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By Marlana Moore
New Jersey is a state not often renowned for its beauty, elegance and innovation, especially in context to its postwar suburban development. My internship for Docomomo US New York/Tristate took me through twenty-five years of the periodical Progressive Architecture in search of New Jersey modernism. Progressive Architecture was a national publication active in the heyday of modernism, from the 1940s – 1980s which was meant to showcase innovative buildings, trends, methods and practices occurring in the field of architecture. The internship program I participated in, part of the Rutgers University Department of Art History, seeks to identify and document modernist architecture in New Jersey. The sites I found have been added to a growing database of buildings, sites and architects who were active in New Jersey.
Photo (above): Penn Fruit by Victor Gruen & Associates, located at 100 Black Horse Pike in Audubon, NJ. Photographed by Lawerence S. Williams. Scanned from Progressive Architecture, July 1956, page 100.
My survey found 68 sites (concepts, buildings, or plans) throughout the state that were considered to be at the cutting edge in the time they were built or proposed to be built. There were sites in sixteen of New Jersey's twenty one counties. Sites were most highly concentrated where suburban development took place outside of New York City and Philadelphia. Few sites were found in New Jersey's most rural counties – those in the southern and northwestern parts of the state. A range of architecture firms contributed to the cutting edge architecture featured in my survey, including leading national architects IM Pei, Edward Durrell Stone, Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi. Six features highlighted the work of Davis, Brody & Wisniewksi, including projects such as the Beth Israel Memorial Center in Woodbridge and the Philip Drill House in West Orange.
Photo (right): Exterior of Candy Garden photographed by Alexandre Georges, scanned from Progressive Architecture, July 1956, page 96.
In the postwar period, New Jersey faced unprecedented growth and development that had serious implications on the built environment. When considering modern architecture, especially in the shadow of New York City, the tall, elegant glass and steel skyscrapers take center stage. However, during the twentieth century, New Jersey's population experienced linear growth, whereas Manhattan's dwindled. New Jersey needed new buildings of all types that would accommodate the influx of people, at all stages of their lives. Though these buildings are much less glamorous than the towers of glass and steel, they are no less important to an understanding of modernist architecture in America.
With this in mind, I organized my architectural findings into five categories:
- Auto Oriented (highways and drive thrus)
- Suburban Expansion (Schools, hospitals, swim clubs, shopping centers)
- Urban Renewal (Redevelopment plans & public housing)
- Public Buildings (Housing for the upper middle class)
- Residences (Universities, civic centers, etc.)
For the purposes of this article, I will focus on the most innovative forms which lie in the first three categories. These buildings, plans and schemes tell the story of the built environment in New Jersey which can be found in communities across the United States. For those that had access to the tremendous economic growth in the postwar period, it is a story of how suburbs grew with access to the automobile and a life of increased opportunities for leisure. For those who were denied access to this growth because of their race, it is a story of how professionals sought to compensate for this inequality through design. The sites in New Jersey highlighted through the pages of Progressive Architecture are pieces of American cultural heritage that showcase important changes at a pivotal moment in architectural history.
1. Auto- Oriented Architecture
Auto-oriented highlights an important aspect of the suburban New Jersey experience, and one which was new to postwar life. The availability of the automobile and its new role as the primary mode of transportation changed the way Americans lived their lives and conceptualized space.
Photo (right): Photo of Toll Collection Facilities, scanned from Progressive Architecture, September 1954, page 98. Photo credit Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner.
The New Jersey Turnpike, featured in the September 1954 issue, is likely the most prominent example of modernism in the state. The architectural scheme included not only the feat of civil engineering through 118 miles of roads, but also a series of tollbooths, maintenance and equipment stations, restaurants and rest stops and uniform signage throughout the highway.
Writing about the Turnpike, the author states:
"The first [expressway] to be completely designed and built for its specific purpose without federal or state aid, the Turnpike has served as a pacesetter for the dozens of self-liquidating, bond-financed toll roads now on the planning boards or under construction throughout the country."
The Turnpike is at the advent of a new auto-oriented cultural landscape, built to accommodate the leisurely driver along his journey throughout New Jersey. The complex design scheme shows how multiple design and engineering elements coalesce to create a unique experience for the motorist, unlike any other road or highway in the state.
A second auto-oriented architectural artifact was the location of Loft's Candy Garden, located in the median strip of Route 22 in Union, New Jersey. Designed by architect Meyer Katzman in 1956, the location represents Manhattan chain store Loft's first venture into the suburbs. Located in the median, the space was designed with the leisurely motorist in mind. Visitors were encouraged to stop at the location in the median strip, convenient for both north and southbound travelers, and enjoy candy demonstrations and outdoor seating on the terrace. In the twenty first century, with the ubiquity and necessity of the highway, not only have these initial auto-oriented destinations disappeared but their function seems unfathomable.
2. Suburban Expansion
The architecture of suburban expansion features buildings that encompass all aspects of life, including schools, shopping centers, work places, swim clubs, a nuclear energy plant, and two cemeteries. All of these new building types attempted to cope with rapidly expanding suburbs.The Waldwick Elementary School, designed by David Tukey of Gina, Ketchum and Sharp, was featured in the April 1957 issue. In order to preserve the natural features and residential character of the suburban neighborhood, groups of one story classroom buildings were planned that mimicked the housing in the neighborhood. The plan allows for the elementary school to constantly expand. New buildings can be constructed throughout the site's thirteen acres, all the while conforming with its suburban context.
Photo (right): Waldwick Elementary School by David Tukey of Ketchum, Gina & Sharp, located in Waldwick, NJ. Likely unbuilt or lost. Scanned from Progressive Architecture, April 1957, page 123.
Replication was important as well to Victor Gruen & Associates' design for the chainstore Penn Fruit, whose Audubon, NJ location was featured in the July 1956 issue. The innovation highlighted in the design was the creation of an iconic gently sloping arch motif to be repeated in the store's future locations. The building provided an answer the design problem of a store to "not only serve its merchandising purpose but also be sufficiently distinctive in form and appearance that it becomes an instantly recognizable trademark."Though Penn Fruit no longer continues as a supermarket chain, its issues inbranding anticipates the many "big box" retailers lining today's American highways. The ability for buildings to be builtefficiently and easily reproduced are the most important traits that define suburban architecture. Though rapid growth has rendered many 1950s solutions obsolete, these principles are important tenants of modernism. The buildings highlighted in the pages of Progressive Architecture show innovation in the American built environment: a time when the replicability of chain stores represented innovation instead of monotony.
3. Urban Renewal
The final category in my study is the foil to suburban prosperity: architectural solutions to urban decline. Modernist urban renewal is most often featured as a part of the "tower in the park" paradigm. Ivy Hill Apartments in Newark, designed by Kelly & Gruzen and featured in the 1952 issue, represent the modernist's vision for urban living: towers which provide residents with copious outdoor space and the latest amenities of modern living.
Photo (right): The Ivy Hill Apartments, designed by Kelly & Gruzen, received a citation in Progressive Architecture's 1952 awards for its superior site plan. The apartments were built with Federal Housing Administration financing to attract middle class tenants. Scanned from Progressive Architecture, January 1952, page 64.
One of the important findings of my survey, however, were two redevelopment plans, one in Camden and the other in Trenton, which seem to anticipate New Urbanist design principles. Thomas Vreeland Jr and Oscar Newman's 1963 redevelopment plan for Cooper's Point in Camden called for the renovation of the early twentieth century row housing in the neighborhood, in addition to medium to high rise development on the Delaware waterfront overlooking Philadelphia. Frank Schlesinger, Attilo Bergamasco and Richard Cripps' 1966 plan for the redevelopment of Mercer and Jackson Streets in the Mill Hill neighborhood of Trenton emphasized creating a pedestrian-friendly commercial corridor with mixed use development and making better use of parking lots by building row houses at the neighborhood's scale.
Photo (right): The Cooper's Point Redevelopment Plan by Thomas R. Vreeland, Jr and Oscar Newman won P/A's 1963 award for Urban Design. The plan focused on renewing the waterfront, preserving existing housing, developing a commercial corridor, and improving transportation access. Scanned from Progressive Architecture, January 1963, page 99.
Like many master plans, it is hard to see today what has been implemented in these neighborhoods. Due to the continuing struggles of Trenton and Camden, our historical memory sticks to easily recognizable "Tower in the Park" urban interventions when considering modernism's legacy. However, the pages of Progressive Architecture capture how plans and ideas were considered in their time to be innovative, whether built or unbuilt. The plans for the Mercer-Jackson neighborhood in Trenton and Cooper's Point in Camden show that there can be more nuance to the conventional narrative of urban renewal.
Photo (right): Exit 9 Toll Collection Facilities from October 2013, courtesy of Google Street View. While structures appear to be original, details like the lettering no longer remain.
My survey of Progressive Architecture for New Jersey sites revealed several important tensions when considering modern architecture. First, not all modernist architecture held in high regard today was what the design profession considered to be cutting edge at the time it was built. I found many of the forebears to today's most bemoaned buildings, such as chain big box stores and highway rest stops. While today these buildings represent the worst of suburban sprawl, they were once hallmarks of a new era. The second tension I found was because there were many buildings, sites and plans featured in my survey that were never built. Similarly, many buildings, especially those built at the advent of the suburban age, have been completely erased from our landscape. While so much of preservation focuses on saving what remains, we must also find ways to fit these forgotten buildings, whether they have been torn down or have never been built, into our understanding and preservation of modernism.
Photo (right): The Penn Fruit location has changed significantly since 1956. Today, an Acme has retrofitted the distinctive gently sloping arch into a more typical suburban grocery store program. Image joshaustin610 via Flickr.
New Jersey is a state whose historical importance is largely tied to its role as "the Crossroads of the American Revolution." However, the tremendous population growth New Jersey experienced in the postwar period had huge implications for the built environment. The pages of Progressive Architecture tell the story of how our architects and urban planners innovated in terms of these changing circumstances: growing booming suburbs and accommodating shrinking cities. As populations continue to grow and expand, this historical moment will only become more important to understand and to preserve.
Marlana Moore graduated from Rutgers University in 2013 where she studied architectural history, urban planning and preservation. She will begin the Masters of City & Regional Planning program at the Bloustein School of Rutgers in Fall 2014. She recently presented her research for Docomomo US New York/Tristate at the 2014 New Jersey History & Preservation Conference.


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Saturday, January 7, 2012
Qs, As with Maury Brown
AC: You were perhaps the most prominent media member outspoken against the ownership of Jim Crane, while most were content to just sit back and let everything play out. What was the motivation behind the exposes on Crane?
MB: Looking at ownership background is something that I've done for over a decade, and doesn't include current owners, but them historically. My look at Crane was only different in the fact that he had been part of several bids (Astros, Cubs, Rangers, and then back to the Astros), and he'd always been portrayed as "unapprovable". I never fully understood that, so I went looking deeper. From there, it became a matter of seeing what had transpired to his businesses and how that fit in with owning an MLB club. I said this for my Forbes piece, but I passionately believe owning a sports club is different than any other business as they are a community asset. The local team instills great emotion in the fans, who have a vested interest. Myself and others, when looking at what had gone on with owners in the past, and now with Frank McCourt, was to say, 'Has baseball, and the fans of the Astros, really addressed everything they need to about who is the steward of the club, or has what has occurred something that can be explained away and was part of the past?' All, I'm sure, are hoping it's the latter.
AC: How would you address the (ad nauseum) comments that, if you're critical of a team, you must certainly hate them?
MB: Blind allegiance is something that's never healthy. Being critical of one aspect does not mean you are critical, as a whole. I've spent many hours researching the history of the Astrodome, the Colt .45s, and the Astros. Judge Hofheinz is one of the most incredible people in the history of, not just baseball, but sports as a whole. So, the "Astros" will continue on in history. Good and bad aspects are parts of all things over time, and that holds true of sports clubs depending on where you look at a snapshot. I certainly don't hate the Astros. If anything, I tend to be more caught up in the moment of what's happening in terms of some of the club's history that's going to be stopped (read: the move out the National League). Fans have a large interest in their local and regional teams. I often write what I do because they matter most.
AC: Who should Astros fans be mad at: Bud Selig, Jim Crane, Drayton McLane, or someone else?
MB: I don't know if "mad" is the right word. In the cold reality of business, there was a seller (McLane) and a buyer (Crane) and there were $680 million reasons for the deal to go through. Mr. McLane has been a perfect member of baseball;s ownership fraternity, and with it, the league surely wanted the sale to work out for all involved. But, I mentioned the situation with McCourt prior and that cast a pale over the owners. If you think about it, owners have run into problems after coming into the league, but few have had the problems Crane had in his background before being approved. McLane had been saying, "Don't trust this guy" after backing out of the sale in 2008, and here he comes saying, "He's great" when the money in the sale is so large. In the end, I'm not going to pass judgement on how Crane runs the Astros. He hasn't had enough time at the helm to be judged one way or the other. But, there are certainly a lot of people paying closer attention to him than some others that have been approved this early on. I believe that's a good thing for the Astros and fans of the team.
AC: On Twitter you said that you wanted to see the Astros get back to being a great franchise. When, do you think, were the "Glory Years" of the Houston Astros?
MB: It's a great question as "glory years" for the Astros comes in a couple of different forms for me. Certainly the creation of the Harris County Domed Stadium, later christened the Astrodome, is something that is one of the greatest feats in the history of sports business. It was full of so many firsts that are now commonplace... roofed facility, luxury suites, in-stadium restaurants, even the colored seating was revolutionary. In terms of the team, I so vividly remember that 18-inning, 7-6 win over the Braves in the postseason of 2005. That team "felt" as if it had all the parts, and the club was riding high. So, it's a little of both. The recent sell-down over the past couple of seasons to get player payroll more manageable for the sale from McLane to Crane was discomforting. It put some front office people in a difficult position, and, as last season clearly showed, it didn't help the Astros in the standings. But, there's a new regional sports network that will infuse the Astros with additional revenues. If the money is used wisely in free agency and wrapping up key talent, while player development is done soundly, there's no reason that the Astros can't be back in the thick of it sooner rather than later.
AC: Astros fans are obviously pretty upset about getting moved to the Kids Table, I mean the American League. As you cover the business side of sports, what's the financial impact of the Astros moving to the AL?
MB: I think the move to the AL, financially, is not as bad as it's being portrayed. I've spent hours speaking to those that are involved in television rights deals, and while this deal has a wrinkle (the Rockets and Comcast being partners with the Astros in the RSN), the fact is while having games starting later due to West Coast games can be partially off-set by saying, look at all the day games in the Eastern Timezone that the Cubs play. And while it's never good to say that the visiting team is a large part of the attendance and TV draw, the fact is, the Astros will be seeing more of the Yankees and Red Sox and as much as there is a large quarter that loathes them, television and attendance numbers will likely be up -- way up -- when they come to Houston. The biggest downside is having to pay for a DH, which often comes with a healthy price tag in the free agency space, and yes, having the late start time for games being played on the West Coast. The biggest thing for the fans is the loss of nearly 50 years of NL history. Coupling that with what Bud Adams did to the Oilers name, and it's just "one more thing". The one thing everyone can agree on is, good or bad, well.... 2013 is going to be a very, very different year for the Astros.
UPDATE: I know many if you are upset with me not asking about the Character issue. Fact is, there were things Maury Brown would discuss, and things he would not. His sources about Crane's character were not open for discussion, and I was okay with that. Sorry to disappoint you with this free service, I sincerely hope that you were not put out too terribly much.
Big thanks to Maury Brown for taking the time to answer these questions.
6 comments:
"the fact is while having games starting later due to West Coast games can be partially off-set by saying, look at all the day games in the Eastern Timezone that the Cubs play."
What does this even mean?
A good question for Brown would have been:
If it was always about Crane's character and not about his unwillingness to switch leagues (as Brown and Justice maintained ad naseum), then why did the character concerns disappear after he agreed to switch leagues?
Where did you get your info that it was always about character?
That's a nice way of asking him why he so willingly played the shill for Bud.
Sorry to be rude about your guest, but he was willingly complicit in some dirty dealings, and frankly deserves harsher criticism then this.
- January 7, 2012 at 10:19 PM
- Reuben said...
Exactly. Brown and Richard Justice both maintained all along that the issue was Crane's character/allegations against his companies, but then in the end we learned that, point blank, the sale would not have been approved unless Crane agreed to move to the AL. Where is the admission by Brown that he was wrong, or at least, grossly misled and manipulated by his sources?
Lazy journalism at best, and at worst, pleasing your source so as to later get hired by them (as turned out to be the case with Justice).
- January 7, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Does this clown not even realize that Chicago is in the Central time zone? Or maybe of the 6-9 Astros games at Wrigley, some were night games and some were weekend games where the ratings wouldn't have been as negatively impacted as 9 p.m. starts in Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim.
From a truly business perspective, the switch to the AL is a bad, bad deal. The Astros can look forward to many years of being Texas' other team due to having nothing to offer fans than being Rangers Lite.
- January 8, 2012 at 12:50 AM
The problem with Maury Brown and Richard Justice was that they fabricated and distorted stories to gain attention to themselves.
Isn't it funny that Richard Justice left the Chron at the same time of the ownership change to go work for MLB?
Maury Brown will go to work for TMZ shortly-- same brand of journalism.
- January 8, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Wow! Way to not call out Brown for his phony reporting. Looks like you need to buy a pair.
- January 8, 2012 at 4:37 PM
- Astros County said...
Sunday Afternoon Anonymous: there has been an epilogue added, for your kind words.
Pairs are expensive, especially for bloggers. Thanks for your concern about my genitals.
- January 8, 2012 at 7:31 PM

subset: commoncrawl


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Unit testing is a popular development practice that consists of writing additional programs that automatically invoke functions in the main program under development. The individual unit tests are small pieces of code that can prove the correctness of some aspects (typically, methods) of software units (typically, classes).
Unit testing is important because it is an automatic tool that can catch regressions (that is, unwanted changes in previously working code) introduced during development and refactoring. However, unit testing in itself is not a fundamental technique that can guarantee the quality or correctness of your software. Why is that so?
The Role of Unit Tests
Like many other things in software, unit tests can be badly written. The worst unit test is one that focuses on a scenario that is not relevant for the application. The best unit test is one written to catch corner cases or edge cases (for example, "What happens if a negative value is entered as salary?") Having many unit tests is not necessarily a sign of good code quality; the relevance of unit tests is what really matters. "Code coverage" is the expression used to refer to the percentage of lines of code covered by unit tests. However, there's no proven relationship between this number and correctness of the code.
On the other hand, unit tests are not part of the contract between the development team and customer. Unit tests are a possible (extra) step you take during development to aid with writing code or figuring out design decisions. Unit tests are written by developers for developers, and aid the team to in keeping confident and on track.
Introducing Code Contracts
An alternate API is emerging in the .NET world to complement unit testing Code Contracts. In the .NET Framework 4, Code Contracts are an API through which you define preconditions, postconditions, and invariants for your classes. For critical methods on critical classes (and ideally, on every class and method), you express conditions that must be preliminarily verified for the method to run correctly (for example, a temperature cannot be less than -273 degrees Celsius) and that are guaranteed to happen when the method terminates. Code Contracts are an API, so they require code to be embedded in existing classes. It is up to developers to decide whether to keep this code in release builds or limit it to debug builds only.
Code contracts don't replace unit tests, but they are a better for ensuring the correctness of a unit of software for three main reasons. First, they are part of the method implementation and contribute to ensuring the function abides by its expected public contract. Second, they force developers to reason in terms of what each method is expected to do and why. The results of this effort provide guidance when it comes to extending behavior or fixing a bug. Finally, and probably most importantly, Code Contracts are a form of metadata. The information they convey can be consumed by other code analysis tools such as the Microsoft's static checker. In particular, the static checker tool you can get from the DevLabs website runs in the background and is triggered by code changes and compile steps. The static checker ensures that preconditions and postconditions match, and invariants (conditions that must hold for a class at all times) are always met.
Static Analysis
Unlike unit tests, Code Contracts enable static analysis, which provides feedback as code is written. By comparison, a complete a battery of unit tests requires several minutes to run. A static analysis tool doesn't give developers certainty, but it does provide useful information about the code under development.
No external tool can validate the relevance of unit tests. The results of tests may be successful or not, but there's no guarantee about their quality. With Code Contracts, everything is based on what the contracts define on a per-method basis. If the contracts are correct, and no warnings are generated from the static analysis step, then your code is likely to be correct.
Note that "correct" doesn't mean "bug-free." Correctness refers to the correct flow of data and behavior. This can be verified with contracts. Implementation details are verified with unit tests. That's why unit tests and Code Contracts go happily hand in hand.
Unit Tests from Contracts
It's worth noting that Microsoft has released a special tool called Pex that relates to Code Contracts and unit testing. Pex is a smart unit test generator that understands contracts in the code and specializes in high code coverage and high relevance. A Visual Studio add-in, Pex uses the same underlying technology of static analysis to "understand" the most relevant tests to be written for code, and it should be considered whenever unit tests or Code Contracts are in use.


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Benefits & Features
You've got nowhere to hide with the A400 Starlight Men's Half Tights.
With even more reflectivity, our Starlight Half Tights stand out on every level, in any light. The asymmetrical reflective graphics on the thigh are made from premium reflective glass bead technology. At night, these graphics and all the logos come alive to provide 360 degree visibility.
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Our A400 Starlight Men's Half Tights are constructed from four different technical fabrics allowing for optimal dynamic gradient compression and support to your glutes, quads and hamstrings. In a nutshell, that means you get better performance with a reduced risk of injury. You're welcome!
Give yourself the secret edge by combining these half tights with any A400 top for the ultimate training kit. Now you're ready to leave the pack behind!


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Shocking cable: US says Saudi donors are chief financiers of al Qaeda
A quick aside in a New York Times article about leaked diplomatic cables is sure to spark renewed interest about the role of the US' biggest ally in the Gulf supporting terrorism.
In their wide-ranging précis of the leaked cables, Times reporters Scott Shane and Andrew Lehren mention in passing a key detail from one of the diplomatic dispatches: "Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda."
No other details about the cable are provided by the Times. The referenced cable is not linked, and Raw Story has been unable to locate the specific language among additional cables published by The Guardian. (If you find the cable, please email [email protected]).
The admission is stunning, though it has been largely kept from public view, and hasn't been admitted previously at such a high level. The "Blue Ribbon" Sept. 11, 2001 report noted that al Qaeda had raised money in Saudi Arabia but that no senior officials had provided material support.
Charges that Saudi donors have provided material support for terrorist groups — including Iraqi insurgents — are not new. A detailed Congressional Research Service report in 2007 highlighted repeated instances where Saudis were accused of supporting terrorist groups. The report was titled, "Saudi Arabia: Terrorist Financing Issues."
"According to the U.S. State Department 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 'Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years,'" the report's authors wrote. "The September 11, 2001 attacks fueled criticisms within the United States of alleged Saudi involvement in terrorism or of Saudi laxity in acting against terrorist groups. The final report released by the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) indicates that the Commission 'found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded [Al Qaeda].' The report also states, however, that Saudi Arabia 'was a place where Al Qaeda raised money directly from individuals and through charities' and indicates that 'charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship' may have diverted funding to Al Qaeda. U.S. officials remain concerned that Saudis continue to fund Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations."
The Congressional Research Service report cautions against concluding that the Saudi monarchy had any direct role in al Qaeda's financing. It notes that the Saudi government has made "numerous official statements" saying that they are "committed to cooperating with the United States in fighting terrorist financing, pointing out that Saudi Arabia itself is a victim of terrorism and shares the U.S. interest in combating it."
But it also goes on to lay out claims that individuals in Saudi Arabia have underwritten Iraqi insurgents.
"In October 2004, an unidentified Defense Department official told the press that private Saudi individuals and charities were channeling funds to insurgent groups in Iraq," the researchers wrote. "Saudi officials vigorously denied the claims and appealed for U.S. officials to provide concrete information in support of the charges so that Saudi authorities could investigate and prosecute any individuals or entities that may have been involved. In December 2004, press reports cited intelligence gathered following U.S. military operations, including the November 2004 assault on Fallujah, which indicated that 'a handful of senior Iraqi Baathists operating in Syria are collecting money from private sources in Saudi Arabia and Europe' and are channeling it to insurgent groups. In addition, news accounts have quoted insurgent facilitators stating that Saudi young men are particularly valuable to insurgent groups because Saudis provide for their own expenses and often personally finance insurgent operations."
"A senior U.S. Treasury Department official testified in July 2005 that Saudi individuals may be 'a significant source' of financing for the Iraq insurgency," they add. "The Iraq Study Group report stated that 'funding for the Sunni insurgency [in Iraq] comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.' Iraqi officials have called on Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries to do more to restrict financial networks operating in their countries from supporting insurgents in Iraq."
Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor of Islam and Global Affairs at the University of Delaware, criticized the Saudi government on the revelation at The Huffington Post, saying that the cables exposed Muslim governments' hypocrisy.
"The… cables also reveal that even now the main financiers of al Qaeda are Saudi donors," Khan writes. "American presidents George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama have identified al Qaeda as the biggest threat to the U.S., and yet they collude with the nation whose citizens are its biggest financiers. Why don't the Saudis cut off the head of the real snake by arresting and imprisoning al Qaeda's financiers? Most Americans know that fifteen of the nineteen terrorists that attacked the US on September 11, 2001, were Saudis. None were Iranians. A significant number of foreign fighters who joined al Qaeda in Iraq were Saudis. This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black."


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Hold my Hand
These current works for sale are from a series called 'ThisPlace' based on love notes to Dublin city.
Original colour photographic archival print on Pearl paper sized at 16cm x 12cm and 12cm x 8cm hand signed and inscribed to the buyer. wrapped in paper and tubed with registered post worldwide.
sizes are available framed at http://www.hangtoughframing.ie


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6x6 H2H Each: H, R, RBI, HR, SB, OPS -- QS, Sv, Hld, ERA, WHIP, K/9
What would be a fair trade for a dynasty league (keep entire roster)? We're still developing our system of recycling players but basically you get to keep 5 of your choice each year and a few are randomly selected from each team to go back into the off season draft pool.
I want to have McCutchen on my team.. he's my favorite player. I know it's bad to play favorites, not willing to hurt my team to get him but I'd be happy if my team didn't get better or worse and I flipped some names to get him. The proposed trade was McCutchen and Choo or Melky Cabrera for my Josh Hamilton and Taveras. Seems as if the first two names are set but the second set of men can be negotiable.
My team:
(40 total players for each roster, but we're still drafting)
C Napoli
1B Ike Davis
2B Aaron Hill
3B Kyle Seager
SS Jose Reyes
OF Trout
OF Granderson
OF Josh Hamilton
Util Carlos Beltran
Util Marco Scutaro
SP Kris Medlen
SP Matt Harvey
SP Tim Lincecum
SP Shelby Miller
SP Mike Fiers
RP Betancourt
RP Putz
RP Wilhelmsen
RP Frieri
RP David Robertson
P Ryan Cook
(5 Bench Spots)
BN Mike Olt
BN Mike Adams
(14 man inactive roster can be called up between match ups)
Oscar Taveras
Billy Hamilton
His Team:
C V Martinez
1B Ryan Howard
2B B Phillips
3B Sandoval
SS Hanley Ramirez
OF Choo
OF McCutchen
OF Austin Jackson
Util Melky Cabrera
Util Danny Espinosa
SP Cueto
SP Jaime Garcia
SP Matt Moore
SP Brandon Morrow
SP David Price
RP Clippard
RP Gregerson
RP Chris Perez
RP Street
RP Venters
(5 Bench Spots)
BN Michael Young
BN Nelson Cruz


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It's done, ECM Acts is out!
We have received several queries recently referring to images hosted by CSNTM. CSNTM changed their policy regarding deep linking to individual images on their server. On 2 March 2016 Prof. Wallace let us know by email that
"CSNTM cannot continue to break our contract with libraries by allowing INTF to link directly to images. This linking should have never happened".
For some of the manuscripts in question we have now set links to the relevant document on the CSNTM website. As some users of the NTVMR overlooked this link see the sample referring to GA 536 below. The link is above the empty frame.
In the long run we will provide microfilm images for easier navigation as in the following example. (Note the link to fresh digital images of GA 011 by the British Library.)


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Most Memorable Races Run in 2009 took place at:
The gameâs more international than ever. Did we still stage the best race meets, or are you a died in the wool Europhile? Is it still Keeneland in the spring, best boutique stop on the good-horse circuit? How about the Oak Tree preps for the Breedersâ Cup, or handle leader Saratoga because itâs still the best extended race meet in the country?
Most photos are taken from NTRA.com