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The pope's popularity: Wasted opportunity?
Conservative Catholics' disappointment in Pope Francis has been discussed for a while now, but as for any subject, its appearance on the front page of The New York Times has a way of raising its profile.
My reaction to reading Laurie Goodstein's article today is that the wave of good feeling toward Pope Francis may well turn out to be a wasted opportunity for the U.S. Catholic Church. In addition to the bloggers and activists quoted in the article, even some bishops greeted his recent interviews with grumbling. They and other conservative critics of the pope should realize that they've been handed a great opening for evangelization.
When was the last time the church in the U.S. had such a chance to reach out to lapsed and alienated Catholics?
I would venture that the pope's popularity is an opportunity for the pro-life movement as well. Its message has a much better chance to achieve a true majority if it is linked to the broader range of priorities the pope has been talking about. As one activist quoted in the article notes, the pope has not sold out the pro-life movement.
I am interested to hear if you've noticed any effective follow-up on the parish or diocesan level to the warm public response to Pope Francis's interviews.
About the Author
Paul Moses, a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College/CUNY, is the author of The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace (Doubleday, 2009) and An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians (NYU Press, 2015).
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I believe that the greatest contribution Francis is making is centering on the main mission of Jesus. Preaching the Gospel to the poor. This is a core belief which has really suffered since the fourth century with people like Francis of Assissi and others beckoning the church back to its core mission. For 17 centuries clergy has been catering to the rich. The opportunity is to return to the core mission.
Mr. Moses - not to point fingers but to try to respond to your questions:
Dallas Diocese - received the diocesan paper Friday. Front page article about the Texas Appeals Court decision to negate a lower court stoppage of the recently passed Texas abortion law that requires abortion clinic doctors to have hospital privileges. Article used the typical and usual *anti-abortion* language and trumpeted this appeals court decision as a core pro-life move.
Facts - yes, this is an anti-abortion directive (but to argue that it is pro-life in the way Francis understands this term is going too far). Factchecker.org and balanced investigations indicate that this TX law will cause upto 45 (out of 55) clinics to close; there is no evidence that MDs at clinics need to have hospital privileges (in some cases, the nearest hospital is a one or more hour drive away); clinics provide life-saving procedures beyond just abortions for a mostly minority and poor clientele (majority are anglo, interestingly, in TX); 95% of the clientele are female, etc. Thus, it is difficult for many catholics to see this as a *pro-life* decision or something to be *cheered*.
At the same time in Texas and on the subject of Pro-Life - the diocesan bishop says nothing about the state's decision to not participate in expanding Medicaid insurance coverage (studies indicate that it will leave 1.5 million without insurance); nothing about the fact that Texas has more uninsured tha any other state; or that Texas leads the nation in folks in poverty (60+% being children). This same bishop had a chance to support and ask local parishes to support an initiative to provide booklets that explain, help access, and give resources (appointments, computer access, navigators, etc.) for the Affordable Care Act (again, the USCCB's partisan stand on this can be interpreted as anti-life?). BTW, in the face of the governor's opposition to ACA, navigators (he suspended federal dollars to train/certify them), local counties with county and not for profit hospitals and even county governments (Houston, Dallas) have come together to get navigators qualified; to offer scheduled appointments to help folks sign up; and, in some cases, to even cover the healthcare insurance premiums (that tax credits don't cover). Why? In Dallas alone, the county hospital had $800 million in unreimbursed costs last year (primarily ER visits from uninsured; 50% from outside Dallas County). And this says nothing about the fact that more than 1/2 million residents can't sign up because they are not legal (immigration issue) and yet - nothing in the diocesan paper.
Our diocesan paper has been quite positive in reporting on Pope Francis. The Archbishop, Gregory Aymond (who is regarded generally as a moderate), speaks very positively of him, and he has even publicly supported Obamacare and is against the death penalty and for helping the poor more. The local Times-Picayune also reports that the rector of the seminary says that the seminarians are excited by Francis' message. And the diocesan spokeswoman said, "There's definitely at lot of discussion about it. It seems to have been … very well received among Catholics."
So things seem to be going well here, though given the number of conservatives here I'm sure there must be some quiet grumbling.
Pope Francis seeks change in church style, Archbishop Gregory ...
New Orleans Catholicism has long been on the liberal side. I don't know what the situation is in other parts of the state.
I think the basic problem is that the traditionalists never wanted the changes brought about by Vatican II. For the last thirty -five years they have gotten their way as JPII, and then, even more vigorously, Benedict rolled back Vatican II. Now they have a Pope, the first who did not attend the council, who is fully committed to Vatican II they are in a panic, because they fear they are going to lose all that they have gained. The question is whether they should have gained it in the first place. Pope Francis has a big tent view of the Church and has welcomed everyone. The fact that they do not feel welcomed says more about them than him.
I think we need to be careful not to all become ultramontaines. This is difficult in a media driven age and the fact that the Pope is easy to centralize as the pivotal figure for Roman Catholics. But is this wise? Is it wise to invest so much actual (Vatican I and the pope having full ordinary jurisdiction over the whole church (ack!!) and now symbolic power vested in the bishop of Rome. What if the next pope is a Tridentine loving remote, distant pope. Does that mean, the whole character of the church swings to private devotions and away from the mission to the poor?
Granted a papal election, like any election, signals particular directions. But do remember that this election was about reform; reform of the Curia, reform of the bank, reform of the clergy; reform of the total criminal way in which the Vatican has handled the abuse crisis.
We need more than symbolic actions of living in an apartment, driving a simple car, washing the feet of a woman, etc, etc. I do not discount the value of symbols but at the same time i would prefer a less public and more effective cleaning of the stables.
John Paul II apologized for the sins of some members of the church and that was a postive step and this purification of memory needs to continue and be more explicit. There still needs to be more repentence, more sobriety, more reform.
As Flannery O'connor said to expect to much is to be sentimental and this is a softness that ends in bitterness. Charity is hard but endures. Appealing to sentimentality and superficial affect is a dangerous tactic. That is not to say that I have not appreciated the sermons posted on here and his reflections (as I did Benedicts and as I do many others). It is just that I don't want to get awash in the emotion of the moment. Been there done that with other leaders.
Praying, pondering and doing what I can in my little corner. And yes, I have my own repentance and conversion to worrry about.
I admire a lot about Pope Francis as a person of compassion and empathy. I agree with Bill Mazella that he is moving a lot of people (including me) to think about the poor and marginalized and to consider our Christian commitment to them.
But how does any change in in the mood or message of the papacy makes a difference for the fallen away? The deal is still that in order to get back to the Table, you have to confess the sins the Church has defined for you, and you have to, in good conscience, say you're going to accept its teaching. Moreover, you still have the same priest and parishioners going about business as usual.
Today was the Men's Club breakfast, and the chief order of business at the meeting after was whether to purchase a counter-top deep fryer to allow the quantity of french fries keep up with the amount of fish on Fish Fry Fridays. The kids are practing carols to sing at the old folks home (and about half of them will actually go because they are terrified of the place). There is a Living Nativity bus trip planned. Turkey bingo is being held ($2 per card with corn kernel markers for the cards for added fun!). No mention of collecting anything for the Methodist Ladies' poor baskets for Thanksgiving as in previous years, so I gotta call over there to see where to drop off stuff.
Nothing I can see that indicates anybody wants a bunch of Bad Catholics back in the fold.
I guess I'm a disaffected Catholic and though Francis has disappointed me so far with his take on women, it does make a real difference to me to finally have a pope I can respect and like and admire.
Crystal, I'm interested in your comments. Yes, I think Pope Francis is a warm-hearted guy who exudes decency and encouragement. But the pope isn't the Church. How does he change your view of the faith or the Church?
Jean Raber
The deal is still that in order to get back to the Table, you have to confess the sins the Church has defined for you, and you have to, in good conscience, say you're going to accept its teaching.
I am not sure that Pope Francis is saying this. I think, like Cdl Martini. SJ he wants to give everyone a place at the table. That was Martini's version of The Court of the Gentiles, which Benedict basically misunderstood. At the Jerusalem Temple, The Court of th Gentiles was not the palce where inter-religious ideas were exchanged. Martine, a biblical scholar ujderstood this well amd so he talked about "a place at thetable." This is what upsets the trads, that Francis is accepting everyone and has made room for them at the table.
My feelings about the church are complicated. I became a believing Christian through a Jesuit retreat, so I'm a Catholic because of the spirituality. But I don't agree with a lot of the doctrines and I think the leadership is fairly corrupted - to get a pope who is (as far as I can tell) honest, humble, compassionate, gives me hope that the bad things in the church can be changed for the better and that the church may someday represent in its structure and actions what it purports to teach. I guess Francis gives me hope that someday I can be proud of my church instead of ashamed.
So Bill, you're surely not assertng that for 1700 years the Church has been teaching error? If you are simply pointing out a shift in emphasis, that is one thing, so I take it that's what you meant.
If Pope Francis wins applause for his informality, shouldn't Pope Benedict also get some credit? He's been recently photographed wearing a white baseball cap. My suggestion - liberals should adopt clown noses and consevatives baseball caps as ways of displaying their most profound commitments.
Pope Francis was quoted at length Sunday on the subject of hope by the deacon who did the homily. But I haven't seen much effort to integrate or explain Pope Francis on a local level. There seems to be more interest in the pope in the pews, based on the (of course) always inaccurate secular (hiss, boo) media, than there is among designated leaders.
But there wasn't much effort to amplify Pope Benedict, either. And it took about 15 years before the local church noticed that the universal church was led by the rock star before him.
I absolutely think this is an opportunity to promote a prolife agenda. If the Church can shift gears somewhat and emphasize that we value life at all of its stages, and for all people, it makes our anti-abortion position more compelling. If we're "just" anti-abortion, we come off hypocritical, I think.
And I don't think we should give too much weight- or too much ink- to the small minority of Catholics who think the Pope isn't prolife enough. That universe-the American Life League types- seem to thrive on finding the rest of us lacking in this area; it's no suprise that even the Pope doesn't meet their standards.
Re: local impact. I haven' seen anything different at my parish, though my husband says he was at a Mass (right after the "who am I to judge" remark) where the homily focused on how nothing at all was different under Pope Francis; that his comments don't signal any kind of change. But I just chalked that homily up to wishful thinking on the part of the speaker.
This is a great topic. FWIW, I preached about Pope Francis a couple of months ago, talking about how much I loved the signs and symbols. Feedback from folks in the pews was tremendous. There is a lot of excitement about him.
That said, though - it's not always clear how the things a parish does day-to-day should change in reaction to this pope's (or any pope's) views and priorities. There is rarely a direct line, such that when the pope expresses a wish, people in parish leadership interpret it as a command and spring to fulfill it with alacrity. A lot of what we do in parishes seems to run on inertia (cf Jean's descriptions of recent goings-on in her parish).
It will take prayer, thought, discernment, and direction to realize whatever Pope Francis' practical problem is going to be. I am fortunate to belong to a parish that actually places a premium on prayer, thought and discernment, and we block off significant time for these activities, involving clergy, parish staff and lay leadership. But I suspect that we're the exception rather than the rule.
One of my critiques of the US bishops, which I express here from time to time, is that they tend to be slow off the mark. They meet as a conference only twice a year. But the real world of events and developments doesn't adhere to a semi-annual schedule anymore. If Francis' vision is to be realized to practical effect in our parishes and communities, our bishops are a necessary layer in that program, to help us determine how to translate the vision to practice. This RNS report by David G is very insightful about how the bishops are trying / grappling / struggling with this stuff.
What I wrote:
It will take prayer, thought, discernment, and direction to realize whatever Pope Francis' practical problem is going to be.
What I meant to write:
It will take prayer, thought, discernment, and direction to realize whatever Pope Francis' practical program is going to be.
Respect for the pope and popolotry are two different things. Conservatives caught up with JPII and Benedict may feel they are being abandoned. But was it these popes to whom they were faithful or the teachings of Jesus? (Nor did everyone interviewed in the Times story seem adverse to Francis's readjusted message on pro-life).
Liberals, yes you CWL bloggers (okay some of you), are in danger of a form of popolatry yourselves. I thought when Francis emphasized his title as Bishop of Rome and vicar of Peter he was readjusting the title inflation. Good for him. He is not liberal, and he is not conservative. What is actually invigorating about his reign so far is the enthusiasm he has engendered in the weary world and among weary Catholics.
Thanks for this post, and for an interesting comment thread.
In our parish, Francis' words and actions have several times been referenced by one or another of the homilists.
Not directly related to (but certainly consistent with) Francis' words about justice and the poor, the Mass. Catholic Conference (the bishops' lobbying arm) has endorsed a petition campaign aimed at raising the minimum wage to $10.50/hour and indexing it to inflation. If successful, the petition would force the legislature to consider the bill early next year. If the legislature fails to act, the petition/bill goes on the ballot as a referendum question for the voters next November.
(Several CCHD-supported faith-based organizations of the type described in this current Commonweal article are at the heart of the petition drive.)
Sometimes when I encounter the great enthusiasm for Francis among those who were disaffected during the previous two papacies, I think of this:
Guess who's Benedict and who's Francis? (Yes, I am being superficial. Sort of). My point is, Nixon was back on top soon enough. Dame Fortuna is always turning her wheel, and those riding high today will be crushed beneath its weight soon enough.
IOW, enjoy this while it lasts, but don't get cocky. You're gonna get yours, too. Again.
But how does any change in in the mood or message of the papacy makes a difference for the fallen away? The deal is still that in order to get back to the Table, you have to confess the sins the Church has defined for you, and you have to, in good conscience, say you're going to accept its teaching.
The term "fallen away" should not be used. It implies that most people leave the Roman Catholic church without thought, without considered judgment, without "cause". That may be true of some (most likely those who were baptized but never really actively part of the church), but for most former Catholics, it is not true.
We did not "fall away" - we made a choice and we walked away from the church because we could not remain in "good conscience".
We walked away for an entire spectrum of reasons. Some of the most common may include reasons often condemned by some active Catholics (boredom at mass, irrelevance of homilies and the church in general in their lives, nasty treatment at the hands of a priest or parish staff etc). They also often include changes in life status (marriage, divorce, remarriage), the failure of Rome to hold bishops accountable for enabling the rape and abuse of kids, and dissent from church teachings, especially those related to gender, sex, sexuality, and marriage. I left primarily because of the hierarchy of the church choosing to protect an institution and the priests who molested the young instead of protecting the young and Rome's failure to hold bishops accountable, and also because of the church's teachings on women and the denial of a sacrament based on gender alone and all that flows from denying women an equal role in church governance and in developing/defining teachings. Since I believe that denying women an equal role in the church and mandatory celibacy have both contributed to the distorted views that laid the foundation for the officials of the church choosing to protect pedophiles instead of kids, I believe that mandatory celibacy should also be dropped. It would be easy to do - it's not taught as "dogma".
Like Crystal, I am happy to see a pope who is reaffirming the gospel and core values taught by Jesus. After years of increasing ecclesial "conspicuous consumption" emphasizing worldly values of materialism and wealth, it is refreshing to have a pope who seems to understand the inherent contradiction demonstrated to the world by the lifestyles of many of the hierarchy (the "princes") of the church and those of Jesus and the disciples. I like Francis, his warmth, his (relative) simplicity, his refusal to act as a monarch instead of a "papa". If the church didn't "demand" that I accept teachings that I cannot in good conscience accept, he would bring me back to a Catholic pew. I have spent Sundays in an Episcopal church for more than five years now.
I am just one of the tens of millions of formerly active Catholics in the US who have left. Can I come back? Probably not - for exactly the reasons you state. I dissent strongly from some church teachings and I believe they cause tangible harm to many. I dissent from the "infallibly" proclaimed teaching that women cannot be ordained as priests. The (magisterium) church may have to find a way to backtrack on some teachings to bring some back - in "good conscience". Changing teachings may be too high a price in lost face for those who have painted themselves into corners proclaiming that the church "never" changes its teachings because it is "infallible". The (magisterium) church hates to lose face - cannot admit to ever having been wrong in its interpretations or understanding because it is "infallible". Maybe in revisiting teachings, it should begin with that particular disastrous legacy of Pius IX. (They are clever men – surely they can find a way to change that teaching while still proclaiming that they never change teachings.) Thus the official church clings to its teaching on birth control, a teaching not received by 90%+ of THE church, at least in the west. Many in poor countries have no access to reliable modern birth control, so its a non-issue. The "poll" Rome sent out seems almost unbelievably clueless about rejection of the teaching on contraception, given the wording of the questions related to birth control and natural law. Rome, including Francis so far, also clings to its teaching that it is God who has willed that women be forever cast in subservient roles to the men of the church and to their own husbands, etc. and that they are defined primarily, if not exclusively, by their biological role in reproduction.
So, if Francis truly wants to return to a big tent Catholicism after decades of shrinking induced by an overemphasis on a narrow definition of "orthodoxy", then he will have to send some real signals soon - not just those of mercy and forgiveness, but signs of rethinking some teachings. He is doing so (it seems) in regards to marriage/divorce/remarriage/the sacraments, perhaps moving closer to the Orthodox on this. But he clings to his fond vision of his grandmother, of woman as madonna primarily, if not exclusively, in a way that he would never think to apply to men as fathers primarily. He seems also to be moving in some way towards finding practical ways to welcome the children of gay parents to the sacraments, if not their parents. There seems to be no movement towards changing the teaching on birth control, unfortunately, which could be easily done by simply revisiting the report of the Birth Control commission. I have read that Paul VI had a spokesman once clarify that HV is not "infallible", although I can't cite a source right now. If that is the case, changing that teaching would be a tremendous move towards restoring credibility for Rome when speaking on matters of sexuality, sex, and marriage - teachings mostly ignored by most Catholics in the west for decades now. He could also revisit the study done by a papal commission of biblical scholars in the 1970s on what scripture "says" about women and the priesthood. The conclusion was that there is nothing in scripture that "demands" banning women from Holy Orders. Like the report of the Birth Control Commission, the study was ignored, presumably because it did not come up with the pre-determined conclusion sought by those who commissioned it.
Jean, you refer to the sins that the church has "defined for you" and the requirement that those seeking to return to the Catholic church accept all teachings in "good conscience". Perhaps there is a loophole. A straightforward and honest redefinition of some teachings would be the best course. But a renewed emphasis on the hierarchy of truths would help, and Francis has mentioned that. In addition, a return to a definition of "primacy of conscience" that means what it says would also be a way to permit some to return in good conscience. But it would mean eliminating Benedict's definition in the CCC that essentially equates "properly formed" with "100% alignment" with Rome's definitions.
My take on the reactions here to Laurie Goodstein's article is that for the ideologues on the Catholic-right for sure, not even a year into his papacy the bloom off the rose as far as the Jesuit pope is concerned.
How could Bergoglio rise to the rank of cardinal-archbishop of Buenos Aires, then be elected pope without the support of the most reactionary ideologues in the conclave?
How could Papa Francesco now so easily turn his back on the very men with very dark purposes who elected him just a few months ago?
How could Papa Francesco embrace thinking and practice that the ideologues consider subversive?
I'm not buying it. That being said, Papa Francesco is no "Nixon," nor is he just "lucky" as some would contend.
Nonetheless, what a difference a conclave can make! Just nine months ago we had a pope who was hopelessly embroiled in Vatican-insider knife-fighting among papal courtiers.
Now we have a pope who embodies and projects the humility of the Christ, especially when he says, "Whom am I to judge?"
What the conservative, right-wing ideologues really can't abide, unlike their darling "moral relativism" Grand Inquisitor pope, is that Papa Francesco for all his conservative principles is really a gifted pastor and shepherd.
Get over it, right-wing. Francesco isn't going to live forever.
OK - could someone with edit capabilities please eliminate the duplicate verbiage. It would really help if the commenters had a tool to do this themselvesl.
Good God, Jenkins--did you actually think that you were supposed to take away from that that Francis was Nixon?
Oh Boy! Here comes trouble:
Pope's Ambassador Tells US Bishops to Live Simply
Agree with Anne Chapman about "fallen away." An unfortunate blame-the-victim phrase. For many, "driven away" would be more accurate.
Telling bishops to live simply? LOL Even my all-time fave, Edwin Vincent O'Hara, sailed first class on his many trips to Europe.
Anne and Gerelyn, thanks for your thoughts on the term "fallen away Catholic." I didn't mean to give offense.
I left the Table because some of the Church's teachings struck me as hard and tough to swallow. I am not persuaded that I am right and the Church is wrong about these things. And I haven't left the Church; I continue to go to Mass (though sometimes just to maintain marital harmony). I don't want to be a Protestant. So what would I call myself? Lapsed (like a magazine subscription)? A Bad Catholic (everyone hates that moniker)? A partial Catholic?
Pope Francis seems like a humble and inspiring man who leads by example. He has earned my respect and certainly I pay attention to what he says. But he's not the Church.
FWIW, and I hope this doesn't sound too cynical, I don't think those little surveys the Vatican is planning are going to do those of us "left behinds" (yikes, worse than "fallen away") much good. When PR firms do surveys, it's not generally to change policy, but to figure out how to spin the old policy so it sounds better.
Hi, Jean.
(In high school, I once used the term "non-Catholic" in speaking to a girl I had become friends with at work. She said, "I'm not a non-Catholic; you're a non-Protestant.")
I think many former or "recovering" or cafeteria Catholics feel that it is the Church that has fallen away, not them.
People of my age cohort, e.g., went through parochial school, Catholic high school, and Catholic college without ever hearing about the issues that younger Catholics now regard as the only things that matter. There was no Catechism of the Catholic Church. It seems like a different Church today.
What should you call yourself? Whatever you want to. Christian? I don't see why people have to identify their position on the religious spectrum for others. It's nobody's business.
Agree that the survey is of no value. Just as the John Jay study was WORTHLESS, so will this survey be. For soooo many reasons.
Jean Raber: How about Relaxed Catholic?
Jean: Why not just call yourself a Catholic?
I think this survey will be extremely valuable. I've been a Catholic my entire life and no one in any kind of "official" postion has ever asked me before what I believe about the issues covered by the survey. Even if no concrete changes come out of the results, I think it is just huge that there is a process for people in the pews to begin to weigh in. I hope the results are made public; I would like to know how much my own beliefs/practicies are in step with other Catholics.
Thanks for the many interesting comments here. I'd like to follow up on what Crystal Watson wrote earlier by noting that a survey in Italy has suggested that there is indeed a "Francis effect" that is bringing people back to church:
Those who do not believe that this survey will reveal the depth and breadth of belief and practice among Catholics, even if targeted only to those still in the pews on Sunday are most likely correct. Reaching those who are no longer in those pews every week is an even more challenging task and I doubt seriously that many bishops will try - that they even want to hear from former Catholics anyway, except perhaps from those to whom their Coming Home programs might appeal.
Jean, you are still a practicing Catholic - you go to mass. Most would simply call you a Catholic, but if you need a qualifier and don't like "cafeteria" (every Catholic is a cafeteria Catholic but some are in denial), then just Catholic will do. I would call you a thinking Catholic. You are not "fallen away" - generally when one falls, it is an "accident". You have not been "left behind" . That implies that you are not an active participant in the development of your own faith and relationship with God, and in deciding the church's "proper" role in that relationship, but were accidently left behind, and that is not true. You are making choices of what to accept and what to reject based on intellect and conscience. You are still in the pews and your problems with selected church teachings are due to thinking, not an accident. You could simply say you are a Christian, although some use that description as a simplification of "evangelical Protestant Christian". But Christian does cover it. You still go to mass, you still maintain official ties with the church, so "none" or "sbnr" won't cover it either.
I haven't read the survey, but from what I've read about it, I have the impression that it's not really intended for "ordinary" (i.e., non-ordained) Catholics.
If it is meant for the laity, where is it?
Who wrote it? What are his qualifications?
How is it being disseminated? Who is promulgating it?
Who will read the responses and tally them?
Who will interpret them? What are the qualifications of those analysts?
Will the raw data be made available to the public? Through what media? Will the raw data be preserved for future study?
If this survey is like the John Jay study, then some/much/most pertinent information will be withheld, and that which is released will be based on revisions of previously accepted definitions, etc.
If this survey is like the questionnaire which women's religious congregations were required to answer, the results will not be made public.
Should editors of Catholic web sites make the survey available online?
I agree with Catherine.
I just read the questionnaire on the family. As I had gathered from comments here and on NCR, it's for bishops, not for people raising families.
Gerelyn, the wording of many questions assumes an in-depth familiarity with Vatican documents and concepts such as natural law that few laity possess. However, apparently the intent is to get at what the laity think about these matters. It is apparently up to the bishops to figure out how to do this, which means that the results will be fairly meaningless if the pope is really hoping to get into the minds of the laity.
The bishops of Great Britain have posted the questionnaire online and are asking laity to respond. The bishops of Belgium have also posted it online, but they are asking laity to respond in whatever way they wish - not necessarily answering the questionnaire as written, but describing their beliefs and experiences. The USCCB now meeting in Baltimore have raised the issue, and it sounds as though each bishop will decide what to do themselves. It does not appear that they will appeal to the laity. They may "consult" parish councils or diocesan councils, but appear to have no real interest in consulting with the people in the pews directly, much less those who seldom visit pews anymore. Their report for the Synod will most likely reflect their own beliefs rather than those of the laity.
In question 7.f, the bishops are asked, "How can an increase in births be promoted?"
I don't see how anyone who lives on this planet could think an increase in births is desirable.
The bishops of Great Britain have posted the questionnaire online and are asking laity to respond. The bishops of Belgium have also posted it online, but they are asking laity to respond in whatever way they wish - not necessarily answering the questionnaire as written, but describing their beliefs and experiences.
These approaches are interesting but possibly not any more enlightening than surveying parish council members.
The RCIA ladies misinformed me about membership in the Church. They said if you hadn't received in 10 years, you were automatically considered out. Maybe just wishful thinking on their part cuz I looked it up, and once a Catholic, you continue to be considered a Catholic and bear the obligations of a Catholic, even if you are excommunicated.
Apparently, it's like the Hotel California: You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
Apparently, it's like the Hotel California: You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
More like "The Death of the Hired Hand" ?
'Home,' he mocked gently.
'Yes, what else but home?
It all depends on what you mean by home.
Of course he's nothing to us, any more
Than was the hound that came a stranger to us
Out of the woods, worn out upon the trail.'
'Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.'
Jim P, I'm not sure anything the bishops do will lead to true discernment on the part of the hierarchy of the beliefs and insights of the laity. Posting a poll that is difficult and wordy and long and very time-consuming to respond to will drive away many. The Belgian bishops approach might work better because it is free-form, just inviting comments.
Polling parish councils is like polling the choir. It won't give a true picture. In my experience, the membership of the parish council is not necessarily representative of the parish, even if elected by members of the parish. They tend to be far more committed than the average parishoner, have been very active for a long time in the parish, and tend to hang around with all the other parish activitists, who are usually the like-minded. In most parishes, they may have no more real understanding of the beliefs of parishoners in general, or even of the true range of beliefs, than do the priests. Most Catholics don't go to confession, and among those who do, most go only once a year, so the confessional is not a good barometer of the entire parish. Those who go to confession regularly tend to be from the conservative side of the church anyway, so depending only on their revelations in the confessional would skew the results. The parish council members most likely don't know the Catholics who are registered but don't show up every week, and maybe not even once/month. Most suburban parishes in the DC metro area are huge - anywhere from 1500 to 4500 families (if a family has 4 people on average, well, you do the math), it is unlikely that they would know many of the every Sunday massgoers either.
The only way to do a survey that might have a chance at capturing the true beliefs of the majority of Catholics, including those who aren't at mass every Sunday, would be to commission survey professionals to do it, such as those at CARA or, even better, William D'Antonio's research team at Catholic University. In fact, if they want to save time, they might just use the surveys the CU team have been doing every five years for the last 20 years or more years.


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5 Terrifying Ways Being in Love Chemically Impairs You
Love does things to a person -- you know this well if you've been in love, or within a hundred feet of a friend who is. Frilly-collared poets would have you believe that it's all part of love's magical spell, but luckily science has weighed in on the subject to let us know that love triggers all sorts of weird chemical and physical changes inside our brains and bodies. And once you know about these changes, it actually explains a lot ...
#5. Love Makes Us Go Blind (Figuratively)
Alex Brosa/Photos.com
We all have that one friend who dates the biggest tool in the universe and seems completely oblivious to how obviously terrible that person is (some of us have probably even been that friend). No matter how rude, obnoxious, drunken, or unfaithful their partner is, your friend will insist, "No, she's really nice when we're at home" or "Oh, he's just joking around, his dick isn't really made of tyrannosaurus bone," as if they are somehow incapable of seeing the same braying asshole we are. As it turns out, that is precisely what is happening -- they actually cannot see what a crusty dipshit their partner is.
Pixland/Pixland/Getty Images
"You're blinded by love ... and his meth smoke!"
There is a specific region in the human brain that is responsible for handling judgment, and under normal circumstances, it lights up like the flaming runway at the end of Die Hard 2 when we're presented with a new situation that requires immediate evaluation, such as meeting somebody for the first time or trying to figure out whether we like the changes to the TGI Fridays menu or if we should flip the table over and go to IHOP instead. We are judgmental creatures by nature, and we are eager to criticize. However, when we're infatuated with something, that judgment-casting region of our brains goes completely dark like a rolling blackout.
We actually become physically incapable of detecting the flaws in the things we love. Apparently, human biology believes it necessary to throw the blinders on in order for our species to survive -- we have a biological imperative to lower our standards.
Corey Ford/Photos.com
If unicorns weren't so high and mighty, they'd still be around today.
There is another phenomenon related to this love-blindness called the halo effect, and amazingly it has nothing to do with eliminating your dating competition with a pair of dual-wielded needlers. The halo effect refers to our habit of extending one positive quality that a person possesses to the rest of their character, basically giving us an excuse to like that person. When your friend laughs at the hot girl's terrible joke, he's not faking it -- his brain is telling him, "This person has what you look for in a mating partner, therefore from now on, every little thing she does is magic."
#4. Our Brains Steer Us Toward the Worst Possible Match
When choosing a partner, we tend to look for somebody with a personality and set of interests closely resembling our own (please note: "fabulous abs" qualifies as a set of interests). As appealing as a torrid love affair with the barista at Starbucks might seem, the relationship is more or less doomed from the start, because at the end of the day you don't know anything about that person, and exposing your genitals in the proximity of scalding coffee is a terrible icebreaker. Conventional wisdom dictates that it's better to find a match, because that way you and your partner are less likely to bore and/or annoy the shit out of each other.
George Doyle/Photos.com
"Basically, Lady Constance, your marrying the chauffeur would bring disgrace and disaster to this home."
However, if the timeless ballad of Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat has taught us anything, it's that certain people are only attracted to their complete opposites. It turns out this isn't just a product of terrible decision-making -- there's a neurochemical process at work here that they can do absolutely nothing about it.
Let's talk about hormones again for a second. In many cases, the "opposites attract" phenomenon involves an estrogen-dominant personality being drawn to a testosterone-dominant one, and vice versa. For instance, a nurturing person might be more attracted to an "alpha male" (read: asshole), and a dominant person might be helplessly smitten with a reserved, more submissive person. According to psychologists, these people are unconsciously trying to balance out the deficiencies in their own personalities and form a complementary relationship, sort of like yin and yang, or Tango and Cash.
Warner Bros.
Which is why their love scene was so passionate but their romance was ultimately fleeting.
There's another kind of opposite-attraction that is so specific, scientists have actually gotten together and named it like the class hamster. It's called the precarious couple effect, and it refers to the pairing of a loud, highly critical woman with a shy, introverted man. Unsurprisingly, the relationships resulting from these pairings are deeply unfulfilling for both parties, in an "I'd rather grundle punch a crocodile than look at my partner's stupid horrible face for one more second" sort of way. So why in the hell do these people get together in the first place?
Well, because in the early stage of a relationship, the wholly incompatible personalities seem appealing in that yin-yang way we discussed above. For example, a man who doesn't talk a lot would find the prospect of an outspoken girlfriend attractive, because her presence would make him feel more comfortable in social situations -- if she's doing all the talking, he doesn't have to. Conversely, a woman who loves to talk would be equally attracted to a man who listens patiently and never tries to interrupt. It is only when they finally start dating that they begin to notice how much they cannot stand each other -- the woman's vocally critical nature grates on the verbally passive man, and his yielding spinelessness drives her fucking insane.
#3. Love Suddenly Makes Awkward People Social
Paul Vasarhelyi/Photos.com
For those of you who were socially awkward in your teens or 20s, let us ask you something: After you finally got your first girlfriend or boyfriend, how many of you immediately found it much easier to flirt with others? It's like there's this lifelong dry spell, and suddenly it ends all at once. It may even seem like a cruel Catch-22 -- for the first time, you have all of these strangers lunging for your junk, but now you're in a relationship and can't reciprocate.
LuminaStock/iStock/Getty Images
"Honey, she followed me home from Home Depot. Can we keep her?"
The obvious answer would be that finally getting some action gave you confidence, and confidence is always attractive. But there's a deeper, more scientific answer.
It's because when we're dating someone we're happy with, our bodies release significant amounts of oxytocin, the main hormone involved in the chemical process of love. One of the things oxytocin does is make us more empathetic toward others, which in turn makes us more likely to properly interpret even the subtlest social cues, such as the casual folding of the arms signaling that your date is ready to go home, or the gentle raising of an eyebrow indicating that the bathroom drapes are not for wiping.
And yes, it is another of the body's cruel paradoxes -- you don't get the chemicals that attract partners until after you've attracted a partner.
Catherine Yeulet /Photos.com
And if your relationship sucks, you never get them at all.
Oxytocin actually has enough of an effect that scientists feel it could potentially be used to help treat severe social disorders such as autism. However, only people who were previously terrible at navigating social situations experience any benefit. If you were already awesome at meeting people and making friends, being in a healthy, intimate relationship isn't going to make you any better at recruiting teammates on trivia night. So you might as well break up with that person, because it's not like they're getting you any closer to winning that free plate of cheese fries at Buffalo Wild Wings.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm looking to expand my game system library, and I would like to tap the hive mind to find funky, offbeat core rules or settings.
What system should I add to my game library that best features novel rules that actually work in play?
Guilty pleasures are welcome, but I want to know why it has a place in your heart; actual play reporting is encouraged.
If it's out of print and/or produced by an independent game publisher, I'm interested. But I need you to tell me why it appeals to you. If you have any links to a or site detailing your experiences with your system, please feel free to post that in your answer.
Example Answer: I enjoyed playing Psi World back in the '80s because the idea of an underground resistance movement in America started by people with emerging psionic powers is just cool. Yes, it's a premise detailed in X-Men, but Psi World accomplishes the same paranoia feeling in a much grittier way without so much spandex.


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Is JavaScript capable of doing the same what Flash does? And if it is the case, can it be a good idea to switch from Adobe Flash to JavaScript?
We started with Q&A. Technical documentation is next, and we need your help.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, you can contribute.
Hell you can use javascript to "do" flash!! Check this out! Smokescreen
On a serious note, flash has its own advantages. Like e.g. games and some very specialized apps like audio video editing etc. Maybe javascript and HTML5 is not there yet, but its getting close!
No, JavaScript cannot do what Flash does. Maybe HTML5 w/ canvas,JavaScript w/ JQuery,CSS3, some Webkits and some SVG/JPG to handle pictures and animations can make an attempt at what Flash was 5-10 years ago.
JavaScript - There is only one implementation I know that slice the video into JPEGs then dram it onto the canvas. No clue what happens if one wanted to stream a file.
These are three places I know making the cream of the crop that can be made with JavaScript.
Note well. Do not talk about Apple Demos ... that is a joke and all marketing. They have only optimized for their browser (Safari)
Also do not talk about what Steve did or did not say. He is a pro at marketing. The other steve (Steve Wozniak) is the engineer.
(1) I highly respect because Mr.Doob really pushed that
Lines Of Code
In many cases ActionScript, better yet the Flash IDE make animation a breeze with half the lines of codes (or maybe even simple drag and drop on timelines) than JavaScript. Libraries such as JQuery were brought in to try to shorten the amount of code. Even then in most cases less code/implementation was needed in ActionScript.
Accessibility and Performance
This is in the hands of the developer and has nothing to do with the language. Flash is capable of providing deep linking with SWFAddress (Ajax), page resizing (Stage Scale) and so forth. People constantly talk about performance with Flash, yes this is true but this is poor design on the developer for memory management.
JavaScript will be limited by the
I suggest looking through Mr.Doob's work, Webby Awards and google the best of Flash Websites. Look at them carefully see if you can bring up case studies. Like this one : Creating marketing platforms with Adobe Flex Website under study : http://www.bombaysapphire.com/
And a word to a wise , one of your favorite websites - YouTube, would not have survived if it was not for Flash :D
No, definitely not. While both share some capabilities, like animations and interactive interfaces, JavaScript's and Flash's design philosophies differ fundamentally, and in terms of features in those fields, Flash is certainly way, way ahead.
It might, depending on what exactly you are doing in Flash. If you outline that in more detail, you will certainly get more concrete answers.
Here's a response to Apple's recent trumpeting of HTML5 - Jump back in time with HTML5. There's still plenty of reasons to use Flash!
Depends on what functionality you are looking for. While javascript has much evolved recently and many frameworks were introduced it cannot be compared to Flash in terms of creating rich web interfaces. I think though that progressively new concepts will be introduced like HTML5, usage of the GPU and HTML + javascript might one day fill the gap.
Javascript is vast. But it cannot replace Flash.! The biggest Advantage of using flash is hiding the source code.. Which in Javascript is nt applicable always.!
One good solution would be => If you want ur site to hav good programming properties den go for javascript..
If U want ur site to be good in Front end design den go for Flash!! Although flash has its scripting language [Actionscript] its not dat much flexible as javascript!!!!


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Double-Breasted Jacket
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Dr. Mitra
You know what's fun? Watching an entire conference unfold on Twitter. That's what I'm doing at Big Ideas Fest 2010 (#bif2010). It's amazing how much you can rightly infer by paying close attention to a dozen people tweeting about the same speaker -- and it's also a great way to learn which... Read more


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WHEELING - Jarrett Chandler agreed Thursday to testify in the murder trial of Craig Tyler Peacock in exchange for a maximum of one year in jail for his role in the Sept. 1 death of Wheeling Jesuit University student Kevin Figaniak.
Circuit Judge David Sims sentenced Chandler to one year in jail and fined him $1,000 after the 24-year-old Winnfield, La., resident pleaded guilty to misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. The sentence includes credit for 5 months served, meaning he likely will be free by early September.
According to police, Figaniak died as a result of injuries he suffered during a Labor Day weekend altercation with Chandler and Peacock, 22, of Clewiston, Fla., that began outside a local bar.
Defense attorney Donald Tennant called three witnesses to speak on Chandler's behalf, including Chandler's mother. Through their testimony, Sheila Chandler and two of her son's co-workers in the pipeline construction industry, Stanley Ingram and Cody Miller, attempted to convince Sims that Jarrett Chandler is a good, hard-working person who made a mistake.
Figaniak's family from the Philadelphia area - including parents Valerie and Tom Figaniak, brother T.J. Figaniak and sister Shannon - participated via video conference. Each cried openly as they relived the horror associated with losing a loved one.
"You not only murdered our son, you murdered us," Tom Figaniak said. "We just have not stopped breathing yet. My wife and I do not want to live anymore. We want to be with Kevin."
Valerie read several pages of a statement outlining her son's life and the devastation caused by his death. She recounted the night of her son's death from the time a WJU representative called to say he was injured, through the five-hour drive to Wheeling and then to a Pittsburgh hospital where he died.
Even though Figaniak's family consented to the plea agreement, Valerie Figaniak expressed her dissatisfaction.
"Kevin's life is worth more than one year," she said.
Turak said Figaniak and another WJU student were walking back to campus late Aug. 31 when they encountered Peacock, Chandler and a third man, who has not been charged.
She said an argument ensued, leading Peacock, Chandler and the other man to follow Figaniak and his friend onto Locust Avenue where a physical altercation occurred. During the scuffle, Chandler punched Figaniak in the face, causing him to fall into a grassy area. Peacock then allegedly kicked Figaniak in the side of the head, which police believe caused his death.
Turak pushed for the maximum sentence.
"Jarrett Chandler will get out someday and return to a normal life," she said. "He gets a do-over. Kevin Figaniak does not."
Turak said Chandler showed little emotion during the hearing.
"The only time he showed emotion is when his mother was testifying earlier about how he was affected by the death of his grandfather," she said.


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I'm trying to install Ubuntu 11.04 onto some custom made PC that my father in law tried building. It had Windows on it, but he wants Ubuntu so he asked me to do it. I've installed Ubuntu 11.04 on a few computers no issues, but on this computer I get to the all purple screen with the Ubuntu logo and the orange and white dots that light up. Like this:
The fan is also super, super loud and sounds like the whole thing is going to explode and has been running like this for 15 mins ish. Then, after about 15 mins the dots stop animating from orange to white and usually just stick at all orange.
Any ideas?


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Is there a definitive guide on how to configure various application pool identities in SharePoint 2010?
Also, is there a way to reset all my app pools to the correct identity, in case they are all messed up? Will running PSConfig or the Configuration wizard help me in this case?


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I am an amateur when it comes to math. I am currently taking CAL 1 and have a question about one of my assignments. Any help is appreciated.
Let $g(x)=x^3-x^3-2x$ and $f(x) = \ln(g(x))$
I have to find the domain of $y = f(x)$ I've figured out that when I do $x^3-x^2-2x > 0$, I end up with $0, 2, -1$.
But I'm still not sure what the domain is.... maybe I'm close? maybe it's obvious? Any help much appreciated!!!


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Given a countable coloring of the plane, is it always possible to find a monochromatic set of points $\left\{ \left(x,y\right),\left(x+w,y\right),\left(x,y+h\right),\left(x+w,y+h\right)\right\} $ (the corners of a rectangle)?
This is equivalent to CH.
Quoting "Problems and Theorems in Classical Set Theory" by Komjath and Totik, chapter 16, Continuum hypothesis:
This is a stronger requirement than your problem, so assuming CH the answer is no. Their solution, assuming CH is false, proves that there's a monochromatic rectangle.
Previous version, with added explanation about Hamel basis:
This gives a negative answer assuming CH. Explanation: consider R as a vector space over Q. Let A be some basis. Take any bijection A -> A + A, where + is disjoint sum. It induces a linear isomorphism f: R -> R * R. (You can think that there's a linear isomorphism between reals and complexes if that helps.) Then, if you were given a monochromatic rectangle a=(x1, y1), b=(x1+x2, y1), c=(x1, y1+y2), d=(x1+x2, y1+y2), certainly a+d=b+c. Using that isomorphism, f(a)+f(d)=f(b)+f(c) gives a monochromatic solution of quoted equation.
Take a look at this site: http://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2009/11/17x17-challenge-worth-28900-this-is-not.html


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15% Off Sitewide + Free Shipping
coupon code: 15OFF
Some exclusions apply.
2 Comments add a comment
Just about everything I clicked on had 1 or 2 sizes available, even non-sale items.
There is also FIT20 for sale athletic shoes, but they don't stack. Infact, it doesn't even give you the better one, it just replaces. So if you're entering more than one make sure your discount is what it should be.
Tried using the FIT20 code on a pair of New Balance sneakers and the site said it doesn't apply. Wankers. But the 15% off one does.


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I am a doctoral candidate in the Applied Mathematics, Applied Statistics and Scientific Computation program in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland. I also work full-time at the Social Security Administration in the Office of Retirement Policy doing computational modeling of the effects of policy change on program benefits. Previously, I worked in Office of the CIO on the agency's implementation of the Open Government Initiative, and before that, on vision, strategy & innovation and health IT initiatives at the agency. Prior to Federal service, I worked at BAE Systems doing work on signal processing for underground imaging. These jobs have been done while also working on my dissertation analyzing Federal budget historical data using techniques from signal processing, computational harmonic analysis and dimensionality reduction, under the supervision of the late Professor Dennis M. Healy, Jr. (d. 2009), and Professor Wojtek Czaja and Dr. Jason J. Fichtner.
As you may see from my profile and my online CV (see My Website above), I have considerable experience in software and algorithmic development, as well as significant classroom experience with mathematics related to computing, signal processing and data reduction. I am interested in applying this knowledge to difficult problems involving the processing of large data, both numerical and textual. In addition, I have experience in business communications, business process analysis and information technology solutions for business problems.
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Does your dog or cat frequently bite at the base of his tail? Does he excessively scratch at his back? Worse, is his skin red and inflamed? Unfortunately, these are some signs of what may be flea allergy dermatitis (FAD).
Flea allergy dermatitis is among the most common causes of dog and cat skin disease. FAD is an allergic reaction to flea saliva. In some cases, it is caused by just a single flea bite. Flea saliva contains a multitude of antigens that can cause allergic reactions. Some symptoms in severely affected dogs or cats include itching over their entire body, generalized hair loss, red and inflamed skin, and the development of hot spots.
Have your pet examined by a veterinarian if he exhibits any symptoms of FAD. Sometimes, in the stress of the moment, however, it is easy to forget to tell your veterinarian relevant information about your pet. Use this useful checklist to keep track of your dog or cat's symptoms and take it with you to discuss with your veterinarian.
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The best way to ensure hours of fun in the cold is having quality Snowmobile Clothing to wear. Here at Sportsman's Guide, we have a variety of apparel, including Snowmobile Boots, Snowmobile Jackets and more! You will love snowmobiling more in our comfortable and warm jackets, suits, pants, boots and other gear. Get all your gear for great low prices guaranteed!


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Is there anywhere to see a leagues all time leading goalscorer table?
Can only find it for current season and per club.
Is there anywhere to see a leagues all time leading goalscorer table?
Can only find it for current season and per club.
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0 replies
Only thing I could think of is going to History, but you could only find out the all time goalscorer, rather than a leader goalscorer table. I don't think it exists and if it doesn't, SI should think about adding that in!
Although, if you go to awards and choose player team of the year, you can view all seasons and it will show you the best team, which shows how many the best strikers have scored, but obviously this isn't close to what your wanting.
As far as I know there is no way to view this, definitely should be considered for 2013.
I love looking at the histories like this and pitching my own players against former greats, I'd also love to see a team top scorers list like this:
Goals Games
Thierry Henry 226 370
Ian Wright 185 288
Cliff Bastin 178 395
John Radford 149 475
Ted Drake 139 184
Jimmy Brain 139 232
Doug Lishman 137 244
Joe Hulme 125 374
David Jack 124 208
Dennis Bergkamp 121 423
Reg Lewis 118 176
Alan Smith 115 347
Jack Lambert 109 161
Frank Stapleton 108 300
David Herd 107 180
Joe Baker 100 156
Would really improve the long term game being able to see how your current stars are fairing.


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It seems like turrets, brutes and other armored units don't have weakpoints (such as a head). Some opponents don't even seem to have what we call a "head".
Do all opponents have a weak point to shoot at?
It seems like turrets, brutes and other armored units don't have weakpoints (such as a head). Some opponents don't even seem to have what we call a "head".
Do all opponents have a weak point to shoot at?
UPDATE: The 10/4/2012 patch now allows for 40% bonus to headshots on brutes, banshees, and Geth primes. Also +40% for the rear exhaust port on the Atlas mechs. Text updated below, except that the developer quote is left as originally quoted.
First off, a direct quote from Bioware programmer Brenon Holmes is illuminating, and provides some interesting information on the intended state of vulnerabilities:
This tells us a few things:
Banshees headshots get a 40% damage bonus. Geth Primes weren't intended to have weak points, but did for awhile. A recent patch enabled intentional 40% damage bonus for headshots. Brutes have 'weak points', but really, they're more like 'less strong points'. But a recent patch enabled a 40% damage bonus for headshots.
In addition, as Rare Candy notes, Turrets, Swarmers, and Drones do not have any weak point.
Aiming for the head is a pretty good idea. There are a few notable exceptions and additions, even here however. Most of these notes are gleaned from the Prima guide, or from experience. I've verified most of these myself in game, and done a fair amount of testing on most of them, so I'm fairly confident here.
Cerberus Troops
Turrets, swarmers, and combat drones are the only things in the game that don't have weak points.
Shooting Geth in the head deals more damage and can earn you headshots in multiplayer. Do headshots do extra damage to synthetic enemies?
Likewise with shooting brutes, banshees, marauders, and cannibals. (Brutes it can help to shoot off their shoulder heads)
Ravagers are vulnerable to being shot in the sacks.
Cerebus Atlas has a weakpoint in the cockpit, like the codex says.
You can use special ammo on armored units (such as armor piercing etc) Every enemy is weak to a different ammo
Organics(humans,reapers) Incindeary and Cryo
Geth(or any other machiene(Disruptor ammo)
And the Atlas (Armor piercing)
Hope it helps atleast a bit


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The Art of Rug Hooking Exhibit and Demonstration
Location:Bluffton Branch
Date & Time:Saturday, March 9, 2013 - 11:00am – 3:00pm
Browse exquisite hand hooked rugs & other fiber crafts on display and talk with local rug hooking artists! Watch local rug hooking artists of the Bluffton Library Rug Hooking club demonstrate the art of rug hooking. Artists will explain the preparation and process of rug hooking, and how to select materials and patterns to be used in hooked projects. Examples of hooked rugs and other hooked projects will be displayed. There will be the opportunity for participants to try this fascinating time honored traditional fiber craft.


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Police have an app for that iWatch Naugatuck ready to take tips on crime, bullying
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text: Hey guys, I'm really excited about this tutorial! I don't normally draw anything mecha-like but I drew up this tutorial on "how to draw a chibi transformer"! I decided to draw up bumblebee from the movie Transformers since he was a little bit more detailed than the old school bumblebee. Still love the old school one though! I hope everyone enjoys!


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When a hardware system is protected by a 4 digits password, what is the advantage of the attacker into breaking that system?
Isn't it $10*10*10*10=10^{4}$? If $\frac{1}{10^{4}}$ is the cost of such an attack then is this reasonable computation for the attacker? In my eyes this seems like a simple brute force attack for 4 numbers. I mean is super easy. Isn't it?


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The 6 Craziest Beliefs Entire Cultures Have Held About Sex
The miracle of childbirth is fairly straightforward: The baby is forced out of a screaming woman's nether parts in a moment of bloody, agonizing ... beauty? But when it comes to just how the baby got in there in the first place, people throughout history and around the world have come up with some really creative theories. We like to think we've got a pretty good handle on how it works at this point (it has something to do with a stork and a turkey baster, right?), but to be honest, we'd have paid way more attention in sex ed class if they'd told us that ...
#6. Men Get Head-Pregnant First
Here's what they'll teach you about the birds and the bees if you're taking a sex ed class in Malaysia:
Before a baby can be born, a man has to get pregnant. Nobody knows exactly how this happens, but through some mysterious force that we're going to call invisible facehuggers, an itty bitty proto-baby is implanted directly into his brain. There, the baby marinates for a while, soaking up all of its father's forces of reason and rationality -- because they figure all that stuff couldn't possibly come from the mother.
"No offense -- we just kind of agree with first act Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets."
Over the course of the next 40 days, the brain-baby migrates from its father's head to his chest to his belly to ... well, you know where this is headed. Once the baby has reached its father's junk, there's a period of a little more than a week where he's a loose cannon, ready to shoot a tiny baby into any willing female companion. This is when the sexy happens, and the baby takes a ride through its father's dong and into its mother's body, just like that tunnel in Space Mountain.
You'll note that the male pregnancy ends with an orgasm, while the female pregnancy ends with hours of labor. This proves that life isn't fair, and class is now dismissed.
"This is BULLSHIT!"
So Why Do They Believe It?
If we're going to look at these weird-ass beliefs from various cultures around the world, we should take a moment to figure out why anyone believes them. After all, most weird beliefs exist because, well, they work.
In this case, it solves a problem that the actual scientific understanding of pregnancy brings: that the responsibility for a pregnancy is on the woman alone. Women have to take prenatal vitamins, avoid alcohol, eat responsibly, give up smoking ... while guys could squirt and bolt, and it wouldn't affect the baby one bit. Physically, anyway. Whereas the Malay belief says to the man, "You also carried this baby for over a month."
And after so long, it just doesn't fit back in. So no refunds.
The man is said to even have cravings during his part of the pregnancy, just as his wife does after he passes the baby to her. And after his 40 days are through, he's still involved in the fetus' well-being -- he's not just moral support, but actually part of the pregnancy. Malay pregnancy rituals require just as much fastidious behavior from the man as from the woman. That's right: There's no wham, bam, thank you ma'am in Malay pregnancies. Instead, it's baby-making as a team effort. It's almost sweet, in a bizarre brain-baby sort of way.
#5. Men Father Babies in Their Dreams
If you thought it was awkward when your parents first explained the concept of a wet dream, just put yourself in the shoes of the Tiwi people of northern Australia. For them, nocturnal emissions didn't result in sticky sheets so much as they did in screaming mouths to feed.
You see, the Tiwi believed in something called the Dreaming, a sort of parallel world where one could travel through the three planes of existence -- unborn, living, and dead. Accessed both during sleeping dreams and in waking visions, this world was home to ancestral spirits, and children existed in the Dreaming before they were born in life. Specifically, children came into being when they were "dreamed" by their father, crawled all up inside their mother's vagina, and camped out for a nine-month sleepover in an egg inside of her.
"No, it's not insomnia. I've just been awake for almost a week because I hate kids. "
Now, the Tiwi didn't completely miss the intercourse-baby connection. Tiwi women, at least, were well aware that sex with a man was part of baby-making -- but while the guy who did the horizontal tango "helped" make the baby, that didn't necessarily mean he was the father. That's because while sex might have jump-started the pregnancy, the kid wouldn't exist if it hadn't been dreamed up -- and it was always a woman's husband who did that dreaming. No matter whom she'd been banging, when a woman got pregnant, her husband was the father. Under the Tiwi understanding of conception, Maury Povich is a scientific impossibility.
Now, you might be wondering how they explained single mothers, and for that the Tiwi had a simple answer: There were no single women. Tiwi women married very early -- in fact, they were often promised in marriage before they were even born. Every Tiwi woman was perpetually married, so her kids always had a father.
"You take a nap, we'll take your wife out. And in the morning: baby!"
So Why Do They Believe It?
For Tiwi women, being married from birth probably wasn't super awesome, at least not on its own. But here's the thing: Since the Tiwis saw intercourse as irrelevant to paternity, female extramarital sex was completely accepted. After all, no matter how many guys you'd been screwing around with, your child was still legitimate. And while they didn't get to pick their husbands, women did get to pick their lovers -- and they didn't catch any flak for it, lose any social status, or have to cope with violent jealousy.
But in the midst of this orgiastic free-for-all, every baby was also born into a stable family unit: Its mother and its "father" were married for life. Turns out if you believe in dream-babies, you wind up with a society of stable nuclear families and free love, man.
"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my dream dad!"
#4. Babies Are Built Bit by Bit, by Constant Humping
As any teenage boy can tell you, you can't get pregnant from having sex just once. But your average horny teenager's got nothing on Papua New Guinean cultures like the Huli and the Arapesh, because they firmly believed that babies were the product of repeated intercourse. Repeated a lot. They didn't even know it was possible for a single sweaty night to lead to a baby -- they thought it took way more work than that.
"Just 20 more minutes -- the ritual is almost complete!"
For the most part, Huli and Arapesh beliefs were pretty close to being biologically accurate. They understood that sex led to pregnancy, and that babies were the result of man-juice meeting up with something inside the woman's body. So far, so good. The trouble was, they figured infants were actually constructed bit by bit out of sperm and menstrual blood. The man's sperm built the child's skin and bones, while the woman's blood took care of the internal bits. To be honest, Papua New Guinean pregnancies are just a bit too similar to Hellraiser for our comfort.
"The box. You opened it. I came."
Now, if you figure that your average newborn is somewhere around 7 pounds -- and even if you figure that the woman takes care of the internal half -- holy shit that's still a lot of raw building materials for the man to provide. Clearly one night of bangin' isn't going to even come close to cutting it -- instead, these cultures believed that you had to have sex pretty much as often as the man could manage until you had squished together a healthy, viable sperm-and-blood baby.
The Arapesh themselves weren't necessarily all that happy about this situation. They said that there were two kinds of sex: the fun kind, and the kind you had when you wanted to get pregnant. Baby-making was an awful lot of work -- no matter how tired you were, or how not in the mood, you still had to get down to business. And they didn't even have candles and Marvin Gaye to help them out.
"Get up, pussy, you have work to do. Dick work."
So Why Do They Believe It?
This one is obvious. Despite all of those health class lessons about how just one sex act can get a woman pregnant (and it totally can), in general the odds aren't that heavily in favor of a less fertile couple that wants kids. Maybe the guy has lazy sperm, you just don't know. So if you really want to keep the tribe going (and happen to live in a culture where things like fertility tests are some kind of sci-fi sorcery), nonstop humping actually isn't all that crazy of a strategy.


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I'd like to paint my garage floor, possibly with textured paint.
What do I have to do in order to get my garage floor, which is currently dirty and somewhat oily, ready for something like an epoxy-based, textured paint?
A post from the The Garage Journal forum has an excellent write up on garage flooring products on the market: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2873
More posts on the subject, including testimonies and how-tos: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=b1e2eb50860dcaff8a02fbacc8caf80f&f=20
I purchased a garage floor epoxy kit It contained very detailed instructions on how to prep the floor. It also had muriatic acid in it to etch the floor before painting on the epoxy.
One tip I would give is to have someone help you put it on. You only have a limited time to work with the epoxy once the two parts are mixed. If you have one person cutting in and one person rolling on the main part, it is much easier to get it done in the setup time of the epoxy.


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i tried actionscript recently,am little scared i want to make a game that input a word from about 3000 randomly, do actionscript support that,or should i try another language?
The question isn't really about ActionScript supporting it, but rather if your output platform supports it. With Flash/ActionScript you can build AIR applications, which can read files (all kinds of files) from the file-system (using the FileStream class).
If want to create a SWF file that runs in a web-browser instead,
So yes, loading such a file and picking words randomly should be easy, as long as you use the correct methods to load it...
AS3: Do you want to the change the word collection frequently? You could embed the word collection in the game itself using:
If it is under 10,000 words, I would create a static literal vector of all the words.
This can be accomplished easily with a Text Editor like notepad++ or running some simple regular expression on the text content of the file. You will likely wanna replace all line breaks ("\n") with a comma (","). This would save you the time of messing with loading assets externally. Which according to my best knowledge is not approved of in some game websites.


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A sign in front of the Waverly Business Center lists the New England Compounding and other business in Framingham, Mass., Wednesday Oct. 3, 2012. On Saturday, the company expanded its initial recall amid a fungal meningitis outbreak that has sickened 91 in nine states.
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Medications linked to a nationwide meningitis outbreak did not make their way to Kansas.
Spokespeople with St. Francis and Stormont-Vail in Topeka say their hospitals and clinics have not purchased from the New England Compound Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. In fact, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment says no Kansas hospitals received shipments from the facility.
The New England Compound Center has recalled all of its products since a steroid injection it produced was linked to a fungal meningitis that's sickened 105 people in eight states, eight people have died from it.


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Follow Up Shot 30:06
Posted 14 June 2012 - 08:19 AM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 08:53 AM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 09:02 AM
Bad shots do happen, but you dont need an AR10 for a quick follow up. Practice more with cycling the bolt gun if you are worried about it.
As for hitting running game with a rifle. If you are a good shot with a shotgun on birds and rabbits, that translates well to moving targets with a rifle. Shooting rabbits on the run with a 22 is even better.
Posted 14 June 2012 - 09:03 AM
And now days, I'm just too dxxned old, & lucky to get off ANY kind of shot. LOL With deer hunting, it usually seemed like I had plenty enough time for any follow up shots if needed. However, coyotes are another story completely, & seems to take me an eternity before I get a 2nd shot off. I suppose a semi auto could help, but all I mostly accomplished with those, was to burn up more ammo without killing any more game. Mostly!! Which is fine, I guess?
So, in my (pathetic) case anyhow, I have to try & go by that old saying, " Make the First shot count ".
Good Luck
Posted 14 June 2012 - 09:38 AM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 11:20 AM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 12:53 PM
I wouldn't worry about how quick you can get off a second shot. I would practice being able to hit your target the first time every time. That means knowing your gun and ammo and where they shoot at various ranges. 50, 100, 200, 300 yds etc. I've had many more situations where an animal suddenly came out of cover and I had to get off a quick shot, than I've ever had follow up shots. I've had pigs walk out onto a trail 10 yards from me, and I've had deer break from cover 300 yards away on the opposite side of a canyon. I got both of them, but only because I knew the gun and ammo that I was hunting with and where I needed to place the crosshairs.
The only time that I've ever had to do a follow up shot, was when my cousin and I went pig hunting and he shot a millisecond before I did and spooked the pig I had lined up in my crosshairs. Luckily my pig took off running along on a well worn trail on the opposite side of the canyon and all I had to do was pick a spot on the trail and let him run into my crosshairs. In that case it wasn't so much being fast on the reload as it was knowing where to aim and when to pull the trigger.
Posted 14 June 2012 - 04:32 PM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 04:32 PM
Posted 14 June 2012 - 08:19 PM
- HOG likes this
Posted 14 June 2012 - 09:30 PM
That said I had a friend(who has passed away) that shot a 7mm Rem mag that he turned into a custom 300weatherby and I swear almost always he missed his deer with the first shot but cycled the bolt so fast it shounded like one shot but would kill it with the second shot. He worked it faster than I ever worked the Rem pump 30-06 I used.
Posted 14 June 2012 - 10:14 PM
Bisley, you hit it on the head. Shoot a single shot long enough and you won't have to worry about a second shot.
It's kind of funny because I just had this talk with the yougin about two months ago when he missed that coyote that scared the bejesus out of him at about 10 yards away. I stopped him in the middle of telling his story once where he mentioned how he aimed low on the first shot so that when the gun recoiled, the second shot would be right on target . After realizing what he had just said (finally!!!), he wants to go back to the single shot Savage Cub that he has. Good idea kid . And that is what he will start this years rabbit season off with
Posted 15 June 2012 - 06:19 AM
I have a life long (older than me / lol) deer hunting friend, named Woody, that can work his bolt action pre '64 Win 30/06 so fast, the likes I've never seen before. On one occasion another friend was with Woody, when Woody missed his first shot at a deer, actually dried fired it as no round in the chamber, but was close enough that the buck heard it and took off.
The following shots Woody made were so fast, that this other friend stated it sounded like Woody was shooting a semi auto. And yes, the deer still got away.
Posted 16 June 2012 - 09:21 AM
Posted 16 June 2012 - 11:14 AM
........I am usually slower due to the bad(?)habit of stopping to pick up my empties for reloading.......
........I had a friend(who has passed away) that shot a 7mm Rem mag that he turned into a custom 300weatherby.....
After I shot my first deer I looked all over for the empty so I could put it on a board with the horns. I gave up but when I got home my wife found it in my pocket. Turns out that years of saving empties has made me change the way I shoot a bolt action and I didn't even know it. Now when I work the action my left hand comes back, under the magazine and my rear three fingers reach up along side the action to grab the empties as soon as the case mouth clears the side of the action. Now when I go hunting I take brass that is ready to toss and I try to remember to just let 'em fly. Totally opposite from what most folks think about hunting ammo but it works for me.
The name of your passed friend wouldn't happen to have been Gary, would it?
Posted 16 June 2012 - 12:09 PM
Yes his name was Gary. I knew him along time. We hunted together many years. I often called him"two shot". He would come over to reload his ammo on my equipment and we would go target shooting. Bill has that rifle now.
Posted 16 June 2012 - 02:23 PM
I use new brass for hunting but try to remind myself to to worry about picking it up. I also take it from the rifle but only if I see the animal drop.
Yes his name was Gary. I knew him along time. We hunted together many years. I often called him"two shot". He would come over to reload his ammo on my equipment and we would go target shooting. Bill has that rifle now.
Yep, I met and got to know Gary only a year or two before he passed. I hunted with him, Bill, and Jeff a couple times. That model 700 of his sure was pretty. Funny little story about Gary, we were hunting in Bridgeport and staying at an rv park in Bills toy hauler. Well one night we were watching The Mountain Men on tv and Gary got the nickname "Iron Belly". I wish I could have gotten to know him sooner.
Posted 16 June 2012 - 02:25 PM
Posted 05 July 2012 - 05:49 AM
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All outdoors men and women love to brag about their successful outings. This is an opportunity to brag to the entire world, or at least everyone who checks out the website. Most of these pictures are also aired on the weekend newscast during my weather reports. Keep the pictures coming and congrats to everyone who is on the wall.
John and Jason caught these lunkers in a Dickinson County pond earlier this spring. The catfish all weighted between 11.5 and 15 pounds. I'd say that's a good day.
This is Kelsi, Jason's daughter. She tagged along with here dad and John and was able to catch this one all by herself. Good work Kelsi.
Asher Demo, age 2, caught this bluegill at Lake Shawnee on Saturday, May 19th. It was his first catch. Congrats Asher! Asher's mom, Kelly, is a proud mom.
Riley Demo, Asher's sister, landed this 3 pound rainbow trout at Lake Shawnee and did it by herself. Here grandpa, Hud Hamilton, is helping to take the fish off the hook. Well done Riley!
Landon Boss, 2 years old, of overbrook caught this bluegill on May 19th. It was the first fish he has caught all by himself. Congrats Landon.
Chuck Hoff caught this 43 pound flathead catfish in the flood waters of a local creek in early May. Nice catch.
Andrew Williams caught this very nice channel catfish. Andrew is 3 years old and did it all by himself using a night crawler as bait. Good work Andrew!
Here is Andrew again and his dad, Eric, has joined him in the picture. That is one proud dad. The fish was caught during a father-son fishing outing in mid April.


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Which sex is the worst about washing up? Why is it so important? We've got the dirty truth on how and when to wash your hands.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
How To Prepare
Before your MRI test, tell your doctor and the MRI technologist if you:
- Are allergic to any medicines. The contrast material used for MRI does not contain iodine. If you know that you are allergic to the contrast material used for the MRI, tell your doctor before having another test.
- Have a health condition, such as diabetes, sickle cell anemia, or kidney problems. You may need to change your medicine schedule. And some conditions may prevent you from having an MRI using contrast material.
- Are or might be pregnant.
- Have any metal implanted in your body. This helps your doctor know if the test is safe for you. Tell your doctor if you have:
- Heart and blood vessel devices such as a coronary artery stent, a pacemaker, an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator), or a metal heart valve.
- Metal pins, clips, or metal parts in your body, including artificial limbs and dental work or braces.
- Any other implanted medical device, such as a medicine infusion pump or a cochlear implant.
- Cosmetic metal implants, such as in your ears, or tattooed eyeliner.
- Had recent surgery on a blood vessel. In some cases, you may not be able to have the MRI test.
- Have an intrauterine device (IUD) in place. An IUD may prevent you from having the MRI test done.
- Become very nervous in confined spaces. You need to lie very still inside the MRI magnet, so you may need medicine to help you relax. Or you may be able to have the test done with open MRI equipment. It is not as confining as standard MRI machines.
- Wear any medicine patches. The MRI may cause a burn at the patch site.
You may need to arrange for someone to drive you home after the test, if you are given a medicine (sedative) to help you relax.
For an MRI of the abdomen or pelvis, you may be asked to not eat or drink for several hours before the test.
You may need to sign a consent form that says you understand the risks of the test and agree to have it done.
Talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding the need for the test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results will mean. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).
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Making a batch and for the first time the recipe calls for a whirfloc tablet. From what I understand the tablet assists with settling the haze produced by proteins. I've read a half tablet to 5 gals. What is the expected shelf life? And is this something I should throw in on every batch I make in the future?
I've kept Whirlfloc for nearly a year and it was still fine. I don't see why you couldn't keep it even longer. Although some people say you don't need it for dark beers, I disagree. Even in a very dark beer you can see it it's clear or not. I use it in every batch. I don't think it's a deal breaker if you don't use it, but based on the times I've forgotten it, I do think it promotes better clearing.
I use whirlfloc in pretty much every brew apart from some wheats where the protein haze is part of the style. Shelf life is about 2 years (see below.)
Even though the recipe calls for whirlfloc, you can use either whirlfloc or irish moss, both are kettle finings and contain the same active ingredient - kapa-carrageenan (Wikipedia lists other types and surprising uses.) I do 10 gallons mostly, so 1 whirlfloc tablet is the right dosage. When doing 5 gallons, I prefer the moss, since 1/2 tsp is easier to get than having to mess about with cutting whirlfloc tablets in half.
Irish moss has a shelf life of several years. (See related question Does Irish Moss Expire?). Given that whirlfloc is powdered, with a greater surface area, the shelf life can be expected to be reduced. I can't find the actual MSDS, but a reference is here:
That's describing the sand-like powered form of whirlfloc. The compressed tablets I would guess kept in an opened, but airtight bag, would last about as long (tablet form reduces surface area, increasing shelf life, but the opened bag counter-acting that.) So, 2 years shelf-life seems reasonable.
(fwiw, I've just ordered a bag of 25 - I brew once a month, so that's a 2 year supply.)
EDIT: Here's a picture of how clear the wort will be after a good boil and kettle finings.


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It may seem counterintuitive, but the ultimate goal in properly placing your subwoofer is to create the illusion that it's not there. The full, rich, big sound should seem like it's all coming from your speakers. Your subwoofer should be the strong and silent type, while your speakers garner all the glory.
The setup of the sub is critical towards achieving this goal. But don't worry if you're not a custom installer. Here are some basic tips for setting up your new sub.
I always recommend experimenting with the placement of the sub. If you have some flexibility, placing it in the corner will usually increase the output by about 6dB. That's due to what's called the corner loading effect. But corner placement may also exaggerate your room's peaks and valleys, so experimentation is still a good idea.
A good place to start is by pinpointing your prime listening position, better known as "the sweet spot". In layman's terms, pick your favorite chair or couch spot. Now place your sub in that spot, but not on the floor. It's best to place it directly on the chair or couch. The idea is to place the sub in the exact location you'll be sitting most of the time. Now turn on your favorite music, preferably something that's heavy on the bass.
Now you're ready to crawl around on the ground to all the locations in the room where you might place the sub. The object here is to identify the spots where the bass sounds the most full and natural. Remember that this isn't a test of your bass expertise. Sound is subjective and the best spot is going to be the one where the bass sounds the best to your ears. That's the spot for your sub.
Some additional tips for your listening pleasure
- Another item to consider is proper output level. A common tendency is to set the sub volume too loud. The goal here is to integrate the sub into the speaker system so it works seamlessly, producing sound in equal parts throughout the entire frequency range.
- Keep in mind that hard surfaces are reflective and will generally produce sound that's a little on the bright side. If you have hardwood floors, an area rug or something soft will help prevent sound reflection by absorbing it and preventing it from bouncing back and "blurring" out other sounds.
- If your speakers and sub are all small, keep the sub within a few feet of the front left or right speaker. This is so the bass sounds like it's coming from the speakers, not the sub. If your speakers and sub are fairly large, you have more options for placement.
Does anyone out there have their own personal tips for subwoofer placement? I'd love to hear them!