text:
Share this Story: French court denies bid by Diack's son and co-defendant to delay bribery trial
French court denies bid by Diack's son and co-defendant to delay bribery trial
Jun 08, 2020 • June 8, 2020 • < 1 minute read
PARIS — A French court on Monday said it would not delay the trial of Lamine Diack, the former head of athletics' governing body, and his son who both face charges of corruption and money laundering linked to a Russian doping scandal.
Papa Massata Diack resides in Senegal, which refused to extradite him to France. Papa Massata's French lawyer said his Senegalese counterparts were indispensable to his defense but had been unable to travel to Paris because of coronavirus border restrictions.
French court denies bid by Diack's son and co-defendant to delay bribery trial Back to video
The prosecution said Papa Massata was a fugitive playing "cat and mouse" with the French court. (Reporting by Tangi Salaun; editing by Richard Lough)


text:
Q: Make a py2exe exe run without a console? Does anyone know how to make an exe with py2exe run without the black console? and bundle up all the pyd files etc into just one exe file?

A: For one exe file, use this setup (taken from this answer):
from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe, sys, os

sys.argv.append('py2exe')

setup(
    options = {'py2exe': {'bundle_files': 1, 'compressed': True}},
    windows = [{'script': "single.py"}],
    zipfile = None,
)

A: from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe, sys, os

sys.argv.append('py2exe')

setup(
    windows = [{'script': "pytho.py"}],
)

edited for py2exe x64 support
64-bit does not have zipping
using: python 2.7 amd64

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Lady Berries participated in Live United Day 2017. The team's assigned area was Riverside Park and players helped clean up the park and River Bluff Trail. The program wants to thank Chris Armstrong with the United Way for the opportunity to serve their community. Also, a special thanks for The Church of Christ at Logansport for providing an amazing lunch to the team after a morning of hard work.


text:
A Bankruptcy Trustee's Ability to Waive A Debtor's Attorney-Client Privilege
January 19, 2018 / Houmand Law Firm, LTD. / No Comments
Outside the context of a bankruptcy proceeding, it is undisputed that the attorney-client privilege only belongs to the client. Moore v. Eason (In re Bazemore), 216 B.R. 1020, 1023 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 1998). Upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition, however, the relationship between an attorney and his client changes as the Bankruptcy Code provides for the appointment of a Chapter 7 Trustee who succeeds to many of the interests of the Debtor. See generally 11 U.S.C. § 541.
In Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Weintraub, 471 U.S. 343 (1985). the United States Supreme Court held that "the trustee of a corporation in bankruptcy has the power to waive the corporation's attorney-client privilege . . ." Id. at 358. The Supreme Court noted that, for solvent corporations, the power to waive the privilege rests with the officers and directors of the corporation at issue. Id. at 348. The Supreme Court then reasoned that control of a corporation's attorney-client privilege in bankruptcy belongs to the party having the most analogous duties to the solvent corporation's officers and directors. Id. at 351. The Supreme Court concluded that since the duties of a bankruptcy trustee are most similar to the duties of the officers and directors of a solvent corporation, a bankruptcy trustee controls the attorney-client privilege of a bankruptcy corporation. Id. at 353; see also U.S. v. Campbell, 73 F.3d 44, 47 (extending a bankruptcy trustee's authority to waive the attorney-client privilege to partnerships, reasoning that, like a corporation, a partnership "is an inanimate entity that can act only through its agents.").
While it is well-established that a bankruptcy trustee has the authority to waive the attorney-client privilege on behalf of a corporate debtor, there is a split of authority as to whether the same remedy applies to individual debtors. The majority of courts that have analyzed the issue, however, have held that a Trustee may not waive the attorney-client privilege for individual debtors.
An individual Chapter 7 debtor, and not the trustee, was the proper party to assert attorney-client privilege for communications between herself and bankruptcy attorney, in a Chapter 7 case that the debtor had reopened for purpose of scheduling a previously undisclosed cause of action as an asset of the estate, where the debtor stood in adversarial posture vis-a-vis the trustee. In re Wilkerson, 393 B.R. 734, 745 (Bankr. D. Colo. 2007); see also In re Tippy Togs of Miami, Inc., 237 B.R. 236, 239 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 1999) (holding that the attorney-client privilege cannot be waived by a Chapter 7 Trustee on behalf of an individual debtor).
The Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in In re Ginzburg, 517 B.R. 175, 180 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2014) also held that a bankruptcy trustee could not waive an individual debtor's attorney-client privilege. Specifically, the court found that a Chapter 7 trustee's duty to marshal estate assets and need for information in order to carry out that duty did not authorize application of a balancing test in deciding whether debtor could assert, as against trustee, an attorney-client privilege for communications which he had made to his divorce attorney for purposes of securing advice in contemplated divorce case, or whether privilege had passed to trustee for limited purpose of allowing him to waive it and to obtain information needed to administer the estate. The bankruptcy court further noted that application of a balancing test to allow the trustee, if the need was great enough, to obtain access to communications that debtor had admittedly made for purposes of obtaining legal advice would introduce substantial uncertainty into the privilege's application and was not justified as just another exception to privilege law. Id. at 180.
Courts permitting a waiver of the attorney-client privilege for individual debtors have adopted an alternative approach that requires an examination of the particular circumstances of the case to determine if a bankruptcy trustee has the authority to waive the attorney-client privilege on behalf of an individual debtor. See, e.g., Foster v. Hill (In re Foster), 188 F.3d 1259, 1265-66 (10th Cir. 1999) (holding that a bankruptcy court is required to analyze whether a bankruptcy trustee's need for privileged information is outweighed by any harm to the debtor and to the interests served by the attorney-client privilege); In re Miller, 247 B.R. 704, 710 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2000) (finding that an inquiry as to whether bankruptcy trustee can waive an individual Chapter 7 debtor's attorney-client privilege requires balancing the interests of a full and frank discussion in the attorney-client relationship and the harm to the debtor upon disclosure with trustee's duty to maximize the value of debtor's estate and represent interests of the estate).
Lastly, at least one court has held that upon conversion of a Chapter 11 case to one under Chapter 7, and upon appointment of the Chapter 7 trustee, the attorney-client privilege passed to trustee as regards communications between debtor and his attorneys, during time that debtor served as debtor-in-possession, as to all matters having to do with estate administration; privilege was trustee's privilege, to waive or assert as he saw fit. In re Bame, 251 B.R. 367, 373-74 (Bankr. D. Minn. 2000).
In conclusion, it is black letter law that a bankruptcy trustee has the authority to waive the attorney-client privilege of a corporate debtor. There is a split of authority as to whether a bankruptcy trustee has the authority to waive the attorney-client privilege of an individual debtor, with the majority of courts answering this question in the negative. The few courts that have allowed a bankruptcy trustee to waive the attorney-client privilege of an individual debtor have only done so after weighing the bankruptcy trustee's need for the information and the harm to the debtor and attorney-client privilege in general.
Posted in Bankruptcy, Trustees

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home > IDR Blog
China Streamlines the PLA, But with Strings Attached
Dr Amrita Jash | Date:03 Feb , 2019 0 Comments
Dr Amrita Jash
is Associate Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.
Acting upon the 'fight and win' logic, Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xi Jinping set 2019 resolution by calling for People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be 'battle-ready'. Setting another benchmark, Xi called for cutting down the size of China's land-based army. Describing these "transformational changes" as "unprecedented in the history of PLA", Xinhua, China's official news agency stated that "the army now accounts for less than 50 per cent of the total number of PLA troops; almost half of our non-combatant units have been made redundant, and the number of officers in the PLA has been reduced by 30 per cent".[i] Here, the query remains: What does this strategic move imply? Is such an attempt aimed at waning the 'China threat' factor?
Drawing from the past, such a massive cut down in the PLA does not call to be the first in China's history. To note, Chinese armed forces were first reduced, reorganised and restructured between 1982-1984; in 1985, China decided to reduce its military personnel by one million, wherein, by 1987 PLA was reduced from 4.238 million to that of 3.235 million; in 1990, PLA was reduced to 3.199 million, overshooting the declared target of one million and; in 2018, the strength was reduced from 2.3 million to 2 million. However, the past reductions in the 1980s were mainly aimed at justifying China's "determination to actively promote arms control and disarmament"[ii]– an act in contrary to the spiralling arms race between United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. While in the 1990s, the aim was to dispel the China threat syndrome.
However, in the current times, neither of this logic validate China's such a strategic move. What makes it so? As already noted, the current reduction does not entail the down-size of PLA's 'combat force'. To which, cutting down of the 'non-combatant' units of PLA does not hold much of strategic significance. Rather such a force reduction is mainly oriented towards strengthening the other four services: PLA Navy, PLA Air Force, PLA Rocket Forces and PLA Strategic Support Force- downplaying the long-held superiority of PLA Army in China's strategic calculus. And more specifically, the rationale is also embedded in the shift in China's outlook from being limited to ground forces to that of building capabilities in air, space and cyberspace- the new domains of modern warfare. To argue so, as in Beijing's security perspective, the character of future wars will be mainly- shorter; not entail the occupation of China, although Chinese political, economic and military centers are likely to be attacked; and will involve joint military operations across land, sea, air, cyberspace and outer space, and involve the application of advanced technology, especially information technology.[iii] To add, PLA's increasing defence expenditure further confirms China's such a perception as witnessed in its growing aspirations and strategic intentions. To note, China being second only to United States in being the largest military spender globally, boosted its defence spending by 8.1 per cent in 2018- the highest increase in three years.[iv] Moreover, given the increasing trend, it is suggested that China's national defence budget will grow to RMB 1.11 trillion- equating to USD 231 billion.[v]
In Chinese perspective, to quell the growing risks, the key is to build China's combat capabilities in both traditional and new security fields. This factor further justifies the cut down in the non-combatant units as opposed to the combat units. To argue so, as the essence for PLA, as Xi notes lies in stepping up its "combat capability", which has become the "criterion" to meet in all its work and focus on "how to win" when it is called upon- "to posture, manage crises and deter and win wars".[vi] In doing so, the mandate for PLA is five-fold: (a) develop new combat forces and support forces; (b) to conduct military training under combat conditions; (c) to strengthen the application of military strength; (d) to speed up development of intelligent military and; (e) to improve combat capabilities for joint operations based on the network information system and the ability to fight under multidimensional conditions.[vii] This framework points at the fact that 'technology' acts as the new bedrock of China's military strategy which is aimed at "winning informationised local wars". This further drives China's national goals, which aim at three key targets for PLA: by 2020 "achieve its mechanization, make big strides in informatization and gain substantial improvement in strategic capabilities"; become "a modernized force" by 2035 and; emerge as "a world-class military" by 2050.[viii]
It is to suggest that unlike the past reductions, the 2019 PLA manpower cut has strategic implications. To argue so, as the 2015 White Paper on "China's Military Strategy" exemplifies China's bold and confident posture in the changing dynamics of the international system. That is, justifying China's defensive posture, the White paper argues that Beijing's actions are a counter response to its threat calculations. In the Chinese assessment, the security challenges, as mentioned are: US "re-balancing strategy" and "its military presence and military alliances" in Asia; Japan's increasing militarist posture for it "is sparing no effort to dodge the post-war mechanism, overhauling its military and security policies".[ix] It further points that "some of its offshore neighbors take provocative actions and reinforce their military presence on China's reefs and islands that they have illegally occupied"- clearly hinting at Philippines and Vietnam. It also adds that how "some external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs" and "maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China"- a hint towards India and Japan. This perception of China's security challenges still holds relevance in the current times, given China has yet not published a White Paper since 2015. In view of this, China's intentions and actions are validated by the way it sees and interprets its security challenges.
Another significant aspect is Beijing's the strategic shift towards winning informationised local wars by "maritime preparation for military struggle"- a key nodal point as highlighted in the 2015 White Paper. This shift is driven by the logic of China's expanding interests beyond its traditional borders. That is, China now wants PLA Navy to imbibe greater role, as emphasised on the need to shift the focus from "offshore water defense" to combining it with "open seas protection".[x] This change in China's strategic outlook resonates with Xi's grand vision of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), wherein, China's sea power capabilities will mainly equip it to realize the Dream of "21st century Maritime Silk Road". And most importantly, help China set its strategic foothold in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)- where China remains to be an external actor unlike the United States and India. However, China is already making its inroads into IOR, as witnessed in its first overseas base in Djibouti as well as the various port projects under BRI, the most noted being Gwadar in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka. These initiatives exemplify China's expanding naval military capabilities in and around IOR.
In this perspective, it again remains testified that China under Xi is no more acting under Deng Xiaoping's dictum of "Keeping a low profile". Similarly, reduction in PLA's non-combatant unites significantly clarifies that China's strategic motivations are far more profound with a clear intention to showcase and strengthen its force projection beyond its borders. More specifically, to argue, this also reflects a departure in China's long-held defensive position given its increasing emphasis in making PLA combat ready- thus, becoming a force user in securing its aspirations abroad. This is mainly aimed at protecting its claims with regard to Taiwan, South China Sea, East China Sea, India-China border and its expanding investments and assets under the BRI. Hence, the cutting down of the strength of the PLA is rather more symbolic than significant.
[i] "Chinese army now makes up less than half of PLA's strength as military aims to transform itself into modern fighting force", South China Morning Post, 21 January 2019, at https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2183050/chinese-army-now-makes-less-half-plas-strength-military-aims (Accessed on 25 January 2019).
[ii] Information Office of the State Council Of the People's Republic of China (1995), "China: Arms Control and Disarmament", November 1995, at https://fas.org/nuke/guide/china/doctrine/wparms.htm, (Accessed on 28 January 2019).
[iii]Amrita Jash (2018), "Xi Jinping's Theorem of "Fight and Win"", CLAWS Focus, No. 1940, 03 October 2018, at http://www.claws.in/1940/xi-jinping%E2%80%99s-theorem-of-%E2%80%9Cfight-and-win%E2%80%9D-dr-amrita-jash.html, (Accessed on 25 January 2019).
[iv] "NPC 2018: China raises military budget by 8.1% in face of 'profound changes' to national security environment", The Straits Times, 05 March 2018, at https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-raises-2018-defence-spending-by-81-per-cent, (Accessed on 26 January 2019).
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Xi Jinping (2017), "Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", Xinhuanet, 18 October 20178, pp. 48-49, at http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/download/Xi_Jinping's_report_at_19th_CPC_National_Congress.pdf, (Accessed on 26 January 2019).
[vii] Ibid., p. 49.
[viii] Ibid., p. 48.
[ix] State Council of the People's Republic of China, "China's Military Strategy", 27 May 2015, URL: http://english.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2015/05/27/content_281475115610833.htm, (Accessed on 25 January 2019).
[x] Ibid.
Courtesy: http://www.claws.in/1974/china-streamlines-the-pla-but-with-strings-attached-dr-amrita-jash.html
Kashmir is Indian. Is Tibet really Chinese?
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In this article, I will demonstrate the features available in ZK Studio to facilitate the development of Ajax applications.
Zeta : A DB Form Builder for ZK New!
Properties view of ZUML tags Improved!
Zeta can be used to generate CRUD functions and an interface for a table of data in seconds.
Using Zeta you can link to a Database, retrieve information, and within 7 steps generate a ZUL page which can perform all CRUD operations (Create, read, update and delete) utilizing the Model-View-Control (MVC) design pattern.
Please note that the Zeta DB Form Builder is based upon Spring and Hibernate. If you would like to know how to integrate ZK with these technologies, this is a good start!
If you would like to know more on how to rapidly create a Zeta Form please take a look at the Step by Step Guide.
Zeta is for use with ZK version 3.6.0 and above only.
The ZUL Visual Editor allows you to preview the result of the currently edited zul file in an Intelligent Editor. You can open the Visual Editor by clicking Window > Show View > Others > ZK > ZUL Visual Editor in Eclipse menu.
The ZUL Visual Editor will display changes in zul file instantly. Having selected a certain component in the Intelligent Editor, the component in question is marked with blue dash-lined outline in the ZUL Visual Editor and is highlighted within the Hierarchical View of the ZUL page.
If that component has an id attribute, this id will be displayed within the visualized content area in a blue tag.
By clicking the triangle button on the ZUL Visual Editor's toolbar you are able to change the ZK package which is currently used by the project. You can configure the available packages in the preferences.
You can preview the ZUL file when not using a Dynamic Web Project. With ZKs Package management, it is easy to include ZK packages using Eclipse's Global settings. The Loading and unloading of the ZK Library is done automatically and the user is not required to manually add or remove any JAR files.
The ZK Style Designer (*Note: for ZK v3.5.2 and above only.) provides a friendly GUI to edit CSS styles for various ZUML components. Used alongside the ZUL Visual Editor, you can see customized results immediately.
Instead of directly typing code into the Intelligent Editor, ZK Studio provides drag-and-drop development of zul files.
ZUL Palette is a custom studio view and can be opened by clicking Window > Show View > Others > ZK > ZUL Palette.
ZUL Palette lists the components and directives of ZK as items in the palette, these items are categorized in different groups.
You can select an item and drag it to ZUL Editor or Outline. When you drag an item to ZUL Editor, it will insert template text at the position you dropped the item. When you drag an item to Outline View on a special tree node, it will insert a template XML node in the position where you dropped the item.
The ZUL Palette now supports filtering, which means you can type component's name and find it quickly. With the aid of Visual Editor, your productivity can be boosted significantly.
The Intelligent Editor is the editor of ZUL pages for developing AJAX applications. It currently supports editing of *.zul & *.zhtml files.
The content assistance works in the same manner as the functionality supplied with Eclipse's Java & JSP Editors. By pressing the Content Assistance shortcut key (the English version default is ctrl + space) the Intelligent Editor will display a list of appropriate suggestions.
The Intelligent Editor supports auto-completion.
Content assistance works for ZUML tags, Java code enclosed in <zscript> tags and event code blocks!
EL Expressions in zul files are also supported.
In addition to showing the proposals list, supplementary Java documentation can be shown.
As with Eclipse's Java editor, the Intelligent Editor will display Java Doc information when a user hovers the mouse pointer over the code.
Supported code enclosed within <zscript> tags, <attribute> tags and the <![CDATA[*information*] tag is syntactically verified automatically. The indicators on the right hand vertical ruler and the left side show appropriate error messages when clicked.
Java code enclosed within <zscript> tags, <attribute> tags and the <![CDATA[*information*]]> tag are colored appropriately according to the syntax.
Highlight Occurrence is a useful function when you need to trace certain variables or components within the code. It can show the variable both inside and outside of zscript tags.
Here is the project resource hyperlink navigation; certain attributes like src or image have values which correspond to URI patterns. These resources can be opened by ZK Studio.
In addition special attributes which point to specific Java code can also utilize hyperlinks and "Open Declaration" functionality too.
The whole zul page structure is shown in a tree view similar to Eclipse's Outline View, with visual icons to distinguish different elements and an additional id notation in brackets.
When you select a ZUML tag element in the ZUL Editor or in the Component Outline View, the associated attribute information, ordered by category, will be listed in the Eclipse's property view.
Using the properties grid you are able to edit the value directly. For some properties with enumeration attributes (e.g. true/false, normal/none, left/center/right), an informative combo box editor is used to help you input the correct value.
You can configure many options of the ZUL Editor and ZUL Visual Editor in ZK Studio. These are done using Eclipse's property editor. The configuration tools even allow you to change the library path.
Why can't I see the Syntax Colored zscript code in my zul page?
You have to insert the <![CDATA[ and ]]> tag into the <zscript>...</zscript> and <attribute name="onXXX">...</attribute> code blocks.
I have installed the ZK Studio plugin for Eclipse. When I open a zul file by double clicking the entry in Project Explorer in Eclipse, it is opened by the Default Eclipse XML Editor ( ) instead of the Zul File Editor ( ). What's wrong?
In some of our older documentation, it instructed ZK developers to set *.zul files to be handled by Eclipse's built-in XML Editor; this should be cleared on installation of the plug-in. If not, please open the Eclipse preference setting dialog ([Window]\[Preferences...]\General\Editors\File Associations) and set the ZUL Editor as the default editor for *.zul files.
You can force Eclipse to open zul file in ZUL Editor by right-click menu entry in Navigator, Package Explorer, Project Explorer View.
Why do I always have JAVA Syntax Error marks in my code, even if it runs correctly on ZK?
Currently you have to append two special comments: //@DECLARATION and //@IMPORT within the <zscript>...</zscript> code block. The //@DECLARATION tag is used when declaring classes and functions and the //@IMPORT tag is used when there is a Java import directive. These two comments can only be used once per code section surrounded with <![CDATA[ ]]>.
If you define a class in zscript, please do not use the public access modifier, use the default access modifier.
I use non-Java Syntax such as var zoom = self.zoom in my code. Why does ZUL Editor display that the code is wrong?
Currently Syntax Checking is for Java only, so code like var zoom = self.zoom will cause warnings.
Why do URL Hyperlinks not work when I use src="someFile.zul"?
You have to specify Absolute URL Paths. Such as src="/someFile.zul".
My code completion (Content Assist) is not working. How do I fix it?
Make sure your hot key for code completion is what you expected, and doesn't conflict with other Eclipse functions (you can define it in [Windows]/[Preferences]/[General]/[Keys]).
Make sure there are no other serious errors in Eclipse's Error View Note: To have code assist automatically invoked in ZUML tag, you can change auto content assist trigger, replace "." with " ".
This page was last modified on 29 December 2010, at 04:58.


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text:
module UI
  class UIViewBuilder
    include UI::Builders::HasBackgroundColor

    STRUCTS_MAP = {
      CGAffineTransform   => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithCGAffineTransform(v) },
      CGPoint             => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithCGPoint(v) },
      CGRect              => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithCGRect(v) },
      CGSize              => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithCGSize(v) },
      UIEdgeInsets        => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithUIEdgeInsets(v) },
      UIOffset            => Proc.new {|v| NSValue.valueWithUIOffset(v) }
    }

    attr_reader :view

    def build(klass, options = {})
      style = options.delete(:styles)
      if style
        predefined = UI::Styles.for(style)
        options.merge!(predefined) if predefined
      end
      @view = view_for_class(klass, options)

      unless options.nil?
        options.each do |k,v|
          options[k] = STRUCTS_MAP[v.class].call(v) if STRUCTS_MAP.has_key?(v.class)
        end
        self.setValuesForKeysWithDictionary(options)
      end

      @view
    end

    def view_for_class(klass, options = {})
      klass.alloc.initWithFrame(CGRectZero)
    end

    def setValue(value, forUndefinedKey:key)
      @view.setValue(value, forKey: key)
    end

    protected
    include UI::Builders::Converters
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Any vs Nested Concrete type in Kotlin Collections is using Any as collection type consume less memory than using concrete type?
suppose
val list1 = listOf<Any>("ABC", "DEF", "GHI", "JKL", "MNO")
val list2 = listOf<String>("ABC", "DEF", "GHI", "JKL", "MNO")

i wonder if list1 consume less memory than list2 since String type allocates memory to store its properties (e.g size)
So, is it better to use list1 if i dont use any String type function?

EDIT
what if i want to use other type in the collection?
list = listOf<Any>("ABC", 123, 12.34)

is it more efficient than
list = listOf<String>("ABC", "123", "12.34")

EDIT 2
thanks to @João Dias and @gidds
as @gidds says :

the list does not directly contain String objects, or Any objects — it contains references.

And a String reference is exactly the same size as an Any reference or a reference of any other type.

So, The List<String> and List<Any> are the exactly the same because of the Type Erasure --which pointed out by @João Dias-- with a difference of compile-time & runtime type

but, does it mean that
val list1 = listOf<Any>("ABC", "DEF", "GHI")

and
val list2 = listOf<String>("ABC", "DEF", "GHI")

is consuming the same memory as
val list3 = listOf<List<List<List<String>>>>(
listOf(listOf(ListOf("ABC"))),
listOf(listOf(ListOf("DEF"))),
listOf(listOf(ListOf("GHI")))
)

AFAIK, String is basically collections of Char. A String contains a reference to the Char. And since everything is an object in Kotlin, then every Char inside the String should contain a reference to the value in the heap, am i correct up to here?
if thats the case, doesnt it make sense that List<String> consume more memory than List<Any> because List<String> is having more than 1 reference.

A: A point not addressed so far is that the list does not directly contain String objects, or Any objects — it contains references.
And a String reference is exactly the same size as an Any reference or a reference of any other type. (That size depends on the internals of the JVM running the code; it might be 4 or 8 bytes. See these questions.)
Of course, the objects being referred to will also take up their own space in the heap; but that will be the same in both cases.

EDITED TO ADD:
The internal details of how List and String are implemented is irrelevant to the original question. (Which is good, coz they vary between implementations.) JVM languages (such as Kotlin) have only two kinds of value: primitives (Int, Short, Long, Byte, Char, Double, Float, Boolean), and references (to an object or an array).
So any collection, if it's not a collection of primitives, is a collection of references. That applies to all List implementations. So your list1 and list2 objects will be exactly the same size, depending only on the number of references they hold (or can hold), not on what's in those references.
If you want a deeper picture, list1 is a reference, pointing to an object which implements the List interface. There are many different implementations, and I don't know off-hand which one Kotlin will pick (and again, that might change between versions), but say for example it's an ArrayList. That has at least two properties: a size (which is probably an Int), and a reference to an array which holds the references to the items in the list. (The array will usually be bigger than the current size of the list, so that you can add some more items without having to re-allocate the array each time; the current size of the array is known as the list's capacity.) If those items are Strings, then the exact internal representation depends on the JVM version, but it might be an object with at least three properties: an array of Char, an Int giving the start index of the string within the array, and another Int giving either the length.
But as I said, the details change over time and between JVM versions. What doesn't change is that List is a collection of references, and the size of a reference doesn't depend on its type. So a list of String references will (all other things being equal) take exactly the same space as a list of Any references to those same strings.
(And, as has been mentioned elsewhere, due to type erasure at runtime the JVM has no concept of type parameters, and so the objects will in fact be identical.)
Of course, the 'deep size' (the overall heap space taken up by the list and the objects it contains) will depend upon the size of those objects — but in the case we're discussing, those are the exact same String objects, so there's no difference in size there either.

A: It does not make any difference in memory consumption. You are building the exact same list with exactly the same content. Additionally, there is a thing called type erasure that goes something like this:

Type erasure can be explained as the process of enforcing type
constraints at compile-time and discarding the element type
information at runtime.

This means that at runtime, there is no List<String> or List<Any> just List making no difference whatsoever if you use the first or the second in regards to memory consumption. In regards to code readability, maintainability and robustness you definitely should go with List<String>. Given that in Kotlin lists exposed as List are read-only by default (thanks @Alex.T and @Tenfour04 for the hints, Lists can only be considered immutable if the elements in them are also immutable and if the concrete implementation of List is indeed immutable, e.g., consider a list : List<String> property with an underlying mutable ArrayList<String> then list is still not completely immutable since a since cast allows you to add or remove elements from it (list as ArrayList<String>).add("new-element")) you basically have only disadvantages on using List<Any> (because then if you want to iterate or use any of its elements all you will know at that time is that it is Any element which is way harder to work with than a specific type like String).


The winterless winter continues, with no sign of actual winter anywhere in my forecast. It's as though November moved in and never plans to leave. At least a month like, say, August, hasn't yet tried the same trick. I've long since put my down parka in the closet. Last year I lived in that thing.
I'll bet some, if not all, of the forest animals are thrilled, if that's something they can be. I see deer everywhere in the fields in both mornings and evenings. This morning I saw 14 in 2 groups. Last night I saw 7 in another group on the mountain.
Winter is hard on the deer, normally. This year that is certainly not the case. The grazing is still probably not the best, as the grasses are all sleeping through winter. But the deer don't have to paw through snow and ice to reach it. Some winters deer huddle in their "yards" and can't or don't move beyond its confines. In really severe winters they can die in there when they run out of food. This year even the ponds and puddles have open water, at least by around noon or so.
I think an easy winter is likely to make for a strong breeding season for them. Certainly there isn't any winter-caused hardship.
Other animals and the birds are likely seeing the same kind of benefit. Birds will survive the winter fat and happy, ready for a new breeding season, too. The winter residents will be in good shape to start their trips back north.
This kind of winter may not be my cup of tea, but I'll bet it's theirs.
The non-winter here on Roundtop Mountain continues, with only momentary blips of winter to report. Mostly, January was like a very long November. The snow lasted but a few days and has now retreated to a few tiny patches that are hidden from the sun.
The daytime temperatures are well above freezing, and most nights the temperature does get below freezing, if not always by very much or for very long. By morning, ice in puddles is hardly more than skim ice that is long gone by noon time.
The patterns created by the slowly freezing water caught my eye this weekend. They remind me a bit of tree rings, though I suppose freezing rings would be more accurate. You can see how the freezing starts out with just a little ring and then as the night gets colder, the rings get wider and the water is apparently freezing faster. In a normally cold winter, I don't see freezing rings. The puddles freeze too fast and are pretty much ringless, with a solid sheet of ice. Not this year.
The warm winter has gotten me to thinking about what the spring might be like. Will winter bother to make an appearance in February? If the winter continues as it has so far, will birds return north much earlier than usual? Will the snow goose and tundra swan migration come long before the end of February? This will be an interesting spring to observe, I think. I'm just not quite ready to start looking for it just yet.
Winters should not be soggy but today is just that. Soggy and foggy and mushy underfoot. Although it is warm enough to be a spring rain or a spring day, it doesn't smell like spring. Nor do the woods smell like winter. To my nose, the air doesn't smell like much of anything at all.
At this point in the season, daylight remains into the evenings quite a bit longer than just a week or so ago. The mornings are lighter earlier, too. This morning I saw crows, the first time I've seen any bird in the mornings before work for many weeks. In winter, they are the first bird I usually see in the mornings. Sometimes cardinals come early to my feeders but they are skulkers and wary. Crows are obvious and seem to think they have to inspect their territories first thing in the morning to make sure nothing awful, or even anything at all, happened while they were sleeping.
This small group of them was plying the stone parking lot at Roundtop, no doubt scavenging for lost French fries or other edible goodies dropped by skiers last evening after dark. The crows aren't picky and will try to eat anything dropped by humans. To them the parking lots are just fast food joints—no work, no waiting—just food appearing on the ground, free for the taking. They want to be sure they get first pick of whatever is available. It's good to see them again, good to have something to look at so early in the morning. I watch them for a few moments and then leave them to continue their scavenging.
One warm day with fog was all it took for the snow to disappear literally overnight. Oh, a few patches of it remained this morning, but with rain in the forecast for tonight, whatever may remain will certainly be gone. The feeder birds have already disappeared, gone back to their natural food supply and ignoring my offerings. I'm sure they will return whenever the next blast of winter reappears.
The warm winter evenings have tempted me outside my cabin on more than one occasion lately. When the wind is calm, walking in the woods at night is a rare pleasure. Two nights ago I could smell the snow, all crisp and cold. I didn't take a headlamp, as white snow underfoot is just as good or even better. A thin slice of moon curled just above the horizon, a deep orange.
By summer, underbrush impedes such off-trail meanderings, which accounts for the rarity of such an adventure. I try to look at everything, to memorize the sky, the moon. I draw the winter scents deeply into my lungs, somehow hoping they won't disappear as soon as I'm inside again. I never know how long it might be before another chance to wander at night comes my way. Better to take advantage while I can.
Fog still obscures Roundtop mountain this morning. Trees are just shadows of their clear-day selves. The distance is entirely invisible, lost in the grayish white of snow and fog. Sounds are amplified or distorted, seemingly disembodied from any one place.
It's as though nothing exists beyond a middle distance. My cabin, the trees that surround it may as well be the only thing in this world that's closer to a dreamscape than a landscape.
Dog and I penetrate the shadows carefully, slowly, avoiding the ice. Dog is elderly now and more cautious than he used to be. He slips once but recovers. I move haltingly, afraid to slip. The headlamp does me no good. We move slowly, going half the distance, or less, than we usually do. He is glad, I think, when we turn around and head back. I know I am.
The fog is pretty, in the way that things that are different are pretty or at least interesting. After a day or so the novelty wears off, long before the fog does.
Odd, how a few inches of snow has changed my mood, softening my anxious mind. Winter looks like winter for the first time this year. The season is as it should be, for at least the next little while.
Winters should not feel and look like November, or like a winter in Georgia, when I live on a mountain in Pennsylvania. Now that I have snow, winter feels like itself again. I only hope it's not a momentary aberration.
The dreaded ice storm did not materialize, though this morning produced a bit of freezing drizzle. I even have an ice fog, as you can tell from this morning's photo. That is an uncommon occurrence here. Fog usually comes with warmer temperatures.
The feeder birds suddenly remember where my feeders are and have arrived hungry and demanding. So far, no unusual or even uncommon species are in evidence, just the usual suspects—titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, a wary blue jay, the odd starling and the like.
In this era of warming trends, it's comforting to know that winter is not yet dead. Doom and gloom can wait for another day. Or year. Or decade.
This may turn out to be the last non-snowy photo you see on Roundtop Ruminations for a while. If the forecast holds true, I will see 3-5 inches of snow tonight. If the forecast is not true, I will end up with ice. I'm trying to ignore that as a possibility.
I enjoy a fine, snowy winter. To me that also means birds at my feeders, a warm fire, dogs and cats at my feet, a good book, warm sweaters and a mug of something hot and steaming or compfortably alcoholic, depending on the time of day. I can do most of those things when there's no snow, but snow completes the picture for me. A non-snowy winter is simply less fun and a lot less pretty, despite the clouds in this photo. A pink sunrise is glorious whatever the season. But sunrises soon fade, replaced by lots of brown during the rest of the day. Snow on the ground is something I can enjoy all day long.
This time of year, 3-5 inches of snow would normally not be something to crow about. This year it's the best we can manage so far. Therefore, I will.crow in anticipation. And continue to ignore the possibility of ice.
I must confess that when I first saw what you see in today's photo, I didn't think it was what it turned out to be.
I'm finding this brown winter difficult, sometimes, to photograph. Landscapes, particularly, aren't satisfying me at all, so I decided to wander across my little patch of forest and look for small things that came my way. And that's how I found this.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a curled up catepillar. Readers from this region certain know about wooly bear catepillars that local legends say predicts the weather by the size of their red and black bands. That legend aside, when you pick up one of those, they curl up into a defensive little fuzzy ball. And when I first found this, I thought it was some catepillar, though obviously not the red and black wooly bear, that was doing the same defensive move.
But then I touched it and turned it over and discovered it was the underside of a piece of fungus or mushroom, species unknown to me. I still can't tell you what kind it is. Only this piece of it was left. Somehow it hadn't rotted or turned black in the winter. I just liked how it looked, a little not-caterpillar curled up among the leaves.
Is it real or is it...?
Can you tell by looking that this isn't natural snow? I hesitate to call it fake snow, which in my mind implies plastic or some other non-snow material. This is manmade snow from the ski resort that blew over to the bottom of my lane during fierce winds yesterday.
During this snow-less and mostly warm-ish winter, the neighboring ski resort has been forced to make snow when they can, which hasn't been all that often. They make snow by shooting aerated water over the ski slopes when the temperature is below freezing. Voila! Snow results.
I can't tell you the number of times people have asked me in October when the ski resort was going to make snow. It's the kind of question for which guest service people like to make up snarky answers that of course are never delivered to the callers. The second question in a similar vein that we often get is "It's 31 degrees (at my house at 6 a.m.), why aren't you making snow?" The answer to that one is a tad more complicated, but usually boils down to the fact that the ski resort isn't at their house, and it doesn't do the resort much good if the temperature isn't below freezing throughout the majority of the night (as opposed to just at 6 a.m.). The ski resort is at the mercy of Mother Nature like everyone else.
When you look at this manufactured snow up close, the flakes look a lot like naturally falling snowflakes, but there are some differences. Typically, the natural snowflakes are more complex, with more points and more variety to their shapes. At least most of the time. Even natural snowflakes have several general types that are shaped by temperature, ice and wind. There's the dendrite snowflake, the plate snowflake, the plate-dendritic snowflake that starts as a plate-shaped and ends as a dendric type. There's simple prisms, stellar plates, sectored plates, stellar dendrites, and at least a dozen more types of more and less complexity. Manmade snow always has fewer points and less definition but sometimes natural snowflakes are just as lacking in complexity and diversity.
This morning, after I took this photo, I had the natural kind of snow, too. Typical of this winter, it didn't last long.
Who am I to call Grandmother Nature's ice sculptures weird? Perhaps I'm just not able to appreciate her handiwork in all its complexity. Interesting? Of course, but the artistry needs a bit of work, in my opinion.
Winter made a brief visit to the mountain this weekend, with temperatures dipping below the 'teens overnight and that made even worse both by a substantial wind and the rapid drop from above normal temperatures. Our bodies just aren't made to get used to quick changes in temperatures.
Never fear! Winter wasn't moving in after all, just checking out the accommodations (and apparently finding them not to her liking) because today the weather is warmer again.
The warm winter is having an adverse effect on my sleeping. Not because I toss and turn. Oh, no. It's because the raccoons are still around and attempting to forage in my bird feeders at night. Last night Pig the raccoon (or its latest incarnation) attempted the raid five different times. That means Baby Dog's wild barking woke me up five different times, and both meant I had to go to the door, turn on the light and save the day by shooing Pig off the deck and away from the feeders.
Pig is not the dumbest raccoon on the block as each attempt was slightly different. The first time was the straight on approach across the deck railing. The second was the most inventive, mounting the assault from a nearby tree. Pig was balanced precariously on a branch that was much too small for his girth. That attack never would have worked, even had I not shushed him away. The branch would have broken or Pig would have fallen or simply been forced to retreat.
The next time, the assault came from up the stairs, as though tiptoeing across the deck was the answer. That didn't work either. The next time was an assault up the railing of my raised deck. Truthfully, I've forgotten what happened the last time. By then I was a bit punchy from the constant awakenings.
Tonight? The birds will have to do without their crack-of-dawn feeding tomorrow morning, because that feeder will not be outside overnight.
The morning the sky is dark and angry. Snow blew sideways, like scores of white ribbons waving in the wind. Large white flakes didn't so much sting as bite. I turned my back to avoid those bites. Dog was soon dusted, like a canine sugar doughnut, though his thick and long fur protected him from the biting snow.
As quickly as it started, the snow was over, leaving only the angry clouds and a momentary covering of snow on the ground. And the wind. And the much colder temperatures. Winter has returned to the mountains.
Last night, before winter arrived, I took a late evening walk in the warm rain, only partially protected from the wet. I don't mind the rain or the cold that came today, but I don't do wind very well. I've tried to learn to enjoy the experience of it, to take some enjoyment in its fierce wildness, but I'm not doing very well with that. When the wind arrives, my favored response is to retreat to the warmth of the cabin and wait for it to grow calm again.
I have tried to analyze this aversion, in some hope that I can find a way through or around it. To no avail. When I'm in the woods, I use all my senses, sight and smell and hearing. When the wind roars, that is disrupted. Watering eyes limit seeing, and even when I can avoid that, I find the birds and animals I look for are hunkered down, away from the wind and not very interested in being out and about or seen. The only sound I can hear is the wind itself. Bird calls, the stamp of a deer are all covered by the wind.
The wind tears at uncovered skin, reddening it, making it numb. My hands are covered, my face is covered, my eyes hide behind goggles. I may as well be a deep sea diver, so covered and so protected, so distant from the experience am I. And yet even with all that, the wind finds tiny openings, a pinhole perhaps, to force its way past my armor.
Wind reigns supreme and I retreat. The warm, calm cabin awaits.
Fog has ruled the mornings here on Roundtop the past few mornings. It's the kind of fog that might make for a good photo at 10 a.m., but certainly not at 7:30 a.m. when I am out and about. So today's photo is not current. I took it earlier in the week when the fog wasn't so soupy.
The spate of mild January weather is soon to end with a bit of snow and a lot of wind. It will come as a shock to all, from me to the wintering animals. I miss having a snowy winter and I worry about how this might signal yet more climate change. Still, the balmy temperatures are easier on my heating bill and make the outside chores a lot easier. And that's all about to come to a screeching halt. I am trying to prepare myself for the sudden change, but winters are much easier to grow accustomed to when the temperature changes little by little.
At least I know the change is coming and can prepare for it in some ways. How much can the deer do? The summer fawns know little of winter's harshness, and the old does are likely not looking forward to it. The squirrels should be fine. Those fat little rats with bushy tails eat more birdseed than the birds do. The winter birds have largely ignored my feeders for much of the winter so far. Now, they will have to push the squirrels away to get anything. I'm confident the local birds at least know where my feeders are, even if they haven't partaken of it much.
So, though it's long overdue, winter appears poised to make an appearance. Whether it will take up residence just for a few days or for the duration is anyone's guess.
Winter is a good time for listening. Last night fog reflected light from the full moon and made the winter woods nearly as bright as dusk. I could see as far into the forest as hills would allow. The air was damp, ahead of more rain (!) tomorrow, but the wind was calm. Standing outside, I listened to the call of a very distant great horned owl somewhere far down in the valley.
Somewhere nearby, I'm certain, other people must have been around. Perhaps an employee of the ski area, locking the lodge door after closing for the night, though I didn't hear a sound or see a sign of anyone. For all I could sense, I was alone on the mountain, with only the owl or the occasional snap or crunch to break the stillness. The deer, likely were feeding just out of sight.
I have long loved the quiet of a calm winter night. Summer's nights are never so still or so quiet. The leaves whisper too much, like the town gossip. Perhaps they have much news to spread in the half year of their existence. In winter, covering the ground, they are quiet, unless an unwary deer awakens one with a misstep.
In winter, the silent woods makes my senses seem stronger. I hear only distant sounds, a train whistle, the pounding of the train on the rails, a dog on the other side of the mountain. In warmer months, those all are too faint to compete with the rustle of millions of leaves. But not in winter.
I am surprised, often, by just how quiet the night can be. I don't hear shouts or calls from people, even those that live within a mile. Surely those would be as loud as a dog's bark. I don't hear doors slam either, not car doors or house doors. In fact, I rarely hear the sound of a car at all. Are those quieter than a tree falling or a train whistle?
And so I stand outside, listening not for breaks in the silence so much as to the silence itself. I find the quiet comforting. The quiet tells me all around my little corner of the territory is well. Winter is a good time for listening.
This bad boy was likely the reason I was foiled this weekend in my quest to add a few new sparrow species to my 2012 bird list. Mr. sharp-shinned hawk was plying the air around my cabin on both Saturday and Sunday. I was hard-pressed to find even one unwary junco out and about, let alone anything else.
The local crows spent the weekend alarming the forest, screeching at the sharpie and adding to the cacophany that was also augmented by pileated woodpeckers and blue jays alike. The little birds hid. The larger birds were outraged and were not above letting everyone know about their outrage. Even the squirrels got into the act, though their constant chattering did not stop them from foraging at my bird feeders.
Life in the forest is not always quiet and serene. Sometimes it's as noisy as a chain saw. This was one of those weekends.
Sometimes I wonder what the point is of looking forward to the weekend. They are over in the blink of an eye. That seems especially true in winter when the days are so short.
One of the reasons I like to rise early, whatever the day, is so that I don't waste what is already precious little time. I confess that rising before dawn's light can be more difficult in winter. Climbing out of a warm bed is never easy and is only made worse by darkness. In winter, I try to time it so that by the time I'm dressed, the animals fed and me with coffee in hand, light is already beginning to seep through the darkened woods.
This time of year, the only time I get to see the birds that come to my feeders is on the weekends. It is starting to be light enough in the mornings that it won't be long before I can enjoy breakfast and the birds at the same time. Maybe even next week if it's not cloudy in the mornings. At least I hope it will be next week.
Weeks will pass before the evenings are light enough for me to enjoy them. These days, I couldn't live without my headlamp, and I run through batteries like water. Every now and again I remind myself that if I'd lived 100 years ago, I'd be doing the same things I do today but it would take twice as long to accomplish them since one hand would be carrying a lantern. That's cold comfort.
The lack of daylight is winter's cruelest twist, I feel. Cold weather has never bothered me. I prefer the cold to the heat. It's the short days that rub, that make time slip away even faster than it usually does.
January has only just started, but I'm already wondering how much winter I'm going to see this year. So far the season is not impressive. Open water? Got that. No snow cover? Got that. One day of winter temperatures sandwiched between 50 degree weather? Got that.
Even looking out a full week, nothing is on the horizon or further west that signals an approaching storm or spate of winter-normal temperatures. It's mid-November all over again. Even the winter birding feeding has slowed, as though the feeder birds are still finding natural food.
Winter could still arrive with a vengeance, but even if it does, winter is unlikely to last much past late March. So instead of winter weather beginning by Thanksgiving and lasting until late March, a span of some 16 weeks, a winter that begins in mid-January is one that will last only about 9-10 weeks. And even that assumes actual winter weather will begin by the middle of next week. It seems as though the weird weather of 2011 is stretching over into 2012, too. I just hope 2012 doesn't bring another tornado, earthquake, the hurricanes or another 6ft. of rain to Roundtop Mtn.
After the horse roundup I wrote about in yesterday's post, I proceeded on to the Susquehanna River to do my planned new year's birding. Overall, I had a successful, if not an outstanding day. I ended up with 33 species of birds, well short of the 40 I believe is possible in York County in early January. High winds kept the count of little birds less than I'd hoped; high water kept me from reaching one area where I'd planned to bird heavily, and a variety of duck species were also nowhere to be found.
That said, the day was certainly not without some great sightings (if not great photos). My first not great photo today is of a male hooded merganser. Many people think the male wood duck is the prettiest North American duck, but the male hooded merganser can't be far behind. These little diving ducks are pretty shy, too, so I was glad to get any photo at all, especially since I was shooting from inside the car and from across a road. After a few shots I tried to get closer, and all that accomplished was that the duck slipped out of sight and hid in the underbrush.
My second photo today is of a young bald eagle, likely a second year bird. It was high and soaring in less than optimal light, so the markings are not as distinct as I'd like. Bald eagles can virtually be counted as common these days, a fact I still find amazing. Back in the bad old days after DDT, bald eagles were rare in the east. Seeing one was a cause for a major celebration. Now, in migration I've had days when I've seen more than 20 in a single day. And on this trip I saw 2, both younger birds.
So my 2012 York County bird list is started, if not yet firing on all cylinders. Next, I need to concentrate on finding some of those missing ducks and sparrows!
As readers of Roundtop Ruminations might remember, my plan for the New Year's weekend included some birding to start the new year off properly. I birded a bit on January 1, after watching a midnight fireworks display put up by the ski resort from the front door of my cabin.
I'd also planned to go birding a bit more extensively on January 2, as I wouldn't have my family's traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner to attend in the middle of the day.
True to the plan I set off in the morning, heading towards the Susquehanna River, about 10 miles from the cabin. While on the way, I was driving past this farm that raises alpacas. The farm is run by what some would call a gentleman farmer. That simply means someone whose main livelihood does not come from farming. For a while the folks raised horses and then the horses gave way to sheep and a few years ago the alpacas arrived.
Anyway, as I was driving past, I looked up their long, long driveway (close to .25 mile) and saw two horses walking down the driveway along the fence. Both horses had expensive blankets on. It was only half a second after I'd passed the driveway that I realized the horses weren't inside the fence but actually walking down the driveway all by themselves. So I stopped the car and backed up. By this time, the horses had reached the end of the driveway to appear on the public road.
So I got out and walked up to the grey horse (the other was black with a lot of white markings) and caught it by the halter. I tried to catch the second horse but he tossed his head a bit so I figured I'd better just take one at a time. I started to walk the one horse up the driveway and saw a gate to the big pasture where the alpacas were. Rather than walk the whole way up the driveway and then go back for the second horse, I figured I'd put the first one in the pasture and then go back and see if I could catch the second horse. By this time, the second horse had crossed the road, and a car came by (filled with teenaged skiers who avoided the horse but kept on going).
Then the second horse showed up next to me, following his friend, though I wasn't leading him. So I opened the gate (the alpacas are on the other side of the pasture, which must be 5-6 acres). I lead the grey horse in and the second horse follows. Then I release them and go out, closing the gate behind me. The horses start running across the pasture, having a wonderful time. They reach the alpacas and they run a bit, too.
Now would be a good time to report that this was not my first livestock roundup. In fact, in this rural area, they happen rather frequently. I'd say once a year is about right. Usually, it's cows or sheep that escape, though these were not even my first horse adventurers. This past spring I encountered a tiny calf that had wandered out onto a road by easily walking underneath an electric fence that kept mamma on the other side. That little one was herded back in without further incident. The strangest roundup happened years ago near Hawk Mountain Sanctuary when friends and I were returning from an evening dinner only to find a bison calmly lying in the middle of the road. That one had broken out of its pasture and was enjoying the warmth of the macadam on a chilly November evening. In those pre-cellphone days we were lucky to find the owners at home and left them to manage the animal.
But on this day, I discovered I'd just put two horses in a pasture where they didn't belong with a herd of alpacas. Half-panicked, I apologized profusely to the man and told I'd seen the horses walking down his driveway from up by the barn somewhere and I just assumed they were his. "No," he said. "I think they belong up the road. I've been trying to call but I'm not getting an answer." I apologized again, and said I was afraid they'd get hit out on the road. To my great relief, the man didn't seem upset that I'd just put two strange horses in the pasture with his alpacas. When I eventually rang off, the man was going to try and find the horses' owners, and the two escapees were still in pasture with the alpacas. So I got back in my car and went birding. Isn't that something? What a way to start the new year!


text:
Developer: Megaworld Corporation
Saleable Area (sq.m.): TBA
No. of units: 1,051
No. of floors: 57 Floors
Unit Types: Studio unit, Studio unit with balcony, 1 bedroom unit with balcony, Executive 1 bedroom unit with balcony, 2 bedroom unit with balcony
Turn over date: September 30, 2023 + 6 Months Grace Period
HLURB LS No.: TBA
Vion Tower
Property giant Megaworld is building a new residential tower in Makati City, envisioned to be the tallest residential development along EDSA-Makati.
The 57-storey Vion Tower, will rise along EDSA corner Chino Roces Avenue, just within walking distance from the proposed Magallanes transport hub.
It will offer units ranging from Studio (up to 31 square meters), one-bedroom (up to 51 square meters), and two-bedroom (up to 71 square meters), with some of them having their own balconies.
The Vion Tower features generous amenities exclusive to its residents which include a 25-meter lap pool and wading pool, function hall, fitness center, outdoor fitness area, children's playground, day care center, relaxation lounge and a library.
The residential tower will also be highlighted by future-ready facilities such as a Smart Parcel Delivery System, which allows an automated receiving, claiming and storage of parcels.
Source: www.megaworldcorp.com
25 m. Lap pool
Outdoor fitness area
Amenity Lounge
Roofdeck Amenity
Male and Female Changing Rooms
EDSA cor. Pasong Tamo, Makati City
15th - 57th Floor
Vion Tower 11th Floor
Vion Tower 15th Floor - 57th Floor


Twin Cities GDC and African People's Caucus responding to police murder of Jamar Clark. January 2016.
defense of the working class and community self-defense, is seeing a lot of interest of people wanting to start new locals. The GDC has a picket training that began with the 2005 Northwest Airlines strike, when the union was trying to tell workers to keep the pickets tame and ineffective. The training focuses on the tactics needed to hold effective, disruptive pickets and to maintain them against scabs. These tactics have ended up being very useful for community self-defense. We should try to make sure that we spread this picket training to as many of these new locals as possible, and prepare as many trainers as possible. If we're going to have the labor movement we desperately need, we're going to have to re-learn how to hold effective pickets, and how to engage in community self-defense – very, very quickly.
The growth that we're seeing shows that people think we have something to offer now that electoral anti-fascism is discredited. We should double down on our efforts to recruit and to integrate these new members. We also need to prove that they are right when they think we have something to offer. We need to organize boldly, which will inspire our new members to become active and take leadership, and will also inspire hundreds and thousands of more people to join.
We absolutely need to double down on our support for Latino workers. We need to prepare to mobilize boldly against any repression that they face, and to support them when/if they take action. They've already proven through the May Day strikes of 2005 and 2006 that they know how to organize mass industrial action better than any other group of workers in this country. We also need to emphasize our Spanish-language materials and infrastructure in an effort to make our organization a useful tool for Latino workers.
It's good that people are already thinking in terms of how we can use our power at work to exert pressure on our lives outside of work. We're supposed to think that we only have power at the ballot box, every four years. It's just become much more obvious to a lot of people that we don't have any power there. We need to encourage workers to think about leveraging their power at work in new ways in every possible respect. As the old slogan goes, the National Guard can't dig coal with bayonets – if the government legislates against women's reproductive rights, it can only do so if healthcare workers accept it; if the government sends more police into schools, they will only find students to criminalize if the teachers have not gone on strike. We need to push as hard as we can to break through this limitation of self-confidence, where workers think that workplace action (if they even take it at all) can only be about their own conditions. Even the head of the Chicago Teachers' Union, one of the most confrontational and inspiring unions in the country, accepts cops in schools and does not challenge these limitations. When workers do break through on this – and they've got to, sometime, somewhere – we need to be ready to support them with everything we've got.
The initial discussion of a general strike points to the kind of labor movement that we've needed for a long time and we're going to desperately require now. We are entering a period where the state will bring on all ferocity against any oppositional movement. They've also made it clear that the very existence of unions is one of their targets – Reagan focused on crushing militant unions to scare the rest; the current Republican party, including Trump, want to completely abolish unions, as they basically have in Wisconsin since 2011.
A general strike will only ever happen over the ruins of labor law and workplace contractualism. As we saw in Wisconsin in 2011, the day after people began talking about general strike, the international unions came down hard saying that nobody in Wisconsin had the authority to call a general strike, since each union's contracts prohibited striking. Ironically, if the Republicans try to pass nationwide right-to-work laws or outlaw dues checkoff, the only way to stop it would be a general strike – but the union leadership is neither willing nor even capable of calling such a strike. At the end of the day, if we believe that workers can overcome capitalism – then we have to believe that they can overcome US labor law and workplace contractualism.
We will also need to be ready for minority strikes or action when and if they happen. Many workers and union members may have voted for Trump and may actually want him to take office. We still need to create a movement that encourages and supports action by any size group of workers, whether it's individual fast food workers refusing to serve cops, or groups of workers going on strike, for whatever reason, even if they aren't the entire workforce. We particularly need to support trends where workers are taking action at work over issues beyond just wages and working conditions, and to emphasize how much potential power we have if we only use it. As we all begin holding mass meetings in cities around the country and building new infrastructures, we should plan out some kind of "flying picket" infrastructure which can mobilize mass pickets in immediate defense of any minority workplace action especially.
And what about the ideas which have begun floating around about a general strike on January 20th to stop Trump's inauguration? I would say that we in the IWW should be cautiously optimistic, but should wait and see whether this catches on more broadly before we consider officially engaging with it – in the meantime, we should emphasize our efforts to build a sustained, pro-strike culture and infrastructure along the lines of what I've written above. I want to be clear, that I think it is absolutely correct to promote as much unrest as possible (including industrial unrest) to prevent the inauguration. If there is a lot of excitement around the country for a day, or a week, or a month of "no work, no school" to prevent the inauguration, that would be a fantastic development. There are some who think that the IWW can just ignore Trump because we do not take a stand on politicians – this is missing the point of what is happening in this country and would be a disastrous mistake. The biggest challenge towards any industrial action will be the union bureaucracy. The AFL-CIO is "ready to work with Trump", and would be incapable of calling for or organizing a general strike even if they wanted to. We need to build the kind of movements which can challenge the hegemony of the business unions and call for strikes over their heads. Maybe a starting point would be agitating hospitality and restaurant workers in DC to shut down all hotels and restaurants leading up to the inauguration, or agitating media workers to refuse to broadcast anything by Trump. The main point is that there won't be one general strike that saves us and then we all go back to normal – our focus has to be recreating a culture of militant, production-stopping strikes which seek to spread through secondary strikes and mass pickets, and which take aim at all injustice in society, not just workplace issues.
Nothing is a forgone conclusion, as bad as it looks right now. One day we will raise a cooperative commonwealth from the nightmare of capitalism, and one day there won't be any more presidents to inaugurate. As surprised as we all might be to have waken up on November 9 and found ourselves hurtling towards fascism, we have to remember that sometimes we will be surprised by spontaneous outpourings of solidarity that people will show as they create new movements which leave us struggling to catch up. The protests which began the night after the election are a very encouraging step in that direction, and they still have time to spread from the street to every aspect of society.
Posted in IWW, Revolutionary Unionism, USA.
i, too, am optimistic because there's been immediate pushback to Trump's electoral "victory". no one grouping, tendency is leading this opposition though many are participating and spinning it according to their lights. Trump and Obama are vulnerable to hard push by these various movements. they're in transition, changing horses in mid-stream. at this moment, the most significant movement, the one with the widest resonance is the struggle around the North Dakota Pipeline and the solidarity movement with the Native American Water Protectors. Obama is technically the "president" for two more months. he's Trump's weakest link. the various movements have to push him to the wall on our various issues so that we can cage Trump in his slave-house.
commend you for citing the Mexican American demonstrations for immigrant rights in 2005, 2006. those were massive and not organized by the union bureaucrats.
If you don't want to read this long thing let me sum up. I agree with your goals but it's not clear in the piece how to achieve them.
A lot of the questions I have are clarifying questions because I think the general thrust of this piece is in the right direction but to get from the realm of ideas to the practicalities of action will require some grounding. First, who are you writing to? You write, often, of "we", and "us". Are you talking to members of the IWW? Militant unionists, anywhere and everywhere? What is it that you hope to achieve with the piece? Do you want to generally change readers' opinions? Get a policy passed? See what I'm saying?
Importantly, for what specific reason do you want a general strike (of all tactics) right now? In the section "Back to the Future, Part 1" you mention a strike wave and then ask, "Why haven't we ever gone out like that again?" This treats the tactic of the general strike like a foregone conclusion that we just ought to be working for – but to achieve what, specifically?, and why is the general strike the most suitable tool for your goal?
I'm also curious why, if you think "We're stuck in the wrong time – if we want to get out, we have to bring the militant labor tactics of 1946 back to the future!", you don't investigate what lead to the use of those tactics. The piece drops us into the midst of a strike that had been going on for a few weeks already but who knows why the streetcar driver was disposed toward bringing in reinforcements when he saw cops breaking up a picket line? It's important to know how these things come about if we want to draw lessons from them.
Who is the "we" here? Someone's conducting a picket, which implies a history of organizing a workplace to the point where workers are willing to take the step of getting out on the line. No small feat. How did this happen? Who did it? The IWW? Business unions? Random workers? This is glossed over. I ask "Who?" because that's crucial in understanding what the risk is. Yes, absolutely, the stiff sanctions that keep labor unions from sympathy striking need to be overcome but it's not good enough to say that we need to reject all of the limitations without acknowledging the barrier. Side note: Does Joe Burns discuss that? The problem needs to be articulated before it can be resolved and it's not just simply an issue of having the right or wrong ideology and when you have the right ideology then you can reject limitations that someone with the wrong ideology has been unwilling to reject because they're not militant enough, or some such.
You give the streetcar driver an honorable mention, of which he is well deserving since he brought in reinforcements that turned the balance of power, but you seem to chalk up his actions to having the correct consciousness without ever asking how it came to be.
Alright. For argument's sake, say that you've convinced me and I firmly reject all limitations on my ability to strike. What is different?
In no uncertain terms, I agree with you (as with most of your goals) that we urgently need to relearn the traditions of labor's more militant past. How would the working class learn such a thing? In point 3 you say that the passengers on the streetcar had already learned how to "immediately form mass pickets" and pull other workers out on strike in support of the retail workers from the '34 strike wave. Where are you getting that idea?
You essentially make the point that inoculation is necessary. Agreed.
This point reads like a wish list (cross-union, bottom-up movement…, supporting all labor action, rejecting all limits on strikes and pickets, making all pickets effective, spreading strikes, driving police out of the labor movement) and fails to address what the barriers currently are to fulfilling those wishes or how such barriers would be overcome. I agree that these are worthy goals but what is the actual plan?
You suggest new members start a General Defense Committee and learn picket training. Why? It seems starting a GDC and having picket trainings is linked to having "the labor movement we desperately need…" but, again, it's not clear how.
I think I understand and agree with your general points in this section but it's just so vague I have to ask these questions.
"We should double down on our efforts to recruit and to integrate these new members." What is it that people are being recruited to when they join the IWW? I know you want a number of 10,000 members, – though why you need that particular number and to achieve what is unclear. And what do you mean by integrate new members? Recruitment, like integrating new members into an organization, are their own challenges that require actual consideration and their own approaches beyond just saying what amounts to "we should do more of it".
"We need to organize boldly…" Sounds good. What does it mean? Why doesn't the IWW already organize boldly?
What does it mean to "double down" on our "support of Latino workers"? Who could disagree but, again, what does it mean?
To fight fascist tendencies in the working class a revolutionary left based in the workplace needs to show that it can win. Also agreed.
Organized labor needs to use the strike tactic for social issues beyond bread and butter.
"When workers do break through on this – and they've got to, sometime, somewhere – we need to be ready to support them with everything we've got." How do you plan to effect a change in consciousness throughout organized labor? Once that happens and the breakthrough occurs, what sort of support should the IWW provide? Should branch members go out to a picket line? What are we really talking about here?
You seem to argue we should do something that you believe will also make us a target for repression.
"At the end of the day, if we believe that workers can overcome capitalism – then we have to believe that they can overcome US labor law and workplace contractualism." How is this done? By simply rejecting it?
"…we should plan out some kind of 'flying picket' infrastructure which can mobilize mass pickets in immediate defense of any minority workplace action especially." I selected this quote because it is the only concrete suggestion. I agree that this is a good tactic for making a hard picket instead of an educational one. I was inspired by Teamster Rebellion too. I'll say this, though – it seems like the suggestion in this point for flying pickets, just like the whole article's suggestion for a general strike, is concerned mostly with achieving a particular tactic. It reads like activism rather than organizing.
"…a general strike on January 20th to stop Trump's inauguration…" Stop an inauguration? A general strike in the public sector? Private sector? Both? Even if every IWW member bent toward the realization of this goal they would have a massive workload in front of them. Why are we trying to stop an inauguration in this scenario? It's just that that is a huge proposition and it gets no discussion as to whether or not we should be doing it.
"…in the meantime, we should emphasize our efforts to build a sustained, pro-strike culture…" What does this mean practically? Doesn't this just say that unions should be more militant? How do you achieve such a thing?
You end by saying "…our focus has to be recreating a culture of militant, production-stopping strikes which seek to spread through secondary strikes and mass pickets, and which take aim at all injustice in society, not just workplace issues." I would also like to see that. It's a good list of goals. But our goals are not just to antagonize the government or businesses and block Donald Trump from being sworn in. We need to think about how we put our resources into a plan that ultimately aims for much bigger things. For now, we need modest goals that will advance us, which I know you have written up plans for as well. Not to mention that quote is another thing that no one would disagree with but the only consideration of how to achieve your goal in the piece is an afterthought. "Maybe a starting point would be agitating hospitality and restaurant workers in DC to shut down all hotels and restaurants leading up to the inauguration, or agitating media workers to refuse to broadcast anything by Trump." Yeah, maybe.
In general, you have your eye on the right end goals but it's unclear what your assessment is of what the IWW is currently capable of and, based on that, how we move from point A to point B. Faced with the difficulty of identifying honest obstacles and developing a cogent approach to allocating the resources our organization does have you instead opt to affect certainty and "bold" sounding talk, which is not a substitution for a plan. I don't disagree with your goals, however.
You have worthwhile ideas so I have given a fair amount of time to respond to them thoroughly because that's what the ideas deserve.
These are some very interesting and thoughtful comments. Thanks! It'll take me some time to write up the thoughtful responses they deserve.
The other thing I noticed is that a lot of your comments are basically great leads for future articles, some of them are points which I put in knowing that they were important but also knowing that I want able to develop them as much as they probably deserve. The part about doubling down on support and defense of Latino workers is an example.
The last immediate thought is that I do my best to write simultaneously for IWW members, for militant unionists, for other radicals, in general for anyone who might get use out of this. In my opinion, the best classical socialist, radical, and labor writers wrote this way, and many times important questions of strategy were dealt with through public-facing writing rather than just internal debates.
This is all written quickly and on a phone, I hope it makes sense!
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text:
Q: Extract annual mean from given time series in a dataframe (with the use of double loops) I was wondering if someone could help me out with the following problem :
I'm given  a .csv file which holds the information of wave height measurements from the past few years (2010 - 2016) (see image below)
Dominant wave heights:

Now the problem states that we compute the annual mean from the given time series with the use of a double loop, wherein the so called 'outer loop' will loop through the years of record and the 'inner loop' will loop through the  data and add all the maximum wave heights for the year under consideration (while keeping track of the number of values for that year).
At this point I was able to create the dataframe from the .csv file with the use of read_csv and cancel out any unnecessary columns with the 'del'function:
    df = read_csv('PR1_waves_triaxys_historical.csv', parse_dates=[0], delimiter=',', skipinitialspace=True)

Since I'm quite much new to python (and programming at all), I would really appreciate any form of help!
UPDATE:
the dataframe is right now in the following form:
    Time    max_wave_height
0   2010-07-13 11:00:00 1.60
1   2010-07-13 12:00:00 1.41
2   2010-07-13 13:00:00 1.78
3   2010-07-13 14:00:00 1.98
4   2010-07-13 15:00:00 2.22
5   2010-07-13 16:00:00 1.96

A: IIUC you can do it this way:
In [180]: df
Out[180]:
                 Time  max_wave_height
0 2010-07-13 11:00:00             1.60
1 2010-07-13 12:00:00             1.41
2 2010-07-13 13:00:00             1.78
3 2010-07-13 14:00:00             1.98
4 2010-07-13 15:00:00             2.22
5 2010-07-13 16:00:00             3.96
6 2011-07-13 15:00:00             3.22
7 2011-07-13 16:00:00             5.55

In [181]: df.groupby(df.Time.dt.year)['max_wave_height'].agg(['count','max'])
Out[181]:
      count   max
Time
2010      6  3.96
2011      2  5.55

A: the solution to the problem finally was computed in the following form:
df = read_csv('PR1_waves_triaxys_historical.csv', parse_dates=[0], delimiter=',', skipinitialspace=True)

del (df['dominant_wave_period'], df['mean_wave_direction'], df['significant_wave_height'], df['mean_wave_direction_spread'])

for j in range(2010,2017):
    print (j)
    A = 0
    B = 0

    for i in range(len(df)):

        if df.iloc[i,0].year == j:
            A = df.loc[i,'max_wave_height'] + A
            B = B + 1
            mean = A/B
    print (A)
    print (B)
    print (mean)


text:
Abelardo Bretón Matheu (Madrid, 14 de maig de 1887 - [...?]) fou un compositor espanyol.

Fou alumne del seu pare Tomás i del Conservatori de la seva vila natal, seguint, a més, els estudis de batxillerat en l'Institut del Cardenal Cisneros. El 1918 aconseguí, per oposició, la plaça de professor numerari del Conservatori de Madrid, que el 1930 encara desenvolupava.

Com a compositor va cultivar preferentment el gènere simfònic, havent produït una sèrie d'obres molt apreciables, entre les quals cal mencionar:
 un Scherzo, obra per a gran orquestra;
 Cuadros montañeses, suite en quatre temps per a orquestra, premiada en un concurs internacional celebrata a València;
 Baile de muñecas, obra orquestral, premiada pel Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid;
 Los ojos verdes, poema simfònic, premiat en concurs nacional amb 4.000 pesetes;
 Fantasia gitana, també per a gran orquestra, havent estat executades algunes d'aquestes composicions per l'Orquestra Simfònica i Filharmònica de Madrid;

Se li deu a més, Serenata española, per a violí i piano; Vals romántico, per a violí i piano; nombroses cançons, ballables i obres per a piano, així com uns Ejercicios de armonía i Solfeos melódicos.

Bibliografia
 Enciclopèdia Espasa Apèndix núm. II, pàg. 561 ()

Compositors espanyols del segle XX
Compositors madrilenys

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Gardner Museum heist remains unsolved 29 years later
Updated: 11:26 AM EDT Mar 18, 2019
On the night of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
The thieves roamed the Museum's galleries, stealing thirteen works of art.
The theft occurred the day after St. Patrick's Day, while the city was still preoccupied with celebrations.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum curator Karen Haas, left, and museum director Anne Hawley address a news conference March 19, 1990, concerning the theft at the museum.
PHOTO: AP Photo/Lisa Bul
It remains the most tantalizing art heist mystery in the world.
A security guard stands outside the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the site where robbers stole treasured art objects in an early morning robbery, in this March 21, 1990 photo.
PHOTO: AP Photo
Two thieves walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum disguised as police officers and bound and gagged two guards using handcuffs and duct tape.
For the next 81 minutes, they sauntered around the ornate galleries, removing masterworks including those by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet, cutting some of the largest pieces from their frames.
Govaert Flinck, Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638 Oil on oak panel, 54.5 x 71 cm inscribed faintly at the foot on the right: R. 16.8 (until recently attributed to Rembrandt)
PHOTO: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633 Oil on canvas, 161.7 x 129.8 cminscribed on the rudder: Rembrant (sic). f::/1633Rembrandt's only known seascape.
In this Thursday, March 11, 2010 photo, a plaque marks the empty frame from which thieves cut Rembrandt's "The storm on the Sea of Galilee," which remains on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
PHOTO: AP Photo/Josh Reynolds
Manet, Chez Tortoni, 1878–1880 Oil on canvas, 26 x 34 cm inscribed at the foot on the left: Manet
In 1997, the museum increased its reward from $1 million to $5 million. The new $10 million reward became available on May 23, 2017, but expired at the end of that year.
Degas, La Sortie de PesagePencil and watercolor on paper, 10 x 16 cm
Vermeer, The Concert, 1658–1660Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm
In this Thursday, March 11, 2010 photo, empty frames from which thieves took "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," left background, by Rembrandt and "The Concert," right foreground, by Vermeer, remain on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Rembrandt, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633 Oil on canvas, 131.6 x 109 cm inscribed at the foot: Rembrandt.ft: 1633
Chinese bronze beaker or KuChinese, Shang Dynasty, 1200–1100 B.C.H. 10 1/2 in. Diam. 6 1/8 in. Wt. 2 lbs. 7 oz.
Degas, Cortège aux Environs de FlorencePencil and wash on paper, 16 x 21 cm
The guard on duty broke protocol and allowed them entry through the museum's security door.
Once inside, the thieves asked that the guard come around from behind the desk, claiming that they recognized him and that there was a warrant out for his arrest.
Degas, Three Mounted Jockeys Black ink, white, flesh and rose washes, probably oil pigments, applied with a brush onmedium brown paper, 30.5 x 24 cm
Degas, Program for an artistic soirée, 1884 Charcoal on white paper, 24.1 x 30.9 cm And Degas' Program for an artistic soirée, 1884
Finial in the form of an eaglegilt metal (bronze), French, 1813–1814 approx. 10 in. high
One book on the theft theorized that the heist was carried out by a Boston mobster.
In 2012, FBI agents swarmed the home of reputed Connecticut mobster Robert Gentile looking for new evidence in the Gardner Museum heist.
PHOTO: Photo Courtesy of Hartford Courant
A federal prosecutor disclosed in 2012 that the FBI believes Gentile had some involvement with stolen property related to the 1990 heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Gentile hasn't been charged in the art heist and his lawyer says his client knows nothing about it.
In May 2016, agents returned to Gentile's property. No evidence from the art heist was found, but he was arrested on weapons charges.
There has never been a sighting of the paintings since their theft, leading some to wonder if they are in the hands of a private collector.
In 2013, the FBI said it believed it knows who was behind the theft, but did not reveal the suspect's names.
The Gardner Museum continues to actively investigate any and all leads related to the theft.
These adorable kitties need new homes!
Boston museum doubles reward for info in largest U.S. art heist
It's been 29 years since thieves stole more than a dozen works of art during a 1990 heist in Boston. It remains the most tantalizing art heist mystery in the world.
On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as police officers robbed the museum of approximately $500 million worth of masterpieces. They included works by Rembrandt, Manet and Vermeer. The FBI said in 2015 that the two suspects are now dead.


Aeolian processes operate at a myriad of spatial and temporal scales. Process and form are linked by feedback mechanisms that drive the evolution of forms and at the larger scale the landscape itself. The special tenth anniversary edition of this session brings together research traversing the spectrum of scale, from long term landscape dating and evolution modelling to small-scale process studies. It will be of interest to researchers that study wind-blown sediment and associated bedforms in a range of environments, from coastal and semi-arid regions, to hyper arid deserts. We also highlight planetary dune field studies within this session. Contributions that use novel instrumentation in field studies, remote sensing at the landscape scale or innovative numerical modelling methods, are encouraged, particularly those which attempt to elucidate feedback between surface properties and sediment transport.
This session is supported by the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG).
This session includes a solicited abstract co-authored by the original convenors of this session when it first appeared at EGU ten years ago (Andreas Baas, KCL, andreas.baas@kcl.ac.uk; Giles Wiggs, Oxford, giles.wiggs@ouce.ox.ac.uk; Philippe Claudin, ESPCI, claudin@pmmh.espci.fr) looking back at how aeolian research has changed and where it is going.
Within the session there will also be special mention made of planetary dune processes. Thanks to the actual programs of extensive observation and exploration of Mars and Titan, our knowledge of these planetary bodies has greatly improved. Atmospheric phenomena and landscapes on Mars and Titan bear striking resemblance with those on Earth. In particular, extensive dune fields were observed on these distant bodies, showing that dunes can form throughout the solar system under extremely various planetary environments. Dunes provide a powerful tool to investigate the physics of granular media, but also the sedimentary and climatic history of arid and semi-arid environments (such as on Earth deserts, and more globally on Mars and Titan). However, despite intensive studies of planetary dunes, many questions regarding their origins, composition, morphology, age and dynamics under present and past climatic conditions remain unanswered. Contributions that use theory of grain mechanics and sediment transport, numerical modelling, laboratory experiments, field and remote sensing data, with the aim at studying the processes through which dunes form and shape on Earth, Mars and Titan are encouraged.
Public information: Aeolian processes operate at a myriad of spatial and temporal scales. Process and form are linked by feedback mechanisms that drive the evolution of forms and at the larger scale the landscape itself. The special tenth anniversary edition of this session brings together research traversing the spectrum of scale, from long term landscape dating and evolution modelling to small-scale process studies. It will be of interest to researchers that study wind-blown sediment and associated bedforms in a range of environments, from coastal and semi-arid regions, to hyper arid deserts. We also highlight planetary dune field studies within this session. Contributions that use novel instrumentation in field studies, remote sensing at the landscape scale or innovative numerical modelling methods, are encouraged, particularly those which attempt to elucidate feedback between surface properties and sediment transport.