Edward Durell Stone presented a large body of his papers to the University of Arkansas Libraries in 1975, three years before his death. In 1979 his widow, Violet Stone, donated a substantial quantity of his professional papers. The collection thoroughly documents the professional and business operations of a major figure in American architecture in the twentieth century.
The Stone papers cover the period from 1945, when Stone resumed his practice after WWII, until 1974, when he retired from active participation in the management of the firm. They offer valuable sources for studying the emergence of an American architect, the growth of his office into an internationally recognized firm, and the development of mid-century architecture.
The collection includes many kinds of records of Stone's personal and professional activities, such as files of correspondence, memoranda, photographic prints and slides, manuscript drafts of his speeches and writings, and correspondence with his publishers. An estimated twenty thousand drawings range from hastily drawn conceptual sketches on note paper to finished presentation renderings.
The history of his firm and of the projects they undertook is also documented in plans, models, and blueprints, as well as in the extensive files of the publicity these projects generated. Approximately four hundred projects are documented in the collection. Technical records include specifications, daily and monthly construction progress reports, financial documents, and correspondence with general contractors, sub-contractors, and suppliers.
Stone participated in important artistic developments of the twentieth century, and he regularly corresponded with many cultural figures of his time. Included in the collection is correspondence with architects Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, the Saarinens, Buckminster Fuller, Philip Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright, and others; the sculptors Alexander Calder and Isamu Noguchi; interior designer Donald Desky; Henry R. Luce and Clare Boothe Luce, William Paley, Salvador Dali, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, and other notables.
Edward Durell Stone was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1902 and received his early education there. He followed his brother Hicks Stone to Boston, where in 1926 he received a Harvard scholarship and began his studies in architecture. He transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a year later. In 1927 he was awarded a Rotch Traveling Scholarship that supported his study of architecture in Europe for two years. When he returned to the United States he joined a firm of architects in New York City.
He designed several residential projects in the newly recognized International Style in the 1930s. The Richard H. Mandel house in Mount Kisco, New York, designed in 1934, was described by Stone as "the first modern house in the East." The concrete and steel construction, strip windows and glass block were also used in the A. Conger Goodyear house on Long Island and the Ulrich Kowalski house in Mount Kisco. The Museum of Modern Art, designed in 1937 in collaboration with Philip Goodwin, was the first major building in the International Style in New York City. In 1937 Stone received the Silver Medal of the Architectural League for the South Carolina residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Luce, which required its own modern power plant and utilities but also incorporated details reflecting the ante-bellum Charleston Tradition.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Stone moved away from the Internationalist aesthetic, developing his own style that combined the grace and elegance of the classical traditions with contemporary materials and methods. He designed many important government and business structures. El Panama Hotel in 1946 set the style for resort hotels around the world. The United States Embassy in New Delhi, 1954, brought him international recognition. Other government projects included the United States pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, originally designed in 1958. His corporate projects included buildings for Pepsico, General Motors, Standard Oil, and the National Geographic Society. He also designed educational structures, including the entire campuses of the University of Arkansas Medical Center, Harvey Mudd College, the University of Islamabad, and the State University of New York at Albany.
Stone received many professional honors in his career, many of which extended to the international level, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952 the Architectural League awarded him the Gold Medal of Honor for El Panama Hotel. In 1967 he received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for the Ponce Museum in Puerto Rico. During the construction of the Brussels World's Fair pavilion, he was the subject of a cover story in Time. In 1962 Stone published his memoir, Evolution of an Architect. A second book, Recent and Future Architecture, was published in 1967.
A descriptive finding aid for materials in the collection is available online.
Access to the Edward Durell Stone Papers is open to students, faculty, and others upon application to the staff. Researchers may direct inquiries to Special Collections, but extensive projects will require a visit to the department. To facilitate their work, researchers who wish to use the papers are advised to email, write, or telephone the department in advance.


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« The Netbook Won't Kill Personal Computers!
Newsletter Issue #486 Preview: The Internet Explorer 8 Failure »
Apple's Mantra: Being Best Doesn't Mean Being First
I suspect some of you don't always get Apple's method of innovation. It doesn't necessarily mean they were first with everything they've done. I am sure, for example, that you will locate prior attempts at graphical user interfaces before the Lisa and later the Mac arrived.
Only Apple (and Microsoft) managed to survive, while many other attempts at more advanced — and friendlier — computer operating systems did not stand the test of time, or sustain sufficient sales to keep their creators in business. Of course, some of you might remind me that Microsoft's anti-competitive tactics didn't exactly help the growth of a number of graphical operating system alternatives.
These days, Linux provides a few of its own, and some are reasonably usable, as folks who have acquired netbooks can attest. It's also true that Microsoft can't get away with some of the nasty stunts they pulled in the past.
In any case, when it came to the iPod, you know it wasn't the first portable digital music player on the market. Indeed, I recall testing a few for an online publication some years back, and most were downright unusable. They were slow when it come to downloading tracks to the device, and interfaces depended on standard software that wasn't always user friendly. No, I'm not talking about the early versions of iTunes.
Apple's contribution to the market was to provide a simple-to-use product, and a much faster way to transfer your stuff. As you recall, the original iPods used FireWire, which delivered many times the performance of USB 1.0. But when moving to the PC platform — and most iPod owners are actually Windows users nowadays — they embraced the speedier USB 2.0 standard. Removing FireWire was probably a matter of not just convenience but keeping manufacturing costs as low as possible.
There were places to buy music online before iTunes as well, but most were illegal. Apple not only made it simpler, they kept the DRM restrictions mandated by the music industry reasonably basic. In fact, I dare say most of you probably never hit the limits in the normal course of using iPods for yourself and family members. Now that we have DRM-free options for music — though not for videos and movies — you can even put your stuff on a Microsoft Zune player if you want without any file translations or other trickery. But why?
So here we see, so far, that Apple's method of innovating was to take something that already existed and make it work better. That, and extremely clever advertising, resulted in making the iPod number one in its market segment by a huge margin. That also helped Mac sales, benefitting, in part, from the so-called "halo" effect, and the simple fact that more and more Windows users decided they were fed up with the complexities and security lapses that resulted from Microsoft's abject failures.
Indeed, I rather suspect that many people consider Microsoft's best days in the past, and I am actually convinced that they are on the long road downhill, an inexorable path to ultimate irrelevance.
With the iPhone, Apple used the same design strategy that made them prosperous. You already had feature phones and smartphones. They all had totally pathetic user interfaces, though certainly the BlackBerry was better than most. Despite the massed skepticism from the media and so-called financial analysts, Apple turned the iPhone from a promise until a huge success that appears to be continuing almost unabated.
Now it's true that the first two major releases of iPhone software were lacking in some critical features. Chief among the was, of course, cut, copy and paste. You may ask why it took Apple's developers two years to craft a feature that was introduced on the Mac in the 1980s, and was already present on other smartphones.
Apple's reason — or excuse if you will — is that they wanted to make the central data repository, the iPhone's clipboard, more secure so that third-party applications would only have limited access. Indeed, that access wouldn't be automatic, since I gather apps have to be updated to support the new features.
Now I don't pretend to know if that is the real reason why it took so long. I suppose just finding a convenient, intuitive and simple method to make it happen was also a consideration. I haven't played with this feature on other phones, so I'm not the one to give a comparison, at least not yet. When the iPhone 3.0 firmware is officialy released, I will compare it to the versions offered on other products just to see how well Apple did. No, I'm not going to report on the beta version, since that wouldn't be fair, nor do I wish to violate any of the confidentiality terms that Apple imposes on its iPhone developers.
If, indeed, it is a superior solution, then it'll be clear once again why Apple may not always be first on the block with something new, but they seem to always find a better way to make things work.
Apple's Mantra: Being Best Doesn't Mean Being First
This article was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 6:30 PM and is filed under News and tagged with: BlackBerry, computer operating systems, Convenience, Creators, Digital Music Player, Firewire, Graphical Operating System, Graphical User Interfaces, innovation, Iphone, Ipod, Ipods, Itunes, Mac, Music Industry, smartphone, Test Of Time, USB 2.0, User Interface, Windows, Windows Users.
5 Responses to "Apple's Mantra: Being Best Doesn't Mean Being First"
John Dingler says:
Well, it appears that God was supposedly first, yet subsequent attempts to make the best realities have seemed to have fallen short, so your analogy does not scale, you know…to the extra-macro level. Nice try, though. *S*
Louis Wheeler says:
The thing that is interesting about Apple is how patient they are. When other companies are scrabbling after quarterly earnings or acting defensively in their market share, Apple is setting into motion plans that may not bear fruit for years. A perfect example of that is QuickTime. The iTunes Music store would not be possible without QuickTime, but Apple was slowly improving it long before any money could be made from it.
That long term perspective allows Apple to wait for the right time to introduce products. Steve Jobs is known to be persnickety; he rejected six or seven iPod designs before accepting the first one. He agonized over the look and feel of the Apple Stores, spending a half million dollars to create a mock up in a warehouse. It was just as well that he did, because Apple learned from the process and created stores which became phenomenal successes. Of course, when the first store was announced, the technical pundits were negative because Gateway proved that computer retail stores were losers.
I've been thinking about Snow Leopard and what products and services that it will make possible. On another website, this came up as I disputed that Hackintosh computers, where the Mac OS is installed on cheap PC's, were good for Apple or its customers.
I attacked these ex-Linux users morality and practicality. Sure, they could save a couple hundred bucks by stealing Apple's property rights, but at the risk of undercutting Apple's profitability. I told them they were killing the goose that laid golden eggs. That Apple was able to improve the Mac OS only because of its hardware sales.
These people had the effrontery to declare that Apple had no right to protect itself from them. They said that they "owned" the Mac OS when they purchased an upgrade license and that they could do anything they wished with it, including installing it on a PC. They said that the courts would not enforce Apple's EULA against the Hackers.
Besides, Apple was only going after commercial competitors who were misappropriating and misusing Apple's Operating System software, not small guys like them. They had the belief that Steve Jobs opinions about DRM on Music in the iTunes Music Store would make it embarrassing if he adopted a DRM for Apple software. I disagreed.
Steve Jobs case against music DRM was that RIAA was selling the same songs unprotected on CD's, thus discriminating against Apple's customers. I told the Hackers that Apple would get around to shutting them down and this would be possible by using Snow Leopard.
I've been looking into Apple's 64 bit security and I see far more potential to it than merely avoiding vulnerabilities and malware. I see it as part of Apple's slow process of tying up its loopholes.
Apple is slowly closing off its vulnerabilities and one of Apple's greatest is that, if you have physical access, you can install new OS software and gain total control. I believe that Apple will set up a permission system to make it very difficult to subvert a computer that you don't own. It will do this as part of its patient scheme of delivering top notch security that IT personnel want. This will also prevent loading the Mac OS on a computer which you own, but isn't Apple hardware. Apple won't directly attack the hackers, but the results will be the same — you won't be allowed to subvert Apple's EULA.
Apple needs to be careful about this because it cares about inconveniencing legitimate Apple customers. Steve jobs attacked DRM on music because of a double standard that RIAA was running by demanding DRM on music that it sold unprotected on CD's. I have no idea when Apple will start closing off this vulnerability and Apple never talks about its security until it has a fait accompli.
I am sure that the Hackintoshes are a minor matter to Apple currently, but as vocal as the hackers are, this problem will grow rapidly. I suspect that Apple has a solution that it has slowly been working on.
This problem became inevitable when Apple chose to adopt Intel's x86 hardware, so it probably began working on it then. Apple's 32 bit security could not be made to correct this problem, but the 64 bit security in Snow Leopard can. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
The computer graveyard is filled with dozens of companies and Apple was close to being one. About 13 years ago, Apple was running out of options. No modern operating system to replace an aging Mac OS, boring beige boxes, underwhelming notebooks, and attacked on all sides by the Mac-clone makers. Apple had to assess what they were doing wrong and take the necessary steps to change or else.
Today, Apple is more than a Mac maker and has more than $28 billion in the bank. Apple put forward products and services that consumers want. Microsoft with their monopoly position just open a money spigot and all the cash flow out from Windows and Office. Apple had to go out and get a potential customer attention. Plenty of customers like what they saw.
When Apple makes a mistake like the Power Mac G4 Cube, it was canceled. A few years later we have the Mac mini.
Apple unlike Microsoft has adapted and changed. It provides the leadership of putting new ideas into practice. We can see these when other companies copied them.
Tom B says:
@ DaveD:
13 years ago, MSFT seemed invincible. During that time, they FAILED to move their code base over to UNIX. They failed to develop solid development tools, like Apple's XCode. They failed to put much effort into consumer electronics and let Apple seize the MP3 player opportunity. They undercut their own standing as the games platform (more games was always a plausible argument for picking a PC over a Mac) by pushing the money-losing XBox franchise. MSFT can't even field a credible web browser.
In contrast, Steve Jobs, always a smart guy, spent his years in exile working on NeXT. And honing is "how to deal with arrogant bureaucrat" skills, by frequently tussling with Eisner in the Pixar vs Disney years.
The Corporate attitude is different between Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft was always in the computer business for the money. This led to compromises which hurt them later — which is still hurting them.
When Steve and Woz built the Apple I, their major intent was that they wanted the computer built and sold, not the money. They took the computer which Woz had designed and offered it to Hewlett Packard, since Woz as working there. Woz had signed an invention agreement which meant that HP could claim ownership. HP was uninterested.
Before the Apple II was introduced, Woz was forced to quit HP. He resisted this because HP represented security; he had dreamed of spending his entire working life at HP. He loved the place. Woz had to leave, because even HP could see that Apple was making money. That there was a future in making personal computers.
Apple's attitude was to pursue excellence. This got them in trouble later, because ideas were like a candy store to the company. Apple employees were working on interesting ideas that would never bear fruit. Its major talents were off chasing dreams. Meanwhile, Apple's management was captured by the venture capitalists and marketing people, who attempted to milk the Apple II and later the Macintosh for every dime they could get. This lack of discipline led very close to bankruptcy.
Steve Jobs was booted out of Apple's management and began the slow process of growing up. He created great technologies at NeXT which were ignored by the market because there were too few users and developers. The current OS's had created a stranglehold. Steve had to accept defeat again and again. He had to scrabble to survive. He had to accept his limitations and focus on what would work. He learned to keep his mouth shut and to control his temper.
His purchase of Pixar put too much work on his plate if he were to micromanage. He, thus, learned to delegate. Pixar employees credit much of the company's success to Steve Jobs keeping his hands off.
Apple was, meanwhile, digging its own grave. Microsoft had lucked onto a winning business plan through calculation and duplicity. MS no longer had to struggle, but to hang onto its monopoly, by hook or crook. IBM had invented computer FUD, but MS refined it into an art.
Apple's management responded to Microsoft's rise in Windows 95 by attempting to copy MS's success. This led close to disaster. Deep inside Apple, though, people were working on ideas which could lead to success, but they were ignored.
When Apple, for the third time, failed to develop a modern operating system, the management became desperate enough to look around for a modern OS which had been developed six years before — NeXTstep.
When Steve Jobs came back to Apple with NeXT, and assumed control, he supplied discipline and focus. He trimmed the product line. He cut off lines of investigation which could not immediately bare fruit. Those ideas would be taken up at a later time; they often became great successes.
He attempted to force the Macintosh developer and user base to accept NeXT's way of doing things in Rhapsody (NeXTstep on Mac Hardware). The users and developers rebelled so Steve was forced to cave in. Steve started the slow migration from the old Mac OS to Mac OSX by accepting compromise API's — Carbon. Carbon was not a modern OS, but it was a bridge across which the legacy users and developers could travel toward Cocoa and the Objective C programing language.
Steve has been forced to accept many compromises over the last 12 years, but the end of the road is in sight. Everything that Steve wanted to do in 1997 with Rhapsody will be achieved soon in Snow Leopard.
Apple is on the best hardware system. In fact, Intel's hardware is much better than any of the current OS's, for now. But not for long. The Carbon API's will remain on the Mac, but in 32 bit format while the major thrust of the Mac will migrate to 64 bit Cocoa under ZFS. This will open up possibilities which will astound people. The speed, flexibility and usability of the Mac will stand head and shoulders above Windows on identical hardware. Remember, the fastest known use of Windows XP and Vista is on Mac hardware.
Snow Leopard is Apple's next springboard. It is attempting to rid itself of the compromises forced on it by migrating to the Mac. Although it is described as having no new features, the news has leaked out that it nailing down its flaws. Many deficiencies in Leopard will not be in Snow Leopard. Apple is keeping much about Snow Leopard close to its vest. The best way of think about Snow Leopard is that it is 12 years in the making.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Annie Zaidi may refer to:
 Annie Zaidi (writer) (born 1978), English-language writer from India
 Annie Zaidi (actress) (born 1963), Pakistani actress

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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You are here: Blog / Word of the day / - F-K / Hip-Hop
With more than 40 years history, Hip-Hop proved to be one of the defining cultures of the 20th century.
It all started with the urban renewal of New York, in particularly the building of the New York's Cross Bronx Expressway which destroyed homes and jobs for many ethnic groups, especially affecting poor Hispanic and black communities which were displaced in mainly East Brooklyn and South Bronx.
And it all started in Bronx, with the first block Hip-Hop party believed to have taken place in August 1973. The early hip-hop music was a mixture of Latin American, mainly Jamaican reggae vocal, drum machines and synthesized beat. The spoken-word poetry culture of the 70s aimed at civil rights and was the social environment in which Hip-Hop music was created – political views and social needs were expressed through music.
Born out of the politically abandoned streets of New York, Hip-Hop has become, in many senses, a global language in which people around the world can express and identify themselves. The Hip-Hop culture went far beyond music and incorporated distinctive elements such as graffiti art, break dancing and dress code and attitude.
Becoming globally influential, it was not long until the urban subculture hit the commercial demand. Hip-Hop's golden are was in the early 90s, with dominant socio-political flavor to later expand to the controversy gangster rap which got the media's attention when two of the main figures Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. becoming victims of crime shootings. Once into the media spotlight, the subculture got commercially exploited to turn into a sales-machine and mainstream invasion of fashion.
Hip-Hop's mainstream invasion also extended to the language, giving a plethora of words and idioms to our daily vocabulary, but what is the origin of the term Hip-Hop itself?
Hip-Hop were the first words on the genre's first big hit the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight released in 1979.
Yet the term Hip-Hop is believed to have been firstly used to officially name the subculture in only 1982, when reporter Steven Hager published a longform piece in the Village Voice on the vibrant black youth movement which had displaced gang violence with music, dance, art, language and style, noting that: "In another five years, hip-hop could be considered the most significant artistic achievement of the decade."
In the same year, New York Times published a review on D.J Hollywood's gig as "phrased to the beat of a funk record and paced himself with a repeating refrain, usually..a variation on the nonsense formula 'hip, hop, hip-hip-de-hop'".
Only a few months later, Time went out with "This subculture, nicknamed hip hop, is about assertiveness, display, pride, status and competition".
Though, the words "Hip" and "Hop" have a long story in the African American culture. With Hop often related to the 20s and the times of the Harlem Swing (Lindy Hop) and Hip to the term of enlightenment, cultivated by slaves from the West African nations, there might be a much easier explanation.
In November 2012, during a lecture at Cornell University, Afrika Bambaataa (American DJ from Bronx known as "The Godfather" and "Amen Ra of Hip Hop Culture") was asked how, he had settled on Hip-Hop to describe the youth movement that he had helped to create, and his answer was brilliantly simple: "This is hip and when you feel that music you gotta hop to it, so that's when we called it 'hip-hop.'"
Tagged as: Hip-Hop dance, Hip-Hop dress code, Hip-Hop language, Hip-Hop mainstream, Hip-Hop street, Hip-Hop style


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Q: How to sum properties grouping by onother property in an array? I have an array, like so:
$array = @()
$Props = [ordered]@{Table="Table1"; Col1=1; Col2=2}
$array += New-Object psobject -Property $Props
$Props = [ordered]@{Table="Table2"; Col1=4; Col2=5}
$array += New-Object psobject -Property $Props
$Props = [ordered]@{Table="Table1"; Col1=3; Col2=7}
$array += New-Object psobject -Property $Props
$Props = [ordered]@{Table="Table2"; Col1=2; Col2=6}
$array += New-Object psobject -Property $Props

I want to get the sum of Col1 and Col2, by table:

Table    Col1    Col2
-----    -----   -----
Table1       4       9
Table2       6      11

In SQL, this would be:
SELECT Table, Col1 = SUM(Col1), Col2 = SUM(Col2)
FROM <$array>
GROUP BY Table

But I can't figure out how to do this in PoSh. Surely this should be relatively straightforward?

A: Flip the SQL statement on its head, and you basically know what to do in PowerShell - group by table name then select the sums over each of them!
# Group the objects by table name
$Tables = $array |Group Table

# Select the table name + sum of each group
$Tables |Select-Object Name,@{Name='Sum1';Expression={($_.Group |Measure-Object Col1 -Sum).Sum}},@{Name='Sum2';Expression={($_.Group |Measure-Object Col2 -Sum).Sum}}

The last two arguments to Select-Object are calculated expressions:
@{
  # Select a new property named "Sum1"
  Name = 'Sum1'
  Expression = {
    # Calculate the value from the sum of the Col1 properties in this table
    ($_.Group |Measure-Object Col1 -Sum).Sum
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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A Szerelmünk napjai (eredeti cím: Time Freak, alternatív címe: Time After Time) 2018-as amerikai sci-fi filmvígjáték-dráma, melyet Andrew Bowler rendezett. A főbb szerepekben Asa Butterfield, Sophie Turner és Skyler Gisondo látható.

2018. november 9-én jelent meg, limitált kiadásban.

Rövid történet
Egy fiatal fizikazsenit egy évvel ezelőtt elhagyta a barátnője. A srác visszautazik az időben, hogy megváltoztassa a múltat és visszanyerje a lány szívét.

Cselekmény

Szereplők

 Asa Butterfield: Stillman
 Sophie Turner: Debbie
 Skyler Gisondo: Evan
 Will Peltz: Ryan
 Aubrey Reynolds: Blue Ribbons
 Mary Elizabeth Boylan: Sophia
 Jillian Joy: Carly
 Marilyn Miller: vendég a buliban
 Mark Blockovich: vendég az étteremben

Háttér
A filmet Utah államban forgatták.

Fogadtatás

Pénzügyi adatok
A film 10 ezer dolláros bevételt termelt az Egyesült Államokban és Kanadában. Egyéb országokban  hozott, így összesen  bevételt ért el világszerte.

Jegyzetek

További információk

2018 filmjei
Amerikai tudományos-fantasztikus filmek
Amerikai filmvígjátékok
Amerikai filmdrámák
Lions Gate Entertainment-filmek


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Hi-Bird Launches E-Scooters In India
Mohammed Asrar March 30, 2011 Electric Bikes, Electric Vehicle, Recent Launches - Bikes, Uncategorized Automotive brands 2 Comments
Hi-Bird, an ISO 90001 company and one of the largest bi-cycle exporters in the country, launched electric scooters. The company's cycles are available in India and are also sold in USA and Europe. The company claims to promote their products as a blend of "European quality, Japanese Technology and African sturdiness". With the launch of their two wheeler electric scooters they seem to be flying high. The company launched its two electric scooter models with a claim that they can achieve a top speed of 100 Kmph.
The e-scooters from HI-Bird will be easily charged within 5-6 hours and the scooters can run 70Km per single charge. These two e-scooters are equipped with lithium-ion battery which is very different from the other company who equip with either lead-acid batteries or nickel-cadmium batteries.
"The scooter has an on-board charging system and can be charged using the household electric plug point; the vehicles are totally environment friendly noise free, smoke free, no petrol, no registration, no license and have a very low running cost. The carrying capacity of the vehicle is one adult and one child", Mr. Sharma added.
"Hi Bird company has taken over the ambitious venture to launch Battery Operated e scooters at an affordable price to cater to the sizable Indian middle class. He added that there is huge demand for e-scooters in the country as it can be easily driven by youngsters, working women, professionals and senior citizens. The price range of two models is between Rs 27,000 and Rs 28,900"Mr. Sharma said.
"The recent government subsidies on electric bikes have encouraged us to launch electric two wheelers. In fact, the state governments of Delhi and Chandigarh offer 20% subsidy apart from the central government rebate of 15% on electric two wheeler's. Hero Electric is the current leader in electric two-wheelers with more than 30% market share and sales of around 80,000 two wheelers per annum. The favourable market condition has led TVS to re-enter the segment by launching electric scooters next year" he added.
TVS Phoenix 125 and Apache RTR 160 gets new paint job
Self-driving cars are mastering streets in cities says Google
MG Motors set to invest heavily in India – plans to launch first product by 2019


GERMANY: Vattenfall has started the installation of turbines at its DanTysk project in the German North Sea.
The company said that first of the 80 turbines has had its tower and nacelle put in place, eleven months to the day since it installed the first of the foundations on the project.
Dense fog had held up the installation for more than a day, the developer said, preventing the vessels from getting close enough to start construction. The blades are due to be attatched imminently.
Installation of the turbines is being undertaken by Squire Blue Ocean's Pacific Osprey jack-up vehicle.
The project which is situated roughly 70 kilometres to the west of the German island of Sylt is due to come online in 2014.
Vattenfall announced in December that all of the foundations for the Siemens 3.6MW turbines had been installed. Van Oord started laying the array cables for the project in July 2013, while VSMC was contracted in February to complete the work from April.


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Alan Rousseau and Jackson Marvell summit Dickey's east face via "Ruth Gorge Grinder"
Alan Rousseau / April 30, 2019
Four recipients selected for 2019 Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award
Derek Franz / April 16, 2019
La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme GTX boots: Ideal for ice/mixed climbing and single-day mountaineering
Clint Helander / March 14, 2019
The Giri-Giri Boys
Katsutaka Yokoyama / September 29, 2018
"Unfinished Sympathy": An interview with Dmitry Golovchenko and Sergey Nilov about their new line on Kumbhakarna's east face
Eliza Kubarska / April 25, 2019
India's first Piti-Dharr Ice Fest results in a flurry of first ascents
And the 2017 Mugs Stump Winners Are...
From Conrad Anker's The City and The Blade in Alpinist 38. Mugs Stump on the Spanish Pillar of Meru North (6450m) in 1988. [Photo] Steve Quinlan
[The following information is a press release produced by the Mugs Stump Award committee. It is republished here with their consent—Ed.]
The recipients of the 2017 Mugs Stump Award were announced at the Bozeman Ice Festival on Thursday, December 9. The award, a collaborative effort of Alpinist Magazine, Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., Mountain Gear, Patagonia, Inc., and W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., was created in 1993 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America's most visionary climbers. In the 25 years since its inception, the Mugs Stump Award has provided over $425,000 to small teams pursuing climbing objectives that exemplify light, fast and clean alpinism. Five teams with outstanding talent and objectives received a total of $25,000 in grants this year.
The 2017 Mugs Stump Award recipients are:
* Revelation Mountains, Alaska. Clint Helander and Andres Marin will visit the remote Revelations, aiming for a direct new route on the East Face of Golgotha. Helander, who made the first and only ascent of Golgotha in 2012 with Ben Trocki, attempted the line in 2015 with Marin; they were turned back by avalanche danger in the narrow cirque below the face....
* Arrigetch Peaks, Alaska. The West Face of Xanadu, Adam Ferro, Vitaliy Musiyenko and Brian Prince's objective, is perhaps the biggest unclimbed wall in the range, looked at by many by never attempted. "We are hoping to climb it in a long push, employing big wall tactics of short fixing when possible," said Musiyenko. "Our hope is to connect natural features and free climb as much as possible."
* Zanskar, India. Alan Rousseau and Tino Villanueva will explore the Suru Valley and attempt a difficult mixed route on the North Face of Rungofarka and a prominent rock buttress on the nearby Northwest Face of Peak 5780. Both peaks are unclimbed. "In 2009 India opened over 100 peaks for climbing after being formally closed forbidden for many years due to the armed conflict in the region," says Rousseau. "Rungofarka and Peak 5780 are among the newly opened peaks. Reports of good rock in the Suru Valley lead me to believe we will find high quality stone on these formations."
* Kishtwar, India. The Kishtwar region, also recently reopened to climbers after a 20-year hiatus, is still relatively unexplored. Sam Hennessy, Seth Timpano and Jared Vilhauer will make their second attempt on the 1700-meter North Face of Barnaj II. The peak is an unclimbed gem, and, says Vilhauer, "Will provide world class ice and mixed climbing on a big alpine face...."
* Karakorum Himalaya, Pakistan. Steve Swenson, Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman have their sights on a long and technical ridge on Mucho Chhish, the world's second highest unclimbed peak at 7453 meters. "The line is stunningly beautiful and safe from objective hazard, while providing a logical and challenging 3400-meter alpine style objective," says Zimmerman. "We'll be traversing a mile of ridge above 7000 meters to reach the elusive summit of Muchu Chhish."
These climbers—and all of this year's Mugs Stump Award applicants—share Mugs' vision of climbing as a celebration of boldness, purity and simplicity. For more information on the Mugs Stump Award, please visit mugsstumpaward.com.


text:
90% of America's Workers Want This
By Daniel B. Kline – Feb 11, 2019 at 9:00AM
A new study shows that one-size-fits-all may not be the best approach.
Few people would go regularly to a restaurant that offered one item, served one way, with no opportunity for customization. Even someone who really enjoyed that dish would probably tire pretty quickly of it, and the vast majority of the public would either never go or visit only once.
That hasn't stopped companies from taking a one-size-fits-all approach to employees. That's been very evident in the open-office trend. Many businesses have implemented that setup without considering what their employees actually want.
In reality, the best way to retain workers and keep office morale might be to offer employees more choice. Most workers -- a full 90% -- said more flexible work arrangements and schedules will increase morale, according to the 2019 Staples Workplace Survey.
Workers place a high level of value on flexibility. Image source: Getty Images.
What do workers want?
Workers want choice, and they're not in favor of offices that take a one-size-fits-all approach. Specifically, 52% said "an open office layout creates distractions," while 40% said their office is "too open."
Employees aren't necessarily asking for a return to closed offices. Instead, they want more choice -- private rooms for calls and meetings, as well as the ability to work from home when possible. In fact, 64% of workers said they work from home at least some of the time, but only 34% of employers have a formal or informal policy regulating that work.
That's a situation that could lead to worker discontent if a company tries to tighten up its policy. Two-thirds of survey respondents (67%) said they "would consider leaving their job if their work arrangements became less flexible."
Addressing workplace flexibility requires a company to engage in a dialogue with its employees. It also means thinking about the relationship between work and worker in a different way.
"The concept of work-life balance has given way to the simpler concept of 'work life' -- one's life at work," said Staples Brand Group Vice President Chris DeMeo in a press release. "Employees no longer embrace the traditional 9-to-5 and instead seek an environment that accommodates the fact that their needs may change day to day."
What can your company do?
Offering flexibility is harder than having a single policy that applies in all situations. You need to craft rules that work for the entire workforce without favoring one person or group over another. That requires a thoughtful discussion -- maybe a lot of them -- and a willingness to constantly re-evaluate.
"The smartest employers are acknowledging this reality and offering their workers more autonomy when it comes to where, when, and how they work," DeMeo said. "It may be a leap of faith for offices used to the old ways of doing things, but it's one that could yield dividends in terms of recruitment, retention, and productivity."
There's no single answer here that applies to every company. Instead, employers need to embrace that what seems right for them may not be what's best for their employees. Finding solutions requires a willingness to give employees a voice and to change policies that may have been in place for a very long time.
Daniel B. Kline has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
History Says the S&P 500 Could Soar in 2023 -- 1 Surefire Index Fund to Buy Now and Hold Forever
1 Unusual Warren Buffett Growth Stock Down 34% to Buy in 2023


Dr. Zaharakis was warm, friendly, attentive and patient with her care with me. She took her time for a full exam,explanations and follow-up instructions. Her staff were also courteous and friendly. Thank you for your professionalism!
Dr. Zaharakis was warm, friendly, attentive and patient with her care with me. She took her time for a full exam, explanations and follow-up instructions. Her staff were also courteousand friendly. Thank you for your professionalism!
Dr Zaharakis answered all my questions and was on point with recommendations of treatment and therapy. Front desk staffwas super helpful and friendly. Minimal wait time to see the doctor.
Dr Zaharakis answered all my questions and was on point with recommendations of treatment and therapy. Front desk staff was super helpful and friendly. Minimal wait time to see thedoctor.
Neurological conditions have the potential to make patients and their families feel very vulnerable. I believe that a physician's ability to recognize and address this is essential in the development of a successful relationship with patients. Aside from diagnosing and treating individuals, I strive to empower my patients by providing them with accurate medical information, listening to specific concerns, and encouraging them to be involved in their care.
Kind. Thorough. Explained my concerns. Made a treatment plan on the first visit.
Dr. Zaharakis is very professional. she made me feel at ease during my visit.
Dr. Zaharakis is fantastic! She takes the time to listen to you and is very thorough. I highly recommend her!
Everyone at the office was friendly and professional. Very pleasant atmosphere. Makes a big difference.
The doctor is very knowledgeable. I really like the doctor.
She was warm, personable, and clearly very knowledgeable. The exam was thorough, and she created a clear action plan. I highly recommend her!
Dr Zaharakis is a very a true medical professional. She is kind and caring to her patients, and is very thoughtful in answering all questions and concerns .
Dr Zaharakis, along with the entire staff, is always so courteous and kind. Always. The first apt I had at the office I was in a lot of pain and was less than charismatic. Everyone was incredibly patient and kind withme. Dr Zaharakis always listens and answers my questions and I never feel rushed.
Dr. Zaharakis was very thorough, and made a great impression. She clearly explained the issue and potential causes. I feel very comfortable with the advice she gave, and intend to see her for follow-up and any future issues. Her assistant was also extremely friendly and professional.
Dr. Zaharakis has horrible bedside manner which makes it a stressful endeavor to seek answers for an already stressful situation. If your brain isn't functioning to it's fullest capabilities and you're having a hard time explaining your symptomsshe bulldozes right through you, cuts you off when you are talking, and generally gives an air of "I don't care". Her medical assistant was incredible, very helpful and caring with a sense of humor. I'm not sure if Dr. Zaharakis is an excellent doctor in terms of intellect but I'm not sticking around long enough to find out.
She was very thorough, nice and pleasant. I was pleased with her office staff they were very helpful and really nice to me. I have to take several tests for her to determine what is wrong with me.
THE STAFF WAS WONDERFUL, KIND AND HELPFUL. THE DOCTOR WAS KNOWLEDGEABLE AND LISTENED TOO ALL MY WORRIES. IN ALL, A GREAT EXPERIENCE. I CAN RECOMMEND DR. ZAHARAKIS, AND HER STAFF, WHOLE HEARTEDLY. HOPE ARE VISIT IS AS NICE AS MINE WAS, I'M SURE IT WILL BE SO.
She was completely unprofessional and rude to me from the beginning of the appointment. I would be happy to discuss further.
She was quite good, heard me patiently and diagnosed the ailment - without making me go through lot of tests.
She was focused, professional, and thorough. My issue was relatively routine but she ordered an MRI and additional tests to confirm how best to treat.
Super polite and friendly doctor. She was very attentive and very good about discussing and explaining everything that was going on. I couldn't recommend her more. I will refer all my colleagues to her.
Good bedside manner she took her time asked questions, staff was pleasant.


Angel Whisper-The Sheppard, Part II.
Ultimately we must be our own Sheppard in this life and lead ourselves with the wisdom and light we have inside us. For only we have the final power to settle the waters of our own soul and lead ourselves to safer pastures.
Yes family, friends and others can offer us blessed guidance and share in our journey of life. But they cannot always choose for us. Give us all the answers we seek and be there at all times to save us. For they are also living their own journey along side us. It is our final choice and our faith that will save us!
As a Holistic Consultant I share my skills and intuitive ability to gently guide my clients to find insight, healing and enlightenment in their individual lives.
On this blog site you'll find local events, channeled psychic information, spiritual places I've visited and holistic health tips.


text:
Superheroes: Why are they more appealing? Study reveals secret behind our perception
By Shreya Vishwanath
May 2, 2019 19:53 +08
Avengers, Facebook
Characters like Hulk and Thor have shown us massive stage presence with their build, while Black Widow and Gamora have impressed fans with their sheer physique on screen. What makes these traits stand out so singularly to us, the audience?
Grant Gustin, portraying DC's Flash in the television series, was caught in the midst of criticism for not sporting the musculature that the character originally has in comics. The reason behind these expectations has been uncovered in depth by a new research that has found that the male superheroes are on an average obese, while their female counterparts are close to underweight.
Researchers from Binghamton University examined the visualization of male and female superheroes of 3,752 Marvel Comics characters based on visualized Body Mass Index (BMI), with specifics such as shoulder-to-waist ratio, jawlines, upper body muscularity, waist-to-hip ratio and breast morphology.
As per the study, the male upper body is made heavily "masculine"-- with male shoulder-to-waist ratios being far above human limits, the female superhero bodies with far lower waist-to-hip ratios than average humans.
Binghamton University research student Laura Johnsen said, "The main findings were that comic book characters are an expression of supernormal stimuli, and they have body morphology that is beyond what humans are capable of having."
Explaining it further, she said for male and female characters, there are certain characteristics associated with masculinity and femininity. "For males, that tends to be wide shoulders and a narrow waist, and for females that tends to be a small waist-to-hip ratio, and a larger bust. These are traits that humans tend to find attractive, but for comic book characters, artists take those traits and make them super-exaggerated. The male characters are hypermasculine and the female characters are hyperfeminine," she said.
Johnsen and Burch published these findings in a paper titled "Captain Dorito and the bombshell: Supernormal stimuli in comics and film," in the journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. "Captain Dorito" refers to a 2014 meme which compared the high shoulder-to-waist ratio of Captain America actor Chris Evans to a Dorito.
Captain America vs Iron Man Chris Evans' "dorito-like" physique received lots of online attention Facebook/ Captain America, Iron Man
The researchers were aiming at providing a biological context for this continuous representation in art, since exaggerated body types are criticized, yet idolized at the same time. "People who read comic books know that these body types are fantastical representations of the human form," said Johnsen.
As these characteristics appeal to basic instincts, the visualization of the characters is heavily amplified, making them more captivating. Comics are another example of creating supernormal stimuli, emphasizing all the features people find attractive about the human form, explained Johnsen.
Further, superheroes also offer themes that reflect deep human emotion and desire. "By studying comics from an evolutionary perspective, we gain insight as to the underlying origins for why the characters look the way they do, why we are attracted to them and why we connect with them on such a personal level," said Johnsen, who is collaborating with another expert Rebecca Burch at State University of New York, Oswego in their next phase of research at other markers for masculinity and femininity, as well as how a character's arc might influence how their appearance changes over time.
Oxford University researcher claims aliens are interbreeding with humans to produce hybrids
NUS researchers crack the code to Chemobrain therapy in cancer treatment
World Earth Day 2019: With this NTU device, you can check water purity instantly before drinking
Read this if you have good enough eyes.
A post shared by Grant Gustin (@grantgust) on Aug 8, 2018 at 12:09pm PDT
Grant's post that served as clapback against criticism
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text:
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Appacitive.Sdk.Services
{
    public class EmailConverter : JsonConverter
    {
        public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
        {
            return typeof(Email) == objectType;
        }

        public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
        {
            if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Null)
                return null;
            var email = new Email();
            JToken value = null;
            var json = JObject.ReadFrom(reader) as JObject;

            if (json.TryGetValue("__id", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                email.Id = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("subject", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                email.Subject = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("to", out value) == true && value.Type == JTokenType.Array)
                email.To.AddRange(value.Values<string>());
            if (json.TryGetValue("cc", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null && value.Type == JTokenType.Array)
                email.Cc.AddRange(value.Values<string>());
            if (json.TryGetValue("bcc", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null && value.Type == JTokenType.Array)
                email.Bcc.AddRange(value.Values<string>());
            if (json.TryGetValue("from", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                email.FromAddress = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("replyto", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                email.ReplyTo = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("smtp", out value) == true && value.Type == JTokenType.Object)
                email.Server = ParseSmtp(value as JObject);
            if (json.TryGetValue("body", out value) == true && value.Type == JTokenType.Object)
                email.Body = ParseBody(value as JObject);
            return email;
        }

        private SmtpServer ParseSmtp(JObject json)
        {
            JToken value = null;
            var server = new SmtpServer();
            if (json.TryGetValue("host", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                server.Host = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("username", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                server.Host = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("password", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                server.Host = value.ToString();
            if (json.TryGetValue("port", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
            {
                int port;
                if (int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out port) == true)
                    server.Port = port;
            }
            if (json.TryGetValue("enablessl", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
            {
                bool enableSsl;
                if (bool.TryParse(value.ToString(), out enableSsl) == true)
                    server.EnableSSL = enableSsl;
            }
            return server;
        }

        private EmailBody ParseBody(JObject json)
        {
            EmailBody body = null;
            JToken value = null;
            if (json.TryGetValue("template", out value) == true)
                body = ParseTemplatedBody(json);
            else
                body = ParseRawBody(json);

            if (json.TryGetValue("ishtml", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
            {
                bool ishtml;
                if (bool.TryParse(value.ToString(), out ishtml) == true)
                    body.IsHtml = ishtml;
            }
            return body;
        }

        private EmailBody ParseRawBody(JObject json)
        {
            var body = new RawEmailBody();
            JToken value = null;
            if (json.TryGetValue("content", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                body.Content = value.ToString();
            return body;
        }

        private EmailBody ParseTemplatedBody(JObject json)
        {
            var body = new TemplateBody();
            JToken value = null;
            if (json.TryGetValue("templatename", out value) == true && value.Type != JTokenType.Null)
                body.TemplateName = value.ToString();
            // Read the data
            JObject data = null;
            if (json.TryGetValue("data", out value) == true && value.Type == JTokenType.Object)
                data = value as JObject;
            foreach (var property in data.Properties())
            {
                if( property.Value.Type == JTokenType.Null )
                    body[property.Name] = string.Empty;
                else
                    body[property.Name] = property.Value.ToString();
            }

            return body;
        }

        public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
        {
            var email = value as Email;
            if (email == null)
            {
                writer.WriteNull();
                return;
            }

            writer
                .StartObject()
                // Write subject
                .WriteProperty("subject", email.Subject ?? string.Empty)
                // from
                .WithWriter( w =>
                    {
                        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(email.FromAddress) == false)
                            w.WriteProperty("from", email.FromAddress);
                    })
                // reply-to
                .WithWriter(w =>
                {
                    if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(email.FromAddress) == false)
                        w.WriteProperty("replyto", email.ReplyTo);
                })
                // to
                .WriteArray("to", email.To)
                // cc
                .WriteArray("cc", email.Cc)
                // bcc
                .WriteArray("bcc", email.Bcc)
                // write body
                .WithWriter(w =>
                    {
                        if (email.Body is RawEmailBody)
                            WriteRawBody(w, email.Body as RawEmailBody);
                        else
                            WriteTemplateBody(w, email.Body as TemplateBody);
                    })
                // write smtp settings
                .WithWriter( w => WriteSmtp(w, email.Server))
                .EndObject();
        }

        private void WriteSmtp(JsonWriter writer, SmtpServer server)
        {
            if (server == null )
                return;
            writer
                .WriteProperty("smtp")
                .StartObject()
                    .WriteProperty("host", server.Host ?? null)
                    .WriteProperty("port", server.Port <= 0 ? server.DefaultPort : server.Port)
                    .WriteProperty("username", server.Username)
                    .WriteProperty("password", server.Password)
                    .WriteProperty("enablessl", server.EnableSSL)
                .EndObject();
        }

        private void WriteRawBody(JsonWriter writer, RawEmailBody raw)
        {
            if (raw == null)
                writer.WriteProperty("body").WriteNull();
            else
                writer
                    .WriteProperty("body")
                    .StartObject()
                        .WriteProperty("content", raw.Content)
                        .WriteProperty("ishtml", raw.IsHtml)
                    .EndObject();
        }

        private void WriteTemplateBody(JsonWriter writer, TemplateBody body)
        {

            if (body == null)
                writer.WriteProperty("body").WriteNull();
            else
                writer
                    .WriteProperty("body")
                    .StartObject()
                        .WriteProperty("templatename", body.TemplateName)
                        .WithWriter( w =>
                            {
                                if (body.Keys.Count() == 0)
                                    return;
                                w.WritePropertyName("data");
                                w.StartObject();
                                foreach (var key in body.Keys)
                                    w.WriteProperty(key, body[key]);
                                w.EndObject();
                            })
                        .WriteProperty("ishtml", body.IsHtml)
                    .EndObject();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


With 18 years of web design experience, we utilize the latest technologies, platforms and adhere to both graphic design and website security best practices. We can provide you with a beautifully designed, optimized and secure web product.
Our Graphic Design services will bring your design vision to life, delivering vibrant marketing, social media, email and branding & identity materials. Whether optimized for the web, mobile, print or presentation, we can help your organization deliver your message to your audience through beautiful and functional design.
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text:
Wes Welker
Wes Welker was born in Oklahoma City on May 1, 1981. He began his football career at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City and during his Junior year, he helped lead his team to the 2A State Football Championship defeating Tishomingo High School. He was named The Daily Oklahoman All-State Player of the Year and Oklahoma State Player of the Year by USA Today. Out of high school, Welker was offered a scholarship at Texas Tech to play for the Red Raiders. His amazing athleticism prompted Welker to win the Mosi Tatupu Award, given annually to the best special teams' player in college football. He was also named to the Sports Illustrated All-Decade Team as a punt returner. Yet, after his senior year, Welker was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.
Welker signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Diego Chargers. After the Chargers he decided to sign with the Miami Dolphins where he was mostly used on special teams. Welker joined the New England Patriots beginning a lustrous five year career with the team. While in New England, Welker led the league in receptions in 2007, 2009 and 2011. He holds the four highest single-season reception totals in Patriot history, as well as four of the top ten receiving yardage totals, including the franchise record. Welker was selected to the Pro Bowl, the All-Pro Team, or both, in every season of his Patriots career.
In 2013, Welker signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Denver Broncos. In his debut as a Bronco, Welker had nine receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns against the Baltimore Ravens. By week 11, Welker had more touchdowns than he had the entire previous season with the Patriots and as many as he had in any season with New England. In January 2014, he earned his third AFC Championship win after he helped the Broncos defeat his former team, the New England Patriots. In 2017, Wes became an NFL Assistant Coach for the Houston Texans and in 2019, he became the Wide Receivers Coach for the San Francisco 49ers.


text:
Home Irish
Concepticon
This resource presents an attempt to link the large amount of different concept lists which are used in the linguistic literature, ranging from Swadesh lists in historical linguistics to naming tests in clinical studies and psycholinguistics. (...) This resource, our Concepticon, links concept labels from different conceptlists to concept sets. Each concept set is given a unique identifier, a unique label, and a human-readable definition. Concept sets are further structured by defining different relations between the concepts (...). The resource can be used for various purposes.
https://concepticon.clld.org/
Read more about Concepticon
HurtLex
"HurtLex is a multilingual computational lexicon of hate words. Starting from the Italian lexicon ''Le Parole per Ferire'' by Tullio de Mauro, we developed a computational lexicon and semi-automatically translated it into more than 50 languages."
https://vocabularyserver.com/hurtlex/
http://hatespeech.di.unito.it/resources/hurtlex1.0.zip
Read more about HurtLex
Writing System Name Authority List
"The Writing system NAL provides the list of the main writing systems. They are differentiated depending on what a symbol represents inside the system."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/writing-system
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/writing-system/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/writin…
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/home
Read more about Writing System Name Authority List
Website Identifier Name Authority List
"The website-identifier table provides a list of websites (URL) included in the europa.eu domain and subdomains. It has been developed specifically for the EU Web Preservation, but will be used also for many other purposes. The table contains reference to copyright of the websites."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/website-identifier
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/website-identifier/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/websit…
Read more about Website Identifier Name Authority List
Use Context Name Authority List
"This table provides a list of the different applications or environments that make use of the various tables (NALs). It is an internal table used at the Publications Office of the EU."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/use-context
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/use-context/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/use-co…
Read more about Use Context Name Authority List
Treaty Classification Name Authority List
"The Treaty classification NAL provides the list of types of treaties of the European Union and its predecessors."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/treaty-classification
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/treaty-classification/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/treaty…
Read more about Treaty Classification Name Authority List
Time Period Name Authority List
"The time-period authority table is a controlled vocabulary which lists the periods of time in the 24 official languages of the EU. It enumerates the names of the seasons, months, weekdays and the main units of time when the issues are published. It also contains concepts for "unlimited" or "unknown" time periods. The NAL is under governance of the Interinstitutional Metadata Maintenance Committee (IMMC) and maintained by the Publications Office of the EU."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/timeperiod
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/timeperiod/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/timepe…
Read more about Time Period Name Authority List
Target Audience Name Authority List
"This table provides the target audiences used for the general publications."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/target-audience
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/target-audience/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/target…
Read more about Target Audience Name Authority List
Subdivision Position Name Authority List
"The Subdivision position NAL is used for the consolidation of legislation. It provides the possible positions in the subdivision of acts."
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/subdivision-position
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/subdivision-position/
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/at-dataset/-/resource/dataset/subdiv…
Read more about Subdivision Position Name Authority List
Subdivision Name Authority List
"This table provides the subdivisions of acts used for legal citations. The subdivision authority table is part of the core metadata used in the exchange between the institutions involved in the legal decision making process and the Publications Office of the European Union. It is also used by EUR-Lex. It provides an authority code and labels in all official EU languages.
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/subdivision
http://publications.europa.eu/mdr/authority/subdivision/
Read more about Subdivision Name Authority List


The St. Louis circuit attorney's office will hold a news conference at 10:30 Wednesday morning.
Hours after his resignation, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office announced it had resolved one of the criminal cases involving embattled former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
A news conference regarding the "fair and just resolution" of the criminal charge of the felony tampering with a computer filed against Greitens will be held by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office at 10:30 Wednesday morning.
A St. Louis grand jury indicted Greitens on a felony invasion of privacy charge in February, but that charge has been dropped, with a chance it could be re-filed. A second felony charge of computer tampering is still pending.


One of the many reasons people cite for not going to rehab is fear of losing their job. Many people struggling with addiction are employed and have families to care for, and the idea of checking into a 30-day program brings up multiple fears, among them unemployment.
You may believe that going to treatment puts your job at risk, but the reality is your job is likely already at risk. Even if you have been able to hold it together so far, there's a good chance that your boss and coworkers suspect there is a problem, and there's a good chance that your addiction has hurt your performance and productivity.
Will Going to Treatment Put Your Job at Risk?
Not necessarily. In fact, going to rehab can protect your job. For example, you can't be fired for going to rehab. Once you make the decision to go to treatment, you are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
If you choose not to go to rehab and your job performance suffers as a result of your addiction, you can be fired. However, if you proactively go to rehab for your addiction, you can't be fired for past performance issues related to your addiction. Your employer isn't allowed to discriminate against you for being an addict in recovery, although you can be drug tested randomly.
Another barrier for many people is fear and embarrassment. What if people find out? What will they think? Again, there's a good chance people already know that you have a problem. Even if they don't, most people understand that addiction is a disease that requires treatment. There's a good chance that you aren't the only one they know who has a problem, and you probably aren't the only employee there who has a problem. Will people talk? Probably, but it will be short-lived, and the reality is that coworkers don't even have to know where you are or why you are gone. You don't owe anyone an explanation.
This is tricky, but you have to remember you are saving your life, here. And, you are likely going to save a lot of money in the long run! You can use vacation time and check in to your employer's temporary disability options. Cut whatever expenses you can and see if you can get any kind of help. Rehab is only about as long as two or three paychecks. Have faith that things will be okay.
Addiction afflicts millions of people every single year. It costs billions in lost productivity and medical expenses. People die each and every day, and families are devastated as a result of this disease. You may indeed be concerned about your career and your finances, but you are saving your life. And, you are also saving your career. In truth, by recovering from addiction you are allowing yourself to reach your full potential. Addiction drains you of your drive, motivation, creativity and your health. You will never reach your goals while you are in active addiction, and the chances are better than average that you will lose it all along the way.
Take the leap and get help for your addiction. Remember that your health and your life are more important than any job. And, if you don't wait for things to get worse, if you go get help right away, you'll protect your job, your health and your family in both the short and long term.
His House Rehab offers industry leading Rehab Treatment Programs. We were founded in 1994 and we base our Drug and Alcohol Treatment programs on five key principles: commitment, honesty, integrity, respect, and service. These five principles guide us in all that we do and all the care we provide. Contact us today to see how we can help you or your loved one at (888) 681-4594.


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Detroit submits list, awaits draft
SportsNHLDetroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek, left, stops a Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) shot in the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, April 8, 2017, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
By Chuck Pleiness |
PUBLISHED: June 17, 2017 at 2:48 p.m. | UPDATED: June 16, 2021 at 6:32 a.m.
DETROIT >> The Detroit Red Wings' protected list is in and now they wait.
Each NHL team had until 5 p.m. Saturday to submit their protected lists so that the Vegas Golden Knights can fill a roster.
'I got my 7-3-1, I could waffle around on a defenseman spot, I can waffle around maybe one forward spot, but for the most part I know what I like,' Wings general manager Ken Holland said last week prior to meeting with scouts and others within the organization. 'I want to hear what my people think. They deserve that respect.'
Holland said that the team will protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender. They could have opted to protect four forwards, four defensemen and a goalie.
Vegas will select 30 players.
The picks will be revealed during the NHL Awards on Wednesday.
Teams were under strict orders to not reveal who they protected.
There is also a trade freeze that went into effect on Saturday at 3 p.m., but Vegas is excluded. Teams can make deals with the Golden Knights to not select a player up until they have to submit their choices by 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The near locks at forward the Wings protected are Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Henrik Zetterberg and Frans Nielsen, who has a no-movement clause in his contract, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha. The other spot will be filled by either Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Riley Sheahan, Luke Glendening, Tomas Nosek or Martin Frk.
Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Evgeny Svechnikov are exempt because they have two years or less of pro experience.
If the Wings had a choice, Sheahan would be taken by Vegas. He's in the final year of his contract ($2.075 million) and will be a restricted free agent. He had just two goals, which both came in the season finale, last year. He could easily be the Golden Knights' second-line center.
Danny DeKeyser, Mike Green and Nick Jensen appear to be the three defensemen Detroit protects, which leaves Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul to be unprotected.
Robbie Russo is exempt.
In goal, Petr Mrazek should take up that spot, despite his inconsistent play over the last two seasons.
Jimmy Howard has outplayed Mrazek at times, but he's 33 and has two years left at a $5.3 million cap hit which should allow him to remain with the team. Jared Coreau, who led Grand Rapids to the Calder Cup championship, will also be exposed.
Chuck Pleiness
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On the way to Europe's Digital Single Market, booksellers are alarmed about geo-blocking and its potential effects on ebook sales. And the EU's trialogue on the regulations have begun.
To outsiders, the details of European booksellers' argument with geo-blocking may come as a surprise.
For one thing, geo-blocking not about "portability" of ebooks and other digital products which consumers have already purchased. For another, the booksellers—at least as represented by the European & International Booksellers Federation (EIBF)—not opposed to selling e-books across borders.
What the EIBF is protesting against, however, is the EU's proposed legislation on rollback of geo-blocking, because it forces them to sell ebooks to users in all EU countries. This requirement to service the union's wide range of member nations' varying taxation levels, fixed prices, and other constraints is too costly for many booksellers to bear.
In April 2017, the European Parliament issued a draft law outlining instances in which geo-blocking—restricting content sales and access to services based on the user's location—would no longer be allowed. Included in this proposed legislation is an end to geo-blocking sales of ebooks across the EU.
Publishing Perspectives today looks at this issue with the articulate assistance of Dr. Jessica Sänger, legal counsel and director of European and international affairs with the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany's Publishers and Booksellers Association.
We next are issuing an invitation to representatives of other European booksellers' and/or publishers' associations—and to the International Publishers Association in Geneva–to let us have their comments on the matter, as well.
The discussion has been triggered by the EIBF's launch of a petition with a purposefully alarming title: "Tell the European Union Not to Force Bookshops Out of the Ebook Business." We have a hunch that one reason the petition isn't yet getting much traction is that the issue itself is, as Sänger notes, quite complicated.
It also has picked up urgency this week. Publishing Perspectives understands that a stage of regulatory discussion referred to as a trialogue–three-way negotiations between the European Commission, Council, and Parliament–have begun.
"This is moving fast," as one colleague puts it.
Above: Tell the EU not to force bookshops out of the e-book business from EIBF on Vimeo.
What is the experience of an ebook buyer in Europe now? If I buy an ebook in Germany from a bookseller, am I not able to read that ebook when I travel to Sweden or Italy on business?
Jessica Sänger: That's a question of portability. The EU has already agreed [to] a regulation ensuring that consumers may continue to enjoy digital content they've previously licensed when they travel within the Single Market. We welcome this certainty for readers–although a lack of portability has not been a problem particularly related to our sector in the past.
The question that the EU is addressing in the geo-blocking proposal is aimed at sales of goods and contracts for services across borders rather than the situation of taking previously purchased content out of country.
PP: We know that the European Commission is working on the Digital Single Market. The irony here is that to some of us watching from afar, it would seem logical that selling ebooks across borders would be (a) a natural part of a Single Market and (b) good for everyone: bigger market reach should mean more consumers to buy. Can you explain, then, why it becomes a negative thing for booksellers?
JS: Booksellers are very much in favor of selling ebooks across borders, and in fact they do. Wherever there's demand, especially in language areas which extend across borders (and for books in the "big" languages), retailers sell ebooks to customers in other countries. In a study seeking to uncover problems within the Digital Single Market, only 1 percent of readers reported having difficulties accessing the ebooks they wanted to license. I think this shows how well the book sector is serving its readers.
However, the extension of the summary prohibition of geo-blocking to the ebook sector (favored by the European Parliament) would actually impose an obligation on each and every bookseller who operates a Web shop to sell to customers from across the EU. This means displaying the correct (low or standard) VAT rate for the customer's country at the time of sale. It means applying the differing fixed book price systems which operate in different member states correctly. And more generally speaking, it means applying all the other, often complex, rules governing the transaction, whether contractual or regulatory, to each and every case.
This is a very complex scenario with numerous risks, meaning that the cost such an obligation would entail for each retailer would be extremely high.
The problem is that due to natural language boundaries, the demand for books across borders–for example, from customers in Slovenia for books from Portugal–is very low. The potential revenues from such transactions would in no way balance the cost of ensuring compliance with the regulation.
This is the core of the problem, and the subsequent danger is clear: prohibitive costs could force SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] out of the ebook market, benefiting the few huge players.
PP: Is there any relation in the geo-blocking we're talking about to the practice of protecting the revenue of, say, a sports event by having its TV broadcast blocked in its local market? What is the scope of the EU's proposed geo-blocking regulation?
JS: No, that's an example of technological measures preventing access in the audiovisual field.
The proposed EU regulation on geo-blocking is directed instead at discrimination of customers trying to buy goods or services from online retailers in other member states. It doesn't apply to the audiovisual sectors, which are regulated separately.
The European Commission didn't intend for the rules to extend to ebooks for a period of at least two years after application to other sectors, since the ebook market is still in its early stages in many member states of the EU. For the same reason, an impact assessment of the proposed regulation on the ebook market has not yet been undertaken.
We're calling for a careful impact assessment and extra time for the ebook market to develop before the baby is thrown out with the proverbial bathwater. We're pleased that the European Council appears to support a period of grace in order for important improvements, including to electronic payment services, to be implemented before ebooks are included in the scope [of the regulation].
PP: Along with the question of geo-blocking, the EIBF material also brings up a couple of other interesting points. For example, there's the idea that booksellers in Europe don't make money–and are even losing money–on ebook sales. Why is this? Is it related to the VAT issue with ebooks vs. print? Or to another factor? Especially with the success of the Tolino, we might have thought that booksellers selling ebooks could find them helping to produce more revenue. Is this not the case?
JS: This has to do with the fact that, for example, in Germany, ebook sales currently generate only about 1 to 3 percent of booksellers' turnover on average. Margins are small, meaning that large numbers of ebooks need to be sold to generate significant income.
Plus, as you mentioned, VAT is still at the full rate, further narrowing the margins in this business.
On the other hand, investments by booksellers in the necessary electronic distribution infrastructure, data, customer service features, customer support services, and so on, have been significant. The cost of running these systems is also quite high, so that the bottom line for many is still that they're not yet breaking even.
Of course the reason booksellers are investing in ebook capabilities is that they hope and expect the segment to grow and generate profits in the future. Besides, offering customers the whole range of available products is an important aspect of retaining customer loyalty.
PP: Lastly, perhaps this is just a point of semantics, but is EIBF correct to say that if ebooks are sold cross-border in Europe that some booksellers will "leave the market altogether"? Would booksellers not have the option to just sell print books? And considering the small part of the market represented by ebooks in many countries of Europe, would having to make them available to anyone who wanted to buy them really have so much impact on a bookseller's income?
JS: Again, booksellers love selling books across borders, wherever there is demand.
The position we've taken on this regulation is about unintended consequences of over-broad application. If the cost of compliance with EU rules becomes prohibitive, many small businesses won't be able to afford to offer their customers ebooks any longer. If they returned to selling only print books, they would effectively have been pushed out of the ebook business, which would make their overall offer less attractive to readers and result in a loss of diversity in the market.
Booksellers want to be in a position to offer their customers a real choice to read whatever they want in the format they prefer, wherever they are. Since many expect the ebook market to grow and become more profitable, it's natural that booksellers want to remain part of that business.
Besides, cultural diversity benefits from a broad range of booksellers providing a diverse selection of books to readers. Being able to buy ebooks exclusively from a few large players is not an attractive prospect for consumers.


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Home > Could The U.S. Navy's War Plan Orange (For Fighting Japan) Be Used Against China?
Could The U.S. Navy's War Plan Orange (For Fighting Japan) Be Used Against China?
April 20, 2019 Topic: Security Region: Asia Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: World War IIU.S. NavyImperial JapanChinaPeople's Liberation Army Navy
Dust it off and put it to use? One of the world's great naval minds has some ideas.
by James Holmes
Everyone says it: Newport, as in where the U.S. Naval War College is located and where yours truly works, underwent a golden age of strategy-making during the interwar decades. It must usher in a new golden age to prevail in strategic competition against the likes of China and Russia. Revisiting the service's and Naval War College's roots will shed light on the new, old dilemmas besetting them.
Indeed it may—if posterity understands that long-ago age.
Here's the legend. Godlike figures such as W. S. Sims bestrode Naval War College game floors during the years following World War I, bequeathing wisdom to posterity. (Theodore Roosevelt instituted war planning vis-à-vis Japan in 1897, while serving as assistant secretary of the navy, but planning didn't really hit its stride until after the Great War.) The product of their labors was War Plan Orange, which set forth the basic design for war against Japan. The U.S. Pacific Fleet sallied forth starting in December 1941 and smote down the foe by putting the design into practice.
So brilliant were their deliberations, vouchsafed Admiral Chester Nimitz after World War II, that next to nothing took U.S. naval commanders by surprise in Pacific combat. Only kamikaze tactics caught them off guard, according to Nimitz.
Like many legends, this one conveys essential elements of truth. But the passage of decades tends to rub the rough edges off any story, especially a tale of military triumph. The reality of naval war planning was messier than mythmaking implies—not to mention more interesting and more instructive for strategists gazing across the Pacific toward a new antagonist a century hence. The process of wrangling over, drafting, critiquing, and periodically revising Plan Orange bore little resemblance to dispassionate Platonic debates carried on while strolling across sunny uplands of martial enlightenment. It bore more resemblance to grinding sausage.
Strategic ideas clashed in those days, in other words, but there was more to strategy-making than high-minded exchanges of views. Edward S. Miller retells the story in War Plan Orange: The U.S. Plan to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945. Generations clashed. Oldtimers steeped in the lore of Spanish-American War victories at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba quarreled with youngsters of a more cautious, methodical bent. Intuitive planners clashed with professionals. Over time, as idea collided with idea and faction with faction, the conceit that the U.S. Navy could lunge across the Pacific and rescue the Philippine Islands and Guam from a Japanese assault yielded to a more prudent view.
The less gung-ho construct forecast that America's Western Pacific possessions would fall to Japanese arms. U.S. forces stationed in the region stood little chance of overpowering the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in Asian waters, by then a marine preserve for the Rising Sun. To undo aggression, the U.S. Pacific Fleet would have to fight its way back into the theater, undertaking a campaign that would span years and exact bitter costs. And indeed, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) intended to mount "interceptive operations" from formerly German-held islands awarded to Tokyo as a "Mandate" under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the covenant terminating World War I.
Under interceptive operations, IJN commanders envisioned staging combat aircraft from airstrips on the Mandate islands and submarines in the waters between. These superempowered light craft would repeatedly ambush the Pacific Fleet with bombs or torpedoes as it lumbered westward. Attrition from pinprick strikes would cut the fleet down to size as the precursor to a decisive battle somewhere in the Western Pacific. A less numerous but materially excellent and spirited Japanese navy would prevail over a larger opponent by increments.
Americans came to agree with their future antagonists about how a future war would play out. Miller documents how the realities of Japanese local supremacy, not to mention the logistical rigors of a cross-Pacific offensive, gradually dawned on the Orange planners. They came to assume America would lose at the outset in the Western Pacific while standing in the Eastern Pacific. Naval forces would then be compelled to steam across thousands of miles of ocean—much of it under fire. They estimated IJN subs and planes would contest the last 3,000 miles of the voyage. A counteroffensive might consume years. This stark reality disabused the Orange planning community of any lingering boosterism.
Their slow, fitful journey from hubris to sobriety is worth bearing in mind as the U.S. Navy resumes war planning in earnest. Substitute Communist China for Imperial Japan. To what extent would a nouveau War Plan Orange resemble its forerunners from the interwar decades? Well, it would parallel the Orange plans of old in certain respects while diverging in others. China can take comfort in some of the parallels; others should discomfit it. The reciprocal is true of the United States and its Asian allies and friends. What works to China's advantage should worry them, while what wrongfoots China constitutes their opportunity.
Now, likely U.S. political and strategic aims raise a troublesome prospect: that the U.S. Pacific Fleet may not enjoy the luxury of what Miller terms a "cautionary" advance across the Pacific. Reconquering the Philippines or Guam could wait; today the United States may have to win quickly or not at all.
U.S. forces, that is, may have to attempt an express "Through Ticket" advance of the sort beloved of the early Orange planners—and court the hazards, costs, and logistical overstretch a cross-Pacific charge entailed, and that planners ultimately pronounced unacceptable. Why? Because China will have time on its side in most contingencies, from wresting Senkaku, Spratly, or Paracel islands from their occupants to venturing a cross-strait assault against Taiwan. U.S. forces must contend with the tyranny of distance—a tyranny People's Liberation Army (PLA) defenders can compound by strewing sensors, ships and planes, and armaments across Western Pacific seas and skies, and by lofting shore-based munitions seaward toward the approaching U.S. force.
Japan could contest 3,000 miles of ocean; the uppermost estimate for the range of China's ship killing DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile is 2,500 miles. And it's far more convenient and less arduous for China to contest geographic space. The DF-26 and its shorter-legged cousin, the DF-21D, are truck-launched missiles that can be fired from the mainland. The IJN had to disperse clots of combat power around the Mandate islands to oppose a U.S. naval advance. The PLA can essay an "access-/area-denial" strategy without bothering to occupy and defend outlying real estate—flyspecks vulnerable to being seized from their defenders, isolated, or bypassed. And PLA access deniers enjoy the concentrated magazine capacity of Fortress China, whereas Japan had to disperse resources throughout the Western and Central Pacific to mount a forward defense against Americans.
It's starting to feel like the interwar decades again—but only in some ways.
Suppose Beijing opted to risk a cross-strait invasion of Taiwan. Take it from an old naval artilleryman: amphibious operations are no simple matter even when the auguries are good. And an attack on Taiwan would be far from auspicious for PLA forces. If you transpose a map of probable landing beaches on Taiwan onto the map of the actual Allied landings in Normandy in 1944, the imagery is striking. The two amphibious zones are comparable in size, while Taiwan's coastal terrain rivals Normandy's as an obstacle to troops storming ashore. PLA soldiers and marines will have their work cut out for them should the Chinese Communist leadership ordain that the island be taken by force.
But the fact remains: Allied forces did plow into the teeth of Nazi defenses in June 1944, they did establish a beachhead in France, and they did break out of their coastal enclave into some open-field running by late July. The Reich fell less than a year after D-Day. The Allies deemed the costs and perils of amphibian warfare worthwhile, and they won. So the D-Day precedent—far from soothing misgivings among Taiwan and its patrons—implies that PLA troops could barge ashore within a few days or weeks, blast their way off the beaches a few weeks or months after that, and subdue the island's guardians within a year of opening hostilities. Nor does the fact that Germany confronted a second front in the form of an ascendant Soviet Army ease such worries. The mainland coast overshadows the island—opening up countless operational vistas. Any PLA generalissimo worth the name will have incorporated a secondary assault into the overall war plan. Like the German Army will see manpower and resources siphoned to other points of impact.
In short, the political and strategic disjuncture between then and now should set Chinese hearts aglow. If the PLA can protract a future Pacific war the way the IJN did, it may well achieve its goals. If it took U.S. forces a year or more to reach the scene of combat, and if the PLA indeed met the Normandy standard for operational tempo, then Chinese force would be dug-in by the time U.S. forces got into action. Would they land on the island to dislodge PLA defenders? Doubtful. Speed, then, will be of the essence as U.S. forces try to succor Taiwan. With no leisure for the plodding, methodical, and, in relative terms, safe advance that saw the U.S. Navy through the Pacific War, today's Seventh and Pacific fleets may have to charge into action—punching their Through Ticket to Asia. It's a cross-Pacific dash or nothing. Advantage: China.
On the other hand—President Harry Truman's wish for a one-handed economist comes to mind when pondering Pacific affairs—the strategic setting at large appears far more favorable to the United States than during the heyday of War Plan Orange. While the U.S. Navy has kept a squadron in the Far East since the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the United States has only been a resident power in Asia since the Spanish-American War ensconced it in the region. Back then its chief strategic assets were the Philippine Islands, Guam, and a series of island stepping-stones stretching back toward Hawaii. These assets were invaluable in that they assured access to Far Eastern soil. Equal partners in U.S. strategy they were not.
But today?
Washington presides over a fellowship of formidable allies that stretches from South Korea and Japan to the north to the Philippines and Australia to the south. South Korea, Japan, and Australia play host to U.S. forces, a mutual defense pact binds the Philippines to the United States, and Taiwan is an informal ally. PLA commanders, in other words, must contend with U.S. allies that occupy the offshore "first island chain" enclosing the mainland's coastline—a geographic asset ideal for troublemaking.
Chinese commanders must also come to grips with frontline allied forces that need not battle their way overseas from Hawaii or North America to make their weight felt in Asian affairs. The U.S. Seventh Fleet and affiliated joint forces call Japan home. Together they and the Japan Self-Defense Forces comprise a potent multinational fighting force. The Republic of Korea Navy and Royal Australian Navy field imposing if compact fleets complete with Aegis destroyers. European navies are even making their return to Asia. This correlation of forces is a far cry from the early twentieth century, when the U.S. Asiatic Fleet—less a battle force than a hodgepodge of misfit ships—anchored the U.S. presence in a Western Pacific dominated by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Such are the realities before planners. A latter-day War Plan Orange ought to rhyme with the past in certain respects while acknowledging today's new normal. The contrast between past and present suggests a few precepts for contemporary war planning. One, an uptempo counteroffensive appears crucial. Once China grabs what it wants, there may be no reversing its gains. It's hard to imagine the United States and its allies mounting a Normandy-scale campaign of their own to evict the PLA from Taiwan. Two, speed kills even though it's essential. U.S. forces will encounter some of the same problems the Orange planners foresaw for a cross-Pacific rush toward Japan. Puncturing China's anti-access defenses, girding for a duel with the PLA Navy surface fleet, and supplying adequate logistical support are just three of the challenges before U.S. planners and mariners.
But three, U.S. forces forward-deployed to the Western Pacific can expedite the Pacific Fleet's access to regional waters and skies, working in concert with fraternal Asian armed forces. Deploying armaments along and around the first island chain would confine the PLA Navy and Air Force to the China seas, muting the impact of Beijing's anti-access strategy. Dispatching submarines or unmanned vehicles on raids within the first island chain would throw the PLA Navy onto the defensive, distracting attention and resources from the U.S. Pacific Fleet. And on and on. Any effective war plan will put this advance guard to work, helping the Western Pacific Express arrive in time to make the difference in combat.
War planners of old deserve their encomia, but their work is not done yet. They can render yeoman service from beyond the grave, illuminating the challenges, dangers, and opportunities before the U.S. Navy today. Let's dust off those old archives, explore the world of War Plan Orange—and grind some fresh sausage.
James Holmes is J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and coauthor of Red Star over the Pacific. The views voiced here are his alone.
Image: Wikipedia.
Source URL:https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/could-us-navys-war-plan-orange-fighting-japan-be-used-against-china-53362