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Calling Time on Business Crime
Smaller businesses across the UK are particularly vulnerable to business crime, which has often been considered the poor relation to other forms of crime. This report demonstrates the extent of small business crime, the type of crimes they experience, the average costs to individual businesses owners and the wider economic impact.
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Summary of recommendations
For too long, smaller businesses have been the poor relation of crime victims in England and Wales. Yet the amount of crime perpetrated against smaller businesses is quite simply staggering. And the cost of crime to small businesses and to the wider UK economy draws into sharp relief the need for urgent action. FSB research shows that traditional crime, such as robbery and criminal damage, is just as prevalent as cybercrime. In fact, the average cost of traditional crime to a small business is double that of cybercrime. Theft, burglary and cybercrime are the most frequently reported crimes for small businesses.
Rather than being passive victims, many smaller firms recognise that they have agency. FSB research shows that the vast majority of smaller businesses have taken at least one 'deterrent' measure to protect themselves against traditional and/or cybercrime. But they cannot achieve success on their own.
They urgently need the Government to ensure sufficient funding and resources to improve police capability and capacity. The recent Government announcement of an extra 20,000 police officers is a welcome step in the right direction. However, this does not bring England and Wales up to the European average number of police per 100,000 people. Significant extra funding would be needed to achieve that.
For too long, smaller businesses have been the poor relation of crime victims in England and Wales.
Improved data collection on business crime is the essential building block for the design of better policy interventions. This would require a simplified and consistent definition of business crime, a single online reporting hub for all non-emergency crime (building on lessons learned from Action Fraud which is widely recognised as ineffective) and a commitment to a regular, comprehensive business crime survey, following the approach of the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Police and Crime Commissioners have not been game changers in terms of law enforcement doing more to tackle crime threats to local business communities. That is why we are calling on Government to introduce a code of practice which sets out a performance framework for PCCs. This could include good practice benchmarks on engagement with the local business community.
Last, but by no means least, we are calling for a comprehensive review of the division of responsibilities between different levels of policing in England and Wales. Local forces (with appropriate improvements), overseen by local representatives like a PCC, remain central to ensuring accountability over the majority of policing and ensure that local differences and interests are reflected in policing priorities. But it is clear that cybercrime and fraud require a critical-mass of resources, expertise and coordination that a mosaic of local forces are unable to provide.
The Government's laser focus on crime is welcome. Now is the time to buck the trend and make sure that small businesses share the benefits of tackling crime in all its forms.
Cost of crime
On average, traditional crime has affected businesses by over £14,000 over two years.
Criminal incidents
...of traditional business crime.
50% of small firms have been a victim of crime
3.9 million - annual cost to small businesses of cyber crime
£12.9 billion - annual cost to small businesses of traditional crime
Types of crime
Most frequently reported
Within the report we share insights gathered through in-depth survey work and qualitative evidence collected from interviews with FSB members and local business representatives. This report is split into five parts. The first part focuses on the extent of crime experienced by smaller businesses. The second part focuses on 'traditional crime'. Examples of traditional crime include: burglary or robbery, theft by a third party, criminal damage to property and in-person processing of fraudulent payments. The third section of this report explores the impact of cybercrime, including phishing, malware and online processing of fraudulent payments. The fourth part looks at the impact of crime on individual businesses, with particular regard to those crimes that small firms say caused the most disruption. This section shows how infrequently such crimes are reported and to whom, and explores the response of the police. The final section of this report assesses how much priority is given to business crime by Police and Crime Commissioners and local constabularies.
Proportion of smaller businesses impacted by business crime
49% of smaller businesses in England and Wales – about 2.54 million firms – have experienced at least one business crime in the previous two years
34% of smaller businesses in England and Wales – about 1.79 million firms - have experienced at least one 'traditional' business crime in the previous two years
20% of smaller businesses in England and Wales – about 1.06 million firms – have experienced at least one cybercrime in the previous two years
Only 5% of smaller businesses have experienced both traditional crime and cybercrime in the previous two years
Estimated numbers of business crime incidents experienced by smaller businesses per annum
3.8 million incidents of traditional business crime
3.9 million incidents of cybercrime
Small business experience of 'traditional' crime
Of those smaller businesses that experienced 'traditional' crime in the previous two years, the most frequently-reported types are:
Robbery and Burglary (42%)
Theft (38%)
Criminal Damage (36%)
83% of all traditional business crime comprised of robbery and burglary, third party theft and criminal damage to property
Small business experience of cybercrime
Of those smaller businesses that experienced cybercrime in the previous two years, the most frequently-reported types are:
Phishing – including spear phishing (51%)
Malware (36%)
Processing fraudulent payment online (29%)
The experience of business crime in the regions of England and Wales is varied.
In Wales 40% of smaller businesses were hit by crime over a two-year-period but the figure was higher in five English regions, with more than half of firms saying they had experienced crime over the same period
In all regions of England, small businesses were significantly more likely to experience traditional crime than cybercrime, with the largest differential being found in the East Midlands with a difference of 51% and the lowest differential being identified in the South West and the South East with a difference of 19%
Sectoral analysis
In all sectors but two the proportion of small businesses impacted by traditional crime is higher than for cybercrime
In the Information and Communications sector and the Professional, Scientific and Technical sector, the proportion of small businesses impacted by cybercrime is higher than that for traditional crime. For all other sectors the proportion of businesses experiencing business crime is greater than that of businesses experiencing cyber crime
For the Wholesale and Retail sector (where the incidence of traditional crime is higher than that of cybercrime) there is a 55 percentage point difference in the proportion of smaller businesses impacted by traditional crime as opposed to cybercrime, while for the Accommodation sector there is a 51 percentage point differential
Cost of business crime for victims
For traditional crime:
The average cost per affected business was £14,360 over two years
The average cost per crime is £3,340
The per annum aggregate direct cost of traditional crime in England and Wales is £12.9 billion
For cybercrime:
The average cost per over two years business was £7,093 over two years
The average cost per crime is £972
The per annum, aggregate direct cost of cybercrime in England and Wales is £3.75 billion
Action taken by smaller businesses to protect themselves against 'traditional' business crime
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of smaller businesses have taken at least one 'defensive' measure against traditional business crime
The most frequent security measures taken by smaller businesses are:
Installed or upgraded physical security, e.g. locks, alarms and CCTV (46%)
Improved insurance cover (12%)
Introduced anti-fraud measures (12%)
Some of the least frequent security measures taken by smaller businesses include:
Seeking advice from the police about crime prevention (9%)
Joining a Business Watch, Business Crime Partnership or Community Safety Partnership
Action taken by smaller businesses to protect themselves against cybercrime
90% of smaller businesses in England and Wales have invested in at least one cyber-resilience measure to protect their business
The average number of cyber resiliencemeasures undertaken by smaller businesses is around five
Some of the most common deterrence measures undertaken include: security software installed (65%), regular software updates on IT systems (60%) and regularly backing up data and IT systems (59%)
Some of the least common deterrence measures undertaken include: sourcing advice from the police (4%), sourcing advice from Government's National Cyber Security Centre (4%), sourcing advice from Government's Cyber Aware or Get Safe Online initiatives, specific measures to reduce the risk exposure to bribery (4%) and application of a recognised security standard or Cyber Essentials (2%)
The most disruptive crimes on smaller businesses
The most impactful crimes are those which create the most cost and disruption to smaller businesses. The top three are:
Burglary (20%)
Cybercrime (20%)
Of those smaller businesses who suffered from at least one disruptive crimein the previous two years:
Just over a fifth (21%) did not report the crime to any authorities
52% reported the crime to the police
7% reported the crime to Action Fraud
The most common reasons given for not reporting an disruptive crime to police include:
No confidence in police response (38%)
No plans to make an insurance claim (38%)
Too busy (32%)
Where a disruptive crime has been reported to the police
In around one in ten instances (11%) the police did not attend the scene or provide a crime number
In 13% of cases police attended at least 24 hours after the crime was reported to them
In 15% of cases the police attended within one hour of the crime being reported to them
Follow up action by the police
In 45% of cases, the police took no further action
In a further 44% of cases, the police either did not identify the perpetrators or they did identify them but failed to make any arrests
Only in around one in ten cases (11%) did the police investigate and arrest the perpetrators
The recommendations within this report fall into three categories:
1. Improving information and transparency
In order to better tackle crime against small businesses, both policymakers and law enforcement need a clearer idea of its scale, scope and nature. Currently, the available data on the criminality suffered by smaller businesses is partial. It is not comprehensive enough to be useable by policymakers and the police for planning the distribution of law enforcement resources. Nor is it robust enough for smaller businesses and their representatives to use to hold the authorities accountable for their performance.
2. Improving police capacity and capability
A step change in police resourcing is needed if the police are to properly tackle crimes against business, in addition to other demands on their existing resources. Many crimes, such as cybercrime, are inherently difficult to police and require additional capacity and capability. And in the rapidly-changing crime environment, the law needs to keep up to date with developments and provide law enforcement with ample legal authority and contemporary tools to tackle crime.
3. Improving organisation, governance and accountability
The introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) has not brought about the hopedfor shift towards law enforcement doing more to tackle the crime threats to local business communities. Improvements to the current governance structures around policing to improve accountability are needed. Changes to the organisation of policing would help relieve some of the rapidly changing and expanding demands on local constabularies. This would release more resources at the local level for local priorities such as 'traditional' crimes perpetrated against the small business community. An effective way of improving the accountability of policing to the local business community is through strengthening the relationship between local business communities and the relevant PCC. Additionally, bolstering the authority of the PCCs over local policing priorities is key.
For full details of the recommendations, please download the pdf report below.
Calling time on business crime.pdf 1 3.54MB
Article Thu, 16 January 2020
How to protect against email phishing scams
How can you protect your small business from email phishing scams?
Article Mon, 28 October 2019
Stripe Payment Processor Phishing Campaign
A new phishing campaign was recently spotted in inboxes, purporting to be from popular online payment processor, Stripe. [i]
Report Fri, 25 October 2019
Lost Connection: How poor connectivity hinders small firms
Report examines the impact of poor broadband and mobile connections on small businesses and lays out recommendations to improve the situation.


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Q: Reversing a ManyToMany relationship I have Boys and Toys. Two django models. Toys can be owned by more than one Boy and each boy can own more than one Toy... So I've put a ManyToMany field in Boy.
If I want a list of toys owned by a single boy, it's easy. So good so far.
But now I need to get a list of Boys based on a Toy instance. The relationship should be symmetrical but I don't know the syntax.

Note: No, these aren't my real entity names -  I just thought it might be easier to follow.

A: It should be:
toy_instance.boy_set.all()
See here:
http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/db/queries/#many-to-many-relationships

A: from django.db import models

class Toy(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField('Name', max_length=250)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.name

class Boy(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField('Name', max_length=250)
    toys_owned = models.ManyToManyField(Toy, blank = True)

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.name

if toy = is instance of Toy class, then toy.boy_set.all() is what you looking for

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Could Watching Horror Movies Lead to Blood Clots?
Being frightened spurs blood clotting protein as a defense mechanism in the body.
A new study just released and cited on business-standard.com says the "bloodcurdling" feeling you get when watching a scary movie, or really in any frightening situation, is real, and and can lead to an increase in a blood clotting protein in the body.
The study, involving healthy volunteers who were under the age of 30 and were students, alumni or employees of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, set out to investigate whether fear could actually curdle blood. The researchers say blood curdling is an important evolutionary benefit that prepares the body to deal with the loss of blood in threatening situation where the body may become harmed.
The subjects were divided into two groups of 14 and 10 people, with the 14 asked to watch a scary movie and then an educational non-threatening movie. The group of 10 was asked to watch the same movies in reverse order.
The movies lasted about 90 minutes each, and were viewed more than a week apart at the same time of day in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Before and after each movie, samples of the subjects blood were taken and analyzed.
The participants also completed a questionnaire to determine if they had previously seen the movies, along with questions about their general lifestyle and favorite types of movies.
The findings show that the presence of a blood clotting protein, known as Factor VIII, increased in 12 of the 24 subjects during the horror movie, as compared to only three of 24 of those watching the educational movie.
The levels of the protein decreased in 18 of the 24 participants while viewing the educational movie, but only in nine of the viewers of the horror movie.
The good news is the researchers say they found no effect on any other clot-forming proteins during the study, and that suggests, while blood coagulation is a part of being scared, it does not appear to lead to the formation of an actual blood clot.
Watching a horror movie may make you feel like you are going to be scared to death, but this new research shows a blood clot is not likely to be the cause.
Findings of the study were published in The BMJ.


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Feature, Retail
Does lighting boost retail sales?
By Mark Faithfull | 9 June 2015
Intuition and proof are very different things. Does it make sense that a well-designed store will achieve higher sales than a tired interior? Of course. If that store is appropriately and interestingly illuminated, then it also makes sense that the store will bolster sales and attract more repeat visits. Again, common sense.
Next, let's factor in the economy, the location, consumer trends, pricing and promotions, the time of year, the fluctuating price of petrol, unseasonable weather, a big sporting event on the TV, a retailer's advertising campaign, good or poor customer services, shelf availability, how the bank holidays fall, and so on. So what was the financial uplift in sales specifically through lighting again?
Munish Datta, head of facilities management at M&S, which recently embarked on a big LED rollout at hundreds of its food stores, said that the benefits of increased sales could ultimately outweigh the savings from energy efficiency. But how will they know?
How lighting can keep customers on track
For the design of Finist, a wine and spirits emporium in Russia, Shopworks used a combination of dimmed lighting to create an intimate atmosphere with accent lighting on the central display modules to pick out products and facilitate navigation. Lighting colours at the cooler end of the spectrum help balance the bright and warm hues and textures of the store interior. The design of lighting fixtures also played a part in creating the overall representation of the brand as demonstrated with the suspended lights above the degustation zone: the simple forms contribute to creating the 'loft style' look and feel. The positioning of ceiling elements and lamps above the aisles and along the product displays help drive customers through the store and increase browse rates.
Simon Waldron, electrical engineering manager at Sainsbury's, an LED advocate within an LED-advanced retailer, admits: 'There's this big discussion at the moment about whether LEDs increase sales. We cannot guarantee that LEDs are a primary cause of any sales increase because there are so many variables. At the moment there's no significant empirical data that suggests LEDs have any impact on sales. There need to be more studies done to see whether LED lighting or specifically higher CRI products, actually has the benefit of increasing sales in a store.'
Lighting by numbers
Anyone who can prove that a new lighting scheme will save money from the bottom line and increase sales on the top line has a powerfully persuasive argument and so not surprisingly there have been numerous attempts to do it.
Among these was a 21-week field research project by Dutch co-operative supermarket group Plus and Philips Lighting back in 2010. Using different LED-based lighting scenarios, the study was designed to measure the impact of light on customer buying behavior and Philips Lighting enlisted CQM as an external market research agency and the Retail Design Research Lab of the PHL University of Hasselt to evaluate the return on investment for retailers from implementing LED lighting solutions. A tracking system was installed in shoppers' grocery baskets, to trace shopping habits such as the time spent in certain parts of the supermarket, their route around the store and parts of the shop they were drawn to specifically.
AmbiScene-controlled lighting was fitted on the left-hand side of the store, while the right-hand area of the supermarket was lit with traditional lighting and different lighting scenarios were applied over alternating days.
The results from CQM showed that the introduction of the lighting system increased basket sales, with the average sales per customer up by
1.93 per cent related to the dynamic lighting installation. Further analysis of the results also showed that customers spent more time in the areas lit with warmer light settings than those with cooler ones.
Six tips to improve retail sales
Zumtobel's research points to a number of ways to improve sales with lighting
1 Contrast is your friend
Retail lighting should be high contrast, making perception easier and heightening levels of attention.
2 Distribute light right
Diffuse general lighting ensures a subjective sense of well-being. Vertical illuminance makes orientation easier and the easier it is for customers to find their way around, the more likely they are to walk around a shop.
3 Consider colour temperature
Cool colour temperatures such as cool whitemake areas appear more spacious whereas warm colour temperatures create an impression of smallness and familiarity.
4 Work those windows
In shop windows, use pinpoint accenting to emphasise perceived contrasts. In the evening and when there is little daylight, even low illuminance levels are sufficient.
5 Put the light down low
Targeted accent lighting or dynamic lighting in the lower third of shelves results in customers lingering longer and may boost sales. Shelf-integrated lighting is recommended at all levels.
6 It's not all about accents
Wide-area backlighting of shelves produces a more attractive effect than accent lighting only.
Lighting manufacturer Zumtobel also reckons it has an answer to the question of whether lighting can boost sales.
Zumtobel claims a fashion retailer in Germany saw its sales go up by around 12 per cent compared to another local store, after it installed a new lighting scheme specially designed to appeal to the personality profile of its target customers.
But it's hard to know what other factors affected the two stores, or what would have happened if the lighting had stayed the same.
Zumtobel conducted another piece of research entitled 'Attention, attractiveness and perception mediated by lighting in retail spaces'. Its two-part study with Prof Jan Ejhed, head of the lighting laboratory at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, and Dr Roland Greule from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) came to eight key conclusions (see box, right), which broadly reflect the way that many better-lit stores now approach their lighting strategy.
A further laboratory study conducted by Zumtobel and Gruppe Nymphenburg measured responses to various lighting scenarios in shops on an empirical basis. 'Again and again we find that the importance of lighting at the point of sale is dramatically underestimated. Instead, the focus is on fancy packaging and shop design,' says Dr Hans-Georg Häusel of Gruppe Nymphenburg. 'But actually, the goods on display will only touch people's emotions if they are presented in the right light.'
On top of that, results from a study conducted for Xicato by independent lighting researcher Dr Colette Knight found that objects can appear more attractive under a light source that is slightly outside the traditional colour range for white light.
Participants in the study showed a strong preference for lights which increase the saturation of reds, blues and pinks and make whites appear 'cleaner'.
Knight's report concluded: 'With the maturity of LED lighting, there is now growing focus to look beyond mimicking the light properties of conventional sources… By cleverly designing the light spectrum, it is possible to generate various light impressions and optimise the colour appearance of objects.'
These bodies of work add to the argument for good lighting, but turning browsers into buyers is the challenge. That said, retailers are increasingly looking to differentiate their stores and as Rod Pallister of Progress Lighting, reflects: 'Evidence or not, high street retail is having to become more creative and provide experiences to retain or win new custom.'
He points to the growth in leisure and entertainment aligned with retail destinations.
'If you look at most new shopping centres, they are all about retaining custom and keeping us all engaged for longer. Most have bars, cinemas, restaurants as well as shops,' he says. 'They take an architectural approach to the whole design and you cannot say lighting does not play a vital role in bringing the design together.'
Lux will be holding a Connected Lighting in Retail Conference at the Cavendish Centre in central London on Wednesday 27 September 2017 . The event will consider how connected lighting can be utilised to interact with shoppers and what new technologies are best suited to this task. The conference will also advise you on the best ways to become a player in this exciting emerging market. You find out more and register to attend by clicking here.
Scientists probe the right lighting for green walls
Tech giant unveils UK's biggest PoE network at £90m HQ
The light that adjusts for your age
13,000 sensors cut lighting energy at warehouse

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Rethink Mental Illness statement on the killing of Dalian Atkinson
Today, 23 June 2021, a jury at Birmingham crown court convicted PC Benjamin Monk of the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson in 2016. Dalian, a former professional footballer, was unwell and experiencing a mental health crisis when he was killed.
Reacting to today's verdict, Mark Winstanley, chief executive, Rethink Mental Illness said:
"Our thoughts today are with the family of Dalian Atkinson. This was a deeply upsetting case which shone a spotlight on the treatment of people experiencing a mental health crisis, specifically Black men who are over four times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. Whilst recognising that supporting someone in crisis can be challenging, police officers must have both the skills and aptitude to resolve such situations safely. That aptitude was clearly missing in this case and was responsible for Dalian's death. We must see action to address the systemic failures that can increase the risk of violence or serious injury to people in crisis to prevent this from ever happening again."
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) mental health
If you are from a Black Asian or Minority Ethnic background (BAME), you may face specific issues relating to your mental health. This section gives information on your options for support and treatment and to help resolve any specific issues.
Read more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) mental health
Our work on becoming an anti-racist organisation
Our values of hope, understanding, expertise, commitment, passion, and openness underpin everything we seek to achieve. Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, we made a firm commitment to become a truly anti-racist organisation.
Read more Our work on becoming an anti-racist organisation
Our strategy for 2021-23
Our mission is to lead the way to a better quality of life for everyone severely affected by mental illness. This includes people with lived experience, their carers, families and friends. This page sets out our strategy for 2021 - 2023.
Find out more Our strategy for 2021-23
At Rethink Mental Illness we believe in equality. Everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. That's why we strive to prevent discrimination and protect our staff, the people who use our services, and our members from being discriminated against.
Read more Equality and diversity


text:
Das Sudirman-Gebirge (), auch Nassau-Gebirge, ist ein Gebirge im indonesischen Teil der Insel Neuguinea (West-Papua) und bildet den westlichen Teil des Maokegebirges. Bei den Ureinwohnern heißt das Gebirge auch Dugunduguoo. Teile des Dugunduguoo gelten der Bevölkerung als heilig. Folgende Berge sind Teil des Massivs (Auswahl):
  Carstensz-Pyramide – höchster Berg Ozeaniens und Teil der Seven Summits
  Sumantri – zweithöchster Berg Ozeaniens und Teil der Seven Second Summits
  Ngga Pulu
  (oder ) Carstensz Oriental (auch Carstensz Timor, Carstensz East)

Einzelnachweise

Gebirge auf Neuguinea

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Spoilers Suck
What kind of world to we live in when a man dressed up like a bat gets all of my press?
--Jack Nicholson as The Joker in "Batman" (1989)
I'm a Batman freak, plain and simple. He's always been my favorite superhero. As a kid, I watched the TV show from the 1960s, then segued into the 1970s animated version from Filmation. Actually bought the DVD of the cartoons this summer and enjoyed them again. The 1980s saw the mature Batman which led to the 1990s animated series. There was also some movies, some good, some not so good. The 2000s brought to us a seemingly dichotomy: excellent, dark, moody live-action films and a whimsical animated version that hearkens back to the silly days of the 1960s.
The thing that is always good about following a character through the ages is the surprise element. I remember in the spring of 1989, I actually bought a ticket to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" just because the Batman trailer ran ahead of it. I scoured movie magazines like Starlog for official images from the production, pouring over them in loving detail much the way I did with "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980. But for every photo and story in a magazine I found, the glorious revelation of the film stayed tantalizingly out of reach. There was only one way to find out what happened: watch the movie.
Except for the novelization. If you can believe it, the book was published ahead of the film. For many a Batman geek who couldn't wait for the movie, all you had to do was read the book. In those pages was the story of the first, true live-action Batman film, in all the detail save one: the medium. Batman the movie was something to behold, not something to be read. You read the novelization after you've seen the film to set those images in stone. For all the description the author used to describe Jack Nicholson's Joker, seeing the man in the makeup was so much better. Seeing Michael Keaton do his thing in costume was magnificent. As a writer, I hate to say it but those images were better than a thousand words.
I read that novelization early and ruined the surprise of the film. I thought I was being cool to know ahead of time all the plot points, to be able to lean over, tap my dad's shoulder, and say "That's not how they did it in the book." The book?! It was a freaking novelization! There was no book. Unlike, say, Lord of the Rings, the Batman novelization was an expanded script. What the heck was I thinking? Better question: who was I trying to impress?
Cut to 2007 and 2008 and the lead-up to "The Dark Knight." We all knew what Christian Bale looked like in the Bat-armor. All eyes were on another Joker. And, in a case of a textbook rollout of anticipation, the filmmakers fed us with little teases and glimpses until the trailers hit. And then the images in Empire magazine. Again, I poured over the photos and watched the trailer over and over. It was intoxicating. And I couldn't wait for the movie to see how it all played out. Sure, there were a few grainy images that popped up on the Internet of Heath Ledger in costume. Sure, I looked at a few of them, but nothing compared to the official images, released when Christopher Nolan wanted them released.
Things are changing with this last Nolan Bat-flick, The Dark Knight Rises. This Bat-franchise is so money that the entire city of Pittsburgh is proclaiming loudly and proudly that Batman 3 is filming in their city. They should be rightly excited, true, but do they have to have news stories about it all the time? There was a time back last month where many of the SF sites I read posted images of the filming, of Bale in costume reading the script, of Tom Hardy in his Bane costume. In fact, just now, I googled the movie's title to verify Hardy's name. I saw a headline that summed up my feelings right now: "Dark Knight Rises": What Hasn't Been Spoiled Yet? BTW, I didn't read the article.
What am I getting at? Am I just a grumpy dude not in tune with the way things are now? No, I don't think so. I like the revelations of things to be delivered in the way the creators want, not spoon-fed or spoiled by a grainy TMZ photo or a spycam. Is our desire to *know* trump the gentle grace of waiting and watching? I've even had to cancel on of my "Castle" twitter feeds because the title of the tweet was, in itself, a spoiler...even thought the word "spoiler" was in the title. Sheesh.
It's the beauty of being an author: you have complete and utter control of your work. If you want to provide excepts, go ahead. If you want your readers to learn about your story in the manner you want, get them to buy the book. It's the only way. And the most satisfying way.
Am I the only one who wants to watch a movie in a theater and just see what happens?
Labels: spoilers
Hate Reading?
Its big news for many people that there's a Facebook page called "I hate reading". They are not in fact referring to the town (although I'm sure Reading has many lovely features and is in itself undeserving of such scorn; I've never been there so I couldn't tell you one way or the rather), but rather to the act of translating words on a page (or on a screen) into some sensible form of communication. Which is ironic given that Facebook has an awful lot of text in the form of updates (many of which are of course illegible, usually from the people who sign up to such pages) and so forth.
Of course this news has shocked so many in the publishing industry confirming once again that most of us live in a bubble. Ask any non-bestselling writer who's done one of those trial-by-fire daytime book signings, or even any bookseller on the front line, and they will tell you that every day people go into bookshops simply to proclaim how much they hate reading or how much books are a waste of time. They do this with a strange degree of pride, wearing the hate or at the very least the disinterest like a medal of honour. It has always happened. It will continue to happen. Because much of the time these people are unclear what reading is about.
There are many reasons for this, and much of that has to do with the culture of reading in the first place. When we tell people that reading is good they ask, why? The first and most common response is one of "self improvement", as though reading makes us somehow "better". People quote statistics about how people who are somehow smarter or more inclined to make it in life.
And of course this makes not a jot of difference to those who "hate reading" because ten to one* it was precisely this attitude that made them "hate reading" in the first place. After all it's the one you hear constantly in school, which is probably the place where you first realised you "hate reading" due to being presented with inappropriate texts in inappropriate contexts**, and so why is hearing it now going to make any difference?
There are other things too. Cliches like "the book is always better than the film," that again can make people feel alienated*** and even a little stupid that the only reaction they have left is one that involves lashing out.
And let's not start on the often pompous and self-involved "coverage" that books get on TV. If I see one more celeb fawning over a supposed "classic" and talking about how it improved them I might scream. Let them be honest. Let them say, "Actually, I rather enjoy curling up with a good bonkbuster because goddamn the story's great and the sex gets me a little steamy" or even something as simple and enthusiastic as Ali Karim's far-too-brief appearance on World Book Night saying how much he enjoyed the baddies getting biffed.
There are always going to be people who for one reason or another claim to "hate" books. Now I believe that we can still find them the right book and the right way into reading, but making them feel dumb or excluded – as we often do, even unintentionally – is not the way to do it.
Look, I'm not offering answers here. Just some random thoughts, many slightly disconnected. And I'm also saying that a facebook page dedicated to "hating reading" is a natural development. The same as there's probably an "I hate custard" page out there or something similiarly idiotic****. I think it's a sad thing, of course, when people claim to hate reading. But I'm not living in a bubble and I'm not surprised by it.
Maybe one day the right book will bring them back into the fold. Maybe not. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. As one person pointed out, quite rationally, chances are if you added up all the fans of thriller titles alone in the world, they would overwhelmingly outnumber the relative minority (even if it does seem large number when glanced at) who have signed up to this facebook page.
And besides, when was the last time you even checked what Facebook pages you'd been signed up to just because someone you knew invited you?
(and speaking of Facebook, here's a blatant plug - - go like the spanky Russel D McLean fanpage and prove to the world that you really do like reading!)
*statistic taken from the office of I Needed To Make Up A Statistic So I Nicked A Cliché
**I was lucky in that I most had pretty inspiring English teachers who encouraged me to read
what I enjoy.
***I've mentioned this in previous blog posts I'm sure that often the film is just "different" and
that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
****I'm already late on this and don't have the time to do the research.
Labels: facebook, reading, Russel D McLean
The Last Run, By Greg Rucka
By Jay Stringer
I'm still without a laptop, as anyone on my twitter feed will have noticed. About the only benefit of not having my machine is that I've been catching up on some reading. It's easy to forget how enjoyable it is simply to sit and read a book for a weekend.
The Last Run is a spy novel from novelist and comic book writer Greg Rucka. It came out late last year, but it's only now I've started to catch up with my reading list. It worked out for the best, because reading this with no distractions allowed me both to sink into it and to see how quickly I got through it. Once I started, I needed to finish.
But first, I'm going to infuriate you by not talking about the book.
Cable/Sky TV came to my home in the mid 90's. Our family got it for the sole reason that my dad wanted to watch the re-runs of DOCTOR WHO on UK GOLD every Sunday (and listeners to our podcast will already have heard the outcome of that.) What this meant was that I saw a lot of bad TV shows buried away on the afternoon schedules, both when I was supposed to be at school and when I wasn't.
I caught the terrible 80's remake of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. I caught the well intentioned SWAMP THING and some terrible spy action show that I think was based on ACTION MAN. Then, one day, I caught myself watching some strange, taught, riveting spy drama. The characters were well drawn, the dialogue was decent and the plotting was tense. I'd just been on a John LeCarre kick, and already blasted through Ian Fleming, and the show seemed to perfect blend of the two; it was the intelligence, character and realism of LeCarre married to the tight plotting of Fleming. I gathered from the title card at the commercial break that the show was called THE SANDBAGGERS. In the days before the Internet, I had no way of finding out more, and nobody I spoke to seemed to remember the show. But at the same time every day for a couple of months I got to see some damn fine British TV.
Years later I would learn that the first episode I saw was THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP, which is pretty much the peak of the show. It's ending haunted me for years, and kept the show alive somewhere in my memory, but once it's run was finished I never saw any repeats, never saw mention of it, and slowly it started to fade.
Flash forward. Early 2000's. I'm flicking through indie trade paperbacks in one of my local comic shops, and I pick up one called QUEEN & COUNTRY. It had a woman looking all moody in a trench coat on the cover, and was written by Greg Rucka, who's work I'd enjoyed in Batman comics. And then, in the foreword, Warren Ellis noted that the book was influenced by THE SANDBAGGERS. Bang. Done. Sale.
QUEEN & COUNTRY, I soon learned, was a fucking fantastic comic. The influence of THE SANDBAGGERS was there to see if you knew the show, but not in a way that got in the way of the story. It had a voice all of it's own, and some very compelling characters. The two 'stars' of the book were Tara Chace, a female secret agent, and Paul Crocker, the scheming head of operations for SIS. On and off, across about seven years, we got to see the adventures of Chace, as she ran around the world drinking, arguing, and getting shot at. This was perfectly balanced by the corridor warfare of Crocker as he fought against his bosses, his rivals, and the ever impending evil of bureaucracy.
Towards the end of the comics run, Rucka decided to explore the characters in a different format, and we got the first two QUEEN & COUNTRY novels. Which brings me to THE LAST RUN, the third novel.
And with all that exposition out of the way, you can now draw breath.
If you're new to the series, you're fine, you can still read this book and enjoy the hell out of it. There's nothing important to the book that you can't pick up in the book. Get it and dive right in. If you're an established fan, this story brings a lot of story arcs to a very satisfying close. This could be the end of the story, equally it could be the end of the first act of a bigger story, both would work.
Tara Chace is Minder One. The easy description is to say she's the "real world James Bond," but I don't really want to go there. Chace is a complex, wounded and very well written female protagonist, who just happens to be one of the best secret agents in the world. There is nothing glamorous about the life of a minder. They are blunt instruments. Firefighters. They are the pit bulls that are kept on a leash in the hallways of SIS, to be sent off at short notice to solve a crisis. They don't tend to live very long, but real danger to a spy in this world is not a gun, or a bomb, or a hollowed out volcano. It's the machinations of politicians, the whims of a cabinet under secretary, or the public relations concerns of a government. These are the things that are likely to leave a spy stranded, or dead, or inconvenient.
Chace had been a Minder for a decade. She's the best there is. But she's battle-worn and tired. She's nursing any number of injuries and, even worse for a spy, she has a baby daughter. Life is getting in the way. She decides she wants out, wants to push information across a desk and live something closer to a normal life, but the game chooses when you get to stop playing it.
A crisis brews in Iran, a decades old sleeper agent has woken up, and the British government won't accept anything less than their very best agent being sent in, even if she's not fit for the job.
What follows is a fast paced ride spy thriller, like LeCarre stripped down and speeded up. Things go wrong, things go right, then things go very wrong. And for Crocker, he has the fight of his career; how to balance his duty to the agent in the field with his duty to Queen & Country.
As a fan of Rucka's work, I can see changes in his writing. He still has the stripped back Hammett-esque prose, but he seems to be playing with a few extra words, trying to play with his established voice and shift gears a little. It's always interesting to see a writer trying new tricks, and he's pulled it off, not straying too far from what works whilst still shaking things up.
A minor quibble I've had with all three books is that they start with 'pre-operational briefings.' I understand why. In bringing an established comic book series across to novels, I can see that Rucka and the publishers would be concerned about filling in new readers on the back story. But I don't think they were necessary. I think all three books work just as well without them, and I would argue there's nothing in them that couldn't have been fitted organically into the story. But that's just a small issue, and I don't want to distract from telling you to buy this book.
Buy this one, or by all three, either way you'll have a great time. And if you are worried about the continuity, don't worry, I'll make it easy for you.
If you want to read the whole thing, start to finish, you can blast through the three collected volumes of the comic. All but the final story are set before the novels. I would recommend holding off on that final story until you've read the first novel, but that's the only bump in the road.
After reading the comics, you can then go straight ahead and pick up A GENTLEMANS GAME. It's the first novel and was chillingly prescient, dealing with a terrorist attack on the London underground.
The second book, PRIVATE WARS, really saw Rucka playing with things that perhaps couldn't have been done with the comic, and saw the characters really grow into their new format.
And then, of course, there' the cracking third book, THE LAST RUN, which brings everything to a dark and grisly head.
And I'm sure Greg Rucka wouldn't begrudge me a chance to also pimp THE SANDBAGGERS. It's just been given a shiny new release. It's a big outlay for a show you've never seen, but it's well worth it.
Labels: Greg Rucka
The international Three-Day Novel Contest
About ten years ago I was working on various movie sets in Toronto, usually in the 'locations department' which means getting there before anyone else and prepping things – putting out garbage cans, setting up signs to direct people to 'extras holding' – and then staying after everyone else has gone and taking down all the signs, emptying the garbage cans and trying to get everything back to the same condition it was before the crew arrived.
I was writing screenplays at the time, how cliche is that? I was also trying to write short stories but mostly I was quitting writing. I quit writing the way people give up smoking, I'd stop for a while and tell everyone I'd stopped and be a pain in the ass and then I'd start up again. Like a lot of people who quit smoking I was very successful at quitting writing – I did it many, many times.
This time when I quit I was about halfway through a short story that was set on a movie set. I told people I was quitting writing and one of the other crew members, Scott Albert, (he was either a driver or a PA at the time) asked to see my short story in progress.
Then Scott had an idea. There's this thing called The International Three-Day Novel Competition every Labour Day weekend and he asked if I'd be interested in entering. I said yes, thinking it would be my three-day binge to say farewell to writing.
The rules say novels can be prepped before Labour Day (it's really an honour system) so Scott and I made up a movie shoot, Life and Death in Little Italy, and scheduled it like a real movie, named the director and the movie stars and put in the 'big events' like the day the director gets fired, the day the movie star doesn't show up and so on, and then over the Labour Day week-end we each wrote short stories about "below the line" crew members working on the movie. (a movie's budget is divided into "above the line" expenses which are producers, director and movie stars and "below the line" expenses which are equipment rental, studios, locations and the rest of the crew.)
We called the book Below the Line, wrote it in the three days and submitted it to the contest.
We didn't win, but we did have a first draft which is really the point of the contest. So then we followed the usual route, we sent query letters and sample chapters to a bunch of publishers and a few wanted to see the whole manuscript and then one, Signature Editions, wanted to publish the book. It came out in 2003 and it may be available as an e-book by the end of this year. Right now it's only available as a paperback.
The experience of having that book published was so good, I decided to try and write another novel and that became Dirty Sweet. And I've only quit writing three or four times since then.
So, Labour Day is coming up in a few weeks and there's still time to register for The International Three-Day Novel Contest.
I have been kicking around the idea of a "Three-Day Crime Novel Contest," and I wondwr if there would be any interest in that?
Posted by John McFetridge at 3:00 AM 4 comments: Links to this post
I've been talking a bit about the ending of LOST lately. It keeps coming up, as I reminisce with friends about old shows we used to love to talk about and speculate about.
And I keep thinking about the ending. And how disappointed I was in it. I loved nearly all of the show... even the first hour and fifteen minutes of the finale. I felt the creators were going to do it, were going to get it done.
And then, the last fifteen minutes completely invalidated a part of the show for me. It's just an opinion. I don't hate the creators for their ending. It was their ending, and they should stand by it. There are some people who love it, and it is their right to.
But it gets me thinking about writers and their endings. Endings are hard. They need to have an emotional impact, they need to be full of tension and excitement and they need to be satisfying. And they need to hold true that has come before it.
Those are high stakes.
When I write, I rarely have an ending in mind. I follow the characters, see where it takes me and hope the ending comes about organically. And with each of my novels, the ending has been revised several times until I got to something that fit.
But it stuns me when most writers say they have an ending in mind when they start. When I start I'm still learning the characters and what they want. The ending can't come until I know that.
The creators of LOST said they had their ending in mind--the final shot--when they started. I believed that, but I don't know that you can be beholden to that.
Endings are hard.
Ending this blog post is hard.
I think GET SHORTY said it best.
What do you look for in an ending? Can an ending completely invalidate a story for you? Can it completely redeem a story for you? What are some of the best and/or worst endings you've read?
Posted by Dave White at 3:00 AM 5 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Davey Being Davey, endings
A Writer's Moral Responsibility?
Unless you live under a rock and communicate with smoke signals, you've probably heard that Amy Winehouse died. Now, I couldn't name a single song by Winehouse to save my life. Not until she died.
I mean, I'd certainly heard her name, but it was always associated with scandal. I knew she was a singer. That was the extent of it.
Now, I could tell you the name of at least one song: Rehab. And that's the song that prompts this post, because in the wake of Winehouse's death at the age of 27, there were a lot of people commenting on her death, the reasons she died so young, and what, if anything, could have been done to save her from her path to self-destruction.
One commentator went so far as to state that it was not only a mistake to give Winehouse a Grammy for Rehab, but that she might still be alive if she hadn't won the coveted prize.
Her most famous song may have been about substance abuse, but it mocked urges and demands to enter a rehab facility for her addiction problems. Then, in 2008, 24 years old and in the midst of story after story about her drug abuse, Amy Winehouse won Grammy Awards for best record of the year, best song of the year and best new artist of the year
With those awards, a message was sent: Mock addiction, create a rallying cry for those in its grip, blow your life up in every aspect other than financial success and name recognition, and you will be rewarded with the industry's gold medals. Today, at age 27, she is dead. The cause of death is unknown, but drugs took a toll on her life even if they did not they cause her death.
We, of course, do not know what will become of Winehouse's artistic legacy: Her singing talent was compared to Billie Holiday's, and there was a lot of talent in her. But her industry should take a lesson from her short life and early death and create a legacy of it -- or at least learn something from it.
A good place to start learning the lesson is the Grammy Awards nominating committee. Did they have any problem or pause whatsoever in emptying their cabinet of awards for such a song or such a character?
Did one judge say: "Wait, I think we might be sending the wrong message here"? Or, rather, did they do everything they could to get her to the Grammy Awards even after she was barred from entering the United States? The answer is the latter -- and she appeared for her awards by video feed from Great Britain.
It now looks like Amy Winehouse joins the sad list of other talented entertainers whose lives were cut down by drug abuse. Citing the drug-fueled deaths of other troubled musicians at the same age, some are speculating there is something special, or ominous, about the age of 27. But change the age by just a few years, and you still have too much evidence of too much talent cut too short by substance abuse. From Heath Ledger to Brittany Murphy to River Phoenix to Andy Gibb to Elvis Presley, the list just goes on and on. Age is not the problem; drug abuse is.
In light of Winehouse's death, it is my hope that there is a lot of introspection in the entertainment industry and that the producers and Grammy heads are asking themselves how they might take the problems and plights of the falling star in front of them more seriously, seeing the performer more as a person and less as a royalty check.
Now, I have to admit, my reaction to this piece surprised me. I mean, I've been known to claim the moral high ground a time or two. And the idea of Winehouse's song is appalling to me. Mocking rehabilitation, mocking the efforts of those who try to get people help so that they can live free from addiction? Yeah, there's probably a reason I don't know Winehouse's music - it's of no interest to me.
But when it comes to giving awards, is that the consideration?
As authors, we're entertainers. Some of us may write more obvious entertainment, and some of us may write things we hope inspire people to think about serious matters at times. But in determining the best book of the year, or best song, or album or short story or movie, our primary focus can't be on the message.
It's when we get sidetracked on secondary issues that we lose focus on the real issue; great writing. I don't know that I would have agreed if I'd watched the Grammy Awards the year Winehouse won, but that doesn't matter either. What matters is that the committee should use the criteria for evaluating the music, and determine the best contender in each category. The awards weren't set up with the stated objective of making a moral statement or setting a certain type of example.
I have a cousin (third) who's an award-winning songwriter, and some might think this song he co-wrote and won awards for isn't the best example, either. I think it's a great song, and deserving of the awards it won. The writing's superb, and it does its job; it entertains.
Whatever moral responsibility we have, I think is for us to determine. And I don't think it's write to put that burden on organizations. What's next - reviewers? Amy Winehouse expressed a sentiment in her song. It may not be one I can relate to or agree with, but she gave people a chance to see where she was coming from, and she made it clear where she was at. And at the very least, her family should in time be able to live with the knowledge that you can't help someone who doesn't want to be saved. Winehouse's fate was of her own choosing, and if she hadn't won those awards, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.
Agree? Disagree?
Posted by Sandra Ruttan at 3:38 AM 8 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Amy Winehouse, Dierks Bentley, Grammy Awards
The care and feeding of a writer
by: Joelle Charbonneau
Being a writer means you have to be an independent worker. You have to self-motivate. You have to be willing to ignore the lure of social media or solitaire on your computer and get work done. While there are lots of people involved in turning a manuscript into a book, a writer works alone to create that book. There is no one sitting next to you that makes you log in your time.
Self-motivation is important as a writer. The best self-motivators feel compelled to sit at their computers every day and log a certain amount of words or pages in. Which is awesome. However, writers often forget that while getting pages done is important, so it taking care of themselves.
So here are a few things that writers need to remember to add to the check list along with all those pages written and words typed. (And yes, I am writing this now because I tend to forget to do these things and need a swift kick in the rear.)
1. Get enough rest – writers have to write when they have the time. For me, this is often at night after the tot is in bed. Too often, I am up until 1a.m. letting my fingers do the walking. My body can handle doing this once in a while, but every night for weeks mean running myself down. If your body is tired, your mind will be tired, too. Writing tired can mean writing sloppy. Take the time to get some sleep so you don't have to do twice the amount of work on the editing end.
2. Eat well – this is kind of like the sleep thing. Writers have to sit for hours on end in front of the computer which requires energy and stamina. It is easy to say "It's not like I'm running a marathon" and reach for the bag of potato chips, but remember you are running your own kind of marathon. A novel takes weeks and months to create. You need to keep up your enthusiasm and energy for the project in order to reach THE END. A body fueled only by crap won't be up to the challenge.
3. Read – This one gets me every time. Every writer I know started out as a voracious reader. Before getting published, I used to read between 150-200 books a year. Now I'm lucky if I read 40 or 50, but I make sure to take the time in between projects to read because it reminds me of my passion for the written word. It also keeps me looking at voice, character arcs and pacing in new and interesting ways. Reading will help you remember why you love this business when you are ready to kick the business in the ass.
4. Get away from the computer screen – Writers, performers, musicians and artists are inspired by the world around them. In order to find that inspiration, you actually need to get out in the world and roll around in it. Take the time to enjoy family outings, take walks around the neighborhood and experience the world around you in between getting those words on the page. You'll be a happier person and a better writer for it.
5. Give yourself permission to take time off – I'm struggling with this one right now, but I'm working on it. Yes, writers need to write, and when I'm writing a project I write 7 days a week. No one can keep up that pace day in and day out. Take a break between projects to recharge. Take time off on the weekends to regroup. Like any job, you need to take vacations (and this means more than an hour or two here or there) to really get away from work. After a week or a month or even a summer you will better remember and appreciate the reason you write. And don't we all do better when we are doing something we love?
Labels: being a writer, take care of yourself


text:
HISTORIC DAY FOR THE BAYSTATE AT ALL-STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Meet Information
MIAA Division 1 All-State Championships
November 21, 202
Wrentham Developmental Center - Wrentham, MA
RESULTS
WRENTHAM, MA - After a pair of stellar performances last weekend at the Divisional Championships, The LHS Boys and Girls teams were back in Wrentham for the All-State Championships on Saturday for what turned out to be one of the deepest fields in state history. The MIAA's realignment of all sports meant that instead of a Division 1 and Division 2 All-State Champion - as has been the case for decades - there would now be three All-State Champions crowned. Many expected this to create a watered down field, but the athletes did not get the message. On the Boys side, 28 athletes broke the 16-minute barrier, with Uxbridge High School junior Aidan Ross smashing the course record - 15:05.19 set a week ago by Framingham's Sam Burgess - with a time of 14:47.11 to win the Division 3 title by nearly a minute. In addition to a course record, it was the fastest 5k time since at least 1995 run by a Massachusetts athlete in a State Championship Meet. The Girls side was highlighted by the ladies from Holliston High School who dominated the Division 2 race - and every team in the state for that matter - by scoring a ridiculous 30 points. They were led by sophomore Carmen Luisi's 17:45.21, which was the fastest time across all Divisions, and their team's average time by their top five runners (18:30) was over 40 seconds faster than any other team in the state.
The Division 1 Championships was won by the boys from Saint John's Prep, as they got their revenge against Brookline after falling to them a week ago at the Division 1A Championships. Prep successfully defended their 2019 State Title (no State Championship was competed last year due to COVID-19) by scoring 97 points to win on Saturday. In the Girls race it was Marshfield who won their first ever Girls XC State Title by scoring 126 points. Even after besting their efforts from the Divisional Championships, LHS Boys and Girls were only able to manage 13th and 14th respectively in the Division 1 Championships.
In the final race of his LHS XC career, senior captain Evan Eberle led the way for The Minutemen. He ran a personal best time of 16:26.86 to finish 50th overall. Fellow classmate and captain Graham Bracken followed up his great performance at Divisionals with another PR of 16:38.50 to finish 76th. Senior Thomas Lane continued his comeback season with another big time PR of 16:44.05. He crossed the line in 85th place overall. Not far behind - and running another PR for LHS - was sophomore Glenn Burscu. His time of 16:46.69 was enough for 89th place. As he did last week, senior captain Ollie DiCerbo gutted through the second half of the Wrentham course to round out the top five for The Minutemen. DiCerbo finished in 109th place with a time of 16:52.33. Along with the top five, junior Antonio Lopez turned in another PR of 17:11.82, crossing the line in 139th place. Senior captain Noah Quadri was 151st in a time personal best time of 17:20.55.
Final Boys Team Scores (Top 10)
1. St. John's Prep - 97
2. Brookline - 111
3. Acton-Boxborough - 142
4. Oliver Ames - 212
5. B.C. High - 236
6. Westford Academy - 265
7. Newton North - 270
8. Catholic Memorial - 270
9. Reading - 276
10. Concord-Carlisle - 280
13. Lexington - 298
After carving her name into the record books last week, senior captain Clara Fu (18:56.74) capped off her XC career with the second fastest performance at the Wrentham Developmental Center by an LHS girl - behind only her own time from the Divisional meet last week - to finish 18th overall in a loaded field. Junior Mirra Payson waited until her team needed her the most to turn in her best race of her career. Payson crossed the finish line in 19:17.21, which is #6 all-time at Wrentham for LHS. That time was enough for 36th on Saturday. Fellow classmate Uma Sanker turned in a PR of her own by running 19:49.01 to finish 77th overall. Proving why she was awarded the 2021 Most Improved Award at the team's banquet, junior Jasmine Sun knocked off another 17 seconds from her time at Divisionals. Sun finished 137th overall in 20:42.14. The all important fifth runner for The Minutemen was freshmen Brett Castro, who powered her way to a PR of her own - 20:50.07 - to place 145th. Not to be left out of the fun, senior captain Camelia Atassi (21:13.79) and freshmen Claire Cunningham (21:15.61) both turned in PRs and finished 158th and 160th respectively.
Final Girls Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Marshfield - 126
2. Weymouth - 147
3. Wellesley - 201
5. North Andover - 217
8. Bishop Feehan - 257
9. Concord-Carlisle - 260
10. Hopkinton - 278
With the 2021 LHS XC coming to a close it is important to look back an appreciate all the team has accomplished. Neither of these teams were highly ranked, or stacked with the level of talent of recent LHS teams. However, this team showed an ability to rise to the challenge when the money was on the table. Both teams successfully qualified for All-States for the ninth straight year by turning in their best times of the season at Divisionals. And then raised their level even further against the Bay State's best at All-States. Five seniors finished off their LHS Cross Country careers on Saturday, and a debt of gratitude is owed to each of them for carrying this program through some of its most difficult times over the last two COVID plagued years. Their dedication to maintain the culture of this program was essential to the teams' successes this season. Another special shoutout goes to first year LHS Assistant Coach Corey Coogan, who quickly became a part of the LHS XC family and helped guide the boys and girls teams from the first day he stepped foot in town. Most importantly thank you to each and every athlete who showed up every day and gave it their all. That is was this program has always been about, and we look forward to continuing the tradition this year on the track and next fall on the trails.
A select few athletes will head to Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, New York next weekend for the Nike Cross Regionals. The Minutemen will have individual athletes competing in both the Boys and Girls Open Races. The first race is set to go off at 10:00am on Saturday, November 27th.


I received my package today and I would like to express many thanks to the professional team of people because the photos are fantastic and were done really well! I really do appreciate the coupon to frame all my pictures at Fine Art. All the best to the team at PIPS for the new year!
A special thank you from the team at the Lok Jack GSB!
The event was a success for our team and for the graduates and we extend our gratitude for your patience and assistance with our Graduation Ceremony. The photos are looking great!
I want to express my sincere appreciation to the PIPS team for the amazing job on my graduation portrait taken in October 2016.
Your service was very professional and welcoming. The finished photos were beyond my expectations. I can now proudly display my photo in the living room thanks to the excellent work by your team. I would recommend your services to anyone needing professional photo services. .
Keep up the good work and high standard.
I received my package today. Thank you for your timely work of superior quality. It was a privilege to have PIPS do my graduation photographs. All the best in your future endeavors.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the PIPS team for the amazing job on my graduation portrait taken in October 2016.
It was really a great finish and you've actually made my accomplishment even more memorable.
I would like to congratulate your organisation on its amazing work for the UWI 2014 graduation exercise. I recently completed my Diploma in Education and was extremely impressed with my portraits.
Many thanks and congratulations again on your fantastic work.
You did such an excellent job as usual and we cannot decide which pictures to choose . The slideshow is absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much for your support. Thanks again for your usual professional service.
A Happy New Year 2013 to all at PIPS.
It would be remiss of me to receive such great work and not acknowledge the person(s) behind the work. I just stared at my photo and said ...wow!!!!!!
When I called the office I was told that praise should be given to the photographer. Sir, on the day of the photo shoot you were precise and professional and for that I say thanks; for the finishing touches to the photo bringing it to such perfection...thanks again. Continue to enjoy the fantastic work that you do...giving others the opportunity to appreciate the beauty that they possess.
To the rest of the staff at Pips...on the day of the shoot you were welcoming, accommodating and organized...thanks. I felt comfortable and at ease.
Thanks as well for delivery as promised.
I wish your establishment prosperity and love for the New Year and trust that you will continue to bless the lives of all those who cross your path.
Good day Ms. Hull and thank you for your kind and warm words. What better way to start the new year. The sentiments that you expressed are heart-warming and would be a source of encouragement to us all for years to come. Your thoughts also reinforce our company 'mantra' - If we are not constantly striving to be the best ............ then we might as well not bother. Customer satisfaction, at all levels, is our number one priority and you've confirmed that we seem to be getting it right. It is indeed a team effort, orchestrated and sanctioned by God.
We will continue to improve our service delivery each and every day and we thank you once again for your words of gratitude and appreciation.
We wish you and your family a Bright, Prosperous, Productive and Spiritually rewarding 2013.
I am a student who took photographs today at the UWI Chaplaincy. I would just like to say that I am pleased with the way in which the staff treated me and other students. You were warm and helpful, particularly the lady who wiped away the shine on my face prior to taking photos....I didn't tell her thanks-please do that for me and the photographer who seemed to really want us to have the best photograph by trying to make us feel relaxed and give a genuine smile.
Thanks much. It is really rare to find good customer service in Trinidad. Keep up the good work.
I recently graduated from the best Tertiary school in the East, SAMS Caribbean Ltd.
My graduation photos were received this morning and I am EXTREMELY SATISFIED with the final product.
Please note that I have just received my photo package at work an hour ago.
I am very satisfied, thank you for a well put together package and many thanks for being punctual with the delivery.
Good service and quality is hard to find sometimes in this country!
Hope all is well with you and yours. I would like to express my gratitude for the professionalism I experienced today (Thursday) at my photo shoot.
Thank you for your services. Good work Garth.
Thank you so much for the whole experience. I love the photos and the extra that you gave to me was much appreciated.


text:
Luxembourg wine merchant conned by fake footballer
A Luxembourg wine specialist is urging firms to be cautious after he was hoodwinked into sending fine wines worth 26,000 euros to a man posing as a famous footballer.
Gildas Royer, who owns In Vino Gildas in Belair, sent 30 bottles of expensive wines to a customer claiming to be Manchester City player Yaya Toure.
The man said that he wanted to hold a party in London for friends from his native country the Ivory Coast.
Gildas did not realise he had been scammed until after he had sent the wine to the UK and contacted the customers' bank. He is now using the incident, which happened in November last year, to warn other wine suppliers against making the same mistake.
He said: "I have chosen to talk about this experience with the press to help protect other companies, to warn them to be more careful. My advice to other wine sellers is never never never send before receiving the money. I've been doing this for 15 years and I've always adapted this rule for customers. But, in this case I was manipulated by professionals and the golden rule is don't send the goods before you get the money."
The scam began in November last year when the sommelier was contacted over the phone by a man claiming to be Yaya Toure. He asked to buy some Bordeaux wines for a large party to take place the following Saturday, which would welcome guests such as Chelsea forward Didier Drogba.
As an extra sweetener, the man also invited Gildas to London for a Champions League match. The footballer's supposed agent then placed an email order for 30 bottles, saying that the money would be transferred to Gildas' account. Men posing as private bankers for a British financial institution then sent faked documents certifying that the money had been transferred.
Despite this Gildas could see no money had been sent to his firm's bank account. He raised the issue with the private bankers who asked him to be patient. In the meantime, faced with time constraints of his customer who was holding a party in a matter of days, Gildas sent the wines to London but never received payment.
Since the scam, Gildas was able to recover six bottles of stolen wine when a dealer in London who had bought the goods saw his label on the box.
Gildas believes that he was targeted by the con artists because of his comprehensive website, listing his wine cellar stock.
"Companies and collectors shouldn't boast about their cellars by putting their contents online. I'm sure that I was targeted because of my website. I'm a specialist firm and I know now to be discreet,"
he concluded.


Pizza is my thing. I love different toppings, the flavour of bases and it's a great dish to have when catching up with friends.
It was lucky then that I was invited to Zia Lucia's restaurant in Highbury Islington which is a fab part of London (you may know it) so with my friend Phiroza in tow, we both headed there for a chat, some laughs and of course, Pizza.
I wasn't sure what the décor would be when we arrived but when we got there the restaurant was warm and inviting. The team were super friendly too when they greeted us and they showed us to some seats and handed us some menus.
There are some great options of dishes to eat including large salads and shareable plates but I wanted a Pizza, plain and simple.
I have a love affair currently with Parma ham so I selected the Centurione pizza with tomato and mozzarella and Phiroza ordered the Nduja, a combo of tomato, mozzarella and spicy pork sausage.
It's always a worry when you order pizza that it may feed a small horse but the portion sizes were ideal and great to warm our bellies for lunch.
It was nice to see that the pizzas were being prepared in the same room as the seating area. A big pizza oven dominated one corner and occasionally yummy dough smells would reach our noses making us hungrier while we waited for our mains to arrive.
My Pizza had the perfect combination of topping and sauce and was really filling and tasty. Phiroza seemed to enjoy hers too and we tried to eat our pizza's quickly in-between chatting and catching up with what is happening with our lives.
To finish off our meal we squeezed in some ice-cream which was delicious. Topped off with fruit, it was a great way to end the meal and enjoy something a little sweet too.
What I love about Zia Lucia's is the chilled mood and relaxed nature it has. I felt like Phiroza and me could have sat there for hours just catching up while eating and it just wouldn't have been a problem. There is nothing worse than feeling rushed and at Zia Lucia's we felt right at home.
The chain has a few branches that you can try out in London including their new one at Boxpark Wembley which is meant to be amazing!
Have a look at their website for locations and also have a scout of their menu also.
DISCLAIMER: I was offered a meal for two in exchange for an honest review.
The pizza looks super yummy!
Enjoy life leisurely, I like this feeling!


Zinpro 4-Plex C contains zinc methionine complex, manganese methionine complex, copper lysine complex, and cobalt glucoheptonate. Zinpro 4-Plex C can be used as a nutritional aid for preventing and treating lameness and foot rot. The patented feed additive is not a drug. It causes no side effects and leaves no milk or tissue residue. Helps increase milk production. Zinpro 4-Plex C improves performance in beef cattle and is essential for proper growth, skeletal soundness, tissue repair, wound healing, sexual maturity, reproductive capacity, and immune response in poultry, swine, goats, and horses. Each 1/4 ounce of Zinpro 4-Plex-C contains 360 mg zinc from zinc methionine, 200 mg manganese from manganese methionine, 125 mg copper from copper lysine, and 25 mg cobalt from cobalt glucoheptonate. For dairy and beef cattle, mix 1 lb. per 64 head daily. Horses: 1/4 oz. per head daily. Goats: 1 gram per head daily. See label for other concentrations.
TruCare 4 Top-dress Trace Mineral Blend for Livestock is a blend of organic, essential trace minerals including zinc, manganese, copper, and cobalt. Developed to improve livestock nutrition for hoof health and integrity, reproductive performance, lactation support, and more. Each scoop delivers 185 mg zinc, 103 mg manganese, 65 mg copper, and 6 mg cobalt. Top-dress feeding: goats and deer 1/2 scoop daily; elk 1 scoop daily; beef and dairy cattle 2 scoops daily. Meal. WARNING: Contains copper, do not feed to sheep.
Flav-Ful for Livestock is a unique flavor enhancement that entices all classes of animals to consume feed and water. Contains a robust, aromatic blend of antioxidants, pH buffers, vitamin C, and natural ingredients that aid with developing gut health and promoting efficient absorption of critical nutrients. Especially useful during weaning, and at times of stress. Can be delivered at any stage with no withdrawal and no waiting period. Top dress or add 1 lb. per 128 gallons water. Powder. Directions for use: Can be mixed with feed, top dressed, added to gruel, or dispensed with water. One pound of Flav-Ful mixed in 1 gallon of water will make a stock solution that can be added to 128 gallons of water. Rate may be increased if a stronger flavor is desired. Powder.


The Great Horned Owl didn't come back, but another intruder caused Rachel, Steve, and their surviving chick to move in a hurry: wasps.
Baby Bailey, the last remaining Osprey chick of Hog Island nest-cam stars Rachel and Steve, just can't seem to catch a break.
After being tormented by a predatory Great Horned Owl twice in the past two weeks, the family needed some time to rest and recoup. But a smaller winged intruder recently took up residence very close to home. Recently, sharp-eyed viewers of the explore.org live feed from Hog Island, Maine, discovered that wasps had built their colony right in the Ospreys' nest. On Saturday, the stinging horde grew too much for the two-month-old Bailey. In the clip above, the chick whips its head and scratches at its face as it's surrounded by insects. Finally, around 2:38, it leaps off the platform, plunging 35 feet down to the ground and out of sight of the camera. The bird was found unharmed: It was able to break its fall by using its wings—a skill that many growing avians share.
Turns out, though, the platform wasn't quite so abandoned; a female Osprey began threatening the chick as soon as it settled in. So Snyder decided to build the young bird a place of its own, about 90 feet away from its original home. It took Snyder and his fellow staffers an hour to assemble slats of wood and sticks to create a brand new nest on the island. The same evening he scaled the boathouse to retrieve Bailey for yet another change of venue—one that doesn't currently have a camera trained on it.
While the young raptor may be old enough to jump ship, it needs a platform until it's ready to fend for itself completely. Ospreys prefer to land on elevated snags and limbs, so chicks have to stay put as long as their parents are feeding them. Even when they're close to fledging "it takes a while for these birds to exercise their wings and take off," Snyder says. Once they do, it requires a few more weeks for them to learn how to fish. Until then they continue living off of mom and dad.
Despite all this drama, Bailey is expected to start flying soon, though the timeline could be delayed given all the bird has faced. Whenever it does finally get off the new nest, live-cam viewers should be treated to regular visits again. Roving fledglings typically come back to their first home, Snyder says. For now, however, people can enjoy fantastic scenes of Hog Island and its wild waterfront. And who knows, maybe a far-adrift guest, like that Vermilion Flycatcher back in April, will drop by to fill the spotlight.
Audubon is a nonprofit working to save birds and the places they need. To support our conservation efforts, please make a donation today.
A dedicated Osprey fan base is collecting valuable ecological data across Connecticut.
Get an intimate view inside a puffin burrow—and even glimpse a young puffling while you're at it.


text:
Q: Reading between the lines (perl or awk) Hey all, sorry for posting this here I could not find an answer anywhere and my solution is not working. I have a log file being written in the following fashion (don't ask):
=============================

04-12-2011 11:37:10 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

Variable1

Something Goes Here

=============================

04-12-2011 11:37:20 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

Variable2

Anything different may be here

=============================

04-12-2011 11:37:30 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

Variable3

is altogether different here

=============================

What I'd like to do (either in perl or awk as this is an RTOS) is:
Take a look at the file, if Variable1 exists, then start at Variable2 and print everything between the equal signs:
E.g.
=============================
04-12-2011 11:37:10 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

Variable1

Mary had a little lamb

=============================
04-12-2011 11:37:20 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

Variable2

The cow jumped over the moon
=============================

awk '/Mary had/{getline;getline;getline;print}'
will only print
04-12-2011 11:37:20 SOMETHING_GOES_HERE

but what I need is everything between the equal signs. I tried butchering up a perl script which isn't working either. Any thoughts?

Alright, this worked (sort of)
#!perl -w
use strict;

my $LOGFILE = "/home/mydir/MyTestFile";
open my $fh, "<$LOGFILE" or die("could not open log file: $!");
my $in = 0;

while(<$fh>)
{
    $in = 1 if /Variable1/i;
    print if($in);
    $in = 0 if /Variable2/i;
}

In the sense that a lot was stripped out. Now another q I have is selective printing a-la awk. Typically, I can get the line before something using:
echo "
test
hello
foo
bar" | awk '/foo/{print x};{x=$0}'

Will print test, however haven't found a way to get the word test (will always be a different word, but the word foo will always remain). Any takers (by the way many thanks in advance)

A: local $/ = "\n=============================\n";
while (<>) {
   chomp;
   ...
}

Alternative:
my $rec = '';
while (<>) {
   if (!/^=============================$/) {
      $rec .= $_;
      next;
   }

   ...

   $rec = '';
}

$/, chomp

A: I'm not totally clear on if "Variable1/2" etc are constant strings or actually varying quanitites, but does this work:
if [ $(grep Variable1 $file | wc -l) -gt 0 ]; then
  sed -n '/Variable2/,/=======/' $file
fi


show or movie or advertisement, for that matter. Rest in Peace, Sarah.
Something strange might happen at the Oscars this Sunday night. At some point during the evening, as the Hollywood glitterati are giddy on the excitement of the awards a sober moment will come. That is when the Academy will remind everyone of those who are no longer part of the cast, the famous actors who have died in the past year.
The Screen Academy have tried for years to stop the audience from applauding after each actors face appears because some get louder appreciation than others and it was turning into a kind of popularity contest. So now they have a big name singer who performs as the visual litany takes its course up on the big screen – with a huge round of applause at the end. The sober moment is short lived, there's a lot to gallop through during the evening.


text:
Stiffness Modulation of Redundant Musculoskeletal Systems
DownloadsDocumentsForumsSource CodeIssues
Dimitar Stanev and Konstantinos Moustakas, Stiffness Modulation of Redundant Musculoskeletal Systems, Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 85, pp. 101-107, Mar. 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.01.017 (2019)
Abstract View
This work presents a framework for computing the limbs' stiffness using inverse methods that account for the musculoskeletal redundancy effects. The musculoskeletal task, joint and muscle stiffness are regulated by the Central Nervous System (CNS) towards improving stability and interaction with the environment during movement. Many pathological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, result in increased rigidity due to elevated muscle tone in antagonist muscle pairs, therefore the stiffness is an important quantity that can provide valuable information during the analysis phase. Musculoskeletal redundancy poses significant challenges in obtaining accurate stiffness results without introducing critical modeling assumptions. Currently, model-based estimation of stiffness relies on some objective criterion to deal with muscle redundancy, which, however, cannot be assumed to hold in every context. To alleviate this source of error, our approach explores the entire space of possible solutions that satisfy the action and the physiological muscle constraints. Using the notion of null space, the proposed framework rigorously accounts for the effect of muscle redundancy in the computation of the feasible stiffness characteristics. To confirm this, comprehensive case studies on hand movement and gait are provided, where the feasible endpoint and joint stiffness is evaluated. Notably, this process enables the estimation of stiffness distribution over the range of motion and aids in further investigation of factors affecting the capacity of the system to modulate its stiffness. Such knowledge can significantly improve modeling by providing a holistic overview of dynamic quantities related to the human musculoskeletal system, despite its inherent redundancy.
Computing the task and joint stiffness using inverse methods that account for the musculoskeletal redundancy effects.
Publication Materials: GitHub
License: Publication Materials
This work presents a framework for computing the limbs' stiffness using inverse methods that account for the musculoskeletal redundancy effects. The musculoskeletal task, joint and muscle stiffness are regulated by the central nervous system towards improving stability and interaction with the environment during movement. Many pathological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, result in increased rigidity due to elevated muscle tone in antagonist muscle pairs, therefore the stiffness is an important quantity that can provide valuable information during the analysis phase. Musculoskeletal redundancy poses significant challenges in obtaining accurate stiffness results without introducing critical modeling assumptions. Currently, model-based estimation of stiffness relies on some objective criterion to deal with muscle redundancy, which, however, cannot be assumed to hold in every context. To alleviate this source of error, our approach explores the entire space of possible solutions that satisfy the action and the physiological muscle constraints. Using the notion of null space, the proposed framework rigorously accounts for the effect of muscle redundancy in the computation of the feasible stiffness characteristics. To confirm this, comprehensive case studies on hand movement and gait are provided, where the feasible endpoint and joint stiffness is evaluated. Notably, this process enables the estimation of stiffness distribution over the range of motion and aids in further investigation of factors affecting the capacity of the system to modulate its stiffness. Such knowledge can significantly improve modeling by providing a holistic overview of dynamic quantities related to the human musculoskeletal system, despite its inherent redundancy.
https://github.com/mitkof6/musculoskeletal-stiffness
Dimitar Stanev
Konstantinos Moustakas
Modeling kinematic
and dynamic
SCONE: Open Source
Software for
Predictive...
Control strategies
for functional
electrical...
An OpenSim plugin
to minimize joint reaction forces and...
Evertor and
invertor muscle
co-activation...
Efficient Methods
for Multi-Domain
Biomechanical...
Simulation of
Constrained
Musculoskeletal...
Platform for
Dynamic Simulation
and Control of...
Full Body Gait with Knee Contact Model
Wearable Sensor
Glove to prove
positive effect in...
EMG-informed
Computed Muscle Control for Dynamic...
Stretch Reflexes in OpenSim
Stimulation...


This recipe came to me on a whim one night when I opened the refrigerator to assess it's contents. I saw some tofu, leftover capers from deviled eggs, lemon and parsley. Back in the day before my husband became a vegetarian and I used to cook chicken, one of my go-to easy dishes was chicken piccata. I figured why not swap out chicken for tofu. It was fantastic, not to mention quick and inexpensive. If you are going to be entertaining this holiday season, chances are that you will have at least one vegetarian at your table. This dish would be perfect for company and might even turn meat-eaters into tofu-lovers!
You start with two blocks of extra-firm tofu. You want to drain as much moisture from the tofu as possible. To do this I usually wrap the tofu blocks in paper towels and set them under a heavy book for about five minutes.
Next you heat some oil and butter in a skillet. Cut the blocks in half crosswise and dredge them in flour. Add them to the pan and cook on each side for about three minutes until the tofu starts to brown.
Remove the tofu to a plate and add capers, lemon juice and vegetable broth to the pan. I love the taste and texture of capers. They are salty goodness! I had the perfect amount leftover from the deviled eggs recipe we made recently.
Add the tofu back to the skillet and let it cook in the broth mixture. Carefully remove the tofu to a serving platter and top with the sauce and chopped parsley. This is a seriously impressive dish for only taking about a half hour to prepare. Next time you need a quick vegetarian meal or know you will have some vegetarian guests, put this on your menu. It is so flavorful and delicious!
Drain tofu and wrap in paper towels. Place tofu on a plate with something heavy on top such as a cookbook. Let tofu drain for five minutes.
Place flour in a bowl and mix with salt and pepper. Cut each tofu block in half crosswise. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and oil to skillet. Dredge 1 tofu half in flour mixture and shake off excess. Add to pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side, until starting to brown. You should be able to fit 2 halves in the pan at a time. Remove tofu to a plate and repeat with remaining 2 halves. When second batch is cooked, remove to the plate.
To the pan add lemon juice, capers and broth. Bring to a simmer and add tofu to pan. Let cook for about 4 minutes to soak up flavor. Remove tofu to a serving platter. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to pan which will thicken the mixture. Pour that over the tofu. Top with parsley.
If you like this recipe, you may also like Stir-Fried Tofu and Vegetables with Thai Peanut Sauce.
Pleasure to stop by your site. My daughter who lives in Ma. found the site and shared with me as my husband and I live full time at the shore. We are from Phila., and also spent summers here as that was the best of both worlds. We have been vegetarian for many years and I have countless recipes to share as well. Bon Appetite!!
Very cool! I'm always trying to figure out what to do with tofu!
This looks amazing! I love capers and I eat tofu regularly. It's always nice to find new, creative ways to prepare it. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I would never think to put these ingredients together, but it sounds amazing!
Made this tonight for our family of five so I made 1 1/2 times the recipe. Was a huge hit!! Definitely making this again!!!


All eyes will be on Wainimakutu Secondary school's long distance runners in the Suva Zone One meet at the National Stadium today.
The rural school dominated these events last year however, meet co-ordinator Salote Maiwiriwiri says they won't the only athletes out to impress and set new records.
Ratu Sukuna Memorial, Nasinu Secondary, Dudley High School and Ballantine Memorial are top favourites to take top honours.
Schools that have reigned supreme in other zones are Marist Brothers High School and Suva Grammar in the Suva Zone Two meet while Lelean Memorial and Adi Cakobau won the Triple N yesterday.


text:
Manchester United FC news
This website is a fan zone of Manchester United FC
Moyes calls on Fellaini to emulate Manchester City goal threat
The Belgian midfielder is yet to score for since completing a summer deadline transfer to Old Trafford, while the likes of Yaya Toure have consistently found the back of the net
David Moyes is backing Marouane Fellaini to start scoring goals for Manchester United – much like the midfield options of rivals City.
Fellaini has scored just one goal this season, in the Capital One Cup for Everton against Stevenage, prior to completing his transfer deadline day move to Old Trafford in a campaign disrupted by injury.
City midfielder Yaya Toure, meanwhile, has scored 20 goals in all competitions so far, while Fernandinho, David Silva and Samir Nasri have all contributed.
And the Scot believes Fellaini is on the verge of making a breakthrough ahead of the Manchester derby on Tuesday night.
"They [City] have goalscoring midfield players and it's important to have goalscorers all over the field," Moyes told reporters. "That contributes a lot to your goals.
"But we've got good midfielders. We still think Marouane Fellaini can get goals and he was unlucky on Saturday against West Ham.
"He should have scored with a header and then you could argue it was a penalty with the one where he went through [on goal], so I think he's beginning to show signs he can get some goals for us as well.
"But I do agree they've got very good midfielders who are goalscorers."