Decades after their deaths, members of the 333rd Field Army Battalion were honored posthumously by the U.S. government.
Eleven Black soldiers who were tortured and killed at the hands of Nazis during World War II have finally received recognition for their bravery. According to the New York Daily News the soldiers, whose heroic story was brushed under the rug, were honored posthumously by the U.S. government.
The dead were assigned to the 333rd Field Army Battalion, members of a unit lauded for its deadly aim in battle. Yet theirs was a sacrifice long ignored by their country.
In 1949, a U.S. Senate subcommittee released an official report exhaustively detailing 12 similar massacres. Every last casualty was listed — but the Wereth 11, as they came to be known, didn't warrant mention.
The soldiers of the segregated 333rd FAB were among the first blacks to be trained for actual combat, rather than shunted into service positions. Under the command of VIII Corps, they landed on Utah Beach on June 19, 1944.
According to the New York Daily News, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in 2013 that called for the 1949 report to include the names of the Black soldiers. The soldiers were awarded Purple Heart medals.
In 2004, funds had been raised to create a monument dedicated to the eleven soldiers, reports the outlet. There are memorial services held at the monument each year.


In a small school, the "admissions office" can be limited to one person. This session will look at the challenges and benefits of having one individual perform much of this role through OpenApply and where the access for both Primary and Secondary Principals contributes to the process. We will explore how this then integrates with interviews and enrollment as families move through the system.


Coastal Race Productions will be hosting their annual Run Sunset Beach on Saturday, March 30th. Runners have the option of participating in the Half Marathon, 5K, or 1 Mile road races. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a newcomer in the running scene, there's something for everyone! Click here to get registered today.
If running isn't your forte, there are plenty of other ways to get involved on race day. The 1 Mile and 5K races have no time limit and can be walked if you choose to do so. Volunteers are also needed...whether you'd like to assist with the water stops, intersections, or simply cheer the runners on!
For runners who are just getting started or may want a little extra challenge, Coastal Race Productions offers personalized training plans to assist you with your goals. For more info, Visit their webpage to find the right plan for you!
Packet pickup and check-in will begin at 5:15 am on race day. Free shuttles will be offered to transport participants & spectators from designated parking areas to the race site starting at 5:00 am.
All races will start & finish at the Sunset Beach Town Park. The half marathon will begin at 7:00 am and the 5K will begin at 7:15 am.
After the race, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a post-race celebration with music, BBQ, pizza, and beer.
For additional details on Run Sunset Beach and to find out about the other upcoming races in our area, visit the Coastal Race Productions webpage. We wish all participants the best of luck!


text:
Junior Seau leads 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame class
Lorenzo Reyes
PHOENIX – The Class of 2015 is now official.
The voting panel selected Junior Seau, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Charles Haley and Will Shields on Saturday as the newest entrants in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Ron Wolf and Bill Polian joining as contributors and Mick Tingelhoff in as a senior nominee. The class will be inducted and have their busts among the select few enshrined Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio. The panel is made up of 46 media members.
In his 20-season career, Seau logged 56.5 sacks, 18 interceptions and three forced fumbles with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. The six-time All-Pro linebacker helped lead the Chargers to their lone Super Bowl appearance in 1994, falling to the 49ers 49-26.
Seau was a paradigm of endurance, and is the only defender in the history of the league to have played 20 years.
Seau's induction is bittersweet, a reminder of the violent nature of football. In May 2012, Seau committed suicide, and tests showed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He was 43.
"This is a huge honor for our family," Seau's son, Tyler, said fighting off tears. "It's definitely with a heavy heart to accept this because it should be him. He should be here. He is here. Emotionally, it's tough. We're missing a huge part, but we're staying strong. This is a blessing and we're humbled to be a part of this family."
Bettis, the former Rams and Steelers running back, carried the ball 3,479 times for 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns in his 13 seasons. He helped lead the Steelers to a championship in Super Bowl XL, his final year before retiring. Nicknamed "The Bus," Bettis rushed for at least 1,000 yards in eight seasons.
"To think that a little fat kid from Detroit, to ascend to this level is incredible," Bettis said. "At no point did I ever think that I had the ability to get to the Hall of Fame. And to now be here, it's humbling."
Brown, who starred at Notre Dame a couple of years before Bettis did, caught 1,094 passes for 14,934 yards and 100 touchdowns in his 17 seasons in the NFL. He spent all but one of those years with the Raiders, and set multiple franchise records and held the NFL's second-most receiving yards at the time of his retirement.
It had been quite a wait for Brown, who enters the Hall in his sixth year of eligibility.
"It was tough, but when you have Jerry Rice and Andre Reed, you have to wait your turn," Brown said. "I'm just elated to be sitting here."
Haley, the former 49ers and Cowboys defensive end, compiled 100.5 sacks and two interceptions in his 13-year career. To this date, he's the only player in NFL history to have appeared on five Super Bowl winning teams.
"Individual awards are never something that I have ever believed in, but I now have a new team here and I'm just so very, very happy," Haley said.
Shields played in 224 consecutive games from his rookie season in 1993, until he retired. He started 223 of those games. In his 14 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Shields was a three-time All-Pro guard.
Wolf has been a long-time personnel man in the NFL, starting out as an Oakland scout in 1963. He later became a director of player personnel and helped build teams that won nine division titles and made three Super Bowl appearances. Considered one of the top talent evaluators in NFL history, Wolf later moved on to Green Bay and built a Packers team that won three consecutive division championships and earned a championship in Super Bowl XXXI.
Spanning back to 1978, Polian assembled rosters with the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and was involved in laying the foundation of the expansion Carolina Panthers. His teams appeared in five Super Bowls, including a championship in 2006. Polian is known as the architect of the Colts and drafted quarterback Peyton Manning.
"It's really overwhelming," Polian said. "I never in a million years thought I'd be in this situation. These names here, they're way above my pay grade. The biggest thrill tonight for me is to share it with my family and to have (Bills quarterback) Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning here, because they're the reason that I'm here."
Tingelhoff was a five-time All-Pro in 17 seasons, all of which were as a center with the Minnesota Vikings. Tingelhoff helped win 10 division titles from 1968 through 1978 and propelled the Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The bars are hazy and rank, with a lineup of men drinking hard and quick, their loud talk lapsing into expressions of resignation: Yeah, but what you gonna do? That's the way it always goes. Same old, same old. Around the corner, a gun shop sells "tactical survival" supplies. Just down the street, neon signs flicker in the desert night: the town's three brothels all in a row. Ghost-like in the glow, patrons pass in and out of a shabby door with squealing hinges. In the casinos, people play fast, pumping in money, mesmerized by slot machines or the numbers flashing on the keno board.
In the light of day, Elko tries to strike an upbeat note. After all, it's the home of LeeAnne's Floral Design, Haley's Fine Gifts, the Miss Elko Scholarship Foundation, and a storefront Wedding Chapel. And there's a bargain breakfast in the coffee shop of the Commercial Casino, two eggs any style, toast, and your choice of sausage or bacon. A cup of coffee and things look a little brighter.
In Elko, cigarette smoke and prosthetics are prevalent. People are not healthy. Everyone in the coffee shop is smoking, except for the guy wheeling around an oxygen tank, plastic tubes hooked to his nose. Another woman has a tube stuck in her throat. There are people with back braces, walkers, canes. Almost everyone looks decrepit; even guys in their twenties and thirties talk in old and weary voices. Or is it just that it's morning in a casino and what do you expect?
A trucker type comes in, takes a stool at the far end next to another trucker. The newcomer is a little too neat compared to most drivers—glasses, pressed jeans, shiny boots—and what's more he's a regular chatterbox. Goes on and on about the trucking business, tossing out buzzwords and trade talk: burning oil, liability, off-loading, air cylinders, hydraulic cylinders. His grittier and more taciturn interlocutor nods, blows cigarette smoke, and grimaces when the stranger pulls out a catalog of trucking supplies: another goddam salesman.
The question is directed to a young man with a faraway look. He chews his toast slowly, takes his time answering. "Not a player," he says, finally.
Across the coffee shop, a man gets up from a booth and says to his partners, "I lost it all, now I got to go back and start all over again." They all laugh, another instance of the weird joviality about losing that predominates in these casino towns. People seem to regard their losses as inevitable, part of the fun they're supposed to be having.
Time to move on. At the edge of town, Old Highway 40 seems to disappear into heat mirage and a vast searing sky. You're gaining speed, lifting off the cracked and ridged macadam—and it's like you're flying, flying into the great wide open and still not getting anywhere.
Along with two books of travel essays--Guatemalan Journey (University of Texas Press) and Green Dreams: Travels in Central America (Lonely Planet)--Stephen Benz has published essays in Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, TriQuarterly, and other journals. One of his essays was selected for Best American Travel Writing, 2003. Formerly a writer for Tropic, the Sunday magazine of the Miami Herald, he now teaches professional writing at the University of New Mexico.


text:
Nigerian Law School rejects graduates from Benin Republic university
Olowu of Kuta commends Buratai over welfare to families of fallen heroes
Nigerian military airstrike kills many insurgents in Borno – DHQ
Sule approves January 18 for schools resumption in Nasarawa
Banditry posing challenges to Nigeria's food sufficiency – NSITF
NAPTIP to implement sex offenders register in 36 states — DG
CCT: Over N1bn disbursed to vulnerable households in Kebbi – Umar-Farouq
Buhari renews tenure of MDs of 7 river basin authorities, appoints 2 more
Disregard misinformation on lockdown — PTF
Uganda poll: President Museveni in early lead as rival alleges fraud
Gunmen kidnap ex-Bauchi lawmaker, Abdulmumuni Ningi
2023: Coalition endorses Yahaya Bello for presidency
KASU sacks lecturer over sexual harassment, promotes 20 others
Bauchi govt to rehabilitate Tafawa Balewa's tomb
Borno govt will do more on ex-servicemen's welfare — Zulum
Expert calls for commercialisation of states water boards, agencies
School resumtion: 'COVID-19 task force should be set up in campuses'
Retired DIG commends Matawalle over peace initiatives in Zamfara
Tambuwal mourns as Sokoto commissioner dies at 64
Kebbi varsity to resume activities January 18
96 companies bid for rehabilitation of NNPC infrastructure
CBN releases new framework for financial system safety, stability
Pantami's dilemma, by Gimba Kakanda
TRIBUTE: Dear Sam, by Hannatu Musawa
Olympics: Japan bans entry of athletes during virus emergency
NBA Roundup: Damian Lillard nets 40 as Blazers clip Kings
Sabalenka wins season-opening tennis title in Abu Dhabi
Rival protests in Togo as government blasts street 'coup d'etat'
Supporters of the Togolese ruling party Union for the Republic (UNIR) gather ahead of a march in Lome on September 20, 2017. Thousands thronged the streets of Togo's seaside capital on September 20 after the ruling party asked supporters to march at the same time as planned opposition protests demanding the removal of President Faure Gnassingbe, the scion of Africa's oldest political dynasty. The rival demonstrations in Lome came a day after the opposition boycotted a vote on constitutional reform which would have included a presidential term limit, arguing that it was a ploy to let Gnassingbe remain in power till 2030. / AFP PHOTO / MATTEO KOFFI FRASCHINI
Thousands thronged the streets of Togo's seaside capital Wednesday after the ruling party asked supporters to march at the same time as planned opposition protests demanding the removal of President Faure Gnassingbe, the scion of Africa's oldest political dynasty.
The rival demonstrations in Lome came a day after the opposition boycotted a vote on constitutional reform which would have included a presidential term limit, arguing that it was a ploy to let Gnassingbe remain in power till 2030.
Read Also: In The Reversal, Otti periscopes the other side of military coup d'état
The opposition wanted the limit to apply retroactively so that Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005, could not run again in 2020. His father Gnassingbe Eyadema ruled from 1967 till his death in 2005.
The opposition marches began at around 11:00 am (1100 GMT) at three meeting points.
They came after giant rallies on September 6 and 7 seeking the president's ouster that drew more than 100,000 people on the streets — a record in a country which has been widely criticised for stifling democracy.
The protesters held up posters declaring "Faure must go" and "Free my country, 50 years is enough".
Police and soldiers armed with heavy machine guns flanked the streets in pick-up trucks. Mobile phone networks and 3G services appeared to have been severed.
"We are not jihadists, we are not rebels," said Abdallah, 42, a supporter of the Panafrican National Party (PNP). "We just want democracy, we are tired."
Communications Minister Guy Lorenzo condemned what he called a "coup d'etat" on the streets.
The government meanwhile asked the opposition to show "responsibility and restraint" and warned that "people of foreign nationalities were looking to participate in acts of violence" during the marches.
– 'Explosive situation' –
More protests are planned on Thursday against what veteran opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre called "the monstrous machine that has been crushing Togo's people for more than 50 years".
He said there would be "no let-up" as long as Gnassingbe remains in power.
Comi Toulabor, head of research at the Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux, called the counter-rallies by the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party "a strategy to disrupt the opposition protest".
"It's very amateurish but it shows the party isn't ready to give way," he told AFP, calling the situation "explosive".
About one thousand UNIR supporters quietly gathered on the beach in Lome on Wednesday, some sitting in the shade of palm trees.
"It is a pleasure to be here," UNIR supporter Georgia, 34, told AFP. "We are peaceful."
One young protester said he received 5,000 CFA francs (7.50 euros, $9) to participate in the pro-government rally.
"You think we're here for politics?" asked Justin, 17, as his friends nodded approval.
The failure to pass the constitutional reform bill in parliament forced a referendum, which a member of the government said will be held in the coming months.
Gnassingbe has now won three elections, the results of which have been contested by the opposition.
Half of Togo's population lives below the poverty line, according to the United Nations, despite a GDP growth rate of five percent over the last three years.
Atletico Madrid stadium to host 2019 Champions League final
Buhari approves N45bn to settle defunct Nigerian Airways workers
NDDC: Malami denies collecting N25bn bribe from Akpabio


text:
Шпалозаво́д () — селище у складі Парабельського району Томської області, Росія. Входить до складу Наримського сільського поселення.

Населення
Населення — 808 осіб (2010; 942 у 2002).

Національний склад (станом на 2002 рік):
 росіяни — 91 %

Джерела

Примітки

Посилання
 На Вікімапії

Населені пункти Парабельського району
Селища Томської області

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Failed to create Directory in Oreo (API 26) I am trying to create a directory in Oreo but its failed.but working fine in Nougat and below.
I have added Runtime Storage Permission already.
        File myDir = null;
        boolean status = false;
        File downloadedImage;
        try {
            URL url = new URL(mediaUrl);
            URLConnection connection = url.openConnection();
            connection.connect();
            fileLength = connection.getContentLength();
            myDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(),"/RealInstagram/media/");
            if (!myDir.exists()) {
                myDir.mkdirs();
            }
         }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: About the definition of a curve in topological space I was wonder about the definition of a curve in topological (maybe normed space, so that one can do calculus on) space $X$:
$\hspace{4cm}$ A curve $C$ is a continuous function $\gamma: I = [0, 1] \rightarrow X$
My questions are:

*

*Why it has to be the unit interval $I$?

*Why not some closed, connected (but might not compact) set $S \subseteq \mathbb{R}$ so that the curve, still remain connected, could, in some sense, go to $\infty$?

*And what about a set $S$ in general?

I looked up continuous functions that map disconnected set to connected set for the 3rd question, but there was not any info about them.


Shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland Florida.
Police at school shooting still calling in for reinforcements.
I'm waiting for one of these assholes to try and shoot up a gun show.
The myth of government protection, a sad moral hazard.
CNN et al. already went there: "Is it justified for civilians to possess a semiautomatic weapon?" asks smug a...hole Anderson Cooper. "Oh, no, they shouldn't!" responds the usually reliable anti-gun statist.
I don't understand why we even have anachronistic, super-sized, brick-and-mortar prisons (er, I mean, schools) anymore. Kids could be online, doing and submitting their work, or skyping and having teleconferences and seminars, etc. But of course, unless a parent has the resources, they have to obey the law that requires them to deposit their kid at the local shooting gallery for the convenience of the local psychopath to eliminate.


text:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 476 › MONROE v. BLACKBURN
MONROE v. BLACKBURN, 476 U.S. 1145 (1986)
MONROE v. BLACKBURN , 476 U.S. 1145 (1986)
Ronald S. MONROE
Frank BLACKBURN, Warden.
On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The petition for a writ of
certiorari is denied.
Justice MARSHALL, with whom Justice BRENNAN joins, dissenting.
I would grant certiorari in this case to resolve the serious questions it raises concerning the scope of a defendant's rights under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), during the period following his conviction. While lower courts here have adhered to our precedents in finding petitioner's Brady rights to have been violated, the remedy ordered impermissibly dilutes those rights even as it recognizes them.
In 1980, after a previous conviction had been overturned, petitioner was brought to trial in New Orleans, once again charged with the 1978 murder of Lenora Collins, a neighbor. The State's case consisted of eyewitness identifications by the victim's two children, both of whom were present when the assailant broke into their mother's bedroom. State v. Monroe, 397 So. 2d 1258, 1268 (La.1981). Accepting the testimony of the two children, who at the time of the murder were aged 12 and 11, the jury re-
jected petitioner's alibi, found him guilty of first-degree murder, and unanimously recommended the death sentence.
Six months after petitioner's conviction, but while his appeal was still pending, the New Orleans Police Department was contacted by Detective Joseph Gallardo of the Pontiac, Michigan, Police Department. In the course of investigating one George Stinson's murder of his common-law wife in Michigan, Gallardo had received information suggesting that Stinson may also have murdered his previous wife, three years earlier in New Orleans. His previous wife was Lenora Collins, for whose murder petitioner has been sentenced to die. Two months later, Detective Gallardo again called the New Orleans police. This time, he related to Sergeant John McKenzie the substance of an interview he had had with Stinson's cellmate during which the cellmate had quoted Stinson as first confessing to the Michigan murder and then saying that "the same thing happened" to his first wife, Lenora Collins. Noting that a second source had corroborated this admission, Detective Gallardo also reported having received information that Stinson had threatened Lenora Collins' two children into identifying petitioner as their mother's killer.
All this information was carefully recorded by Sergeant McKenzie, who then dispatched his notes to the detectives who had been involved in the Collins investigation. These notes did not trigger further police inquiries. Neither was their existence ever disclosed to petitioner, who under Louisiana law, could have sought the remand of his case so that he might move in the trial court for a new trial. See State v. Spell, 388 So. 2d 754 (La.1980). Indeed, it was not until late 1983 that independent investigation by petitioner's counsel led him to Detective Gallardo, who told of Stinson's incriminating admissions and of the fact that the New Orleans police had long before known of the new evidence. Petitioner thereupon filed a motion in New Orleans Criminal District Court seeking a new trial or, in the alternative, postconviction relief, and also a stay of his execution, then scheduled for January 4, 1984. In this motion, petitioner claimed that the State had unconstitutionally suppressed material, exculpatory evidence. While petitioner was still unaware of the existence of Sergeant McKenzie's actual notes, his counsel's independent efforts in Pontiac enabled him to present the Criminal District Court with all of the information contained in the notes. [476 U.S. 1145 , 1147]
All this information was carefully recorded by Sergeant McKenzie, who then dispatched his notes to the detectives who had been involved in the Collins investigation. These notes did not trigger further police inquiries. Neither was their existence ever disclosed to petitioner, who under Louisiana law, could have sought the remand of his case so that he might move in the trial court for a new trial. See State v. Spell, 388 So. 2d 754 (La.1980). Indeed, it was not until late 1983 that independent investigation by petitioner's counsel led him to Detective Gallardo, who told of Stinson's incriminating admissions and of the fact that the New Orleans police had long before known of the new evidence. Petitioner thereupon filed a motion in New Orleans Criminal District Court seeking a new trial or, in the alternative, postconviction relief, and also a stay of his execution, then scheduled for January 4, 1984. In this motion, petitioner claimed that the State had unconstitutionally suppressed material, exculpatory evidence. While petitioner was still unaware of the existence of Sergeant McKenzie's actual notes, his counsel's independent efforts in Pontiac enabled him to present the Criminal District Court with all of the information contained in the notes.
The day before petitioner's scheduled date of execution, the Criminal District Court denied petitioner's motion without an evidentiary hearing. Weighing the eyewitness testimony of the victim's children against the affidavit of Stinson's cellmate, the court found that the new evidence was not "so material that it ought to produce a different result then [sic ] the verdict reached." The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed hours later, State ex rel. Monroe v. Maggio, 444 So. 2d 606 (1984), although two justices would have granted a stay and ordered a "full evidentiary hearing on the newly discovered evidence issue." The two noted: "Because the death penalty is so final, surely no harm would come from continuing this matter one month to allow the defense to produce witnesses from Michigan, and having the trial court evaluate this evidence." Ibid.
After the state court denied relief, the Federal District Court acted upon a habeas petition filed several days earlier, and stayed petitioner's execution. After a hearing in which he heard testimony from Detective Gallardo and Stinson, a Magistrate held that the information allowed to sit undisturbed in New Orleans police files was both improperly suppressed and clearly favorable to petitioner. He recommended that the writ be granted.
The District Court adopted the Magistrate's report, agreeing that the information received from Detective Gallardo was material, exculpatory information that under United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97 (1976), should have been disclosed to petitioner. The District Court noted that, when coupled with the absence of physical evidence linking petitioner to the murder, the possibility that the eyewitness testimony of the victim's children may have been coerced, and testimony by petitioner's mother placing Stinson at the victim's house on the day of the murder, the suppressed evidence "makes the assertion that Stinson committed the murder plausible." Finding the evidence to "creat[e] a reasonable doubt as to Monroe's guilt that did not previously exist," the court issued the writ. However, having concluded that petitioner's due process rights under Brady had been violated, the court did not order that he be released or retried. Rather, it ordered Louisiana
"to grant to Petitioner whatever he was entitled to by way of post- conviction relief during the limitation period provided by Louisiana law for a request for a new trial based on the excul-
patory material which the State courts did not have an opportunity to consider, so that Petitioner may fully and effectively exercise and exhaust his post-conviction rights under Louisiana law."
The Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's choice of remedy. 748 F.2d 958, 960 (CA5 1984).
In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 ( 1963), this Court held that "the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution." Id., 373 U.S., at 87-1197. In United States v. Agurs, supra, we recognized that
"there are situations in which evidence is obviously of such substantial value to the defense that elementary fairness requires it to be disclosed even without a specific request. For though the attorney for the sovereign must prosecute the accused with earnestness and vigor, he must always be faithful to his client's overriding interest that 'justice shall be done.' " Id., 427 U.S., at 110-111 (footnote omitted).
The message of Brady and its progeny is that a trial is not a mere " sporting event"; it is a quest for truth in which the prosecutor, by virtue of his office, must seek truth even as he seeks victory. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 675, 3380d 481 (1985) (Brady rule to "ensure that a miscarriage of justice does not occur").
The quest for truth may not terminate with a defendant's conviction. In Louisiana, a convicted defendant must receive a new trial whenever
"[n]ew and material evidence that, notwithstanding the exercise of reasonable diligence by the defendant, was not discovered before or during the trial, is available, and if the evidence had been introduced at the trial it would probably have changed the verdict or judgment of guilty." La.Code Crim.Proc.Ann., Art. 851(3) (West 1984).
When the sovereign has decided that justice will be best served by qualifying the finality of a conviction so that a convicted defendant may yet prove his innocence, its attorney is not free to choose
otherwise. And until factfinding proceedings, or the possibility of them, is terminated, the State remains bound by the rules of simple fairness that Brady held to be of constitutional dimension. It would hardly make sense to hold the State to a special duty to disclose exculpatory evidence in any adversarial proceeding and then permit the State to avoid this obligation by suppressing the very evidence that would enable a defendant to trigger such proceedings. [Footnote 1]
In this case there can be no doubt that petitioner's due process rights were violated by the State's failure to disclose to him the information that Detective Gallardo related to the New Orleans police. That the information lay undisturbed in the files of the police and not those of the prosecutor should make no difference. The police files that so readily provided the State with the incriminating material to convict a defendant cannot be turned into a dead-letter repository where evidence of innocence is concerned. See Moore v. Illinois, 408 U.S. 786, 810, 2575 (1972) (MARSHALL, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); Smith v. Florida, 410 F.2d 1349, 1351 (CA5 1969). If by now police are not fully aware of their constitutional obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence even in the absence of a specific request by the prosecutor or defense counsel, this Court should seize this case as a chance to educate them.
This is certainly not a case in which the failure, whether intentional or inadvertent, of the police to alert petitioner to the new information can be attributed to their failure to understand the complexities of the Brady rule. At the time the evidence was suppressed, Agurs obliged the State to disclose evidence that created "a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist" as to defendant's guilt. 427 U.S., at 112. And though the District Court here quite properly made a careful examination of the transcripts from petitioner's second trial before holding the informa-
tion from Detective Gallardo to be "material" under the Agurs standard,2 I cannot believe that either an examination of the record or a law degree is needed to appreciate that admissions by a wife-killer incriminating himself in the murder of a former wife cannot be dismissed as idle gossip.
While it was correct to find a Brady violation, the District Court appears to have believed that because the Louisiana courts were not given an opportunity to consider the evidence that petitioner was able to develop in the course of his federal habeas proceeding-to wit, Sergeant McKenzie's actual notes of his conversations with Detective Gallardo and the testimony of Detective Gallardo at the habeas hearing-they should now be allowed to decide whether they were a bit hasty in denying petitioner's new trial motion on the eve of his execution. However, the only reason why the state courts never considered this evidence was that they dismissed petitioner's motion without an evidentiary hearing. It was only after the Federal District Court gave petitioner the chance to subpoena the evidence that it came to light. Moreover, as the Court of Appeals observed, the state courts were presented with the "same underlying information" as that contained in Sergeant McKenzie's notes. Having adequately asserted in state courts the basis for his Brady claim, petitioner plainly satisfied the exhaustion requirement of federal habeas corpus.
Sending petitioner back to state court with his already exhausted claim is particularly inappropriate here because of the nature of the constitutional violation. If the police had not improperly suppressed the exculpatory information, petitioner would have been able to seek a new trial under Art. 851(3). To require petitioner now to pursue this same remedy is thus to treat the suppressed information just as if it had been " found in a neutral source" and therefore to ignore the "special significance" of the police's obligation to serve the cause of justice. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S., at 111. The remedy ordered here removes from the State any incentive to make timely disclosure of material, exculpatory evidence and trivializes the constitutional right
recognized in Brady and its progeny. The only way this right can be guaranteed is to grant petitioner the remedy that until now has always followed a determination that the Brady rule has been violated: He must be released or retried. Because I do not believe this Court should stand by in the face of the dilution of the due process rights of an individual who may not even be guilty of the crime for which he stands under death sentence, I respectfully dissent from the denial of certiorari.
Footnote 1 Because in this case, the State suppressed exculpatory evidence while petitioner could still have sought postconviction relief under State law, we need not consider whether the state also deprived petitioner of a federal right to seek habeas relief on the basis of evidence that undermines the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. See Dobbert v. Wainwright, 468 U.S. 1231, 1234, 36 (1984) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting from denial of stay and certiorari); Wright & Sofaer, Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners, 75 Yale L.J. 895, 958, n. 223 (1966).
Footnote 2 It is clear that this evidence would also be material under the standard established by this Court in United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667 (1985).


Theories of distributive justice have traditionally labored at a fairly high level of abstraction. The canonical authors have thought not so much about the just distribution of this or that particular good within a specific institutional context. Rather, they have written about the background conditions against the backdrop of which the distribution of specific goods occurs (Rawls, 1971 ; Dworkin, 2000). While this is clearly an important prolegomenon to thinking about specific goods, it is not a substitute. A very notable exception to this rule is in the area of health and health-care. Health theorists have for decades now been thinking both about how health itself has been construed for the purposes of generating a theory of distributive justice, about the resources that are relevant to distributive justice in health, and about the units of measurement that should be used to ascertain distributions in health outcomes (Daniels, 1985). Political philosophers have, with some distinguished exceptions, been comparatively slow in taking up the task of constructing a theory of distributive justice in the area of education, or indeed in identifying a framework within which such a theory might be developed (Brighouse, 2000 ; Swift, 2003). My intention in this paper is to bring some questions that arise in the context of the discussion of distributive justice in health to bear on the issues surrounding distributive justice in education.


Good question! I constantly get asked about the Deadline Sale process. In this article, I explain how they work and offer you tips for buying or selling a home via Deadline Sale.
What exactly is a Deadline Sale?
The idea of a 'Deadline Sale' was created as a way for real estate companies to run a Tender-like process, following their own rules rather than those of a typical Tender. Depending on the agency involved, the property will be marketed with a date 'to submit offers by', however in some situations, you may be able to offer prior to the closing date and have your offer considered early by the sellers. Whereas a Tender should technically not sell before the advertised deadline.
It is critical that the rules of the sale process are clearly stated and understood from the outset.
Using a Deadline Sale method where the property can be sold at any time creates confusion over when the property is actually for sale. This can result in situations where a buyer submitting an early offer is forced to wait while other buyers are canvassed for 2-3 days to secure additional offers. This can create stressful situations for buyers and sellers where time frames and expectations are not clear.
What's the big idea with all these deadlines?
Different forms of deadline marketing have now become commonplace in NZ. Agents have discovered that providing a date to work to for everyone involved makes it easier to manage a large amount of buyer enquiry. It can also help speed up the decision making process for buyers.
Without a deadline in place, and therefore no call to action, houses can sometimes stay on the market for months. Buyers wait to see if something better comes along. Or they wait to see if the asking price comes down.
So, technically, what's the difference?
In a deadline sale process, offers are submitted on a standard ADLS Sale & Purchase agreement. This is the most common contract template used in NZ, providing some familiarity if you have used this form before. Every detail is negotiable, including payment of deposit terms, settlement date, price, and conditions.
In a Tender, offers are submitted on an ADLS (Auckland District Law Society) Tender form. It's a similar form but there are slight differences. The main of which being there is no inbuilt Title Requisition clause. So get your solicitor to check the title before you submit your offer.
The Tender document also calls for offers to be submitted with a 10% bank cheque deposit. Like anything though, this is negotiable and buyers will often add a clause stating the deposit 'will be paid upon this contract becoming unconditional'. In my experience around 10 – 20% of offers are submitted with a bank cheque.
One reason it seems salespeople started using deadline sales was simply that they didn't understand the Tender document. As a result, they didn't have the systems in place to explain to buyers how the Tender process works. At the same time, they still wanted to take advantage of a 'deadline' in their marketing. Real estate salespeople are notoriously adept at over-complicating the process of buying a home.
Should you use a Deadline Sale to sell your property?
It is certainly a better choice than 'By Negotiation'. Which basically says to a buyer: I'm too scared to tell you what I really want for the house, and I'm not motivated enough to have a deadline. Buyers are attracted by opportunity. A good price, a good location, a smart buy. Using 'By Negotiation' generally results in less enquiry in my experience. You are better off marketing with a fixed price or using a process like Tender, Deadline Sale or Auction.
Should you take an offer that comes in before the deadline?
Some owners are tempted by the ability to accept an early offer. The problem is, if you accept an early offer then how do you know you are getting the best possible price? Also, if you accept an early offer with conditions, and that offer then falls over, your whole process is seriously jeopardised.
Why do you think the most successful Auctions on Trademe don't accept "buy now" offers from interested buyers before the closing time? Smart sellers realise that letting the process run its course usually allows the best chance for a good result.
I personally like using one of the traditional processes, Tender or Auction. I recommend finding a salesperson who has an excellent track record using a fixed-date process. With the wrong agent running the show, the process is likely to be a hash-up no matter which way you go.
You only get one chance at selling your biggest asset so don't take chances.
While Tender and Auction is not the preferred choice for most buyers, when run correctly they give you the best opportunity to achieve a timely sale at a fair market price or premium if possible. They are more likely to be understood by the buyers as they are more prevalent in the market nowadays.
As a Buyer, should I be fearful of Deadline Sales?
It should not stop you from pursuing the property. Just watch out for possible confusion involved around time frames. If you are interested in the property make sure you clearly state this to the agent so you can be advised if the deadline for offers is brought forward. You can try to offer early to stop the process but beware of playing your hand too early.
Many owners are simply not emotionally ready to sell if they have only been on the market for a few days. They haven't had time to receive feedback from the market and determine what a fair price expectation would be. It is hard for an owner to accept an offer in isolation after only being on the market for a few days. No matter how good a price you think you are offering.
Have a few visits to the property. It is funny how much more you notice on the 2nd or 3rd look. Would you propose on the first date? Didn't think so. Don't commit to a 30-year mortgage after your first visit to a property that only lasted 15 minutes.
Seriously, you have probably had longer showers than that and you are going to live there for a long time!
Drive past the property on a Saturday night and check out the area. Any raging parties or gang houses nearby? Any properties where people are coming and going every 10 or 15 minutes? Take your time and don't rush it. This is the best way to avoid buyers remorse later on.
Yes, you may have more competition if you wait a few days. But by taking your time you are more likely to make a considered decision regarding your future. Most importantly, you are more likely to be dealing with a realistic seller.
We're looking at a property in christchurch, which is under Deadline Sale – We've had one look at it, and keen to go back. However, there have been 3 early offers put on the table, which have been rejected (words from the REA). Given it'sa deadline sale, we were keen to do a good portion of due diligence (i.e. eliminate one or two clauses prior to putting our offer in, to make the offer look more attractive).
I spoke to the REA, and advised that if we were to put an offer in, this is what we would be doing, and of course can they advise of the approximate value (not exact numbers), of the offers which have been rejected to get an idea of where we would need to sit, so we can get a good price for the money we are putting into the house.
She refused, stating that disclosing an offer on deadline sale, would be a breach of license and to "give as much money as possible" to ensure sale of the property.
What ar the rules surrounding those early offers? Do they remain on the table come the deadline, or are they destined to sit in the reject pile forever? Furthermore, I would like to know the rules surrounding disclose of buyers offers, if rejected – as my understanding tells me that this is not a breach of license or illegal.
Sound advise Andrew. Thank you.
Advice how to negotiate when looking to downsize around the $175/225 bracket here in Levin.
Hi John, thanks for your comment. In your position I would first consider if you can keep both properties as rentals (although the family home might not suit that). Next I would look at selling the family home with a long 3-4 month settlement, before buying your new home. That way you are a cashed up buyer and can make unconditional offers (if you want to) on any house that interests you. Your offers will be much more appealing and it will put you in a stronger negotiating position. You may also be able to use bridging finance for this purpose if need be but the low-risk, safest option is always to sell first.


Launched on International Women's Day 2019, these are some of the people who make us who we are.
Listen to their voices, read their stories.
Many thanks to our participants for giving their time and voices to this project, Colin Moody for his content creation, and Peter Hall for his music.


text:
Get Ready For A Ransomware Tsunami
Taylor Armerding Former Contributor
I cover software security and privacy.
Two Florida cities recently paid off ransomware attackers. While the price was a lot less than what... [+] other cities have spent to recover after refusing to pay, the payoffs are likely to be a catalyst for more attacks. Credit: Getty
OK, maybe you can't say the two cities in Florida hit with ransomware a few weeks ago dodged a bullet, but at least they dodged the digital equivalent of a cruise missile … right?
Riviera Beach and Lake City both paid the ransom. For Lake City, which lost access to its phone and email systems for a couple of weeks, it was 42 bitcoin, worth $573,300 according to one report and $460,000 according to another. Riviera Beach paid 65 bitcoin, worth $897,650, after three weeks of no access to its computer systems.
Yes, that's a lot of money. Yes, they took a bullet. But hey, it's not even close to the estimated $17 million Atlanta is spending to recover from a ransomware attack in March 2018. Or the something north of $18 million it will cost Baltimore to do the same after an attack this past May.
Those Florida city officials can declare, accurately, that they've saved their taxpayers a bundle, even if it did mean rolling over for common criminals who likely will never be caught, prosecuted or even identified.
But that gain may be short-lived. They may be setting themselves and other municipalities up for a ransomware tsunami. As any economist will tell you, people respond to incentives. In this case, a thief or band of thieves raked in a payday from one digital holdup that's enough to put at least one of them into the 1 percent income bracket without even breaking a sweat.
And, of course, the value of those ransom payments wasn't eroded by any deductions—taxes, Medicare, Social Security. The gross was the net.
That's the kind of thing other common criminals notice. Hit a local government with ransomware and your chances are pretty good that they'll fork over $500,000 or more so they can get back in business as quickly as possible.
Graham Cluley, independent blogger and cohost of the Smashing Security podcast, made that point in a recent post carried on Tripwire. "Every time an organization gives in to a ransomware demand, and cybercriminals learn that it is easy to earn such lucrative profits, hackers invest more effort into future attacks," he wrote.
Indeed, about a week after word of the Lake City and Riviera Beach payments, a third Florida city, Key Biscayne, reported it had been hit as well, by malware called Ryuk, the same one used to attack Lake City. Ryuk is the third piece of the so-called "Triple Threat" attack. The other two are called Emotet and Trickbot.
And this week, officials with the Georgia courts acknowledged that a portion of its digital information systems had been taken down by ransomware. At the time, there was no information on how much the attackers demanded.
Only option still a bad one
Obviously, those officials thought they were doing what was in the best interest of their constituents. And law enforcement officials and security experts acknowledge that there are times when the only option is to pay the ransom.
As Bob Maley, CSO at NormShield and former CISO for the state of Pennsylvania, put it, if a victim organization has no recovery plan or any idea of what the impact of losing everything that has been encrypted, "then the decision becomes one of desperation."
And the cost to cities like Baltimore and Atlanta for refusing to pay can make that desperation much greater.
"We have seen municipalities across the country attempt to hold off paying ransoms only to suffer incredibly, ultimately end up paying after serious disruption of services, or pay an exorbitant amount of money to avoid paying," said Kiersten Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute.
"That's especially true if human life is at risk from impaired emergency response," added Phil Reitinger, president and CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA). "I will throw no stones at a city CISO or mayor who finds that paying thousands in ransom is acceptable rather than suffering millions in recovery expenses, especially given the other significant nonmonetary costs from a paralyzed city."
But all that still doesn't make it a good option—for the victim or other potential victims.
For starters, those same attackers could hit the same cities again. Tim Mackey, technical evangelist at Synopsys, noted that ransomware victims are dealing with people they don't know and will probably never see.
"Payment of a ransom is a trust issue," he said. "Do you effectively trust that the data will be recoverable following payment? While it's in the best interests of the attacker to release encrypted files following payment, receipt of encryption keys isn't the end of it.
"For example, can you ensure the data weren't corrupted or tampered with? Are you confident the attackers didn't make copies? Have you taken steps to ensure the attacker doesn't simply attack you again and demand further payment? In reality, the actual ransom payment may be the least of the incident response costs," he said.
Change the incentives
A vastly better—and what would seem to be obvious—option would be to make those attacks much more difficult. Create negative incentives. Make it hard for cyber criminals. Yes, doing that will cost money and time, but vastly less than what it costs to pay a ransom or recover from an attack.
As Morgan Wright, a former senior advisor in the U.S. State Department Antiterrorism Assistance Program, sardonically put it in a post on The Hill after the Atlanta attack, "There's never enough time and money to do it right. But when government screws up, there's always time and taxpayer money to do it over, usually at a much higher cost."
So, how to avoid screwing up? There is no way to be perfect, but there are multiple ways to get much closer.
The most obvious is to do regular backups that are not connected to the network. A backup that is accessible through a breach is, obviously, worthless. But if it's held separately and survives, an organization can rebuild its system quickly at minimal expense, without paying the ransom.
Then there is making sure your employees are an asset, not a risk factor. The attacks on all three Florida cities were enabled by an employee clicking on an attachment in a phishing email. Which sends a clear message—employees need effective security awareness training.
Most employees, except for a rogue here and there, want to protect the organization's assets. They just need to be taught how to spot suspicious communications—to develop a healthy paranoia. There are multiple organizations that offer credible programs in that.
"Approximately 91% of all attacks on enterprises are caused by phishing," Todt said. "There are online phishing training courses that municipalities could offer, which could be a reasonably low-cost way to help inform municipal employees of the cyber risks to which they are exposed."
Besides training, Mackey said another personnel basic is to apply the "principle of least privilege" to employees throughout an organization. That means "limiting the level of trust a given employee has at any point in time to only the level of access required to perform specific tasks."
Beyond training and policy, organizations should harden the security of their assets.
One fundamental is to keep strict track of the software components running applications, systems and networks, and keep them up to date. Failing to install an available patch for a known vulnerability is like leaving the door to a vault wide open.
Maley said organizations should "know the cyber hygiene of their IT ecosystems in the same way the attackers do, then fix the issues before the attacks happen."
Other ways to be prepared for a ransomware attack, Mackey said, include "having properly patched virtual machine templates, which can be used to restore entire systems using VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure)-style solutions or other remote-access solutions to ensure that sensitive data isn't accessible from machines easily infected through phishing attacks or drive-by web ads."
Reitinger said better security hygiene should include "powerful techniques like using a protective DNS (domain name system) service like Quad9. They make a successful attack far less likely, so there is a significant return on investment."
Of course, while those measures are excellent investments, municipalities do need money to make them, and few have it, according to Todt. "There is not a municipality in the United States that is fully funded to defend its IT networks against cyberattacks," she said, adding that she believes the feds should provide some of that funding.
"While we have become dependent on the internet for many government services, we have not provided our state and local governments with the capabilities to make these services resilient in the face of persistent cyberattacks," she said.
"The federal government needs to establish an active coordination and remediation program that is supported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) for municipalities."
That money, she said, could help local and state governments "in the most important first steps toward cyber resiliency: map the networks they own, understand what is on them and provide assistance to better secure them."
Yes, of course it could. But that money, while wished for, is not yet a reality. Nor is it likely to become a reality anytime soon. So, as Todt and other experts say, municipalities should set priorities and make trade-offs to get the most important things done.
Those priorities, she said, are raising awareness of the threat and building security and resiliency into the systems.
Because the ransomware threat is not going away. It is increasing.
Taylor Armerding


text:
By Patrick Higgins
As I was recently stalking through one of Fakahatchee's sloughs, I found myself fantasizing that I was a great big wading bird. It seemed perfectly natural to move ponderously so as not to create a ripple in the golden water. I slid each foot forward in slow motion, conscious of everything around me: the Sun streaming through a leafless winter canopy, a single red maple leaf floating by, a movement in the cutgrass to my left, the rustle of an anhinga taking flight ahead, the plop of a frog into the water. I froze as my eye caught something shimmering on the dark bottom. And then, fortunately just before I plunged the imaginary spear-like bill on my face into the water, I shook myself out of my revelry.
A handful of Florida shiny spike (Elliptio buckleyi) freshwater mussels shells fished up from one of Fakahatchee's sloughs. They can grow up to 100 mm (3.9") The neatly chiselled holes look like the work of a limpkin. Photo by Patrick Higgins.
Instead I fished down clumsily with my hands, wetting my sleeves in the process. I had to feel around a bit due to refraction, but finally my fingers closed around my target. It was the fragment of a bivalve's shell and shone like burnished silver. When we think of swamp invertebrates our minds tend immediately to go to crayfish, insects, snails and such, but we seldom give much thought to the snail's mollusk cousin: the freshwater mussel.
After a bit more probing I was able to come up with a whole shell, although it was empty. Its ebony exterior was striated by growth rings, some of which had eroded revealing the iridescent mother-of-pearl beneath. In the center was a neatly chiselled rectangular opening, probably the work of a limpkin's bill.
This is the same mother-of-pearl that was used for over half century in button production until plastic came into being in the 1940's. Today ground freshwater mussel shell is still favoured as a seed material for Japan's cultured pearl industry.
However, freshwater mussels are not simply freshwater versions of the marine mussels we love to eat cooked with butter and garlic and washed down with a glass of white wine. True, they both are aquatic filter feeders, sort of resemble each other by having asymmetrical shells that are longer than wide, and are both bivalves, but freshwater mussels are members of an entirely different subclass (Palaeoheterodonta). In fact, marine mussels are more closely related to oysters and scallops than they are to their freshwater namesakes.
The biggest difference is in their life cycles. Marine mussels are sessile. They typically attach themselves in clumps with those stringy byssal threads we scrape off when preparing them for the pot. They reproduce by releasing sperms and eggs into the water in a rather hit or miss fertilization process. They then go through a floating planktonic stage before settling out of the water column to live in a fixed location.
On the other hand, freshwater male mussels release gametes into the water column. The gametes are then sucked into a female's siphon, where her eggs are fertilized internally. The fertilized eggs develop in specialized brood chambers in her gills into tiny motile glochidia. This specialized larval form has an array of hooks, which allow them to attach to fish where they live as parasites for a period.
Many species are highly host specific. Some mussels even use mimicry to lure in host fish by packaging their glochidia to look like prey items such as fish eggs or insect larvae. Typically the glochidia attach to the fish's gills, although some species also utilize the tail fins. This is an important adaptation to aid distribution. Otherwise, in freshwater streams and rivers distribution would be one in direction only, i.e. downstream. After a few weeks feeding on the host fish they complete their metamorphosis into juvenile mussels, then detach and fall to the bottom to begin their adult stage.
This is where a second huge difference comes in. Freshwater mussels have a powerful clam-like foot which enables them, through a series of muscular contractions and expansions to burrow, anchor themselves or move along the bottom. They seldom move more than a few hundred feet, but that could be critical to survival as water levels drop. Finally, they are known for their longevity. Some species live up to a hundred years.
The mussel I was holding in my hand appeared to be a Florida shiny spike (Elliptio buckleyi or to some taxonomists E. jayensis) – one of 365 North American, 62 Floridian and 14 lower-peninsula species. I say probably because many freshwater mussels are incredibly hard to identify without the aid of magnification.
The same species from different habitats often have variations in shell shape. There is so much speciation in freshwater mussels due to their intolerance to saltwater. This inhibits spreading from one river basin to another, isolating populations. It is therefore not surprising that 69% of Florida's freshwater mussels are endemic, some to specific catchment areas.
To date, three host fish species have been identified for Florida shiny spike's glochidia. These are Bluegill, Largemouth Bass and the Florida Gar, but in the incredible web of life about 40% of shiny spikes are in turn parasitized by several species of mites.
Freshwater mussels provide an important ecosystem function. As filter feeders they are constantly straining bacteria, algae and particulate matter from the water column, cleansing it in the process and reducing contaminant loads. They can filter as much as of 1-2 quarts per hour depending on the bivalve's size. Their faecal matter and ejected particulates then provide food for invertebrate communities that in turn support fish populations.
They occur in almost every freshwater habit, except highly acid rivers which inhibit shell production. However, some 60 North American and 7 Florida freshwater mussel species are listed as threatened or endangered. This is due to habitat loss or alternation such as silting or pollution. So keep a look out for those telltale glittering fragments of mussel shells next time you're in the swamp.
Oh, one final difference between marine and freshwater mussels: they are a prized food source of raccoons, otters, crayfish, and many wading birds. Also, they were consumed by Native Americans after much boiling, but apparently taste like old boot – something I haven't put to the test yet!
Patrick Higgins with an apple snail. Photo by Robert Fisher.
Patrick Higgins is a National Association of Interpretation Certified Interpreter, Vice-President of the Friends of Fakahatchee and Project Manager for the development of the Boardwalk Master Interpretive Plan.


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Research and Policy Update
Posted in Policy, ScotlandIS News By updatesPosted on 16th March 2020 14th March 2020
First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who participated in the Scottish Technology Industry Survey 2020. Motivating people to take time out of their busy days to fill in questionnaires can be a real struggle but this time it has been a breeze. We've had a record number of responses, more than 250! I am now working with our graphic designer on the survey report, which will be released in April. It will be sent directly to all respondents and through our bulletin once it's ready.
In terms of policy news, I've attended a couple of event on proposals for a new immigration system from UK and Scottish Governments. At the end of January, the First Minister presented options for migration rules specifically designed to address the problem of Scotland's shrinking population but still embedded within the UK immigration system. The key proposals include a Scottish visa with less strict criteria than those for current UK visa and the option for Scottish Government to assess and administer the visa processes. Holyrood is also proposing a special approach for Scotland's rural areas as these are in particular need of additional residents and workers. The UK Government is considering a migration pilot programme for rural areas and the Scottish Government is pushing for Scotland's rural areas to be included in this.
The First Minister also proposed differentiation to the UK system with more generous family migration rules, lower charges for employers and employees and longer leave to remain for EU citizens arriving in Scotland after the end of the transition period. Scottish Government argues that all of these proposals could be implemented within a UK immigration system, following the example of Canada, Australia and other countries that allow for regional differentiation within a national immigration system.
None of these proposals were reflected in the UK Government's migration plans released mid-February. The suggested points-based system is supposed to apply from 1st of January 2021 and will apply to EU and non-EU nationals looking to come to the UK to work. The key characteristics include:
The minimum salary threshold will be lowered from the initially suggested £30,000/annum to £25,600, with lower thresholds for entry-level positions. Even for jobs above entry-level the annual salary can be as low as £20,480 if the job is in a shortage occupation or if the candidate holds a PhD relevant to the position (bonus points if it's a STEM PhD).
Apart from meeting these salary thresholds, workers will need to have a job offer from an employer with a sponsor licence, meet minimum requirements for English language skills and have a Higher/A-level qualification or Higher. This minimum qualification level is new and was reduced from degree level.
Employers won't have to conduct Resident Labour Market tests (checking if a current UK resident could fill the role) anymore which should speed up visa application processes.
The lower salary thresholds will be welcome news to Scotland's digital technologies employers. Salaries in our sector are generally at a high level but there were concerns particularly smaller businesses, including start-ups, and those outwith the Central Belt about the proposed £30,000 threshold. Also the reduced minimum qualification level will help to recruit non-UK workers outwith the key target group of university graduates which becomes increasingly important for employers looking to widen their talent pool. The decisions to abolish the Residence Labour Market test is also welcome.
However, the costs and effort required by employers to obtain visas for new staff is likely to become a key issue. The vast majority of SMEs in Scotland's digital technologies sector won't have any experience of the visa system yet, as they've been only recruiting UK and EU nationals. These companies will have to invest time and money to understand the new system and become a sponsoring employer. No details of the exact fees and charges under the new system have been revealed yet but they are expected to be similar to the current costs which start at about £5,700 for sponsoring one employee for five years and can be significantly higher if they bring family. A good overview of the costs are available here.
The Home Office is planning engagement with businesses and other stakeholders on their plans. I will participate in this engagement phase to make sure that the interests of ScotlandIS members and the wider sector are represented. Please get in touch with me at svea.miesch@scotlandis.com with your thoughts, positive and negative, on the proposals.
Digital Technology Awards 2020 – Postponed
Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) open call for innovation


This HUGE AP/setting-supplement clocks in at a massive 437 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 3 pages of ToC, 3 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with pretty ridiculous 428 pages of content, so let's take a look!
All right, we begin this huge book by basically taking a glimpse at the region of the Sundered Kingdoms – wait, that's not the right way to describe it: The war-and calamity-torn Sunderlands receive a massive, stunningly detailed and well-written gazetteer that clocks in at 32 pages – from discussions on the local technology-level to area by area breakdowns of settlements and the like, we get a tremendous amount of detail here, including write ups for INNS as well as caravansarais…and it should be noted that this does not include the colossal 12-page, detailed history on this region in its afore-mentioned page-count. The level of captivating prose exhibited in these pages hearkens back to a time where immersion by means of detailed lore were more important: When e.g. the fully depicted, brief fable of a cat seeking a wife not only is mentioned, but in fact reproduced, that does enhance the believability of the area a great deal…and yes, settlements do get proper settlement statblocks.
But beyond these, the book is one about the eponymous cults – which not only provide stats for athames as well as some new domains for the respective cultist patrons – from classic Orcus and Tsathogga to Hastur, the entities of chaos and destruction and their dread obelisks of chaos that litter the landscape as dark monuments, as foci for the dread cults of darkness, come in a surprisingly detailed write-up that depicts a world teeter-tottering unknowingly on the very edge of annihilation by the forces of chaos, with twisted, evil versions of the Diplomacy-concept as a domain and the like adding a bit of crunch to the fray, though yet another shadow domain, for example, imho wasn't necessary.
The third chapter, then, would be the bestiary section and comes supplemented with both new hazards and common…and less common adversaries, including two spawns of demon lords and bone dragons, Similarly, the magic item chapter (including a cursed cowbell!) sports artifacts and wondrous objects galore, with aforementioned obelisk-powered items of chaos and unique items featuring prominently, already hinting at the things to come.
But you want o know about the adventures, right? All righty, so before we dive in, you should know that the previously released modules herein have been integrated into basically a cohesive storyline, a kind of meta-narrative not unlike those featured in Paizo-APs, making this not a collection of different adventures (though they can be played as such), but more of an arc connected by theme, if not by the necessity of sequential playing… Basically, you can play these modules as stand-alones or as connected pieces – they do not lose appeal by being separated from the overarcing structure.
Know, dear reader, that from this point forward, the SPOILERS abound! Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
We begin this tome's adventure section with Greg A. Vaughan's "Beasts Among Us", intended for 3rd level characters – uncomplicated, but savage, this module confronts the PCs with a massacred caravan and a trail leading towards a dread cult of bandits in the wilderness, happily butchering survivors – by stopping these brigands, the PCs can rescue one Kandrel, who was en route to the city of Endhome (of Lost City of Barakus)-fame and acts as a potential liaison for the powerful shipping magnate Lord Beval…provided the PCs can save him from the brutal fangs of the werewolf master of the brigands.
The second adventure, potentially to gather further influence, would be Patrick Lawinger's classic "Morrick Mansion" (level 3 – 5), which to this day remains one of my favorite 3.X modules released by Necromancer Games back in the day. Why? Because the module twists the traditional haunted mansion trope, detailed grounds and all, by making the primary antagonist of the module not simply a creature to be defeated – instead, as a kind of precursor to how haunts work nowadays, the adventure focuses on actually finding out how the calamities befell Morrick Mansion and breaking the mutation and insanity-causing chaotic curse that twists and changes the mansion grounds. From Grollek's Grove to finding out the truth behind the curse, the adventure is in probably its best iteration in this book. Kudos for saving this glorious classic for a new generation of gamers.
…and that would be the legendary classic "Aberrations" (level 6 – 9) by Casey W. Christofferson. It ranks, by far, as one of the most underappreciated modules Necromancer Games released back in the day – a disturbing yarn of horror and weird, dark fantasy, this module has it all: Deformed giants, savage caverns, legacies of insanity and murder, a brutal meat-grinder of a mansion and the chance to duke it out with the spawn of a demon lord – this adventure has it all and, frankly, I can't really do it enough justice: If you enjoy DCC-style dark fantasy and challenging modules, this one will do the trick. Seriously, this is a true classic that only gains impact by its ties to the unobtrusive metaplot of this saga.
And then, there would be "The Crystal Skull" by Dave Brohman- one of the most obscure and rare Necromancer Games modules (which I gladly own), this is a massive mini-campaign in itself, ranging levels from 9th – 12th…though the challenges posed in this one are SIGNIFICANT. Smart PCs may have followed multiple clues throughout this saga, pointing them towards the massive city of Penmorgh and invited to the home of one wizard named Pearsey, who beseeches the PCs to undergo a complex series of investigations into the dark things going on within the city – every year at Midsummer, 3 girls go missing, their bodies to later be found horribly mutilated….he wants the PCs to stop whatever horrific ritual is going on…and the PCs, following the trail, will have put themselves in the crosshair of deadly assassins and unearth the secrets behind two eminent guilds of the city…thereby, probably, inadvertently freeing dread Mhaazoul, 666th son of Orcus and nascent demon lord – to stop the dread entity, the PCs will have to track it overland through different settlements, survive the machinations of the lethal minions of the demon… to the Tower of Bone. Which is impenetrable for them…to enter the tower and stop dread Mhaazoul, the PCs will have to pass the ruined, subterranean dwarven city of Durandel, successfully navigate its claustrophobic confines and finally infiltrate and beat the dread tower and its master. Oh, and if that is not enough: The previously unreleased secret levels-bonus dungeon for this one is also included in the deal.
A total of 11 pages of handouts and 40 pages of maps are provided in this book as well – though, if you're like me and expected player-friendly maps sans legends or the like, I'll have to disappoint you – this time around, the book features none of these.
Editing and formatting are top-notch, in particular for a book of this massive size. Layout adheres to Frog God Games' two-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with detailed, nested bookmarks. The physical book, as with all FGG-books,. is a superb, stitch-bound hardcover made to last. Interior artwork is generally high-quality, though a precious few pieces taken from crystal skull didn't blow me away then and still don't. Cartography is a bit less consistent than usual – while some maps are drop-dead gorgeous or at least functional, there are also some maps re-used from a time when the 3.X bubble had burst and funds were tight -and it shows. Compared to the other maps, these look a bit less impressive and I really wish they had been redone. Similarly, I would have wished for player-friendly maps.
Frog God Games, at this point, is an institution – when they announced this book, I was honestly puzzled who they'd tie the respective modules I already knew together in a meaningful way…and they did. While the metaplot isn't too pronounced when compared to singular mega-adventures, the themes and leitmotifs can be found throughout, lending a sense of cohesion to the whole. Indeed, the respective adventures (with the first, as a setting of the stage and thus, being relatively simple) feel surprisingly in line regarding their themes and content – a feat, considering their patchwork origins.
At the same time, though, there is a bit of thematic whiplash regarding the finale – while I really like "The Crystal Skull", it is also the most traditional of the modules herein – where the adventures before focused on a delightfully old-school dark fantasy with ample of weirdness, the final mini-campaign feels grim, yes. Dark, yes. But also more traditional in its structure, plot and locales presented. Personally, the middle trinity of Morrick Mansion, Shades of Yellow and the superb Aberrations, represents the sweet-spot of this saga and, chalk it up to my excessive collection of NG-material, but personally, I probably would have used the likewise classic and pretty obscure "Vindication" rather than "Crystal Skull" as a culmination of this arc…but yeah. I'm complaining at a very high level here. And I can see why CS was chosen – it has the fitting leitmotifs and is a very good, diverse adventure that features socializing, investigation and plenty of chances to swing one's sword at evil.
The matter of the fact is that this massive book contains a load of brilliant adventures, with some true classics. The build-upgrades for the NPCs are more versatile and utilize some builds that go beyond the standard. The organization is excellent and the only true complaint I can truly voice pertains to the lack of player-friendly maps and parts of the cartography.
How to rate this, then? Well, since this has ample of tie-ins with Endhome and Bard's Gate, GMs wishing to run either can and should definitely take a look; similarly, fans of the Lost lands will consider this a must-have purchase anyways. If you already own the three previously released modules and have played them, things get a bit more complicated – while the two new full-length modules are superb (excluding the intro-module here), only you can decide whether they may the tome as a whole worth it for you. If, however, you haven't played the classic modules, then this turns into an almost immediate no-brainer, for the history and context provided in this tome render the iterations of the modules superior to their classic 3.X versions.
In the end, I will rate this 5 stars + seal of approval as an official rating for those among us who haven't played the classics. For guys like yours truly, this still is a very good book, though perhaps one that should be closer to 4.5 stars. In the end, my official verdict will obviously be the former – this is, in a nut-shell, a collection of great material for those among us who like our fantasy dark without diving off into the grimdark spectrum.
You can get this massive tome here on OBS and here on tabletoplibrary.com!
Do you prefer the old-school S&W-version? You can get that one here on OBS and here on tabletoplibrary.com!
Finally: The current kickstarter of Frog God Games, for the linchpin city-supplement Bard's Gate (in PFRPG, S&W and 5e!), for practically THE metropolis of The Lost Lands, is within its final hours – take a look at this beauty here!


The Goldsmiths' Centre in Clerkenwell has launched its new Goldsmiths' Business Growth Programme for exceptional and ambitious members of the UK jewellery, silversmithing and allied trade industries.
The programme, funded by the Goldsmiths' Company, will help 10 entrepreneurs who have the potential and drive to transform their businesses to become game-changers in the industry.
Led by business experts, successful applicants with at least three years' experience of running a business will receive intensive support to help them enhance their business commercial performance and deliver their strategic ambition. Delivered in six modules, the bespoke programme will help the entrepreneurs to shape their brands, understand how to capitalise on the power of marketing, develop leadership behaviours as well as selling, communication and negotiation skills.
Applications for the Goldsmiths' Business Growth Programme, which is heavily subsidised by the Goldsmiths' Company and costs £600 + VAT, are now open. For more information and to apply for the programme, visit the Goldsmiths' Centre's website.


Why would someone visit a tropical region which is very humid and dry during a summer season? Contrary to belief, India is a paradise during summer season. A lot of tourists visit India during summer for various reasons.
Here are the top six reasons to why you should visit India during next summer.
Most of the Himalayan hill and valley areas like Ladakh, Rishikesh, Manali and others are almost inaccessible during winter season. Do you want to ride on the highest motorable mountain passes in the world? You need to visit India during summer. Summer is the time when most of the hiking trails are open to tourists and you can easily chill out in hill stations were flora would be at its prime beauty during summer.
In southern states, summer is the time when you can find Rose Festival, Botanical Garden Festivals and other flora related excitements in hill stations like Araku, Ooty, Kodaikanal and others.
Beaches would be lush with green, warm from sun and shadowed with thick palm trees only during summer. Early winter would make beaches crowded to every inch and it is not possible to get a lazy spot in beach. Scuba diving in Andaman to lazy beach walks in Mumbai; every beach vacation is gorgeous in summer. Moreover, you get to enjoy tropical climate on the Arabian side of the country.
River Ganges is a holy river of the country. If you are visiting India for religious purpose, summer is the only time when you can find the river, unfrozen in a lot of places. If you are visiting for entertainment, white river rafting is a must activity where you raft on river Ganges. It is a very common and most opted tourist excitement that is available only during early summer.
Do you want to be a part of Ganesh Chatturti celebration in Mumbai to see thousands walk towards sea to dissolve their giant statues of Elephant God? Do you want to watch the human pyramid in Mumbai? Do you want to enjoy traditional dance festivals in Tamil Nadu?
Do you relish in the nine day celebration of Navarathi in West Bengal? You need to visit India during summer. Summer is the time when most of the celebrations happen in India. It is better to choose late summer for festival excitement element.
If you are willing to enjoy a cruise on backwaters lined with paddy fields, coconut groves and dolphins playing around, you need to be in Kerala during summer. Picchavaram in Tamil Nadu will be at its prime beauty during summer season. Almost all water related natural entertainments are found during early summer. Do not forget the boat competition in summer where you can find many snake boats competing in Kerala.
Mango, Indian water melon, papaya, lassi, spiced butter milk, Andhra Pacchadi, butter tea of Ladakh and many other exotic cuisine elements are found abundant only in summer season. The traditional raw mango pickle is a must taste food of south India during summer season. Honeydew melon, mongoostan and Indian gooseberry are some of the summer fruits that you can find in India.


On June 23rd Speaker Anthony Rendon chose to stall SB 562, the Healthy California Act, putting it on hold in the Assembly Rules Committee instead of moving it forward to a committee for a hearing, vote, and where amendments could be made. Friday, July 14th was the last day Speaker Rendon could move the bill forward under the regular Assembly timeline rules…and he didn't. But we are far from done. Speaker Rendon still has the power to move the bill forward until mid-September by suspending the regular rules.
This means SB 562 is still alive and well but needs your help to make sure Speaker Rendon and our Assemblymembers choose guaranteeing healthcare and ending the suffering so many Californians experience from crushing medical debt and lack of access to healthcare. Our incredible grassroots movement has the power to move this bill by moving our elected leaders.
Here are 2 ways you can help SB 562 move forward!
1. Call your Assemblymember Until They Join the Fight for SB 562!
Contact your local regional coordinator to find out how to get active locally (find them at healthycaliforniaact.org/find-regional-coordinator), and get social on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
The single payer health care bill, the Healthy California Act (SB 562), successfully made it through the State Senate but Speaker Anthony Rendon has prevented it from going to a floor vote in the Assembly. Rendon has called the bill "woefully inadequate," even though here has not been one hearing on it in the Assembly, nor a chance to offer amendments. Redon's move to scuttle the bill has been a blow, but the bill's backers, particularly the California Nurses Association, have vowed to keep fighting, and are calling for the bill before the end of the legislative session in mid-September.
Despite efforts by the political establishment to shut it down, the quest for a state based, Medicare for all type system in California, based on patient need, not corporate profits, rolls on.
DeMoro cited an economic study led by Robert Pollin, which concluded that the Act "could deliver decent health care to all 39 million California residents while also lowering overall costs of health care by about 8 percent relative to the existing system." Under Pollin's recommended approach virtually every California household and business would spend less on health care than they do today.
She also highlighted a point that Lydia O'Neil and David Sirota made: that "donors from the health services sector and major health insurers gave more than $16 million to Democratic candidates and the California Democratic Party in the 2014 election cycle." To read DeMoro's full blog, see the NNU website.
As you know, President Trump and Republican leaders are moving quickly to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut Medicaid - threatening the healthcare and lives of millions of low to moderate income Americans while handing huge tax cuts to the rich and big healthcare corporations. By mid-April, we could be living in the new world of Trumpcare nationally. In California though, we have the opportunity to not only resist these extreme attacks on our healthcare and lives, but to expand and create the healthcare system we truly need – guaranteed, comprehensive, universal healthcare for all regardless of income or immigration status.
Last month, the Healthy California Act (SB 562) was introduced by Senators Lara and Atkins as a key step towards creation of a single payer universal healthcare system for all Californians, and a broad-based statewide coalition, Healthy California is coming together to advance this exciting, visionary campaign for healthcare justice.


text:
Q: How to use 'crypto' module in Angular2? I install module:
npm install --save crypto

I import it to my component:
import { createHmac } from "crypto";

But I get error:

ERROR in -------------- (4,28): Canno
  t find module 'crypto'.

What am I doing wrong?

A: I am developing with the latest versions of Angular and 'crypto-js' seems to work fine.
Install the package and the definitions:
npm install crypto-js
npm install --save @types/crypto-js

Use it:
import { SHA256, enc } from "crypto-js";
...
login() {
...
   const hashedPass = SHA256(this.loginForm.value.password).toString(enc.Hex);
...
}

A: You need to install the definition files for a 3rd party library like crypto. So that typescript can find the "meaning" for it.
I think the definition file is:
npm install --save-dev @types/crypto-js

Then you can import the module like:
import * as crypto from "crypto";

If you can't find the definition file for that lib, you can write it on your own or as a workaround you can declare the module as any but typescript won't be able to auto-complete the methods.
declare var crypto: any;

and use its methods like:
crypto.createHmac..

A: The current tsconfig.json configuration (I'm using "typescript": "~3.5.3") includes a types compiler option that should be used in this case: In tsconfig.ts file add the following:
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "types" : [ "node" ]
   }
}

Import the library where you want to use it with import crypto from 'crypto'
Don't use import * as crypto from 'crypto': it will import deprecated symbols/functions. (you should probably see the compiler complain about it)


These communities, as with all of the other Whistler communities, are linked by the Valley Trail System which winds along the lakes and world-renowned golf courses and through peaceful wooded areas. Amenities include the Nesters Shopping Centre, and the popular Meadow Park Sports Centre where local hockey tournaments are played.
Often referred to as "Where the locals live", these communities offer a blend of quintessential "Whistler" style homes, and newer, more modern homes and townhomes, often situated on larger lots with amazing views of Whistler, Blackcomb, Wedge, and Armchair Mountains.


If you have been admiring to be in somewhere in an enclosed room worrying, then you do not know what you will be missing. You will eventually find out that you might be denying yourself so many things you will be missing out at your enclosed place of work. At many times when you feel bored, you will always wish to look outside and enjoy everything that nature can provide to you. If you need to take a look at the window and look around the environments, then this is the best feeling you need. After your long hours of staring outside, you could be wishing if you went out there and enjoyed the fresh air. If you ever feel that need for being outside, then you need to fulfill your urge.
Nature is the best inspiration you can ever have and enjoy, unlike other features. Also, you can do so many other things outside and get to enjoy your stay in the outdoors. Now that so many companies are offering what most persons need while camping, the process has become very easy and exciting. Another best way you can enjoy being outside is when you take good walks even if it is at the parks and have fun. You can do whatever it takes just to be there out enjoying the inspiring moments which are brought about by nature.
If you have been thinking how you could boost memory, then you just settled on the right location. Also, some adults think that it is only the young individuals who need boosting of their memory so that they can get good performance. It is also crucial that adults have their memories boosted so that their functioning ends up well and they become successful in business. If you work on your own in your business and forget that you still had pending errands to be done, something might go wrong. In that case, nature can be a very good booster for any poor memory.
If you believe that you are a creative person, then you need to work towards boosting what you know. Unlocking of creativity is not that easy especially when you are relying on artificial things, but nature is all you need. Hence, you are on the right platform where unblocking can be done best. You can count on Mother Nature to get the best ideas which are not always there especially when having deadlines to meet. You can comfortably and naturally have your brain function improved.


As events have unfolded, Israel must act decisively. Essentially given the green light from Saudi royalty, Hezbollah should be completely destroyed in haste. Have we forgotten that Iran has been the powerhouse behind all opposition to Israel since its 1979 revolution? I can't imagine that Netanyahu would ever find another opportunity to crush a longstanding enemy, without worrying about hostility from the rest of the Arab world. This is a rare instance of aligning national interests. It's as if current events have been wrapped up and given to Israel from God himself, and all due to our enemies' own failures. As long as war is in the cards, I contend that circumstances will never be more in Israel's favor.
However, this is entirely conditional on a quick resolution. Israel cannot fight a long and protracted war. Any victory in such a war would be Pyrrhic and undermine Israel's interests both domestically and throughout the international community. Saudi Arabia knows this, and as far as they are concerned, it would only be a protracted war between two of their hated enemies, in which only they benefit. It would be a situation perfectly masterminded by Arab treachery, treachery we've come to expect from them. Israel cannot flourish in peace as long as Hezbollah is entrenched at the doorstep, and at the same time, Israel cannot stumble into war bloated and over-budget, to be stuck in perpetual conflict for years.
Today, Lebanon's foreign minister boasts that they would win a war against Israel, and after they've denied any strategic victory, who can blame him for coming to this conclusion? Hezbollah is a small army with many weapons, and Israel has difficulty with them because politicians are too afraid of the price for lasting security. Unfortunately, this chronic hesitancy will cost Israel in the future more than any war today. Israel is not known for its weak military, but any weakness here is directly caused by the indirection of Israeli politicians. News media accurately reports the situation between Israel and Hezbollah as a stalemate, a stalemate originally self-induced by Sharon's 1982 failure to finish the job.
There is only a single solution to this continued standstill in Lebanon, and one I've repeated before. Israel must use every measure to completely destroy Hezbollah, and do so within days; faster than Saudi Arabia can fuel their tanks. Only displays of strength will incur respect among the Arab nations, and Hezbollah is the only target that makes sense. Hezbollah is seen to be as skilled as the IDF, and at the same time, they lack the Arab support of Hamas and Fatah. As long as the Saudis are giving the green light, Israel cannot hesitate. If Hezbollah receives any more missiles, they could destroy the entire region. Destroying them now would be like ripping a bandaid off, it would hurt a lot but the world would be a safer place.
Israel's security hinges on being decisive, a trait I do not see in most politicians, Israeli or otherwise. The Saudis are sure to sell us out as soon as we're no longer useful, so use the opportunity to make them fear the consequences of betrayal.


What with (not) finishing Christmas cards, kids' Christmas Concert, and general craziness, not a lot of sewing has gotten done this week (shocker, I know). However, I did manage to find a few moments (and I do mean few) to sew the side-seams and shoulder-seams of the coat together.
I think this is one of the most magical moments in garment-making—when you go from two or three flat pieces of cloth into something you can actually try on. Setting in the sleeves is a close second, but I still think sewing the shoulder and side-seams tops it. So here we go with some (ulp) fitting shots—unglamorous, no makeup, bed-head, and all.
pieces (as per Gertie's sewalong instructions) was way too stiff. I don't know if it's just because my coat fabric is quite stiff to begin with, but it looked wooden, and was forcing the side-seam of the peplum back and making the excess flare at the back even worse. So I cut it out—everything below the waist on the front side piece, and curving down into a narrow front panel on the front piece. This helped a lot, though it's still a bit stiffer in the front, as you can see (all these photos are from after I took it out).
In the back view, you can see the gorgeous smoothness of the lower back, and still a bit of excess between the shoulder blades. Does this mean I have a narrow back (?!?) or just reflect the fact that I used a size larger pattern? No idea, although I guess next time I tackle a Colette, I'll make the 0 and just do whatever brutal, soul-destroying alterations I'll need to the waist. I'm not sure if I want to bother fixing it or not—I think I'll wait until I get the sleeves on and some shoulder pads in to decide. The main thing holding me back is that I already catchstitched down the seam-allowances in this area.
From the rear it looks like there might be a little extra length at the back hem, although I'll have to trim it smooth (joys of a knit) and then check again.
Can you guess what I forgot to do when I stitched up the side seams?
That extra fabric between the shoulder-blades, I bet you won't notice it if you wear a knitted jumper/layers underneath for warmth?
This is coming along nicely. Yea, the hair canvas can add some serious stiffness. I have to cut it out from the seams and leave the rest go to reduce bulk. Looking good.
I think its looking pretty darn good! I agree with this stage, it's like the flat pieces suddenly have dimension, develop a personality of sorts. Speaking of personality, you make the sewing process humorous, love the comments.
I think it looks great so far!! Love the color…..
Ok, it looks GREAT! Really nice. I like how you raised the roll line. Also, that was genius to take out the hair canvas in the front. I also noticed a huge difference in the front and back peplum because the stiffness of the hair canvas but I never thought of taking it out- duh! Instead I basted hair canvas to my back pieces, too, to make it hang the same way. My peplum is super exaggerated now. I'm excited to see it finished!
I agree with Claire, that the back will probably look fine when you're wearing layers.
You will need that bit of ease between the shoulder blades. After all, with the sleeves on, you may still want to be able to move your arms (even forward!).
To be honest, I come across a lot of posts about fitting on blogs, which talk about taking out all excess width. To me, that's absolutely 'not done'. Most garments need a bit of ease.
I agree with not fixing the back at the shoulder. You might want that ease when you are wearing sweaters underneath. Your coat is coming out really well.
The middle back? Probably nothing. You're trying a coat on over it looks like nothing but underwear, there's no way you can tell anything. Unless you're going to be wearing it to go flashing :-), you should be trying it on over whatever the most you're likely to wear under it.
Oh yah you need the pockets. Where else will you keep your lipgloss?!
I had to tack my pockets to keep them from hanging down. Let me know if you have similar issues.
It's looking very cool! The back looks lovely and I quite like how the hem dips slightly lower.
I'm going against the grain – I would want to remove some of that excess between the shoulder blades . It looks like the CB seam needs a small amount shaved off the curve here – the lighting could be making it look worse than what it actually is though! I would reassess it after you have your sleeves on, and if you can still raise your arms and brush your hair easily, take it in slightly, it might only need 3mm but it will make a difference!
Can't wait to see the finished item!
I think it looks fantastic as is! It's far too easy to become too critical of our own work. When you get the coat finished, I doubt there will be as much play. Even if there is, it still looks good – and that's the important point, isn't it?
I think it looks gorgeous and the back fits you great!
I love the jacket! Maybe I could have one too, someday. About Edwardian skirts. Remember the walking-skirt pattern from Folkwear, that I made in full-length in brown twill, and in mid-calf length in medium-green twillish fabric. The one with the flat gored front and the gathered back gores. I could try to send you a copy, if you like. It might work with that jacket.