text:
Q: Populate sequence containing NaN Nim language question here. I want to read a series of floats from stdin (this example: 7, 1, 4, 4, nan, 4) and store it in a seq[float] type. The input may contain NaNs. But I fail to integrate such outliers.
My code:
var
  line: TaintedString
  timeSeries: seq[float]

while readline(stdin, line) != false:
  echo timeSeries
  timeSeries.add(parseFloat(line))

The output:
@[]
@[7.0]
@[7.0, 1.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0, nan]
@[nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan]

Facing the first NaN, Nim renders all inputs as NaNs. But I want this (last line of output):
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0, nan, 4.0]

How do I solve it correctly in Nim? Documentation says NaNs are supported…

A: Since you echo timeSeries before you add the next number, the input of the last line with 4 causes the @[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0, nan] and it is guesswork what you did after that to get the final output line. Although I doubt there is a valid reason for anything to set every value in the sequence to NaN, it might be that what your input triggered a bug.
I have not been able to reproduce your output
with your code (adding the required import strutils) when entering your sequence followed by another 4, nan or empty line (the latter erroring on invalid float).
For easier testing, I put your input in a file input.txt:
7
1
4
4
nan
4

and ran the following on the latest stable nim (Nim Compiler Version 0.19.4 [Linux: amd64]) as the latest devel nim (Nim Compiler Version 0.19.9 [Linux: amd64]):
import strutils

var
  line: TaintedString
  timeSeries: seq[float]

echo timeSeries
for line in "input.txt".lines:
  timeSeries.add(parseFloat(line.strip))
  echo timeSeries

(the .strip is only there to handle trailing spaces in the input that were a result of cut-and-paste and sloppy editing)
Both compilers output:
@[]
@[7.0]
@[7.0, 1.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0, nan]
@[7.0, 1.0, 4.0, 4.0, nan, 4.0]

compiling with -d:release did not cause any errors either.


text:
Aus Open: Muguruza brushes past Flipkens
The world number three, the biggest breakout star of 2015, faced a tough first-set challenge from the dogged Belgian veteran before winning 6-4, 6-2 in 79 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Melbourne 21 January, 2016 12:11 IST
Garbine Muguruza made to the fourth round of Australian Open last year when she was ranked just 24.
Spanish star Garbine Muguruza laboured past Kirsten Flipkens and into the Australian Open third round on Thursday as she keeps her eye on a maiden Grand Slam title.The world number three, the biggest breakout star of 2015, faced a tough first-set challenge from the dogged Belgian veteran before winning 6-4, 6-2 in 79 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
>Scorecenter
"I'm extremely happy because Kirsten is a very difficult opponent who has a unique game," said Muguruza. "Every match is very tough and I am just happy to be here."
Despite some wobbles, the confident third seed's victory sets her up with a third-round clash against Czech Barbora Strycova. If she gets through that, a potential mouth-watering fourth-round match awaits against in-form two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, who swept past Danka Kovinic 6-1, 6-2.
Flipkens has been playing the Australian Open since 2007 and has only once gone beyond the second round, in 2013, but she sensed a chance against a player making uncharacteristic errors.
Enjoying her highest career seeding at a Grand Slam, Muguruza has been tipped as a future world number one but she made a meal of Flipkens. The spectacles-wearing Belgian, ranked 80 in the world and without a coach, comfortably held her first service game, as did Muguruza.
It went with serve to 2-2 with little between them before a decisive fifth game when the Spaniard finally forced the break she was after, converting her fourth break point with a net volley. But she was finding Flipkens a tough nut to crack with the experienced Belgian immediately getting back to level-pegging, thanks to a sloppy forehand from her opponent.
An out-of-sorts Muguruza, who made the fourth round last year when ranked just 24, was firing down too many errors from the baseline, but she rallied to break Flipkens once again. She started mixing up her game with net play and even drop shots to hold serve, but again errors crept in and she was shaking her head at the changeover after Flipkens made it 4-5. The set was finally hers after a tough 49 minutes, but only after she threw away five set points.
The highly marketable Barcelona-based 22-year-old went up a level in the second set and she began ironing out her issues as the Belgian's game fell away. She raced to a 3-0 lead and broke again for 4-1 as she clicked into gear, before wrapping it up without further problems.
Muguruza, who split with long-time coach Alejo Mancisidor last year, is now working with Azarenka's former mentor Sam Sumyk, who guided the Belarusian to successive Australian Open titles in 2012 and 2013. After claiming her first WTA title at Hobart in 2014, last year was a watershed for Muguruza as she reached the Wimbledon and Wuhan finals, won in Beijing and also made the semis at the WTA Finals.
Muguruza [3] bt Flipkens 6-4 6-2
Muguruza - 3
Flipkens - 1
Muguruza - 23/29
Flipkens - 6/21
Muguruza - 5/12
Flipkens - 2/4
Muguruza - 62
Flipkens - 54
Flipkens - 45/52

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
THEME: T-ACCOUNTS. By John W. Day, MBA. ACCOUNTING TERM: T-Account
THEME: T-ACCOUNTS
By John W. Day, MBA
ACCOUNTING TERM: T-Account
A T-Account is a template or format shaped like a "T" that represents a particular general ledger account. Debit entries are recorded on the left side of the "T" and credit entries are recorded on the right side of the "T". It is a tool for organizing journal entries and analyzing accounting transactions.
FEATURE ARTICLE: Working With T-Accounts
There are a few of us who have a fantastic ability to remember details, but I would venture to say that most of us find our memory diminishing over time. T-Accounts come in handy when a series of journal entries are required and it becomes too difficult to keep all of them in your head.
When solving accounting problems, you have to think of accounting transactions in terms of the "accounting model". Click this link if you need to refresh your memory regarding the accounting model:
http://www.reallifeaccounting.com/accounting_model.asp
The "accounting model" is a template you can use to remember how debits and credits work. The two most common scenarios for using T-Accounts are: 1) determining why certain transactions were previously posted to the general ledger; or, 2) working out the most appropriate place to post certain accounting transactions.
T-Accounts work because they are visually effective. This means they are simple to understand and usually it is possible to portray all the T-Accounts on one page. Let's look at a basic accounting transaction and then translate it into T-Account form. Assume you sold a product for $100 cash and deposited the money into the bank. You originally bought the product for $50 and put it into inventory. Now that the product is sold you have to decrease inventory by that amount and increase Cost of Goods Sold. The journal entries for the transaction would look like this:
DESCRIPTION DEBIT CREDIT
Cash 100
The T-Accounts would look like this:
Cash Sales
100 | | 100
Cost of Goods Sold Inventory 50 | | 50
You can easily see that the debits equal the credits. Let's look at a more
complex accounting transaction. (1) You bought a company van for $25,000 and you did this by putting $5,000 down and setting up a liability (Notes Payable) for $20,000. (2) You made your first payment of $380, of which $80 was interest, and (3) your first month's depreciation was $833. To the unfamiliar, these transactions might appear confusing until T-Accounts are used.
Fixed Assets –Van Cash Notes Payable
25,000 | | 5,000 | 20,000
Notes Payable Interest Expense Cash 300 | 80 | | 380 (3)
Depreciation Expense Accumulated Depreciation 833 | | 833
A critical step is to make sure that the debits equal the credits. If not, you have made a mistake that must be solved. Next, simply put these T-Accounts in journal entry form:
(1) DESCRIPTION DEBIT CREDIT Fixed Assets - Van 25,000
Cash 5,000
Notes Payable 20,000
(2) DESCRIPTION DEBIT CREDIT Notes Payable 300
Interest Expense 80
(3) DESCRIPTION DEBIT CREDIT Depreciation Expense 833
Accum Depreciation 833
Remember that every account in the general ledger is a T-Account. Drawing the T-Account is just another way to portray the account. I can't count the number of times that I have used the back of a napkin to draw T-Accounts to explain
accounting concepts to clients. I can't remember one time that a client was not able to follow me even though his/her accounting knowledge was minimal. The beauty of T-Accounts is their simplicity.
QUESTION: Is There A Way To Keep Track Of Multiple T-Account Entries?
The question is whether there is a way to keep track of multiple T-account entries. The answer is yes, and it is very important to do so to avoid confusion and mistakes. Usually you will be working with a series of transactions.
Therefore, each transaction should be assigned a letter in alphabetical order. Use letters rather than numbers so there is no confusion between the order of the transaction and the numbers used in the transaction. Let's assume the same transaction used above in the purchase of the van, but this time we will add some more transactions. For instance, before you bought the new van you sold an older van for $6,000. You used $5,000 of it for the down payment on the new van, and the remaining $1,000 to pay off the balance of a note on the old van. You originally bought the old van for $20,000 and had depreciated it down to $4,000.
The first step in your organizational system is to identify all the transactions in sequential order and assign them a letter. For instance:
(a) Sold the old van for $6,000 and deposited the money into the bank. Used the Miscellaneous Suspense account until the gain could be determined.
(b) Paid the old note off of $1,000.
(c) Removed the old van asset $20,000 from the books. Removed the accumulated depreciation of $16,000 on the old van from the books. Determined the gain from the sale of the old van of $2,000.
(d) Made a $5,000 down payment on a new van. Used the Miscellaneous Suspense account until all the purchase information was available. (e) Recorded the purchase of the new van $25,000. Set up a liability on
the new van of $20,000.
(f) Made first payment on the van note of $380 - $300 for principal and $80 for interest.
The next step is to arrange the T-Accounts in the order they are listed on your Chart of Accounts. Doing this makes it a little easier to locate the accounts, rather than having them scattered willy-nilly. Once this is done, start with
transaction (a) and record the debits and credits to the T-Accounts. (Note that
a previous balance in the account will be given the notation (BB) for beginning balance.)
Cash Fixed Assets - Vans
(BB) 3,000 | 1,000 (b) (BB) 20,000 | 20,000 (c)
(a) 6,000 5,000 (d) (e) 25,000
380 (f)
Accumulated Depreciation Miscellaneous Suspense
(c) 16,000 | 16,000 (bb) (c) 6,000 | 6,000 (a)
833 (g) (d) 5,000 5,000 (e)
Notes Payable-Vans Gain/Loss Disposition of Assets
(b) 1,000 | 1,000 (BB) | 2,000 (c)
(f) 300 20,000 (e)
Interest Expense Depreciation Expense
(f) 80 | (g) 833 |
You can see that, with all these numbers, it would be easy to forget where they came from. However, with each transaction identified by letter, the related entries can be quickly traced back to their original source. If you are so inclined, go though each transaction and locate the entries in the T-Accounts by letter. Make sure you understand the accounting logic for each entry. This exercise will give you a good handle as to how T-Accounts work.
TIP: Summarizing Your Work
When you are done posting, add your debit and credit columns, draw a line and subtract one from another, with the difference remaining.
Cash Fixed Assets - Vans (BB) 3,000 | 1,000 (b) (BB) 20,000 | 20,000 (c) (a) 6,000 5,000 (d) (e) 25,000 380 (f) ______________________ ___________________ 45,000 | 20,000 9,000 | 6,380 ______________________ ___________________ 25,000 | 2,620 | ====== =====
Accumulated Depreciation Miscellaneous Suspense (c) 16,000 | 16,000 (BB) (c) 6,000 | 6,000 (a) 833 (g) (d) 5,000 5,000 (e) ____________________ ______________________ 16,000 | 16,833 11,000 | 11,000 _____________________ ______________________ | 833 0 | 0 ===== ===== =====
Notes Payable-Vans Gain/Loss Disposition of Assets (b) 1,000 | 1,000 (BB) | 2,000 (c) (f) 300 20,000 (e) ===== ______________________ 1,300 | 21,000 ______________________ | 19,700 ======
==== ====
Using T-Accounts to help solve accounting problems is one of your most valuable tools. The next time you are struggling with how to post a transaction try using T-Accounts. From that moment on, "you won't leave home without them".
John W. Day, MBA is the author of two courses in accounting basics: Real Life Accounting for Non-Accountants (20-hr online) and The HEART of Accounting (4-hr PDF). Visit his website at
Download (N/A - 5 Page - 33.22KB)
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Copyright 1Library © . 2023


text:
You are here: Home / Article / The Botched Hanging of William Williams
The Botched Hanging of William Williams
February 20, 2004 by John Bessler
Meanwhile, the newspapers had themselves come under scrutiny. On February 15, representatives of the Law and Order League formally protested the newspaper accounts of Williams's botched hanging. Citizen complaints soon turned into a full-blown criminal investigation. On February 19, a grand jury convened before Ramsey County District Judge George Bunn, who singled out the newspapers' violations of the Smith law. "There is but one thing I desire to call your attention to at this time," Bunn told the grand jurors, "and that is this: I call your attention to the fact that it is the law of this state relating to executions that the newspapers shall publish only a bare statement of the fact that the convict has been executed."
"I call your attention," Bunn continued, to "the apparent gross violation of that law by all the newspapers of this city, with reference to the execution of Williams lately." Although Bunn made his own views clear, he left what to do about the newspapers' flagrant violations in the grand jury's hands. It was the first time that a Minnesota court had ever taken notice of the gag provision of the Smith law.
On March 2, after a "lively discussion" following Judge Bunn's highly suggestive comments, the twenty-one-member grand jury indicted three St. Paul newspapers: the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the St. Paul Dispatch, and the St. Paul Daily News. The three newspapers were indicted on "the crime of publishing a detailed account of the recent Williams hanging." One faction of the all-male grand jury, opposing the indictments, felt that the portion of Smith's law relating to newspapers had been "carried out in the breach rather than in the observance." The other faction "took the view that that law was on the books and if it was a bad law the best way to defeat it would be to obey it to the letter." After several sessions, where County Attorney Kane's advice was frequently sought, a slight majority voted in favor of the indictments. The "true bills" were drawn up against the newspapers in their corporate capacities and not against the managers, editors, or reporters. A violation of Smith's law was a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $100 fine or ninety days imprisonment, but since grand jurors did not want to see any newspapermen go to jail, Kane announced that the newspapers, if found guilty, would only be fined. Although Sheriff Miesen was widely believed to have flagrantly violated the law, the grand jury did not indict him.
A rumor developed that the three St. Paul newspapers, wishing to test the constitutionality of the Smith law, actually helped to procure the indictments by bringing evidence before the grand jury. An editorial in the St. Paul Pioneer Press certainly did not dispel these rumors, perhaps even lending credence to them. The newspaper noted that it had "demurred and will carry the case to the supreme court for a ruling on the validity of the law." Even though "its own ox" had been "gored," the paper could find no fault with the attempt to enforce the law, saying, "If it is an improper provision either it should be declared so by the courts or it should be repealed by the legislature." Alluding to the notion that the rule of law must be upheld, editors at the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote: "The way to secure repeal by court or legislature is to force the issue. So long as it is on the statute books, it, like other laws, should be enforced."
Although indicted, the St. Paul Pioneer Press sympathized with the "spirit and purposes" of the Smith law. The paper editorialized: "There has been altogether too much sickening pandering to morbid tastes and too much cultivation of those tastes by hyperbolical accounts of the doings of murderers before executions and of the executions themselves." The paper noted that, in its news coverage, it "tried to treat the Williams hanging as it treats all other news matters." The paper tried "to give a decent and uncolored story" and "to give essential details, omitting ghastly particulars, without pandering to the demand of the morbid." In short, it had attempted "to avoid the methods of 'yellow journalism,' in which some of the other newspapers delight to revel." The Pioneer Press argued that, had all stories of hangings been of the type it had published, "there would have been no occasion for the John Day Smith law."
While the Pioneer Press happily attacked the journalistic integrity of its competitors, that newspaper was indignant about having been indicted under the Smith law for printing news. "We do not believe it is a safe or a proper law, so far as it attempts to regulate newspaper accounts," the paper wrote. The Pioneer Press pointed out that newspapers themselves had exposed violations of law by reporting about Sheriff Miesen's mishandling of Williams's hanging. "Here was a case," the paper said, "of atrocious bungling in the execution itself and of flat violation of the law and the direct orders of the governor." Calling the Smith law "palpably unsafe," the Pioneer Press criticized the law's intended effect. Under the Smith law, it said, "newspapers could make no reference to either the execution or to the presence of witnesses prohibited by the same law or any of the other circumstances which it was of importance that the public should know." The Pioneer Press feared the worst if newspapers were silenced. "Under the press muzzling provisions of this law," it said, "the worst orgies could be held and even the cruelest barbarities could be practiced, and those responsible for them would be protected from criticism and exposure."
The Pioneer Press emphasized that, ironically, it had been the first to draw attention to the lack of enforcement of Smith's law. In printing a facsimile of one of Sheriff Miesen's invitations to a previous hanging, it had exposed Miesen's plan to violate the law. It was this article that had prompted Governor Johnson to pen his letter to the sheriff to remind him of the law. Only after pointing out the law's lack of enforcement had the paper been indicted. The paper quipped, "The alleged publication of the alleged facts regarding the recent alleged hanging of a reputed convicted murderer seems to be producing more alleged effect than the alleged exposure of alleged irregularities at the time of the alleged hanging."
St. Paul's newspapers were soon defending their actions in court. On March 3, the three indicted newspapers were formally arraigned and pled not guilty, and later filed demurrers to the indictments on the ground that publishing execution details did not constitute "a public offense." In appearing before Judge Bunn on March 10, all three newspapers alleged that Smith's now infamous law contravened a clause of the state constitution that said "the liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate and all persons may freely speak, write, and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right." The newspapers' lawyers, raising the specter of a parade of horrors, argued that a county sheriff could carry out an execution "in a brutal manner without the public ever knowing anything about it."
The newspapers believed that executions were newsworthy events and that the public had a right to know what was done and said at them. The Smith law, the papers' lawyers contended, should not be allowed to prevent the publication of a condemned convict's dying words or an execution-day admission of guilt. The State of Minnesota's representative, charged with enforcing the state's laws, took a decidedly different view. Ramsey County Attorney Thomas Kane asserted that the Minnesota Legislature possessed the power to enact the Smith law. He said the object of the law was to prevent the publication of execution details that appealed to morbid tastes and lowered public morals. Judge Bunn, at hearing's end, took the matter under advisement.
Just over a month later, on April 16, 1906, Judge Bunn upheld the constitutionality of the "midnight assassination law." His written order stated in plain language that the "object and chief purpose of the act was to avoid general publicity." "It is quite clear that forbidding the publication of the details," Bunn ruled, "tends strongly to accomplish the purpose of the act." Bunn, skeptical of the value of news reportage about executions, wrote, "The purpose of the act is in a large measure defeated if the morbidly curious public, who are forbidden to see the hanging, may satisfy their curiosity by reading the ghastly details in a newspaper, and feasting their eyes on pictures of the scene."
Filed Under: Article Tagged With: crime, history


text:
RunLooper is a library that makes it easy to execute a single-threaded run loop for applications that lack one (such as console).

API Documentation: http://somedave.github.com/RunLooper/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
BAS > Data > Explore polar data > Our publications > Artificial surface pressure trends in the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis over the Southern Ocean and Antarctica
Artificial surface pressure trends in the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis over the Southern Ocean and Antarctica
An examination of 50 years of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis from 1949 to 1998 reveals that significant spurious trends occur in the surface pressure field. Long-term surface pressure reductions are apparent south of 45°S. The largest trend in surface pressure is near 65°S where an approximately steady long-term pressure reduction of about 0.20 hPa yr−1 (10 hPa in 50 yr) is located. The negative pressure trend represents a gradual reduction in a positive bias for the reanalysis. Observations at Antarctic stations do not support this long-term trend, although short-term interannual variations are reasonably well captured after about 1970. The negative pressure tendency near 65°S continues well into the 1990s although a reasonable number of stations between 65° and 70°S began taking observations along the coast of east Antarctica during the 1950s and 1960s. Few Antarctic observations, however, are used by the reanalysis until about 1968, and the quality of the pressure field for the reanalysis appears poor in high southern latitudes prior to then. The trend in high southern latitudes appears to be a component of global temporal variations in the reanalysis, some of which are supported by observations but others are not.In the Southern Hemisphere, the sea level pressure difference between 40° and 60°S, an indicator of westerly wind intensity, increases approximately from 20 hPa in the early 1950s to 25 hPa in the early 1970s and 28 hPa in recent years. The relatively high density of observing stations along the Antarctic Peninsula, however, results in an approximately steady local surface pressure after the pressure fell about 4 hPa during the late 1950s. Based upon these findings, researchers should account for jumps and long-term trends when making use of the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis.
Authors: Hines, Keith M., Bromwich, David H., Marshall, Gareth J.
On this site: Gareth Marshall
Journal/Source:
Journal of Climate / 13
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<3940:ASPTIT>2.0.CO;2
Download from NERC
Climate & climate change (Research topic)
Research papers (Publication type)
The influence of the Amundsen–Bellingshausen Seas low on the climate of West Antarctica and its representation in coupled climate model simulations
Historical SAM variability. Part II: Twentieth-century variability and trends from reconstructions, observations, and the IPCC AR4 models
On the annual and semi-annual cycles of precipitation across Antarctica
A doubling in snow accumulation in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850
An operational, real-time cloud detection scheme for use in the Antarctic based on AVHRR data


Greetings again from the darkness. When watching, discussing or reviewing a movie from filmmaker Terry Gilliam, it's often best to relax one's expectations for a linear story line, and maybe even the hope for a coherent one. He's the creative force behind such diverse and divisive films as THE FISHER KING (1991), THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1988), BRAZIL (1985), TIME BANDITS (1981), and of course, comedy classic MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975). We've seen his movies described as crazy, confusing, and messy – and also brilliant, unique, and creative. Mr. Gilliam himself would likely agree with all of those descriptions, while adding a few colorful terms of his own.
Despite the oddball career he's had, none of his movies have had the topsy-turvy, on-again/off-again path to production as THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. Gilliam's first attempts at getting the movie made date back to 1989 (yes, 30 years ago), and the first round of financing was secured in 1998 with Johnny Depp in a lead role. By 2002, there was a fascinating documentary, LOST IN LA MANCHA, which chronicled the reasons the film failed to get made and would never be finished. Mr. Gilliam has proven, 17 years later, that he should never be counted out.
Gilliam co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Grisoni, and the two have previously collaborated on TIDELAND (2005) and FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998). As you might guess, it's not a typical screenplay or story, and one certainly need not be an expert on the original Cervantes book or character to find value (or not) in this tale.
"I am Don Quixote de la Mancha." There is something distinctly prideful about the proclamation, but it's also used somewhat ironically at least once in this film. Adam Driver plays hotshot and cynical filmmaker Toby, and things change abruptly for him when he returns to the Spanish town where he shot his student film ten years prior. In that film, he had cast locals, including the town cobbler as Don Quixote. A bootleg DVD of the film drags Toby into the fallout that has occurred over the past decade.
Jonathan Pryce co-stars as Javier, the former cobbler who now lives his life believing he is actually Don Quixote. He then sees Toby, and "recognizes" (mistakes) him as Sancho Panza, his trusty and loyal sidekick. This kicks off a series of adventures/misadventures that is a blend of fantasy, reality and imagination. Paths are crossed with Jacqui (Olga Kurylenko), Angelica (Joana Ribeira), and the head of the studio (Stellan Skarsgard). At times, it's a movie within a movie, and a key is the name of the town: Suenos means dreams. Dreamlike or surreal is the best description for many of the best sequences.
Greetings again from the darkness. Sir Trevor Nunn is a Tony Award winner best known for his stage productions, and for being director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1968 through 1986. The film is "inspired by a true story", and Lindsay Shapero has adapted Jennie Rooney's 2013 novel, which was a blend of history and fiction taken from the life of Melita Norwood … the longest serving British KGB spy.
From a historical perspective, the film kind of falls flat. It also doesn't qualify as a British spy thriller since there are really no thrills to be found. "The Americans" TV show was infinitely better at the spy genre than this one; however, if the film works on any level, it's as moral debate fodder. Joan clearly has her reasons for doing what she thought was right … leveling the playing field between super powers, so that none had an advantage. The question is, what is right and who is to decide? During this time, alliances were quite fluid between Russia, Britain and the United States, and she believed her actions saved lives.
Dame Judi is really not on screen much, and when she is, there's little for her to do except play innocent and dream of years gone by. She was labeled "Granny spy", and though her story is interesting, and does provide yet another aspect from WWII, the film itself never really grabs us as viewers. The early periods are well filmed with beautiful costumes and sets, but we are never as dumbstruck as Joan's son (Ben Miles) when he admits he thought his mum was merely an over-educated librarian. As a character study, there's something here … but as entertainment, it's a bit lacking.


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CDC now projects more than 123,000 coronavirus deaths in US by mid-June
Weekdays at 12 p.m. PST, we'll be streaming the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak utilizing our newsrooms across the country. If you miss the live report, you'll be able to see a replay minutes after the stream ends.
U.S. consumer spending plunged by a record-shattering 13.6% in April as the pandemic shuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent the economy into deep recession.
Europe's extensive social welfare net is showing signs of fraying under economic strain from the coronavirus. The Spanish government will provide more money for the country's most impoverished families so they can reach a minimum monthly income.
India reported another record increase in cases and Pakistan a record number of deaths.
As cases steadily rise across Africa officials say they are losing the global race for equipment and drugs.
Here are some of AP's top stories Friday on the world's coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:
— Nations are easing restrictions and opening up air travel, even as the coronavirus spreads in many areas of the world.
— In Latin America, the virus initially affecting wealthy citizens is now increasingly concentrated in poorer neighborhoods.
— Protecting people from extreme heat in America's Southwest desert cities is more complicated this year because of COVID-19.
— South Africa says it has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed tests for the coronavirus, an example of the painful shortage of testing kits across Africa as cases steadily rise.
— Worshippers in Turkey have held their first communal Friday prayers in 74 days after the government reopened some mosques as part of its plans to relax measures in place to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
— In Brazil, couples have begun turning to drive-thru marriage to avoid the coronavirus. At a notary on the western outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, 15 couples were married on Thursday alone.
— The virus is affecting training for Marine Corps recruits at Parris Island and across the military. Defense leaders say some adjustments are beneficial and could become permanent.
— The Spanish government will provide more money for the country's most impoverished 850,000 families so they can reach a minimum monthly income in the nation's first attempt to guarantee a basic salary.
— For Orthodox Christians, the use of a shared spoon by a priest to distribute Holy Communion is a tradition that dates back thousands of years and the Greek Orthodox Church insists is impossible for any disease to be transmitted through Holy Communion.
— Alabama's sparsely populated Lowndes County has the sad distinction of having both the state's highest rate of COVID-19 cases and its worst unemployment rate.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here's how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you're worried about live.
ONE NUMBER:
— One: New Zealand has all but eradicated the coronavirus from its shores with just one person in the nation of 5 million still infected.
— STREET ART: Street art is drawing inspiration from the pandemic, offering comic relief, wit and beauty in a world where people are cut off from each other.
— ONE GOOD THING: Former middleweight boxing champion Hassan N'Dam wanted thank the French hospital that cared for his father-in-law through his bout with COVID-19. He decided to give the staff boxing lessons to help relieve the tension of long shift work.
Latest Stories:
ADPH reports 130,000 vaccinations administered, still in short supply
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- The Alabama Department of Public Health reports over 130,000 vaccinations have been administered so far. Even after the CDC updated vaccine information, Alabama still ranks low in distribution compared to neighboring states.
Health leaders across the state, like Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers, say they are doing everything they can to obtain more doses and get the people of Alabama vaccinated.
by Heather Walker and WOODTV.com staff, Nexstar Media Wire / Jan 16, 2021
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As people fall ill with COVID-19, they often lose their senses of smell and taste. For some, it takes months for those senses to come back — long after their other symptoms are gone.
Studies show about 83% of people who test positive for coronavirus lose their smell and taste.
CHICAGO (AP) — Here's what's happening Saturday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:


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FIRS targets N4 trn tax from oil, gas companies
FIRS: Revenue House
By Mustapha Sumaila
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it would rake in four trillion naira as tax revenue from the extractive sector of the Nigerian economy in the 2020 fiscal year.
The FIRS made this known in a statement issued by Abdullahi Ahmad, Director, Communications and Liaison Department in the service in Abuja on Tuesday.
The statement said the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, disclosed this when a team of the Nigerian office of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) paid him a courtesy visit.
Nami solicited the support of the OECD in stemming the tax evasion scheme of oil majors and multinationals operating in Nigeria through the illegal act of transfer pricing under which these foreign companies dodged tax and transfer their profit offshore.
The FIRS boss underscored the need for capacity-building, information sharing, data interpretation, usage and related technical synergy with the OECD in order to meet tax revenue targets in the extractive industry and the newly emergent Digital Economy.
He observed that revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had made physical filing of tax returns obsolete.
Nami, however, stated that ICT had also made tax collection more complex, especially in trans-border trade and trans-continental commerce.
According to him, in such trade big players like Amazon, Google, facebook, Alibaba and other e-commerce corporations do big business around, drive the digital economy and yet countries find it difficult to take due tax from the huge economic activities these online giants engage in.
"This is more so for developing countries like Nigeria where our people buy luxury goods more and more online while these big online stores don't pay any tax to us.
"The complexity of the digital economy to the tax authorities also extents to the telecommunication and financial sectors, including the emerging trades and the exchange carried out using digital currency," he said.
Similarly, Nami when he received the Comptroller-General (CG), Federal Fire Service, Dr Liman Alhaji Ibrahim, commended the service for its prompt response during a fire incident that occurred at its building in 2019.
He called for more synergy and collaboration between the FIRS and the Fire Service. (NAN)
ACCI decries impact of Coronavirus on global supply chain
Gov. Willie Obiano tasks Zone 9 to win 2020 Police Games


The Analog Circle Podcast: The Bonus Stage Episode 2,win a Playstation gift card.
The Bonus Stage Episode 2,win a Playstation gift card.
In this episode I will be covering a 3 hour demo for Watch Dogs 2,what Capcom is planning for Marvel VS Capcom Infinite,an update coming to Star Wars Battlefront,and a Beta coming for Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 on PC. All this and more on this Bonus Stage Episode.