Now I know that the film Cloverfield is hardly considered a classic movie. However, it has every component of a classic film in the making. I had a rare lazy Saturday afternoon last week when I sat down and caught the movie on television. I saw the movie when it first came out in 2008, and I do believe that seeing it on the big screen makes more of an impact than to see it on television. However, either way I think Cloverfield is a proud addition to the movie monster drama, and it can stand beside other destructive monsters like Godzilla and King Kong.
The film is presented as found footage from a personal video camera recovered by the United States Department of Defense. A disclaimer text states that the footage is of a case designated "Cloverfield" and was found in the area "formerly known as Central Park". The video consists chiefly of segments taped the night of Friday, May 22 and the morning of Saturday, May 23. The newer segments were taped over older video that is visible occasionally.
The first video segment opens when Rob wakes up on the morning of Monday, April 27 having slept with Beth, a previously platonic friend. They make plans to go to Coney Island that day. The footage suddenly cuts to May 22, when Rob's brother Jason and his girlfriend Lily prepare a farewell party for Rob who will be moving to Japan. At the party, their friend Hud uses a camera to film testimonials, and flirts unsuccessfully with Marlena, another party guest. After Beth leaves the party following an argument with Rob, an apparent earthquake strikes, and the city suffers a brief power outage.
The local news reports that an oil tanker has capsized near Liberty Island. Then another explosion causes the party-goers to evacuate the building. They see the head of the Statue of Liberty crash nearby in the street, with several stunning scratch and bite marks. Hud records what appears to be a giant hand of a creature several blocks away. Rob, Jason, Lily, Hud and Marlena, along with a crowd of other civilians, attempt to escape Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge. A gigantic tail comes down and destroys the center span of the bridge, killing Jason and others. The survivors flee back to Manhattan as the bridge collapses.
Rob discovers that Beth sent him a message and goes to an electronic store trying to get new batteries for his phone. Hud watches the news, which shows the United States Army's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster and smaller "parasite" creatures falling off its body. Several of these creatures are seen attacking soldiers and civilians on the ground. Once Rob gets new batteries, he listens to Beth's message saying she is trapped in her apartment and unable to move.
Going against the crowd, Rob, Hud, Lily, and Marlena venture to Midtown Manhattan to rescue Beth. They are soon caught in a crossfire between the monster and the military, and escape into a subway station. They walk through the subway tunnels but are attacked by several of the "parasite" creatures. Hud is nearly dragged away, and in the process of saving him, Marlena is bitten by one of them. They escape to a small room and come across a Bloomingdale's department store where they are met by a squad of soldiers who have set up a field hospital and command center in the store. As Rob tries to get assistance for Beth, Marlena dies. One of the military leaders lets the rest leave but tells them when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military enacts its "Hammer Down Protocol".
The group goes to Beth's apartment tower at the Time Warner Center, which has collapsed against the center's other tower. They rescue Beth, who was trapped and impaled on a piece of rebar. The four try to make their way to the evacuation site, where they encounter the monster once more over Grand Central Terminal. Lily is raced into one departing U.S. Marine Corps helicopter. Moments later, Rob, Beth and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomb the monster. The monster falls. Just as Hud declares victory, the monster lunges and attacks the helicopter, causing it to crash into Central Park.
The creature before attacking Hud. The film skips to less than an hour later, with a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warning that the Hammerdown protocol will begin in 15 minutes and states that anyone able to hear the sirens is within the blast zone. The three friends have regained consciousness, but the helicopter pilot and the soldiers with them have not. Hud and Beth pull an injured Rob from the helicopter wreckage. Then Hud recovers the camera. The monster appears over him. Hud watches the monster in terror, and after a moment the monster lunges at Hud and kills him.
As a little end note, there are talks for a Cloverfield 2, and hopefully it will happen soon. The movie changed the way modern movie monsters are portrayed and viewed on the screen.


text:
Job Growth Slows in April
Dean Baker,
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Economic growth has remained close to 2.0 percent for most of the recovery. However, employment has been growing at a pace of close to 250,000 per month for the last two and a half years. This combination of weak GDP growth and strong employment growth was associated with a collapse in productivity growth that had been completely unanticipated. With economic growth slowing further in the last two quarters, productivity growth had actually turned negative.
For this reason, it is not surprising that job growth would slow, as was reported for April. The 160,000 pace for April, combined with modest downward revisions for the prior two months brought the 3-month average to 200,000. The falloff in job growth was largely attributable to weak job growth in construction and retail, with the former adding just 1,000 jobs in April and the latter shedding 3,000. Both sectors added close to 40,000 jobs in March.
The news on the household side was mixed. While the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0 percent, the employment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 59.7 percent. This was due to prime age (ages 25-54) workers leaving the labor force as the EPOP for prime age workers fell by 0.3 percentage points from 78.0 to 77.7. Presumably this reflects weakness of the labor market and not a sudden urge to retire among workers in their forties.
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Some of the news in the household survey was positive. Most of the duration measures of unemployment fell and the share of unemployment due to voluntary quits rose to 10.8 percent, the highest level of the recovery to date.
Also, the number of workers involuntarily working part-time fell by 161,000 more than reversing a jump in March.
On the whole this report suggests that job growth may be coming in line with the slow pace of economic growth.
Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., which he co-founded. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University. He is a regular Truthout columnist and a member of Truthout's Board of Advisers.
Job Growth Surprisingly Weak in September
The Labor Department reported the economy created just 142,000 jobs in September.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
'Paper Routes' finds creators spinning common material into artistic gold
Andy Downing
adowning@columbusalive.com
There can be a temporary quality to paper, a material that easily degrades, and which is commonly recycled or trashed outright.
In new exhibit "Paper Routes: Women to Watch 2020 - Ohio,"which opens digitally today (Thursday, July 30) at the Ohio Arts Council's (OAC) Riffe Gallery, artist Susan Li O'Connor plays with newsprint's ephemeral nature, cutting and rolling Chinese and U.S. newspapers and then utilizing hundreds of these tight, narrow cylinders to construct massive, island-like creations that are meant to stand the test of time, the artist's effort "to make something last that wasn't meant to last," as O'Connor wrote in a statement accompanying the work, dubbed "Mountains to Climb."
Paper likewise destined for trash heaps undergoes a similar transformation in the hands of Carmen Romine, who collects thermal printer receipts gathered from her work in the service industry and uses them to create gorgeous images that mirror mountain landscapes. Riffe Gallery Director Cat Sheridan compared the process on display throughout the space with alchemy, the contributors spinning common materials into artistic riches.
O'Connor and Romine are just two of the 13 artists displayed in "Paper Routes," curated by artist Stephanie Rond and Matt Distel and produced by OAC in collaboration with the Ohio Advisory Group and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Rond and Distel will leada curators' tour of the exhibit at noon on Friday, July 31.
The breadth of art on display reflects paper's adaptability, with some creations, like those by Romine and O'Connor, built to last and others existing in a more temporary nature. Such is the case with a large-scale installation by Cincinnati artist Emily Moores, which would be impossible to replicate precisely elsewhere, as it was partly shaped on the fly, its construction informed by the space in which it's erected.
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Rond started researching artists for the exhibit more than a year ago, conducting in-studio visits with prospective creators last fall, well before the pandemic altered the global landscape. A number of displayed works reflect these new realities, though, which Rond attributed to the artists being constantly engaged in creative conversation with the world.
"They've all been working on [these pieces] pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, so the conversations have mutated in an interesting way," Rond said in conversation at the Riffe Gallery, which is likely to be the first exhibit hosted in the space that can only be viewed digitally (Sheridan said the gallery was still researching if scheduled visits might be possible in the coming weeks). "I think that's one of the beautiful things about artists: They already know how to adapt; they already know how to solve problems."
As a result, some pieces have taken on new, previously unforeseen dimensions. A series of obscured black-and-white portraits drawn in a grid by artist Sa'dia Rehman, for instance, mirror the now-ubiquitous Zoom conference call screen, which likely wasn't the intent when the piece was conceived. Similarly, an instillation by Sydney Joslin-Knapp transforms a room the size of a grand walk-in closet into an alien garden that blends aspects of dark and light (there are paper flowers, glowing stars and twisting rainbows covering nearly every corner of the space), which Rond equated with the strength and vulnerability that have become twin emotional pillars of the COVID era. In another unexpected turn, the room, which might have been jammed with visitors prior to the coronavirus spread, has been forced by social distancing into a place for solo reflection, giving it a more immediately immersive quality.
Still other works, such as a series of large-scale pieces by Breanne Trammell speak more bluntly to this era. These include a print covered in text taken from Langston Hughes' writings on democracy and a large, checkered print tacked to a west wall of the gallery that asks: "Is there a tomorrow?" (Let's hold off on that thought, for now.)
Indeed, our current reality has added a number of unexpected layers to the exhibit, beginning with the fact that works created solely using paper can now only be accessed digitally. This in addition to rich themes initially inherent in the concept, which Sheridan drew out in comparing paper— a material whose ubiquity can sometimes cause it to be overlooked — with the sometimes lagging public appreciation for women artists. "How do we make sure these things that kind of knit together our society," Sheridan asked, "are raised up to the stature they deserve?"


A few weeks ago I wrote that unions have driven every state budget into a hole from which it isn't likely the states can easily dig themselves out. I did not at that time reference the Pew report on the pensions mess and I want to revisit it here.
On April 5, I said, "The worst mess that states are in is because government unions have been handed luxurious and unsustainable pensions and healthcare plans by those very Democrat politicians that unions have paid off to do so. Again all at the expense of the suffering taxpayers." The Pew report shores this up thoroughly. In fact, the Pew report from early April 2010 even understates the problem, not because of any bias but because the stats that they used were taken from stats assembled in 2008 because that was the last year where full records had been compiled. Further, we must remember that these stats also came before the market crash ushered in during the age of Obama.
All this has occurred because government unions have given millions to Democrats so that Democrats can write union-friendly laws and give union members outsized and unearned benefits with payscales higher than anyone's in the private sector. Then, when Democrats follow through with their union payoffs, unions give even more to the politicians for even more favors. It is a never-ending circle of favors and payoffs to each other in an incestuous system of which the voters have no influence.
As Pew said, "Far too many states are not responsibly managing the bill for their employees' retirement." That is an understatement.
Jeff Dunetz said it well drilling the argument down to Wisconsin: "Unions have been claiming that Wisconsin was trying to break the unions. What this pension data shows is that it is the Unions who will be breaking the states." His point works in every state.
This is a destructive, anti-American cycle that needs to be stopped. Remember, government unions never existed until about 1958. So they have not always been around. In fact, even the left's patron saint, FDR, was wholly against government unions.
Government unions have been a destructive and failed experiment. They need now to be eliminated.
Government unions cost taxpayers incrimental amounts compared to the tax subsidies and credits Republicans have been handing over to the oil companies year in and year out-to the tune of 4 billion per year.
As recently as March, House Republicans- while simultaneously pleading poverty and fighting for crippling budget cuts elsewhere-voting unanimously against repealing these oil subsidies, at a total cost to taxpayers of 45 billion per every 10 years.
Talk about payoffs and big business.
Did you not get the memo? There is no room for such facts...or examples of blantant hypocrisy in this discussion. Now if you would like to offer up some emotionally loaded innuendos-then you may join the discussion.
Nice Stacey King reference 83. Just wanted to give Cheif Justice Pubius some hot sauce.
BP announced Wednesday a first-quarter profit of 7.1 billion, a 16% increase from last year. ConocoPhilips reported a 44% increase, to 3 billion. Exxon and Chevron just announced 15 billion in first quarter earnings, also an increase of more than 40%.
In all, the five largest oil companies have reaped nearly 1 trillion in profits in the past 10 years and these numbers are expected to only increase in the future.


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Independent News and Politics
Booker opens lead against McGrath
25. June 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
We're still about 5 or 6 days from having the full results for this Kentucky Senate Primary race, but it looks like things are a lot closer than anyone had expected.
Despite being hailed as an early favorite of the Democratic party, Amy McGrath has consistently struggled with the very voters that the focus groups say she's supposed to bring in.
Polling consistently showed McGrath with a significant lead in Kentucky's Senate Primary race, but the trend reversed suddenly as protests and riots rocked the nation. Quite contrary to the expected backlash that moderates feared, this outbreak of protests has seemingly pushed the electorate toward the left. Self-identified centrists suddenly saw the winds shifting to the left, and they've come along for the ride.
Will Booker prevail? Again, it is too early to know for certain. He appears to be absolutely dominating among in-person voters in Lexington and Louisville, but there was also a huge surge of mail and absentee voting that has yet to be counted. Since Booker's surge has been so recent, it's quite possible that many of these mailed in votes were submitted before the protests shifted public opinion.
I woke up with hope. I woke up inspired. I woke up humbled to just be a part of this moment. I woke up ready.
I hope you feel it too. I hope you are fired up to fight like never before.
I love you, and I'm proud to be by your side. Let's do this.
— Charles Booker (@Booker4KY) June 24, 2020
Only a movement can beat Mitch McConnell.
We are the people he has ignored for decades. Black, Brown, and White Kentuckians, from the hood to the holler, we are rising up.
We were so invisible to him, he never saw us coming.
VOTE this Tues., June 23rd. https://t.co/xVEB9WABf1 pic.twitter.com/bu5ZEJQUED
Regardless of who wins in the primary, there will still be an uphill battle to unseat McConnell. The moods and winds have shifted though, so this challenge no longer seems impossible.
The week of national police riots
8. June 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
The concept of a police riot is a new one for a lot of people, but we're living through a national one right now.https://t.co/w17a5S0qFv pic.twitter.com/ipuIJSqVi2
— Lee J. Carter (@carterforva) June 1, 2020
While such an event is new for most Americans (especially white ones) it is not a unique concept as it has occurred many times in states and nations that are considered corrupt, less developed, or failed.
Please be warned: The following images and videos are extremely graphic and disturbing. Links are provided here for informational purposes. It is important for Americans to understand what is going on in this country so that we have any hope of fixing it.
There are so many clips like this that are not being shown in the media. #policeriot pic.twitter.com/uCPMCiBrbg
— Joseph Kishore for President 2020 #socialism2020 (@jkishore) May 31, 2020
This is a police riot pic.twitter.com/le7S5XwXD5
— Owen Jones says join a union🌹 (@OwenJones84) June 2, 2020
This is a police riot.
In video after video, police give the American people more reasons to take to the streets and demand change.
We need a wholesale overhaul of policing. pic.twitter.com/xiFC9jHAEb
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) June 5, 2020
People stuck in traffic are witnessing NYPD beat up folks on their way home. pic.twitter.com/AkUGPQQOIf
— Josh Fox BlackLivesMatter (@joshfoxfilm) June 4, 2020
POLICE RIOT UNDERWAY IN PORTLANDhttps://t.co/2laoG37qOi
— cum gutters appreciator alpha male 💎 (@vissersixxx) June 3, 2020
This is Philly around 5:30 today. There is just no defense for this behavior. At all. #BLUEFALL pic.twitter.com/jgeESpvZo3
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) June 5, 2020
Florida Surrenders to Covid-19
Today, June 6th, marked the 4th consecutive day of 1,000 or more positive coronavirus diagnoses in Florida. We're about two weeks from Memorial Day, and that's the turnaround time we should expect from the time of infection to the positive diagnosis.
While we did manage to "bend the curve" we never did stamp the virus out. All of the efforts we put in from March to June merely stabilized the rate of spread. Without those actions, the number of new cases per day would continue to grow until approximately 60 to 70% of the population has been infected.
So why are we declaring victory? The risk today is just as real as it was in March when we tried to bend that curve flatter.
Frankly, the economy (and maybe the fragile American psyche) just can't handle that much effort for someone else's benefit. This impatience and self-centered attitude has been multiplied by incompetent leadership that has not been able to leverage our efforts at a higher level with things like:
Case tracing
Central quarantine
Guidance on masks and behavioral modifications
Individuals have been left on there own, largely, with a few extra bucks to offset whatever challenges they face. There is little to no coordinated effort except the effort to restart the economy – and that's mostly been at the expense of low income workers and people of color who cannot telecommute to their office jobs.
Maybe it's no wonder that people are mostly going to protest now that they're finally going back out.
Boris Johnson and Coronavirus: A story in three acts
5. April 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
United Kingdom Pm, Boris Johnson test positive for coronavirus #CoronaLockdown #staysafe https://t.co/M7uWWhNqpb via @kamlinks_
— Kelvin M. Ashong (@Mawunya_) March 27, 2020
Breaking: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been taken to hospitalhttps://t.co/okkvS1Cf0n
— Edinburgh Evening News (@edinburghpaper) April 5, 2020
File this in the "who could have possibly seen this coming" file.
The queen gave some sort of inspirational speech, but let's just say that the UK's coronavirus response has been about as great as Brexit.
And it's Biden's to lose
11. March 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
Despite a strong start for Bernie Sanders and his revolution, the establishment forces have convincingly coalesced around Joe Biden.
Facing non-viability on the eve of Super Tuesday, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both suddenly ceded their campaigns to endose Joe Biden. Rumors circulated that Obama had nudged some reluctant competitors toward accepting their fate.
Regardless of who called the shots and who pulled the strings, the sudden alignment of such seemingly bitter rivals helped to propel Biden toward a significant lead over both Bloomberg and Bernie. While Sanders managed to hold an edge in California, his margins were ultimately slim, and Joe carried the night in most of the other contests.
Tonight wasn't much different. Bernie seems to have small leads on the west coast, but the prospect of a united Democratic front has won over swing voters and the once-mythical "Never-Trump Republican." These oft-discussed but rarely seen conservatives believe in right wing values like limited government and economic non-intervention, but they draw the line at the crass and brutal methods that a populist like Trump carries them out with. Unsurprisingly, these voters are just fine with Biden while fears of Bernie keep them up late at night.
Biden seems immune to criticisms on policy, competency, or even basic awareness of his surroundings. It has been suggested that we wouldn't see much of him during his administration, while various factions of the old Obama coalition wage a sort of civil war for influence behind the scenes.
Voters seem to hope that he is a figurehead – a blank slate and symbol of, well, decency? Joe might not be the smartest guy in the room, or the hippest, or the most connected, or the coolest… but dangit, he's probably a good guy and he's been through some shit.
That might be exactly where the median voter is right now, so if this race is anybody's, it's Joe Biden's to lose.
Polls show Bernie surging into Nevada
22. February 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
The final state-wide polls for the Nevada primary caucus have shown a huge surge for Bernie: from 25% to 30% in just the last week. Individual polls have shown numbers as high as 35%, but there aren't enough samples to know if these are outliers or indicators of a strong upward trend.
Entrance and exit polls – although notoriously unreliable – are also showing a strong Bernie performance:
ENTRANCE POLL
Sanders 34.8%
Buttigieg 14.9%
Biden 14.5%
Warren 11.7%
Klobuchar 10.5%
Steyer 8.5%
Gabbard 0.5%
— Arjav "#EndCaucuses" Rawal (@ArjavRawal) February 22, 2020
Beyond early guesses at who will win tonight, and with what margins, there are some other interesting data points we can clean from the flurry of polls aimed at primary participants:
From the entrance poll, among the 34% of NV Dem caucus participants who call themselves moderate or conservative:
Sanders 23%
Biden 22%
Buttigieg 20%
Klobuchar 14%
Steyer 10%
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) February 22, 2020
Conservative Democrats have long cited the large number of Democrats who identify as conservative and moderate in their opposition to Bernie (ie: strong liberals do not have a majority).
But what this really shows (and it can also be derived from support for M4A) is that a lot of Democrats who call themselves moderate also favor progressive values and politicians. The reality of 2020 is that moderate Democrats are, for the most part, progressives. Of course, I'm talking about voters & not representatives, because we've still got a bit of a gap there.
New Hampshire Coming Down to Pete vs. Bernie
Based on the current polling averages at 538
While the deadline for candidates to contest results in Iowa still isn't here yet, New Hampshire almost is. Voting will occur on Tuesday – and we're hoping the results will actually be available in a timely fashion.
Iowa is a complete dumpster fire right now, and the failure of the state party echoes the many failures of the national party over the last decade: most notably, the failure to stop Trump's ascent to national political supremacy.
While the party admits that many of the results are faulty or based on flawed mathematics, they also appear to be taking a stance that their count is final and cannot be contested further. The acceptance of formal complaints appears to be a mere formality at this point. If I'm wrong, I'll be pleasantly surprised…
Anyway, these Iowa results seem to have two major winners and one big loser.
The winners are Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, and the loser is Joe Biden. Both Pete and Sanders are seeing significant gains in last-minute New Hampshire polling, while Joe's prior standing has utterly collapsed. Just as many on the left predicted, Biden's campaign relied too heavily on the idea of electability. As soon as he suffered his first defeat, there was no charming personality or popular policy to fall back on.
Pete now has the mantle of electability among centrist Democrats – and he seems to have plenty of allies on non-Fox cable news outlets, as well. He's exactly the kind of candidate that the op-ed pages at the New York Times and Washington Post have been waiting for. Whether or not he has a fan base beyond that demographic is yet to be seen. There haven't been a whole lot of national polls since then, but the distribution of the numbers in NH and SC seem to indicate that Pete's support remains regional (and by regional, I mean that he only does well with white people).
Bernie has also received a modest boost from his strong finish in Iowa. He seems to have picked up some of Biden's prior supporters – people who liked Bernie's ideas but feared he couldn't win elections. Seeing him then defeat their exemplar of electability probably converted at least a few.
Warren's campaign appears to have run out of steam. Some of her tactics have been questionable at best, and it just doesn't seem to be working out for her. In particular, she attempted to approach the debate with a fiery tone but moderate solutions. That's backwards: if your tone implies urgency, then the solutions must be urgent.
Amy Klobuchar appears to have played the act a little better – at least at the debate – as her poll numbers are actually up a little bit despite her poor ranking in Iowa.
New Hampshire is just around the corner, and hopefully in a few days we'll have new insights in to the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Right now it definitely looks like a contest between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, but Pete has big weaknesses once we leave the midwest and rural New England. In the national rankings, Bernie looks increasingly dominant – and his path to nomination seems to be laid out with little to stand in his way.
Bernie declares victory in Iowa
6. February 2020Uncategorizedadmin0 comments
Reporter: "Mayor Pete's been declaring a win for days now—why should people believe your victory speech over his?"
Bernie: "Because I got 6,000 more votes. From where I come, when you get 6,000 more votes that's generally regarded to be the winner."
King.pic.twitter.com/jG6pvaa9zZ
— Samuel D. Finkelstein II (@CANCEL_SAM) February 6, 2020
It's been a wild few days for those of us who are wondering who won Iowa – and we still don't have a final, official count.
While Pete Buttigieg appeared to take an early lead, Bernie continued to surge as more results trickled in.
In the last few hours, results have started coming in from satellite caucuses – eligible Iowa voters who weren't able to participate in the regularly scheduled events. Some of these included Iowans abroad, as well as those who work non-standard shifts. An anecdote from the field helps explain why Bernie did so well with these voters:
For several nights, they canvassed outside the factory from 10 PM to 3 AM, engaging workers in conversation as their shifts ended. The campaign organizers spoke to workers in multiple languages about their lives, their work, and Sanders's platform and campaign.
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/02/bernie-iowa-caucus-immigrant-factory-workers-organizing
Pete Buttigieg also declared an early victory in Iowa – the night of the election, even. He's been riding a big wave of momentum since then, but it turns out he may not have won after all.
So after about two and a half days, the status in Iowa is as follows:
Buttigieg – declared victory with 2% of votes released
Sanders – declared victory with 97% of votes released
Warren – mostly quiet, although she has canceled some ad spend
Biden – mostly in disarray
But who knows? Tom Perez suddenly wants a recount just as soon as it became clear that Bernie would win:
Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) February 6, 2020
All eyes… still on Iowa
Well it's been more than 12 hours since we were supposed to have results from the Iowa Caucus, and it doesn't look like we're much closer to a resolution than we were back then.
After the New York Times reported the first 1-2% of results, everything just paused.
Reports started trickling out about caucus chairs sitting on hold with the state party for up to an hour – just trying to provide results.
Word eventually broke that the software designed to report and share the first and second alignment totals were experiencing some nonspecified issues. Users reported crashing on switching screens or going to sleep mode, and rumors surfaced that the database was down or incorrectly tallying the data.
Buttigieg and Klobuchar seized on the opportunity to declare a victory for themselves, while the Sanders campaign posted their totals for the precincts where they had captains who recorded results. Sander's numbers showed him in first with about 28% of the delegates, and Buttigieg posted very similar data showing him with a similar 28% lead in the districts he had captains at.
Rumors have circulated about Shadow Inc, the publisher of the software that seems to be at the center of this mess. Several campaigns, including Buttigieg and Gillibrand, purchased software services from the firm, as did the Iowa and Nevada state parties. The founder of Shadow Inc also expressed personal enthusiasm for Pete, so his early declaration of victory coupled with operational breakdown and the appearance of impropriety has already turned quite a few campaigns sour.
As of noon, there is no official word from the state party on who won or when results will be available. Last night they were claiming all the data was available and merely needed to be confirmed, and today the latest report from WaPo is that staffers are being dispatched to retrieve the physical paper ballots to confirm the data.
They claim the results will be "as soon as possible" and that their goal is to publish them today, but there's likely to be a lot of further contention about what those results say and whether or not they can be trusted.
Biden calls it an early night, pundits spike the story
Biden campaign going to bed early https://t.co/sYnebaItAG
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 4, 2020
Widespread reports of Joe Biden barely/not viable in types of precincts he should be to have any type of chance. Having a hard time seeing him in top three…long way to go.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 4, 2020
Biden appears to be performing well below expectations while Sanders and Warren carry the night. Pete has had a few good turnouts, but the overall picture still looks a little bleak for his campaign right now.
Sanders also seems to have a strong presence, but it might not be quite what he needed to achieve solid front-runner status. The real question will be how much of Biden's support was fair-weather fans who assumed he could coast to victory, or how many of them will flip over to Warren.
If the next state or two proceed in a similar fashion, we could very quickly be faced with a Bernie vs. Warren matchup that might resurface some unpleasant comparisons to 2016.
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Made of clarified polypropylene (P/P) resin, this 16 oz tub is more transparent than regular P/P, but it is not crystal clear. The clarified P/P offers a wide range of product compatibility and a good moisture barrier.
This black linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) tub lid has a stack ring feature to facilitate display in a retail environment. It has a 410 nominal diameter making it easy to match to a tub with the same nominal diameter. See some of our matching tubs in Related Products below.
Along with flexbility, LLDPE resin provides high strength and toughness ensuring good repeated opening and closing of container during consumer use of product.
Line drawing of this lid is available upon request.
This natural linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) tub lid has a stack ring feature to facilitate display in a retail environment. It has a 410 nominal diameter making it easy to match to a tub with the same nominal diameter. See some of our matching tubs in Related Products below.
This white linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) tub lid has a stack ring feature to facilitate display in a retail environment. It has a 410 nominal diameter making it easy to match to a tub with the same nominal diameter. See some of our matching tubs in Related Products below.


This week marked 28 weeks of this pregnancy. HOW?! I'm sort of in disbelief that I blasted past the halfway mark and am already in my third trimester. I'm grateful that the time is flying because that means I'm feeling good for the most part (more below), but also wish I could bottle up this time to keep it from passing so quickly.
According to The Bump, the baby is the size of an eggplant this week. Also, we've officially entered "melon" territory, which is equal parts exciting and terrifying (you know, the whole "did YOU push a watermelon out of something the size of a lemon?" you hear characters played by Kirstie Alley screaming in movies thing).
Large. I am a short woman, there is no denying that. So the fact that people are already guessing that I'm in my 8th month of pregnancy because I look like I'm carrying a bowling ball under my shirt isn't all that surprising (I'm looking at you, guy at Home Depot…). But still, I'm amazed at my stomach's girth every time I pass a store window and catch a profile view of myself.
Grateful. Donnie and I drove up to Chicago last weekend for a baby shower at my parents' house. It was so good to see family and friends, and nice to have a change of pace and focus on this new addition to our family instead of work/house projects/etc. I'm so thankful to those who came to celebrate with us, and a few who couldn't make it but sent us sweet gifts.
I'm also very grateful that my mother ordered a chocolate on chocolate cake for the shower. She knows me well and I did my part to make sure there wasn't much left over.
Achey. Speaking of our drive to and from Chicago, I developed a new ache/pain in the car. When people warn you that long car rides are terrible when you're pregnant, my mind always goes to bladder capacity (or rather, a baby forcefully headbutting you in the bladder, making you feel like you're going to wet your pants at random intervals). And while that is certainly an issue with which to contend, I didn't anticipate the pain and discomfort.
Granted, I was pretty cocky going into this road trip since we had made the 7 hour drive to and from Florida a few weeks prior without incident. Man, did those couple of weeks make a difference. This time I found myself with a weird, very specific pain in one area of my mid-back that wouldn't go away no matter how I tried to adjust my position. Getting out of the car and walking around was the only thing that helped (also necessary because of the aforementioned bladder punching going on).
Luckily, we made it home in one piece and now I'm quite ready to stay put until after this baby makes his or her entrance.
Recharged. As mentioned above, Donnie and I snuck away for a long weekend for a little "babymoon" a few weeks back. We stayed in Rosemary Beach, Florida, which is one of the towns along 30A on the panhandle.
It was perfect. We relaxed on the beach, hung out in the ocean, took our time wandering around town and ate plenty of leisurely meals (I hear I'll miss those once the baby is here). We also both got sunburned because we're big dummies, but otherwise it was the perfect final vacation pre-baby.
Interestingly, I thought I'd be sort of sad that it was our last vacation just the two of us, but we found ourselves saying "next time we come here with the baby we can do ___!". Vacations won't be the same anymore, but I'm so pumped for this next chapter.
**As a note, I've heard that Rosemary Beach fared pretty well during Hurricane Michael last week. My heart is absolutely aching for those towns and their residents who weren't so lucky, and am praying for them to get all the help they need to rebuild quickly.
Nesting. Honestly, I thought I'd be one of those women that never got the urge to nest. In my mind, I'd be 40 weeks pregnant, frantically pacing around Target trying to find last minute baby stuff (which will probably still happen, let's be honest) but I'm actually feeling pretty good about what's left to be done. We've purchased (or been gifted with) many of the "big" items and have a plan for the rest – not bad!
All in all, I'm going into this third trimester feeling good and, as always, very very thankful. 12 more weeks (give or take) to go!
I'm back with another line up of weeknight-friendly dinners! Last week was my birthday week, so we went out to eat that night, which was quite special (more below).
Besides that evening, I tried to keep our meals on the interesting but still super easy side. I also try to vary the cuisine – so if we have "Italian" one night, maybe we'll have something "Asian" the next. My use of quotes is entirely necessary there as I don't claim any of my meals to be particularly authentic (ain't nobody got time for ingredients that you'll only use once every three months, right?).
In terms of actually planning our meals in advance, I don't put too much time into it. We do our big grocery store haul on Sunday mornings and I usually write up our meal plan on Mondays – how's that for planning ahead? Ha! In truth, I like the flexibility of being able to shop for what looks good and planning meals around that. I'm actually doing OK with not wasting food with this approach, so hey – if it works, right?
Donnie isn't the biggest fan of shrimp in general, but he told me the first time I made this dish that he really liked it, so I think that's saying something. Also, there's bacon in it.
I just fried up a few slices of bacon, then quickly cooked the shrimp in its grease (always use your bacon grease, friends) with garlic. Then removed the shrimp, sauteed a ton of veggies (zucchini, bell pepper, onion, mushrooms) with a white rice/cauliflower rice combo, then mixed it all together.
Grilled chicken with cheese and avocado, and Trader Joe's kale and broccoli slaw kit.
A very simple meal of grilled chicken, on which I melted a slice of grassfed cheddar and topped with avocado. This kale and broccoli slaw kit is one of our favorite prepared salads at TJ's – if you like broccoli salad, I think you'll like this slaw.
My birthday! Donnie took me out to a restaurant in our neighborhood that we've been meaning to try, Urban Grub. The weather was miraculously mild (not the 90°+ and humid that we've been having all month) so we sat on their gorgeous patio and it was perfect.
I had an elderflower/strawberry mocktail, and we split the lobster flatbread. I decided to go whole hog on the lobster and had the lobster cannelloni for my entree. They also gave us a basket of popovers and the best mini biscuits (have I mentioned that I love the South?) and our server gave me a biscuit with a candle so I'd have something to blow out for my birthday. Followed by chocolate cake at home, consumed after we had changed into PJ's. Perfect birthday for a pregnant lady who has lost the ability to stay up past 9:30pm.
I used leftover grilled chicken for this, which I added to a bowl with fajita veggies (peppers, onions, and zucchini sauteed with chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, s+p), my favorite queso, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, and avocado, on top of quinoa. The quinoa is under there somewhere, I promise.
The usual. You know the drill.
We ordered burgers from a great grass-fed beef burger joint in town, Farm Burger.
Apparently I couldn't control my hunger by the time our food arrived so I have no photo evidence of this meal, but I ate a cheeseburger with jalapenos and a side of fries. It was real good, I can tell you that much.
This was an awesome shortcut meal. The chicken was pre-marinated from Trader Joe's (it's a new item, so I highly recommend you go out and buy some so they continue stocking it!), and the cauliflower tabbouleh is in their prepared salads section. I made a simple tzatziki with Greek yogurt, cucumber and spices and a quick cucumber salad with peppers seasoned with oil/vinegar.
This took no time, very little prep, and was SO good.
And that's a wrap on last week!
Anything good on your plate lately?


text:
Top news stories for 2021 in Vandalia and Butler Twp.
ExploreFull story: Vandalia names new city manager
Three officers recognized for heroism
Vandalia Police Sgt. Douglas Nagel, Officer Phillip Shafer and Officer Kristen Thomas were nominated by Fire Chief Chad Follick for their roles in responding to the Jan. 9 apartment fire on West Van Lake Drive. Police officers were the first to arrive that night.
Nagel received the Medal of Valor, which is bestowed upon an officer who, in a stressful situation, takes exceptional action despite great personal risk to save the life of another. Shafer and Thomas received the Distinguished Service Medal, which is given to officers who, in a stressful situation, exercise good judgment or go beyond the call of duty to save the life of another.
ExploreFull story: Vandalia police recognized for heroism at fire
Butler Twp. to give Miller Lane a facelift
Known for its host of restaurants, hotels, stores and service providers, the Miller Lane business is set for rebranding and infrastructure improvement meant to enhance the area's image, appeal and accessibility, according to Butler Twp. officials.
The project, with construction tentatively set to begin in 2023, will incorporate numerous changes to the area — interchange improvements, entryway signage, landscaped medians, a continuous right turn lane from Benchwood Road to head north on Miller Lane, a roundabout at Miller Lane and Maxton Road, additional lighting and street trees along the corridor, plus curb, gutter and sidewalk additions.
ExploreFull story: Miller Lane to get new name, updated look
DeWine presents $2.4M grant
In October, Gov. Mike DeWine stopped in Vandalia to present a $2.4 million grant for a sanitary sewer improvement project. The city of Vandalia jointly owns and operates the Tri-Cities North Regional Wastewater Authority with Huber Heights and Tipp City.
Rich Hopkins, Vandalia's communication director, said the plant uses 30-inch sewer lines to bring wastewater from Vandalia and Tipp City to the treatment plant located near Huber Heights. One of the lines that runs through the Five Rivers MetroPark at the Taylorsville Dam has collapsed and is in need of repair.
ExploreVandalia gets over $2 million for sewer improvements
City plans park upgrades with ARPA funds
The 2022 city of Vandalia budget, approved by council in December, includes over $1.5 million in federal funds, a large portion of which will be directed toward parks and recreation.
City Manager Dan Wendt said $675,000 of those American Rescue Plan Act funds will go toward improvements of playgrounds and other equipment in Robinette Park, Helke Park, and at the Sports Complex. Around $75,000 will go toward a new restroom facility at Art Park.
Other ARPA funding will be used for benches, trash cans and enclosure improvements at bus stops, as well as a $20,000 air purification system at the Senior Center. About $240,475 will be used for various paving and utilities projects.
A total of $76,000 will go toward a project to provide touchless doorways, fountains, sinks, and toilets at the Justice Center and Rec Center. Another $10,000 will be used for personal protective equipment for the police and fire departments.
ExploreFull story: City plans uses for federal ARPA funds
Butler Twp. gets two new trustees
Bryson Jackson and Mike Thein were elected in November to the two township trustee positions that were up for grabs.
Following the November election, a recount was held due to the difference in votes between Thein and incumbent candidate Ken Betz being less than one half of one percent. Thein ended up with 675 votes, defeating Betz, who had 670.
Bryson Jackson was voted to the board with 909 votes. Trustee Mike Lang did not run for re-election.
ExploreIncumbent trustee ousted in tight race
Filed Under: CLEAN AIR


text:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Uses of Class com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note.NoteResource (Communote 3.5 API)</title>
<meta name="date" content="2019-02-02">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../../../../../../../stylesheet.css" title="Style">

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com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note.NoteResource

Packages that use NoteResource

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Description

com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note

com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.servlet

Uses of NoteResource in com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note

Methods in com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note that return NoteResource

Modifier and Type
Method and Description

static NoteResource
NoteBuildHelper.buildNoteResource(NoteData note)

Create a resource object for a userListItem to send back only the values specified by the
 webservice definition

Methods in com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.resource.note with parameters of type NoteResource

Modifier and Type
Method and Description

static void
NoteResourceHelper.buildNoteResourceAttachments(NoteData note,
                            NoteResource newNoteResource)

Build the attachment part of the note

static void
NoteResourceHelper.buildNoteResourceNotifications(NoteData note,
                              NoteResource newNoteResource)

Build the notification part of the note

Uses of NoteResource in com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.servlet

Methods in com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v30.servlet that return NoteResource

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static NoteResource[]
RequestListParser.getArrayNoteResource(List<String> strList)

Parses a NoteResource list to a NoteResource array.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Police arrest 18 members of a pedophile ring accused of targeting teenage girls on Facebook and Instagram
Perth, Australia: Authorities have busted a pedophile ring, which is accused of targeting over 100 young girls on social media.
They are accused of attempting to groom around 140 teen girls, some of them as young as 13, through web pages such as Instagram and Facebook.
It was uncovered thanks to months of investigation from detectives who are part of a task force called Operation Timing Belt.
Image credit: WA Police
18 men were charged with 214 offenses and 23 of their victims were reportedly subjected to sexual abuse.
Four of the arrested predators have a criminal history involving child sex offenses.
The charges include 79 sex crimes as well as a number of drug, animal cruelty, and trespass allegations.
According to acting Detective Senior Sergeant Matt Daly, the predators contacted the girls with the aim to "ultimately engage in sexual contact with them".
"The majority of offences are non-physical communication via popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and via mobile phones," he said.
Assistant Commissioner Brad Royce said the capturing of these pedophiles should be viewed as a warning for parents as well as for criminals.
"These are adult men, for the most part, that aren't much older (than the girls)," he said.
"But they're old enough to know better."
Authorities are of the mind that some of the members work together to groom children.
"The grooming is usually planned, careful and it takes some time," Mr. Royce said.
Operation Timing Belt's investigation is still ongoing.
See the moment police bust the predator ring in the video below.
<iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0″ width="698″ height="573″ scrolling="no" id="molvideoplayer" title="MailOnline Embed Player" src="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/2239602.html"></iframe>
Source: news.co.au
Husband, 88 and wife, 81, celebrate 60 years of marriage with a special photo shoot in their original wedding attire
Trump defended Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old supporter of his charged with double homicide in Kenosha
Switzerland considers JAILING those who heat rooms above 19C
Bridge Falls Apart While Being Declared Operational In The DR Congo
Teacher who refused to use gender-neutral pronouns JAILED For Breaking Court Order…
She moved to the US with big dreams and met a boyfriend on Craigslist. Then she…
Lengthening A Woman's Fertility May Also Extend Her Life, Research Has Found
'Please Keep Praying For Me As I Continue To Get Better': Injured Little…


If you're the type who only likes thin crust pizza, then the Charcoal Chicken flatbread pizza at Tipsy Gypsy the pick for you. Though the pizza does not look that big in size, it is definitely quite filling. It comes loaded with juicy chunks of barbequed chicken, cheese, and caramelised onions, all packed on top of a crunchy flatbread crust. They also have vegetarian options to choose from such as paneer and cheese pizzas. Once you try the flatbread pizza at Tipsy Gypsy, you will surely come back for more.


Lesley Fowkes was the first customer outside my circle of friends to buy one of my ukuleles and since then she has become a real friend and we have spent happy times together at ukulele festivals and enjoyed visits to each other's homes.
Lesley has recently been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND/ALS). The Motor Neurone Disease Association have been very helpful to Lesley and despite her condition she is as always full of zest and has started her own 'Fight Back' fund where the proceeds go to the MNDA. After speaking to Lesley I decided to build and auction a ukulele where the proceeds could be paid directly into her charity fund.
The auction is for a D J Morgan Ukuleles handmade Hawaiian Koa Soprano Ukulele and will run until 8pm GMT Sunday 26th August.
Body: Hawaiian Koa with African Walnut inlayed sound hole ring and curved back.
Neck: Spanish Cedar with a book matched Koa peg-head facing to the front and back.
Fretboard: Mgurure (Leadwood) with abalone fret inlays, white ABS side dots and corian nut.
Bridge: Mgurure with a corian saddle.
Tuners: Der Jung sprung friction.
I have set a low reserve price of £350 GBP and I will cover the postage costs. The winning bidder will be notified as soon as possible and I will then give them the details of the charity fund where to make the payment. All bids need to be emailed to dave@djmorganukuleles.co.uk. This is so I can easily keep track of the bids and should more than one person bid the same amount I can see who was first. On receiving a bid I will return an email of acknowledgement.
All the woods used on this Koa Soprano are CITES restriction free, so bidders from outside the UK are welcome. I will also cover international postage costs. If you are bidding from outside the UK please make your bid in £GBP.
Update: The ukulele raised over £500 for Lesley's MNDA Fightback fund.


text:
New York motor vehicle accident deaths increased in 2015
On Behalf of Michael J. Gaffney, Attorney at Law | Feb 12, 2016 | Car Accidents
It seems that more and more New Yorkers know someone who has died in a car accident. There may be a reason for this. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car accident fatalities rose in 2015. Traffic deaths went up 9.3 percent during the first nine months of 2015, compared to the first nine months of 2014.
The total number of traffic fatalities in 2015 comes to about 26,000, with a fatality rate of 1.1 deaths per 100 million U.S. miles traveled. Compared to recent years, these numbers are much too high. In 2014, the fatality rate was 1.05 deaths per 100 million miles.
While the U.S. Transportation Department does not know exactly what caused the rise at this time, the lower gas prices and the resulting increase in motorists hitting the roads could have played a role. Traffic was 3.5 percent higher during the first nine months of 2015 than the same time period in 2014.
Surprisingly though, statistics show that the increasing rate of roadway fatalities is much greater than the growth in number of vehicles on the road. And, the worst part about this increase in fatalities is that many of them could have been prevented. The NHTSA found that 94 percent of motor vehicle accidents are caused by human error.
The good news is that making behavioral changes can prevent these accidents in the future. An NHTSA Administrator announced that the NHTSA will be implementing new initiatives that deal with drunk driving, failure to wear seat belts and other issues commonly related to road fatalities.
Source: Business Insider, "U.S. traffic deaths increase sharply in 2015," David Shepardson, Feb. 5, 2016


Hi, last time I had accented characters (e.g. ű, í, ő, etc.) but now I miss them. I press "Ű", it types "Q". Why? Thanks.
I'll be glad to help, but have a few questions.
1. You mentioned "last time I had accented characters", do you mean in a previous version of AudioLabel?
2. Which Windows operating system are you using?
3. What language and keyboard have you configured Windows to use?
4. Does this problem happen with all selected fonts, or just one font?
Thanks for your answer. I have used the trial version before, and I purchased the full version (v.6). Now I miss the accented characters. I use Windows 7. I use Hungarian languague and keyboard without any problem with the trial version. This problem occurs with all the accented characters as if I used a non-Hungarian keyboard (instead of them it types other caharacters like arrow, square, etc.) It does not mind which font I use.
I think this problem has been fixed with AudioLabel Version 6.0 (Build 5).
Please download and install the new version (using your full version download link) and let us know if this fixes the problem.
Thank you very much for your help. I have downloaded the newest version (build 5) and it works. I have again accented characters. A few days before I tried to upgrade but it was said the software was up-to-date. Thanks!


The Chargers and Texans drastically improved their playoff chances after big wins in Week 7, according to AccuScore's latest odds simulations.
Updated playoff chances are below. WEEK 9 NFL PICKS: Against the spread | Straight up. NFL playoff odds . Biggest improvements in playoff chances : Washington Redskins . +8 percent. Biggest drops in playoff chances : Green Bay Packers .
Updated playoff chances for each team are below. If the playoffs were to start today, Kansas City, New England, Pittsburgh, Houston, the LA Chargers AccuScore has used data from the first eight weeks of the 2018 season and simulated every remaining game. Updated playoff chances are below.
With the NFL past the halfway point in the season, the playoff odds heading into Week 10 are starting to paint a clearer picture between contenders and those who may be better off setting their sights on 2019.
The Texans and Falcons continued their surge with Week 9 victories. That success is reflected in their updated playoff odds, as those teams have seen the two biggest improvements of the week. On the other hand, the Redskins and Packers suffered the steepest drops after losses in Week 9. Their odds decreased by 21 and 17 percent, respectively. Eight teams now have less than a one percent chance of making the playoffs.
The Packers are set to get wide receiver Randall Cobb back Sunday in a key NFC matchup against the Rams. Cobb, who has played just three games this season due to a hamstring injury, will return to the lineup to try and help the Packers give Los Angeles its first loss of the season. [email protected] ready for #GBvsLAR #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/Id6Jrs2xRD MORE: Packers WRs Randall Cobb, Geronimo Allison should be ready vs. Rams, Mike McCarthy says — Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 28, 2018 pic.twitter.com/Id6Jrs2xRD MORE: Packers WRs Randall Cobb, Geronimo Allison should be ready vs.
AccuScore has used data from the previous weeks to simulate each remaining NFL game. Updated playoff chances are below.
NFL Thanksgiving game picks straight up: Cowboys handle Redskins in Dallas.
In our NFL Thanksgiving game picks and predictions, Dallas takes control of the NFC East with a win over Washington. Plus, Chicago beats up on Detroit, and New Orleans outscores Atlanta.
NFL Playoffs Odds : Eagles, Packers Favored to Miss Playoffs in Latest Lines. With Week 9 on us, that means we're strictly in a second half of a NFL season, that means it's time to do one of a favorite things here NFL Playoff Projections: Redskins win NFC East; Eagles, Vikings and Packers left out.
NFL Odds - Live NFL Betting Lines. NFL odds do not stop at the point spread and OVER/UNDER. Check out the lines and bookmark for more updates and football lines enhancements in the coming weeks and months.
NFL Playoff Picture: Looking ahead after Week 9 . Time flies when players are kneeling and the president is tweeting and owners are meeting and ratings are dropping and, in between it all, you somehow play nine weeks of games that have built exceptional playoff drama for the next two months.
NFL Playoff Picture: Updated seeds after Week 15. 287dKevin Seifert. But after next week , both the Bills and Ravens will have enough common games (minimum of four required) to shift They could clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs as early as Week 16 with a win or a Vikings loss .
FiveThirtyEight's 2017 NFL forecast uses an Elo-based model to calculate each team's chances of advancing to the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. 2017 NFL Predictions. For the regular season and playoffs , updated after every game.


text:
package uk.gov.gds.router.controller

import org.scalatra.ScalatraFilter
import javax.servlet.http.Cookie
import scala.collection.JavaConversions._

class MainTestHarnessController extends ScalatraFilter {

  before() {
    response.setContentType("text/html")
  }

  get("/test/test-harness") {
    output(dumpParams)
  }

  get("/someprefix/unregistered") {
    output("unregistered")
  }

  get("/someprefix") {
    output("prefix route")
  }

  get("/test/test-harness/") {
    output(dumpParams)
  }

  post("/test/test-harness") {
    output(dumpParams)
  }

  get("/a-prefix-route/foo") {
    output("foo!")
  }

  get("/a-prefix-route/foo/bar") {
    output("bar!")
  }

  get("/foo") {
    output("fooOnly")
  }

  get("/foo/*") {
    output("fooOnly")
  }

  get("/test/timeout") {
    try {
      Thread.sleep(20000)
    }
    catch {
      case e: InterruptedException => // no-op
    }
  }

  get("/football") {
    output("football")
  }

  get("/test/redirect") {
    redirect("http://www.alphagov.co.uk")
  }

  post("/test/redirect") {
    redirect("http://www.alphagov.co.uk")
  }

  get("/test/this-route-returns-an-error") {
    halt(500)
  }

  get("/test/410") {
    halt(410)
  }

  get("/test/incoming-headers") {
    output(dumpHeaders)
  }

  get("/test/incoming-cookies") {
    output(dumpCookies)
  }

  get("/test/set-header") {
    response.addHeader("X-Test", "test")
  }

  get("/test/set-rack-cache-header") {
    response.addHeader("X-Rack-Cache", "test")
  }

  get("/test/outgoing-cookies") {
    response.addCookie(new Cookie("test-cookie", "this is a cookie"))
  }

  get("/test/not-modified") {
    halt(304)
  }

  post("/test/not-modified") {
    halt(304)
  }

  get("/test/runtime-exception") {
    throw new RuntimeException("exception")
  }

  get("/test/exception") {
    throw new Exception("exception")
  }

  get("/punchhole/prefix/route") {
    output("prefix route")
  }

  get("/punchhole/full/route") {
    output("full route")
  }

  private def output(block: => String) =
    <html>
      <head>
        <title>Test harness</title>
      </head>
      <body>
        {block}
      </body>
    </html>

  private def dumpHeaders = request.getHeaderNames().toSeq.map {
    case headerName: String =>
      headerName + "=" + request.getHeader(headerName)
  }.mkString("\n")

  private def dumpCookies = request.multiCookies.map {
    case (name, values) => values.map(name + "=" + _)
  }.flatten.mkString("\n")

  private def dumpParams = multiParams.map {
    case (paramName, values) => values.map(paramName + "=" + _)
  }.flatten.mkString("\n")
}


text:
You are here: Home / Mint Mocha Musings / KungFu But No Panda: Welcome to Third Tier China
KungFu But No Panda: Welcome to Third Tier China
It was an extra long weekend in China; the centuries old Dragon Boat Festival was in action.
With barely a patch of water to be found up here in Xi'an, it does seem a little off the wall — still we'll take it, thanks! Happy Holidays!
Mind you, nothing's for free. The government likes to make you work Sunday in return for giving you a day off!
"You get what you get….and you don't get upset!" As I can be heard reciting to the Small Person on one too many occasions.
So, with a few days up our sleeves, we decide to go on an adventure.
My head is always in two places about these kind of "China adventures"…
As much as I know I 'clearly' thrive on risky, unexpected experiences — they are also completely exhausting (mentally more often than physically)!
Who am I kidding, just living in China is mentally exhausting. 😯
Psyched for action, with a loose itinerary marked out, we hot-foot it to the train station to catch one of China's high speed bullet trains! These babies are what's not exhausting about China. Bloody brilliant really. No checking in, no customs, no long, drawn out x-ray machines, (times ten), no waiting for bags at the end…. it's one x-ray machine — the one-in-all-in, throw your bag through kind, where you desperately hope the contents of your handbag aren't splayed across the floor on the other side!
Line up at the correct train entrance and you're off without so much as a jolt, despite flying through the countryside at 300-plus kilometres per hour. It's smooth and comfortable. It takes us one and a half hours to reach Luoyang.
Having briefly done my research, I've discovered that Luoyang is in central China's Henan Province; it's one of China's smaller cities with a population of around, oh… 6.5 million! Small, really.
I know how Xi'an likes to boast it's the "cradle of civilisation" so when I read Luoyang also wears this crown I'm surprisingly a little on the defensive….."Can't be so! This is Xi'an's territory!" But it seems with such a vast history stretching back thousands of years, there are many cities in China that can lay claim to such rich titles.
A tier three city, initially, driving through it was almost disappointing. I had been hoping for a more remote, village-type atmosphere… but this is China, where urbanisation is snaking it's way across the country in the form of 600-plus concrete jungles, at a rapid pace. The real rural parts of China are retreating further and further back into the hills.
And while admittedly, I've been one to harp on, that every city in China is glaringly unique, there's a definite mirror image shining on many of these newish, urbanised China city-scapes. There's concrete…lots of it, high-rises, rows and rows of them (many empty)….cranes careening across the sky and a maze of highways, thronging with cars in every shade and shape. Most of them new(ish) by the way….given in these cities, cars are a relatively 'new' fad. Ten to 15 years ago, the roads were all but empty of the 4-wheel variety.
Despite the definite modernisation taking place, there are as many, if not more bikes, trikes and Tuk Tuks chugging through the streets than Xi'an….along with an endearing ramshackle feel, I like to call the "real" China.
At first sight, the city has less character, charm and possibly less sophistication than it's 2nd-tier neighbour, Xi'an….but it doesn't matter so much, because the city is not what tourists come to see. Unless, like our hotel guest relations manager proudly tells us, her chest puffed out, "You come for the Peonies!" Apparently, Louyang has them in spades…. only in April though, so if this is your thing, you need to plan accordingly.
Mostly though, it's the famous Shaolin Temple and the Longmen Grottoes that claim many a traveller's time. Naturally they made it on to our itinerary, but unlike us, I would advise reading up on the two well before you get to the actual site and frantically try to Google their claim to fame.
An hour and a half drive from Luoyang to the Shaolin Temple, it's by no means a quick trip.
To this day it's the main temple for the Shaolin school of Buddhism and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On arrival, as if on cue, we spot a rare monk, his long orange cloak flowing behind him as he walks purposely along the pathway, mountains in the distance, temples standing tall in the background. It's a mystical moment.
These days, the site has become rather commercialised, so while it's still a monastery, I'm told, finding monks that aren't perched behind stalls selling trinkets or cold drinks is difficult.
Despite the hoards of tourists now flocking to the sight though, high up in the Song Shan Mountains, the surroundings feel quite peaceful and enchanting.
Getting around is less mystical and slightly more mystifying – if you don't speak/read Chinese.
We waste many a moment in the blazing hot sun looking at maps, perplexed and pained! You see the area is not just limited to a single temple…it's spans a huge area (that you cannot get around quickly, especially with small person in tow) with everything from the Pagoda Forests to caves, kung fu displays and cable car rides.
After eventually working out where the ticket office is and deciding we need to hop on a buggy to get "somewhere," our first stop is unintentionally the Shaolin Temple. Built in 495AD it consists of seven platforms, each layer with what they call 'halls' in typical Chinese architecture. During its heyday, it housed more than 3,000 monks and today the monastery is still home to monks in training.
And then there's these scary fellas, who guard the Hall of Heavenly Kings. They're Buddhist warrior attendants.
And while my ego is utterly deflated when my attempts to speak Chinese fall completely flat, there are plenty of options to practice. Every few steps, a proud parent is shuffling little 'Wang Xiao' or 'Zheng Cai' into our personal space for some chit chat, hand holding and a photo. I decide talking to the kids is much easier.
Our next stop, the Pagoda Forest… we have a little trouble finding our way here too — neither the hotelier or I are good with directions at the best of times, let alone when they're in another language. (About now I'm strongly lamenting the fact that we don't have a tour guide!)
Anyway, I have another go in Chinese and to my relief am understood. We make it to the forest, which is actually a cemetery made up of tall stone pagodas. Each Buddha was given his own Pagoda tomb – around 15 metres high; the layers and the shape depending on their status, attainment and prestige achieved during their lifetime. I'm trying to be impressed, but given my current status living opposite the pagoda of all pagodas, I'm struggling a little to appreciate their significance. Blame the heat!
Admittedly, the forest looks a lot more awe-inspiring from above!
Feeling hot, thirsty and more than a little tired from so much foot work, in a heat-induced state of delirium, we find ourselves agreeing to take the cable car up the side of the mountain! Now in any country in the West, I would be a little timid about jumping on one of these at the best of times, but in China, when I know all too well how things are made, I'm aware I may have momentarily lost my mind. As we wait to get on….it's literally a case of leaping into the steel-framed, open, rather rattly cable car, hoping for the best. Up we go, tugged up the mountain side. Doing my best not to be overtaken by sheer terror, I try to appreciate the serenity.
Ok, it is tranquil.
Not so much on the other side…. a rare (in every way) platform overlooking the stunning mountains made for the perfect photo opportunity, except for the pesky man who keeps trying to tell us we can't take our own photos. Instead he's encouraging us to stand with a number of odd pieces, including a stuffed tiger with it's teeth falling out and a double swing with live peacocks either side! That'll be ten kuai thanks. It's about now I think we just need to get off this, er ride….
An ice cream to quench our parched bodies and ease the heart palpitations, we jump back on the cable car for an ever so slightly less terrifying ride down. Everyone on the way up is cheerily yelling out "Hello" to the Waiguo ren as they pass us…a site no doubt…as rare as the peacocks to some, so we reciprocate with a bit of cheerful "Nihao" and I manage to relax enough for a selfie.
Back down and we end up back where we started. We've missed the Kung fu show but are lucky to spy about 200 boys practicing Kung fu. We sneak in (as inconspicuously as the three foreigners can) and watch for a good ten minutes. It's mesmerising and indicative of the discipline China's children possess.
On the way to and from Luoyang city, we pass through the villages I've been keen to see… it's nearing dusk and kids are out playing amongst the rubble, parents are winding up their stalls for the day, sweeping away mounds of rubbish; elderly members of the community are sitting on plastic chairs just content to watch the traffic roll by.
Rested and recharged, the next day, we gear up for a trip to the renowned Longmen Grottoes. It's a 45 minute drive from the cities (but just FYI from the train station, just ten minutes)….
Again, our newly inherited travelling complacency doesn't bode well in 35 degree heat, but after getting some Chinese out with 'slightly' more success, we find ourselves walking for at least 30 minutes to reach the grottoes on the other side of the river.
Stretched over a kilometre, there are more than 2000 caves and niches carved into the stone.
These amazing statues of Buddha and his disciples are carved into limestone rock on the side of the cliff and their sheer size and the detail make it impossible to be unimpressed.
Carved over centuries, the style of sculptures change significantly.
Just when it seems like the intensity of the sun will sap the last of our energy, curiosity and another ice block gives us the strength to climb these extremely steep steps!
Tag teaming it up to see what all the fuss is about, at the top, it's definitely worth the effort. (My Fitbit would agree if the battery hadn't died.)
At the end of the spectacle though, it's with much relief that we can take a boat ride back to the start.
Sightseeing almost over for these three Amigos, a 45 minute ride on the high speed rail later and we're in Zhengzhou, our stop for the night – a city of 9 million! A gigantic concrete jungle, Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province. It's one of the nation's major industrial cities and has become known as a rail hub, you can travel virtually anywhere in China from. It's also a huge coal mining area. Hello pollution!
And of course, just to make sure we don't forget we're in China for a second, the ubiquitous rumbling of fireworks can be heard across the morning sky.
So, after an action-packed weekend of adventure — peering at buddhas, grottoes, kung fu and chaotic concrete jungles — it was time to travel at high speed back to Xi'an…our own pocket of madness in the Middle Kingdom, where the adventures just keep on coming.
This is China.
Xi'an to Louyang 174.50RMB
Luoyang to Zhengzhou 101.25RMB
Zhengzhou to Xi'an 239RMB
Children half price
Shaolin Temple 150RMB – shuttle buggy 25RMB
Cable car 50RMB
Longmen Grottoes 100RMB plus shuttle bus, if need to get into the site from the entry point.
Ice-blocks (Around 10RMB) 😉
Travelling to China: Where to Go and What to See!
Filed Under: Asian Adventures, Expat Encounters, Mint Mocha Musings Tagged With: Buddhism, China, Kung Fu, Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang, Monks, Shaolin Temple, Zhengzhou
Kelly Turpin says
So much to do! Great read, cheers!
Cheers Kelly! Thanks for stopping by. Look forward to connecting.
Nicole 🙂
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text:
Lo Junkers Ju 87, detto anche Stuka (in tedesco Sturzkampfflugzeug, letteralmente "aereo da combattimento in picchiata"), è stato un bombardiere in picchiata monomotore con configurazione alare ad ala di gabbiano rovesciata. Pur essendo stato progettato dall'azienda tedesca Junkers nel 1933, lo Stuka restò in produzione per oltre 9 anni, rimanendo per tutta la durata della guerra immutato nella struttura e nella configurazione di base, prova della validità complessiva della macchina. Ne furono costruiti più di 5.700 esemplari in una decina di versioni, che combatterono su tutti i fronti.
Impiegato principalmente dalla Luftwaffe, oltre che dalle forze aeree delle potenze dell'Asse, lo Ju 87 fu uno dei più efficaci bombardieri in picchiata della seconda guerra mondiale, e certamente il velivolo più propagandato di tutto il conflitto. È considerato una pietra miliare nella storia dell'aviazione bellica.

Storia del progetto
La Junkers iniziò la costruzione di 3 prototipi dello Ju 87 nel 1934 e ironicamente, considerati gli eventi futuri, il primo Stuka era equipaggiato con un motore Rolls-Royce Kestrel da 640 hp (477 kW). Il primo prototipo aveva un impennaggio posteriore bideriva, ad angoli retti e forme molto squadrate. Il secondo prototipo aveva un timone ridisegnato e un motore Junkers Jumo 210A da 610 hp (455 kW), e fu subito seguito da un terzo prototipo con ulteriori modifiche che fu sottoposto a prove di valutazione, nel 1936, insieme ad altri tre velivoli concorrenti: l'Arado Ar 81, il Blohm & Voss Ha 137 e l'Heinkel He 118. La Junkers e l'Heinkel ottennero una commessa di dieci aerei ciascuna, mentre gli altri due tipi vennero eliminati.

Il primo gruppo di Ju 87A-0 aveva un motore Jumo 210Ca da 640 hp (477 kW) e modifiche per facilitare la produzione. Il successivo modello Ju 87A-1 iniziò a sostituire il biplano Hs 123 nella primavera del 1937 e tre esemplari furono inviati in Spagna per essere testati in condizioni operative dalla Legione Condor nella guerra civile spagnola. Seguì lo Ju 87A-2, con un motore Jumo 210Da da 680 hp (507 kW) dotato di "superpotenza", ma questo modello restò in produzione e in servizio solo per sei mesi. Il settimo prototipo e la serie di pre-produzione dello Ju 87B-1, che ne derivò, erano largamente modificati, rispetto al disegno originale.

Il nuovo modello, denominato Ju 87B-1, aveva un motore notevolmente più potente, lo Jumo 211Da da 1200 hp (895 kW), e fusoliera e carrello completamente ridisegnati. La coda era stata ingrandita. Di nuovo provato in Spagna, il nuovo modello dimostrò la sua validità e la produzione venne aumentata, per la metà del 1939, a 60 apparecchi al mese. Allo scoppio della seconda guerra mondiale, così, la Luftwaffe aveva in linea 336 Ju87B-1.
La produzione venne completamente effettuata dalla Junkers per un totale di 5.700 esemplari.

Tecnica

Lo Stuka fu il bombardiere tattico di gran lunga più importante messo in campo dalla Luftwaffe. Era immediatamente riconoscibile per il suo carrello fisso e per la celebre ala a "gabbiano invertito" o a "doppia V", con le superfici mobili separate, secondo la tipica configurazione Junkers d'anteguerra.

A seguito di un incidente avvenuto in Spagna, i progettisti decisero di dotare lo Stuka di un meccanismo di richiamo automatico che faceva uscire l'aereo dalla picchiata anche senza l'intervento del pilota. Un'intera formazione di Ju 87, in quell'occasione, aveva infatti effettuato la cabrata troppo tardi dopo il bombardamento e si era schiantata al suolo. Uno dei difetti operativi derivanti da un attacco in picchiata contro un obiettivo terrestre consisteva infatti nella violenta accelerazione verticale verso l'alto (fino e oltre 6 g) subita dal pilota durante la fase di cabrata, che permetteva il disimpegno dell'aereo dopo lo sgancio della bomba. Tale accelerazione provoca un deflusso del sangue dal cervello alle estremità inferiori, quindi il pilota tendeva a svenire (per riduzione della quantità di sangue nel cervello) al culmine dello sforzo, generalmente coincidente con lo sgancio della bomba. I progettisti tedeschi ebbero però il merito di aver pensato anche a questa evenienza realizzando un sistema di richiamo automatico della barra, da attivarsi prima della picchiata, capace di riportare in quota l'aereo dopo l'attacco anche in caso di svenimento del pilota, che aveva tutto il tempo durante la risalita di riprendere i sensi e quindi il comando del velivolo.

Vi era inoltre un dispositivo per il bombardamento in picchiata che includeva una forcella a cui veniva agganciata la bomba che, immediatamente prima dello sgancio veniva allontanata dalla fusoliera.

Su suggerimento del Generaloberst (colonnello generale) Ernst Udet, capo del servizio tecnico della Luftwaffe (ma secondo altri l'idea fu dello stesso Adolf Hitler), sugli Stuka furono montate delle sirene azionate dal flusso dell'aria, chiamate "trombe di Gerico", il cui suono aveva effetti devastanti sul morale dei soldati nemici e della popolazione civile. L'idea fu ripresa da alcune unità dell'aviazione statunitense fino ai tempi della guerra in Corea.

Lo Stuka era amato dai suoi equipaggi per la robustezza e dai soldati della Wehrmacht per la sua grande precisione, essendo capace di centrare con le sue bombe bersagli piccoli come un carro armato o una casamatta.

La differenza fra i bombardieri convenzionali e i bombardieri in picchiata è che mentre i primi sganciano grappoli di bombe su un'area piuttosto vasta navigando in volo orizzontale, i secondi si dirigono verticalmente (in picchiata) verso l'obiettivo da colpire, e giunti vicino ad esso sganciano una sola bomba, ottenendo così una precisione maggiore. L'attacco in picchiata si era già rivelato ideale per colpire bersagli in movimento o di difficile inquadramento, come ponti, postazioni fortificate, carri armati o navi. Questa tecnica è stata molto usata negli scontri aeronavali durante la Seconda guerra mondiale

Sistemi d'arma
L'armamento era composto da 2 mitragliatrici MG 17 da 7,92 mm fisse in caccia e una MG 81Z doppia da 7,92 mm brandeggiabile nell'abitacolo posteriore. Le armi di caduta erano varie combinazioni di bombe da 50, 250 o 500 kg per un totale di 1.800 kg sotto la fusoliera o sotto le ali.

La versione G era dotata di cannoncini controcarro da 37 mm.

Impiego operativo

Luftwaffe

Nel settembre del 1939, per la campagna di Polonia, la Luftwaffe schierò 219 Stuka che ebbero effetti stupefacenti nell'impiego e sul morale. La prima missione in assoluto fu eseguita da tre Ju 87B-1, decollati alle 4.26 del 1º settembre per bombardare gli accessi ai ponti di Dirschau sulla Vistola. L'obiettivo erano i cavi collegati all'esplosivo con il quale i polacchi avevano minato i ponti. Gli Stuka attaccarono undici minuti prima del momento ufficiale del balzo in avanti tedesco e ottennero un completo successo, anche se i polacchi furono poi in grado di riparare i danni e di far saltare uno dei due ponti.

La lugubre sirena che annunciava la picchiata e i brillanti risultati ottenuti anche in Norvegia e durante la campagna di Francia ne fecero un aereo leggendario. Lo Ju 87 era effettivamente la dimostrazione pratica della Blitzkrieg su tre dimensioni, che si rifaceva alle teorie di Amedeo Mecozzi sulla strettissima cooperazione tra l'arma aerea e le forze terrestri. La combinazione di rumore e precisione degli Stuka terrorizzò i difensori francesi. I soldati uscivano barcollando dai pur sicuri rifugi, incapaci di continuare a sopportare le continue onde d'urto. Gli Stuka del Fliegerkorps VIII, in particolare, al comando del generale Wolfram von Richthofen, compirono otto o nove sortite al giorno, impegnando equipaggi e personale di terra al limite delle possibilità ma ottenendo un livello di distruzione che sorprese gli stessi comandi tedeschi. Dato però che i tedeschi non fornivano scorta ai loro bombardieri, se questi venivano sorpresi dalla caccia nemica, le perdite potevano essere molto pesanti. Vicino a Sedan, il 12 maggio 1940, 6 Curtiss Hawk francesi sorpresero una formazione di Ju 87 e ne abbatterono ben undici senza subire perdite.

Ben presto fu chiaro che i successi degli Stuka potevano essere ottenuti solo in condizioni di supremazia aerea quasi assoluta. Nel corso della battaglia d'Inghilterra i reparti da bombardamento in picchiata vissero un momento di crisi profonda, subendo perdite pesantissime. In realtà lo Stuka era un aereo piuttosto vulnerabile, lento e poco manovrabile. Un confronto diretto, senza protezione adeguata, con i veloci caccia della RAF ne faceva una facilissima preda.

Per quanto gli Stuka avessero sofferto pesanti perdite per mano dell'aviazione militare inglese, la Luftwaffe non aveva rimpiazzi immediati e d'altra parte, in condizioni di supremazia aerea, lo Ju 87 rimaneva un'arma ancora valida nel tiro in picchiata, pertanto lo sviluppo della macchina continuò.
Il motore fu potenziato e, probabilmente la modifica più apprezzata dai piloti tedeschi, la corazzatura fu rinforzata. Questo nuovo modello, lo Ju 87D, fu utilizzato in quantità sul fronte orientale e in Nord Africa, dove fu impiegato anche come traino per alianti.

Nel Mediterraneo gli Stuka si rivelarono efficaci contro il naviglio britannico. Lo stesso accadde nel 1941 con la conquista della Jugoslavia e della Grecia (dove si ripeterono le condizioni favorevoli della Polonia), e qualche mese più tardi durante l'invasione dell'Unione Sovietica.

Costantemente aggiornato (nelle varianti D e G, più potenti e variamente equipaggiate) lo Ju 87 rimase sempre un apparecchio valido, ma assolutamente incapace di difendersi adeguatamente dalla caccia avversaria. Era quindi l'arma ideale per una guerra aggressiva, che la Germania combatté fino a tutto il 1942. A partire dal 1943 gli Stuka furono però contrastati con sempre maggiore efficacia dai caccia dell'Armata Rossa, in continua evoluzione, durante le operazioni diurne; fu così sviluppata una versione per l'attacco notturno, ma alla fine, nonostante le perdite, la Luftwaffe fu costretta a far volare lo Ju 87 anche di giorno e introdusse, nel 1942, per il parere vivamente favorevole del colonnello pilota Hans-Ulrich Rudel, la variante G-1, il cui armamento principale consisteva in una coppia di cannoni da 37 millimetri installati in carenature sotto l'ala. Nell'impiego operativo, accentrato in Unione Sovietica e sul fronte orientale, questi Stuka si rivelarono macchine micidiali. Quando i sovietici poterono disporre di un numero sufficiente di caccia per contrastarli, la già scarsa maneggevolezza, ridotta ulteriormente dal peso dei cannoni, rese questi Stuka anticarro estremamente vulnerabili.

Nonostante i suoi limiti, lo Stuka continuò ad essere impiegato sino alla fine della guerra.

Il Pilota di Ferro

Il più celebre pilota di Stuka, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, ottenne grandi successi con questo velivolo, combattendo esclusivamente sul fronte russo; distrusse oltre cinquecento carri armati, danneggiò mettendola fuori uso una corazzata, la Marat, con una bomba da 1000 kg, perse una gamba a seguito delle ferite riportate in un combattimento aereo ma ricominciò a combattere con un arto artificiale. Terminò il conflitto come colonnello consegnandosi agli inglesi con alcuni compagni di stormo per non cadere nelle mani dei sovietici.

Con la Regia Aeronautica

Anche la Regia Aeronautica ebbe per un certo periodo in dotazione gli Stuka. Nei primi mesi del 1939 una commissione della Luftwaffe venne inviata all'Aeroporto di Guidonia per uno scambio di conoscenze e materiale. I piloti collaudatori tedeschi ebbero occasione di provare gli apparecchi italiani e gli italiani poterono provare in volo lo Stuka. In Italia la specialità del bombardamento in picchiata era scarsamente evoluta, per questo motivo il governo italiano inviò una richiesta al Ministero dell'aeronautica tedesco per almeno un centinaio di Ju 87B2, il quale accettò di fornirli in due lotti da 50 apparecchi ciascuno.

I migliori piloti dell'aviazione da caccia furono mandati presso la Stukaschule al campo di Graz, in Austria, per essere addestrati alla difficile "specialità" del bombardamento in picchiata. Nell'estate del 1940 circa cento esemplari di Ju 87B-1 furono assegnati al 96º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo. Soprannominato "Picchiatello", lo Ju 87 equipaggiò in seguito anche altri Gruppi, come il 97º, il 101º e il 102º Gruppo.

I 50 Stuka del secondo lotto erano quasi tutti nella versione Ju 87R2 a grande autonomia, dotata anche di due serbatoi subalari da 300 litri. Questi aerei vennero inoltre ben presto aggiornati alla versione R5 con materiale di sopravvivenza nelle ali ed in cabina.

I "Picchiatelli" furono utilizzati contro Malta e i convogli di navi alleate nel Mediterraneo, in Nord Africa (dove presero parte alla conquista di Tobruk), in Grecia e sui Balcani. Col protrarsi della guerra la Regia Aeronautica ricevette altri esemplari, complessivamente 159 apparecchi tra le versioni B2, R2-5, venendo utilizzati fino al 1942. e, poi nella versione D3 (più qualcuno residuo delle versioni precedenti) anche nel 1943, subendo perdite pesanti durante lo sbarco anglo-americano in Sicilia. Dopo l'8 settembre la maggior parte degli Junkers Ju 87 italiani rimase al Sud e servì con l'aeronautica cobelligerante, anche se non partecipò ad alcuna azione bellica. Molti piloti alleati fecero dei voli di prova sugli aerei italiani, oppure si addestrarono contro di loro in combattimenti simulati.

L'asso italiano

Il pilota italiano più abile e decorato sugli Stuka fu il leggendario Giuseppe Cenni: venne insignito della medaglia d'Oro e 6 d'Argento V.M., Croce di Ferro tedesca di 2ª classe e 2 promozioni per merito di guerra. Iniziò quale pilota da caccia a 21 anni con 8 vittorie nella Guerra civile spagnola e nella 2ª Guerra Mondiale passò alla specialità del Tuffo sugli Stuka. Operò sui fronti: mediterraneo, greco-albanese, jugoslavo, cirenaico sulla munitissima piazza di Tobruch, ancora mediterraneo e nelle difficilissime azioni notturne su Malta. Fu anche l'ideatore dello Skip Bombing o "Picchiata Cenni" con gli Stuka. Nel '43 passò ai Re.2002 e diventò, a 28 anni, il più giovane Comandante di Stormo della Regia Aeronautica, Stormo che verrà a lui intitolato. Fu così inviato prima a contrasto dell'invasione degli Alleati della Sicilia e poi della Calabria. Perderà la vita il 4 settembre 1943 al comando del 5º Stormo: l'armistizio era già stato firmato ma non ancora reso noto. Celebre è il grido "Valzer!" l'invito al "Tuffo" che usava Cenni con i suoi piloti di Stuka.

Il parere di un pilota collaudatore britannico
Il Capt. Eric Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, RN, Chief Naval Test Pilot and C.O. Captured Enemy Aircraft Flight, provò lo Stuka nel centro di ricerche del ministero della difesa britannica a RAE Farnborough, riportandone queste impressioni:

Versioni

Furono costruite le versioni A, B, C, D e G, con diversi tipi di armamento, cannoni da 20 mm serie D, cannoni da 37 mm - 50 mm serie G (caccia carri).

Ju 87 A
 Versione iniziale impiegata anche nella guerra civile in Spagna.
Ju 87 B-1
 Versione successiva ai primi esemplari della serie A, da cui differiva per il motore Jumo 211Da. L'installazione di questo motore comportò modifiche alla fusoliera e ai piani verticali di coda cosicché la linea aerodinamica complessiva del velivolo risultò meno filante rispetto a quella delle versioni precedenti. Altro elemento ad essere ridisegnato era il carrello, a cui venne aggiunta la caratteristica protezione aerodinamica delle ruote. Il carico massimo di bombe era di .
Ju 87 B-2
 Versione successiva alla Ju 87B-1, da cui differiva per una quantità di piccoli miglioramenti, fu costruita in diverse varianti, inclusa una dotata di sci e, all'opposto, di kit per operazioni nel deserto, denominata Ju 87B-2/Trop. L'Italia ricevette un certo numero di questa versione, soprannominata "Picchiatello". Altri esemplari furono forniti ad altri paesi alleati dell'Asse, incluse Bulgaria, Ungheria e Romania.

Ju 87 C-1
 Versione imbarcata destinata all'utilizzo come dotazione della portaerei Graf Zeppelin. Le ali erano ripiegabili e gli ingranaggi impermeabilizzati, ma la nave non fu completata e gli aerei furono riconvertiti allo standard Ju87B.
Ju 87 D-1
 Versione entrata in servizio nel 1942 dotata di un motore Jumo 211J con armamento aumentato a due mitragliatrici da 7,92 mm al posto di una. Il carico massimo di bombe era di .
Ju 87 D-7
 Modello da assalto notturno, senza freni aerei, aveva tubi di scarico schermati, due cannoncini MG 151 da 20 mm ed equipaggiamento per il volo di notte.
Ju 87G-1
 Questo modello era una conversione del Ju87D-5 per operazioni anticarro, con un cannone BK 37 da 37 mm sotto ognuna delle ali.
Ju 87 H
 Versione da addestramento con doppi controlli prodotta utilizzando strutture dello Ju 87D.
Ju 87 R
Era una versione a grande autonomia del B-2 con modifiche riguardanti il sistema di alimentazione ed agli apparati radio. Versione ideata prevalentemente in funzione antinave. Furono prodotte diverse varianti, dal Ju 87 R-1 al Ju 87 R-4, con differenze di dettaglio, ma tutti con un comune armamento (una bomba da 250 kg) e serbatoi supplementari sganciabili.

Utilizzatori

 Vazhdushnite na Negovo Velichestvo Voiski

 Kroatische Luftwaffen Legion

 Royal Air Force (preda bellica)

 Luftwaffe

 Regia Aeronautica
 96º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo: dal 22 agosto 1940 al febbraio 1941 utilizzò i Ju 87B e dal gennaio 1941 anche i Ju 87R
 97º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo: dal luglio all'agosto 1940 utilizzò i Ju 87B e dal 22 settembre al marzo 1943 i Ju 87R
 101º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo: dal 5 marzo al 2 aprile 1941 utilizzò i Ju 87B, poi Ju 87R fino al luglio 1942
 102º Gruppo Tuffatori: dal 1º maggio al novembre 1942 utilizzò i Ju 87R
 103º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo: dal 1º febbraio all'agosto 1943 utilizzò i Ju 87D-3
 121º Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo: dal 2 all'11 luglio 1943 utilizzò i Ju 87R-5, dal 10 luglio dello stesso anno fino al 27 agosto erano in dotazione al reparto anche i Ju 87D-3
 208ª Squadriglia Bombardamento a Tuffo: Ju 87R dal 7 maggio 1941 al 25 marzo 1942
 209ª Squadriglia Bombardamento a Tuffo: Ju 87R dal 7 maggio 1941 al 25 marzo 1942
 236ª Squadriglia Cacciabombardieri: nel gennaio 1941, fino a novembre, aveva a disposizione i Ju 87R
 237ª Squadriglia Bombardamento a Tuffo: Ju 87D
 238ª Squadriglia Bombardamento a Tuffo: Ju 87R
 239ª Squadriglia Bombardamento a Tuffo: Ju 87R dal 7 maggio al 28 dicembre 1941
 Aeronautica Cobelligerante Italiana

 Forțele Aeriene Regale ale României

Curiosità
I Pink Floyd usarono il suono di una picchiata di uno Stuka nel finale della canzone In The Flesh?, inclusa nell'album The Wall.

Steven Spielberg utilizzò il suono di una picchiata di uno Stuka nel film "Le avventure di Tin Tin - Il segreto dell'Unicorno" durante lo stallo dell'Idrovolante.

Lars von Trier ne il film La casa di Jack estrapola l'ideologia e metedologia dello Stuka; analizzandone la ripercussione sociale durante la guerra.

In Star Wars il suono dei caccia Tie imperiali fu ispirato dal suono della picchiata di uno Stuka.

Note

Annotazioni

Fonti

Bibliografia

Periodici

Voci correlate
 Aerei della Luftwaffe nella seconda guerra mondiale
 Manovra di Marcante-Odaglia, detta anche "di Frenzel": tecnica per la compensazione forzata dell'orecchio medio elaborata per i piloti di Stuka e usata poi in subacquea

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Junkers Ju 087
Junkers Ju 087
Junkers Ju 087
Junkers Ju 087

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