text:
Issue #57, Making a Living
The Price of Writing
Jennifer Niesslein
When people ask me what I do, I tell them I edit a web magazine called Full Grown People. I've been at it for two years. I read, I edit, I collaborate with writers and Gina Easley, the staff photographer. Work from Full Grown People has earned special mention in Best American Essays and has been included in the Best Food Writing anthology. I've published one Full Grown People anthology and have just launched another. The magazine has a healthy readership. The business is a registered LLC. It's all legit.
I just haven't made any money yet. I don't know if I ever will.
When we talk about "the publishing industry," we're really talking about three different realms, both in terms of business and writing.
On the lowest rung—where Full Grown People is now—no editor is getting paid, and writers are paid nothing or almost nothing. There are a lot of us on this rung because it's crazy easy to start up a web publication: you buy a domain name, teach yourself WordPress, and—presto!—you have yourself a magazine (albeit one that won't generate much revenue by itself).
The average reader probably doesn't know that some of us are on this lowest rung because the quality of the writing can be tremendous. For instance, I didn't know until this spring that the venerated eighteen-year-old Brevity was, as its editor Dinty W. Moore put it, "funded almost exclusively by the loose change in my pocket and the occasional donation from members of our literary community" before the Kickstarter campaign that grossed the magazine $12,571.
The Rumpus—the web magazine founded by Stephen Elliott—started out here, as well. Even today, the magazine pays only its managing editor and assistant editor. Literary rock stars Cheryl Strayed and Roxane Gay garnered their first huge attention and recurring audiences at The Rumpus. I still look to the magazine to find exquisite work by writers I've never heard of.
On the next rung, you'll find a lot of slightly bigger pubs, usually with honest-to-god print issues. This rung is occupied by a lot of nonprofits, such as Creative Nonfiction, The Sun, and Bitch, as well as magazines that aren't technically nonprofits but might as well be given the modest salaries of the staff and the modest pay for writers. (Publications with university affiliations are also usually here, although their fortunes can vary widely.)
Before Full Grown People, I cofounded one of these with my friend Stephanie Wilkinson. The first issue of Brain, Child came out in March 2000, and we sold the magazine at a healthy profit in August 2012. We started it with $20,000 of our own money and paid the writers and artists from day one and our staffers when we felt financially secure enough to hire them. It was five years before we started paying ourselves anything at all, but we worked up to a modest salary for both of us. And when I say modest salary, I mean "Honey, I can get three of the utility bills this month" money, not "Hey, honey, you can quit your job now" money. (I have no idea what Brain, Child's finances are like these days; Stephanie and I are no longer affiliated with it.)
There's an enormous space between this rung and the next because after this rung, the magazines are no longer primarily supported by reader subscriptions, grants, and donations in the virtual tip jar. On the top rung, advertisers pay most of the magazine's bills.
This is where you'll find the glossies—ranging from The New Yorker to O—as well as websites with corporate backing, where the editors and writers both get paid. Not as much as they used to—print advertising is the first budget cut a lot of businesses make when money gets tight—but still.
Every magazine has its raison d'être, and depending on what it is, up on the top rung, a writer can find herself paid well for a smart, nuanced essay—or a listicle on ten ways to look younger. Sometimes these pieces appear in the same magazine; as I read Dionne Ford's masterful "My Family Tree: In Black and White" in More, the site suggested I might also be interested in "The New Over-40 Hair Color Rules."
Editors at top-rung magazines tend to be smart cookies, and I like the ones I've met. Their jobs are simply different from mine. They need to accept and assign writers and writing that will reach their magazines' demographics, which are boiled down with precision in a "media kit," a packet sent to advertisers to explain the audience their ads will reach. In a sense, all writers are doing this anyway—don't we all want to reach our ideal readers? (God knows my work wouldn't get any play with the bro crowd.) It starts to feel icky only when the writer can't trust that the editor truly won't breach the sales/editorial divide, letting commerce dictate writing.
Each writer, it seems to me, has to cobble together her own moral code of which rung or rungs she's willing to work with. Some flat-out refuse to work for publications that don't pay well; from my perspective, these writers might make some bank, but often it's for writing service pieces or articles that aren't especially close to their hearts or that require intense months-long immersion in stories.
Other writers look at where the money is and decide from there—if someone's making a boatload of cash but the writers get squat, no dice. The Huffington Post is a notorious example among freelance writers. And if you think you're guaranteed some decent payout by writing for, say, The Atlantic, slow down, cowboy. In 2013, writer and journalist Nate Thayer made news when an Atlantic editor in its online division approached him about reworking—for no pay—a piece that had appeared elsewhere. He wrote about it on his blog and later told New York magazine, "I don't need the exposure. What I need is to pay my fucking rent. Exposure doesn't feed my fucking children."
Me? I like money, but I don't have the kind of life that gives me the flexibility to do, say, immersion journalism, no matter how well it pays. I look to the quality of the publication. If I enjoy at least 75 percent of what I read, I submit there. I want to write alongside those who I hope are my peers. I want an editor who has tastes similar to mine. I want readers as well as respect, and, to me, respect doesn't always have to dress in green.
My husband and I met in college. We lived together as equals—none of that playing house malarkey for us. We each did our own laundry, took turns cooking, and spent our evenings with our heads bent over our homework, Brandon's mind filled with complex math and chemical equations, mine with complex ideas about literature. One summer, I paid my share of the bills by waiting tables at night, interning at a local alternative newsweekly by day; he tended bar on the nights he didn't play trumpet with his band.
Maybe that's why, when Brandon got a job that put his engineering degree to work (read: that paid way more handsomely than most editorial positions, anywhere, ever), our attitudes about whose work was more important didn't change. He's always been supportive of what I do, and, in fact, he subsidizes it without expecting me to pick up any more than my equal share of housework and parenting.
This sometimes makes me queasy on a personal level. What kind of wife am I? What kind of feminist am I? What kind of fool am I?
It also makes me queasy as a citizen of the literary community. Even if Full Grown People cost me less than a thousand bucks to start—an amount that, I realize, is beyond many people's grasp—I have something else that only rich people have: time. (I didn't grow up with this kind of financial security, and I know very well what the younger me would have thought of me now: rich bitch.)
It's a legitimate beef. In The Guardian, Barbara Ehrenreich recently addressed the terrible reality that only the rich can afford to write about poverty. She wrote:
I saw my own fees at one major news outlet drop to one-third of their value between 2004 and 2009. I heard from younger journalists who were scrambling for adjunct jobs or doing piecework in "corporate communications." But I determined to carry on writing about poverty and inequality even if I had to finance my efforts entirely on my own. And I felt noble for doing so.
Then, as the kids say today, I "checked my privilege." I realized that there was something wrong with an arrangement whereby a relatively affluent person such as I had become could afford to write about minimum-wage jobs, squirrels as an urban food source, or the penalties for sleeping in parks, while the people who were actually experiencing these sorts of things, or were in danger of experiencing them, could not.
And it goes even beyond that in the world of creative nonfiction, where connections matter. (And if you say they don't, the younger you is rolling her eyes.) I don't have an MFA, but the time I've spent at Brain, Child and Full Grown People has given me cred and scored me connections I would have never made otherwise. To be perfectly honest, I would have never gotten the book contract for my 2007 memoir if I didn't already have a day job that allowed me to reach well over thirty thousand readers.
On the flip side, though, as the editor of a lower-rung publication, I have the freedom to publish work that might otherwise be overlooked. Some of the work may require a bit heavier-than-usual editing, but I have the patience, the chops, and the willingness to explain why something works or doesn't. Some of it has required personal connections with writers who don't have the confidence to trust the value of their writing. Some of it is just dumb luck.
But Full Grown People has been able to publish essays about what having a daughter in prison does to one's faith (Bonnie S. Hirst); falling from the middle class and living in a broke-down RV (Erica S. Brath); how gender works from the perspective of a trans-man (Alex Myers); and trying to hide one's chronic pain (Anjali Enjeti).
Lasting change anywhere—not just in the literary world—comes from the bottom up, and I know that influential editors and writers read Full Grown People, and if my experience with Brain, Child is any indication, so do agents. In my more hopeful moments, I think that I may not pay my writers' fucking rent, but maybe I'll be a bridge to whatever publishing becomes, whether it stays the traditional course, evolves into something few of us can imagine now, or becomes a hybrid of the two.
Why do I work so hard for free? I have to admit, there is an ego element to it: it's like being the president of a fan club. I get to connect work I love with readers who love it as much as I do, and I get credit for it. Full Grown People's community of readers is extremely gratifying to me.
But that's only part of it. On a more practical level, I personally know only three writers who make a living doing the writing that brings them joy. Two of them are genre writers, a field that can be more lucrative, and the other one put in years and years of unpaid and underpaid work before lightning struck. The rest make a living how they can, whether it's lawyering, teaching, working retail, or anything in between.
And editing a well-paying publication? It's nice work if you can get it. I once applied for the editor position at a well-known, although not well-read, publication. The yearly salary for that position was in the $90,000 range. Even with my proven track record of bringing readers to the page and my knowledge of the more arcane aspects of publishing, I didn't get an interview.
So, even as I hope that Full Grown People makes it to the second rung via the anthologies (Pretty please, buy them!), I've had to make peace with a niggling question: what does it mean to succeed as a writer or an editor?
I don't know how it is for everyone else, but for me, it can't be about the money, at least not entirely. I want to look back on my life and know that I did something worthwhile. And right now, I think I do. There's nothing like the pleasant buzz I get when I'm editing and I come across a passage that makes me think, This is going to be just the thing that somebody needs right now. I know that Full Grown People has been effective in a basic human way. Some readers feel less alone; some readers walk away with a new perspective; some readers gain empathy.
And as a writer? I think sometimes about Brandon—my musician, my engineer, my love. The music industry changed dramatically before publishing did. He still plays trumpet and still makes some money at it; he finds it fulfilling. These days, our heads—mine now dyed a hair color that may or may not comply with More's rules, Brandon's now showing the first strands of gray—are bent over computer screens, sheet music, and spreadsheets, our minds filled with complex ideas about our passions, our ambitions, making a living, and making a life.
Did you enjoy this article? There's more where that came from. Less than 10% of CNF's content is available online. Don't miss a word of the best true stories, well told.
Jennifer Niesslein is the editor and founder of Full Grown People, editor of two FGP anthologies, and author of one memoir. She's... read more
I so appreciate this writer's honesty and how precise she's willing to be about numbers. I've found when the discussion comes to pay range and income for writers most people are maddeningly vague. It's a complex matrix — sometimes value is measured by prestige or literary rung climbed, and as the Atlantic-rejector claims, you can't use that to pay the rent or feed your kids. One thing I've seen over and over is a kind of shill game, however, where the promise is always held out — greater exposure, building a platform, snagging an agent, etc. — and whether that pays off in actual $$ or, more likely, the possibility of more unpaid work — is never clear. In many ways, the writer's plight is no different than those in other arts, where a living in made in other ways, but it's good to have it acknowledged that only those who have enough money or security elsewhere can continue in the game.
Marilyn M. Soper
The honest truth about writing...So awesome
5 Classic Writing Rules We Could Do Without
Rules. Writing teachers love to sling them around, and writers love to cling to them. Maybe it's because creative writing... read more
A Conversation with Rachel Friedman
Rachel Friedman is the winner of "The Tashmadada/Writer Conversation/Creative Nonfiction Best Essay Prize." Friedman's... read more
A Real-World Education
In the fall of 1976, I lied on an application in order to get a job as a janitor at Massachusetts General Hospital. I left out the fact... read more
Issue 57, Making a Living
It's not always about the money more
Jennifer Jordán Schaller


Shiatsu is a physical therapy that supports and strengthens the body's natural ability to heal and balance itself. Although shiatsu means 'finger pressure' in Japanese, a practitioner also uses touch, comfortable pressure and manipulative techniques to adjust the body's physical structure and balance its energy flow. Like acupuncture, shiatsu stimulates the body's vital energy (Chi) using the points and meridians of acupuncture as well as massaging the muscles, joints and circulation with strokes like kneading or effleurage. It is characterised by extensive use of pressure techniques over acupressure points often done using thumb or palms.
Massage, along with acupuncture and herbalism, was for centuries an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine and was introduced to Japan around the 6th Century AD when monks brought a combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism from China to Japan. The Japanese developed and refined many of these methods to suit their own physiology, temperament and climate. In particular, they developed the manual healing and diagnostic arts, evolving the special techniques of abdominal diagnosis, treatment and massage, which are used in shiatsu today. In 1919 Tamai Tempaku developed shiatsu by combining these ancient forms with therapeutic exercises and Western anatomy and physiology. After the US Occupation of Japan in 1945 traditional therapies had to be suppressed or changed which accounts for the varying forms of shiatsu, acupuncture and moxibustion prevalent today. In 1964 shiatsu was officially recognised by the Japanese Government.
Shiatsu is a form of bodywork administered by thumbs, fingers, palms and elbows, feet and knees. It depends for its success on a meditative activity of the practitioner, aimed especially at detecting the body responses to the treatment, which influences the subsequent treatment step by step. Pressure is applied to all parts of the body along meridians. The technique stimulates the natural healing powers of the body.
Shiatsu is a deeply relaxing experience and regular treatments can alleviate stress and illness and maintain health and well-being. It is useful for structural problems such as bad necks, backs or poor posture, as well as conditions like menstrual difficulties, skin disorders, digestive problems and migraines as well as psychological issues such as depression.
Shiatsu is a deeply relaxing experience and regular treatments can alleviate stress and illness.


Every year, the Super Bowl leaves a big mark on the city that hosts it. This year in Minneapolis, with the help of more than 65,000 fans, PepsiCo worked to drive up recycling so plastic bottles or aluminum cans weren't left behind. PepsiCo Recycling and the NFL teamed up to increase the amount of materials recycled by putting football fans in the Rush2Recycle (R2R) activation at Super Bowl LII.


text:
Notre Dame Law Review
Federal Courts Issue
Recently Published Content
Editing Policies
Masthead Archive
Henry Lifton
Henry Lifton is a native of Park Ridge, Illinois. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2008 where he majored in political science. Henry commissioned as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army and moved to Fort Bragg, NC, to lead paratroopers, where he foolishly jumped out of an airplane 21 times. He deployed to Haiti in 2010 to provide humanitarian aid after a massive earthquake and Iraq in 2011 to help with the U.S. drawdown effort. Henry then worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. He spent his 1L summer with the San Francisco City Attorney's office, rolling back the fog with his sunny disposition. The fog remains. During his 2L summer, Hank worked as a law clerk for Ropes & Gray in Chicago and San Francisco. Henry is fascinated by the multiverse and the other great unknowns of this universe.
Find a collection of our previously published volumes:
See Full Archive
Volume 97 Symposium Announcement
Copyright © 2023 University of Notre Dame The Notre Dame Law Review The Law School
Follow @NotreDameLRev
Individuals and nonprofit institutions may reproduce and distribute copies of the articles found on this website in any format, at or below cost, for educational purposes, so long as each copy identifies the author(s), provides a citation to the Notre Dame Law Review, and includes this provision and copyright notice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Conveniently located in RAMSGATE, BENJY TYRES is easy to reach from Minster on Sea. Carrying one of the widest ranges of tyre brands and sizes in RAMSGATE you can book online (pay in store), call us or simply drive in. For your convenience we've provided driving instructions from Minster on Sea to our location in RAMSGATE.


text: [Read it here](Resources/doc/index.rst)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
title: "Лекция 21. ООП: специальные методы"
date: 2018-09-30
tags:
 - lecture
 - labs
category:
 - pyneng-5
---

### Задания

После этой лекции нужно выполнить такие задания (7 заданий):

* Все из раздела 26_oop_spec_methods

Как минимум:

* 26.1, 26.1a, 26.3

### Примеры

Примеры по сегодняшним темам:

* [26_oop_spec_methods](https://github.com/pyneng/pyneng-online-jun-oct-2018/tree/master/examples/26_oop_spec_methods)

### Презентация

* [Специальные методы](https://gitpitch.com/natenka/pyneng-slides/bonus-oop-special-methods#/)

### Дополнительные ресурсы

* [Раздел "Объектно-ориентированное программирование" из книги "A Byte of Python"](https://wombat.org.ua/AByteOfPython/object_oriented_programming.html)
* [A Guide to Python's Magic Methods](https://rszalski.github.io/magicmethods/)
* Special Method Names:
  * [Dive Into Python 3](http://www.diveintopython3.net/special-method-names.html)
  * [Python docs](https://docs.python.org/3.6/reference/datamodel.html#specialnames)


text:
require 'rubygems'
require 'data_bank'

class MyObject
  attr_accessor :data

  def initialize(data)
    @data = data
  end
end

db = DataBank.new ".", "data_bank.data"

my_object = db.withdraw || MyObject.new(1)
my_object.data += 1
puts my_object.data
db.deposit my_object


text:
Nintendo Announces SNES Classic Edition
The unreleased 'Star Fox 2' will arrive as part of the system's 21 games
By Calum Slingerland
After delivering the NES Classic Edition last year, Nintendo is set to level up with a Classic Edition of their popular Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The SNES Classic Edition will arrive September 29 and will retail for $799.99 CAD. The system will come preloaded with 21 different games, including the previously unreleased title Star Fox 2.
The system will also include classic titles such as EarthBound, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy III and more. The system will also include an HDMI cable, a charging cable and two controllers.
You can find a complete list of titles below.
Contra III: The Alien Wars™
Donkey Kong Country™
EarthBound™
F-ZERO™
Kirby™ Super Star
Kirby's Dream Course™
The Legend of Zelda™: A Link to the Past™
Mega Man® X
Star Fox™
Star Fox™ 2
Street Fighter® II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Super Castlevania IV™
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts®
Super Mario Kart™
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars™
Super Mario World™
Super Metroid™
Super Punch-Out!! ™
Yoshi's Island™
Super Mario World, Earthbound, Star Fox 2 + 18 more games? Now you're playing with super power! #SNESClassic launches 9/29. pic.twitter.com/BPPGjpskPT
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 26, 2017
Eugene Levy Gave Hamilton a Shout-Out During the SAG Awards
The Screen Actors Guild Awards took place on Sunday evening (January 19), and while Brad and Jen may have stolen the spotlight, Eugene Levy...
Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry Is Scoring Sean Durkin's 'The Nest'
Richard Reed Parry's 2019 included the release of his Quiet River of Dust Vol. 2, on top of albums with Leonard Cohen and Rebecca Foon, and...
'It's Always Sunny' Creator Rob McElhenney's New Show 'Mythic Quest' Renewed for Season 2
While Rob McElhenney is best known for creating It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the comedic hero is branching out in 2020. His new gaming...
Ghibli Films to Stream on Netflix — but Not in Canada
Netflix has obtained the global streaming rights to 21 Studio Ghibli movies, including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving...
It's David Lynch's 74th birthday today, and you can celebrate it along with him by watching his new Netflix short "What Did Jack Do?" After...


text:
1950 Frederick 2023
Frederick C. Fehlhaber
October 5, 1950 — January 12, 2023
Frederick C. Fehlhaber 72, of Fremont passed away on January 12, 2023 at ProMedica Memorial Hospital, Fremont. Born on October 5, 1950 to the late Kenneth and Joanne (Recktenwald) Fehlhaber, Fred was a 1968 graduate of St. Joseph Catholic High School.
He went on to work at Imperial Plating for over 30 years, and pursued a love of photography for most of his life. Fred enjoyed taking pictures for The Allstar Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws sprint car racing, the Fremont Speedway, NASCAR, and local high school sports teams. He also coached little league and knothole league baseball.
Left to cherish his memory are his siblings, Kermit Fehlhaber of Fremont, and Kenna (Geno) Greene of DE; and nephews, Christian (Andrea) and Rusti Waldon.
Fred is preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Joanne; and nephew, Justin Greene.
A service for Fred will be scheduled at a later date.
Memorial donations are encouraged to the family to assist with services via the link below.
Fred Fehlhaber Memorial Donations
Herman-Karlovetz Funeral Home & Crematory, Fremont is honored to be assisting the Fehlhaber family during this time.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Frederick C. Fehlhaber, please visit our flower store.


Laugh, cry, and laugh again!!!!!!
Have you ever had a moment in your life where you were doing something and all of a sudden it happens, time stops, the thoughts are slowly pacing through your mind. You can remember the conversations that were had by the love one that has left their imprint on your heart. You can remember the voice and tone in which they said things; if it was graceful, anxious, excited, joyous, and most of all the laugh. You can NEVER forget the way they laugh, the way they made you laugh just thinking about the moments. Your eyes couldn't help but to swell like a well, then over flow like a river. The thoughts, the thoughts made you laugh, made you cry, and made you laugh some more, but you couldn't deny how much you wish you had that moment back one more time just to give a hug and kiss. The other day I laughed, I cried, I laughed, then I cried again all because of the sweet and funny thoughts of my Big Mama. There is nothing wrong with HAPPY tears, they cleanse the SOUL.


Cristiano Ronaldo has been training with his Portuguese National Team teammates, after recovering from a small injury on his hip. An interesting detail from the last several practice sessions, was the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo completed several drills with a new pair of Nike boots, hidden and covered into an all-black design.
Cristiano Ronaldo recovered from his small hip injury and has already been training without limitations with the Portuguese National Team. However, there was something worth our attention during these last training sessions: Cristiano Ronaldo is testing a new "top-secret" pair of Nike boots. CR7 was seen wearing a mysterious pair of cleats, covered in an all-back design, what usually is a sign that a new project is coming up and Nike needs their top athlete to make the final tests to get some feedback.
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to training with the Portuguese National Side this Wednesday, in order to prepare this Friday's game, against Iceland. The Portuguese super star completed some light drills with his countrymen and he'll very likely be a starter against Iceland, for this Euro 2012 Qualifier important match.
Paulo Bento, the Portuguese National Team coach, said that there are no worries on Cristiano Ronaldo's physical condition: "He didn't train in the first day (Sunday), in the second (Tuesday) he did a few specific workout exercices, but he has been training without limitations in the last two, so he's definately fit to play tomorrow against Iceland."
We would like to also give credit and a special thanks to our partners from Footy-Boots, as they were the ones to get in touch with us, in order to alert us for this Cristiano Ronaldo boots detail, which we know that our community will appreciate knowing in first hand. That being said, feel free to give their portal a check, as their website is specialized in football boots, providing latest news and full reviews on several type of cleats.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been training with the Portuguese Team during this week, to prepare the matches against Iceland and Denmark. You can watch Juventus live stream, Portugal vs Iceland streaming, in our Soccer Live Streams section. The countdown clock timer, displaying the time left for the next Ronaldo game, is shown on the top right corner of all pages. This weekend, you can also watch Montenegro vs England free streaming and Czech Republic vs Spain online, both streamings provided from our "Live" section.


text:
Q: Questions about matlab median filter commands This is a question about Matlab/Octave.
I am seeing some results of the medfilt1(1D Median filter command in matlab) computation by which I am confused.
EDIT:Sorry forgot to mention:I am using Octave for Windows 3.2.4. This is where i see this behavior.
Please see the questions below, and point if I am missing something.
1] I have a 1D data array b=[ 3 5 -8 6 0];
out=medfilt1(b,3);
I expected the output to be [3 3 5 0 0] but it is showing the output as [4 3 5 0 3]
How come? What is wrong here?
FYI-Help says it pads the data at boundaries by 0(zero).
2] How does medfilt2(2D median filter command in matlab) work.
Help says "Each output pixel contains the median value in the m-by-n neighborhood around the corresponding pixel in the input image".
For m=3,n=3, So does it calculate a 3x3 matrix MAT for each of input pixels placed at its center and do median(median(MAT)) to compute its median value in the m-by-n neighbourhood?
Any pointers will help.
thank you. -AD

A: I was not able to replicate your error with Matlab 7.11.0, but from the information in your question it seems like your version of medfilt1 does not differentiate between an odd or even n.
When finding the median in a vector of even length, one usually take the mean of the two median values,
median([1 3 4 5]) = (3+4)/2 = 3.5

This seems to be what happens in your case. Instead of treating n as odd, and setting the value to be 3, n is treated as even and your first out value is calculated to be
median([0 3 5]) = (3+5)/2 = 4

and so on.. EDIT: This only seems to happen in the endpoints, which suggest that the padding with zeros is not properly working in your Octave code.
For your second question, you are almost right, it calculates a 3x3 matrix in each center, but it does not do median(median(MAT)), but median(MAT(:)). There is a difference!
A = [1     2     3
     14     5    33
     11     7    13];

median(median(A)) = 11
median(A(:)) = 7

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Debatri Das is a student studying English Literature in Kolkata, India. Her work has previously appeared in LangLit, Muse India and Esthesia Magazine. Her interests include feminism, gender constructions and how that operates within her immediate surrounding.
………I can ever visit the village you grew up in.
……….So keep faith, do you want your son to laugh at you ?


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text:
Ancient Deceptions
Ancient Secrets, Book 4
By: Joanne Pence
Narrated by: Bolton Marsh
Series: Ancient Secrets Series, Book 4
Categories: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure
The Secret of the Stones
Lost Chambers Series, Book 1
By: Ernest Dempsey
Narrated by: John Glouchevitch
A 4,000-year-old mystery lurks in the hills of Georgia. While investigating a strange series of ancient symbols, an archaeologist vanishes, and a professor he entrusted with the secret is murdered. Former government agent Sean Wyatt learns of his friend's disappearance and the murder. Now he must unravel the clues to the ancient mystery that holds incredible power.
I just can't do it
By Tonya Gaines on 10-07-19
The Milestone Protocol
A Sean Wyatt Adventure
Narrated by: John Pirhalla, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker
Since the dawn of civilization, a hidden hand has gripped mankind. Operating in darkness with limitless wealth and power, this ancient Shadow Caste has controlled every major event in human history - mass migrations, revolutions, plagues, even two world wars. But now these ancient "caretakers" want to change the global experiment. Civilization is too successful, they believe, and our overpopulation threatens the existence of all life on earth.
God's Lions: Rise of the Beast
By: John Lyman
Narrated by: David Colacci
Returning to Rome from a forced sabbatical, a newly appointed Jesuit cardinal discovers a dark force that has ruled a single family for over 700 years has been unleashed against the world. With the clock ticking, he joins with a dedicated group of Israeli and Spanish scientists who are thrust into an endgame scenario as they race across the globe in an effort to stop the greatest threat mankind has ever faced, only to discover that they may already be too late.
Great Ending
By Esta Sue on 05-07-18
Clive Cussler's The Devil's Sea
Dirk Pitt Adventure, Book 26
By: Dirk Cussler
In 1959 Tibet, a Buddhist artifact of immense importance was seemingly lost to history in the turmoil of the Communist takeover. But when National Underwater and Marine Agency Director Dirk Pitt discovers a forgotten plane crash in the Philippine Sea over 60 years later, new clues emerge to its hidden existence. But Pitt and his compatriot Al Giordino have larger worries when they are ordered to recover a failed hypersonic missile from Luzon Strait. Only someone else is after it, too.
Dirk Cussler doesn't disappoint
By vignale(SLi) on 11-25-21
The Starless Crown
Moon Fall, Book 1
By: James Rollins
Narrated by: James Rollins, Nicola Barber
An alliance embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of the distant past and save their world in this captivating, deeply visionary adventure from number-one New York Times best-selling thriller-master James Rollins.
Not My Genre
By Roxanne Thayer on 01-06-22
The Hunt for Atlantis
Wilde/Chase, Book 1
By: Andy McDermott
Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
Archaeologist Nina Wilde believes she has found the location of the lost city of Atlantis, and now she wants the opportunity to prove her theory. Someone else though wants her dead! With the help of ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase and beautiful heiress Kari Frost, Nina faces a breakneck race against time around the world, pursued at every step by agents of the mysterious and murderous Brotherhood of Selasphoros.
This series is by far the best I have found
The Last Monument
By: Michael C. Grumley
One small handwritten letter, sent from a dark, remote corner of the planet and lost in the system for 60 years, is about to change the entire human race. Outside Denver, Colorado, Joe Rickards stands over a small aircraft wreckage, studying burnt remains still smoldering in a field of freshly fallen snow. He's an investigator for the NTSB, working to carefully roll back the last several hours and identify the cause of the accident. But this time, he can't.
Hits the ground running!!!!
A Sigma Force Novel, Book 1
Narrated by: John Meagher
An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum and the race begins to determine how it happened, why it happened, and what it means. Lady Kara Kensington's family paid a high price in money and blood to found the gallery that now lies in ruins. Her search for answers leads Kara and her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery's curator, into a world they never dreamed existed.
Liking James Rollins and his scientific mind!
By Michele on 12-15-11
The Ice Limit
By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die....
Wonderful, Well researched, Page Turner
By Lyn on 08-10-10
By: Douglas Preston, and others
The Scorpion's Tail
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
A mummified corpse, over half a century old, is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Corrie Swanson is assigned what seems to her a throwaway case: to ID the body and determine cause of death. She brings archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, with a rictus of horror frozen on his face. Hidden on the corpse lies a 16th-century Spanish gold cross.
Swanson and Kelly really need Pendergast!
By: Scott Sigler
Narrated by: Ray Porter
The sequel to the number one Audible Best Seller Earthcore, Mount Fitz Roy continues the tale of Patrick O'Doyle and Bertha Lybrand, who were part of the horror show that occurred far below the mountains of Utah. They learn that the "mother of all motherlodes" discovered there was not unique, that there is another deposit similar to it three miles beneath the towering peak of Cerro Chaltén on the disputed border between Chile and Argentina. O'Doyle, a middle-aged former member of a disgraced black-ops unit, gets his aging team back together to go after this fortune.
Old Earth
By: Gary Grossman
Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
In the summer of 1601, Galileo Galilei made a startling discovery in the mountains of Eastern Italy that, if made public, could shatter faith in religion, bring down governments, and lead to worldwide turmoil. For more than 400 years, the secret has been guarded by a small group of incredibly powerful people, willing to do everything in their power to keep these discoveries from being made.
Roller Coaster. Adventure!
By adele1970 on 05-06-15
A dig in a remote site uncovers demonic killings and buried secrets that shatter archeologist Michael Rempart's world in this sweeping supernatural thriller that crosses time and space from the present to the last days of the Russian tsars.
When Michael unexpectedly receives a recent picture of a long-lost love, a woman he thought was dead, he gives up everything to search for her and to find answers to questions that have plagued him through the years. Instead, he uncovers more mysteries as he's drawn deeper into the occult and the ancient power of alchemy.
Michael's search takes him from St. Petersburg, Russia to an archeological dig site in Ukraine's Carpathian mountains - a desolate area where medieval knights once roamed and horrifying secrets are buried - and at the same time, it creates a mystical connection to the riches and debauchery of the court of Nicholas and Alexandra and the "mad monk" Rasputin.
As Michael's quest continues, he soon finds that while he hunts, he is also being hunted. Will he find all that he's looking for before it's too late?
Join the many fans of the Ancient Secrets novels. Each can be listened to as a stand-alone work.
©2021 Joanne Pence (P)2021 Joanne Pence
Thriller & Suspense Occult Supernatural
Ancient Shadows
Ancient Echoes
Ancient Illusions
The Ground upon Which I Stand
The Missing Medium
What listeners say about Ancient Deceptions
Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com
Strong continuation to a great series
I am a huge fan of adventures! From the Indiana Jones movies to the Uncharted series of video games, to the old Clive Cussler novels, I crave adventure on a regular basis, so that's why I also love Joanne Pence's Michael Rempart novels!
Ancient Deceptions is book number 4 in the deeply captivating and highly entertaining Ancient Secrets series of thrilling action-adventure novels written by USA Today best-selling author Joanne Pence. Over the last few years, I have fallen in love with Joanne's beautiful writing and with her intriguing characters. After I listened to the first three audiobooks, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Ancient Deceptions.
The action of Ancient Deceptions follows once again esteemed world-renowned archeologist Michael Rempart as he is pulled into another dangerous adventure featuring alchemy, magic, demons, the occult, and other paranormal events. Michael has to tackle unexpected happenings in his personal life, dark family secrets, and a threat that goes back to St. Petersburg in the early 1900s.
What follows is a race against the clock which sees Michael traveling from the United States to St. Petersburg and, after that, to a remote dig site in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine. He is searching for answers to questions that haunted him for decades but all he finds is danger, mysteries, and of course, deception.
This fourth audiobook in the Ancient Secrets series is brought to life by actor and narrator Bolton Marsh. He does a good job with the narration, reading in a pleasant and clear voice. Mr. Marsh handles expertly all the action scenes, matching perfectly the narrative's urgency with his own emotion and intensity. He also manages to assign different voices and accents to all the main characters and by doing so, he helps the listener differentiate between who exactly is speaking at a specific time.
The audio production is top-notch most of the time, with just a few barely unnoticeable edits here and there. It's almost never a good thing to see a series changing narrators, but I think that Mr. Marsh handled himself very well and his performance for Ancient Deceptions was more than satisfying.
Joanne Pence is an extremely talented author who delights and entertains her readers with thrilling and captivating stories. Although each of them can be experienced as a standalone adventure, I think that those who have knowledge of the entire Ancient Secrets saga will find Ancient Deceptions even more engaging and fascinating. If you are looking for unforgettable adventures filled with secrets and deception, I highly recommend this entire series because it features some of the most well-written characters since Indiana Jones.
I hope that you found this review interesting and will consider leaving a helpful vote below. Thank you! Take care, stay safe, and don't forget, always listen with your heart.
Interesting Story, Great Narration
Joanne Pence created interesting characters and a complex story. I look forward to listening to the next book in the series.
Bolton Marsh made the story come alive for me. I felt transported into the character's world and couldn't put the book down.
AudioBookReviewer
Mystical Secrets and Deadly Truths
At an archaeological dig in a remote area of Russia/Ukraine, lurks horrors that define evil. Not only are students coming up missing and dead, but mystical connections to knights, Tsar Nicholas and Alexandra, and Rasputin, the Mad Monk will be unearthed. Michael Rempart discovers that the woman he loves may still be alive! Rempart's action-packed hunt for the truth and his long-lost love will be a race against the clock.
The author, Joanne Pence weaves a complex story that connects different worlds, people, and alchemy together for a riveting action-packed thriller. The characters are well developed providing valuable insight into the unfolding story. Pence's attention to detail of historic events/people and blending them into an exciting fictional story is masterfully done. The conclusion was solid as were the plot twists.
The narrator, Bolton Marsh spoke with clarity, appropriate pacing, and captured the tone of each character. His voices were distinct, and his enunciation was clear. His performance was smooth and appropriately reflected the storyline.
Although this is book 4 in a series, it can be listened to as a stand-alone. I had not heard any of the other books and still found it easy to follow this storyline.
The production and quality of this audiobook were perfect. I encountered no issues; it was clear and crisp.
Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.
Ancient Deceptions Was Another Great Adventure
This isn't the first book in this series that I've read - but I also haven't read them all which is abnormal for me. Just like I mentioned in my review of Ancient Echoes - this was thrilling from beginning to end. I think that Pence has gotten even better in her pacing. This one had me on the edge of my seat throughout.
I know that I'm missing books 2 and 3, but these are written in a way that you can just pick up almost anywhere. I like that I didn't have to get "caught up" and that Pence didn't spend a ton of time going over old details of things I either missed or things that were important to Michael Rempart's character development.
Ancient Deceptions would rival any of the other adventure-driven stories that I've read, including as mentioned before Preston & Child, along with lots of other great ones (Indiana Jones for example). I think that the back and forth between now and the past made this one stand out to me because it felt like I was learning things as the characters are learning about them. That always makes me a happier reader.
Pence has this way of keeping me intrigued until the very end. This book was no different - I was there for it all and enjoyed almost every second of it.
Add in the narration by Bolton Marsh, who does a great job of "becoming" Rempart. And you've got a great story, great characters, and one that's well-told!


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text:
About San Marino
The Republic of San Marino
Monuments and Landmarks
Honorary Consul General
Message from the Honorary Consul General
The Flavors of the Land
The Wines of San Marino
Artiginato Sammarinese
Consulate General Office
The Consulate of San Marino and Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation team-up for story-telling outreach
(Click image to enlarge)
A total of 30 child scholars of Unbound Manila from depressed areas in Malate, Manila and Mandaluyong City were treated to a day of cultural immersion and entertainment as the Consulate of the Republic of San Marino in the Philippines and the Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI) partner for a tour and story-telling activity at Museo Pambata.
Headed by CLFI General Manager Jonathan Batangan and CLFI Consultant Atty. Cesar Vidal who acted as storytellers, the event also featured a puppet show that depicted the story of "Yehey, May Pamilya Nang Mag-aaruga Sa Akin!"—a children's book about adoption commissioned by the Consulate of the Republic of San Marino in the Philippines
Created and published in 2016, the book features the story of a puppy in a rescue home and relates the importance of having a family that is full of love and care than having material possessions.
A folk dance show from the Bayanihan Dance Group, a tour of the museum, games, and a feeding program for the participants were also conducted during the affair.
"Promoting the culture of San Marino while contributing to the welfare of Filipinos, especially children, has always been important to the Consulate here in the Philippines. This joint project with the Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. and Unbound Manila definitely advances our goals and hopefully left a positive impact on the children that attended the activity," Consul General of the Republic of San Marino to the Philippines and Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said.
The Consulate of the Republic of San Marino in the Philippines plans to continue the story-telling activity every other month for the rest of the year, tapping various organizations as partners and beneficiaries.
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1.The tripod ONLY. Camera and other accessories in the pictures are not included.
2.For camera with telephoto zoom lens, you need to buy a tripod mount ring additionally for better balance.
Quick shoe mounting plate helps ensure fast transitions between shots.
The legs are a 4-segment interlocking crutch-type design. The center column design that comes with a hook, can be attached to sand bag to increase stability.
The carrying bag is large enough for convenience and can protect the tripod.
360 degree dial of swivel ball head with bubble level provide you with a panoramic view. Three-positioned leg angle adjusting system provides flexible shooting.


text:
New York Personal Injury Law Blog » Judiciary, Legal Writing
New York Appellate Court Gives Lesson in Lousy Legalese (In an important case) – Updated
It's a contest! For the worst judicial writing in America. And I have here the first entrant.
Now I confess that I publish this with great trepidation, since I appear before this appellate court from time to time. And what I have to say isn't kind.
But at the risk of pissing off some judges before whom I may appear, I have to ask, would you want our briefs to contain sentences with 300+ words? And would you want me to make you strain to figure out the points I'm making?
Exhibit A: A decision from the Second Department in December in Dockery v Sprecher, regarding a $109M medical malpractice verdict that was reduced to $9 million for a brain damaged man. The first sentence of the decision, regarding the procedural history, weighs in at a staggering 303 words. Without any semicolons. Is there a secret law that says writing a procedural history must induce dread on the part of the reader?
But wait! There's more! Not to be outdone, the second sentence of the same decision laughs in the face of the first, stomping it into the ground with a jaw-dropping 343 words. But at least that has two semicolons. (Both re-printed below.)
Really, is such gobstopping exposition necessary? Have simple, declarative sentences been outlawed? Is clarity a crime?
I challenge anyone to find a sentence in another judicial opinion of such length.
The format of this decision is unfortunate given its importance. The decision speaks to the issue of how outlier verdicts — those that "deviate materially from what would be reasonable compensation," in the parlance of New York law — get reduced by courts on review by ordering a new trial unless a party stipulates to a lower amount. I had written of the subject as a newbie blogger (How New York Caps Personal Injury Damages — 1/23/07) due to the popular misperception among the public that the verdicts they see in newspapers are the amounts that actually get collected.
But those verdicts in the papers are there for a reason; either because a celebrity was involved or the verdict was an outlier.
A decision on a blockbuster verdict that helps to define the limits of permissible compensation, and demonstrates how the courts manage those outlier verdicts, is one that would assist the public in understanding how our judicial system works. And it would assist trial judges and lawyers in understanding how the appellate court might see things, and therefore it would be important guidance.
But sentences of 300+ words don't do that. Instead of offering clear explanation, they offer the reader the opportunity to engage in code breaking, with a WW II Engima machine as a required tool.
And that is not the only place this decision lacks clarity. Because the decision also fails to explain the injuries. Imagine that, a $109M verdict reduced to $9M, and no discussion of the damages? John Hochfelder has written quite a bit on that recurring issue, including this:
So I don't at all question the integrity, acumen, or commitment of our appellate court judges. What I do question, though, is why [the Appellate Division] can't make it part of their procedure in personal injury lawsuit appeals to explain their reasons for an increase or decrease of a jury award and to cite prior cases with meaningful and helpful explanations of why they are relevant or controlling. In that way, practicing lawyers will be better able to evaluate and settle cases with the result that fewer cases will clog our court system and more realistic positions will be taken by plaintiff and defense lawyers on the cases that remain.
It takes much hard work to actually figure out what the Appellate Division did in Dockery v. Sprecher, because not only did it reduce the verdict but it also lowered the apportionment of fault for the defendants from 45% to 10%. And it failed to let the reader know what the actual effect of that apportionment change was.
And since this report indicated that there was also a $4.4M pres-suit settlement with a hospital, that means that there would be an offset for the settlement amount under New York's General Obligations Law 15-108, though you wouldn't know if from reading the opinion.
So we have a major decision on the issue of damages, with a new trial ordered unless the plaintiff stipulates to a reduction, a change in the apportionment, a settlement requiring an off-set, but with tortured language in the decision, missing information, and open questions for the reader. And that's a shame.
[Update: Hochfelder unravels the guts of the injury claims in a new post, and comes up with this result:
$4,400,000 (the pre-trial settlement the hospital and one doctor) plus
$957,000 (The 10% share of the remaining defendant, resulting from the new $9,570,000 limit placed by the court)]
So let me politely suggest that our appellate judiciary do a few things:
1. Read the opinions of Justices Scalia, Posner, or Kozinski. Just for style. Ask yourselves this question: Would any of those jurists compose anything resembling the mind-numbing legalese I've re-printed below?
2. Contact legal writing guru Bryan Garner, who has given a gazillion seminars on writing to lawyers and judges;
3. Take the writing manual that you are working from and dump it. Whatever comes out the other end of the recycling process will be of better use.
OK, here they are, the first two sentences, in all their gory glory, followed by my closing thoughts:
In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for medical malpractice, etc., the plaintiffs appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Hart, J.), entered July 10, 2008, as, upon the granting of that branch of the motion of the defendants Stanley Sprecher, Peninsula Radiology Associates, P.C., and Peninsula Hospital Center pursuant to CPLR 4401, made at the close of the plaintiffs' case, which was for judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them, upon a jury verdict finding the defendants M. Chris Overby, and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C., 45% at fault, and nonparties Philip Howard Gutin, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 55% at fault for the injuries sustained by the plaintiff Thomas Dockery, and that the plaintiff Thomas Dockery sustained damages in the principal sums of $10,000,000 for past pain and suffering, $27,750,000 for future pain and suffering, $370,000 for past loss of earnings, $80,000 for future loss of earnings over a period of 28 years, and $21,636 for loss of Social Security income, and that the plaintiff Karen Dockery sustained damages in the principal sum of $18,000,000 for past loss of services, and $48,700,000 for future loss of services, and upon so much of an order of the same court entered December 3, 2007, as granted, after the jury verdict, that branch of the motion of the defendants M. Chris Overby and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C., pursuant to CPLR 4401, made at the close of the plaintiffs' case, which was for judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them, dismissed the complaint insofar as asserted against the defendants Stanley Sprecher, Peninsula Radiology Associates, P.C., Peninsula Hospital Center, M. Chris Overby, and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C.
Ordered that the judgment is modified, on the law, on the facts, and in the exercise of discretion, by deleting the provision thereof dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against the defendants M. Chris Overby and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C.; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements, the motion of the defendants M. Chris Overby and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C., pursuant to CPLR 4401, made at the close of the plaintiffs' case, for judgment as a matter of law dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them is denied, the order entered December 3, 2007, is modified accordingly, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for a new trial as to the defendants M. Chris Overby and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C., on the issues of apportionment of fault and damages for past and future pain and suffering and past and future loss of services unless, within 30 days after service upon the plaintiffs of a copy of this decision and order with notice of entry, the plaintiffs shall file in the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Queens County, a written stipulation consenting to the apportionment of 10% of the fault to the defendants M. Chris Overby and Levine Overby Hollis, M.D.s, P.C., and 90% of the fault to nonparties Philip Howard Gutin and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and to reduce the damages for past pain and suffering from the principal sum of $10,000,000 to the principal sum of $1,200,000, the damages for future pain and suffering from the principal sum of $27,750,000 to the principal sum of $6,750,000, the damages for past loss of services from the principal sum of $18,000,000 to the principal sum of $350,000, and the damages for future loss of services from $48,700,000 to the principal sum of $1,000,000, and to the entry of an amended judgment accordingly; in the event that the plaintiffs so stipulate, then the judgment, as so reduced and amended, is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
Two final thoughts. One reason that this decision might be written so poorly is that the court doesn't want it to be cited and followed. But, like Hochfelder, I believe that such obfuscation leads to more litigation as it leaves the current state of the law a mystery. If the bar understands that, for example, a verdict for a broken arm will be tossed out if it exceeds (or is lower than) x, then the parties can turn to the liability aspects and make informed judgments with more confidence of the best case and worst case scenarios. And the trial level courts will have guidance on permissible parameters when deciding post-trial motions. And that would mean fewer trials, fewer appeals, and reduced judicial case load. It would, dare I say, promote efficiency.
And last: When I appear before you next, please, please, PLEASE, don't hold my criticisms against my client. I write because I think the courts can do better, and that we are all better served when decisions are clear.
7 thoughts on "New York Appellate Court Gives Lesson in Lousy Legalese (In an important case) – Updated"
Ray Ward on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 8:08 pm said:
Some NY judges write well. Jerry Lebovits, for instance.
http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/
Lisa Solomon on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 9:05 pm said:
At least the Second Department bothered to write *something.* I'm frustrated by the reams of one-paragraph wonders that pass for opinions in New York appellate courts.
I see Ray has already beaten me to the punch with his recommendation of Hon. Gerald Lebovits. I second that recommendation.
In addition to being a prolific writer about legal writing, Judge Lebovits is the author of Advanced Judicial Opinion Writing: A Handbook for New York State Trial and Appellate Courts (7.4 ed. 2004). You can download the Handbook, or any of Judge Lebovits' 161 other published works, from SSRN at http://tinyurl.com/ykqtdnj.
I understand, sometimes, the one paragraph decisions on cases that might be easy or routine, given the crush of business.
But this one certainly wasn't routine. And it probably took longer to write those never-ending sentences (and then to check and re-check to make sure it was right) than it would have to write plain English.
Siouxsie on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 11:31 pm said:
You are so right about Bryan Garner.
Anonymous on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 2:45 pm said:
The passages you criticize are not "procedural history;" they are the decretal, and are mostly for the consumption of the court from which the order being appealled emanated, and the parties to the action. It is necessarily highly technical because it must instruct as to precisely what the court is ordering. Often this results in "run ons," but it is usually unavoidable. It is everything after the decretal that explains the court's reasoning, and which attorneys normally rely on when they cite the case. Also, keep in mind that in any given year a judge on a court like the 2nd Dep't sees far, far more cases than Scalia, Posner and Kozinski, probably combined, and has fewer clerks. So, while I'm sure these judges try their hardest, not every case can receive the type of attention necessary to polish it to the level of a SCOTUS opinion.
Eric Turkewitz on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 3:02 pm said:
The passages you criticize are not "procedural history;" they are the decretal, and are mostly for the consumption of the court from which the order being appealled emanated, and the parties to the action.
I only referred to the first paragraph as "procedural," not the second. I wrote:
The first sentence of the decision, regarding the procedural history, weighs in at a staggering 303 words.
The second one that "orders" stuff is the decretal (or at least, that's the way I learned it).
But regardless of the words used to describe the two, both could have been written a whole lot more clearly.
I disagree that they are "necessarily highly technical." They need not be written in that fashion. Which is why I challenged others to find the opinions of other courts that are written in such a tortured way.
Thus far, my challenge has been left unanswered (despite the post receiving almost 5,000 page views, so it was clearly seen by many). Over at Above the Law they called it "Worst. Judicial writing. In the world."
http://abovethelaw.com/2010/03/non-sequiturs_030910.php
I believe that the Second Department can do much better, and that leaving the law behind a blizzard of legalese is simply not necessary. I don't think it helps litigants, the attorneys, the judges, or the public at large.
And yes, I know that the appellate judges are underpaid and overworked. But writing clearly isn't any more time consuming.
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text:
Super typhoon Maysak is ready to hit the Philippines
2April
Yesterday we learned that the super typhoon Maysak, formed last Friday, March 27, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, after causing at least five deaths and many damages upsetting Micronesia, is continuing its march westward and now points straight to the Philippines, where it is expected for Sunday, April 5th. After reaching the peak power yesterday, the super typhoon Maysak began to weaken, with winds now blow near his eye at 240 km/h, which they did downgrade to category 4: it is heading to more than 200 km/h to the northern part of the country: the landfall, when the typhoon hits the ground, is expected on the island of Luzon for Sunday 05 April, when millions of people will celebrate Easter .
Maysak however, is destined to weaken further: it should arrive on the Philippines as a category 2 typhoon, but no less dangerous, with winds also incurred up to 180 km/ h. The super typhoon will find its way to the Philippines unfavorable winds to its intensification, which will prevent the system to become even more powerful. Despite these reports seem to avert a possible catastrophe, however, the authorities fear a disaster caused by storm surges. The national weather agency predicts "possible flooding in low-lying regions and landslides on the mountains," in addition to "waves of four meters" on the coasts of the islands of Samar, Bicol and Aurora. Fishermen are advised not to go out to the sea and the government ordered to passenger ships to remain at the port.
Kito Onlus is present in the city of San Fernando La Union with its health unit and its medical staff, which is monitoring the evolution of the situation, is ready to render assistance to the Filipino people.


Toss the 10 step decluttering guides and tailor your simplicity approach to YOUR Values: In this episode, Melissa and Kate explore the idea of family-sized minimalism inspired by individual values. They walk you through the steps of figuring out your own values and how to purposefully apply them to your home and life. The two also chat about the impact of living simply with children and practical tips for implementing minimalism in a family home. For updates and new episodes, subscribe to the Cohesive Home Podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts!
In this episode we ask you to send in any ideas you might have for a fun catch phrase for our lifestyle, enter yours below!


The South Bend Community School Corporation's Board of School Trustees will hold a public meeting on Monday, January 28, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Administration Building, 215 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., South Bend, Indiana 46601 to discuss and to hear objections to and support for a proposed Superintendent's contract as required by Ind. Code 20-26-5-4.3. This public meeting will be held during the regular school board meeting which begins at 5:30 p.m. Persons wishing to speak at the public meeting will be able to sign up as they enter the meeting room.
Term: Two years starting July 1, 2019 and ending June 30, 2021, with extension provisions.
premiums fully paid by SBCSC. The current annual premium cost for health insurance to SBCSC is $9,200.52 for the employee only, $18,483.12 for employee and spouse, $14,596.80 for employee and children, and $24,549.48 for employee and full family.
Dental, Vision, and Disability Insurance: Eligible to participate in SBCSC's dental, vision, and disability insurance plans provided to SBCSC administrative employees. The cost for dental and vision insurance to SBCSC is $526.56 for the employee only and $1306.80 for the employee and full family.
Other General Administrative Benefits: Eligible for all other annual benefits available to administrative employees, including family sick days, leaves of absence, and personal leave subject to applicable terms and conditions.
TRF Annuity Savings Account: SBCSC will contribute the maximum amount permitted by law into an Indiana State Teacher's Retirement Fund Annuity Savings Account for the superintendent's benefit. This is an amount equal to 13% of annual salary or $24,180.
401(a) Contributions: SBCSC will contribute into a 401(a) plan account for the superintendent's benefit an amount equal to 1% of annual salary ($1,860) and an amount equal to any amount the superintendent contributes to a 403(b) account. During 2019, employees may contribute up to $19,000 into a 403(b) account and employees aged 50 or over at the end of the year may make a catch-up contribution of $6,000.
VEBA Contribution: SBCSC will contribute into the corporation's Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association plan for the superintendent's benefit an amount equal to 1% of annual salary ($1,860).
Car Allowance: $750 per month ($9,000 annually).
fees and expenses related to attendance at professional conferences, meetings, seminars, and courses as well as reasonable and necessary expenses (such as meals, entertainment, travel, professional books, and supplies) incurred on SBCSC's behalf.
11. Vacation Days: 25 paid vacation days each year. Up to five unused vacation days may be carried forward to the next year.
12. Term Life and Long Term Disability Insurance: SBCSC will provide the superintendent, as owned and named insured, a fully-paid term life insurance policy with a face value of $300,000 and long-term disability insurance. The premiums are anticipated to cost SBCSC $1,086 annually.
13. Performance Incentive: SBCSC will pay the superintendent performance-incentive bonuses as follows: $10,000 if SBCSC receives an overall corporation grade of B under the A–F metric then established by the Indiana State Board of Education during the second year of the contract; $25,000 if SBCSC receives an overall corporation grade of A during the second year of the contract; and $25,000 if SBCSC is successful in passing a general-fund or operating referendum at any time during the initial term of the contract. SBCSC will not pay more than $25,000 total for these bonuses. SBCSC will pay any bonuses into the 401(s) plan for the superintendent's benefit, except that if the superintendent earns all $25,000 available for bonuses, SBCSC will contribute $5,000 of the bonus to the South Bend Education Foundation.
14. Severance on Retirement: SBCSC will pay severance and supplemental benefits upon retirement in the same manner and on the same conditions as other administrator within SBCSC.
15. Sick Leave Days: SBCSC will credit the superintendent's sick-leave account with all sick-leave days earned at the superintendent's prior public-school employer (believed to be 115).
16. Severance on Termination by SBCSC under Certain Circumstances: If SBCSC terminates the contract for reasons other than cause (as defined in Ind. Code 20-28-8-7), the superintendent will be entitled to the lesser of the superintendent's then current salary or $250,000.
After the meeting, the Board of School Trustees will consider the public input and then consider the contract as an agenda item for consideration and vote at the regular board meeting on February 4, 2019.


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