappropriate short selling and dividend arbitrage," the agency stated.
"We're pleased to have resolved this matter, which is related to an industry practice we voluntarily ended a few years ago," JPMorgan said in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase Agrees to $135 Million SEC Settlement
JPMorgan is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells the stock? Learn more now.
5. -- Fios Warns TV Customers They Could Lose ESPN
Verizon Fios, a division of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) - Get Report , said its TV customers could lose access to ESPN, the Disney Channel and local ABC stations if a new deal can't be reached with Walt Disney Co. (DIS) - Get Report before the end of the year.
Fios, in an email sent to customers, said Disney has proposed that "Verizon pay hundreds of millions of dollars more for its programming, despite the fact that many of its key networks are experiencing declining viewership."
"The rising cost of programming is the biggest factor in higher TV bills and we are standing up to networks like Disney, refusing to accept these huge increases," Fios added.
"Our proven history of providing extraordinary value to consumers and distributors is unmatched," said Disney. "Our negotiations continue in earnest and we remain optimistic that we can reach a deal."
Disney is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells DIS? Learn more now.
5 Things To Know Before The Market OpensMarketsStocksWorld


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Q: Showing that $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue iff $\mathbb{1}_{\left\{\lambda\right\}} (T)$ is non-zero Let $T$ be a bounded self-adjoint operator. I already showed that the operator $\mathbb{1}_{U} (T)$ is an orthogonal projection, where $\mathbb{1}_{U}$ is the characteristic function of the Borel set $U \subset \mathbb{R}$. (To make sense of this, one can think of $\mathbb{1}_U(T) $ as restricted to the spectrum $\sigma(T)$.)
However, now I wish to show that $\mathbb{1}_{\left\{\lambda \right\}} (T)$ is non-zero if and only if $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue of $T$.
My attempt is this: I think we have the identity $$ (x-  \lambda) \mathbb{1}_{\left\{ \lambda \right\}}(x) = 0 $$ for all $x \in U$. Then applying the star homomorphism $\Phi$ to this, we get $$ (T - \lambda) \mathbb{1}_{ \left\{ \lambda \right\} } (T) = 0. $$ Does this prove that $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue of $T$?

A: Yes. If $1_{\{\lambda\}}(T)\ne0$, there exists nonzero $v\in H$ with $1_{\{\lambda\}}(T)v=v$. Then
$$
Tv=T1_{\{\lambda\}}(T)v=\lambda 1_{\{\lambda\}}(T)v=\lambda v,
$$
so $\lambda $ is an eigenvalue. Conversely, if $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue then $Tv=\lambda v$ for some nonzero $v$, and  so you can deduce that $f(T)v=f(\lambda)v$ for all bounded Borel functions $f$ (start with monomials, then polynomials, then take limits). So
$$
1_{\{\lambda\}}(T)v=1_{\{\lambda\}}(\lambda)v=v.
$$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Fighting Back Against Stereotypes About Getting Older
By 2050, it is projected that there will be two billion people in the world who are aged 60 and over. Longevity is generally seen as a positive thing, yet there continue to be several negative attitudes to aging. Older people are often seen as frail, incapable, and burdensome. People assume they are out of touch with technology and pop culture.
In the workplace, 50-plus employees are thought to be incapable of learning new things and relating to younger generations. Sometimes, they are forced to retire long before they're ready solely on the basis of age. Fortunately, individuals and organizations across the globe are fighting back against common misconceptions. Age-related discrimination isn't challenged as much as sexism or racism, but as you'll see in the post, it's getting more and more attention these days.
How Older People Are Viewed
The World Health Organization's 2016 analysis of the "World Values Survey" found that ageist attitudes were widespread and they harmed older people's mental and physical health. As many as 60% of the 83,000 participants said older people were not respected. High-income countries reported the lowest levels of respect.
WHO Director of Ageing and Life Course John Beard was quoted as saying that while age discrimination was "extremely common," most people were not aware of the subconscious stereotypes they have about older adults. Noting that it's possible to change social norms surrounding age, he said the time had come to stop defining people by their age. Rooting out ageism, he said, would make societies healthier, more equitable and more prosperous.
Meanwhile, WHO's Coordinator of Ageing and Life Course stressed that ageist prejudices must be eradicated in order for society to benefit from increased longevity. WHO was clear that many policies ignored that older people are not all the same and they have a wide range of capabilities. This is clearly seen when mandatory retirement age is imposed. Still, there is hope.
How Ageism is Being Tackled Around the World
Individuals, organizations, and governments are fighting back against age discrimination. For example, the Older People's Commissioner for Wales has developed a guide to help mature people identify and challenge ageism. Entitled "Taking Action Against Ageism" the guide looks at the different types of age discrimination and how individuals can get support if they believe they are being discriminated against. It is all part of the office's plan to bring an end to ageism.
Meanwhile, the City of Toronto in Canada launched an Anti-Ageism in the Workplace campaign in 2019. Not only does it raise awareness about the main forms of age discrimination, but it highlights the deleterious impact it has on individuals and how people at all levels of an organization can help to combat it.
Then there's the work of Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Gerontology. This department focuses its research, teaching, and community engagement on disrupting ageism and challenging the assumption that aging is about decline.
Combating Internalized Attitudes
One individual who has mounted a platform against negative attitudes toward aging is author and activist Ashton Applewhite. You may assume that only younger people are guilty of ageism, but in an interview with Kiplinger, Applewhite said mature people are often the most ageist. It is, therefore, not surprising that she believes the first step in stamping out age discrimination is for older people to examine their own attitudes about aging. This is in line with European Union-funded research which showed that other people's perceptions of elderly people had a lot to do with older people's beliefs about their age as well as their health.
Applewhite noted that people grow up hearing negative messages about aging, and they internalize these attitudes rather than challenge them. For Applewhite, internalized ageism contributes to the underreporting of age-related discrimination in the workplace. She recommended that older people recognize ageism as a form of systemic discrimination rather than a personal failing. Doing so has implications for individuals, businesses, and society at large.
Join the Fight Against Ageism with Help from WiseForce Advisors
Despite the many stereotypes, research shows that healthy, engaged employees make a significant contribution to their workplaces. They offer wisdom and several years of institutional knowledge that can directly impact a company's bottom line. While they may attract higher salaries and incur higher insurance premiums, their productivity is also higher, and they're less likely to seek a new job elsewhere. Then there's the training and mentorship that they can provide to younger workers.
If you want to assess your organization's attitudes towards aging and create a more supportive environment for 50-plus employees, WiseForce Advisors is here to help. We've developed a variety of solutions, including an Age Management Readiness Questionnaire and Corporate Awareness Sessions. Contact us today to schedule a consultation at info@wiseforceadvisors.com.


M.Arch Architects was contracted by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to survey all of the building systems of the historic New Amsterdam Theatre of New York.
M.Arch Architects team worked extensively with the Disney Theatre Company and Hunter Roberts Construction Group to deliver a comprehensive study of proposed building upgrades and scheduling of building system repairs.
Working closely with Disney night watchmen the M.Arch Architects team were carefully instructed to pay attention to possible encounters with the mythical Ghost of Olive Thomas, a former Zigfeild Follies star. Luckily our team did not interfere with her work nor she ours.
The New Amsterdam Theatre ghost of Olive Thomas story.


text:
Geraint Thomas Etape Cymru
Geraint Thomas rides Etape Cymru route
...and says there's more to come on the track before the Olympics...
Fri, Apr 13, 2012 11:27
Geraint Thomas, World Champion and new team pursuit world record holder, returned to Wales this week to take on the route of the Etape Cymru.
Thomas took on a 30-mile section of the closed-road cyclosportive's route, including the Panorama and Horseshoe Pass climbs. The 90-mile event, now under new ownership after last year's inaugural running, will be held on Sunday 9 September.
"I really enjoy coming back to Wales to ride," said Thomas. "The roads are unbelievably challenging but at the same time provide really nice scenery so there is plenty to look at on the way round.
"I come here to ride when I can as my girlfriend has relatives just around the corner so it's always good to come back to North Wales and ride these great roads.
"The Etape Cymru route has been designed with some great climbs and includes some spectacular roads. And it's in Wales, the best country in the world."
Thomas had just returned home as a new world record holder, flying straight from the World Championships in Australia.
"Melbourne was unbelievable. To go there and win the Worlds in Australia's backyard and get a world record at the same time is just a great feeling," he said. "It was good to turn it around from London and I'm not sure a lot of people expected us to do it so quickly."
Come September, participants of the Etape Cymru will get the rare chance to take on the cyclosportive under closed road conditions.
"It's great to support the event, especially with the Etape Cymru being on closed roads. Not many people get the chance go ride on closed roads so it's the perfect opportunity for them to do so."
Thomas may have returned home on a high, but ahead of the London Olympics, he insists there's still more room for improvement from the Great Britain team.
"I definitely think we can improve. If I spend more time on the track I will improve a lot more. From the Worlds in 2008 to the Beijing Olympics we improved nearly three seconds and I think we can do similar again. We've still got a lot of training to do and it's part of the plan to keep pushing forward and I think we can improve another couple of seconds."
The closed-road Etape Cymru is organised by Participate Sport, who also own and organise the Wiggle Dragon Ride in South Wales. Thomas, a proud Welshman, has taken the decision not to ride the Tour de France in order to focus on becoming a Welsh gold medallist for the second time at the 2012 Olympics.
"Wales doesn't have lots of chances for a gold medal so I'm proud to be in this position. I felt with the Tour, leading up to the Games it would have drawn my attention away from the track. I wanted to give the Olympics everything," he said.
"I've grown up watching the Olympics, wanting to be part of it. I want to get on the start line in London and know I haven't jeopardised my chances in any way. I don't want to get there with any excuses or doubts in my head. Hopefully it will be enough on theday, and if not, that's the way it is; I'll have no excuses."
Thomas believes his ambition to succeed for Wales will have a positive effect on cycling in Wales, and the rise in people taking up cycling and mass participation challenges.
"People watching the games will be inspired to take on challenges like the Etape Cymru," he said.
The Etape Cymru organisers say they are committed to supporting the local area and are working with Macmillan Cancer Support as the event's national charity and Nightingale House Hospice as the local charity.
You can enter now at a cost of £55. For more information go to www.etape-cymru.co.uk.
Etape Cymru


In animation, Bird can put his cameras anywhere he wants, so he does exactly the same thing here, whirling around his characters as they indulge in outrageous scenarios from the Kremlin explosion to a gyrating finale in a 20-story parking garage, by way of a gratuitous climb up the glassy exterior of the world's tallest building as an even more gratuitous sandstorm approaches. The characters seem impervious to pain, gravity or emotion as they charge through each set-piece, hurling gleaming BMWs to their spectacular doom then walking (or perhaps briefly limping) away to continue the chase.
All four of these films have built on the TV series' action-fantasy style, outdoing even the Bond movies to take us on a thrilling ride. And Cruise still fits the role: an omni-talented super-agent who always seems to have something going on besides his current world-saving mission. This time the subtext is provided by Renner, who's enjoyable as a guy with a dark connection to Ethan. By contrast, Patton is merely eye-candy while Pegg provides constant comical patter, although both do those jobs well.
The only thing missing is a sense of momentum. The film's visual styleis consistently electrifying (especially action scenes shot in the Imax format), the banter is frequently hilarious and the continual stream of amazing gadgets is amusing. But the film also has a kind of by-the-books feel, so perhaps the next surprise-choice director will blast this franchise in a new direction.


Zend is most popular PHP Framework by function and features that makes Zend unique from other frameworks, thousand of components and library and more. it's a MVC based architecture that makes web application development makes popular and efficient.
If you go to any interview for Zend developer position, there are lot of questions and answers which can help you to crack the interview.
In software development, a framework is a defined support structure in which another software project can be organized and developed.
Why should we use framework?
Source codes become more manageable.
Where we set configuration in zend framework?
We set the config in application.ini which is located in application/configs/application.ini.
It used Front Controller pattern. zend also use singleton pattern.
routeStartup: This function is called before Zend_Controller_Front calls on the router to evaluate the request.
routeShutdown: This function is called after the router finishes routing the request.
dispatchLoopStartup: This is called before Zend_Controller_Front enters its dispatch loop.
preDispatch: called before an action is dispatched by the dispatcher.
postDispatch: is called after an action is dispatched by the dispatcher.
What is full form of CLA in Zend Framework?
Should I sign an individual CLA or a corporate CLA?
If you are contributing code as an individual- and not as part of your job at a company- you should sign the individual CLA. If you are contributing code as part of your responsibilities as an employee at a company, you should submit a corporate CLA with the names of all co-workers that you foresee contributing to the project.
How to include js from controller and view in Zend?
What are Naming Convention for PHP File?
There should not any PHP closing tag (?>)in controller & Model file.
Indentation should consist of 4 spaces. Tabs are not allowed.
The target line length is 80 characters, The maximum length of any line of PHP code is 120 characters.
What are Naming Convention for Classes, Interfaces, FileNames, Functions, Methods, Variables and constants?
What are coding style of Zend Framework?
How to use update statemnet in Zend Framework?
How we can do multiple column ordering in Zend Framework?
How to get all GET data?
How to redirect to another page from controller?
How to get variable's value from get?
Create Model file in zend framework?
How to create object of Model?
Which Class extend the Zend Controller?
Which Class extend the zend Model?
Is Zend Framework a component library or a framework?
ZF is both. Zend Framework provides all the components required for most web applications in a single distribution. But Zend Framework components are also loosely coupled, making it easy to use just a few components in a web application- even alongside other frameworks! Using this use-at-will architecture, we are implementing features commonly found in more monolithic frameworks. In fact, we are currently working on a tooling component for the 1.8 release that will make it simpler to build applications using ZF components, yet will not sacrifice the use-at-will nature of existing ZF components.
Autoloader is function that load all the object on start up.
What is use of Zend front controller?
Routing and dispatching is managed in the front controller. It collects all the request from the server and handles it.
What is the use of Bootstrap?
Apart from index if we want to do any extra configuration regarding database and other things that is done within bootstrap.
How you can set Module name, Controller name, and Action name in Zend framework?
Configuration in Zend Framework, application.ini file?
Configuration can be done in application.ini file in Zend framework. This file in the path application/configs/application.ini.
Checking whether form posted or not in Zend framework?
Fetch last inserted id, fetch all record,find and fetch a single record.
Difference between Zend_Registry and Zend_Session?
Zend_Registry is used to store objects/values for the current request. In short, anything that you commit to Registry in index.php can be accessed from other controllers/actions (because EVERY request is first routed to the index.php bootstrapper via the .htaccess file). Config parameters and db parameters are generally prepped for global use using the Zend_Registry object.
Zend_Session actually uses PHP sessions. Data stored using Zend_Session can be accessed in different/all pages. So, if you want to create a variable named 'UserRole' in the /auth/login script and want it to be accessible in /auth/redirect, you would use Zend_Session.
When do we need to disable layout?
At the time of calling AJAX to fetch we need to disable layout.
How to call two different views from same action?
Can we call a model in view?
Yes, you can call a model in view. Simple create the object and call the method.
Can we rename the application folder ?
Can we move the index.php file outside the public folder?
How to include css from controller and view in zend?
How do you protect your site from sql injection in zend when using select query?
b) View Helper: the helper is created for view files (.phtml).
What is the difference between Zend_Auth and Zend_Acl?
Zend_Auth is used for authenticating users with a variety of authentication methods, including LDAP, OpenID, and HTTP. Authentication is the process of verifying that the provided credentials are valid for the system. By authenticating to your system, your users can prove that they are who they say they are. For more information on Zend Framework's authentication implementation, see the Zend_Auth documentation.
Zend_Acl is an implementation of Access Control List (ACL) authorization. Generally speaking, ACLs are lists of roles that are authorized to perform a particular operation on specific resources in your system. Zend_Acl can support advanced rule definitions with features such as multiple inheritance for roles and assertions for conditional rules. For more information on Zend_Acl, see the Zend_Acl documentation.


text:
The Dead Man's Eyes- Chapter 6
by Geetashree Chatterjee
(New Delhi)
Back to Chapter 5
The rambling premises beckoned the boy - its extensive grounds, its partly renovated and well maintained and partly dilapidated structures; its manicured front lawn and unkempt back garden. The straggling crawlers and climbers, the moss ridden slippery exteriors, the building's high roofs and vast, winding terrace with railings broken in parts, here and there. The slanting rays of the pale afternoon sun kissed the attic. Yes, the attic, he wanted to visit the attic the most. His childhood was imprisoned in that lonely room where he used to play hide and seek with his mother when he was just a toddler. Hiding in the dark, cobwebbed recesses, he could make out his mother approaching by the jingle of her bangles and chime of her anklets. Now, he wanted to revisit his childhood, look around with his new found eyesight and if possible once again feel the agog wonderment of a kid.
He was not interested in the modern appendage to the building. He was bored by the new wing added to the old quarters. Unfortunately, the family i.e. he and his grandpa inhabited the latter. "Dadu (Grandpa)"!
He called out in the darkness and woke up. The bed felt wet. He was sweating profusely. Why did his ancestral house beckon him in his dreams again and again? He tried to find out a scientific explanation. Perhaps, because it was ancestral where he had grown up, his parents had resided and before that their parents! He smiled to himself in the dark. Easy that was. The attic, he thought, was deeply ingrained in his mind, most probably because it was the place which he frequented the most when he was a child, especially with his mother. "Maa!" He stretched out his hand in the empty room as though to clutch her saree pallu swishing in the air. Finding none, the hand dropped involuntarily by his side. In this state of half asleep and half awakening everything seemed surreal.
He was connected to the attic. His remembrances of childhood loitered in the four walls of the attic. This was the reason why he never wanted to go back home during vacations. The mansion with its old world charm had a magnetic attraction for him. He always got lost in its spell and feared he would never be able to return to the hostel or to his studies if he ever went back. God knew what mysteries were hidden in its dwindling facade, cracked walls and bricks laid bare. To him it seemed as though every inch of that crumbling edifice told stories in hushed whispers and stifled tones. Especially the attic; he must visit the attic once again someday. Some day when he returned!!! His heart thudded with suppressed excitement and strange anticipation of the unknown. But an inner voice pulled him back to reality "to the present" to now. A lot of work still remained. A lot many questions still to be answered. A lot many queries still to be satiated. Until then!!
He turned to his side and fell asleep again.
Someshwar could have easily done away with the shambles which was left just like that not because of lack of funds or resources but because his age failed to rekindle the vigour and zeal required for such massive renovation work , it's planning if not execution but then definitely supervision.
He could have easily shifted base. But Someshwar, the aristocrat, could not afford to give away his ancestral property, wherein his blue blooded predecessors had lived for generations in the lap of lavish luxury. A few years later, most probably, when the boy returned, he would hand over the property and the responsibility of rejuvenating the by-gone grandeur of the mansion to him.
But Someshwar had his moments of doubt. Thinking about the boy he wondered. The boy in his teens looked, behaved and carried himself way past his age. Now that he was in his early twenties, he must be more mature, reserved, dignified. He always had that air of quiet aloofness about him. Congenital, thought Someshwar, inherited from his mother. In addition, there was some thing more, some thing indefinable. Sometimes, the boy reminded Someshwar of a bottle of aerated drink without the fizz. Sometimes, the way he looked at him made him uneasy. Sometimes, Someshwar doubted whether there was something wrong with him. He was so different, more so after the operation.
Someshwar climbed up the serpentine staircase. He held on to the banister for support as he took one step after the other. His movements had become slow. Age was catching up with him at last. As he stepped on the first floor corridor leading to his bed room, he came face to face with the boy. As usual, he was hovering aimlessly. Next month he would be going to college. Till then he was free to explore the mansion. But at times, Someshwar could not make out whether it was merely an exploration! It appeared something more than that. The boy would suddenly appear just like Jack in a box and accost Someshwar for a few insufferable minutes and walk away with a slight shake of his head or a monosyllabic retort. And at others, the boy just stared penetratingly at his face as though searching for an answer to some insoluble problem. Someshwar had come to terms with the boy's grave quietude but under his fathomless gaze, he felt deeply disturbed, oddly awkward and in the gathering dusk of this day, suddenly a chill ran down his spine.
Someshwar tried to quickly shrug off the unpleasant feeling. "Hullo beta! How was the day?" He asked softly. The boy tilted his head to the right a wee bit which Someshwar now knew meant an okay. And then he was gone as quickly as he had appeared like a wisp of breeze.
The door bell rang. Someshwar started out of his reverie. It was not only painful but dangerous to delve into the past. Past was best laid to rest. He would look forward to the future. He would wait for the boy to return.
......To be continued....
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text:
Apple TV+ Streaming Service: Launch Date, Price and Shows
In Apple's recent keynote event watched by millions around the globe, the company shared new details regarding its upcoming TV streaming service, Apple TV+
The event took place in Cupertino, California on September 10, 2019, where some exciting announcements were made. All-new iPhone models iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max were unveiled in addition to the announcement about Apple TV+ which will be available very soon through the Apple TV app.
So lets dive right in and take a look at what Apple TV+ is all about.
According to Jamie Erlicht, Apple's head of Worldwide Video:
"Apple TV+ is an unprecedented global video service with an all-original slate. We look forward to giving audiences everywhere the opportunity to enjoy these compelling stories within a rich, personalized experience on all the screens they love."
The new streaming service Apple TV Plus is set to launch on 1 Nov, 2019. That means it will be available in just a little short of 2 months from today!
Apple TV+ will be priced at $4.99 per month. Moreover, Apple will be granting a whole year, yes 1 WHOLE YEAR of FREE Apple TV Plus to anyone out there who will purchase a new Apple device! That's a generously long trial period to stream freely on Apple TV Plus
Apple TV+ will be available in 100 countries upon launch. This is great news for all the Apple fans around the world. It means Apple will not be restricting the service to US and neighboring regions like some of the other streaming services.
Apple TV Plus will be available on Apple devices, the web, and Samsung smart TVs at launch. It also plans on supporting other devices in future, including Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and Vizio devices.
Apple TV+ will offer a diverse range of content that will include original shows, movies and documentaries, including "The Morning Show," "Dickinson," "See," "For All Mankind" and "The Elephant Queen" while also featuring some well known celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Momoa.
In addition, every month, more Apple TV Plus originals will be added to the Apple TV app. All these original shows will be available for streaming on Nov, 1, 2019.
However right from this moment, you can watch trailers and add Apple TV+ series and movies to "Up Next" on the Apple TV app. This way you will get notified when the first episodes become available for streaming. The trailers in particular have been received positively by viewers accumulating millions of views on YouTube.
Most Apple TV+ shows will come with three initial episodes, with one new episode coming out each week, while full seasons of some series will be available instantly.
Audiences worldwide can enjoy Apple TV+ shows subtitled and/or dubbed in nearly 40 languages, including Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH) or closed captions. Apple TV+ series and movies will also be available with audio descriptions in eight languages.
With this new TV streaming service, Apple looks to directly compete with some big fish of the quickly growing streaming industry. The likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime have to be wary of Apple's attempts to threaten their customer base. However, for viewers all around the globe, the launch of Apple TV+ means more choices, more entertainment and more enjoyment when it comes to media streaming.


text:
Pravilnik VARP regimente
Popis pilota u VARP regimenti
Za letenje s nama potrebno je ...
Repni brojevi aviona
SEOW Guide
HSFX DF Server Stats
=VARP= Friends
=VARP=Gec
MARIANAS, June 19, 20 1944 - Historycal Background
Pilots & Gentlemen
Giving our warmest Welcome to all IL-2 International Community to this new Event, thanking all Sqn. Teams for their participation, hoping a great amusement for all Pilots, recommending the maximum loyalty and fair play in spirit of Airmen Brotherhood, for the occasion please find hereinafter the Historical Background of those dramatic Events which, all together, we will try to reenact.
A Great Salute to All!
SEOW MARIANAS Org.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
Sea American Memorial, Philippines
THE MAJOR CARRIER VS CARRIER BATTLE IN HISTORY - MARIANAS ISLANDS, 19, 20 June 1944
Belligérants
United States Fifth Fleet
Raymond A. Spruance
Marc A. Mitscher
7 Fleet Carriers
8 Light Carriers
7 Battleships
8 Cruisers
12 Light Cruisers
67 Minor Ships
22 Submariners
956 Aircraft
99.000 Personnel
USS Lexington CV16-10
Japan Combined Fleet
Jisaburo Ozawa
Kakuji Kakuta
12 Cruisers
2 Light Cruisers
43 Other Ships
680 Aircraft (of which 250 land based aircraft)
HIJMS Taiho
The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944), well known also with the name of Marianas Battle, was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the fifth of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and involved elements of the United States Navy's Fleet as well as ships and land-based aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and nearby island garrisons.
Map of Battle
The Battle of the Philippine Sea came about as the Americans invaded Saipan because the Japanese staff judged that it could pin the American Fleet against the island while the Americans were protecting their transports and the beachhead. It was fought between the carrier aircraft put up by the United States Navy's Fleet and both the land based and carrier launched naval air craft launched by the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and Japan's island garrisons.
The Japanese naval staff had hoped to resume offensive carrier operations in early 1944 and was still training pilots and new carrier crews when it decided to counterattack against the U.S. invasion fleet attacking the beaches of Saipan in the first stages of its Mariana Islands invasion.
On 19 April 1943, Admiral Mineichi Koga succeeded Yamamoto as Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet. Under his direction in September 1943, Imperial Japanese Navy Headquarters decided the time was right to return to the offensive in the Pacific. But soon, because U.S. forces were attacking Japanese-held islands in the course of its "island hopping campaign" attack against the Japanese Sea lines of communications (SLOCs) the offensives planned could not be sustained despite ample sufficient naval aircraft production rates. The lack of trained carrier pilots meant the air fleets could not be manned and the Americans were attacking the land bases.
The staff morphed their planning into a carrier assisted battle fleet attack on the U.S. invasion fleet that would be pinned protecting transports and forces just landed. This 'battleships are still king' conceptualization was still prevalent in some U.S. circles as well, but not among the operational commanders. The battle fleet sortie concept was very similar to that intended by the late Admiral Yamamoto in the battle of Midway. Many of the officers who had planned Midway were still on the General Staff of the Combined Fleet. In their planning it was believed that the lack of offensive air power could be addressed by deploying strong land-based air forces a natural connection, for Japan had taken pains build many bases that could control the SLOCs around themselves.
Operation A-Go
The initial plan was to attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet in early 1944 whenever it launched its next minor offensive. However, the U.S. fleet was integrating and training up multiple new technologies, vast reinforcements, and developing new operational doctrines that made it far more effective than the Japanese imagined. The U.S. fleet retook the offensive by going after the air bases in a succession of raids designed to deplete and defeat control of the SLOCs around each base. It had taken U.S. commanders over a year and a half to incorporate radar into their practices after the first radar sets were deployed. The Japanese commanders were far worse off, with no inkling of the power of the new technology.
In March, Japan's combined fleet again lost its commander in an aircraft, this time during a Pacific hurricane. Under direction of the newly appointed Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, a finalized plan for the new conditional 'offensive' dubbed "Plan A-Go", or "Operation A-Go" was adopted in early June 1944, then within weeks, quickly adapted to trap the American fleet now detected in the process of invading Saipan.
Strategically, the Japanese commanders considered Guam, Tinian, and Saipan as part of an inner air-sea defense ring of land based fighter and bomber bases surrounding and protecting their home islands. In the prior year, the U.S. fleet had worked its way over or past other such strongholds in their steady progression across the Central Pacific islands. Their offensive served to weaken the Japanese naval air capabilities, so the Imperial Staff calculated the Marianas would come under similar attack. While revising their offensive ambitions the Japanese staff also ordered prepared defenses and planning for various likely island bases they believed would be likely targets.
The Japanese war plan had from the start always been to inflict such severe and painful losses upon the Americans that the American public would become war weary and demand a negotiated settlement. American technological advances and material production capacity made this objective impossible by holding down U.S. casualties. American-Allied spirits didn't flag but grew more resolved as the war went on.
Furthermore, the U.S. commanders turned the strategy around on the Japanese. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and General Douglas McArthur planned large fighter strikes to surprise, overwhelm and suppress local and nearby island air bases and their mobile forces eliminating the material assets needed for the Japanese plan to be effective. Both commands then followed up invading a select key Japanese base by amphibious assaults where they'd emplace their own bases before hopping farther up the Japanese supply chain (SLOC) to take other key strong points. This hopping step by step from key position to key position neutralized the remnant forces and war material left behind on the bypassed Japanese bases.
That McArthur's forces applied this strategy along the long length of New Guinea instead of against isolated island bases is immaterial, for the dense triple-canopy jungles of New Guinea effectively demanded Sea Lines of Communication just to move a few miles. Similarly, it didn't matter that the General's offensive strikes were led sometimes by borrowed aircraft carrier strikes or the Army Air Corps' long ranged P-38 fighters of the U.S. Fifth Air Force. These cut off garrisons effectively withered most of the time towards near starvation, except as they turned their energies and efforts to local food production and away from military operations as they could no longer be supplied save by submarine or daring but fuel wasteful high speed destroyer runs, and material deficiencies could no longer be fixed. Consequently, the Japanese more often than not evacuated units bypassed rather than continuing to stretch logistics supporting units in untenable situations.
The Japanese society, for cultural reasons had difficulty training replacement pilots and no long term preparatory training program had been anticipated in pre-war planning that would enable the country to overcome their tradition caused cultural bottleneck causing a shortage of new pilots until well into the war. Many of these air to air losses are also largely attributed to the obsolescence of the Japanese aircraft for where the United States had researched and designed entire new classes to cope with the Japanese early war equipment superiority. Culturally the Japanese war society's entrenchment in Bushido (way of the warrior) philosophy suggested few such similar improvements from the 'obedient unquestioning warriors' in the field sent up the ladder to the leadership in the top down cultural hierarchy. The Japanese simply had no such feedback mechanism to duplicate the free wheeling out-spoken American character providing quick and effective pointed complaint feedback to designers.[dubious – discuss]
Hence before the end of 1942 the allied navies had by and large overcome most of the technological edge's Japan's ships and planes had held at the war start and furthermore by mid-1943 had the improvements in rapid mass production or were already updating ships and deploying improved aircraft in a continual process of improvement to correct such deficiencies. The Allied educational training practices similarly had geared up and flexibly adapted to new developments, along the way totally revising the way the American fleet operated with the parallel development of both the Combat Information Center and doctrine, training and practices to get the most out of the new communications and sensor technologies.
Most of Japan's more skillful and experienced pilots had died during the two years of attrition of near continual engagements as the U.S. stabilized the theater in 1942 with the blooding battles at Coral Sea and Midway where they checked and all but stopped Japanese expansion. The war events then began draining down the talent level of Japan's land based air forces as well with progressive air fleet activities in the New Guinea campaign and the tentative U.S. offensive, the battle of attrition that was the Guadalcanal campaign which by the fall of 1942 had decimated the average skill level of Japan's land and sea based pilots by taking out the best of them in the grinding battles. In 1943-44 other island war engagements just exacerbated the problem from the Japanese point of view as the U.S. fast carrier task groups began purposefully to raid and pound Japanese island stronghold specifically to reduce their air power and ability to protect shipping.
Moreover, the U.S., Australian, and British cultures and societies had added a comparative flood of well trained systematically seasoned pilots themselves trained by seasoned pilots recently rotated from the front to the 'finishing school' training commands. Additional training and experience effects from the long pilot shortage was the resultant inexperience of the Japanese carrier deck crews, not just its newbie aircrews flying the same unimproved well understood planes with the same old weaknesses, for in contrast to the U.S. Navy's operational tempo which had grown steadily from mid-1943 Japan's older and newly commissioned aircraft carriers sat in port awaiting hastily trained pilots to arm and justify their existence while the U.S. Fleet had totally re-equipped with the more modern Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter, which was specifically designed to be superior to the Japanese Zero. Further, the increased operations had just further seasoned its better-trained and more experienced airmen and replacement, while training up fleet personnel from Seaman to Admiral on other important new developments from its Combat Information Center organized and directed fleet anti-air defenses, to radar-directed combat air patrols, and the deployment of the VT Fuze in ship-based anti-aircraft artillery where task group CIC's directed the massed gunfire of neighboring ships.
The Japanese fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, consisted of five large carriers (Taihō, Shōkaku, Zuikaku, Junyō, and Hiyō), four light carriers (Ryuho, Chitose, Chiyoda, and Zuihō), five battleships (Yamato, Musashi, Kongō, Haruna and Nagato) and supporting cruisers, destroyers, and oilers.
On June 12, 1944 U.S. carriers started a series of air strikes on the Marianas, convincing Admiral Toyoda that the U.S. was preparing to invade. This move came as a surprise; the Japanese had expected the next U.S. target to be farther to the south, either the Carolines or the Palaus. Therefore, the Marianas were protected with only 50 land-based aircraft.
USA amphibious forces approaching Saipan
On June 13, U.S. forces began bombardment operations for invading Saipan; in response, Toyoda ordered a fleet-based counterattack. The main portions of the fleet, consisting of six carriers and several battleships, rendezvoused on June 16 in the western part of the Philippine Sea and completed refueling on June 17.
On Saipan sands
La porzione principale della flotta, consistente di sei portaerei e di numerose navi da battaglia si incontrò il 16 nella parte occidentale del Mare delle Filippine, completando i rifornimenti di carburante il 17 giugno successivo.
Landing on Saipan, Guam e Tinian
American response
The Japanese fleet was sighted on June 15 by American submarines and by the next day Admiral Raymond Spruance, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, was convinced that a major battle was at hand. By the afternoon of June 18, Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, aboard his flagship (the carrier USS Lexington) had his Task Force 58 (the Fast Carrier Task Force) formed up near Saipan to meet the Japanese attack.
TF-58 consisted of five major groups. In front (to the west) was Vice Admiral Willis Lee's Task Group 58.7 (TG-58.7), the "Battle Line", consisting of seven fast battleships (Washington, North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, South Dakota and Alabama). Just north of them was the weakest of the carrier groups, Rear Admiral William K. Harrill's TG-58.4 of three carriers (Essex, Langley and Cowpens). To the east, in a line running north to south, were three groups each containing four carriers: Rear Admiral Joseph Clark's TG-58.1 (Hornet, Yorktown, Belleau Wood and Bataan); Rear Admiral Alfred Montgomery's TG-58.2 (Bunker Hill, Wasp, Cabot and Monterey) and Rear Admiral John W. Reeves's TG-58.3 (Enterprise, Lexington, San Jacinto and Princeton). The capital ships were supported by eight heavy cruisers, 13 light cruisers, 58 destroyers, and 28 submarines.
Shortly before midnight on June 18, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz sent Spruance a message from Pacific Fleet Headquarters indicating that the Japanese flagship was approximately 350 miles (562 km) to the west-southwest of Task Force 58. This was stated as based on a "fix" obtained by radio direction-finding, but was more probably due to decryption of intercepted Japanese naval messages.
Mitscher realized that if Task Force 58 were to advance westward, there was a strong chance of a night surface encounter with Ozawa's forces. He therefore conferred with Lee and inquired whether Lee favored such an encounter. The battleship commander was not enthusiastic about a night engagement with Japanese surface forces, despite his new ships outclassing most of the Japanese battleships, feeling that his crews were not adequately trained for such an action. Shortly after his discussion with Lee, Mitscher asked Spruance for permission to head west during the night to reach what would be an ideal launch position for an all-out aerial assault on the enemy force at dawn.
However, Spruance refused. Throughout the run-up to the battle he had been concerned that the Japanese would try to draw his main fleet away from the landing area using a diversionary force, and would then make an attack around the flank of the U.S. carrier force, an "end run", hitting the invasion shipping off Saipan. He was therefore not prepared to let Task Force 58 be drawn westward, away from the amphibious forces, as he was aware that Japanese operational plans frequently relied on diversionary forces. On this occasion, however, there was no such aspect to the Japanese plan; there was no ruse and no diversionary force.
The Battle. First actions. June 19
Ozawa's Raids
At 05:30 on June 19, TF-58 turned northeast into the wind and started to launch their air patrols. The Japanese had already launched their morning search patrols using some of the 50 aircraft stationed on Guam, and at 05:50, one of these, a Mitsubishi Zero, found TF-58. After radioing his sighting of U.S. ships, he attacked one of the destroyers on picket duty and was shot down.
Fighter aircraft contrails mark the sky over Task Force 58, June 19, 1944
Thus alerted, the rest of the Guam forces began forming up for an attack, but were spotted on radar by U.S. ships, and a group of F6F Hellcats from the Belleau Wood were sent to investigate. The Hellcats arrived while aircraft were still launching from Orote Field. Minutes later, additional radar contacts were seen, which were later discovered to be the additional forces being sent north from the other islands. A huge battle broke out; 35 of the Japanese aircraft were shot down, and the battle was still going an hour later when the Hellcats were recalled to their carriers.
F6F-3 landing aboard 'Lexington' (CV-16) — Task Force 58 flagship
Battle Map, June 19
Japanese raids
The recall had been ordered after several ships in TF-58 picked up radar contacts 150 miles (240 km) to the west around 10:00. This was the first of the raids from the Japanese carrier forces, with 68 aircraft. TF-58 started launching every fighter it could, and by the time they were in the air, the Japanese had closed to 70 miles (110 km). However, the Japanese began circling to regroup their formations for the attack. This 10-minute delay proved critical, and the first group of Hellcats met the raid, still at 70 miles (110 km), at 10:36. They were quickly joined by additional groups. Within minutes, 25 Japanese aircraft had been shot down, against the loss of only one U.S. aircraft.
Japanese aircraft dive in flame
The Japanese aircraft that survived were met by other fighters, and 16 more were shot down. Of the remainder, some made attacks on the picket destroyers USS Yarnall and USS Stockham but caused no damage. Three or four bombers broke through to Lee's battleship group, and one made a direct hit on the USS South Dakota, which caused many casualties, but failed to disable her, being the only Japanese success throughout the battle. Not one aircraft of Ozawa's first wave got through to the American carriers
At 11:07, radar detected another, much larger attack. This second wave consisted of 107 aircraft. They were met while still 60 miles (97 km) out, and at least 70 of these aircraft were shot down before reaching the ships. Six attacked Rear Admiral Montgomery's group, nearly hitting two of the carriers and causing casualties on each. Four of the six were shot down. A small group of torpedo aircraft attacked Enterprise, one torpedo exploding in the wake of the ship. Three other torpedo-aircraft attacked the light carrier Princeton but were shot down. In all, 97 of the 107 attacking aircraft were destroyed.
Air attacks against the Task force 58, morning June 19
The third raid, consisting of 47 aircraft, came in from the north. It was intercepted by 40 fighters at 13:00, while 50 miles (80 km) out from the task force. Seven Japanese aircraft were shot down. A few broke through and made an ineffective attack on the Enterprise group. Many others did not press home their attacks. This raid therefore suffered less than the others, and 40 of its aircraft managed to return to their carriers.
USS Bunker Hill is nearly hit by a Japanese bomb during the air attacks of June 19, 1944.The fourth Japanese raid was launched between 11:00 and 11:30, but pilots had been given an incorrect position for the US fleet and could not locate it. They then broke into two loose groups and turned for Guam and Rota to refuel. One group flying toward Rota stumbled upon Montgomery's task group. Eighteen aircraft joined battle with American fighters and lost half their number. A smaller group of nine Japanese dive bombers of this force evaded U.S. aircraft and made attacks on the USS Wasp and the USS Bunker Hill, but failed to make any hits. Eight of these aircraft were shot down in the process. The larger group of Japanese aircraft had flown to Guam and were intercepted over Orote Field by 27 Hellcats while landing. Thirty of the 49 Japanese aircraft were shot down, and the rest were damaged beyond repair.
USS Bunker Hill is nearly hit by a Japanese bomb during the air attacks of June 19, 1944.
Aboard the Lexington afterward, a pilot was heard to remark "Hell, this is like an old-time turkey shoot!" Since then, this lopsided air battle has been known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".
Including the continued aerial slaughter over Orote Field, Japanese losses exceeded 350 planes on the first day of battle. American losses were slight, about thirty planes were lost. American ship damage was minimal.
Most of those who successfully evaded the US fighter screens were aviators who were seasoned veterans of the six-month Japanese advance early in the Pacific war, the South Pacific campaign and survivors of the Battle of Midway.
Submarine attacks
At 08:16 the submarine USS Albacore had sighted Ozawa's own carrier group and began an attack on the closest carrier, which was Taihō, the largest and newest carrier in the Japanese fleet and Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's flagship. As Albacore was about to fire, however, her fire-control computer failed, and the torpedoes had to be fired "by eye".
Taihō had just launched 42 aircraft as a part of the second raid. Four of Albacore's torpedoes were off-target. Sakio Komatsu, the pilot of one of the recently-launched aircraft, sighted one of the two which were heading for Taihō and crashed his aircraft on it, but the last torpedo struck the carrier on her starboard side, rupturing two aviation-fuel tanks. At first, the damage did not appear to be very serious.
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/7...kudibujo42.jpg
HIJMS Shokaku
Another submarine, USS Cavalla, was able to maneuver to an attack position on the 25,675-ton carrier Shōkaku by about noon. The submarine fired a spread of six torpedoes, three of which struck the Shōkaku. Badly damaged, the carrier came to a halt. One torpedo had hit the forward aviation fuel tanks near the main hangar, and aircraft that had just landed and were being refueled exploded into flames. Ammunition and exploding bombs added to the conflagration, as did burning fuel spewing from shattered fuel pipes. With her bows subsiding into the sea and fires out of control, the captain gave orders to abandon ship. Within minutes, total catastrophe struck the vessel. Volatile gas fumes had accumulated throughout the vessel, and when an aerial bomb exploded on the hangar deck, a series of terrific explosions simply blew the ship apart about 140 miles (230 km) north of the island of Yap. The carrier rolled over and slid beneath the waves taking 887 navy officers and men plus 376 men of Air Group 601, a total of 1,263 men in all, to the seabed. There were 570 survivors, including the carrier's commander, Captain Hiroshi Matsubara. Futile attempts were made by destroyer Urakaze to destroy the submarine, but Cavalla escaped with relatively minor damage due to depth charge near misses from Urakaze.
Meanwhile, Taihō was falling victim to poor damage control. On the orders of an inexperienced damage-control officer, her ventilation system had been operating at full-blast in an attempt to clear explosive fumes from the ship. This instead had the effect of spreading the vapors throughout Taihō. At 17:32, she suffered a series of catastrophic explosions caused by the accumulated fumes igniting near an electric generator on the hangar deck. Of her complement of 1,751, a total of 1,650 crewmen were lost.
USS Albacore
U.S. counterattack
TF-58 sailed west during the night to attack the Japanese at dawn. Search patrols were put up at first light.
HIJMS Zuikaku
Admiral Ozawa had transferred to the destroyer Wakatsuki after Taihō had been hit, but the radio gear onboard wasn't capable of sending the number of messages needed, so he transferred again, to the carrier Zuikaku, at 13:00. It was then he learned of the disastrous results of the previous day and that he had about 150 aircraft left. Nevertheless, he decided to continue the attacks, thinking there were still hundreds of aircraft on Guam and Rota, and started planning new raids for June 21.
American searches failed to locate the Japanese fleet until 15:40. However, the report made was so garbled that Mitscher knew neither what had been sighted nor where. At 16:05, a clearer report was received, and Mitscher decided to launch a large strike, even though there were only 75 minutes until sunset and his aviators didn't normally land at night because of the risk of significant losses due to landing mishaps.
The tense faces of the pilots of VF-1 while preparing to take off on late afternoon of June 20, 1944
On the briefing blackboard the written: "Get the Carriers"
The attack went in at 18:30.
Ozawa had been able to put up very few fighters to intercept the incoming U.S. attack no more than 35, according to later estimates, but these few were skillfully handled, even though the Japanese antiaircraft fire was intense.
Japanese Carrier Division Three under attack by United States Navy aircraft from Task Force 58, late afternoon, June 20, 1944. The heavy cruiser circling at right, nearest to the camera, is either Maya or Chōkai. Beyond that, is the small aircraft carrier Chiyoda
HIJMS Hyio
The first ships sighted by the U.S. strike were oilers, and two of these were damaged so severely that they were later scuttled. The carrier Hiyo was attacked and hit by bombs and aerial torpedoes from four Grumman Avengers from Belleau Wood.
Hiyō was set afire after a tremendous blast from leaking aviation fuel. Dead in the water, she slipped stern first under the waves, taking the lives of 250 officers and men. The rest of her crew, about one thousand, survived to be rescued by Japanese destroyers.
Grumman TBF-1 Avenger
The carriers Zuikaku, Junyō, and Chiyoda were damaged by bombs, as was the battleship Haruna. Twenty American aircraft were lost in this strike.
The Japanes leading Force under attack by aircraft of Task Force 58, late afternoon June 20
A fire column leave from a Japanese Carrier hit during the attack of June 20, 1944
At 20:45, the first U.S. aircraft began to return to TF 58. Knowing his aviators would have difficulty finding their carriers, Mitscher decided to fully illuminate his carriers, shining searchlights directly up into the night, despite the risk of attack from submarines and night-flying aircraft. Picket destroyers fired star shells to help the aircraft find the task groups. Despite this, 80 of the returning aircraft were lost, some crashing on flight decks, the majority going into the sea. Many of the crews were rescued over the next few days
Night rescues
That night, Admiral Ozawa received orders from Toyoda to withdraw from the Philippine Sea. U.S. forces gave chase, but the battle was over.
The four Japanese air strikes involved 373 carrier aircraft, of which 130 returned to the carriers, and many more were lost on board when the two carriers were sunk on the first day by submarine attacks. After the second day the losses totaled three carriers, more than 433 carrier aircraft, and around 200 land-based aircraft. Losses on the U.S. side on the first day were only 23, and on the second 100, most of them resulting from the night landings.
The battle was nicknamed the 'Great Marianas Turkey Shoot' in American accounts, for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. American forces suffered much lighter losses, and a pilot from the U.S.S. Lexington supposedly remarked that "This is like an old-time turkey shoot!" during the battle.
Lieutenant Alexander shows his air kills on board of USS Lexington
The lopsided outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, war technology, and ship and aircraft design, which the Japanese war machine could not match over the course of the war. Ultimately, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost three aircraft carriers, between 550 and 645 aircraft, and hundreds of pilots in addition to minor ships.
The losses to the Japanese were irreplaceable. Of the Japanese naval air arm, only 35 out of Admiral Ozawa's 473 aircraft were left in a condition fit to fly. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few months later, their carriers were used solely as a decoy because of the lack of aircraft and aircrews to fly them.
The Japanese Navy, which had not released the true accounts of the naval battles since the Battle of Midway (which they had presented as a victory), had revealed the actual accounts of the simultaneous Battle of Saipan to the public, but the extent of the disaster of the Battle of the Philippine Sea led them to continue the obfuscating of defeats with it.
The F6F had proved decisive in the battle. Its superior speed, firepower, and protection made it a formidable aircraft for the increasingly undertrained Japanese aircraft. Losing fewer than two dozen Hellcats, the American pilots were dominant during the battle racking up nearly 500 kills in two days alone.
Spruance was heavily criticized by many officers after the battle (and continues to be to this day) for his decision to initiate battle cautiously rather than exploiting his superior forces and intelligence data with a more aggressive posture; by failing to press the attack earlier and more forcefully, his critics argue, he might well have squandered the opportunity to envelop and destroy the entire Japanese strike force. However, it is instructive to compare Spruance's caution (particularly his suspicion of a diversionary force) with Admiral Halsey's later impetuous pursuit of an actual diversionary force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf that left inferior U.S. forces open to an attack off Samar by a Japanese surface action group composed of battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Furthermore, Spruance's conservative battle plan, while not destroying all of the Japanese aircraft carriers, did effectively drive the final nail into the coffin of the Japanese naval aviation forces by killing most of the remaining trained pilots and destroying their last operational reserves of naval aircraft. Without the time or resources to build sufficient aircraft and train experienced pilots, the surviving Japanese carriers were mere shadows of their former selves, a fact the Japanese recognized by using them as sacrificial decoys at Leyte Gulf. With the effective crippling of her best striking arm, Japan was increasingly forced to rely on land-based kamikaze suicide aircraft in a last-ditch effort to stave off total U.S. naval and air supremacy.
Crew aligned on USS Hornet bridge, after the Battle which left Japan without its air sea Power
Japanese losses:
3 Carriers sunk Shokaku, Taiho, Hiyo,
2 Oil Tankers sunk
circa 600 Aircraft destroyed
6 Ships heavy damaged
Casualties:
30.000 (Saipan Battle)
20.000 (Guam Battle)
3.000 (Tinian Battle)
USA losses:
1 Battleship damaged: USS South Dakota
123 Aircraft destroyed (80 crews survived)
7.800 (Guam Battle)
327 (Tinian Battle)
NOTES ON BATTLE
The lopsided outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, war technology, and ship and aircraft design, which the Japanese war machine could not match over the course of the war. These changes were because the Americans now utilized and were becoming practiced with the new radar-based Command Information Center concepts which, beginning with early stumbling initiatives in 1942 battles, continued to grow and morph and bear effectiveness in return for experimentation. The proof was in the vast amounts of anti-air defensive firepower delivered on target. Such institutional self-criticisms were very alien to Japanese society. Another clear benefit of the new doctrines and organizational measures was that, unlike the overburdened radio channels and lost messages experienced in the battle of Midway, the U.S. fleet had sufficient frequencies and communications training, discipline, experience and doctrine to maintain good command coordination and control during the largest such battle ever. So many planes were destroyed on the ground or intercepted transferring between bases that despite comparisons with captured surviving Japanese records, careful postwar analysis could not refine these estimates despite a massive prolonged effort.
F6F-5 Hellcat
WHO RESOLVED THE BATTLE
It appears as a paradox but, the Major Carrier vs Carrier Battle of the History was resolved in favor of USA by the most perfidy sea weapon: the Submarine. It was in fact the American submarine "Cavalla" to sink, in quick series, the largest and most important Japanese Carriers: the new Taiho and the glorious Shokaku.
Hellcat vs Zero
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on working...
Propeller blade of Japanese aircraft downed on Essex, June 19, 1944
Source: WIKIPEDIA, "PACIFIC WAR" by B. MILLOT
by care of R. Cipson
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text:
Division for Marine and Environm...
Laboratory for biological divers...
Laboratory for biological diversity
Biodiversity encompasses the variability of all the life forms on earth, from the level of genes, species and all the way up to ecosystems.
Armin Mešić, dr.sc.
Armin.Mesic@irb.hr
Biological resources represent a foundation for survival and sustainable development of civilization. At the same time, endangerment of a great number of organisms and ecosystems on a global scale is at the highest level since history of humankind. Therefore, research and protection of biodiversity are of exceptional value for the survival of humanity.
Laboratory for Biological Diversity (LBD) is focused on the research involving fungi as a large, ecologically relevant group of organisms that are severely under researched. Up to this day, around 140.000 species of fungi are scientifically accepted and described, but their actual number is thought to be between 2.2 and 3.8 million.
As a part of our work, we are conducting basic and applied research in the areas of taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography, ecology and conservation of fungi. Taxonomy is a biological scientific discipline that discovers, defines, and classifies biodiversity. Our approach to taxonomical research is integrative, via the use of methods from different complementary scientific disciplines like comparative morphology, molecular phylogenetics, DNA barcoding, ecology, and population genetics.
Recently, our Laboratory has implemented a modern, globally used method for biodiversity research called DNA metabarcoding used on environmental samples (soil, wood, air, water, etc), which is based on the technology of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). The data concerning the biodiversity of fungi in Croatia gathered throughout many years were the foundation for the protection of fungi and their habitats in Croatia.
Members of our laboratory participated in the making of RuleBook(s) on Protection of Fungi (1998, 2002), the Red list of fungi in Croatia (2005), and the Red book of fungi in Croatia (2008). On the world scale, we participated in the process of evaluation of fungal species needed to make the IUCN global fungal red list.
Members of the LBD act as experts in identifying the fungal species in cases of poisonings, collaborating with the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health. Throughout the years members of the Laboratory published more than 50 internationally published original scientific papers, in them taxonomically defining and describing 20 species and six genera new for science. Over 1300 new fungal species for Croatia were recorded by the members of the lab.
Enhancement of Croatian forest ecosystem services through assessment of fungal diversity based on DNA barcoding (ForFungiDNA)
Magdalena Jambrek Fuellhart
Ivana Kušan
dr.sc., Research associate
Olga Malev
dr.sc., Postdoctoral researcher
Armin Mešić
dr.sc., Head of laboratory
Lucia Pole
Ana Pošta
Zdenko Tkalčec
dr.sc., Senior research associate
Željko Zgrablić
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text:
La calta (Caltha palustris) és una herba perenne de la família de les ranunculàcies de molleres, prats molt humits i boscos de ribera dels estatges montà, subalpí i alpí de tota la serralada pirinenca. És una planta tòxica. En català també es coneix com a flor de mal d'ulls, flor de tots mesos, ram de Sant Isidre i viola groga.

Descripció
És una planta herbàcia, perenne, amb tija erecte que assoleix 3 dm d'alçada de color porpra. Les fulles de color verd fosc són grans, arronyonades i brillants amb un llarg pecíol. Les flors són terminals, es troben a parells i tenen cinc sèpals de color groc intens.

Propietats
 Antiespasmòdic utilitzat en homeopatia per tractar neuràlgies, migranyes i problemes gastrointestinals.
 S'ha usat el suc de les seves plantes per al tractament de berrugues, encara que amb molta precaució en ser irritant de la pell.

Ranunculàcies

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


As we are still in a recession and many people are losing jobs, some corporations are turning things around and giving their employees what they deserve. For the last few months, I have been working with a La Mesa company that is showing their employees the importance of health and wellness. Here are a few examples: they provide a healthy lunch and afterwards take a walk everyday, depending on weather; the employees get a stipend for health and wellness ie: gym membership, health coach, and weight-loss programs. Every week I go into their office and offer their employees a 15 minute chair massage. 15 minutes doesn't seem like a long time, but to these employees, it is a mini vacation away from the everyday stresses of work or life. This company sets a wonderful example of health and wellness. It makes me wish I was working full-time.. not really! I'll leave that to the professionals!
When I was at the gym last week, I over heard a guy talk about launching a health program at his firm. It instantly brought a smile to my face. I love how San Diegans are aware of health, wellness and fitness. They are the examples of the future!