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Sinn Féin councillor suspended over alleged inappropriate messages

JJ Magee is suspended from the party after an allegation that inappropriate online messages were exchanged between him and a minor.




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Man in court on kidnap and harassment charges

Two incidents involving Ryan Nicholls are alleged to have taken place in Cleethorpes last month.




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Mastectomy on elderly mum inappropriate - inquest

Disgraced surgeon Paterson gives evidence in Birmingham on the death of Gladys Currall, aged 82.




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Use of ch unit considered inappropriate (in certain circumstances)

Update: The title of this post was originally a knowing nod to the considered harmful cliché. I thought it might be amusing and get a bit of attention. However it was brought to my attention by a few people I respect that the title as written might be harmful in itself, so I changed it. However I believe that the subtle point I’m trying to make still stands:

When did we start using the ch unit to specify the maximum length for a line of text? Many places you look nowadays you'll see a variation on:

.prose {
  max-inline-size: 60ch;
}

Is it because of a direct reading of Bringhurst and people (like me) who’ve quoted him:

Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.

I get it: there’s all that talk of ’characters’. But that’s not what Bringhurst means literally. I’ll come back to that shortly.

Firstly let’s remind ourselves about the CSS ch unit. While ch sounds like it should equate to a number of characters or a character width, that’s not strictly the case. The ch unit specifically refers to the width of the zero ’0’ character within the selected font, or 0.5em if no ’0’ is present. So unless you have a line made up entirely of zeroes, or are using a monospaced font, a width of 66ch will probably not give you a line containing 66 characters. What’s more, the rendered width of that line will vary with the font design, sometimes significantly.

Two text blocks are set to 34 ch wide, but the use of a condensed font (top) and an expanded font (bottom) makes the rendered width narrower and wider respectively.

The important part of Bringhurst’s guideline is not the ’66-characters’ but the ’satisfactory length’. This is about readability, and readability is affected by the length of a line more so than the number of characters in it.

A consistent finding is that long line lengths on screen are least preferred or judged as least easy to read [my emphasis]

With that in mind, restricting your line length using rem would be a far more appropriate unit to use:

.prose {
  max-inline-size: 30rem;
}

This would give you a line length accessibly tied to text size, but independent of font design.

But is using ch harmful?

Bringhurst’s guideline includes this little caveat: a page set in a serifed text face in a text size. This enables him to equate the number of characters in a line with its length. So if you are using a fairly standard typeface for your text then you’ll probably be fine. However that ’standard typeface’ assumption is implicit anytime you use ch to set the width of a column of text. Using rem removes that assumption and gives you what you are probably really after – a consistent, predictable limit on line length.

It didn’t surprise me to find that Eric Meyer had written about this six years ago. I’ll leave you with an important observation from his post:

If you’re working with multiple typefaces, say one for headlines and another for body copy, be careful about setting ch measures and thinking they’ll be equivalent between the two fonts. The odds are very, very high they won’t be.

So is using ch harmful? At the risk of saying it depends, it might not be harmful, but it could be, and there is a far more reliable and appropriate unit to use by way of the rem when it comes to limiting line length in a column of text.

Read or add comments




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Synapse and WSO2 ESB myths

There are a few myths about Synapse and the WSO2 ESB I'd like to address. Its amazing they still come up.

Not an ESB?
The first and oldest myth is that Synapse is not an ESB. This dates back to the initial creation of the project - before there was even any code! Dave Chappell was at Sonic at the time and he said "This project is related to ESB , but it is not in itself an ESB".

Well, firstly, since at that time Sonic was the ESB leader, he would say that! Secondly, this was purely theoretical - no code had been written at that point. While I love the internet's ability to archive everything for years, to quote this several years later (like the ServiceMix guys do here: http://servicemix.apache.org/how-does-servicemix-compare-to-synapse.html) is disingenuous to say the least.

The fact is that Synapse - both as a pure Apache project and when packaged as the runtime engine of the WSO2 ESB is an ESB. Rather than argue about the definition of an ESB, it would be simpler to describe a few of the many usecases it is in production for:

* Getting the latest trades from a legacy financial system and reporting them to third-parties to meet regulatory requirements.
* Linking an SAP/R3 system with a .NET-based Point-of-Sale (POS) system in 40+ retails stores to distribute the latest price updates.
* Integrating between BMC Remedy, Salesforce and Peoplesoft.
* Providing a full SOA bus for a telecom operator linking to provide a common fabric for payment services, SMS top up and other integrations.
* Lightweight Service Orchestration (what we call Service Chaining) - providing simple non-persistent flows across multiple services.
* Integrating FIX messaging to existing systems.
* etc etc

In addition, the beauty of the Synapse ESB (and WSO2 ESB) is that it can also provide very high performance lightweight routing, load-balancing, failover and security management, so it is often used for high throughput scenarios as well - for example at eBay where it handles well over 1bn request/response interactions/day.

Synapse (and WSO2 ESB) only support SOAP or translate every message into SOAP
This is also a complete myth. The WSO2 ESB has a very effective model for dealing with content that only parses the content as needed. This model is based on the concept of a message formatter and builder. These objects handle the internal representation of content and are very flexible. For example, the normal approach to handling non-XML data is to keep it as a binary stream. In addition, a new transport in the WSO2 ESB (the Passthru transport) supports even higher performance routing of messages where the message body is simply passed from one HTTP endpoint to the next, while still supporting useful functions like header-based routing, authentication and authorization, logging, throttling and cacheing.

For XML data, we have an internal model that unifies SOAP and non-SOAP. What this means is that for non-SOAP payloads, there are two extra objects in memory that represent the envelope and body. This makes it very easy (and performant) to handle scenarios like taking the SOAP body and publishing it (without the SOAP wrapper) onto a JMS queue.

 Because the XML object model we use (Apache Axiom) supports streaming (via StAX), the message is only built into a tree if a mediator such as the XSLT transform requests it.

I think this is where the mistaken belief lies. This is a bit like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle! The act of observing a quantum level action affects the action. Similarly, if you examine the message, then if you ask for it as SOAP, we will build it into a SOAP message and give it to you. Of course that doesn't mean it was a SOAP message until you asked for it as SOAP. If you were to ask for the message as pure XML then you would get it as a pure XML element. In both cases it remains as a binary stream until the point you ask for the message. If you simply route the message out to another system, it will not have been converted to or from anything:  Synapse will simply stream the message through and out to the target.

I hope that this clears up these two myths!




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GNU Terry Pratchett on WSO2 ESB / Apache Synapse

If any of you are following the GNU Terry Pratchett discussion on Reddit, BBC or the Telegraph, then you might be wondering how to do this in the WSO2 ESB or Apache Synapse. Its very very simple. Here you go. Enjoy.
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The Social Network Application Post-Adoptive Use Model (SNAPUM): A Model Examining Social Capital and Other Critical Factors Affecting the Post-Adoptive Use of Facebook




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ASUS Vivobook S15 (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite) Laptop Review and more @ NT Compatible

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Florida says coach Billy Napier on solid ground despite 15-18 record after promising signs

Florida coach Billy Napier is getting a fourth season to try to get the Gators back to their winning ways.





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Humans age dramatically at two key points in their life, How much water you should drink each day?, Snap Pea Salad with Green Beans and Quinoa

This week Zorba and Karl discuss new research that shows we age dramatically at two key times in our lives, and they talk about how much water we need to […]




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Workers and opioids: A snapshot

Using recent data and analysis from NIOSH, the Workers Compensation Research Institute and other organizations, Safety+Health presents an infographic showing the impact of the opioid crisis on the workplace.




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A Snapshot of Sustainability in the Security Industry: 2014

The time certainly is ripe for security industry businesses that are involved in sustainability. First movers are blazing a profitable path to the sustainable future and demonstrating the value of going green to companies that are preparing to dive into what will soon be the “new normal.”




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Snap One Partners With RG Nets’ Revenue Extraction Gateway Software Solution

The new availability of rXg will greatly reduce the time and labor required to implement multi-tenant networks including those offering paid or tiered services.




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Snap One to Showcase New Solutions at ISC West 2023

Snap One, an industry-leading source of A/V surveillance, control, networking and remote management products for professionals, is demonstrating a range of new and existing products at ISC West 2023 Booth #26089.




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Snap One Partners with Portal.io on a Free Proposal Tool

Through the partnership, Snap One will offer partners a customized Portal subscription plan, a $600 annual value, at no cost to partners.




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New Napco Professional Security Solutions Catalog Available

Napco Security Technologies, a manufacturer of advanced electronic security equipment, released a brand new version of its full line catalog of professional security solutions.




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First Joint ADI & Snap One Store Opens in Omaha Post-Merger

The store replaces the previous ADI location that had been serving local customers, and provides Snap One customers with a convenient shopping option that was not available to them before. 




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Snap One Cameras See in Darkness

The “Editor’s Choice” and more new products and solutions as described by manufacturers.




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NAPCO Debuts New Napco Access Pro Website

NAPCO Security Technologies announced a new website to coincide with the launching of its new Napco Access Pro Dealer Program.




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Snap One Adds Digital Watchdog to Product Catalog to Elevate Security Options

Snap One announced that its partners in the United States can now order Digital Watchdog surveillance products through its e-commerce portal.




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Safety Snapshot: Construction

Safety+Health presents a look at safety in the construction industry.




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NAPCO Releases New Alarm Lock 2025 Locking Solutions Catalog

The Alarm Lock Catalog highlights its Trilogy Series and the wireless Trilogy Networx Access Locks, available in standalone, networked, mortise, narrow stile, and exit trim configurations compatible with panic exit bars.




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Snap One Now Offers Cloud-Based Access Control from ProdataKey

With the plug-and-play PDK ecosystem, owners get easy-to-use tools to manage access, set schedules for timed access and much more the announcement states.




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'No one ever just snaps'

A workplace shooting or other violent incident can harm employees and damage morale. What signs should employers look for to recognize potentially dangerous employees, and how should they respond to the threat?




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Seagate & QNAP Collaborate on Edge to Cloud Enterprise-Scale Storage Solutions

Developed to help small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) and content creators manage data from edge to cloud, the portfolio delivers a range of enterprise-scale solutions.




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Snap One Enhances User Privacy & Security With New Remote Access Feature for Luma x20 Cameras

Snap One announced that its Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offer full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video.




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Snap One Increases Investments in Software Development to Fuel Innovation

Current initiatives aim to improve the Snap One's cloud infrastructure to support the growth of remote monitoring, ensure all backend systems are scalable for the future, resolve bugs, maintain and expand interoperability, and develop new features and experiences.




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Snap One Enhances Clare Software for Integrators & End Users

The update includes several new features for integrator partners and end users designed to help increase safety and improve the overall user experience with greater visibility into systems, flexibility, and additional third party integrations.




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Snap One Improves Security Network for Wildlife Sanctuary

Through a combination of high-speed, high-bandwidth wireless and hardwired connectivity, the Core Network enables seamless communication between the many buildings within the sanctuary.




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Napo is back, with a video on heat stress prevention

Bilbao, Spain — A new video from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work highlights strategies to reduce the risks of heat stress on the job.




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Sour Patch Kids Snapple Fruit-Flavored Mix Candy

The limited-time offering is arriving in stores nationwide in three flavors inspired by the Snapple® brand's popular juice drinks: Mango Madness, Kiwi Strawberry, and Fruit Punch




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Cheez-It Snap'd Scorchin' Hot Cheddar

New, limited-time Cheez-It Snap'd Scorchin' Hot Cheddar is baked with 100% real cheddar cheese and features fiery heat, garlic and savory umami.




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Belknap White: Tile Trends and Business Outlook for 2024

Belknap White’s Dave Godlewski, vice president ceramic, and Jane Twombly, director of specification, provided a more in-depth look at the company which is one of the largest flooring distributors in the country, discuss what’s coming for 2024, the opportunities they see on the horizon and the trends they are following this year.




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Napa Retailer Cultivates Success Through Family, Knowledge

Almost 30 years ago, Janice Clifton was working as a public accountant and helping a local cash-and-carry flooring retailer exit the business. 





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Coroner finds ‘pervasive deficits’ in Oranga Tamariki social work practice before Napier baby’s death

In the months leading up to the unexpected death of a baby boy, Oranga Tamariki staff incorrectly handled several concerns reported to them relating to his family.

The post Coroner finds ‘pervasive deficits’ in Oranga Tamariki social work practice before Napier baby’s death was curated by information for practice.




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Fulani herdsmen kidnap Christians in attack on villages in Nigeria

Fulani herdsmen kidnapped four Christians in an attack on villages in north-central Nigeria.




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Radical Fulani herdsmen slaughter Christians in Nigeria, clergy kidnapped

Fulani herdsmen killed six Christians on Friday and Saturday in Benue state, Nigeria, after slaughtering 15 Christians in a nearby village two days earlier, sources said.




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Snapchat is the new hotspot for online shopping, according to Wethrift

It has recently emerged that consumer habits amongst Gen Z are changing, with many now turning to social media for retail therapy. Weighing in on this growing phenomenon of social media shopping, Nick Drewe, founder of the online discount platform Wethrift, offers his insights:




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SnapFulfil lands yet another distinguished supply chain and logistics award

The Top Supply Chain Projects 2024 (formerly known as SDCE 100) profiles innovative application success projects designed to automate, optimise, streamline and improve the supply chain.



  • Retail Supply Chain
  • Exhibitions and Events


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2-{1-[(6R,S)-3,5,5,6,8,8-Hexamethyl-5,6,7,8-tetra­hydro­naphthalen-2-yl]ethyl­idene}-N-methyl­hydrazinecarbo­thioamide

The reaction between a racemic mixture of (R,S)-fixolide and 4-methyl­thio­semicarbazide in ethanol with a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio and catalysed with HCl, yielded the title compound, C20H31N3S [common name: (R,S)-fixolide 4-methyl­thio­semicarbazone]. There is one crystallographically independent mol­ecule in the asymmetric unit, which is disordered over the aliphatic ring [site-occupancy ratio = 0.667 (13):0.333 (13)]. The disorder includes the chiral C atom, the neighbouring methyl­ene group and the methyl H atoms of the methyl group bonded to the chiral C atom. The maximum deviations from the mean plane through the disordered aliphatic ring amount to 0.328 (6) and −0.334 (6) Å [r.m.s.d. = 0.2061 Å], and −0.3677 (12) and 0.3380 (12) Å [r.m.s.d. = 0.2198 Å] for the two different sites. Both fragments show a half-chair conformation. Additionally, the N—N—C(=S)—N entity is approximately planar, with the maximum deviation from the mean plane through the selected atoms being 0.0135 (18) Å [r.m.s.d. = 0.0100 Å]. The mol­ecule is not planar due to the dihedral angle between the thio­semicarbazone entity and the aromatic ring, which amounts to 51.8 (1)°, and due to the sp3-hybridized carbon atoms of the fixolide fragment. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are connected by H⋯S inter­actions with graph-set motif C(4), forming a mono-periodic hydrogen-bonded ribbon along [100]. The Hirshfeld surface analysis suggests that the major contributions for the crystal cohesion are [(R,S)-isomers considered separately] H⋯H (75.7%), H⋯S/S⋯H (11.6%), H⋯C/C⋯H (8.3% and H⋯N/N⋯H (4.4% for both of them).




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Tetra­aqua­(ethane-1,2-di­amine-κ2N,N')nickel(II) naphthalene-1,5-di­sulfonate dihydrate

The reaction of ethane-1,2-di­amine (en, C2H8N2), the sodium salt of naphthalene-1,5-di­sulfonic acid (H2NDS, C10H8O6S2), and nickel sulfate in an aqueous solution resulted in the formation of the title salt, [Ni(C2H8N2)(H2O)4](C10H6O6S2)·2H2O or [Ni(en)(H2O)4](NDS)·2H2O. In the asymmetric unit, one half of an [Ni(en)(H2O)4]2+ cation and one half of an NDS2− anion, and one water mol­ecule of crystallization are present. The Ni2+ cation in the complex is positioned on a twofold rotation axis and exhibits a slight tetra­gonal distortion of the cis-NiO4N2 octa­hedron, with an Ni—N bond length of 2.0782 (16) Å, and Ni—O bond lengths of 2.1170 (13) Å and 2.0648 (14) Å. The anion is completed by inversion symmetry. In the extended structure, the cations, anions, and non-coordinating water mol­ecules are connected by inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding, as well as C—H⋯π inter­actions, forming a three-dimensional network.




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4-(1H-2,3-Dihydro­naphtho­[1,8-de][1,3,2]di­aza­borinin-2-yl)-1-ethylpyridin-1-ium iodide

The title compound, C17H17BN3I, is a type of di­aza­borinane featuring substitution at the 1, 2, and 3 positions of the nitro­gen–boron six-membered heterocycle. The organic mol­ecule has a planar structure, the dihedral angle between the pyridyl ring and the fused ring system being 3.46 (4)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are stacked in a head-to-tail manner. The iodide ion makes close contacts with three organic mol­ecules and supports the alternating stack.




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4-(1H-2,3-Dihydronaphtho­[1,8-de][1,3,2]di­aza­borinin-2-yl)-1-ethylpyridin-1-ium iodide monohydrate

The cation of the title hydrated salt, C17H17BN3+·I−·H2O, is a di­aza­borinane featuring substitution at the 1, 2, and 3 positions in the nitro­gen–boron six-membered heterocycle. The cation is approximately planar with a dihedral angle between the pyridyl ring and the di­aza­borinane ring system of 5.40 (5)°. In the crystal, the cations stack along [100] in an alternating head-to-tail manner, while the iodide ion and water mol­ecule form one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded chains beside the cation stack. The cation stacks and I−–water chains are crosslinked by N—H⋯I and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.




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Bis(8-hy­droxy­quinolinium) naphthalene-1,5-di­sulfonate tetra­hydrate

The inter­action between 8-hy­droxy­quinoline (8HQ, C9H7NO) and naphthalene-1,5-di­sulfonic acid (H2NDS, C10H8O6S2) in aqueous media results in the formation of the salt hydrate bis­(8-hy­droxy­quinolinium) naphthalene-1,5-di­sulfonate tetra­hydrate, 2C9H8NO+·C10H6O6S22−·4H2O. The asymmetric unit comprises one protonated 8HQ+ cation, half of an NDS2– dianion symmetrically disposed around a center of inversion, and two water mol­ecules. Within the crystal structure, these components are organized into chains along the [010] and [10overline{1}] directions through O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions, forming a di-periodic network parallel to (101). Additional stabilizing inter­actions such as C—H⋯O, C—H⋯π, and π–π inter­actions extend this arrangement into a tri-periodic network structure




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2-(Pyridin-4-yl)-2,3-di­hydro-1H-naphtho­[1,8-de][1,3,2]di­aza­borinine

The title compound, C15H12BN3, is a type of di­aza­borinane featuring substitution at 1, 2, and 3 positions in the nitro­gen–boron six-membered heterocycle. It is comprised of two almost planar units, the pyridyl ring and the Bdan (dan = 1,8-di­aminona­phtho) group, which subtend a dihedral angle of 24.57 (5)°. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are linked into R44(28) hydrogen-bonding networks around the fourfold inversion axis, giving cyclic tetra­mers. The mol­ecules form columnar stacks along the c axis.




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(1R,2S,4aR,6S,8R,8aS)-1-(3-Hy­droxy­propano­yl)-1,3,6,8-tetra­methyl-1,2,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-octa­hydronaphthalene-2-carb­oxy­lic acid

The mol­ecular structure of C18H28O4, (+)-diplodiatoxin, is described, whereby the absolute configuration of the structure of diplodiatoxin has been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Diplodiatoxin crystallizes in the chiral P43212 space group with one mol­ecule in the asymmetric unit.




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A snapshot love story: what serial crystallography has done and will do for us

Serial crystallography, born from groundbreaking experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source in 2009, has evolved into a pivotal technique in structural biology. Initially pioneered at X-ray free-electron laser facilities, it has now expanded to synchrotron-radiation facilities globally, with dedicated experimental stations enhancing its accessibility. This review gives an overview of current developments in serial crystallography, emphasizing recent results in time-resolved crystallography, and discussing challenges and shortcomings.