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Further thoughts on "Plan B"
The Connecticut bishops have reversed themselves and will now allow Catholic hospitals to dispense emergency contraceptive pills, known as "Plan B" pills, to rape victims. See the Hartford Courant story here. This has naturally caused many tongues to wag. The Catholic World News story quotes a bishops' spokesman as saying that the hierarchy had undergone "an evolution in thinking." Beyond that, there is not much. One wonders how and why their thinking changed, and how this will affect many similar debates, or even what Rome thinks. Illumination welcomed.
About the Author
David Gibson is a national reporter for Religion News Service and author of The Coming Catholic Church (HarperOne) and The Rule of Benedict (HarperOne). He blogs at dotCommonweal.
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The Archdiocese of Hartford's website has the following official statement, which adds at least some additional gloss to the newspaper article:"The Catholic Bishops of Connecticut, joined by the leaders of the Catholic hospitals in the State, issue the following statement regarding the administration of Plan B in Catholic hospitals to victims of rape:The four Catholic hospitals in the State of Connecticut remain committed to providing competent and compassionate care to victims of rape. In accordance with Catholic moral teaching, these hospitals provide emergency contraception after appropriate testing. Under the existing hospital protocols, this includes a pregnancy test and an ovulation test. Catholic moral teaching is adamantly opposed to abortion but not to emergency contraception for victims of rape.This past spring the Governor signed into a law 'An Act Concerning Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault,' passed by the State Legislature. It does not allow medical professionals to take into account the results of the ovulation test. The Bishops and other Catholic health care leaders believe that this law is seriously flawed, but not sufficiently to bar compliance with it at the present time. We continue to believe this law should be changed.Nonetheless to administer Plan B pills in Catholic hospitals to victims of rape a pregnancy test to determine that the woman has not conceived is sufficient. An ovulation test will not be required. The administration of Plan B pills in this instance cannot be judged to be the commission of an abortion because of such doubt about how Plan B pills and similar drugs work and because of the current impossibility of knowing from the ovulation test whether a new life is present. To administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act.Since the teaching authority of the Church has not definitively resolved this matter and since there is serious doubt about how Plan B pills work, the Catholic Bishops of Connecticut have stated that Catholic hospitals in the State may follow protocols that do not require an ovulation test in the treatment of victims of rape. A pregnancy test approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration suffices. If it becomes clear that Plan B pills would lead to an early chemical abortion in some instances, this matter would have to be reopened."
As David notes, the decision by the Connecticut bishops has "caused many tongues to wag." Catholic-oriented websites seem to be buzzing with commentary about this story, with some people accusing the three bishops--Archbishop Henry Mansell of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Bishop William Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, and Bishop Michael Cote of the Diocese of Norwich--of being traitors to Catholicism. Whatever the merits, and public perception of the timing of the bishops' decision (the CT law goes into effect on Monday, 10/1), these are not prelates that anyone would consider liberals. All are JP II appointees. Bishop Lori is the supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, and Archbishop Mansell, formerly Bishop of Buffalo, was reportedly Cardinal O'Connor's favorite to succeed him as Archbishop of NYC. (Ironically, Bishop Lori is Cardinal Egan's immediate successor as Bishop of Bridgeport.) Whether the decision was rightly or wrongly made, it was no doubt carefully made by prelates strongly tied to Rome. However, the eleventh hour timing of the decision will no doubt be viewed by some Catholics as capitulation to secular authority.
I'm guessing that, given the prelates involved, the reasoning hinges not on a distinction between conception and pregnancy, but between ordinary measures (pregnancy test) and extraordinary measures (ovulation test).
Kathy--I don't know that I'd consider it an ordinary/extraordinary measures distinction. Rather, it seems to me to be a distinction between scientific certainty (an embryo releasing unique chemical signals that can be detected with a high degree of accuracy by a pregnancy test) and scientific uncertainty about what whether a positive ovulation test can be used to identify whether and when conception may have occurred. It seems important to place the bishops' rationale and decision in the limited context of rape. I highly doubt they would extend the decision to the context of consensual sex; otherwise, they would be providing support for the argument that methods of contraception that prevent fertilization (condoms, the birth control pill, etc.) are morally acceptable for Catholics.
William,You're right, I don't know the lingo, but I think we're in basic agreement. As a total speculation I just posted this elsewhere:I find the idea of this law, and the act it implies, heartbreaking.However, just to think through this out loud, I would ask whether the arguments against the pill (as probably distinct from IUDs) have ever traditionally rested strongly on the abortifacient possibilities of the Pill. I am guessing no. If this is true then the ovulation test is something rather extraordinary in many ways. First of all, it is not evaluative or diagnostic of the current situation of the patient but it is predictive of the future state of the patient. It is also an inexact predictor: it determines a greater likelihood of conception. But a positive ovulation test does not guarantee that there will be a conception--so that even a positive test might not cause an abortion, because conception might not occur even under fertile circumstances. Conversely, a negative test does not guarantee that no conception will take place.To speak very inexactly, it seems to me that a pregnancy test is an ordinary means, while an ovulation test could be seen as an extraordinary means. It is morally, absolutely necessary to determine whether there is a pregnancy that has already occurred. But the responsibility of making a predictive test of the greater possibility of a potential pregnancy might be arguably less binding.What this reasoning doesn't safeguard is the life of the embryo. Of course this is completely tragic. But I think a case could be made that it is not absolutely morally binding.
From the Bishops' Statement:"Nonetheless, to administer Plan B pills in Catholic hospitals to victims of rape a pregnancy test to determine that the woman has not conceived is sufficient. An ovulation test will not be required. The administration of Plan B pills in this instance cannot be judged to be the commission of an abortion because of such doubt about how Plan B pills and similar drugs work and because of the current impossibility of knowing from the ovulation test whether a new life is present. To administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act."http://www.bridgeportdiocese.com/story_Plan%20B%202.shtml
Sorry, that was duplication, but I think that's the center of the reasoning.What I don't understand is, what don't they understand about how Plan B works?
Kathy--I see now how you were using ordinary and extraordinary. The unreliability of an ovulation test in and of itself as a predictor of pregnancy is even greater than you posit. As we know, many fertilized eggs do not implant for whatever biological reason. The state of "pregnancy" would seem to require implantation. In fact, pregnancy tests measure the level of HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin) in the mother's blood or urine. HCG is not rleased by the embryo until it implants and the chorion--a membrane that interacts with the inner lining of the uterus--begins to grow. Thus, a non-implanted fertilized egg would be undetectable with the administration of either an ovulation test or a pregnancy test. The technological blind spot between a positive ovulation test and a positive pregnancy test is one of the factors on which the bishops based their decision. The other, which I think is shakier, is their conclusion that there are "serious doubts" about exactly how Plan B drugs work.
William,Given your first point, of which I wasn't aware, I find this news somewhat more concerning. If I understand you correctly, there is no way of testing whether there is a fertilized, unimplanted egg--a state of affairs which I would call "pregnancy."
Is it possible/legal for Catholic hospitals to inform rape victims that a pregnancy test will not detect an unimplanted embryo?In that case, regardless of the bishops' statement, wouldn't any woman in any hospital, Catholic or otherwise, have the right to insist that she NOT be given Plan B after a rape until it could be established that she is pregnant?Why do responses to this story automatically assume that destruction of unimplanted embryos among rape victims treated in Catholic hospitals will result from this policy change?
Is the Plan B pill in this instance being used as a birth control pill based on the sperm being and unjust agressor toward the woman. I think this argument was used in protecting nuns from rape. If this is true, when else could the sperm be considered an unjust agressor?
Kathy--I'm not a physician, so if there is an Ob/Gyn reading this blog, and he/she is inclined to add expertise to the discussion, please do so.Here's my lay understanding of ovulation testing and pregnancy testing. A human ovum (unfertilized egg) is one of the largest cells in the body, yet it is barely visible to the naked eye and is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Approximately 24 to 36 hours before ovulation occurs, the pituitary gland in the brain (the pituitary is the body's "master gland") releases a hormone known as "luteinizing hormone" (LH) in a large quantity into the bloodstream. It is the release of LH that triggers ovulation in an ovary (monthly ovulation usually involves one ovary only), and it is LH that is measured during an ovulation test. Some women use home ovulation tests to try to identify their most fertile time period for conceiving. An elevated LH indicates ovulation will soon occur and or that it occurred a short while ago. It indicates nothing about whether the ovulated ovum has been fertilized. The ovum travels down one of the woman's fallopian tubes. Most fertilization takes place in the fallopian tube. The fertilized egg is still extremely small, and it ordinarily does not give off any chemical signals, or chemical signals in adequate quantities, that can be chemically detected in the blood or urine by tests are currently available. (Perhaps there will be such tests one day.) In normal circumstances, the fertilized egg continues on to the uterus, where if the environment is properly prepared, it will implant approximately 6 or 7 days after conception. (Once ovulation took place, the ruptured area on the ovary began to fill in with a substance known as corpus luteum, which produces hormones that begin to initiate physiological changes in the lining of the uterus to make it more receptive to the fertilized egg.) Occasionally, the trip down the fallopian tube by the fertilized egg can go horribly wrong, and the fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube itself. This is known as an ectopic pregnancy and can become a medical emergency.Assuming uterine implantation occurs, the fertilized egg/embryo begins to nest in the lining of the uterus. The hormonal changes initiated by the corpus luteum make the lining spongier, and they increase blood flow to the area. The embryo's chorion in effect merges with the lining, and the placenta begins to develop. Not only a living anchor for the developing embryo and fetus, the placenta is the conduit through which sustenance passes to the embryo or fetus (e.g., oxygen, nutrients), and through which waste (e.g., carbon dioxide and harmful metabolites) pass in the other direction. As the chorion grows, and especially as the placenta develops, increasing quantities of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) are produced by these structures. The levels of HCG increase almost exponentially at first, and they are detectable in a pregnant woman's urine several days to a week after implantation. As I mentioned earlier, it is HCG that is measured by the pregnancy tests now in use. To answer your last question directly, after my logorrhea about ovulation, etc., I don't know of any test, chemical or microscopic or otherwise, that allows detection of the presence of a fertilized egg that has not implanted. If I remember correctly, there are instances when non-implanted fertilized eggs give off detectable amounts of HCG before implantation occurs, but those instances are very rare.
Andrew--This is just my opinion, of course, and we'll have to see if the CT bishops make any clarifications in the days to come, but I don't think they based their decision on "unjust aggressor" analysis. They are basically saying two things: (1) There is no reliable test at this point in time for detecting conception before a fertilized egg implants in the uterus and sends out a measurable chemical signal that a pregnancy has taken place; and (2) It is not clear how Plan B drugs work. As to # 2, I think the bishops mean that it is not clear that in the absence of a positive pregnancy test--the key factor for them--that conception has occurred. The bottom line or the CT bishops: Offer a pregnancy test to the rape victim. If it comes back negative, it is o.k. to offer the victim a Plan B drug. The bishops' caveat: If a test becomes available in the future that can reliably detect conception at an earlier physiological stage, or if medical authorities show that Plan B is an abortofacient even in the absence of a positive pregnancy test, then the bishops will reevaluate their decision.Just a short comment about the unjust aggressor rationale. I hope that this does not come off as trite or unsympathetic to rape victims--that is the last impression I want to make--but even if a sperm can be an unjust aggressor, how would that characterization be applicable to a fertilized egg, which is neither a sperm nor an ovum but a new entity and life with its own intrinsic nature and rights?
Just to bring this thread back around a bit, two things stand out:One, whatever one argues here about the Plan B pill, the point is that the bishops of CT held its use as incompatible with Catholic teaching. Now they don't. That seems to be the problem, at least for me. Even in their statement they don't explain why they changed their minds--I have to believe Catholic teaching didn't change. Second point is that to better understand the arguments against the Plan B pill I would like to see the arguments the bishops were making before their recent "evolution."I haven't found those yet, but will try to do so. Also, I'm sure the bishops Pro-Life Office must have materials on the pill.
The bishops are clearly looking to give help to rape victims. I applaud them for that and for their good will. I will not deflate that by absurd casusistry.
Two points:1. It is my very humble opinion that the church should not only not go out of its way to find instances of conflict with ordinary treatment provided to people, especially vulnerable people, but that it should try mightily to figure out an ethical approach if the treatment raises ethical issues. 2. I am not an ob-gyn, but I do understand the hormones and the tests involved, and the above post accurately explained the physiology of the process. There is no test for detecting fertilization prior to implantation -- if there were fertility specialists would know about and would be using it because it would be extremely useful. They probably would have invented one if they could. However, I really don't understand all this reference to Beta HCG testing. It takes, minimally, about seven days before even the most sensitive pregnancy test would detect an implanted zygote at a meaningful laboratory value. Plan B is generally deemed effective only if a woman presents herself within 72 hours after being raped (though it might be longer under certain conditions), but in any event, it probably wouldn't work more than 72 hours after fertilization. In other words, it's unlikely that a pregnancy that can be detected within 72 hours of a rape is the result of that rape -- or that Plan B would do anything to thwart it (it might have some impact, but if Plan B was reliable for that purpose, it too would have been discovered and would be in use as we speak). As for ovulation tests, let me just say that if a woman who has been raped has a positive ovulation test, basically, she will ovulate somewhere within the next 12 to 36 hours and she's the person who really, really, needs Plan B to prevent pregnancy. I've read studies of how Plan B is thought to work, and based on the fact that it works much better the earlier it is given, it is thought that its primary effect is on ovulation/fertilization, not implantation.
William, Thanks for Your reply. My only question is: if you can use a Plan B pill after a pregnancy test in a rape case, and if you throw out the 'unjust agressor theory', why can't you use the Plan B pill in other cases as long as you use a pregnancy test beforehand?
"Nonetheless to administer Plan B pills in Catholic hospitals to victims of rape a pregnancy test to determinethat the woman has not conceived is sufficient." -- Connecticut Bishops' StatementSo a woman can be given Plan B if the pregnancy test proves she is not pregnant. However, Plan B has no effect on pregnancy (see http://www.go2planb.com), so there is no consequence from either withholding or giving Plan B pills after a positive pregnancy test. So what is the point of a pregnancy test?Could it be the bishops are confused about the meaning of the word pregnancy? I hope not. But I do think it is crucial for people on both sides of debates like these to take care to use accurate terminology. Pregnancy commences with implantation. That is not a matter of debate. It's a matter of definition. Also, abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, so abortion cannot take place before implantation. An abortifacient is a drug that induces an abortion. The drug RU-486 is a true abortifacient, but if Plan B prevents implantation (and it's apparently not clear that it does), it is NOT an abortifacient. Of course, since it is the Catholic position that life begins at conception, it is impermissible to use a drug to prevent implantation. It may be considered morally the equivalent of an abortion, but it is not an abortion.
I too am confused about the rationale for offering a pregnancy test and the only thing I can think of is that it might reassure the woman that if she is pregnant it was not the result of the rape when it might not otherwise be obvious to her.
I hope I am not contributing to any additional "absurd casusistry" [sic]. :)However, in the effort to understand and fully evaluate the CT bishops' statement, it seems important to be clear about the terminology they used. With that goal in mind, I offer the following about the "Plan B pills" referenced in the statement.1. Plan B is the trade name for an emergency contraceptive marketed by Duramed Pharmaceuticals. The biochemical name for Plan B is "levonorgesterol." 2. Plan B is not the same as the RU-486 pill (biochemical name: mifepristone), which has been documented clearly as an abortofacient and is in fact used in conjunction with another drug to induce abortions up until the 6th or 7th week of pregnancy. In low doses, RU-486 can prevent ovulation; in higher doses, it has been shown to prevent implantation. The biological mechanism by which RU-486 works is still not completely known. Once again, however, RU-486 is beyond the scope of the bishops' statement, and the use of the drug as an emergency contraceptive is not a treatment the bishops would likely condone.3. Plan B, on the other hand, is not effective if the fertilized egg has already implanted, i.e., if pregnancy is already underway. The biological mechanism behind Plan B is also not completely understood. It is thought to prevent ovulation or fertilization, though there is some speculation that it "may" inhibit implantation. (Barbara alluded to these effects earlier in this thread.) By my (several) readings of the bishops' statement, it is the uncertainty about how and when Plan B interrupts the reproductive process that provided the bishops with one of the rationales for their statement.Andrew--Perhaps by limiting their statement to the circumstance of rape, the bishops were implicitly relying on some sort of unjust aggressor analysis. But I think you'll agree (I hope I'm not being presumptuous) that if there were currently diagnostic tests that could pinpoint the moment of fertilization with certainty, the bishops would have objected to the administration of any medicine that would have impaired a fertilized egg in its journey into the uterus and hoped-for implantation there. Unjust aggressor analysis would have had no persuasive effect on them if such diagnostic tests were now in existence.
Sorry, I meant to comment also on the good points David and Barbara make. As to Plan B not affecting implantation, perhaps the bishops (and their expert advisers) believe that this issue is also uncertain, and that a positive pregnancy test is the best method now available for demarcating when Plan B pills should not be given. The bishops say the following in their statement: that there is "doubt about how Plan B pills and similar drugs work." Perhaps the unspecified "similar drugs" can interrupt implantation (I'm just speculating), and, again, a positive pregnancy test provides the only bright line test now available. By focusing on a positive pregnancy test as the trigger for when Plan B cannot be given, I don't think the bishops are limiting themselves to considerations about abortion only. As David notes, they are opposed to any chemical or mechanical (e.g., the IUD) method that prevents implantation. I speculating again, but I think they would be strenuously opposed to the use of an IUD in a rape victim, but because the best science now available reveals that Plan B likely works by prohibiting ovulation or fertilization, the drug does not have the moral onus that an implantation-blocker or implantation-terminator would have.
I'd just like to remark that the fact that this is now the law of the State of Connecticut is also pertinent. As I understand it, before it became law, the State's bishops opposed its passage. But once it became law, it seems that the burden of proof was put on those who counsel that the law be disobeyed or contested in some way. My interpretation of the bishops' statement is that those who believe the law to be unjust couldn't make a strong enough case to persuade the bishops that they must oppose the civil authorities. Perhaps laws, at least in the US, are assumed to be just unless it can be demonstrated otherwise.
Yes, I agree that is probably a big factor. Plus, given the state of scientific knowledge, to argue that the law was unjust and therefore should not be obeyed would put them in the unenviable position of having to argue that even the teensiest bit of contrary evidence meant that they were justified in giving the complete benefit of the doubt to a rapist's potential offspring. Can you say backlash?
It's interesting to me that this is a concrete instance of a limit being put on the church's disapproval of contraception. I can't help wondering if there is an underlying principle here that could be applied to, for example, the use of condoms in at least some circumstances in places where HIV is endemic?
I do not know exactly where Im going with this, but I wonder if, in discussing the church's position on this and other points of law and medicine, did I forget the most important question. What would Jesus do if he met the rape victim? As I recall, we have the woman at the well and the woman who was to be stoned and probably other examples that I don't recall. Somebody once taught (Bob Fox) that we get so involved with the institution that sometimes we forget to ask the first question: " what would Jesus do"


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I'm creating a webservice and I want to store the source on github and run the app on heroku. I haven't seen my exact scenario addressed anywhere on the 'net so far, so I'll ask it here:
I want to have the following directory structure:
README <-- project readme file
TODO.otl <-- project outline
... <-- other project-related stuff
README <-- rails' readme file
In the above, project corresponds to http://github.com/myuser/project, and my_rails_app is the code that should be pushed to heroku. Do I need a separate branch for the rails app, or is there a simpler way that I'm missing?
I guess my project-related non-rails files could live in my_rails_app, but the rails README already lives there and it seems inconsistent to overwrite that. However, if I leave it, my github page for the rails app will contain the rails readme, which makes no sense.
Also ... I tried just setting it up as described above and running
git push heroku
from the main project folder. Of course, heroku doesn't know I want to deploy the subfolder:
-----> Heroku receiving push
! Heroku push rejected, no Rails or Rack app detected.

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a training Algebraic Geometer, and am currently trying to prepare a course on category theory. I would be really thankful if people could tell me about "real-math" applications of theorems about monads which they came across during their career.
The abstract algebra of monads is similar to the algebra of monoids, so that constructions on monoids often suggest similar constructions on monads. This applies in particular to bar constructions.
A pretty striking application in its time was the use of bar constructions on monads to construct deloopings. Around 1963, Stasheff identified the extra structures on H-spaces $X$ that need to hold in order to construct a single delooping $X \simeq \Omega Y$ compatible with the H-space structures. This was at a time before there were such things as operads and their associated monads. But by the time May's The Geometry of Iterated Loop Spaces had appeared, there was appreciation of the algebra of operads and monads to economically package the panoply of algebraic operations that obtain on iterated loop spaces. In particular, the two-sided bar constructions for monads and their algebras, similar to the Milgram bar construction for monoids, were used to give conceptually simple constructions for iterated deloopings, extending the constructions of Stasheff to much more general contexts.
Forgetting or ignoring category theory (I hardly knew any in 1971), as Todd says I used monads concretely and constructively to manufacture spaces Y such that $\Omega ^n Y$ is equivalent to $X$, where $X$ is a space with an action by a suitable operad. Operads encode lots of operations, and their associated monads coalesce all those operations into a single operation, the product of the monad. (The portmanteau word operad combines operation and monad, inspired by this connection and by Lewis Carroll). This concrete coalescence of information is the essence of many, but by no means all, applications of monads. In iterated loop space theory, the combinatorial monads associated to operads mesh with the more abstract monads $\Omega^n\Sigma^n$ associated to the adjoint pair of functors $(\Sigma^n,\Omega^n)$.
Monads are very useful in computer science, specifically logic programming. Haskell is a programming language which is extremely mathematical, to the point where programs and proofs are the same thing. It's a pure functional programming language, which means everything is a function and these functions are not allowed to have side-effects (you can't cheat to make Haskell do something for you). So it should not come as a surprise that ideas from category theory lead to new ways to do things in Haskell. Monads are used in just this way, to get Haskell to do more things than you can get without monads. For example, recursive things. Monads are so useful that someone has website containing a big list of things known to be monads. I saw this website in a talk given by Emilio Gallego, a student of Jim Lipton. I believe there is a link to it from here.
The discussion of monads on wikipedia is very good. You can see all the terms from categorical monads popping up in that article, and facts about monads from category theory often lead to new programs in Haskell and other programming languages. Another nice overview is this pdf. An article written for computer scientists is here.
If someone with more expertise comes along and wants to add to this answer, please do.
I would say first that monads are useful in that they offer a level of abstraction that can be used to describe lots of different algebraic phenomena. That is, categories of groups, abelian groups, rings, commutative rings,... can each be described equivalently as categories of algebras over some monad acting on sets (see Lawvere Theory for more examples). There are monads that don't arise in this way, but typically most examples are pretty close to this. So in one sense the theorems that are true in all of these situations are most naturally proven in the language of monads and their categories of algebras.
One of the other ways they show up in 'real math' is via the following: there is always a forgetful functor from the category of $T$-algebras in $\scr{C}$ to $\scr{C}$ with a left adjoint, the free $T$-algebra functor. This forgetful functor must also preserve and reflect certain coequalizer diagrams. In a precise sense (see Monadicity theorem) we can identify whether or not a functor is a forgetful functor from a category of algebras over some monad by these properties. This gives a useful criterion for seeing whether or not something is in the image of such a functor and what are the maps between such objects. This (or its dual formulation) gives descent type theorems, which is probably what algebraic geometers care most about. These theorems will generally tell you something like when is the category of sheaves of some type equivalent to a category of descent data of a very particular form.
I would recommend looking at Borceux's 'Handbook of Categorical Algebra' Vol. 2 Ch. 4 for more details. I'm sorry that I don't have a more geometric reference at hand.


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To the editor:
Two millennia past, an individual, much more than human, a unique hypostastsis, was asked the greatest commandment. Jesus bar Joseph taught that one was to love God with all their being and their neighbor as themselves. When asked, "Who is my neighbor" he continued with a parable showing that the term neighbor meant all humanity. Nowhere in this teaching can one find the phrase, "except for the aged, the handicapped and the unborn." A developed conscience realizes that loving one's neighbor precludes murdering them. All humanity had "a right to live in the plane of morality, dignity and security intended by God." (Henry Morton Robinson, "The Cardinal.")
Reminiscent of the totalitarian anticlericalism and banana republic suppression of opposition, the petulant child occupying the Oval Office has, with the contraception mandate, decided to dictate what is and is not the legitimate exercise of religion. His administration has even informed the Little Sisters of the Poor, among many others, that they do not qualify as a religious organization and must therefore provide employees contraception, sterilization and abortifacients. Yet, at least 1,500 unions and supporters have been granted waivers.
In President Barack Obama's quest to engulf not only the country, but the world, with the blood of innocents, the teaching of Scripture and protections of the Bill of Rights are not even given the status of a suggestion. The only sin in the eyes of this "progressive" administration is recognition that there is a higher power than that of the Oval Office. To this gentleman and his administration, tolerance is mandatory for all except deeply held religious belief. Those who look upon the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God are labeled as radicals and relegated to second-hand citizenship. By using government power to punish morality, tax and confiscate income, the freedom to pursue sanctity is denied.
Not everyone is able to sufficiently tranquilize his or her conscience in order to participate in the abominable mandates of Obamacare. Save us, oh Lord, from the morally bankrupt attempts to force all to participate in grave sin. May we all "Rejoice in hope, be patient under trail and persevere in prayer." (Romans 12:12) and remember the attack on our freedoms during the next election.
Ed Bednar


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Spain to have new, classical "national ballet"?What do you think?
Posted 04 October 2006 - 10:20 AM
Here's the Link: http://www.guardian....1886005,00.html
It seems that Tamara Rojo of the Royal Ballet is involved and has been considered for AD, though currently she's only 31. Alicia Aonso is also involved.
It's interesting that this will NOT be an "opera" ballet company as Paris or London. The company is to be located in the dormitory suburb of Fuenlabrada, southwest of the center city. (It's one of those former villages which has become a huge residential center in recent years.) Alonso has a studio in Fuenlabrada.
Supporters include the royal family (it's always good for ballet when there are real princesses in the locality) and the Prime Minister , Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero.
With all the wonderful Spanish-trained dancers who have to leave their country in order to peform classical ballet at the highest level, it seems like a brilliant idea. The possiblities for touring to major Spanish urban centers -- Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, Bilbao, not to mention resorts like San Sebastian, etc. -- are extraordinary.
It would be wonderful to see a Spanish National Ballet (or Royal Spanish Ballet?) touring Europe, turning up in major American cities, etc. For those of us who remember the dark, gloomy, insulated, and incredibly mediocre days of Franco, this is an enormous step -- and one that has been well-earned by the new Spain.
Posted 04 October 2006 - 12:11 PM
Posted 04 October 2006 - 01:08 PM
Posted 04 October 2006 - 01:38 PM
Posted 04 October 2006 - 01:41 PM
Lukor.com has an article about Maya Plisetskaya. It's in Spanish. Here's a (very) rought translation of parts:
Plisetskaya has been a Spanish national since 1993 and was in Oviedo to receive (today) the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts. She shares it with Tamara Rojo, and expressed her gratitude for the prize's recognition of "one dancer of the 20th century and another of the 21st."
The ballerina Maya Plisetskay today lamented that there is no classical national ballet in Spain { ... ] "I think it's a shame that there is no great national ballet in Spain, because there are such wonderful Spanish dancers"
There's a lot of Spanish language information on Plisetskaya in Spain, including stuff about master classes that she has given in Madrid, etc. Here's a LINK to the brief article:
The Russian ballerina was generous in her prize of the Spanish professional dancers and asserted that "I have seen nothing better in the world than flamenco as a kind of popular dance." She compared Spanish dancers and football players: "Dancers and football players from this country have the best legs."
Posted 04 October 2006 - 01:51 PM
Plisetskaya has been a Spanish national since 1993 and was in Oviedo to receive (today) the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts. She shares it with Tamara Rojo
Plissestkaya and Rojo were awarded with Prince of Asturias Prize the past year (in 2006 the winner for Arts is Pedro Almodovar)
Coming back to the first post: Francisco Franco died in 1975, ages ago. :-)
Since then they didnt do steps, but run an entire marathon and today Spain is as modern and dynamic as a Calatrava building!
Would they put together all their dancers (just a few names: Alicia Amatriain, Ricardo Cervera, Angel Corella, Carmen Corella, Lucia Lacarra, Carlos Lopez, Josè Martin, Josè Martinez, Laura Morera, Jesus Pastor, Tamara Rojo, Zenaida Yanowsky, Igor Yebra), they could have a fantastic company! Good luck!
Posted 04 October 2006 - 01:55 PM
Posted 04 October 2006 - 02:03 PM
You're right, of course, about Spain's complete and rather quick entry into the liberal, free, and modern Europe, and very notably in the arts. I meant no disrespect. Institutional progress has not always been so rapid or consistent. For example, the decades-long restoration of the Royal Opera House in Madrid, which wasn't completed until 1998. Similarly, there does seem to have been a good number of false starts in the ballet/dance world.
I wonder whether -- if Fuenlabrada's municipal theater does indeed become the home of this company -- their municipal theater will turn into something like the BAM in Brooklyn.
Posted 04 October 2006 - 02:33 PM
Money was the issue. In its last year the company cost over 1.5 million euros and recipts of only 158,607 euros. According to one of the officials involved,
The surprising decision of the municipal governmented was like a bombshell for both the supporters and opponents of the company.
Sound familiar, Estelle? The official spoke of the creation of
" ... the idea is to redefine the politics of dance. The Ballet has survived in a heroic manner for years but was never able to fulfill its expectations, so we have decided that the money that has been budgeted for it will now be diverted to other dance projects."
Berna's specialty is apparently regional dancing, and he participated in the Flamenco Festival in NYC last winter, guesting with the New Spanish Ballet. ("Ballet" and "classical," as has been mentioned on BT before, tend to mean "regional" and even "folkloric" in Spain.) I don't know what happened after that. But if it's another replacement of a mainly classical company by a smaller company devoted to an entirely different kind of "ballet," it's consistent with what has gone on in France and all over the EC.
a season of dance "which will permit us to bring the best national and international companies.," and to make the company of Miguel Angel Berna the resident company of the Teatro Principal.
Posted 02 November 2006 - 11:56 AM
Posted 17 November 2006 - 01:39 PM
Corella planned to set his school and dance company in Sant Feliu de Guixols, 50 km. north from Barcelona but he didn't get the support neither from the catalan government nor from the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's Opera House. Corella has a house in this town and loves Barcelona very much, his family moved there from Madrid but unfortunately as I said he didn't have the necessary support to be able to run there his project.
Then a small town near Madrid but with a deep cultural background, La Granja de San Idelfonso, offered him very good conditions and the Teatro Real of Madrid mangement commited themselves to allow the ballet company to present his programme there, so even if the contract hasn't been signed yet it seems that it will in the near future.
Rojo's project was presented to the Royal Family of Spain who gave permission to put the "Real" word in the new ballet that was going to be created in collaboration with the dance department (Instituto Superior de Danza Alicia Alonso) of the Juan Carlos I University, it would be a professional Classical Ballet Company not depending only on subsidies.
The name of the company would be 'Real Ballet de España' and would be established in Fuenlabrada a city near Madrid. Mr. Manuel Robles, the major of Fuenlabrada, where there already are two theaters said that they will fully support this project.
I really hope these projects see light soon :rolleyes:
I will try to get you posted on any new about this
About the former ballet company we had and that was managed by Plisetskaya it is now the Compañía Nacional de Danza that is directed by Nacho Duato who took it from Mrs. Plisetskaya 17 years ago and changed from classical to neoclassical, a great company with great dancers but with a unique style.
Posted 17 November 2006 - 03:11 PM
Posted 22 November 2006 - 03:20 PM
Posted 22 November 2006 - 10:31 PM
Posted 23 November 2006 - 12:22 AM
I don't believe, for example, that the dancers of Britain's Royal Ballet are part of the Civil List, which would mean that they are paid more or less directly by the monarch.
Sorry, I have a very hard time believing this romanticized picture. This is 2006; not pre-rev Russia.
I live in the Netherlands, another country where people forgot to say goodbye to monarchy, and the dancers of the Dutch National Ballet do not get a penny out of the Queen's purse - apart from the fact that her purse is replenished annually by the taxpayers.
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Open Work featured on NBC11 News this a.m.
By crossrohrer on Feb 12, 2008
Today NBC11 aired a story that on Sun's flexible work program Open Work that features both VP of Open Work Ann Bamesberger and Sun HR's Victor
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Mont Ventoux. That's my goal. Three ascents from three villages in one day. This September.
I had my first back treatment appointment with Stefaan Vossen earlier this afternoon, I've been given a shoe insert to help undo my imbalance and I've got another seven appointments booked in over the next 4 weeks, after which it'll go down to 1 appointment per week. He's confident he can not only get my back and pelvis re-set to how it should be, but that I'll be able to start training in as little as 4 weeks.
That means, all being well with my back healing as my fitness gradually improves, I'll have roughly from mid March until September to get myself in the shape of my life. Six months… Doesn't seem like a lot. This is going to take some epic training effort and a lot of hill repeats on Cleeve Hill. I've never been more excited to put my body through hell, I wish I could get started now but I'll have to make do with writing up a training plan. It'll be a company trip to Mont Ventoux some time in September – I don't yet know the date – with a couple of us Dair peeps taking some cycling-keen clients along for the ride.
Super, super excited. Can anyone point me towards a decent 6 month training plan for this sort of thing that I can adapt?


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Poor ppl are a like bonsai tree, a little tree. You pick the seed of the tallest tree in the forest and take the best seed out of it, and plant it in a flower pot. You get a tiny little tree, we call it a bonsai. Nothing wrong with the seed, you've got the best seed possible. Nothing wrong with the tree, because you actually picked the tallest tree in the forest. But actually it grows this far... why? Because we put them in the flower pot. The base. Society is the base. And society is so stingy it doesn't give the poor ppl the space to grow.So i say, change the base! If you change the base, anybody will be as tall as anybody else! My belief is poverty is not caused by poor ppl. Poverty is caused by the system. Poverty is caused by the policies that we pursue.
Muhammad Yunus
Source: Creating A Poverty Free World (Video)
Contributed by: Kyo
Copyright © 2016 Gaiam, Inc.


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The Vanguard's favourite female performers interpret the music of Elvis Presley. Starring Mojo Juju, Kira Puru, Cash Savage, Stella Angelico, Twincest and more to be announced.
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whenever I work on multiple files in different vim buffers/tabs and do a :w to save, vim crashes with a segmentation fault.
I'm using vim 7.3 that came long with Lion (Actually with SnowLeopard which later I upgraded to Lion).
Is this issue Lion specific or is this only affecting upgrade users? Any one seen similar issues.
I've been a linux user for most of the time but just bought a mac recently and also upgraded to Lion recently.
It's quite aggravating to spend so much money and now can't use vim :(


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In a recent lecture at Columbia Law School, P.N. Bhagwati discussed his time as a justice on the Supreme Court of India, a period of roughly 13 years during which the court handed down a series of landmark rulings supporting human rights and expanding access to justice for all Indian citizens.
Bhagwati's court broadened the right-to-life clause in the Indian constitution to include the right to a healthy environment. It also improved access to justice for the poor by allowing individuals, social action groups, and NGOs to bring cases before the court on behalf of the impoverished.
"If we want human rights to become meaningful for the large masses of people in the country," Bhagwati said at the lecture, "[public interest litigation] is the only way in which it can be done."


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At Bennington, you can take international relations from the former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, study politics from a former fellow at the U.S.'s Institute of Peace, or do field research in Africa with an anthropologist who has been studying one Kenyan village for 20 years. Every social science teacher at Bennington is an active scholar in his/her field, advancing the work by doing the work.
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Social scientists at Bennington have always been active in their fields. Today, students study alongside the former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, one of Nigeria's leading political scientists, and an anthropologist who has been studying one Kenyan village for 20 years.
Courses | Faculty
Social science is an exploration of the human experience. Bennington students in anthropology, politics, psychology, and other areas of the social sciences develop the tools to write history, delve into the human psyche, and more deeply understand states, societies, and cultures. Working closely with faculty, you develop your own precise questions and observations, with an emphasis on gathering evidence, constructing arguments, and presenting your ideas with clarity.
Classes are small, discussion-based seminars, with faculty who are practicing historians, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, policymakers, and diplomats. Extensive reading and writing and lively conversation are complemented by the yearly Field Work Term, with internships in the field, and, if you wish, study abroad.


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MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Friday he came to Mexico to break down stereotypes between the United States and its neighbor to the south.
Speaking at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Obama said that too often the relationship between the United States and Mexico is "trapped in old stereotypes," where Mexicans see America as trying to wall itself off from Mexico and Americans see Mexico through the sensational headlines of violence in the war on drugs.
"I have come to Mexico because it is time to put old mindsets aside," Obama said. "It's time to recognize new realities, including the impressive progress in today's Mexico."
He said it is clear that "a new Mexico is emerging," highlighted by a growing economy, a robust democracy and new generation of youth empowered by technology.
"I see a Mexico that is taking its rightful place in the world," he said.
In a tip of the hat to the overwhelming number of Latinos that helped re-elect Obama in 2012, the president said, "Without the strong support of Latinos, including so many Mexican-Americans, I would not be standing before you today as president of the United States."
Throughout much of Obama's only speech in the country, the president framed two domestic issues in the United States -- guns and immigration -- as issues that affect the daily lives of Mexicans, too.
On immigration, the president appeared confident that immigration reform, an issue Obama says he intends to work closely with the Mexican government on, will be passed.
"I'm optimistic that -- after years of trying -- we are finally going to get it done this year," Obama said after describing his plan as one that strengthens border security, improves legal immigration and "gives millions of undocumented individuals a pathway to earn their citizenship."
And on guns, Obama framed the issue, one the president made a priority after 20 students and six adults were killed at a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, as something that would save both American and Mexican lives.
"We also recognize that most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States," the president said. "I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, that can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States."
In interviews before the speech, however, most students in the crowd did not mention guns or immigration as issues they hoped the president would discuss. Flanked by American and Mexican flags, students from The American School Foundation in Mexico City put the war on drugs, North Korea and education as higher priorities for them than either immigration reform or guns.
"I hope to hear about his education plans in the U.S., because college is expensive and I'm hoping to study there," said Stephanie Vondell, an 18-year-old senior.
Obama did mention education, telling the students that the United States and Mexico need to "do more together in education so our young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed."
The president also announced plans to encourage 100,000 students from the United States to study in Latin America, including Mexico, each year, and for the same number of Latin American students to come to the United States.
Although many of the students live in Mexico City, an area that has witnessed far fewer incidents of drug-related violence than the north, the war on drugs was not far from most students' minds.
"The biggest thing I want to see is how the U.S. and Mexico are willing to tackle the war on drugs," said Julio Meyer, another 18-year-old senior. "In my point of view, it has not been successful."
On Thursday, at a news conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Obama stressed the focus of his trip is the economy, not security and immigration, two issues Obama said often get too much attention when it comes to talking about the U.S.-Mexico relationship.
"We don't want to make this relationship targeted on one single issue," Obama said. "We want to place particular emphasis on the potential in the economic relationship between Mexico and the United States."
But even as Obama and Pena Nieto pushed to shift the tone more toward trade and economics, security issues loomed large over Thursday's meeting.
Pena Nieto said Thursday that his government remains committed to fighting organized crime, but the United States and Mexico must "cooperate on the basis of mutual respect, to be more efficient in our security strategy that we are implementing in Mexico."
Obama stressed that the countries will continue to cooperate closely on security, but he didn't specify how.


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Phillips [Dash] A son, Kaiden Jace, to Jamar Phillips and Brenda Rinehart of Torrington, June 1, at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Torrington. Grandparents are Linda Myers of Torrington, Larry Rinehart of Arizona, Kathrine Phillips of North Haven and Willie Phillips of Hamden. Great-grandparent is Brenda Tilden of Winsted.
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When Nascar MatteredWritten by on May 1, 2012 Contributors: Hot Rod Archives
It was decades ago, but HOT ROD used to cover NASCAR. You graybeard readers will remember it well: There were annual race features on the Daytona 500 and Riverside, tech articles on the latest trickery from Junior Johnson and Smokey Yunick, and monthly roundy-round columns by Steve Kelley and Joe Whitlock. It was great racing with awesome cars, and HOT ROD was all over it. So what happened? Why doesn't HOT ROD do NASCAR anymore?
We can start here: Somewhere along the line, stock cars lost their stockness. It's impossible to identify a single point at which NASCAR lost its connection to real production machinery; it was more of a process. Maybe the verisimilitude first started to slip away in 1966, when NASCAR allowed the Ford teams to run Galaxie front frame stubs under their unit-body Fairlanes and Comets. Maybe it was 1969, when scratch-built control arms and dry-sump oil systems were permitted. Or 1972, when fabricated framerails appeared. But eventually, the moment came when everyone looked up and noticed that NASCAR stockers no longer bore any real resemblance to Detroit production vehicles—or relevance to hot rodders, either. The death of real stock cars had come by a thousand cuts. And by then, HOT ROD and NASCAR had gone their separate ways.
That's not how it was in the early '60s, when the factory high-performance scene was taking off. Then, rodders looked to NASCAR—and reached for their copies of HOT ROD—to get the scoop on the latest go-fast machinery from Detroit. Rodders could see that the stuff racing at Daytona and Darlington was identical to, or at least bore a striking resemblance to, the stuff for sale in the showrooms. They felt a connection. Take some time to explore these fabulous old photos from the magazine's archives. See for yourself just how amazingly stock and real the cars were—from their production floorpans to their roll-up windows. You'll feel the same connection.
The NASCAR race cars of 2012 offer no such connection. They bear no resemblance to the cars in your world and share no components. None, not even the lug nuts. They barely look like cars at all—more like formless, soulless blobs. The four makes of cars that compete in NASCAR resemble each other far more than they do the production vehicles they supposedly represent, and in fact they all fit the same body template. The headlamps and taillamps are decals. The engines may say Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota on the valve covers, but you can't buy them anywhere, not over the counter, not in any current production vehicles. NASCAR's current hardware lacks relevance to anything, anywhere—except within NASCAR.
You can blame NASCAR for allowing stock car racing to evolve into this weird, sad state, but to be fair, professional racing series around the world are in the same condition. This is the same fate suffered by GT and sports racing in Europe, NHRA Pro Stock, and even by IndyCars and F1. Endless supplies of money and technology have driven pro motorsports out of the realm of the traditional car enthusiast and into a strange parallel universe that isn't really about cars. Today, big-time racing is about driver personalities and sponsors and TV ratings and attendance figures and money, money, money. The cars are props.
Give NASCAR credit for managing this brave new world of motorsports better than anyone, taking auto racing to levels of popularity never seen in the United States. The racing may seem calculated, even contrived, but no one can say it doesn't fill the seats. When, after three hours and 490 miles of racing, 40 cars all arrived on the same lap, in the same pack, fighting for the win, that was no accident. It took considerable work and skill by NASCAR to manufacture that result. And when half the field got caught up in the same 200-mph wreck and 20 drivers walked away without injury, that wasn't luck, either. That also required tremendous work on the part of NASCAR.
"The primary reason the cars are what they are is pretty obvious," says John Darby, who serves as both managing director of competition and Sprint Cup director at NASCAR. "It's the level of safety we require, the engineered structure around the driver that forms his cocoon. It more than anything defines the character of the car. We can't race the cars you drive at 70 mph on the interstate. Our guys are running 200 mph most every Sunday. Our goals are to provide parity for the competitors and excitement for the fans, but one thing we can't ever compromise on is safety." And if they cut the speeds by half to accommodate cars that were closer to stock, would anyone watch at all?
With so little relevance to real production automobiles, why do the automakers burn so much money and effort in NASCAR? A ten-year-old can see that these stock cars aren't remotely stock anymore, yet reportedly the automakers each spend tens of millions annually in the series. Where's the payoff? "First, it's car racing, and we're in the car business," says Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing. "Next, NASCAR is the iconic form of American motorsports. It predominates. According to our quarterly research, 40 percent of the new-car buyers in America identify themselves as race fans, and 84 percent say they watch NASCAR."
Very well, then. When you put it that way—as the director of Ford Racing just did—the manufacturers can't afford not to be in NASCAR. It's the big show. Relatively speaking, every other form of racing is the loose change in the cushions. And money talks, so don't look for NASCAR to change in any major way any time soon. Resistance is futile. Here's our best recommendation to all you former NASCAR fans out there: Get yourself a great big stack of old HOT ROD magazines.
One Bite at a Time
The folks at Ford are fully on the NASCAR bandwagon, as noted. That said, the status quo could still use some work in their view. "Our research was showing some disengagement among fans due to the cars looking all the same," says Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison. (Hmm—interesting word, disengagement.) "We've learned that fans currently identify first with the driver, second with the team, and third with the manufacturer. Their lowest affinity is with us. Obviously, that's something we need to improve." According to the NASCAR rumor mill, Allison was among those who pushed for discussions among the four manufacturers and NASCAR—discussions that generated more liberal body rules for 2013 to allow greater brand identity.
Allison's point men for the 2013 car included NASCAR Operations Manager Andy Slankard and Sprint Cup Program Manager Patrick DiMarco, while the boots on the ground included Ford Racing's chief aerodynamicist, Bernie Marcus, and a key player from Ford Design, Senior Designer Garen Nicoghosian. "To our knowledge this is the first time the Ford Design Center was directly involved in the NASCAR body," Slankard says. "The designers are the people who give Ford vehicles their look, and they used all their powers to build the same identity into the NASCAR Ford Fusion. The project proceeded just like with any Ford vehicle, with 40 percent foam models, clay models, the works."
"NASCAR has allowed the four OEs to hand-deliver some common surfaces and areas shared by all," DiMarco says. "These include the A-pillar, roof, B-pillar, backlight, and so on—the car's basic silhouette. The rest of the real estate we are free to use to establish our brand identity. Proportions are another important area. The current Cup chassis is too short in the front overhang and too long in the rear overhang compared with the production car. With this new car, we are much more in line with the production car's true proportions."
Ford's 2013 entry will be branded as a Fusion, while Dodge will continue with the Charger and Toyota with the Camry. As of press time, Chevrolet has not announced its intentions. The eye-opening element of the 2013 car is the amount of freedom NASCAR has handed back to the manufacturers, which, while incremental, is unprecedented in recent years. "We have a great deal of confidence now in the wind tunnel and CFD, and we have a much better understanding than we used to about height, width, and length, and how they affect the performance of the vehicle," says John Darby, NASCAR director of competition. "We can give a lot more real estate back to the manufacturers and come to a reasonable balance. We know we can do this."
However, these changes are entirely cosmetic. Underneath the revised sheetmetal, a Nextel Cup racer remains nothing like a production car. It's just going to look somewhat more like a production car. Still, Allison is pleased with the progress. "Would we like to see more movement toward a stock-type vehicle? Of course," he says. "We want more relevance, more context, as time goes by. But given the times, I'm very satisfied with where we are for 2013. We'll take it one bite at a time."
NASCAR Goes EFI
It was 2003, and John Fernandez, then the engineering director at Dodge Motorsports, realized his NASCAR engine program had a problem. Sensing a basic carburetion issue, he looked toward Chrysler engineering for some carburetor experts to sort it out—only to discover that the company no longer had any. "They were all gone. Retired," he noted. "We hadn't introduced a new vehicle with a carburetor in like 15 years. With electronic fuel injection, we do our tuning on the computer. We had to call in our retirees to bail us out."
Here we are in 2012, and NASCAR has finally joined the mid-'80s with its own proprietary EFI system. It's not terribly advanced or sophisticated, but then, like everything else in NASCAR, it wasn't designed to dazzle the pundits or advance the state of the art. It was engineered to meet NASCAR's own needs as it sees them, which include simplicity, reliability, and complete transparency.
McLaren Electronic Systems, which already has years under its belt supplying Formula 1, teamed up with Texas chip manufacturer Freescale to provide the control units. While the individual teams own, maintain, and program their own ECUs, NASCAR retains control over the boxes, including the locking/unlocking functions. So the teams have full tuning and mapping capabilities while NASCAR has the capability to stalk their every move, preventing potential monkey business—like oh, say, traction control or fuel-mixture trimming on the fly.
Along with speed-density fuel mapping, the ECU also provides built-in ignition capabilities, eliminating the distributor. Closed-loop fuel control is provided via a pair of Bosch wide-band oxygen sensors, one in each header collector. Fuel pressure is in the 75-psi range, with three manufacturers opting to use traditional pressure/return plumbing, while one (we can't say which) is running a returnless system.
The intake manifold and throttle-body configurations are virtually identical to the previous single-plane, single Holley setup, which eases the transition for engine suppliers and allows NASCAR to continue its restrictor-plate system, which is used to limit speeds on the big tracks at Daytona and Talladega. One odd wrinkle is the high location of the eight injectors—just below the throttle-body. What's that about? "The high location introduces the fuel into the intake port well upstream from the intake valve," explains Jim Covey, engine technical manager at GM Racing. "This prevents any one manufacturer from gaining an advantage in efficiency of the fuel delivery downstream." Once again, NASCAR seems to have its hand on everything.
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Karl Kiekhaefer's Mercury Marine outfit was NASCAR's first mega-team, fielding Chrysler 300s for a full slate of drivers including Tim and Fonty Flock, Buck Baker, and Speedy Thompson. The outboard-engine tycoon arrived in 1955 but departed after two seasons over rules disputes with NASCAR boss Bill France, Sr.Years before he teamed up with Smokey Yunick, Fireball Roberts drove for another crafty Daytona Beach operator, Bob Fish of Fish Carburetor renown. In the '55 Southern 500 at Darlington, Fireball started on the pole in this '55 Buick and led for 14 laps but crashed out early. Earlier in the year, Fireball won on the beach course at Daytona, but the Buick was disqualified for non-stock-length pushrods.Herb Thomas started Eighth and bested a field of 69 cars to win the Southern 500 in 1955 at Darlington Raceway, then NASCAR's only superspeedway. Thomas owned and drove the pea-green '55 Chevy with Smokey Yunick turning the wrenches. It was just the second NASCAR win for Chevrolet; the first had come earlier that year at Columbia, South Carolina.In NASCAR circa 1960, the term "diversity" referred to the variety of makes, years, and models represented on the grid. In the first qualifying race for the Daytona 500, the '60 Pontiacs of Cotton Owens (6) and Fireball Roberts (22) sat on the front row. Lined up behind them were '59 and '60 Fords, Thunderbirds, Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Plymouths, a Buick, and a Dodge.Joe Lee Johnson drove this bone stock-appearing Ford Galaxie Starliner in the '60 Daytona 500 for owner Bill Ridgeway. Note the bungee cord securing the decklid. The record books say Johnson fell out on lap No. 18 with a blown engine, and the steam rising from under the hood suggests the photographer caught the moment.By 1960, Smokey Yunick's black-and-gold equipment was already looking a little slicker and a little tricker than the rest of the field. Fireball Roberts wheeled the No. 22 in the Daytona 500 that year, while Bobby Johns handled the year-old '59 team car. Fireball blew up while Johns finished Second to Junior Johnson, who drafted his way into victory lane in an underpowered 348ci Chevy.That's none other than Richard Petty on the outside in the '60 Plymouth Batmobile with Whitey Gerken underneath him in a '59 Pontiac. Young Petty finished Third in the Daytona 500 this day and would win his first NASCAR Grand National race two weeks later at Charlotte.For the Riverside road race that opened the 1963 season, Fred Lorenzen stepped out of his usual Holman Moody Ford and into the very similar Wood Bros. car. Lorenzen managed to roll the 21 car in practice, as shown here, while Dan Gurney drove Lorenzen's ride to the win. The photo mainly serves to illustrate how early NASCAR racers were as stock underneath as they were on top.
This engine is virtually forgotten today, but in 1960 it was the hot ticket from FoMoCo. With a solid-lifter cam, aluminum intake, and 360 hp from 352 ci, the FE-based Super V8 was rated at more than 1 horsepower per cubic inch.Why we love vintage NASCAR: Check out the production bumpers, grille, glass, and trim; the subtly massaged sheetmetal and romanced panel gaps; and the way the entire body has been hunkered down over the oversized rubber. Turned out this way, even a giant pig like a '63 Monterey looks like a badass. Bill Stroppe of Long Beach, California, built clean, fast Mercury stockers over the years. This one is shown testing at Daytona in November 1962.A bucks-down racer, the late, great Wendell Scott seldom made the tow out to California from his Danville, Virginia, shop, but he did run Riverside in 1963 with this already well-worn '62 Chevy. He started 33rd and finished 18th in the 500-mile, six-hour road race, earning $425 the hard way. Note the signage on the front fender: As his mechanics, he lists "me." Oddly enough, NASCAR's premier series had one more African-American competitor in 1963 than it has today.Pete Hamilton won the '70 Daytona 500 with the Plymouth Superbird version of Chrysler's winged warriors. Carrying the number 40, Hamilton's ride was a team car to Richard Petty's No. 43 Plymouth, which is partially visible at left.The curtain call for the Mopar aero monsters was the '71 Daytona 500, when NASCAR handicapped the cars to 305 ci. With a Keith Black Trans-Am engine and some help from the draft, Richard Brooks led several times with Mario Rossi's Charger and was in contention for the win when he got tangled up with Pete Hamilton, damaging the bodywork (shown here). Team owner Rossi, a NASCAR innovator credited with inventing the glued-lug-nuts trick, disappeared from the Earth without a trace in 1983.With the aero cars legislated away for '71, the Chrysler teams returned to more conventional combinations, such as this Plymouth Satellite with Hemi power. This is the Ray Nichels-prepared, STP-sponsored entry of Fred Lorenzen at the Miller 500 at Ontario, California, in February 1971.In 1974, the Wood Bros. were still running their tried-and-true Boss 429 V8, but small-blocks were on the way. Running a limited schedule with driver David Pearson, the Woods entered just 19 races that year--and won seven of them.Today, NASCAR teams come to the track with more equipment than many new-car dealers possess. But in the 1972 season, car owner Charlie McGee and driver David Sisco ran their Monte Carlo out of a small toolbox--there it is on the workbench. In August at Michigan, they qualified 32nd and finished 13th.In 1973, carpetbagger Herb Adams ran this slick Pontiac Grand Am at Riverside, where Corvette racer Jerry Thompson wheeled it to a 15th Place finish, and at Daytona (shown here), where the 366ci Poncho V8 blew one of its trick head gaskets in qualifying. In the '80s there would be Pontiac-, Olds-, and Buick-bodied cars in NASCAR, but they used Chevy-based, GM corporate V8s.
One distinctive feature of the NASCAR EFI system is the injector location high on the intake manifold, closer to the throttle blades than to the intake valves. There's a specific reason for that (see the text).Loyal NASCAR partner Holley supplies the four-blade throttle-body, which is dimensionally similar to the classic Holley four-barrel carb the series has used since 1969. Among other things, this allows NASCAR to incorporate its existing restrictor-plate system into the EFI setup with few changes.


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Given an integer $n$ and let $1\leq m\leq n$ be such that $n$ and $m$ are coprimes define $$ \mathcal{N_{n,m}}:=\text{the set of primes $p$ such that $p\equiv{m}\hspace{0.1cm}\mathrm{mod}(n)$}. $$ Let $\mathcal{P}$ be the set of all primes. I seem to recall that the following result is true: $$ \varphi(n)^{-1}=\lim_{k\to\infty}{\frac{|\mathcal{N_{n,m}}\cap\{1,2,\ldots,k\}|}{|\mathcal{P}\cap\{1,2,\ldots,k\}|}}. $$ where $\varphi$ is the Euler's function.
My question is two fold:
- Does anyone have a reference for the previous fact? I was unsuccesful finding it.
- Are there finer results along these lines? Second order results?


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A short video explaining the needs for a Mobile Broadband Router. I use this one with a Sprint Aircard device. I have owned it for several months and highly recommend this model if you are in the need for a router that uses mobile broadband cards. One of MANY things I did not mention in the video, was this model supports GPS over WiFi if your Mobile Broadband Card has that capability. This would come in handy for you folks running Microsoft Streets and Trips, or other gps utilizing software. I like to bring my router in the car with my on occasion. I have an AC outlet in my Ford Escape which allows me to plug the router right in, and share the WiFi hot spot on the go.
Duration : 0:6:23


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Patsy Collins Bandes
You are hereHome/ Patsy Collins Bandes
Patsy Collins Bandes is currently in her seventh year as the production stage manager at The Boston Conservatory. Some recent productions include 42nd Street, Cendrillon, Quick-Change Room, Dark Elegies, Sweet Charity, Rent, Strike up the Band, Sweeney Todd, Twelfth Night, Hansel & Gretel, One Touch of Venus, The Mikado and many more. She also directed a production of Good by CP Taylor. Other companies she has stage managed for are North Shore Music Theatre, Prometheus Dance, Boston Children's Chorus and the Denver Center Theatre Company (1998 Tony Award), where she worked on the world premieres of The Laramie Project and Give 'em a Bit of Mystery: Shakespeare and the Old Tradition.
Collins Bandes is a member of The Boston Conservatory Theater Division and Dance Division faculties, teaching freshman production and stagecraft. She holds a B.A. in theater with an emphasis in directing from the University of Northern Colorado.
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The question What real life bad habits has programming given you? is one of the all-time most popular questions on StackOverflow. It had 341 upvotes and around 157k views, but it looks like at some point it was merged across to programmers.stackexchange.com... and then deleted.
If they don't want our question, can we have it back please? :-)


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Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to argue state's voter registration law
PHOENIX - Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne will be arguing the constitutionality of the state's voter registration law before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.
Horne held a rally Tuesday in Phoenix to address supporters of the law and his fight to defend it.
Arizona voters passed Proposition 200 in 2004 to require proof of citizenship when residents register to vote.
But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona cannot require voters to provide documents when registering with the federal form, but it can require voters registering with the state form to do so.
The National Voter Registration Act creates a standard federal registration form that all states must accept. It requires applicants to sign a statement that they are citizens, but it doesn't require them to show any proof.


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With mail2web Mobile Email and Apple iPhone, your email, contacts and calendar are synchronized using built-in ActiveSync features. This means you'll get push email, contacts and calendars directly to your iPhone in real-time, as they arrive.
You can access your wireless email from anywhere with one of the most popular mobile devices available. You can also keep your contacts up to date and receive and reply to appointment requests and calendar reminders. Now you can stay in touch and keep organized from anywhere with your iPhone and mail2web Mobile Email push email services. Learn more about iPhone Email.
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All your emails, calendars, contacts and tasks are kept up to date with wireless two-way synchronization that supports full "push" capabilities. You will also enjoy contact and calendar sync keeping your contacts up to date so you can respond to appointment requests instantly. You can even maintain a task list and keep it updated anywhere you are. Learn more about Windows Phone Email.
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Foster Wheeler will provide home office front-end engineering design and detailed engineering design services to support new development and modification projects at the Pembroke refinery and other UK facilities. Terms were not disclosed. Valero acquired the Pembroke refinery in 2011.
Foster Wheeler has signed an evergreen agreement with Valero
Energy for the provision of home office engineering and project
support services to Valeros Pembroke refinery and other
facilities in the UK.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and bookings
will be recorded as work is released by Valero.
Foster Wheeler will provide home office front-end
engineering design and detailed engineering design services to
support new development and modification projects at the
Pembroke refinery and other facilities.
Foster Wheeler will also provide other support services
including project control and cost estimating.
Valero acquired the Pembroke refinery in 2011.
We know this refinery well, having executed projects for the refinery since the
1980s, said Umberto della Sala, chief operating
officer of Foster Wheeler.
The combination of our knowledge of the refinery, together with our in-depth
refining expertise, particularly in
revamp projects, and our flexible and responsive team, give us
an excellent opportunity to build a strong, long-term
relationship in the UK with Valero," he added.
"We have already successfully executed projects for Valero elsewhere,
particularly in the US.
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Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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Beacon, New York—Dia Art Foundation inaugurates a new sound work by artist Max Neuhaus on May 6, 2006, at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, the museum for its permanent collection located in the Hudson Valley. Commissioned for Dia:Beacon, Time Piece Beacon (2005) establishes a zone of sound around the perimeter of Dia's facility. Tailored to the building and its surrounding environment, the work introduces an aural experience into the museum. Time Piece Beacon enters Dia's collection alongside Neuhaus's Times Square (1977), a sound work located on a pedestrian island at Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets in New York City, which was acquired in 2002.
Neuhaus premises his projects on a perception of space as a function of what we hear as well as what we see. He often exploits the specific characteristics of a given context as a foundation on which to create a new aural experience of that place. Drawing from the historic practice of using sound as a signal—such as the chimes of a clock announcing the time of day—the work introduces a "sound signal" in reverse: its subtle sound will be noticed by those within earshot when it disappears rather than when it begins. Initially inaudible, the sound will gradually emerge from the ambient noise in the museum environment and will suddenly stop. Its "signal" will be the silence left after its abrupt ending. In marking the hour with the cessation of sound, Time Piece Beacon creates a moment of stillness.
Dia's first collaboration with Neuhaus was the reinstallation of Times Square. In May 2002 Dia worked with the Times Square Street Business Improvement District (BID), Christine Burgin, and MTA Arts for Transit to reinstate Neuhaus's 1977 project, which had been deinstalled in 1992. With the acquisition of Time Piece Beacon, Dia maintains two of the twelve permanent sound works by Neuhaus currently active internationally.
Max Neuhaus
Max Neuhaus has worked in the fields of contemporary art and music for more than forty years. Credited with being the first to extend sound as a primary medium into the field of contemporary art, his work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris; and the Kunsthalle, Bern. In addition to Times Square, permanent sound works are installed in Graz, Austria; Geneva, Switzerland; Bern, Switzerland; Turin, Italy; Bordeaux, France; and Kassel, Germany, among other locations. Neuhaus's work has also been included in Documenta 6 (1977) and 9 (1992), and the Venice Biennale (1999). Born in Beaumont, Texas in 1939, Neuhaus spent part of his early childhood in Fishkill, New York, and currently lives in Capri, Italy.
Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries
Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation's museum in the Hudson Valley, presents a distinguished collection of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, the museum occupies a former Nabisco box-printing facility, which was renovated by Dia with artist Robert Irwin and architect OpenOffice.
Dia:Beacon's expansive galleries comprise 240,000 square feet of exhibition space illuminated by natural light. The museum houses works by a focused group of some of the most significant artists of the last half century, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Imi Knoebel, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Blinky Palermo, Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, and Lawrence Weiner.
Programming at the museum includes a series of year-long temporary exhibitions as well as public programs designed to complement the collection and exhibitions, including monthly Gallery Talks, music performances by St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Readings in Contemporary Literature, Community Free Days for neighboring counties and an education program that serves area students at all education levels.
Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974. A nonprofit institution, Dia is internationally renowned for initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects. Dia presents public programs and its permanent collection of works from the 1960s through the present at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, in New York's Hudson Valley. Dia has also proposed a plan to relocate its contemporary exhibition program in New York City to a new facility located at the future entrance to the High Line public park in downtown Manhattan. Additionally, the foundation maintains long-term, site-specific projects in the western United States, in New York City, and on Long Island.
* * *
For additional information or materials contact:
Press Department, Dia Art Foundation, firstname.lastname@example.com or 212 293 5518


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San Jose Sharks vs Vancouver Canucks Playoffs Round 1 Home Game 3 (No Game)Sat, May 11, 2013 - TBASAP Center at San Jose in San Jose, CA
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RG3 powers Redskins to win over Cowboys
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THE PARTY To celebrate the visit of Fashion Director James Aguiar to Hawai'i—his first ever, notably—Modern Luxury Hawai'i hosted a reception at The Modern Honolulu. THE PLAYERS Scott Creel, Amelia Perea, Brynn and Hugh Foster, Sanford Lee, Shane Matsuda THE HIGHLIGHTS The late afternoon sun shone brightly on the pool-side bar, The Grove. But when unexpected showers came, the party went on without a hitch... in the sumptuous lobby bar, The Study, downstairs. Photography by Travis Okimoto


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Djokovic beats Ferrer to reach 3rd U.S. Open final
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Cincinnati Ballet and Symphony Orchestra Tchaikovskys The NutcrackerSat, December 22, 2012 - 2:00 PMAronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, OH
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I know there is something wrong with this but I don't know where. It's some kind of a math fallacy and it is driving me crazy. Here it is: $$-1= (-1)^3 = (-1)^{6/2} = \sqrt{(-1)^6}= 1?$$
The "rule" $(a^b)^c = a^{bc}$ doesn't necessarily hold when $a < 0$.
$x^2=y$ does not imply $x=\sqrt y$. In fact both $+\sqrt y$ and $-\sqrt y$ both satisfy $x^2=y$.
So $(-1)^6=1$, does not imply $(-1)^3=\sqrt1=1$
There is a simpler version of this fallacy: $-1 = (-1)^{2/2} = \sqrt{(-1)^2} = \sqrt{1} = 1$. The mistake comes from the fact that the function $f(x)=x^2$ is not invertible so you cannot conclude that for any real number $x$ it is the case that $x = \sqrt{x^2}$.
There is a version of the same mistake that uses the fact that $log$ is not invertible on $\mathbb{C}$ to prove that all numbers equal 1:
$x = e^{\ln(x)} = e^{\ln(x) * (2\pi i) / (2\pi i)} = (e^{2\pi i})^{\ln(x)/2\pi i} = (\cos(2\pi)+i \sin(2\pi))^{\ln(x) / 2\pi i} = 1^{\ln(x) / 2\pi i} = 1$
What is wrong here is assuming that $\sqrt{x^2} = x$ when the fact is $\sqrt{x^2} = |x|$. Let $x=−1$ and use $\sqrt{x^2} = |x|$ in the problem above, you should arrive at a valid equation.
As other say the square root may be two valued. However you use it as a function, so it's single valued. It really depends on your definition of used functions. I think that $(-1)^{6/2} = -1$ but $\sqrt{(-1)^6} = ((-1)^6)^{1/2} = 1$. So @mrf is right that $(a^b)^c ≠ a^{bc}$ in general and the third equality of your equation is the one that doesn't hold.
The problem here is that the square root function, $\sqrt{-},(-)^\frac{1}{2}$, is not a single-valued function.
As PVAL says, it is a two-valued function, meaning you have two consistently choose which square root you're talking about. That's why you often will have problems when you have chains of equalities as above.
Taking square roots is in a sense a two valued function, because every non-zero complex number $z$ has two distinct complex numbers $w_1, w_2$ for which $w_1^2=w_2^2=z$.
$\sqrt{x^2} = +x$ or $-x$
The fault with the "proof" is the false assumption that you can choose the positive root and still have everything hold. In fact, you need to select the correct root based on context or accept two possible answers.
You say, $(-1)^{6/2}= [(-1)^6]^{1/2}$
I'd rather see it as, $(-1)^{6/2}=[(-1)^{1/2}]^6$
which is equal to $i^6$ or $(-i)^6 = -1$
(Just for fun : $DMAS$ rule for powers? :P)
The rule $a^{b/c}=\sqrt[c]{a^b}$ is always true when $a > 0$. If $a$ is negative, it may not be true.
What you have done is correct but the third and so the fourth equality is not valid in mathematics. $$-1= (-1)^3 = (-1)^{6/2} = \sqrt{(-1)^6}= 1?$$
Here in your problem: $$\sqrt{(-1)^6}=\sqrt{(-1)^3.(-1)^3}=\sqrt{-1.-1} $$
Here since both a and b are negative
Therefore your third equality was wrong and so the fourth one.
The correct use of ${\sqrt{}}$ in this context would be
$$ −1 = (−1)^3 = (−1)^{6 / 2} = -\sqrt{(-1)^6} = -\sqrt{1} = -1$$
and this is simply a consequence of the inverse of $x^2$ being $-\sqrt{x}$ not $+\sqrt{x}$ when $x < 0$.
$$ -1 = \sqrt{(-1)^2} = \sqrt{1} = 1$$
is an equally invalid chain of equalities becuase the square root function is not injective.
If we start at one value, and apply a function whose inverse is not injective, we can easily (by choice) end up at a different value; ie if $f^-1(x)$ is not injective, then
$$f^-1 \circ f (x) \in S$$
where S contains values other than $x$. For mathematical rigor we have to specify in which domain we are working, so that we don't simply "choose" the inverse value. If from the start we have said $x < 0$, then the inverse of $x^2$ is $-\sqrt{x^2}$ not $+\sqrt{x ^2 }$ and the fallacy would be avoided.
The problem is in step: $$(-1)^3 = (-1)^{6/2} $$ You are squaring a number and taking root. As many people pointed out: $$ (x^2)^{1/2} $$ can be +x or -x.
Think about operator associativity in $$\sqrt{(-1)^6}$$. This is constructed in following way
let us solve this
for more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_associativity
Hi this is not a fallacy but this problem overlooks some facts i.e. there will be two square roots to every number like. $$ \sqrt{4} = +2 \text{ as well as} -2 $$ similarly $$ \sqrt{(-1)^6} = +1 \text{ or } -1 $$
So I think writing $$\sqrt{(-1)^6} = 1$$in this proof is wrong
And also people who are saying that $$(a^b)^c != a^{b*c}$$ for a <0 or something like that please calculate this in your calculator so that it proves you worng $$10^{2.5*log10(-1)} $$