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TERRY GROSS, host:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.
It's kind of ballet season, with lots of companies performing "The Nutcracker" for the holidays and with the new film "Black Swan," a psychological thriller about a ballerina preparing for her leading role in "Swan Lake."
But you don't even have to be interested in ballet to be fascinated by the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet," by my guest, Jennifer Homans. Her story of how ballet evolved from the 16th century is rich with history about class structure, gender, costume, shifting images of the ideal body and ideas of what the body is physically capable of. Yesterday, "Apollo's Angels" was named one of the top five nonfiction books of the year by the New York Times Sunday Book Review.
Jennifer Homans used to a professional ballet dancer. She performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She's the dance critic for The New Republic and teaches the history of dance at NYU, where she is a distinguished scholar in residence.
Jennifer Homans, welcome to FRESH AIR. Let me start with something I found very interesting. You write: Ballet is sexual, but dancers infrequently experience their art as sexual, even when their limbs are wrapped around each other or they are enjoined in an impassioned embrace. And I will add to that that some of the lifts in ballet require some pretty intimate touching. So why isn't dance experienced as sexual?
Ms. JENNIFER HOMANS (Author, "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet"): Well, I think it depends on who you're talking about. The dancers themselves I don't think experience the art as sexual, and the reason for that is really that it's work. And when you're in a state of high concentration over, you know, are you on the music, is the step being done properly, what is the feeling behind it, even if it's a sexually sort of loaded scene, it's not sexual between the two people who are dancing.
Whether it's sexual or not for the people watching it is another story all together.
GROSS: So during, like, say a lift that's so beautiful and graceful and maybe even sexual to the audience, is the dancer ever thinking, were you ever thinking when you were a dancer: Is he going to drop me?
Ms. HOMANS: Well, you know, I never was thinking that because within the flow of the movement, you have complete confidence, hopefully, in the partner that you're working with. And so, you know, those kinds of considerations are not to the fore.
Now, if you're working with somebody you don't quite trust, or there's a lift that's particularly difficult, you know, then I think there can be a certain tension. And that's something you want to try to get rid of in a performance, I think.
One of the great ballerinas once told me: When you start to have a dialogue in your head when you're performing, that's when you know it's going wrong. In a way, you want to get rid of those words and sort of enter a kind of different way of existing for the time that you're on stage. So instead of thinking about...
GROSS: A way of thinking about your music and movement?
Ms. HOMANS: That's right. You know, so instead of thinking about what you're going to have for dinner that night, which you could do because dancers know their steps so well, and they are so second nature that your mind can wander. But, you know, to sort of shift into another dimension, as it were, so that you're not thinking about that, but you're in a kind of close synchrony with music.
GROSS: Before we get into how the ideal image of the dancer's body has changed over the centuries, can you just describe what the ideal ballerina's body is considered today?
Ms. HOMANS: You know, that's a tough question, and people always ask that because there is the concept of ballet as something that strives towards perfection and towards a perfect body, that you must have, you know, long legs, turned-out hips, arched feet, preferably some people even say a small head.
But I think that's actually really a misunderstanding and a misconception. Dancers do come in all sizes and shapes. Yes, it helps if you have the facility that the technique requires, but the main quality that makes a great dancer is not the perfection of their body but really the luminosity of it.
It's a quality of illumination. You know it when you see it. You know, two dancers doing the same step, one might have a perfect body and perfect technique. The other one might be much less perfect but much more interesting to watch. So it's not straightforward, as it might seem.
GROSS: Nevertheless, if we compared a ballet dancer's body today with a ballet dancer of the 16th or 17th centuries, would we see a big difference?
Ms. HOMANS: Yes, we would. The dancers of the 16th and 17th century were, in the case of the women, more - well, they were just, they followed the aesthetic of their own time. And in a way, you could say we do, too. It's a sort of the far end of the extreme of our time, but there are those images of fashion and models and, you know, the ideal sort of elegant and graceful body.
And that's the, I think, the unifying theme throughout so that even the technique allowed you to modify your own, perhaps, imperfect proportions.
You know, if you're too tall, maybe you would lower your arms a bit so that you don't quite appear so high up. So you might bend them a little bit if they're too long. So you could sort of try to craft your own image.
And the other thing to remember about that is that the dancers in the very beginning, in the 17th century, it was the man, not the woman, who was the privileged performer. It was really a male ideal at the beginning, and it was only come the 1830s that women started to be the central focus of the dance tradition.
GROSS: We'll get back to that in a minute. But, you know, you write about how dance was originally a very aristocratic art. It was performed for kings, and that there was considered to be a connection between posture, nobility and character. So how did that sense of ballet being an aristocratic art affect what was expected of how the dancers looked and how they carried themselves?
Ms. HOMANS: You know, ballet began as a social art. It was a dance that was done by courtiers. It was done by kings and princes, not people in the street but aristocrats. So it was done at court by people in social situations. It was not a theatrical art set off from social life.
So, you know, the ways that people moved were - had to do with the ways that they moved in their lives. Like for example, if you have a reverence, a bow, which is still performed today in classical ballet, both in dances but also at the end of most dance classes, that's the same bow that you would see in a painting of courtiers leaving their king. And how far they bow, how deep they go was a sign of respect for the monarch or for the person they were addressing.
GROSS: So when you say ballet was performed by people, you know, in palaces and stuff, as opposed to in theaters, so - but they didn't learn all the kind of complicated steps that we know today.
Ms. HOMANS: Well, they did, actually.
GROSS: They did, really?
Ms. HOMANS: They did. You know, Louis XIV was himself a wonderful dancer. He worked very hard at his dance, especially in his earlier years. And he practiced on a daily basis and performed regularly in his own spectacles and productions.
So, you know, people did achieve a fairly high level of technique. And it was -a lot of time was spent on mastering these noble forms. And really the reason for that it was proof of your stature. So it was very important to be able to present yourself in these ways convincingly.
Now, the tradition really separates out, and you start to have a more difficult technique that even the most diligent aristocrats can't keep up with sort of by the end of the end of the 17th century. And then dances are becoming professionals, and that's when you have more and more separation between the aristocrats who are watching the dance, increasingly, and the people who are performing it.
And the dancers at that point are much more exclusively drawn from the lower orders of society, which is in itself an interesting thing when you think about it because they are learning, in a way, to become aristocrats. On stage, they appear as noblemen, even if they're, in society, emphatically not.
GROSS: So really, the dancers were drawn from the lower classes of society?
Ms. HOMANS: They often were, you know. Once you moved away from the kings who were performing, dancers were drawn from the lower orders of society. In Russia, for example, in the origins of ballet in Russia, the dancers were serfs.
They were serfs on estates and their owners paid vast sums of money to have them trained in this European, West European dance form so that they could perform for their masters on a, you know, on a summer's evening in the estate. And in this area, especially with women, there was a very close line between dancing and prostitution and...
GROSS: Between ballet and prostitution?
Ms. HOMANS: Between ballet and - maybe I shouldn't say prostitution so much, but these landowners would sometimes ask their serfs to take off their clothes at the end of the performance or things like this, where, you know, the line between ballet and art and sex was very thin.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Jennifer Homans. She's the author of the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." Let's take a short break here, and then we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR.
(Soundbite of music)
GROSS: My guest is Jennifer Homans, and she's the author of the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." She teaches the history of dance at NYU and is the dance critic for The New Republic.
So the five positions of ballet were codified in the late 17th century by Pierre Beauchamp, who was a ballet master who became the king's dancing master in France and was later appointed head of the Royal Academy of Dance. So what are the five positions of ballet, and how did Beauchamp go about codifying them?
Ms. HOMANS: Well, the five positions of ballet are the same positions that any child would learn today: first, second, third, fourth, fifth positions, positions of the feet, in this case, in particular. And, you know, Louis XIV realized that if his art form, this great, noble art form, was going to be sort of disseminated throughout his realm and even to other European countries, he would have to learn a way to write it down.
And so he asked Beauchamp to find a way to write it down, and one of the things that Beauchamp did was to write down these positions. He did also invent a notation. But the positions themselves are the grammar of ballet, they're the ABCs, the building blocks of classical ballet. So this was a vitally important moment when they were actually codified and recorded.
What do they do? The positions of ballet are - if you think of first position, it's really a noble position. You stand, in this case the feet were not 180 degrees, they were more sort of 90 degrees. So you're standing at ease, with grace, with control, with a sense of symmetry and precision. This was the...
GROSS: So your heels are together, and your feet are 90 degrees apart?
Ms. HOMANS: That's right. That's right, and your arms are in a relaxed but gracious way to the side. So, you know, this is the position of the high nobility. And the first position is a kind of resting place, a stopping point, the tonic, as one would say in music, of ballet.
And the other positions simply map the directions of the body in the ways in which you might travel or move in an efficient and graceful way, without any jarring or awkward movements.
GROSS: So how did dancing en pointe, dancing on your toes, start?
Ms. HOMANS: That's one of the most interesting moments in the history of ballet because it's really a point at which popular traditions feed into a sort of high operatic, high balletic art.
Marie Taglioni is the ballerina that we most associate with the origins of pointe work. And she was working in Vienna, and in Vienna, she was working at the opera house, but a lot of Italian troupes were passing through. And these sort of Commedia dell'arte or acrobatic troupes often, you know, did tricks.
And one of the tricks that they did do was to climb up on their toes and parade around. And this kind of trick was then incorporated into classical ballet, most notably by Taglioni, and sort of given an elevated form so that instead of just stomping around en pointe, it became an image of the ethereal or somebody who can leave the ground or fly into the air, whose point of contact with the earth is only slight. So, you know, this is a kind of elevation towards the angels and God. And so a trick becomes a kind of high aspiration.
GROSS: There's an illustration in your book of Marie Taglioni en pointe, and you point out that her calf muscles are bulging. Would a ballerina today have those bulging calf muscles?
Ms. HOMANS: Ballerinas today have more calf muscles than you might realize and, you know...
GROSS: But would they be bulging, or are they shaped differently?
Ms. HOMANS: Not maybe bulging quite the way hers were. And one of the reasons for that is that the early toe shoes were not supported in the same way that the toe shoes are today, so that the technique and the demands on the legs were quite different.
Marie Taglioni's toe shoes actually still exist. There is a pair in the archives at the Paris Opera. And you can go there and hold them. And they're not new shoes, they're old shoes, which is quite important because you can see where she stood, where they're scuffed, how she danced and where she danced.
And the important thing there is that she danced just on the tips of her metatarsals, not quite on the full pointe, the way dancers do today, and that the shoes were soft, very soft like a soft ballet shoe, and darned around the edges, so that she had to support the full weight of her body on this metatarsal with no extra glue or, you know, hardened materials, which is what support dancers today.
So her calves were doing the lion's share of the work. And it's not just her calves. Her entire legs are very beefy. So she's - in spite of her ethereal, fleeting image, she was actually quite hefty as a physical type.
GROSS: So which toes are you on when you're on toe?
Ms. HOMANS: You're really on the first two. That's - the main weight is being carried on the first two toes. And that's because when you're standing en pointe, that's the axis straight up through your spine so that you actually have more strength if you're balanced towards those first two toes than if you're sort of edged more towards the pinky toe. If you were on the pinky toe, if you think about, you'd fall off pointe just because your ankle would bend the wrong way.
So dancers are trained to be mainly on those first two toes, maybe three depending on the foot.
GROSS: Now, it's very interesting to read how the role of men and women in ballet changed over the centuries. And yet, you say that early on in ballet -and I guess you're talking 17th century, late 16th century here - men were given to virtuosity while women were expected to exercise restraint. You say the relationship was chivalric. Am I saying that right?
Ms. HOMANS: Yep.
GROSS: With the man performing technical feats in honor of his demure lady. So why was it the man who was taking center stage and being, I guess doing more physical feats than the woman?
Ms. HOMANS: Well, I mean, this really goes back to the court origins that we were talking about earlier. I mean, these are the men who are thought to be the highest members of society. And they are the kings, they are the ones in control. And the women are meant to be sort of the same but less.
So the women perform, but they don't do the same kind of extravagant and intricate footwork that the men do. And you can think of it partly as costume, as well. The women, of course, are wearing very long, heavy skirts.
To actually get off the ground or beat your legs or weave intricate steps with your feet would be very difficult in those kinds of costumes, whereas the men have free legs, and you can see them. So all of this worked towards the man having the more prominent (unintelligible) role and the women being more demure.
GROSS: So how did ballerinas become stars?
Ms. HOMANS: Ballerinas became stars when men, when the male aristocratic dancer was really discredited. And this happened in France. France was the center of the ballet world at this point.
And when the French Revolution came, this was the key moment for women. What happened? Well, the hatred and bitter animosity towards the aristocracy during the French Revolution had direct consequences for ballet, which after all, was an aristocratic art.
And so, you know, the day before the storming of the Bastille, the people of Paris stormed the opera. Why should you have this aristocratic art? If you're going to take down the aristocracy, let's take down ballet too?
So the men who were performing this art gradually became less admired, and they started to become sort of more acrobatic and to pull more and more from popular forms. The technique changed. And by the, you know, 1830s, 1840s, men are reviled on stage. You know, they're thought to be a disgrace.
Well, what steps into the void? Marie Taglioni, other female dancers who take the ideals that had existed in the aristocratic art form and turned them into a feminine ideal of which they are the masters.
And so then you get this image of the ballerina on toe, in these more Romantic era ballets of unrequited love and the romantic themes that carried ballet into the 19th century.
GROSS: My guest, Jennifer Homans, will be back in the second half of the show. Her new book is called "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.
(Soundbite of music)
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross, back with Jennifer Homans. Her new book, "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet," was just named one of the top five nonfiction books of the year in the Sunday New York Times Book Review. It's about how the art of ballet evolved; shifting ideas about gender and the ideal body; and how kings, courts, and revolutions have influenced the development of ballet. Ballet started in the courts of French kings.
You know, you're talking about the aristocratic basis of ballet. But in the Cold War, period it was Russia that was considered to be the center of ballet. And the Bolshoi Ballet was revered around the world, and even when Russia was America's enemy, the Bolshoi was such a big deal in the United States. So how did Russia, when it was a communist country, reconcile ballet with its aristocratic origins?
Ms. HOMANS: Yeah, that's a fascinating moment because, you know, as you say, I mean you've got a court art that is very much associated with, you know, Nicholas II and, who after all, is the - has an affair with one of the dancers. And when the revolution comes, Lenin, actually, takes over this ballerina's house, ransacks it and uses it as his headquarters, as a kind of symbol that, you know, that the court is over and I'm in control. So you would think that ballet would have gone with the Imperial Court. But in fact, it becomes the, sort of centerpiece of cultural life in the Soviet state, or certainly a very important part.
But the other thing is that ballets really did change and they reworked them to the new socialist image. So you had a period where there were lots of what they call tractor ballets. These were ballets about workers with shiny tools remaking the socialist state.
On the other hand, you also had classical ballets, Petipa ballets, that were redone. You know, some of the aristocratic etiquette was wiped out, so you didn't have the same kind of emphasis on pantomime and gracious manners, and instead you had more bravura variations, a kind of muscular quality added to these dances so that they would, in fact, reflect the image of the Soviet state.
And, you know, the other thing is that ballet is an art form where you don't need the language in order to appreciate it. So, you know, the Russian leaders, or the Soviet leaders, could take diplomats of all kinds to the ballet. They didn't need to understand Russian in order to be impressed. So the ballet became a place where foreign dignitaries would be entertained and shown the great cultural life of the Soviet Union. When the country finally opened up a little bit and the Bolshoi, as you said, toured to the West, they were an absolute sensation. I mean the lines around the block, the cries of wonder and amazement at this extraordinary art form and at the dancers who performed it was part of the Cold War political story.
GROSS: And, of course, there are several Russian dancers would become emigres to the U.S. and to make a big impact here: Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Nijinsky.
Ms. HOMANS: That's right. You know, the Russians, before and after the Revolution, were leaving Russia in great numbers and - I mean Russian dancers -and coming to the West, and they were the ones that really sort of ceded the tradition here. And many of them, in particular, George Balanchine, became key, key figures in the establishment of what then became an American art form.
GROSS: Now George Balanchine, the great choreographer, who came to the U.S. from Russia, you describe him as the jewel in the crown of 20th century dance. And you say for him the ballet was an art of angels, of idealized and elevated human figures, beautiful, chivalric, and above all, strictly formal. So what did that mean for dancers in terms of what they were taught about how to approach the art of the dance?
Ms. HOMANS: I think what that meant for dancers was that their formal training was very, very important. So they spent a lot of time perfecting their techniques. Precision was valued enormously, so that, you know, Balanchine was actually a very, very fine teacher and he did work a lot in the classroom with his dancers. That's where he did some of his most radical experimentation, was actually trying things out on dancers in the classroom. But, you know, a Balanchine class was famed - he was famous for giving multiple repetitions of very basic steps until they were, you know, just ingrained in the body in a way that you could never forget them. So, you know, the sort of very deep formal work was an extremely important part of making a Balanchine dancer.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Jennifer Homans and she's the author of the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." She's also a former ballet dancer and she teaches the history of dance at NYU.
Let's take a short break here and then we'll talk more.
This is FRESH AIR.
(Soundbite of music)
GROSS: My guest is Jennifer Homans, author of the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." She's a former professional ballet dancer. When we left off, we were talking about the Russian emigre choreographer George Balanchine and how he changed dance in the 20th century. He founded the New York City Ballet. She studied there.
And you say Balanchine saw ballet as a philosophy of an approach to life. Now you studied at the New York City Ballet, which was founded by Balanchine. What did that mean to you when you were studying?
Ms. HOMANS: Well, you know, I was a kid from Chicago and I, you know, had not grown up in a theater world. My father was an academic and my mother worked in the university, so I had very little exposure to theatrical people. And when I arrived in New York at Balanchine's school, there I was in this kind of little Russia. I mean they all spoke Russian. Danilova, one of my main teachers, you know, would appear at class, you know, dressed in sort of pastel chiffons and false eyelashes curled and elaborate makeup and hair do's and there was like a kind of very, very old world perfume and etiquette to the life there. So for me it was quite an extraordinary experience. It was one I struggled with at times because there was also, you know, with that a very, very clear sort of, as I saw it at the time, authoritarian impulse so that, you know, you were really expected to do what you were told and you were not meant to ask questions. And, you know, I remember facing one of my teachers and saying, well, I just can't do it that way because I had some theory about why I couldn't do it that way. You know, and she just looked at me with her stick and sort of just prodded my legs and said, you know, Jennifer, more.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. HOMANS: And that was it, you know? Just do it my way. And so, you know, there was that element to it as well.
GROSS: I can only imagine because I think this was like the late 60s when you got there?
Ms. HOMANS: Yeah. It was actually the mid-70, but...
GROSS: The mid-70s. OK.
Ms. HOMANS: It was the mid-70s but, you know, there was still enough of that left, right? So...
GROSS: I mean there had been a period of like rebellion against authority. The women's movement was, you know, still pretty active still, you know, these like old-school teachers with the curled eyelashes and the chiffon and authoritarian, and it didn't fit in with the times at all I'm sure.
Ms. HOMANS: No, it didn't and I mean, you know, we all wore our T-shirts and I was very much part of that whole world of feminism and, you know, doing what you want when you want and all of those, the beliefs that we all kind of carried around with us all the time. So this was quite a different life. But the thing about it was that it was so interesting and I could see that there was something incredibly exciting and valuable there. So, you know, I ended up sort of deciding that, you know, you go along and then you see what happens. You know, (Foreign language spoken). It was like that. You know, OK, well, you have to decide to sort of take the plunge, believe and trust what they're doing and then let's see what comes of it. And, you know, indeed, sort of whole world to do open out from it.
GROSS: If there was an authoritarian side to Balanchine's company it sounds like there was also a very spiritual side. He was Russian Orthodox and you say that partly because of his faith, he believed that music and dance were sacred arts and that one finds God through the senses. Did you experience that when you were dancing?
Ms. HOMANS: Oh, very much so. I mean that was the - that was the reason to dance, and that's the main thing that one experienced on a sort of daily basis. You know, there is something almost religious about ballet and about being a dancer. It's a commitment, the ritual of going to class everyday, of being with people and performing these great works. And when you work very hard and you achieve a kind of coordination and skill in the body, there is a way in which it sets you free. And, you know, if you're doing these beautiful movements to music and you manage to get it all right, which doesn't happen all the time, but when you do, it is an extraordinary and transcendent experience.
GROSS: And you say that Balanchine had this uncompromising emphasis on now, not holding back, doing it all, giving your all now. What did that mean for you as a dancer?
Ms. HOMANS: You know, as a dancer it was really a kind of concentration. It's much harder than it sounds to focus your energy now and not be thinking about what I'm going to do in five minutes or in five hours or what happened before and was it OK or, you know, so-and-so made me angry or wasn't that a nice thing for them to say, to just put everything aside, focus on this movement here, now and really sort of throw your full self into it, in a way that's not just throwing but intelligent, is quite a discipline. So, you know, there was that side of it.
I think the other thing it did was it did sort of - it didn't occur to me to think about ballet's history at that time because we were all worried about the now, you know? I never took pictures or had any sense of the, you know, the future or, it was all what we were doing right there. It was very peculiar in a way but it was very engrossing.
GROSS: Your book ends with you saying, something important really is over. We are in mourning. Classical ballet has always been an art of belief. It does not fare well in cynical times. It's an art of high ideals and self control in which proportion and grace stand for an inner truth, an elevated state of being. Today we no longer believe in ballet's ideals. We are skeptical of elitism and skill which seem to us exclusionary and divisive.
So do you think it's over and you think that has to do with the times that we live in?
Ms. HOMANS: I do think that something very big and important is over. You know, the whole era that we've been talking about, this great 20th century modernist moment is no more. I mean and, you know, that's not a criticism, it's just a historical fact. I mean a lot of the people who are, who were important to it have died and we do live in a sort of different kind of aesthetic era now.
If you look back over the history of ballet and you see that at certain points in the history, ballet has been really, really central to culture, a kind of very important thing that people talk about, that matters enormously. I think one of the problems is that it is, in fact, more conservative today than it has been in a very long time. You know, we are very concerned today with preserving the classics, with sort of holding on and making sure that they are in good shape and being performed well. That's - there's nothing wrong with that. That's sort of the tradition and we need that.
The problem is that that's not quite enough. And the new work it seems to me, to be very, very overwhelmed with steps, with a kind of athleticism and bravura that doesn't move people particularly and, you know, I'm not sure where the vision is or where it's all going to go. It may pick up and find a new spot, and that's certainly, you know, I will be the first person to be on my feet applauding if that were to happen.
GROSS: You danced until you were 26. Why did you stop?
Ms. HOMANS: I stopped because although I still - I mean, I loved to dance. It was an absolute passion with me, and I think I still loved to dance when I stopped, but it was almost a message from my own body in a way. I mean I just -I had had an injury. I, during the injury I had done a lot of reading and I had kind of developed a routine for myself where I would read and write and I had my kind of control of my own time and I had my own schedule and, you know, when I went back to dancing, I just, you know, it was almost like physically I just couldn't do it anymore. I just didn't really want to as much as I loved to dance. It sounds strange but I just kind of reached a brick wall.
And I think part of what was going on was that I was always pulled sort of towards the life of the mind as well as the life of the body, if you want to put it that way and, you know, I knew that I wanted to study and to read more and resume my education. I had not been to college and so, you know, I think I saw it as an opportunity, really that here was a moment where I could stop dancing and I could start something brand new at an age where I was still young enough to be able to make something of it without too, too much difficulty, and so I did that. I have to say that stopping was much harder than I thought it would be.
GROSS: Well, Jennifer Homans, thank you so much for talking with us.
Ms. HOMANS: Thank you very much.
GROSS: Jennifer Homans is the author of the new book "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet." You can read an excerpt on our website, freshair.npr.org.
Coming up, our classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz talks about attending an 85th birthday music tribute to Pierre Boulez in Berlin. This is FRESH AIR.
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Pole position for Audi driver Laurens Vanthoor in home round at Spa
The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT has achieved a perfect starting base for the Spa 24 Hours. The #1 Audi R8 LMS ultra will be starting the race from position one on the grid on the 90th anniversary of the endurance event. In the super pole qualifying session for the top 20 participants, the Belgian team, with the Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, achieved the best time in its home round.


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December 2009
"Man is but a worm." An unkindly caricature, published by Punch magazine as part of their 1882 Almanac in 1881, just prior to Charles Darwin's death. The message shows that there was still much conjecture about the origin of species at that time.
Public Domain image.
Darwin's Environment
The English physician and naturalist Erasmus Darwin died in 1802, approximately seven years before Charles Darwin's birth. Nonetheless, he provided the philosophical framework and intellectual environment for his grandson Charles' work on evolutionary theory, which led to the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, [hereafter shortened to Origin of Species] in 1859.1 In his publication Zoönomia, Erasmus Darwin stated:
Would it be too bold to imagine that, in the great length of time since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind… that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which the great First Cause endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions and associations, and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down these improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!2
Although we would not easily identify this as modern heredity theory, it is likely that Charles Darwin would have viewed this as a strong rationale for seriously contemplating the likelihood of deep time and for questioning the immutability of species.
Darwins, demons, demiurges, and the anguish of discovery
In his Origin of Species, Darwin provided a thesis that largely avoids the need for any divine intervention in the origin of life, although humans are not included in this "long argument" (Darwin's term). Despite this omission, many of his 19th century contemporaries initially failed to embrace his work (e.g., Charles Lyell), or saw it as a direct threat to the established order of society.
Although enlightened with respect to earlier centuries, the British of the mid to late 1800s were far from a secular society; in particular, the Church of England had a very considerable influence on all aspects of life—including politics and science. Darwin was all too aware of this, and he agonized over the polarizing effect he knew his work would have—as many saw it as a direct threat to the widely accepted, and socially cohesive, relationship between man and God.3 It is clear that this antagonism deterred Darwin from discussing humanity's place in evolution in the Origin of Species. Furthermore, it is a testament to his deep anguish about the likelihood of public rejection of his species theory.
The need to reconcile or soften his science with the spiritual (and visceral) disquietudes of many of his family and friends was perhaps the first of Darwin's demons.4 Other demons included the inability to fully explain the process of heredity and insufficient time for evolution through natural selection. Nevertheless, his views upon the place of a demiurge (i.e., the Creator of the world) apparently changed, for although the first edition of Origin of Species had no reference to a God, he included due reverence to the Creator in the last paragraph of later editions.
When he deemed the time right, Darwin finally placed humans in the greater scheme of things in his book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871),5 wherein he firmly adheres to scientific principles. In addition, the evolution of man is debated, defended, and later verified on these principles.3 It is clear that Darwin would have had a much easier time of it if he had been living in the present because we:
- more fully appreciate the magnitude of time that has elapsed since our world began;
- have a comprehensive knowledge of the age of the Earth;
- have a remarkably complete fossil record; and
- possess a good understanding of the mechanisms of inheritance within living organisms.
We must consider that these advances followed the groundbreaking work of naturalists like those of the Darwin family, nonetheless.
Darwin and religion
The relationship Darwin had with religion is complex; early on, he had plans to enter the ministry, although his enthusiasm quickly waned.6 Even though Darwin was a theist in his early years, at the end, he was an agnostic (not certain if there is a God or other deities), rather than an atheist (believes there is no God or other deities), and he reflected upon this in his letters:
What my own views may be is a question of no consequence to any one but myself. But, as you ask, I may state that my judgment often fluctuates. … In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally (and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind.7
It is of significance that Darwin did not close the door on religion, although in Descent of Man,5 he clearly entertained the idea that the Creator was potentially a manifestation of human culture:
The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator of the universe does not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by long-continued culture.5
Science and spirituality
However, in light of current scientific advances, we should be mindful that any reconciliation of science through and within religion is almost certainly doomed to fail: the two concepts are incomparable—the former concept founded in empiricism, and the latter in faith. We should appreciate that this discussion is not new, nonetheless; and surprisingly, it was even opined by leaders in the early Christian Church, e.g. in 408 A.D., when Saint Augustine, in De Genesi ad litteram (The Literal Meaning of Genesis), lamented:
… it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for a Christian to talk nonsense on (elements of this world)… and we should take all means to prevent such embarrassment.8
A key component of Darwinian evolution through natural selection is that life arose from non-living matter. In contrast, creationist dogma such as intelligent design (ID) states that life is too complicated to have been created through natural selection. If we accept that science is conducted objectively, and that it involves the systematized observation of, and experimentation with, phenomena, however, we must anticipate that some scientific theories may be falsi?able—i.e., conditions may arise under which a theory becomes untenable. When falsified, a new hypothesis to account for the observations is proposed.
ID however, cannot be assessed scientifically—even though some proponents claim that "organic design" through the intervention of a supernatural body is legitimate science. Clearly, any restructuring of empiricism just to accommodate ID is inherent nonsense; at best, it is naïve; at worst, it is fraudulent and immoral. ID necessitates acceptance that all that humans observe (and experience) in nature is to some degree "pre-ordained." From this, it is but a short move towards fundamentalist fatalism, which must ultimately result in the abdication of a duty of care towards other cultures, creeds, and the natural environment.
This is totally incompatible with one of the most ennobling of human aspirations: environmental stewardship. Any widespread adoption of the principles of ID would induce catastrophic effects upon science because the essence of science embraces open inquiry, as well as the quest for truth. Furthermore, the inability of ID advocates to demonstrate any level of, or commitment to, empiricism, would ensure that the scientific process would come to an abrupt halt.9
There is more to this story than science or faith alone, however. Humans are spiritual beings, and arguably, there is a good reason for this.10 It is not imperative that we excise science in pursuit of spirituality (or vice versa). Although many religious groups have appreciated this point rather slowly, it would be advantageous for every person to accept sound science alongside their individual creeds.
© 2009, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com for reprint permission. See reprint policy.


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TAPS valued at $8.7 billion for 2013
Review board upped original valuation after reconsideration
The trans-Alaska pipeline system (TAPS) has been accessed at a taxable value of $11,874,014,300. Yes, that's in billions.
And well over $2 billion of that property is located within the city limits of Valdez. Oil property taxes pay for the lion's share of the yearly Valdez budget, which has inched up towards $50 million dollars a year.
The $11.8 billion taxable valuation includes the 800 miles pipe from the North Slope to the Valdez Marine Terminal, and all associated properties across the state.
The decision was handed down May 29 by the State Assessment Review Board (SARB) which found that the state assessor's original assessment of $7.1 billion back in January of this year was in error.
During the appeal process the municipalities, including Valdez, argued the actual taxable value of TAPS is closer to $13 billion. The primary owners of TAPS, BP, ConocoPhillips Exxon/Mobile, Koch Alaska Pipeline Company and Unocal, argued the value was no more than $2.25 billion.
All parties can appeal the SARB decision within 30 days. Prior to 2012, TAPS owners and the taxing entities typically appealed the SARB decision.
Last year, TAPS and the municipalities reached a unique agreement and agreed to value the baseline value of oil properties at just over $8 billion and skipped the SARB process in order to save each side legal costs.
The municipalities, the state assessor and TAPS owners have been in court over the value of TAPS since 2006.
In late 2010, the State Superior Court ruled TAPS was valued at $8.941 billion for 2007, $9.644 billion for 2008 and $9.249 for 2009.
The 2013 SARB decision may very well wind its way through the lengthy court process, if the past seven years are any indication of how the process will play itself out.
In simplified terms, the 2010 decision sided with the municipalities that had argued the taxable value of TAPS should be based on replacement costs for an identical pipeline. TAPS owners have argued it should be valued based on its tariff income, which has been significantly lower in the past decade due to less oil throughput.
In SARBs latest findings, it reported that the state assessor erred repeatedly in its assessment and accepted methodologies that were contrary to the court's 2010 decision.


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This little T-6 trainer was built in WWII. It served the USAF for many years and went on to serve the Japanese JASDF. It was retired in 1961 and maintained in good condition on display for many more years on the base museum at Hamamatsu.
Over the following decades, the T-6 has become a coveted vintage aircraft, with many examples lovingly restored and flown around the world.
Recently, this historic aircraft was returned to the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency.


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Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
So now you agree with me. With Civics you use high RPM.
First of all I'm a new poster and never disagreed with you that the Civic engine makes the bulk of it's power at higher revs.
I do not like it, nor the downshift to get there. I like 6 cylinder cars just because of this. The Sentra is the only non-German compact 4 cylinder car which has good low RPM acceleration. This is what I have found so far, based on published specs. If you know some mechanics, you know this is hard to achieve. Driving a car to work everyday at age 50, I do not seek the motercycle excitement. I actually feel annoyed by the noises made by the other "sporty" cars, sometimes. You have to understand that different people look for different features on their cars. The number of drivers who hate having to use high RPM is not negligible. A lot of people do not know the importance of the location of max hoese power and max torque yet. The old specs from 10 years ago only gave the maxima. Now every specification of a new car is mandated to reveal the max HP and max torque together with the RPM numbers where the maxima appear. That is not for no reason. In fact, I would like to see the entire HPRPM and TorqueRPM curves for these cars. Without those, some car makers can still fool comsumers with cheaply designed engines, even dependable but cheap ones.
Hey, if you like driving a tractor and keeping the revs low, that's fine with me. Don't assume that everyone likes that though, or that an engine has superior design or engineering because it makes its power at lower rpm's. It's simply designed differently. It probably has a heavier flywheel and different cam, etc to achieve that goal (and thus probably revs up much slower than an engine designed to rev as well - it takes more effort to spin that heavy flywheel up to speed). EVERY torque and rpm curve cross at 5250 rpm's, it's just a matter of what they do before and after that point. If you like low rpm torque, why stop with a 6 cylinder? Why not a big block that makes 300 foot pounds while it's idling? You'd never even have to step on the gas then, you could just put really tall gearing in the transmission and shift. My point is that each application is different. If you don't like spinning the engine up to make power that's fine and it sounds like you bought the right car for YOU, but don't assume that everyone wants that same driving experience. I would personally HATE to drive a car who's engine wouldn't wind out a little. I don't really see the advantage to the low rpm torque personally. If it were a towing vehicle or truck that carried a heavy load that's a different story (and thus why those types of vehicles are designed to make power in that range). An economy car is not a different story though.
The 06 Accord has [email protected], compared to the 96 Accord having [email protected] If both at below 3000RPM, normally where it is at 50 mph, the 06 Accord should have 20% more torque than the 96 Accord, may be even more because of improved design details. The weight difference is only 10%. Of course the 06 Accord is faster.
Anyway, max torque at low rpm is desired in the design of small cars. Some examples are:
2006 Saab 9-3: 2.0 liter, [email protected]
2006 Audi A4 convertible: 1.8 liter, [email protected],
2006 Audi A3: 2.0 liter, [email protected],
2006 VW Golf: 2.0 liter, [email protected],
2006 Sentra: 1.8 liter, [email protected]
Among them, Sentra has an affordable price. I buy it because I have to pay college tuition for my son.
A bad example among German cars is the MINI: [email protected]0
There is quite a misunderstanding here....
Maximum torque is just that the RPM where maximum torque occurs. Each engine has a torque cureve base on RPM. All are in a somewhat bell shaped curve . but the diffrrences in the curve, very flat to a very steep peak make a differnece in the torque. The weght of the car makes a significant difference.Also the type of transmission, automatic ( number of gears or CVT) and manual number of gears and each gear ratio. Ant then finally there is the rear-end gear ratio. If it is a large number then it in effect multiplies the torque, but your engine runs at a higher RPM and your gas mileage will be less.
I think what maybe you shouldconcetrate on, instead of "Peak Torque" is the actual accelration times 0-10, 0-20, 0-30, 0-40, 0-50, 0-60. Most major car magazines when they review a car will give those numbers inseconds.
You probably want to concetrate on the 0-30 or 0-20 times. This will give you a much better idea than just the max torque number of a cars actual performance.
To put this all in perspective, would you buy a pet based solely on its eye color?
Cruis'n in a low torque, high RPM 2.2L 4 cylinder,
P.S.- It is amazing how many arm chair designers are better than factory design engineers0
I'm concerned with acceleration from 50mph to 70mph. Experience tells me that, if the torque-weight ratio is small while the engine is turning at ~2500RPM, the transmission has to downshift for acceleration. A larger engine (>2.5 liter or 6 cylinder) should have enough torque in this range, no matter which car it is.
Compare Nissan Maxima with Sentra, the max torques are [email protected] and [email protected], and weights are 3447 and 2620. A Sentra has 76% of the weight of a Maxima, but only 50.5% of its torque.
For the compact cars with small engines, it helps to have the max torque appear early at ~2500RPM. In addition to what I listed as example of cars designed in this way, there are the VW Passat 2.0, VW Jetta 1.9 and VW GTI 1.8. Only a strong engine can take the load of high torque output at low RPM.
Those numbers like 0-60 in 7 seconds are for racing, where the engine turns at >5000RPM. I never have my cars run at >4500RPM for a second.0
Then I'll pray for you the day an ambulance comes racing up behind you on the freeway at 90 miles per hour. We'll see where your torque gets you if you never rev your engine near the horsepower. My Honda will be singing at 5k and leaving the ambulance in the dust. FYI it doesn't hurt a car to rev it, you know, as long as you stay out of the tachometer's red zone, and even there, the engine should cut power to reduce engine speed, and prevent any damage. On my way to school today I doubt I touched 3,000 rpm, and had no problem making it to 65 mph, passing cars, or maintaining my speed up a 10% grade. This, in my car (96 Accord)whose peak torque supposedly isn't satisfactory. Yesterday, on my way home, a car was merging in to the right lane (where I was, so instead of hit the brakes and risk getting rear-ended, I gunned it, revved to about 4300 rpm, and took off. Guess what, my car is still alive. After 157,000 miles of this, same tranny, engine, block, and everything mechanical. All I've ever replaced is the main radiator fan, $250. Not bad to be such a race car driver (like a race car driver could get 2 MPGs over EPA on trips like I do, HA).
Can you explain why those German compact cars are designed in the way I like?0
Huh? Those german cars are also designed to rev high, for passing on the autobahn at 110 miles per hour. I doubt the Jetta 2.5, while having plentiful low-end, would be able to have get up and go if left in top gear to pass quickly at 85. It would rev higher, pushing higher into its horsepower band.0
Okay 50-70 times. Look at those times and quit worrying about torque. So what if the car has to downshift in a automatic. So what if the RPM goes up. In a manual transmission to pass at 50-70 I would downshift from 6th to 4th. The car review on manual look at 50-70 accelration in top gear (5th or 6th) and you get a somewhat distorted perspective. Go out an drive the different cars. If you don't like the 50-70 times without going over 4,500 for a seconds don't get it.
Torque is base on a lot of things; stroke length, engine size and aspiration. You said: "Those numbers like 0-60 in 7 seconds are for racing" No No they are a metric used to measure performane. They are used to compare one car to another; it doesn't mean you should always try to achieve.
By the way did you know that CVT tries to always maintain the optimum engine RPM for efficiency which in many cases is 4,500 or more. Don't ever get a CVT.
Again you misunderstand maximum torque. Maximum torque is only one measurement. Put a 4.11 rear end in a compact and see what you think of the torque!
My experience tells me you experience is all wet; Ever look at a diesel ?
My participation in the discussion has ended. so long.
P.S.- I seems like you want the Sentra and are trying to find a way to justify it abeit rather obtuse. If the Sentra floats your boat more than a Civic than by all menas get the Sentra.0
Cruis'n in a low torque, high RPM 2.2L 4 cylinder,
What happened, Midcow? I thought you were buying an Si, not an S2000? Change of heart? Mind? Just wondering...
The dealer couldn't get the Si he wanted (color and Navi options weren't right), so the dealer made hima deal for invoice on an S2000 instead! I'm jealous, but loving my own Honda anyway!0
Hey tthota,
I'm older than you!. What do you think about me getting a license plate that says "Nvr2Old"
And yes I will enjoy my peak torque at 6200 RPM
S2000 MidCow0
Good for you. But I feel old, you don't seem to.
I still think Nissan is better than Honda per dollar. If I had $30,000 to spend this time, I would have bought a Maxima SE, which could be boring for you. A 350Z is not practical for me, although my favorite car was a 300Z 5 years ago.0
crissman Posts: 145So far, for me, the fact that the Civic develops its greatest torque at high RPMs has really been a non-issue. The transmission is so darn smooth you hardly notice a 5 to 4 downshift (auto trans), which in most cases achieves the acceleration needed. Granted, I tend to drive conservatively, being an old gray-beard, too. Most of the time I'm just putting along in the right lane, and the Civic is only turning about 1900 RPM at 60 mph. If I had to do a lot of passing on two lane roads low end torque might be nicer, but in those situations you floor it, and any car's auto trans will kick down anyway. The two main reasons I picked the '06 Civic were its reliability and economy. All the other nice features are just icing.0
According to your experience, it seems the 06 civic is better than my 97 Accord in a downshift situation. The Accord has an obvious dragging. Since I also drive a 89 BMW 325i AT, after sold my old Maxima, in them I never need a downshift and only push gas pedal gradually, the comparison is there. When I push gas pedal gradually in the Accord, my "order" is ignored every time. I tried to floor the pedal in my 06 Sentra today, it did downshift, but I only know it from the tahometer needle and sound, no dragging. To my surprise, the RPM went from 2200 (overdrive) to 3300, not 4000 as in the Accord, and the car behaved almost like the 325i. I like it. In fact, I never needed to floor the pedal in daily driving around NW Ohio. I admit the Sentra is long overdue for a redesign. The round body belongs to the last generation. When I'm paying college tuition for my son at the rate of one Civic per year, the look is less important than the lower price and $2500 rebate. It's $2500 at the top of my mortgage plus its rolling interest for the next ~15 years. I have no reservation to recommend everybody short in cash to buy the 06 Sentra. I wish Nissian had the special edition package available with manual Sentras.0
I think this will be a much more interesting discussion once the new Sentra is out. For now, the Sentra is outdated, outclassed, outfeatured, and just plain outengineered by the new Civic. Its only advantage is purchase price, but thats ok- its what happens when a model is allowed to languish over 7 model years.
...this coming from someone who loves his '03 Sentra (2.5L 4A)
Just for the low end torque, I still choose sentra over civic, unless I can afford an A4. At the same price, I choose outback sport over civic. We just have to agree to disagree. The good things about civic are low on my priotity list.
As for the gas mileage, when there are still F150 on the street, we can drive cars. Sentra is only secondary to corolla and civic on mpg, by not very much. Actually the difference on mpg is the price a Sentra owner has to pay for better low rpm power. One can minimize it by intentionally not use the power. Once I managed to increase the mpg number showing on the Sentra trip computer from 32.6 to 32.9 while driving in local streets for 10 miles. If you floor the gas pedal after stopping at every red light (if no other car before you) in a Civic, the mpg will probably be below 30.
Someone told me that Toyota and Honda have their computerized fuel system limit fuel rate to achieve optimized mpg. That is, the driver's desire is distorted by the car. I prefer manual cars because I hate to have the auto transmission distort my desire of proper gears. However, there are too many other things keeping me from getting manual ones. I certainly don't want further distortion from a stupid computer.0
If you floor the gas pedal after stopping at every red light (if no other car before you) in a Civic, the mpg will probably be below 30.
Well that's a no-brainer right there. I'm not sure why anyone would need to floor it, though. I've never "had" to floor my Accord from a redlight to get the lead on traffic, say, if I needed to change lanes and found it easier to do so in front of everyone instead of trying to fit in the traffic. You managed to get nearly 33mpg, very nice, but compared with the Honda when driven gently, it still falls behind. I just got 36.4 mpgs on my Honda Accord, so strictly by numbers I could get approx. 43 mpg on the Civic when driven as gently.
One last thing about Nissan that bothers me has been their Interior quality. While my granddad's 99 Nissan Frontier XE feels solid inside, the last Armada, Titan, new Frontier, Altima, and Quests I've sat in (International Auto Show) had buttons that felt loose in their housings compared to my 1996 Honda, and felt especially bad compared with my new one. They need to take a page from Honda's and Toyota's interior quality, so that I don't feel like I'm going to break the climate control knob in my hand.0
If fuel milage and low end torque are important to you, why are you ignoring all of VW's diesel offerings?
The Sentra is a fine choice if the items where the Civic excels dont mean anything to you- efficiency, safety, room, build quality, ride, handling, resale value.
For me, and many, thats too much to ignore simply in favor of low-end torque.
The only Nissan I had was a 1983 2+2 280 Zx tubo; bad turbo lag. Have a 2005 Accord 6-speed Coupe for cruis'n and my wife has a low miles 2000 Avalon XLS.
Going to put some mile on the S2000 to break it in right. P.s I was passed by A Senta :P0
The hood and wind shield of S2000 look great. The Civic Si hood is too short. 07 Sentra also has a ridiculously short hood. I'd rather loose some interior space for a car-looking car, not a fat-bread-looking one.
I had good luck with my 83 200sx, 87 Maxima, 91 Pathfinder and 94 240sx. The 84 Celica costed me a lot on repairs. With my 97 Accord, the only problem has been the front rotors. You would think the rotors are just 30 bucks a piece. You are partially right. To take the rotors out, 3-4 hours of laber on each side, plus a special tool to pull out some stuff. My friend can replace timing belts on any Nissan, but he can't replace the Accord rotors. What a sophisticated design. I replaced rotors on 4 or 5 cars, including both rear rotors on an 89 BMW 325i, none of them costed me more than $100. There are also a good story about Accord: I have a factory muffler (in one piece with pipe) installed by dealer for $250 with life time warranty. The same repear at Tuffy would be $230, with only 1 year warranty on the pipe. Almost every Honda before 95 has rust next to the rear wheels, like every Toyota before some year has rust on the trunk lid. I hope that is history. Honda's regular maintenance cost is higher than average. Service appointments at my local Honda dealer are never current, usually a week. All the 4 Honda dealers are all that buzy. A friend has a 03 Sentra, perfect condition for 40,000 miles. Another friend bought a one-year-old Sentra with collision record 16 years ago. He treaded it in for a new car 10 years later, not a single repear other than replacing tires, break pads and muffler. Another friend spent $700 repairing her AC compressor/condenser on an 89 Accord in 1995. My ACs on the 87 Maxima, 93 240sx and 91 Pathfinder never stopped working (14 years, with original R12, very cold).0
Talking about Honda quality? In 11/98, my 97 Accord and 84 Celica were hit by golf ball size dry heils while parked next to each other in College Staion, TX. There were several dozens of dents all over the Accord, costed $1400 to pop them out. There was not any trace of heil on the Celica. I have to give credit to Honda's paint, although no other car's paint was damaged by heils either. Many other cars in the city were OK too, like my Celica.0
Yes, but I was obviously talking about Honda's INTERIOR quality (referring to knobs and buttons). My 96 was apparently more fortunate in a storm, as it survived the nearby F-5 tornado on April 8, 1998. Debris was everywhere, but my car survived with nary a scratch. You can check out the live footage of our local meteorologist telling about this storm on
It's actually scary video (although no good footage is available. 34 people were killed in the storm, several in a neighborhood adjacent to mine.0
Thanks for the video.
Maybe your 96 Accord is luckier than my 97 Accord. I mean it probably, magically, did not get a 90 degree direct hit by any large debris. If not:
I have a few friends working for Detroit. Before I bought the 06 Sentra, one of them told me to be careful about a weaker body, since some car makers reduce the thickness of body steel in the last year of a model. This is mean, unlike mechanical problems in the first year of a new model. I hope Honda did not do what others did.
I agree with you on the Honda interior. My 97 Accord is still like new inside. My 91 Pathfinder is also pretty good after God knows how many owners. I damaged some stuff because I loaded dry walls, 2*4s and other building materials in it. At 150000 miles, it has 15-19 mpg, better than its 14-17 spec numbers. One bad case: a friend had to replace the CD/radio in his 99 Accord V6 in 2003, while the radio in his 92 Accord still working.
Perhaps there are a few more Nissan lemoms than Honda lemoms. In general, Nissan quality is good too.0
Here is another one. My department chairman drove a manual Civic for 10+ years. When he finally sold it, there were 40,000 original miles on it, but the body was like trash. He bought a 2000 Accord SE automatic. He told me he hated the feeling that every time he made a turn and tried to accelerate, he was shaked back and forth twice, dizzy. I told him a 6 cylinder or a manual car would not have that problem. Actually my tiny Sentra 1.8s AT is OK too. The 98-02 Accord model has its max torque [email protected]4900.0
Here is another one. My department chairman drove a manual Civic for 10+ years. When he finally sold it, there were 40,000 original miles on it, but the body was like trash. He bought a 2000 Accord SE automatic. He told me he hated the feeling that every time he made a turn and tried to accelerate, he was shaked back and forth twice, dizzy. I told him a 6 cylinder or a manual car would not have that problem. Actually my tiny Sentra 1.8s AT is OK too. Just OK.
The 98-02 Accord model has its max torque [email protected]4900. A v6 Accord of the same years is great: [email protected] 30% more torque for 7% more weight. If Honda changed the [email protected] to [email protected], it would have been much better at low speed, while cost Honda quite a few more dollars per engine/powertrain. Not to say [email protected], competing with Audi?0
Sorry. I'll stop talking about Accord from now on. Actually I can only talk about Civic from its specs. [email protected] ~= [email protected]? I haven't tested one so far. I will test one when I go to Honda dealer to change oil for my Honda car. Maybe I'll change idea. :-)0
I'll stop talking about Accord from now on. Actually I can only talk about Civic from its specs. 1284300 ~= 1524900? I haven't tested one so far. I will test one when I go to Honda dealer to change oil for my Honda car. Maybe I'll change idea.
I doubt it, because the Sentra does, in fact, make better low end torque. You aren't wrong here!0
lgoldin Posts: 90I own 2001 Sentra SE and really like the car. I have it since new and all this time enjoyed relatively high amount of torque at low RPMs as well as good passing power at high RPMs. I also enjoyed number of features which weren't available in other small cars at the time of purchase - heated mirrors (really helps during freezing rain), top storage bin, keyless trunk opening, illuminated vanity mirrors, etc.
But the car is 5 y.o. and I decided to try something new. I've checked Mazda3 and Civic, as well as many other cars. From driving prospective I liked MZ3 the best, but it's beside the point. Civic finally has almost all features which I care and which my Sentra has. It just lacks illuminated mirrors. I can live with that. I also really did not like that Civic holds RPMs when you switch gears. Feels really weird. But the major drawback for me was that despite 140hp you still can feel the lack of torque wrt 2.0L Sentra.
I wanted to try 2L Civic. Canada has Acura CSX which is a Civic with 2L and some other goodies. But then I saw info on new Sentra, so I will try CSX and Sentra when latter comes on market.0
This discussion has been closed.


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Come visit Lone Star Veterans Association and let the NextOp team help to develop your resume before you attend the next Warrior for Life event. This is a two hour open window to sit down with trained professionals on resume writing. If you already have a resume bring that in print and email to the host ahead of time if possible. This event will sharpen your presentation with employers later in the week.
* We'll help translate your military skills into civilian experience.
* Teach you how to read job descriptions and match your resume to the desired experience.
* We'll show you how to express your experience clearly and concisely.
April 18, 2017 at 9:30am - 11:30am
Combined Arms Center
2929 McKinney Rd
Houston, TX 77003
United States
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2929 McKinney Rd
Houston, TX 77003
United States
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Cecilia Clark ·
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Dietrich Linton


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WELLINGTON, New Zealand, June 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of State has given Kaman Corp. authorization for a possible sale of its SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite helicopters to New Zealand.
The deal is for 11 SH-2G(I) helicopters, a full-motion flight simulator, training aids and spares inventory, a statement from Kaman said. Also included are publications, an introduction-into-service program and through-life support of the aircraft.
"The Kaman SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite is the latest version of the multi-mission maritime helicopter and is a candidate for replacing the country's existing fleet of SH-2G's," Kaman said.
"These helicopters would significantly enhance New Zealand's vertical lift capabilities with exceptional performance and low operating costs. Kaman continues to support the ministry's objective of extending the naval helicopter capability through 2025."
The first Kaman SH-2 Seasprites were developed in the late 1950s as a fast utility helicopter for the U.S. Navy. Improvements over the years have added superior avionics but the last SH-2G versions were retired by the Navy in 2001.
Export orders continue for new and renovated SH-2G(I) helicopters, a pure maritime version for surface surveillance, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, search-and-rescue, troop deployment as well as general utility missions.
The SH-2G(I) version features fully integrated tactical avionics systems that are capable of being effectively operated by a crew of two.
The 'I' version can be flown in extreme sea environments from the arctic to the equatorial regions.
Kaman said confidential negotiations continue with the New Zealand government.
"No investment decisions have been made by New Zealand at this time and Kaman continues to work with other potential customers on the sale of the aircraft," Kaman said.
New Zealand Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman confirmed in May that talks with Kaman were ongoing for the controversial aircraft -- the same model of helicopters that was rejected by Australia in 2008.
Canberra canceled its order because the aircraft were considered unsafe and unsuitable, a report by The New Zealand Herald newspaper said at the time.
Coleman said the air worthiness issues the Australians identified had been corrected and there were still plenty of "off-ramps" before any deal was done.
Australia ordered the helicopters in 1997 but the project was delayed when modifications ordered by Australia failed to meet performance targets or were too difficult to implement in the refurbished air frames.
Australian media reports stated seven of the 11 helicopters were built in 1963 to 1965 and the other four in the mid-1980s.
Coleman said that what was on offer was up-to-date capability overall, not second-hand capability.
"The reality is we wouldn't buy it if it's not state-of-the-art capability that fits our need," he said.
The Herald report said Coleman wouldn't confirm the price but it is thought the 11 helicopters, worth $1.4 billion in 2008, would cost New Zealand $130 million-$230 million, depending on numbers and extras.
New Zealand has nine NH90 helicopters, built by NH Industries, on order for $770 million, the Herald said.
NH Industries is joint venture set up in 1992 by Eurocopter of France and Germany, Agusta of Italy -- now AgustaWestland -- and Stork Fokker Aerospace of the Netherlands.


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Dalyo API - Followers
Dalyo is a web platform for mobile application production. It provides a comprehensive toolbox that makes it easy to design, deploy, synchronize, and manage mobile applications that run on smartphones, PDAs, and web browsers. The Dalyo API allows users to edit data stored in Dalyo programmatically using SOAP calls.


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(Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people marched in cities across Bulgaria on Sunday, demanding an end to high utility bills and new voting rules after the government was toppled last week.
Public anger with power monopolies in the European Union's poorest member forced right-of-center Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's cabinet to resign and has put the country on track for an early election by May.
Although Borisov's government managed to maintain fiscal stability since taking power in 2009, belt-tightening has held back growth and driven up unemployment.
His departure has failed to calm voters fed up with low living standards and rampant graft, and his GERB party is now running neck-and-neck with the opposition Socialists ahead of the new election.
The last straw for many was a jump in winter electricity bills that at times exceeded incomes in a country where average salaries are just 400 euros ($530) a month and pensions are less than half that amount.
Much of the anger has been directed at power companies including Czech CEZ and Energo-Pro and Austria's EVN, which bought exclusive rights to distribute energy in specific regions from Bulgaria in 2004.
Waving Bulgarian flags and slogans reading "Fighting for decent life" and "Down with monopolies" over 10,000 Bulgarians marched through downtown Sofia.
"For years and years the politicians failed to impose strict controls over monopolies. This should stop," said 54-year-old Irena Mitova, a shop owner in Sofia.
Demonstrations also took place in around 40 other cities, with some 15,000 people marching in Bulgaria's second and third largest cities Plovdiv and Varna.
Separate, smaller protests were held against an inefficient education system that critics say does not prepare students for the labor market and against high interest charges from retail banks criticized for hurting small businesses.
President Rosen Plevneliev, who will probably appoint a caretaker government and dissolve parliament next week to pave the way for the early election, met protesters and ensured them their voices would be heard.
Protesters' demands ranged from imposing a moratorium on paying electricity bills for December and January until audits are carried out to sweeping changes in the constitution to allow the direct vote for deputies, rather than using party lists.
Some of the protesters demanded parliament continue with its work to adopt laws to ensure strict controls over the energy monopolies. Many want them to be renationalized and say politicians sold firms since the fall of communism in 1989 in a way that hurt public interest and kept living standards low.
Borisov had promised an 8 percent cut in electricity bills as of March – reversing much of a 13 percent rise his government approved last year – and has said the energy regulator would begin the process to revoke CEZ's license.
The regulator said a possible price decrease could be introduced as of April at the earliest and suggested there was room for compromise with CEZ.
(Editing by Michael Winfrey and Alison Williams)
Article taken from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/24/us-bulgaria-government-protests-idUSBRE91N06D20130224


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The Desert Inn hotel is getting a new lease on life with a new owner that plans to renovate the hotel.
DAYTONA BEACH — The Desert Inn hotel — the 1950s-era oceanfront resort ranked in 2011 as one of the dirtiest hotels in the nation by travel website TripAdvisor.com — is getting a new lease on life with a new owner that plans to renovate the hotel and operate it under a major, internationally recognized brand.
Summit Hospitality Group, which owns and operates three other beachside hotels in Daytona Beach, paid $6 million for the 221-room Desert Inn at 900 N. Atlantic Ave.
The new owners on Wednesday told The News-Journal that they intend to sink another $4 million to $12 million to renovate the property and reopen the hotel under a new name.
"It's another sign the Daytona Beach economy is going in the right direction," said Ken Berthiaume, Summit's regional director of sales.
Summit plans to run the hotel as the Desert Inn until the end of the year, said Efrain Silva, the company's vice president of operations.
After that, Summit, which recently moved its headquarters from Sanford to Daytona Beach, will close the hotel, strip it to the concrete, remodel the building and reopen it under a major hotel brand in mid-2014, he said. Silva said his company should have a brand for the hotel lined up within the next month.
The hotel has a taxable assessed value of $3.1 million, according to the Volusia County property appraiser's website.
Summit — which bought the Desert Inn from Deslin Hotels Inc., a family business based in Ormond Beach — intends to move its corporate headquarters to the Desert Inn building when it reopens next year.
Summit's main offices currently are in the Holiday Inn Resort Daytona Beach Oceanfront at 1615 S. Atlantic Ave., roughly 2-1/2 miles south of the Desert Inn.
In addition to the renovated Desert Inn, the city's beachside area is also set to add a new Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe, and a massive convention hotel-and-condominium complex developed by Russian company Protogroup Inc. Both planned oceanfront hotels are scheduled to open along Atlantic Avenue in early 2016.
"It's a new day, a new horizon for Volusia County," said Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Volusia County. "It's much needed for the county and for the Ocean Center (the county-run beachside convention center)."
Industry observers and local officials hope the Desert Inn's new name and look will usher in a new era for the hotel, which in 2011 made headlines when its then-owner's son, Dennis Devlin, was convicted for recruiting a 13-year-old boy to pose naked for photographs and videotapes in one of the hotel's guest rooms.
Summit's plan to renovate the Desert Inn shows that standards are rising among beachside hotels, said Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry.
"It in essence says that mediocre will not be sufficient on the beachside in the future," he said. "All of our hotels are going to be expected to step up and meet a higher standard as we move forward with improvements on the beachside."
Over the years, the oceanfront hotel has been the site of numerous crimes — ranging from robberies to shootings.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said he is encouraged by the news of the sale, adding that officers often responded to calls from the Desert Inn — especially during Spring Break — before Devlin's 2011 arrest.
"Historically, I think that place had always been a blight on the neighborhood," said Chitwood, who once called the Desert Inn a "den of iniquity."
"With the new company coming in, this is going to be good," he added.
Changing the Desert Inn's reputation won't be easy, but Silva said his company has had success turning around other struggling properties in the area. Summit is planning more than just a fresh coat of paint — it intends to replace everything in the hotel, including the plumbing, toilets and bathtubs, he said.
"Everything (the guest) sees and touches will be replaced," Silva said.
Additionally, Summit will increase the hotel's staff from 22 workers to about 100, so that it can accommodate conventions and other meetings and add new services, such as room service.
Summit entered the Daytona Beach market in 2007, when it purchased the Inn on the Beach hotel — which Silva said was a "distressed" hotel at the time — and converted it to the Holiday Inn, which is currently TripAdvisor's ninth highest-ranked hotel in the Daytona Beach area.
Most recently, the company reopened the former Ocean Sands Hotel — which carried a one-diamond rating on TripAdvisor — at 1024 N. Atlantic Ave. as a Hampton Inn in July.
The Hampton is now rated by TripAdvisor users as tops among the Daytona area's 106 hotels, according to the travel website.
Berthiaume said Summit plans to shift the Desert Inn away from Spring Break-related business, which has for years been a major point of focus for the hotel, and toward attracting more families, meetings and conferences. The company intends to expand the hotel's roughly 25,000 square feet of meeting space and use the facility's amenities, which include a theater and bowling alley, to broaden the Desert Inn's appeal, he said.
The hotel hasn't hosted a convention in about three years, Berthiaume added.
"It has all the bells and whistles," Silva said of the property. "It just has to be gutted and redone."


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Emma Samms (born Emma E. W. Samuelson; 28 August 1960) is a British television actress best known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital and for replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon Carrington Colby on the primetime soap opera Dynasty.
Samms was born in Willesden, London, England, the daughter of Madeleine U. (née White), a ballet dancer, and Michael E. W. Samuelson, who owned a film equipment rental company. Her grandfather, G. B. Samuelson, was a pioneer of British cinema. Samms was raised in the Jewish religion. She trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet School but stopped dancing at 15 after a hip injury. Next training as an actress, she changed her name to "Emma Samms" as there was already an "Emma Samuelson" registered at the actors union Equity.
Samms first played Holly Sutton Scorpio on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital from 1982 to 1985. With Samms choosing to leave the series amicably to go to ABC's prime time hit Dynasty, her character Holly seemingly perished in a plane crash. On May 15, 1985, Samms appeared in the fifth season finale "Royal Wedding" as Fallon Carrington Colby, a role originated by Pamela Sue Martin in 1981. The character was immediately transplanted into the new Dynasty spin-off The Colbys for two seasons (1985–1987), until reintroduced back into Dynasty in the September 23, 1987 eighth season premiere "The Siege - Part 1." Samms remained with Dynasty for two seasons until its last episode on 11 May 1989. She later returned for the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion.


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Designed so that owners can communicate with their pet in a way they instinctively understand, the Gentle Leader painlessly and effectively removes the dogs natural tendency to pull by placing gentle pressure on calming points and eliminating uncomfortable pressure on the throat. In addition to reducing a dogs desire to pull away, the Gentle Leader is also a very effective tool in combating lunging, jumping, excessive barking and helping to calm an aggressive and/or anxious animal.
Why is a Gentle Leader the best choice? Here are just of few of the reasons why
How does a Gentle Leader compare to other halter-like products?


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Food & Drink
For savvy travelers, the Middle East still beckons
By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN • Updated 7th February 2012
Zora O'Neill is heading to the Middle East next week.
O'Neill, a longtime traveler and author of an upcoming Lonely Planet book on Egypt, is not dissuaded by the evacuation of the U.S. and British embassies in Syria, rumblings of possible Israeli airstrikes against Iran or rioting in Cairo.
And it's not because she's reckless. She's heading to the United Arab Emirates and Oman for a month's stay to report on a book about Arab language and culture in the Middle East. After her work there, she'll head to Lebanon for more reporting.
"They're totally out of the fray," O'Neill says. "Americans tend to think about the Middle East as all one big country, but each place is distinct and has its own issues."
With violence in Syria and Egypt escalating and
a new travel warning for Syria
issued Tuesday, nervous American travelers will likely choose to avoid the entire Middle East right now.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Ted Kattouf on what it will take to end the violence in Syria.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer speaks with Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, who says that Israel will strike Iran in 2012.
However, Middle East travel experts say that plenty of the region's diverse destinations are still open for business and welcoming foreign visitors.
Know your tolerance level
Don't go if you're a worrywart and can't enjoy your trip. Knowing there are no guarantees, travelers who get nervous when a car backfires may not enjoy the Middle East. "If you want to live life at the fullest, you have to take chances," says Worldview Travel founder Ricci Zukerman, whether it's traveling to Israel or Bali or the Philippines. "Those who are afraid have to stay home and hope a plane doesn't fall on their house."
Consider a country that's calm, such as the United Arab Emirates or Oman, where travel agent Lindsey Wallace continues to send clients. "We're sending lots of clients who switched their plans from Egypt and still want to go to the desert and have fun," says Wallace, president of Linara Travel in Eagle, Idaho. "Those two destinations are largely unaffected (from the recent unrest) or have even benefited from it."
In addition to Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, countries such as Jordan and Israel are relatively safe right now. (Morocco, though not part of the Middle East, is an Arabic-speaking nation and suffers from reduced tourism when there are difficulties in the Middle East. It is also considered safe for travel.)
Israel is famous for not being loved by its neighbors, which means travelers there can expect a heightened state of security at all times, Zukerman says. From the time your bags are checked at the airport to guards checking your car at your hotel, everyone's senses are heightened. That can make travel there safer because everyone knows to call police when he sees a suspicious package or unusual gathering of people.
"If your guide says don't go to Bethlehem today, don't be a smart guy and go anyway," Zukerman says. "Don't go. Most of the time it's a false alarm and that's OK."
The payoff of visiting one of the world's holiest places is worth the heightened security, she says. "Jews come to see where it all started and Christians to feel holy," she says. "I hear the same thing over and over when people come home. 'I'm not the same person. It was a life-changing experience.' It's worth the little bit of insecurity."
Safe doesn't mean easy
Whether you're going to Egypt to explore the pyramids without competition from other tourists or prefer to talk to locals about the emergence of democracy, O'Neill says it's possible to avoid that country's trouble spots.
Traveling there last fall during the uprisings, she found herself sharing the pyramids with a scattering of Chinese and Egyptian tourists instead of the usual overwhelming crowds. "If you want to check out some serious archaeological, ancient stuff, it's a great opportunity to be in the middle of history," she says.
Though violent protests continue in Egypt, O'Neill says most of Cairo is safe, as long as you don't get near the demonstrations. That means people wanting to travel to Cairo right now need to know the layout of the city more than those flying directly to Luxor to see King Tut's tomb. Or they need to hire a reputable tour operator who knows where to take them.
Even without unrest, independent travel is a constant negotiation. Gone are the days when you could walk the streets of Cairo without concern for your wallet. Pickpockets are out and about, and O'Neill had a hard time avoiding vendors trying to sell her mini-replicas of alabaster pyramids and books about Nefertiti. "People are always wanting to sell you stuff, and that's true no matter when you go," she says.
That's why travel agent Malaka Hilton prefers to have control of her guests' entire travel package from start to finish, knowing they'll be with guides and drivers she trusts. Hilton, an Egypt specialist who owns Admiral Travel International in Sarasota, Florida, is still booking clients to the Middle East, alerting them that they'll see bomb-sniffing dogs at hotels, armed guards and other security measures.
If you are visiting a conservative religious country or section of the country, be aware of cultural norms and dress modestly. Don't be fooled by locals wearing Western-style clothing. It may be Western design but still modest in its coverage. Ask your travel agent about exceptions to the rule for beach resorts.
"I do tell people from a dress code standard to be respectful of the religion," Hilton says. "Don't show shoulders and don't wear short shorts. You don't want the men or women to stare at you."
Government travel warnings
Make sure you review and discuss relevant safety warnings with travel providers as you're booking a trip to the Middle East. The U.S. State Department
lists its travel warnings online
. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office offers detailed information and advice about
threats to traveler safety in the region on its website
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Pages: 1
For users having problems getting Java installed on their computers for the Java Drawing tool, you may try the following. Please only do this if you are comfortable installing and uninstalling programs on your computer.
First, if you have been having problems, it is best to uninstall java from your computer and install a new version to make sure everything is working OK.
UNINSTALL JAVA - details here
Then restart your computer and install the latest version of Java...
For Windows Vista, XP, 2000, 2003 Server:
- Visit http://www.java.com/en/ and click the download button.
- Restart your computer
For older versions of Windows (95, 98, ME)
- You will need to install an older version of java that should still work with our drawing tool.
- You can download Java 1.5 from this page: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp
- Visit the link above and click the DOWNLOAD link on the page above next to where it says:
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 Update 16
- Follow the instructions to install on your computer
- Restart your computer
Some users have reported errors like "sevaral java virtual machines running in the same process caused an error".
if it says this, you have different versions of java installed. Go to your program files and look for all instances of programs called JAVA. Try uninstalling ALL of them, then restart and just install the latest version from java.com
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