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On September 11, 2005 By Dan WalmsleyIn General
A slight fleshing out of the former brief update. Please excuse occasional swapping of Y and Z – they have been switched around on German keyboards. The effort of typing correctly is making me bleed through my ears.
I arrived in Oslo on a Wednesday evening, just as the sun had set. The flight from Edinburgh was uneventuful, but we did pass through some very aesthetically pleasing clouds.
Oslo airport is a typically modern Scandinavian construction – a soaring structure of glass and wood, with stylistic references to Viking longboats and North Sea fish. And another typically Scandinavian touch: a kiosk selling ham sandwiches for about AUS$14. I think they should rename this place "Scamdinavia".
I located the hostel (and, to my relief, my cousin Lachlan) and went to bed.
The next day, we ventured out to central Oslo, 24-hour public transport ticket in hand (the public transport in Scandinavia has been universally amazing. On-time, clean, frequent, comprehensive and well-integrated. Compare with, for example, Dublin's new Tram system where the two small tram lines don't even meet).
After a certain amount of dazed wandering we located the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, opened just two months earlier. It is a technological marvel. From the moment you walk in the door, you are surrounded by flowing curved information screens that display information on current and past world conflicts in both textual and iconographic form, as well as quotes from both great and despotic leaders on the subject of people not getting along. Including one from Homer Simpson. Nice.
The exhibition also includes a book whose text is projected onto it from above. When you turn the page, the camera projects a different image. But that's just the start. When you wave your hand over the page, different parts of the text and images expands to reveal additional information. So, for example, there may be a picture of Alfred Nobel holding a beaker and some text that says "Inventions". Waving your hand at it (which also triggers the movement of a kind of swirly mouse pointer) will open a text box describing how his invention and refinement of devastating military-grade explosives enabled him to fund an eternal peace prize. If the world ever stops waging war, the loss of revenue for the Nobel Foundation would probably also mean the end of the peace prize. At this stage, I'm seriously considering re-reading Catch 22.
Another series of screens enabled the user to browse the biographies of every prize winner in incredible detail. A metal slider at the side of the screen enabled you to browse the list mechanically, while a chunky joystick-switch at the bottom allows you to switch languages.
In the afternoon we caught a boat across to… some place whose name I forget. Byg Doy I think. There were many museums – Vikings, old homes, fishing – all of whose foyers we explored meticulously after discovering there was no way we could afford to go in. Finally, we snuck into a boat museum just after closing time when they forgot to lock up.
In the early evening we caught a boat back to central Oslo, ingeniously leaving my only jumper behind on the dock. We were haphazardly making our way to the ritzy eat-out suburb of Grunne Lokke when we bumped into an American lady who had seen us on the boat and recognized my cornea-scarringly-bright orange coat. Her name was not Leanne, but that's what I'm going to call her in this blog and, continuing the Peace theme, she works for the US Association for Peace (or some such thing) in sunny downtown Baghdad. That's right – she's trying to bring Peace to Iraq. Likes a challenge, this woman.
We hung out and had a few drinks – Leanne bought us both Ice Teas of the alcoholic variety, myself the Long Island and Lachlan the Jamaican. Very very nice, as indeed they should be at $20 a pop. Leanne told us things about Iraq, the US and the UN that would make your hair curl and bookcases fall over. The brain-damaged incompetence of the UN, the late-night editing of Iraq's constitution by one of the interested local parties just before it went to the UN for printing, the US forces ignoring all the NGO's advice and pressing ahead with timetables for nation-building that are simply unfeasable in a last-ditch attempt to get the Hell out before the domestic political damage becomes too great.
Yes, actions like that deserve a long and brutal sentence. Bdm-tish.
Leanne herself participated in gathering evidence and lessons from every other nation-building exercise in recent history in order to provide instruction on how to avoid, for example, civil war. In her words, they have now done "absolutely everything wrong". Until a month ago she saw the process as salvageable. Now, she believes the scales have tipped in favour of all-out civil war and the descent of Iraq into a haven for terrorist cells, Islamic fundamentalism and anti-western sentiment.
In a happy coincidence, she caught the same train as us to Bergen the next day, and we all sat together snapping photos out of the window of the train as it snaked its way across the top of Norway's fjords and plains. It was a spectacular train ride, and introduced us to the full range of Norway's practically-uninhabitable landscapes.
Once at Bergen, we trekked around for a while before finding a hostel with spare beds, at Montana, a few km's out of town on the side of a beautiful mountain. In the morning, we climbed the mountain to a height of 645m and took loads of photographs of the spectacular landscape. Bergen is surrounded by 7 mountains and 7 fjords, and at the end of our trek we caught the cablecar from the nearest mountain back into town. During the day we wandered around town trying to find the Hurtigruten (it was misplaced on the map – not the first time we would find the Lonely Planet maps wanting). By chance they were having an open day, so we were able to explore the boat and snag some free shit, including fruit and icy poles. By this stage we had already become accustomed to stealing and exploiting our way through Norway, as it's the only way to survive when your currency isn't worth spit on the ground.
In the evening we met up with a Special Friend of Lachlan's, with whom he disappeared to places unknown once it became clear that she was bang up for it. I spent the evening hanging with her rather cool friends, whom I drunkenly created arguments with in a way I normally wouldn't enjoy so much. I slept on their couch.
The next day we recovered, shopped, and groggily made our way to the Hurtigruten Coastal Passenger Ship, OVDS line. This. Ship. Is. Awesome. Then again, it's my first and only experience of passenger ship life, but there's nothing like quaffing Cuban Rum while sitting in a spa at the back of a ship watching the fjords roll by to get things off to a good start. We also availed ourself of the gym and sauna facilities, helped a Norwegian salesman called Eirich with the English in his PowerPoint presentation. We spoke to a teary elderly American whose wife died 9 months ago, as they were planning the trip together, and he has taken it anyway in her memory. The passengers were almost all elderly or middle aged, and the only 20-somethings we saw boarded just as we were leaving in Trondheim. Nevertheless, it was great fun.
We spent a few uneventful hours in Trondheim looking at a spectacular medieval church and attached museum, and I got my head shaved. Then we caught an overnight train to Stockholm via Östersund.
Stockholm is huge and beautiful. Spread over, I think, 14 islands and teeming with art and history. One of our first finds was a shop full of old Soviet war memoribilia. I bought a few badges and some poster prints that I thought would be of interest to friends and relatives, but have yet to send them to Australia. We wandered up the main street and saw the changing of the guard at Europe's largest Royal Palace. Lachlan discovered the Design center, to his delight, and we checked out an exhibition called Extra Ordinary, which reinterpreted common household objects in interesting ways. It included some amazing electronic carpet whose textures changed as you walked over it (rather like the book at the Oslo Nobel Peace Museum). Also, we saw:
– A table that contained a display in the center that showed aerial view of England, at street-level, that moved according to the pressure from objects sitting on the tabletop.
– A one-person disco with mirrors, music and strobe that gave the impression you were in a room full of copies of yourself. Malkovich malkovich malkovich, Malkovich!
– A mirror with a 3-second delay, constructed using a small camera and a large LCD display. If you were quick, you could get a photo of yourself arguing with your own reflection.
– A fantastically stupid Japanese collection of nonsense machines, mostly based around the theme of Fish. For example, there was a fish-operated toy car. No, really. And a mallet used to smashing a fish to death, which opened to reveal a casket for the fish, and a fish-eye lens through which you could stare your newly-deceased fish friend in the eye. And they demonstrated it. With a live (then dead) fish.
Lachlan also obtained the details of a woman called Camilla who organised a visit for us to see an energy-efficient hotel on the Swedish island of Gotland. The next day, we caught the train-and-enormous-boat to Gotland, found ourselves some bicycles and a tent, and started riding to the North of the island from the port of Visby. That night we camped on a beautiful, isolated rocky beach and made ourselves a small fire, just big enough to see the still-unfinished bottle of Cuban Rum by.
The first day we rode 56 kms, the second we were to ride over 100 kms, the remainder of the way to the North and then all the way back to Visby to have a drink with Camilla. The scenery was beautiful, the air clean, the roads and towns well-maintained, and I almost died of exhaustion.
As a side-note, Gotland is covered with wind turbines. We saw dozens, and apparently the southern part of the island has many more. It makes sense – it's a flat place in the middle of the sea, so I expect they get pretty consistent wind. Since then we have seen countless wind farms through Denmark and Germany. Europe is pretty keen on them, it seems. It's good to see!
After one night spent camping next to a road in Visby, we caught the boat and train back to Stockholm, expecting a connecting train to Copenhagen but… we had misread the timetable. No train. We eventually found a bus that would take us, but as a result I hardly slept (though Lachlan did quite well).
That brings us to Copenhagen.
Arrived 8am Sunday on overnight bus, walked around but not much happening. Watched fantastic Viking games and the Sun Chariot and Star Wheel display at the Danish National Museum, and checked out some fascinating exhibits of the history of civilisation in Scandinavia.
Next, we went to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, the biggest collection of Greek and Roman sculpture outside Rome. It was under renovation, but the parts that we were able to see were lovingly put together and we spent a lot of time there. As well as the sculptures, they had quite a few paintings by Monet, Picasso, Matisse etc. and a really extensive collection of mummies and sarcophagi from Egypt.
That night we found the hostel, Vandrehjem, a few kms out of town on the very new (2002) computer-controlled Metro. Lachlan was fascinated by the way it was put together, and we both took quite a few photos and debated how it was powered etc. It's a lot like the Singaporean system, with doors along the platform lining up with the train doors, and plenty of natural light in the underground stations during the day.
The hostel was great. We played some basketball with a ball that wasn't round on a surface that wasn't flat, shooting through a ring that was too high. We were ably umpired by our roommate, Chris, who was the least interesting person we have met on this trip. He's a perfectly lovely English lad of 26 who came to Copenhagen, complained there was nothing to do, saw the Madame Tussauds and Guinness World of Records exhibits and drank himself stupid and went home. His favourite films include Stealth and Pearl Harbour, and his least favourite include Team America World Police and basically anything else that I like. We were absolutely polar opposites in taste. The only way in which were were similar is that we both frequently complain that other people have no idea about anything.
The next day (Monday) we went to the very beautiful Louisiana modern art museum, which is on the way North to Helsingor, about 30 minutes train ride out of Copenhagen. They had some great exhibits: Matisse's "new life", featuring correspondance and art from the period following Matisse's long illness in the early '50's, including the original cut-outs for the "Jazz" book and some HUGE montages. There was also an installation called "Louisiana Manifesto" by French architect Jean Nouvel (sp?), who has won awards all over the world for his buildings, notably including the amazing Centre for the Arab World in Paris. The centerpiece of the exhibit was the manifesto itself, a decree that basically public structures need to be more responsive to the will and environment of the people for whom they are built, rather than imposing themselves on the environment. It was accompanied by some huge cartoony murals that depict Nouvel's recent projects. It managed to make a profound statement without teetering into a huge puddle of wank, despite threatening to do so several times. Finally, there was the standard Louisiana modern art exhibition, which was brilliant.
We never made it to Hamlet's Castle at Helsingor, because we got caught up all day at Louisiana. Instead, we caught the train back to Copenhagen and headed out to a blues club called Mojo. Local blues musician Paul Banks was playing, a brilliant and virtuosic guitarist. Apart from the first and last tracks, they were all originals from his almost-40-year career.
The next day we headed into town to catch an early screening of SteamBoy. Unfortunately they only had one ticket left, so I let Lachlan take it (I've seen it before) and I went off to finally buy myself a replacement for the jumper I left at the dock in Bygdoy. I also bought some shoes that wouldn't destroy my feet (up to this point I had been trekking around in stylish but ridiculously unsuitable loafers, which left my feet an abraded, peeling mess) and a belt to hold my trousers up. This led to fewer arrests for inadvertent public indecency.
Lachlan and I met up again at 12:30 and walked several kilometers to Christiania, an experimental hippie commune that has been around since the early 70's. Until recently, it had a reputation for being a haven for drugs, both soft and hard, and one street earned the name "Pusher Street". In the last two years, a crackdown by police has removed the visible criminal element, but it was still no trouble to walk down Pusher Street and score a handful of high-quality hash. Christiania has been built on the remains of an old Naval base, and takes up both banks of a scenic river. There is a lot of natural scenery and it feels a world away from the density of the city right next door. There are a few really impressive experimental house designs among the heavily-graffiti'd tumble-down shacks, and around 1000 people live in the area full-time. They run their own schools, maintain their own infrastructure, cars are banned in favour of bikes and walking. Rent there is extraordinarily cheap for Copenhagen, about 1500 DKr/month, or AUS$350 (in fact, it was originally conceived as a cheap place to live, a huge squatter's paradise – the organisational structure arose naturally from that).
We walked a full lap of Christiania before heading off towards the Little Mermaid around dusk. I was keen to find the English Church where my Dad sang as a child, and I think we did finally get there – Dad, check out the photos to see if I'm right. It was very picturesque, right next to the island castle.
We took a few photos of the Little Mermaid (the guide said most people are disappointed by her, but I thought she was lovely, perhaps because my expectations were set so low) and walked back into town. After grabbing some all-you-can-stand pizza, we walked to the red light district south-west of the central station, where we passed just a handful of hookers before reaching one of those used-to-be-dodgy-so-lots-of-hip-bars-suddenly-appeared parts of town, where we settled into some conspicuously heavy drinking and chatted to a few lovely foreigners.
One of them was an Aussie guy of Indian extraction whose accent was very much 70's Australian – to us, he sounded Aboriginal, which is probably a naive thing to say but these days it's true. The Australian accent has definately changed, but after satisfying himself that we weren't complete wankers, he told us his story, which was a fascinating one. He makes documentaries (he's been to 103, 110 or 118 countries, depending on how much he's had to drink) and has opinions on just about everything. He has been living in Copenhagen for 14 years, and currently associates with a clique of young lesbians who all seem to be planning to move to Berlin because "that's where it's at now". I had a long chat with a Somalian girl who spoke with a Washington DC accent but had lived in Copenhagen for a few years. She's a designer of some sort, it all got fuzzy around that point, but she somehow manages to live very well without having a regular job. Good for her!
After decorating the footpath for a good half-hour, an equally disabled Lachlan bundled me into a cab and we made our way back to the hostel.
The next day we boarded a train for…
Berlin!
Need. To. Sleep.
Marked improvement
3 thoughts on "Scandinavia"
photos soon please!
That was fantastic reading. More, more!
I wish to know more about this fish car thing.


PORTOROZ: Blaž Završnik's second feature Juliet and Alfa Romeo is competing at the Slovenian Film Festival in Portoroz. The 18th edition of the festival takes place from 15 to 20 September 2015.
Tilen, a handsome high school student, swears to be forever faithful hoping that his girlfriend will sleep with him, but a sequence of tragic events turns his world upside down. He will start believing he is under a spell which puts his life in jeopardy and prevents him from having a relationship with the girl of his dreams. The main characters are played by the young talents Dario Nozic Serini, Jan Gerl Korenc, Spela Colja and Katja Skofic. Lev Predan Kowarski is the DoP.
The film is produced by Andrej Štritof and Aleš Pavlin through Perfo Production with a total budget of 526,254 EUR. TV Slovenija is supporting with an amount of 400,000 EUR, Aleš Pavlin told FNE.
Blaž Završnik's debut feature, Sailing to Paradise (Sever&Sever d.o.o., 2014) was ranked the third domestic title in the Slovenian box office in 2014.
Juliet and Alfa Romeo will be released by Fivia in the Slovenian cinemas immediately after its festival premiere on 17 September 2015.


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Landau's youthful sallies into stellar theory: Their origins, claims, and receptions
Karl Hufbauer
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, Vol. 37 No. 2, March 2007; (pp. 337-354) DOI: 10.1525/hsps.2007.37.2.337
3319 37th Ave. So., Seattle WA 98144; hufbauer@u.washington.edu. I appreciate many helpful comments from Finn Aaserud, Gennady Gorelik, Karl Hall, Alexei Kojevnikov, Lewis Pyenson, Simon Werrett, and the University of Washington's History Reading Group. On this occasion, I also wish to acknowledge Russell McCormmach whose solicitation of my .rst article ended up enabling me to pursue an academic career.
View author's works on this site
https://doi.org/10.1525/hsps.2007.37.2.337
Published online March 1, 2007.
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Professional Management Group (PMG) is India's first sports management company  started in 1985 by Sunil Gavaskar and Sumedh Shah.

PMG offers diverse services in the field of sports. Though PMG has been closely associated with cricket, it also has services in other sports such as golf, squash, horse racing, hockey, bodybuilding, archery, and water sports.

In the late 1980s, to establish business, PMG started promoting the Indian sports industry through mediums like print, television and events.

PMG produced sports programmes for television channels like Doordarshan, DD Metro, STAR Sports and ZEE Network and the highest selling VHS cassette on cricket, Best of One Day Cricket, for Citibank. The company also produced the first and highest selling cookery cassette NESTLE Food Talk Show and the first ever interactive CD ROM and hosted a website on WILLS World Cup 1996.

PMG managed the CEAT International Cricket Awards, the Indian Cricket Awards and the first All India Club Golf Tournament for McDowells.

Sponsorship and syndication of print columns
The concept of the sponsored syndicated column was created by PMG in 1986. This concept had not been used before in India.

The idea behind the sponsored syndicated column is that a top level national or international sportsperson writes a column which is then sponsored by an advertiser and syndicated to newspapers throughout the country by PMG. The newspapers get columns written by top-level sportsmen whom they cannot afford to pay if the column was not syndicated and sponsored and readers of even small papers get to know the views of national and international sportsmen.

References

External links
Times of India
ceatcricketrating
Castrol
Castrol

Companies based in Mumbai
Indian companies established in 1985
1985 establishments in Maharashtra
Sports management companies

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HomeHistoryBurma-IndiaThe German Raiders Thor and Michel
Raiders in the Indian and Pacific Oceans
August 16, 2020 PE Matt Burma-India, Central Pacific, History 0
After the loss of the Kormoran on November 19th, 1941, there were no German auxiliary cruisers still afloat anywhere in the Pacific or Indian oceans. Keen to put pressure on the Royal Navy and force it to defend the sea lanes all over the world, the Kriegsmarine had already decided to send more "hilfskreuzer" to prey on British merchantmen in the far reaches of the world's oceans.
The Raider Thor
The next raider to been sent on a cruise in Far-Eastern waters was the Thor. Known as "Schiff 10" to the Germans and "Raider E" to the British, Thor was one of the smallest of the raiders with a displacement of just under 3,800 tons. Built as a banana boat for the South American trade, she was due to be named Santa Cruz before she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in the spring of 1939 before completion and converted into a merchant cruiser. The construction of this ship had been subsidised by the Kriegsmarine, which knew that small, fast merchantmen would make ideal auxiliary warships when the time came. Thor was equipped with six 150mm guns, four torpedo tubes and a suite of anti-aircraft guns. In June 1940 she set out on her first cruise in the Atlantic, during which she sank 12 ships for a total of almost 100,000 ton. Thor had also survived three different encounters with Royal Navy armed merchant cruisers, sinking one of them, before returning to Germany in April 1941.
Thor underwent a thorough refit at Kiel's naval dockyard. She was given new 150mm guns and a Seetakt radar, the first to be fitted to an auxiliary cruiser. She retained a single Arado 196 floatplane for reconnaissance, to be flown by Flying Officer Meyer-Ahrens. Thor also had a new commanding officer, Kapitän-zur-See Günther Gumprich. Her second cruise got off to an inauspicious start. Departing Kiel under a blanket of thick fog, the raider rammed the Swedish ore carrier Bothnia and sank her. Thor's bows were damaged and she had to return to Kiel for repairs.
Setting sail again on November 30th, Thor benefitted from poor weather that helped her slip through the English Channel before she reached La Rochelle in France. She remained there for several days before making an abortive attempt to break out into the Atlantic, which was thwarted by British air patrols. Forced to return to port, she finally left France for good on the 17th of January, 1942. Turning south, Thor crossed the equator on February 4th and arrived at her initial patrol area in the South Atlantic by the 25th.
A month later she came across the Greek-registered M.A. Embiricos, took off her crew, and sank her with a torpedo. On the 30th of March Thor shadowed a freighter for several hours before Gumprich sent his Ar 196 into action with orders to use a grappling hook to rip her radio antenna away. This being achieved, the target was unable to escape and after a brief shelling was stopped and boarded. This ship, the British Wellpark, was then scuttled. Two days later another British freighter, the Willesden, was dispatched in similar fashion, and on April 3rd the Norwegian freighter Aust was likewise sunk. A third British freighter, the Kirkpool, followed on the 10th.
Thor was finally ordered into the Indian Ocean when the Michel arrived to take over the South Atlantic beat. She rounded the Cape of Good Hope on April 22nd, evading a British armed merchant cruiser in the process, before meeting the tanker Regensburg to re-provision and transfer prisoners. Consultations with the Japanese Navy had led to a division of responsibility in the Indian Ocean – I-boats were active in the west, where the British were about to initiate landings on Madagascar. To keep clear, Thor was to operate well to the southeast.
On May 10th, 1942, Thor's Ar 196 was airborne on patrol when it spotted a large liner. The ship's crew in turn spotted the plane and prepared for an attack. Six hours later the Arado returned and initiated a strafing run, as well as unsuccessfully attempting to rip off the ship's aerials. Thor soon appeared on the scene and shelled the vessel, but not before SOS messages were sent out. Finally, as the raider's guns began to find their mark, the captain of the ship – the Nankin – stopped and order his passengers and crew to abandon ship. A German prize crew went aboard the liner and repaired the slight damage caused by a sabotage attempt, before both the Nankin and the Regensburg were sent on to Japan.
On the 14th June of June Thor's Seetakt radar picked up a target in the dark. The raider closed in to attack and opened fire in the darkness, quickly finding that range and landing hits on target. Almost immediately a fierce fire began to rage on the victim, which turned out to be the Dutch tanker Olivia. Only one survivor was picked up, but 12 more escaped in a boat. Eight of these survivors died before the remaining four washed up on Madagascar a month later.
Five days later the patrolling Ar 196 came across another target, and attacked with machine guns and bombs. A warning salvo that followed shortly afterwards from Thor convinced captain of the Norwegian motor-tanker Herborg to stop. She was carrying a valuable cargo of 11,000 tons of oil. A prize crew was sent aboard and took the tanker to Japan. On the 4th of July another Norwegian tanker, the Rossbach, was discovered and again a combination of strafing, bombing and shelling brought her to a halt. She was in ballast, or empty, but taken as a prize nonetheless.
Thor gave chase to another target spotted by her lookouts on the 20th of July. The ship tried to flee from the raider, but also fired back with her single gun and transmitted an SOS message, necessitating a running fight which eventually resulted in the target's gun crew and the radio operator being killed. On fire, the freighter Indus came to a stop and 49 survivors were picked up. She was to be the Thor's last victim. The raider cruised unsuccessfully off Western Australia before passing through Sunda Strait and making for Borneo. She briefly stopped there before heading to Japan for refit, arriving in Yokohama on October 9th 1942.
Whilst moored in Yokohama, disaster struck. On the 30th of November the nearby supply ship Uckermark, herself undergoing refit, underwent a series of explosions and caught fire. The fire quickly spread to Thor, the captured Nankin, and the Japanese ship Unkai Maru. All four ships were soon destroyed by the conflagration with 12 of the Thor's crew being killed. Gumprich survived and was soon assigned to another raider that would arrive in Japan early in 1943.
The Raider Michel
The final German auxiliary cruiser to reach the Pacific, indeed the last hilfskreuzer to be active anywhere on the world's oceans, was Schiff 28, known as Raider H to the Allies, and named Michel. This ship was launched in April 1939 as the MV Bielsko in Danzig, but was seized by Germans after the invasion of Poland and renamed Bonn. It was originally planned to fit out the Bonn as a hospital ship, before the decision was made to convert her into a raider. Main armament for the Michel was taken from the raider Widder, a sister of the Atlantis, which had been decommissioned due to her unreliable engines. Michel had the usual raider armament of six 150mm guns, six torpedo tubes with 24 'fish', and anti-aircraft guns. She was also outfitted with two Ar 196s and a light speedboat.
Michel was commissioned on September 7th 1941, under the command of Kapitän-zur-See Helmuth Von Ruckteschell. She departed Kiel on 9th March 1942, but was attacked by British patrol units during her attempt to break through the Channel. This caused minor damage and the death of one officer, but the raider nevertheless safely arrived at La Pallice on March 17th. Three days later she departed and broke out into the Atlantic. Michel was to be assigned the South Atlantic area which had been vacated by the Thor, which had moved into the Indian Ocean. In time, Michel was to follow her predecessor east.
Michel had a busy time of it, sinking nine ships in the Atlantic over the next few months. First, on April 19th, was the British tanker Patella, whose crew was taken off before the ship was sunk with demolition charges. Three days later the American tanker Connecticut went to the bottom. On the 1st of May, however, one potential victim managed to escape. Heading south passed St Helena, the Michel came across a liner and, with her crew disguised as British sailors, order her to stop. Suspicious, the captain of the Menelaus refused and went to maximum speed to escape. The 16-knot Michel could barely keep up and sent the speedboat Esau to intercept, but the liner dodged her torpedoes and eventually escaped – the only ship ever to escape from a raider after an attack had begun.
Normal service was resumed on the 20th of May, when the Norwegian freighter Kattegat was stopped and scuttled. On the 5th of June Michel found the disabled Liberty ship George Clymer after listening in on her distress signals. Esau hit her with two torpedoes but she remained afloat, eventually being finished off by a British ship. Six days later Michel fired without warning on the freighter Lylepark, which soon caught fire. Survivors were taken off, and the burnt out ship later sank.
Michel found and sank the elderly liner Gloucester Castle on July 15th, before finding two tankers on a parallel course the next day. The Esau was sent after one, the tanker Aramis, whilst Michel herself gave chase after the William F. Humphrey. This ship was hit several times by shells and at least one torpedo fired by the raider. 29 of the crew escaped into boats and were picked up by Michel, which then met up with Esau and finished off the Aramis. Heading south again, Michel met with the raider Stier and the pair briefly hunted together without success, then split up again. At night on the 10th of September, Michel came across and quickly sank the US freighter American Leader. The next evening, Michel found the motor ship Empire Dawn and shelled her to a stop. Despite the crew signalling their surrender, Ruckteschell ordered more fire on the ship which killed several of the crew. After the war, he would be tried for this action and others whilst in command of the raider Widder. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, however he died in prison in 1948.
Michel then entered the Indian Ocean, after Ruckteschell had a brief 'discussion' with his commander in Germany as to the best hunting ground for his ship. The raider refuelled from the tanker Brake on the 14th of November, and commenced hunting. Two weeks later Michel encountered a feighter in the dead of night, and closed quickly to short range before opening up with a devastating salvo that hit the target's bridge, defensive guns, and lifeboats whilst also starting fires. Torpedoes from the Esau soon followed and the freighter, the US-flagged Sawolka, sank. 39 survivors were fished out of the ocean.
On the 9th December, a storm had forced the Michel to halt and ride out the swells, but a surprisingly another ship emerged from the gloom and all hands were quickly ordered to their battle stations. This was the Greek freighter Eugenie Livanos, whose crew was busy celebrating St. Stephen's day. Torpedoes put and end to the party, and more survivors were plucked from the sea. The raider was then ordered back to Germany, to the joy of her crew. She re-entered the Atlantic and on 2nd January her Ar 196 spotted the British freighter Empire March. Michel and Esau together stalked the target, before the cruiser opened fire with guns and torpedoes, and the speedboat added her own fish as well. The freighter quickly went down, with 26 survivors taken aboard Michel. This was the first time on the entire cruise that the pilot, Konrad Hoppe, had found an enemy ship whilst patrolling.
Ruckteschell then received a change to his orders, forbidding him from attempting to break through the Allied blockade and return to Germany. Instead, he was ordered to Japan. By February 7th lookouts spotted the island of Bali, where the Michel briefly docked at Batavia. She then headed for Singapore, where her prisoners were landed. On the 2nd of March, Michel arrived at Kobe in the Japanese Home Islands, 358 days after she had left Germany. Ruckteschell took the opportunity to request his relief, due to ill health, and spent the rest of the war in various Japanese hospitals. I don't like going to the drugstores because of all those people crowding there. I suffer from agoraphobia, and such visits drive me crazy. Thank God now I can order medicines on https://www.carrienet.com/buy-ativan/. It helps me to minimize contact with people and get exactly what I need and when I need it. The delivery guy calls me before his visit, so I don't get anxious about it. He was replaced as commander of the Michel by Kapitän-zur-See Günther Gumprich, who had been unemployed since the destruction of the Thor in November 1942.
After undergoing a thorough refit, on May 1st Michel departed Japan and headed back to the Indian Ocean. By June 14th she was 300 miles west of Australia, where her Ar 196 reported a ship heading west. Michel closed and launched a surprise attack at night in Gumprich's preferred style. Fires broke out and the crew began abandoning ship. This was the Norwegian freighter Höegh Silverdawn, which was heading for the Persian Gulf. Two days later lookouts spotted a large tanker which was shadowed until nightfall. This was another Norwegian vessel, the Ferncastle. The Michel again closed in to attack. 2 torpedoes from the Esau caused damage but Ferncastle's captain thought they came from a U-boat. When Michel came into view, the crew realised that escape was impossible and surrendered, although several escaped in the dark in lifeboats. Worried that the escapees might report his location, Gumprich then took the Michel south of Australia into the Pacific. Pickings were slim for the Michel and she crossed the entire ocean without encountering any shipping and was off the coast of Chile by late August. There she narrowly avoided destruction when she spotted the American light cruiser Trenton, but Michel managed to slip away without being spotted.
Heading back west, in the vicinity of Easter Island Michel spotted a tanker, Again, she was shadowed until nightfall and then attacked. Almost at the first salvo the tanker, the Norwegian India, split open and a huge fire engulfed the vessel. There were no survivors. Michel then had a miraculous escape when, in foul weather, she found herself coming across an American convoy with strong escort. Carefully moving away she allowed the distance to open, and slipped into the gloom. With increasing Allied strength and limited opportunities, Gumprich elected to return to Japan.
On October 17th, as the raider was heading for Yokohama, she was spotted by the American submarine Tarpon, which shadowed and attempted to gain attack position. This achieved, a spread of torpedoes was fired, two of which hit the Michel. The ship stopped and began to list, before the Tarpon fired a second salvo of torpedoes which caused Michel to explode. Only 110 of the crew of 373 survived, Gumprich not amongst them. Michel was the last of the raiders, and with her demise the hilfskreuzer were consigned to history.
german raiders
German Raiders in the Pacific
German Raiders in the Indian Ocean


What happens when your employer disregards your contractually negotiated rehire rights? Part-time instructors at Oakland's Laney College recently found out. One of them is Cynthia Mahabir, a sociology instructor and Part-Time Representative on the executive board of the Peralta Federation of Teachers. Mahabir has taught for 17 years, but the district did not rehire her this fall, despite the rehire rights negotiated between the union and the district. Mahabir gave an in-depth interview to Part-Timer.
Q How long have you taught sociology at Laney College?
A For 17 years and I love it.
Q What gives you the most satisfaction about teaching?
A Teaching at a community college has been far more satisfying personally than teaching at four-year institutions. The classroom excites me and is my source of gratification. I really like the students, who represent a very interesting mix of ethnicities, immigrants and native-born students, and people of different ages. They come from the wider Bay Area and even as far as Sacramento; sometimes they take multiple forms of public transportation to get here. So many of them are deeply appreciative of learning and get really excited about the stories I tell in class, the connections I make between the sociological concepts we're studying and the outside world.
Q How did you feel when you learned you weren't going to be rehired?
A My heart sank. I felt like I'd been summarily discarded, especially when I discovered they had cut off my access to district email and I couldn't even communicate with colleagues or former students.
Q How has this changed your life?
A It's been hard. It was emotionally and personally corrosive for a while, but I've figured out how to deal with it. I'm willing to fight because I think this is an injustice.
I have a lot of support from my part-time and full-time colleagues at the college and others across the nation. I'm staying focused, not getting drawn into nasty aspublic exchanges, but instead putting energy into the processes we have in place to challenge this administrative decision.
Q What's your sense of why this was done to you?
A It seems clear to many of us that it was retaliatory. I had taken public positions that the administration did not like.There have been some ex post facto fabrications justifying the decision, but none of them is very convincing or defensible according to our contract language on rehiring part-time faculty.
Q How has the union helped you during this difficult time?
A Our local union was aware of my case, and that of other instructors, even before I was because the administration sent them a letter saying I was not to be rehired because I was not a "good fit." The union was ready to file a grievance even before I thought about what should happen! Because I'm the Part-Time Representative for our local union and some of the public positions I had taken were in that capacity, the union was clear that they would do everything possible to fight for me. They also understood it was extremely important to defend our rehire pool contract language.
We compiled a detailed report about my case that was put in all faculty mailboxes. We conducted two reinstatement petition drives with high faculty and student participation. We also organized a series of presentations before the Peralta Board of Trustees. I invited some students to speak because of the claim made by the administration that I was "not the best fit" for Laney students. Hearing what students said about the effects of my teaching was really special and touching. They expressed such appreciation. I'm deeply gratified to see how they develop and to know I've played a role in shaping the next generation.
Q What possible outcomes do you see at this point?
A Our contract has a clear timeline for procedures in cases like mine. The first stages require informal conversation between union representatives and administrators. This case will be going to arbitration. The union is asking for rehire and restitution of wages.
Q How does this situation make you feel about teaching as a part-timer?
A I love my work; but I'm realizing how little people know about what happens to part-timers, the actual experience of job insecurity and disposability. This really came out in our print materials, on our website, and at the Board of Trustees meetings. We know we're helping people recognize the importance of a good contract and a strong union, especially for part-timers.
Q What advice would you give to other part-timers?
A Know your strengths and don't get intimidated. Inform your union reps about what's happening to you, and document it all. Keep your focus on your emotional well-being and on the larger picture — our rights as part-time faculty.
To maintain stable teaching ranks, many local unions have negotiated some form of rehire rights or preference hiring for part-time faculty in the collective bargaining agreement between the union and the district.
>Find detailed coverage of this case in the summary compiled by the Peralta Federation of Teachers.


Hearings to form a Community Facilities District for Pardee Homes' Meadowood development will be part of the April 10 and May 1 San Diego County Board of Supervisors meetings.
The supervisors set the hearing dates Feb. 27, on a 5-0 vote, and since the county supervisors are also the board members of the San Diego County Flood Control District that vote on behalf of the flood control district approved a Joint Community Facilities Agreement which will be part of the CFD and which had previously been approved by the North County Fire Protection District board.
"Pardee Homes has just been great working with the staff to satisfy the conditions of approval," Supervisor Jim Desmond said.
In January 2012, the board of supervisors approved the 384-acre Meadowood development. The original approved map included 397 single-family homes, 447 multi-family dwelling units, 13 acres for an elementary school which will be built by the Bonsall Unified School District, four acres of park land, 128 acres of biological open space, 47 acres of agricultural open space, 5.9 miles of trails and a wastewater treatment plant. In order to avoid impacts to sensitive environmental resources, a public park was relocated and the number of units is now expected to be reduced to 825 with the public park size increased to 9.1 acres and the trail total reduced to 5.6 miles. Because the deviation was less than 10 percent of the total amount of the previously approved plan, the change was found to be in substantial conformance with the map and no additional hearing was needed. The residential component is now expected to consist of 473 single-family and 352 multi-family homes.
The 1-percent property tax will not be sufficient to cover county, San Diego County Flood Control District or North County Fire Protection District services which will be needed to serve Meadowood. The county and Pardee have been working to create a Community Facilities District which would include a special tax to pay for services not funded by the regular property tax. The revenue would be distributed through a Joint Community Facilities Agreement which stipulates the collection process as well as the distribution process.
In 2007, the county supervisors adopted Board Policy I-136 which outlines how potential Community Facilities District projects will be evaluated, ensures that the CFDs are created for the public good and stipulates disclosure requirements which notify prospective property owners of the assessment. Policy I-136 also defines credit requirements to protect bondholders from default for CFDs which issue bonds for reimbursement of constructed infrastructure, although Meadowood will fund services only and will not use long-term bonds. Policy I-136 also limits the tax rate for a CFD to 1.86 percent of the estimated sales price of the residential homes. The first CFD in unincorporated San Diego County was established for a Harmony Grove development, and in 2014 a CFD for the Horse Creek Ridge project near Meadowood became the unincorporated county's second CFD.
The Community Facilities District for Meadowood would allow for the collection of three special taxes: one for county services, one for flood control services, although the county supervisors serve as the board of the San Diego County Flood Control District and the flood control district is administered by the county's Department of Public Works, it is a separate legal district, and one for fire and emergency medical services.
The initial tax for county services would be $609 per single-family residential unit and $457 per multi-family unit. The base tax to fund flood control services would be $342 per single-family unit and $256 per multi-family unit. The fire district would receive $283 for each single-family home and $195 for each condominium unit or other multi-family dwelling unit for the first year. There would be no levy for the fire protection and emergency medical services on the undeveloped property.
The initial tax amount is for fiscal year 2019-2020. The taxes would be increased by 2 percent annually to cover the increased cost of services. The total tax for fiscal year 2019-20 would be $1,234 per single-family unit, which equates to an estimated tax rate between 1.31 and 1.35 percent of the sale price and $908 per multi-family unit.
If the Bonsall Unified School District chooses not to build an elementary school up to 42 residential units would be allowed on those 13 acres and would also be subject to the special taxes. If the school district owns the property, that land would not be subject to the assessment.
The North County Fire Protection District board approved the Joint Community Facilities Agreement on a 5-0 vote, Jan. 22.
"We're really happy that we were able to not only finalize the agreement but work cooperatively with all the various county departments," NCFPD fire Chief Steve Abbott said.
In 2014 San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission detached the Meadowood land from the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority boundaries and annexed the 384 acres into the North County Fire Protection District. The LAFCO transfer provided the North County Fire Protection District with 7 percent of the 1 percent basic property tax assessment, which was based on previous property tax exchange agreements. That funding will not cover the full cost of delivering fire protection and emergency medical service to Meadowood, so additional revenue to cover the fire district's cost to serve the area will be obtained through the CFD. Pardee paid a $389,000 annexation fee to the fire district at that time.
The fire district is expected to receive an additional $202,500 in annual revenue when the homes are built but before the 2 percent annual increases.
"We're certainly looking forward to the additional funding to provide additional staffing out along the I-15 corridor," Abbott said.
The county not including the San Diego County Flood Control District is expected to receive $423,775 annually in 2019, while the flood control district can expect an additional $252,004 for its maintenance of stormwater drainage and treatment facilities.
The Community Facilities District boundary map has six different tax zones which correspond to the residential planning areas of the Meadowood development. Each planning area comprises a separate phase of the final map. The zone structure allows the assessment for each zone to be recalibrated if there is a reduction in the number of units or taxable acreage at the time the final map is recorded.
The first step required to form a CFD is a petition from the developer, which has been received along with the proposed boundary map. The board of supervisors then adopts a resolution of intention to form a CFD.
The county supervisors initially approved a resolution of intention in March 2018, but due to the change in the map that resolution of intention was withdrawn and will be replaced by the resolution of intention scheduled to be adopted April 10. That hearing will allow the county supervisors to consider not only the establishment of the CFD but also the proposed rate and method of apportionment of the collection of the special tax, the Joint Community Facilities Agreement with the North County Fire Protection District and the San Diego County Flood Control District and other elements of the CFD.
The April 10 hearing will also adopt a resolution calling for an election and approve the first reading and introduction of the ordinance authorizing the special tax. Because the proposed CFD area is uninhabited and Pardee is the sole property owner, a consent and waiver will allow for a waiver of the normal election procedure to form a CFD and the ballot to form the CFD can be returned immediately upon the adoption of the resolution forming the assessment district. The May 1 hearing will approve the results of the election and also approve the second reading and adoption of the ordinance to levy the special tax.
The property is also part of Zone A of the San Diego County Street Lighting District, and property owners will also pay that annual assessment which is currently $13.50 per benefit unit.


If the USMC wants to improve the decision-making, adaptability and other core warfighting skills, then we must change the way Marines learn from the current approach (which is internal process-focused, primarily based on the "Competency theory") to a new approach (which is externally, effect/outcome-focused) more aligned with the outcomes we are seeking (see Figure 1 below). This figure was created by the recent students from the Tactics Instruction Section at USMC Officer Candidate School or OCS. They compared what they currently do with learning (referred to as training) and what they learned during the week of 5-9 November 2018. To the left as you view the chart is the current approach to learning, born out of the competency theory of education adapted by all public schools in 1905. It was employed by the U.S. Military for World War I, and institutionalized after WWII.
To the right is what the USMC OCS cadre learned over five days referred to as Outcomes Based Learning or OBL. They compared the latter to the doctrine referred to as Mission Tactics or Mission Command in MCDP-1 Warfighting. These points will be discussed further throughout the paper.
Figure 1: From Old to New.
In addition to establishing the "current situation" as one wherein Marines have been largely successful; there remains a continuous struggle to evolve both their warfighting and learning approaches (which are interconnected). Essentially, the Marines (and the military at-large) are overcoming their learning model. We are succeeding despite, rather than because of the current model. Considering the changing face of war and the increased requirement for MAGTFs to prepare for Full Spectrum Operations, a Learning philosophy seeks to merge the benefits of training and education with self-learning and experience. The Learning philosophy helps create thinking Marines and MAGTFs that can solve problems under stress based on an understanding of the problem.
A well tried and proven Learning Philosophy the Marine could evolve to is called Outcomes Based Training and Education (OBT&E), now called Outcomes-Based Learning (OBL). The doctrine of OBL stresses the development of intangible attributes such as initiative, critical thinking, judgement, and responsibility. The Learning philosophy uses observable outcomes to measure the self-development and effectiveness of Learning. More importantly, it uses those outcomes to develop more adaptive Marines and MAGTFs who are better prepared for the rigors of 21st Century combat.
What is OBT&E or OBL (Outcomes Based Learning)?
Outcomes-based Learning (OBL) is a different system for development, meaning both training and education are nested under Learning. By the way of analogy, OBL is to Learning what Mission Command or Mission Orders is to operations. Instructors are given requirements but not directed how they must achieve them. They are then held accountable for the results.
OBTE/OBL is not a POI, a workshop, etc. Rather it is an approach to Learning that can (and should) be used in EVERY school, POI, etc. It needs to be clear (at the conceptual level anyway) that OBTE/OBL is the "Information Age" approach that is the best way of getting to what Major General William Mullen, commanding general of Training and Education Command (TECOM) defined as the "intellectual edge" in his 18 July 2018 guidance on the direction Marine Learning should evolve.
Current USMC training methods seek to teach Marines and their leaders how to apply pre-defined, approved process" (which in the case of a T&R event must, by rule, be performed exactly to the checklist to be "correct"). Nominally these processes "flow down" from doctrine, but are not considered doctrine by CD&I. Doctrine isn't the issue. It's the "textual adherence" to process without regard to context that's the issue. OBL seeks instead to teach them how to frame problems and solve them, focusing on the results rather than the methods used to obtain them. Methods are useful "tools" to guide/assist; they just shouldn't have the firmness of the earth if we have a better way, which OBL provides. It is thus designed to create thinking, adaptive Marines and leaders who can apply what they know to solve problems they have not previously encountered.
Figure 2: What is OBT&E now OBL?
OBL is an approach to planning, managing, and delivering Learning. It results in the attainment of a set of holistic, observable, and measurable skills and behavioral traits (outcomes) in individuals and units. It does so by requiring a thorough understanding of the underlying principles and increasing mastery of fundamentals, gained while progressing through a series of increasingly challenging scenarios. These scenarios always require the instructor and student to think and solve problems in context; tasks are taught in context of a problem, and not in standalone step processes used today.
Col. John Boyd identified the three important determinants of success People, Ideas and Things – in that order. Identifying and developing good leaders and followers is the first obligation of any large organization – without those leaders the best ideas will not emerge and cannot succeed and without devoted followers, the vision and decision of leaders will not be realized. Organizations are already full of potentially brilliant leaders and entrepreneurs who just need to be unleashed on the problems and opportunities a competitive economy presents.
The Mission Command/OBL workshop imparts the concepts and skill set necessary to become an adaptive organization operating under a culture of Maneuver Warfare (in MCDP Warfighting it is referred to "Mission-Orders" or Mission-Command") – balancing the harmonized effort of the traditionally centralized structures of a large organization like the USMC with the individual leadership, initiative and creativity found in smaller organizations or the start-up culture. More than just empowering leaders within your organization to seize opportunities and react to threats as they emerge, they must be prepared the right way to take charge and make decisions with little guidance from above (see Figure 3 below). Complexity in development requires less control from above, not more.
For example, we recently conducted the Five-day Mission Command and OBL workshop for the USMC Officer Candidate School (OCS) Tactics Section (5-7 NOV 18). This was an exciting first step on the road to creating a fast moving, adaptive organization with dynamic and courageous leadership. It focuses on "training the trainers" exposing them to several teaching tools. We used proven Outcomes Based Learning and Adaptive Learning methodologies to ensure participants stayed fully engaged and involved throughout the five-day session.
The workshop employed interactive Tactical Decision Games (TDGs) (or as USMA DMI calls them Tactical Decision Exercises or TDEs), wargaming (using both map and dry erase versions of Kriegespiels (wargames)), peer assessment and lively analytical discussions creating a safe yet challenging environment for all participants. We also exposed the USMC OCS cadre to how to create Outcomes and Measures of Effectiveness, as well as planning and executing Free Play Force on Force Exercises, and the Tactical Decision Game Physical Training (the students planned and conducted both exercises followed by a student led detailed and well facilitated AAR).
Quickly developed a sense of trust among their team as they explore complex problems and build dynamic, adaptive teams.
Got exposed to a variety of tools from TDGs to wargaming, and free play force on force exercises to use to develop adaptability and prepare students or subordinates how to succeed in a culture of Mission Command.
Understood how to develop Strength of Character as the premise of each and every course through problem solving scenarios, facilitation and ownership of learning, and finally through effective AARs.
How to teach without PowerPoints and no lectures. Theories of learning and decision making are only introduced if asked by the students or to support a given tool or methodology.
During the workshop we introduced and practiced After Action Reviews (AAR), a tool adapted from the U.S. Marine Corps and Army, and a vital building block for developing adaptive leaders and teams. The trust, respect and understanding developed within the workshop enables students to honestly, effectively and critically evaluate themselves and their peers, critiquing the decisions not the decision-makers. Conducting effective AARs is also a great way of promoting an adaptive culture, helping disseminate knowledge, experience and hard-won lessons throughout the organization and encouraging the faster and more effective decision making and action. Most learning occurs during these sessions.
The Mission Command/OBL workshop deliberately introduces mild stressors into decision-making games, looking to raise the heart-rate of participants into the optimal zone between 115-145bpm. This occurs from the very start (no introduction, it jumps right into a problem-solving game) as soon as the students arrive. While initially participants might spike above those levels, it is precisely this kind of safe, repeatable practice that will allow them to calmly and confidently confront future real-world challenges. The workshop approach to teaching with TDGs/TDEs uses OBL Learning doctrine, proven to embed and imprint experiences in adult learners.
Important to note that OBL is in action inside formal schools as well as the operating force – formal and informal learning environments. It proved highly successful in the formal school setting at the United States Military Academy's (West Point) Department of Military Instruction (DMI) as it evolved from the Industrial-Age to Information-Age in 2008 to 2012 under the leadership of Colonel Casey Haskins. Another course where OBL has been highly successful is at the US Army's Reconnaissance Course (ARC) at Fort Benning, GA. It was also introduced in 2009 and 2010 at the USMC Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS), and at the USMC Infantry Officer Couse (IOC) in 2010 and 2011. It was also introduced to the USMC The Basic School or TBS in the summer of 2012. It also worked exceptionally well for the OPFOR as the U.S. Army's 4-10 Cavalry Squadron moved from the linear way of training and education to OBL in 2014-2016 under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Chad R Foster. Under the Formal School and OPFOR examples, OBL relied heavily on the instructors growing expertise and ability and much less on scripts, standard procedures, or external controls. It standardized Learning by the results or outcomes. In other words, success was judged when the student or unit demonstrated they can solve a new problem to an acceptable level using their newly developed skills and or knowledge.
OBL does not standardize learning by the process (every student will first do A, then do B, then advance to C, and finally qualify on D) or by inputs/throughputs (each student will fire three rounds, spend 2.5 hours on this topic, watch these slides, do three iterations of this drill, or we got 1000 Marines through the training, etc.). It recognizes that many skills and situations have more than one acceptable way of solving the problem and does not mandate one solution. Nor does it specify one way to teach a particular skill or to learn it (see figure 3). As is currently believed, processed oriented task training, regardless of the task, is not fundamental to learning. Critical thinking and problem solving is the first thing that young or new people should be immersed in, growing in complexity as they move along their career continuum.
OBL explicitly focuses at every step on developing such "intangible" traits as critical thinking, judgment, problem solving, initiative and accountability—in both the instructors and the students.
Though there are similarities, Outcomes-Based Learning are not just new words for old concepts. Outcomes are not merely terminal learning objectives. Measures of Effectiveness (MoEs) are not merely task standards. Many senior leaders, upon hearing of OBL, claim they've always done it. This is a common misperception. The vast majority have not.
Finally, OBL requires no more resources than the standard USMC Training and Readiness or the T&R training model. While it will require a new method for allotting resources, since inputs (number of rounds, hours, miles, etc…) no longer drive the development, a standard package of resources will still suffice, so long as the instructors have been developed so they understand how to use them employing an array of various learning tools.
The first, and arguably the most important, step at every level from the Marine Corps HQ down to the lowest level of command, directorate or section in a course, is developing an outcome. Outcomes, like Commander's intents, should flow from top to bottom with some overlap, but not much. An outcome clearly defines what success is desired at the end of the development event, being a class, phase in a course, or the course itself, flowing down from a given command and higher (See Figure 4).
The outcomes should be simply stated in clear language. Ideally, they are broad, rather than detailed, and holistic. In other words, they are not meant to stand alone, but together. That is important because it prevents a leader from conducting training that might further one outcome while hindering or even going backward in others. In the case of a unit, the outcomes are a statement of what the unit should be able to do, and they should describe its values and behavior. In the case of a school, they specify what each graduate should be and able to do, upon completion of a given phase, course or the entire school.
Each outcome is then expanded one level into "measures of effectiveness" (MoE). These MoEs answer the question, "what does success in this outcome look like?" Taken together, the MoEs define success. Furthermore, each MoE should be measurable or at least observable, so that they form not just the basis for the training program, but also the basis for the assessment.
OBL is most like standard training in this step. However, there are two main differences. As with the current way the training plan is developed, the OBL Development plan is not the point around which everything hinges; the outcomes are. So, if something isn't working, the plan changes (without going through massive layers of approval to change it). Traditionally, units have tended to do this well, but schools/courses are much more rigid (as we discovered in the Mission Command/OBL workshop with USMC OCS). Using OBL, the Program of Instruction (PoI) in a school will change from one cycle to the next as leaders/instructors/cadre assess successes or failure at achieving outcomes.
The other and more significant way in which OBL differs from standard USMC training plans is that instructors receive more latitude. Less is directed by higher headquarters, but the plan correspondingly builds in accountability. For instance, if land navigation is part of a school, the plan might build in several days with little direction, available to junior leaders, and resourced with training areas and transportation. There would be no expectation that each leader would use the time the same way. A description of the types of navigation problems each student would be expected to solve on the final day should provide sufficient guidance for developed leaders to teach their Marines; those Marines performance will then show clearly how well each leader did and allow the change of command to hold leaders accountable.
The endstate that the Marines are seeking is the conduct of OBL is adaptable Marines that can operate more effectively under a doctrine of Maneuver Warfare. OBL aligns well with the principles of Maneuver Warfare, particularly Mission Command or Mission Orders. What does it provide if executed as per the proposed Learning Philosophy? This is a significant area where it will differ from today's Marine Corps training. The differences stem mostly from an attempt to make training better fit human nature, rather than working against it as Marine Corps learning often has today. OBL is also geared to fit better with the ambiguity and complexity of today's and future warfare.
According to Dr. Alana Niscastro, educator at USMC Marine Corps Training and Operations Group, And is aligned with our motto – improvise, adapt and overcome. It also helps establish" a culture of learning" and this "intellectual edge" yearning. Ha! Talk about institutional message alignment! Our current rigid practices take us farther away from realizing our brilliancy. Learning is a platform for experimentation.
The cadre from USMC OCS found out there is far more flexibility granted to both teachers and Marines, with far fewer external controls. This requires an investment in developing leaders (both on the skills and on how to teach). An overwhelming majority of both leaders and Marines respond and perform at a much higher level. The OCS cadre on Day 5, the final day said they wanted more to become proficient!
OBL emphasizes principles rather than checklists, procedures, or standards. While there are certainly minimum standards outlined in T & R manuals for what an acceptable performance is, they are rarely discussed with the Marines. The Marines then strive to do their best.
OBL emphasizes the "Why". Traditional Marine Corps training emphasizes the "what" and "how" but too often neglects the "why". For instance, every Marine knows how to low crawl, but surprisingly few can explain when it might make sense to do so. They therefore avoid doing it at all or they tend to do it inappropriate circumstances. Learning philosophy builds in the "why" from the beginning and reinforces it at every step requiring the student to solve problems and newly acquired knowledge and skills.
As Marines solve problems, and learn by doing, they are required to figure as much of it out for themselves as they are capable of. This "guided-self-discovery", in which the leader or teacher guides or facilitates the Marine only through the bits of a problem that they can't figure out for themselves, helps the Marine move thoroughly understand the concepts and to connect them to their context. While it may take a bit longer to learn, the learning is deeper and retained longer. Marines in the new Learning philosophy are conditioned from the beginning to think to solve problems.
In much of traditional Marine training, by contrast, Marines are told what to do, whether or not they understand why. They are therefore being conditioned not to think and not to solve problems, but rather to follow sequences and procedures. This conditioning causes them difficulty when they are forced to adapt to new and unexpected circumstances. Not only are they less experienced at solving problems, but they are conditioned not to try (See Figure 6 below).
Problems expressed through scenarios employing an array of various delivery tools under the OBL are realistic and don't divorce the skill from its context. To take an example, treating a casualty in combat is different than treating one in a classroom or on a range. This situation changes the medical response. For instance, the need to move the casualty to a less vulnerable location for further treatment not only changes the sequence of treatment steps in controlling the bleeding (a tourniquet is immediate rather than after trying direct pressure and elevation) but also requires the Marine to balance medical treatment with security, control of the unit, and accounting for personnel. Together, this results in a fundamentally different learning experience from traditional training that isolates each task and trains them one at a time.
Stress is reversed. Normally in a Marine Corps school or course, the Marine will experience a high level of stress at the beginning. Whether induced intentionally or inadvertently through the unfamiliarity of the situation, that stress usually interferes in mastering the fundamentals. The Marine is more focused on avoiding trouble than in mastering the skills. OBL, in contrast, begins all learning with little or no stress. Treating the Marines as adults, teachers explain skills thoroughly, breaking them down into their fundamentals, making sure Marines understand principles and the "why" behind each skill, but without talking down to them.
On the other hand, as the student begins to master the basics, the learning is presented to him in increasingly difficult problems to solve with their new skills, even while they struggle to master them. This results in increasing stress as the learning progresses, which helps the Marine to cement their skills and understanding, helping them to gain confidence as they succeed at handling more challenging problems. This in turn helps them to learn to manage higher levels of stress as they perform—all with little or no yelling or other artificial stressors.
Marines in traditional Marine schools, by contrast, tend to experience decreased stress as they adjust to the environment and get more comfortable. For example, in the US Army Ranger School students later in the course require more yelling and bigger threats to induce a similar response to early days. This reduced stress results in incomplete learning, as the student often fails to "lock in" the skills in a realistic combat context.
OBL aims for a much higher level of mastery of individual and team skills. The tyranny of throughput and external control means that traditional Marine Corps training ("Skills and Tasks") results in everyone meeting minimum standards, but often prevents Marines from achieving as much as they are capable of, and often penalizes initiative and new approaches (innovation). This is certainly true in schools, but also often true in MAGTFs. The results are unfortunate but predicable. The level of individual expertise in many units is too low to enable a unit to excel in combat situations. Worse, the traditional approach can foster a climate where Marines and even Marine leaders tend to wait to be told what to do next, rather than exercising judgement and initiative.
Mistakes by students or units under the OBL are treated as opportunities for learning to occur. Marines are encouraged to try things for themselves and to learn from their mistakes. The leader's role is to make sure that the Marines analyze why something went wrong and to draw reasonable lesson from the experience (of course the teacher or leader is expected to exercise judgement and while avoiding catastrophic mistakes). Too often, Marine Corps training treats mistakes as things to be avoided or nipped in the bud. Leaders and teachers are rewarded for avoiding mistakes or correcting them immediately and are rarely encouraged to allow mistakes to unfold so that their Marines can learn from them.
Accountability is built into OBL. Marines are given both the responsibility and the authority they need to conduct the learning their own way. They can be held accountable to the results they teach too, while they are focus on clear Outcomes and guided by Measures of Effectiveness (MoE). But if leaders or teachers are required a task in a certain way, as is often the case in Marine Corps training, it is difficult to blame them if their Marines don't learn. In OBL, Marines learn accountability. Required to solve problems, and given the authority to try different solutions, Marines learn to accept responsibility for their actions and decisions. Results matter. In almost every case, Marines will come to see accountability as an enabler, allowing them to solve problems their own way.
Under the OBL, Marines will be given problems to solve and then watch as they solve them. Those problems should be familiar to them, but which they could be reasonably expected to solve given their level of skills and experience. If the problems are properly designed, the teachers or leaders who are observing them will not only see clearly whether the Marines have mastered the skills but will see whether they truly understand why things are done, and will gain insight into such intangibles as initiative, judgement and accountability. An added benefit is that the assessment is good learning for the student being assessed.
In a Marine Corps of motivated volunteers, expected to succeed in difficult and rapidly evolving battlefields, the new Learning Philosophy is a better way to prepare. It aligns more closely with the way people learn. While results are preliminary, the evidence is clear that it results in superior mastery of skills, better retention, higher levels of confidence, and improved judgment, initiative and accountability.
On the other hand, implementing OBL poses challenges. It relies much more on Marine leader's abilities, and so requires investment in better preparing leaders. They need to have the skills, they need to be able to explain why things are done the way they are, and they need to be able to teach. It requires the right command climate. Strict insistence on uniformity and standardization will stop it dead, since the OBL requires both leaders and Marines to experiment with different solutions.
It requires commanders and teachers to create conditions that allow it, including neutralizing external agency vetoes (i.e., range control), and removing rules and processes that prevent initiative. It will require a different method of allocating resources to learning, and more flexibility in using them, since resources are currently matched to tasks being trained rather than skills attained. Nevertheless, it can be done, and then it works very well. Finally, it will require a change in Manpower's incentives; as they all work against making the best instructors. We cannot have the passed over teaching the rapidly promoted. It makes no sense, killing the seed corn at the altar of career advancement.
Finally, decision makers who adapt OBL must plan to develop cadre and leaders first, then implement in small steps. Remember, this approach cannot be done in revolutionary terms, but in evolutionary steps as leaders at all levels are developed into how to implement, nurture and teach it.


AAB Karen decided to take a whole day off today, which almost never-ever happens. Apparently she had Important Non-Library Stuff to do, whatever that is.
So I'm stuck hanging out with rest of the staff. They aren't too bad until it comes time to have snacks.
AB Christine is especially stingy, but I thought she might feel sorry for a hungry Library Cat with no thumbs. So I hung out with her for the afternoon.
I hopped up on AB Christine's desk to chew on some papers and knock her writing utensils to the floor. ALSO to stomp on her keyboard while she was editing a Word document (that always gets me some attention!).
Yep, that's my Forever Pepper!
and then I chewed the corners off the invoices I was sitting on.
After a while I resorted to staring. Notice my Frown of Displeasure. This photo was taken about a nanosecond before I meowed "Hey put down the flashy-box and get me some treats!"
Not an artsy shot. Just a tilted photographer.
Repetition is the key to training these humans. So I meowed repeatedly, and we seem to have made some progress. I think I got her to reach in the treat drawer two times in one sitting, which is a Friday Miracle!
Thank goodness AAB Karen is back at work tomorrow.
PS - Today I taught AAB Becki that I do not like beef-flavored wet food. That one is a little easier to teach.


Brody had done every 'all hands on deck' meeting he ever wanted to do. More than. Added to that general feeling, this one was honestly edging toward torturous.
If he could have done something, to protect Libby from the growing realization that someone she'd considered a friend, even a distant one, was one of the bad guys he'd have jumped on it. He'd been in that position more than once, having to stand in the decaying ruins of a plan or a situation and accept that someone hadn't been what he thought they were.
Anyone who told you that didn't hurt was a goddamn liar.
She wasn't running from it though. She was standing tall and straight, in a room full of people there to judge her intelligence and honesty at the least, answering their questions in a soft, intentionally pleasant voice. He watched them more than he watched her, it hurt to watch her and know there wasn't really anything he could do to make this easier for her.
He couldn't help with the part where she was having to answer questions like she somehow should have realized the harmless dude who wanted to be her friend was really a bad guy. He could be her eyes on the crowd. He could watch everyone else while she was having to focus on the person who'd asked her questions.
He counted at least four people who clearly thought she was in on it, and he was going to watch them extra closely, obviously. Three more he was relatively sure thought she'd been sleeping with "James" and another two thought she was sleeping with him.
Thankfully Inspector Hussein was at least marginally in control of this thing, and she didn't fit into any of those categories. She was just super frustrated because they'd found Libby on facial recognition just fine, in all the places she'd said she'd been.
James was somewhat conspicuous in his absence.
Half of the other people in the room got up, swept their things up, and left. Libby sat still and serene and watched them. Their eyes met for a second and he tried to give her a smile. Inspector Hussein sent her people in some different directions, looking for ways to track James and ways to track the explosives they'd found. They were apparently still looking for a body.
Eventually it was just the three of them, taking up the meeting room.
"Did he ever talk about politics?" Inspector Hussein asked.
"He wouldn't have," Brody answered, scoffing.
Both of them looked at him, waiting.
Well, his best bet would have been to watch Libby, see who decided the fact she was still breathing and still speaking to the police was a problem. But he definitely didn't want to say that right now. He wasn't thinking too deeply about it, but he very much did not want her to think that was why he was staying. It'd taken all of his self-control—honed by twenty years of doing what he was supposed to do and not what he wanted to do—not to haul her into a hug as soon as she'd opened the door to her hotel room. To sit down and talk through what she'd remembered in her dream, and not actively do anything to make her feel better.
Because the job wasn't over yet, and he wasn't supposed to be doing things to make her feel better.
And that sentence right there told him there was no way he was going to get away with saying he didn't have that sort of specialization. Which meant she'd checked up on him. Brody could push that. He was relatively sure he knew Libby well enough to know she wasn't idealistic, wasn't the sort to find out what he'd spent the last twenty years doing and not want to speak to him anymore or anything like that.
That didn't mean he wanted to talk about it.
He didn't know how to give her any of that specialist information without making Libby feel…worse. Without trotting out all the ways this dude she'd potentially liked enough to at least be friends with had spent months getting close to her and twisting that until he could use her. Brody wasn't even sure what they'd been using her for, thought he was pretty sure it was supposed to finish with Libby dead.
"Because you're not all watching me like the likelihood of them trying to finish the job is high," Libby muttered.
"He's been pretty clear the job's not finished," Libby muttered.
Inspector Hussein gave him a dark look, and nodded her head toward Libby a bit, like he was supposed to correct that somehow. Like there was any way for him to, based off a couple of days of acquaintance.
"I said I wasn't going anywhere and I meant it," Brody settled on, after thinking about it for a minute. Maybe that didn't feel like it was just about the job anymore, but it probably wasn't the right time to be too self-reflective about that.


Chapel Street chaos: fire rips..
Fire has ripped through a Chinese restaurant on Chapel Street.
Crews were called to Shanghai Street shortly after 1pm on Monday following reports of a blaze.
Trams and traffic have been brought to a halt on the busy street at Windsor.


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Shipwreck reveals its boozy treasure: Czar's 100-year-old liquor salvaged from WW I wreck
A ship that was sunk while transporting a cargo of liquor to the last Russian Czar is revealing its boozy treasure.
The Swedish steamer S/S Kyros was sunk in the Baltic by a German U-boat in May 1917 on account of her "contraband" cargo. Her crew was transferred to a nearby ship and returned to Sweden.
Some 50 cases of cognac and 15 cases of liquor were onboard the S/S Kyros at the time of her sinking.
WRECK OF 18TH-CENTURY SHIP THAT SANK 'IN DUBIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES' DISCOVERED AFTER 40-YEAR SEARCH
The wreck, which has been damaged by fishing nets, was discovered in 1999. Exploration specialists Ocean X Team and iXplorer recently salvaged a haul of cognac and liquor from the ship. Popular Mechanics reports that 900 bottles of alcohol have been retrieved from the ship -- and they may still be drinkable.
Two of the bottles recovered from the wreck/Czar Nicholas II - colored file photo. (Ocean X Team/Getty Images Europe)
"It's a fantastic moment to find these bottles… finally ... it took 20 years to bring up this historic treasure," Ocean X Team spokesperson Dennis Asberg told Fox News, via email. "Many of the bottles are in good condition ... but we will now do an analysis on all the bottles."
The bottles of "De Haartman & Co" cognac and "Benedictine" liqueur were recovered from a depth of 77 meters (253 feet) in international waters between Sweden and Finland. Benedictine is now owned by Bacardi.
CENTURIES OLD WINE DISCOVERED IN ANCIENT SHIPWRECK GOING UP FOR AUCTION
"The importance of this event cannot be overemphasized – it's not only a find of rare cognac and liqueur but also a part of history of the former imperial Russia," Ocean X Team said in a statement.
The wreck was discovered in 1999. (Ocean X Team)
A video posted to YouTube by Ocean X Team also showed explorers salvaging a leather holster containing part of a German Luger pistol and a bullet. A member of the salvage team said that, if more pistols are found in the wreck, then they were likely being smuggled to Russia. "If it's more than one, then it's smuggling because it's not on the cargo manifest," he said.
The shipment from France through neutral Sweden had originally been scheduled for December 1916, but heavy ice in the sea of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland delayed the voyage until the following year.
END OF A DYNASTY: RARE POSTCARDS OF THE LAST CZAR AND HIS FAMILY UP FOR SALE
The bottles were recovered from the wreck of the Swedish steamer S/S Kyros. (OceanXTeam)
The ship's sinking came shortly after the abdication of Czar Nicholas II, which brought an end to the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia for over 300 years. The last Czar of Russia abdicated on March 15, 1917, following the country's February Revolution. He was murdered with his family on July 17, 1918.
The bottles were recovered from a depth of 253 feet in international waters between Sweden and Finland. (Ocean X Team)
DNA tests conducted on the exhumed remains of the czar and his wife in 2015 proved they were authentic. The tests were performed at the request of the Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized the slain Romanov family in 2000.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
https://www.foxnews.com/science/shipwreck-treasure-czar-liquor-salvaged-wreck


BINDI Irwin has honoured her dad Steve Irwin on the 12th anniversary of his death.
Yesterday the 20-year-old paid tribute to her late father in a touching post on Instagram.
"Together Forever," Bindi captioned a photo, which featured Irwin holding his daughter in his lap as he sat alongside his wife Terri and their son, Robert.
On September 4, 2006, the Crocodile Hunter was killed by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.
Earlier this year, Terri opened up about her husband's death.
"No matter the circumstances are that you lose someone, nobody's truly prepared," she told People Magazine in January. "Steve's accident was so unexpected. It was extremely challenging."


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Mac McCullough's research involves quantifying investments in public health and social services and assessing how these investments are put to use in order to improve population health.
Ohri-Vachaspati is a professor of nutrition and leads the ASU Food Environment and Policy research group. In 2017, she completed the RWJF Health Policy Fellowship working in Senator Gillibrand's office in Washington DC.
Swapna Reddy's primary research interests are how law and policy can be utilized as tools to improve population health outcomes, reduce health disparities and inequities.
George Runger researches analytical methods for knowledge generation and data-driven improvements in organizations, including machine learning for large, complex data, and real-time analysis.


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It's Not a Surprise, But We're Now in a Candidate-Driven Job Market
By John Zappe July 9, 2015 July 20, 2015
Permanent and temporary placements will continue strong through the end of the year, and may even increase, as more companies are reporting plans to add headcount.
Forecasts from CareerBuilder and Manpower show more employers plan to add staff — permanent, full-time, temp and contract — by the end of the year than was the case last year or even at the beginning of 2015. The Palmer Forecast calls for a nearly 5 percent increase in temp hiring through the end of September.
MRI Network's latest Recruiter Sentiment Study leaves no doubt who recruiters think is driving the market. It's the candidates.
In just three years, the percentage of MRI's recruiters saying it's a candidate-driven market shot up from 56 percent in 2012 to 90 percent today.
Why aren't recruiters getting the message?
Employers though, are still not getting the message, the surveyed recruiters say.
While 63 percent of offers are now being made within four weeks of the first interview (up from 59 percent at the end of 2014), almost half of MRI's recruiters say the biggest obstacle to making the placement are offers that are too low.
When a candidate turns down an offer, 25 percent of the time it's because of money and benefits. And even with speedier offers, 37 percent of turndowns are because the candidate has accepted another job.
The hiring forecasts for the current quarter and through the end of the year make a strong case the employment market will become more competitive.
The CareerBuilder mid-year forecast out this morning says 34 percent of the employers it surveyed expect to add temporary or contract workers by the end of the year. Almost half — 49 percent — say they plan to add full-time, permanent workers. In both cases, the percentages are ahead of last year's mid-year outlook. And the percentage of employers planning to add permanent, full-timers is well ahead of the 36 percent who planned to add staff at the beginning of this year.
Last quarter, CareerBuilder's survey predicted 32 percent of employers would add staff by the end of June. The latest survey shows more than that — 39 percent — actually did.
An increasing pace of hiring
Manpower's Employment Survey for Q3 found one quarter (24 percent) of employers planning to add staff. That's the highest quarterly percentage since the recession, and two points higher than last year. When adjusted for seasonal variations, Manpower says third quarter hiring will look a lot like the just ended second quarter.
The Palmer Forecast for the third quarter forecasts a 4.9 percent increase over last year in demand for temporary workers. The forecast released yesterday says temp growth increased 5.6 percent last quarter over the same quarter in 2014. Since the beginning of the year, temp agencies have upped their hiring by an average of 8,600 workers monthly.
The increasing pace of hiring can be clearly seen in The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index. It now stands at 129.11, the highest reading in almost 15 years.
"The growth in the Employment Trends Index accelerated in Q2, suggesting strong job growth through the summer," said Gad Levanon, Managing Director of Macroeconomic and Labor Market Research at The Conference Board. "The combination of solid job growth and nearly flat labor force growth should lower the unemployment rate to 5 percent by year end."
His comments were echoed by CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson who said the survey of hiring managers and HR managers shows, "There's a favorable dynamic happening in the labor market today. Companies are feeling more financially secure and increasing their headcount."
Contracts, Hiring & FiringHiring ProcessHR ManagementHR NewsHR TrendsRecruitingTalent AcquisitionNews & Trends


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Attribute : Public University
Level : 211 Project University
Type : Politics and Law University
Location : Beijing , Suburb
China University of Political Science and Law
One of the best universities in the Law studies
Fees Structures
Choosing Reasons
> China University List > China University of Political Science and Law >
School Introduction
China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) is a multi-disciplinary national "211 Project" key university, characterized by centering on law, accompanied with a variety of other disciplines such as literature, historiography, philosophy, economics, management and education. During the last half century of development, the University has educated and trained more than 200,000 students, and taken part in virtually all national legislation activities since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It took the lead in China's jurisprudence theoretical innovation and conceptual updating, and conducted international academic exchanges in the field of law on behalf of the nation.
At present, the University offers 17 undergraduate programs including law, reconnoiter, politics & administration, administration, international politics, public affairs administration, business administration, economics, international business, philosophy, Chinese language & literature, ideological education, sociology, applied psychology, English, German, journalism. In addition, there are 47 master's degree programs, 19 doctoral degree programs and 2 post-doctoral research stations. Among them three PhD programs are national disciplines at the first class level, namely the law, politics & administration and Marxist Theory among which the law is a national key discipline at the first class level. 10 master programs are disciplines at the first class level, namly philosophy, theoretical economics, applied economics, sociology, psychology, foreign languages and lterature, journalism, history, business administrationm and politics & administration.
The University has established international cooperation agreements with 119 world-famous universities in 33 countries and regions. Hundreds of teachers and students are sent abroad each year for academic purposes. In 2008, the China-EU School of Law (CESL) was established, which is the most comprehensive joint program in legal Education between the Chinese Government and the EU. With the development of the CESL, an elite program of cultivating internationally-oriented legal talents has taken shape in the school.
International students' education scale expands from Mandarin study, summer camp for Chinese training, pre-degree education in China, medium/long-term Chinese and law study to the education for undergraduate, dual-degree bachelor, master and doctor. The university has long been engaged in global promotion of Chinese language and Chinese culture education to provide superior teaching resources and services, especially the Chinese law culture, for Chinese language learners.


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Табернас — пустеля розташована в іспанській провінції Альмерія в межах муніципалітетів Табернас, Гадор, Санта Круз де Марчена, Альболодуй і Хергаль, має статус природоохоронної зони площею 280 км². Табернас це єдина пустеля на території західної Європи.

У пустелі трапляються рідкісні рясні зливи, проте кам'янисті та піщані ґрунти з доволі бідною рослинністю не затримують вологу. Територія страждає від значної ерозії, яка і формує пустельні пейзажі.

Див. також
 Андалусія

Андалусія


At the 4–5 month mark after the buzz, there is enough length to do a nice pixie style & go from there. Hope this helps! Hope this helps! 9k Views · View 9 Upvoters... The term "Number 2 haircut" refers to a clipper cut given using the #2 length guard on the clippers. This cuts the hair to a uniform 1/4-inch length. So, while he has apparently cut his hair very short - perhaps shorter than you might have chosen for him - his head isn't truly shaved, nor is it as short as some clipper cuts can be.
A wider face shape suits the crew cut variation of the buzz cut, where the sides are slightly shorter in length than the top. To style, simply use a small amount of styling paste/creme and off you go.