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Dumping the Economic Cover Stories
Karl Marx, in recounting the many horrors of the wretched conditions of 19th century British industrialism, sarcastically remarked, "Das ist der doux commerce!" Marx was critiquing the well-known idea that the rise of market economies had redirected human energies previously devoted to warfare into the more "gentle" (=doux) sphere of economic competition and acquisitiveness. The idea of le doux commerce was an idealized cover story. No one can doubt that rich barons trying to outdo one another in home furnishings is better than the battlefield. But the idea of economic competition as a systematic basis for a more peaceable society is far less compelling, once the whole picture of such a society is taken into account. The illusion of the cover story only survives if one ignores much of the picture.
Christianity is in many ways a faith that mercilessly exposes all of our cover stories. These cover stories are meant to comfort us, usually by telling us that our typical habits are commendable, or at least "not all that bad." Sin is displaced onto a scapegoat, rather than being discovered and exposed in our own lives. Of course, Christianity can do this only insofar as it also preaches the always-greater power of God's rich mercy. Christ crucified is the culmination of Jesus' relentless truth-telling, while at the same time, is the promise of the greater power of perfect love. The prophetic Jesus and the forgiving Jesus are not Jekyll and Hyde, but instead are necessary complements for actual conversion and reconciliation. Without truth-telling, forgiveness is cheap or even unnecessary. Without forgiveness, truth-telling leads to despair or cynicism.
So it is disappointing that another idealized cover story for economic competition was recently forwarded, in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, by Cardinal Timothy Dolan: the idea of "virtuous capitalism."
Cardinal Dolan (who has many gifts and has done much good for the Church) is writing to tamp down concerns about Pope Francis. He writes:
The church has long taught that the value of any economic system rests on the personal virtue of the individuals who take part in it, and on the morality of their day-to-day decisions. Business can be a noble vocation, so long as those engaged in it also serve the common good, acting with a sense of generosity in addition to self-interest.
In speaking to the U.N. leaders, Pope Francis recalled the story of Zacchaeus, in which Jesus inspires the repentant tax collector to make a radical decision to put his economic wealth at the service of others. This reminds us that a spirit of sharing and solidarity with others, in the words of Francis, "should be at the beginning and end of all political and economic activity."
In other words, virtuous people, acting justly, compassionately and honestly, are the foundation of good economic or business activity that can produce prosperity for all, and not just for a few.
In one sense, what the cardinal states here is unobjectionable. Many authors have recognized that markets themselves depend on a background "morality" of respect for the rule of law, especially a broad notion of trust. Contracts are enforceable by law, but it would be intolerably burdensome to market activity if such trust had to be constantly extracted by coercive means.
But the cardinal's op-ed falls short in two notable ways. First, he implies that the present American system is mostly this kind of virtuous capitalism. He notes that
the church certainly disapproves of any system of unregulated economic amorality, which leaves people at the mercy of impersonal market forces, where they have no choice but to sink, swim or be left with the scraps that fall from the table. That kind of environment produces the evils of greed, envy, fraud, misuse of riches, gross luxury and exploitation of the poor and the laborer. Fortunately, few people subscribe to an inhumane philosophy of radical economic individualism, and even fewer consider the 'Wolf of Wall Street' to be a good role model.
He reminds his readers that a supposedly more vicious form of capitalism exists in less developed countries, and that the pope is addressing this audience. But does the cardinal seriously believe that American economic practice is not beset by "the evils of greed, envy, fraud, misuse of riches, gross luxury and exploitation of the poor and the laborer"? Where does he think the food and clothing at his neighborhood discount retailer come from? What advertisements is he seeing that do not play to our tendencies to envy and luxury? What parts of the mortgage crisis (or, to take another example, the 1980's S&L crisis) aren't traceable to acts classifiable as fraud? Cardinal Dolan's editorial seeks to partition off the bad apples from the fundamentally beneficial system. In so doing, it seems clear he is relying on a cover story that cannot account for regular and pervasive features of exactly the economy he is discussing.
Secondly, in so doing, Cardinal Dolan display a kind of naivete about social structures, one which notably contrasts with the hypersuspicions bishops often apply to questions about sex and religious freedom. The difference is striking. In the latter cases, the bishops are (not wrongly) alert to every possible ramification of seemingly minor changes in practices. They are rightly aware that a contraceptive mentality and widespread abortion are not accidental features of a promiscuous culture, but are in fact regular and pervasive… and this despite the fact that the vast majority in the culture are not simply slaves to lust.
But here, regular and pervasive features of our economic system are attributed to the accidental actions of vicious businessmen or corrupt regulators. The cardinal seems to think that self-interest and generosity can somehow be combined, simply by individuals having the correct dispositions. This tension has beset capitalism from its earliest formulations, by the heirs of the Scottish Enlightenment philosophy that posited two basic sources for human behavior: self-interest and the "moral sense." This combination has never been philosophically defensible, and the more dastardly in this line (Bernard Mandeville, David Hume) have more coherently admitted this. But why a cardinal of the Catholic Church picks up on this line of thought is mystifying. What the modern encyclical tradition has continuously suggested is instead a twin suspicion of both markets and states – what Benedict termed "the market-state binary" – in favor of economic forms of collaboration and cooperation that serve the common good. This vision surely requires agents with a different morality than that possessed by homo economicus, or his successor, the modern corporation. In this, Dolan is right. But such a vision also invites a quite different understanding of the kinds of structures and systems in which this goes on. The examples of this are constant: the support of cooperatives and various mutualist enterprises in the early 20th century, St. John Paul II's insistence on truly humanizing work in Laborem Exercens, Pope Benedict's claim that "quota of gratuitousness" must be present within the structures of business, not simply as a mop-up afterwards. Or in the stark words of Paul VI's Populorum Progressio: "The world is sick." One cannot have it both ways: believing the market is neutrally set up so that individuals simply act within it based on their respective "moralities," but also seeing it as an effective incentive system driven by self-interest.
Let me be clear: I do not think that corporate CEO's are all moral monsters. This is plainly false. But this is precisely the problem with using stories like "The Wolf of Wall Street" to exemplify the problem. The insidious nature of these structures of sin is that few are such monsters, and yet the system rolls along. Such cover stories can be used by the Left, as well. All such morality plays sustain the illusion that the problem is other bad people. In fact, the problem is our collective attachment to unjust and unsustainable systems on which we all too often rely for our daily bread.
In order to sustain his case, then, the cardinal has recourse to an illusory, partial vision of the existing economy, supported by a naïve, ultimately philosophically incoherent understanding of the relationship of individual morality and present economic structures. Put another way, he is telling us a story of the good Jimmy Stewart and the bad Lionel Barrymore, all the while ignoring that even Frank Capra's fairy tale took place in a small town where George Bailey and Potter ran competing small financial enterprises.
New York City is no Bedford Falls. In Bedford Falls, the good cardinal might take his rich pastoral sensibilities, good humor, and enthusiasm down to Potter's office, and try to soften his heart. But as the overseer sent by the Spirit to the see in which the world's few vast financial powers congregate, Cardinal Dolan might want to rethink his story. By all means, remind us that pure top-down statist policies are not the way to salvation, any more than the unfettered invisible hand. But this is no middle way, as the cardinal suggests in his article, as a way of maintaining the basic cover story that things are fine in the US economy. It is a different way, a strange way, that surely calls the richest see in the richest society to reconsider its collective disobedience, its secret sins that we won't admit. Gross luxury, envy, fraud, greed – these are on the cardinal's doorstep (as are the poor). "Das ist der virtuous capitalism"…
About the Author
David Cloutier is associate professor of theology at Mount St. Mary's University and editor of catholicmoraltheology.com. He is the author of The Vice of Luxury (2015), Walking God's Earth: The Environment and Christian Ethics (2014), and Love, Reason, and God's Story: An Introduction to Catholic Sexual Ethics (2008). In fall 2016, he is starting a position at the Catholic University of America.
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It seems that Cardinal Dolan might do well to get out of his Madison ave. mansion, take some time out of hobnobbing with the rich at fancy hotels, and take a walk down the streets where the poor are in that great city that never sleeps.
Would this WSJ article by Cardinal Dolan have anything to do with an interview with Home Depot founder and devout Catholic, Ken Langone, last December? Langone said he told Dolan that Pope's statements about capitalism have left many potential "capitalist benefactors" wary of donating to the Church or its fundraising projects.
According to Langone, an anonymous, "potential seven-figure donor" for the Church's restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral is concerned about the Pope's criticism of capitalism.
(N.B. If I am correct, the restoration of the Cathedral also includes the Cardinal's residence.)
Cardinal Dolan's article and Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga's keynote speech, referenced in the comments of another current post, make interesting side-by-side reading. Two different (but how different?) interpretations of Evangelii gaudium.
Good pick-up, Helen. We will never know but it is always a good idea to follow the money. Dolan has a degree in history but appears to be unable to use historical research approaches on various topics.
Maybe Dolan is re-rethinking the opulence in his life.
Re: Zacchaeus
A certain priest blogger who goes by the first initial of his last name claims that
"Authors are divided about whether Zacchaeus was already giving half his wealth to the poor before the Lord came along or whether he made the decision in the Lord's presence to give to the poor in the future."
Why this digression? Who knows? Can it be to show that Zacchaus was a generous man before he encountered Jesus and thus the story does not mandate such generosity of Christians.
My mother , a 1904 Irish immigrant had a saying "when you sleep with pigs .....". I guess Hie Eminence never hear it.
Given C. Dolan's body language, I tend to think that he is a genuinely sociable man who would like everything to be hunky-dory for everyone. But he's a cardinal of the Catholic Church expounding on economic matters as if he doesn't understand the power (i.e. money) resting in the hands of the super-rich, and he doesn't seem to see the necessity of those capitalists doing what captitalists are called to do: invest their capital -- even in risky situations such as the current economy -- when the common good requires more jobs for the people. He must prod the capitalists and the politicians to invest and spend.
Virtue isn't simply wishing everyone well. Virtue is doing what needs doing, and then some. And in these circumstances, that means capitalists risking capital. He should know that by now. No, he mustn't tell them what to invest in -- that's for them, the experts, to judge. Just remind that that it is their duty to invest or the whole system could crash, including their own part.
But here, regular and pervasive features of our economic system are attributed to the accidental actions of vicious businessmen or corrupt regulators. The cardinal seems to think that self-interest and generosity can somehow be combined, simply by individuals having the correct dispositions.
Assuming that the "accidental actions" are those list of vices - greed, fraud, and the rest - then I would say the Cardinal is right. Those attributes are human attributes that precede any market arrangement and consequently have been found in all market arrangements in all places and times throughout history, not to mention in other areas of human activity such as education, religion, health care, government et al.
Cooperatives, mutual aid arrangements and so on are possible in the globalized, regulated free market arrangements that prevail. I would say that the popes are not wrong to call for them, but in the US, they are not the normative model (although they have existed and continue to exist). We're told that, in Germany, models of cooperation between capital and labor are more common, to the extent that Volkswagen recently supported a unionization drive at one of its assembly plants in the American South. In this American's opinion, that was extraordinary, and may be a real-life example of the sorts of things that popes call for. The drive failed nonetheless. Yet in the globalized, regulated free market conditions that prevail in the American labor market, Volkswagen in South Carolina still is free to pay its employees just wages, and to welcome workers into management decisions and governance activities.
This leads to a comment on the philisophical tension noted in the post: standard economic analysis would state that Volkswagen cooperates with employees unions, in line with what popes call for, because it is in its self-interest to do so. Indeed, economists don't reduce "self-interest" to greed and other vices, prevalent though those are in human nature and consequently in economic life. "Self-interest" means that business actors seek to maximize their utility, and "utility" is an umbrella term that encompasses the whole spectrum of human motives, from the vices such as greed and pride, to the virtues such as creativity (think of the Apple engineers and execs who derive satisfaction from creating cool, fun gadgets) to family flourishing (the countless small businesses that exist in large part to provide employment to extended families) to the fulfillment of vocations (businesses that are founded because the founder senses that this is what she is called to do).
This post, it seems to me, with its emphasis on the "regular and pervasive" ills and vices of contemporary economic life, comes pretty close to describing corporations and, at a larger level, our contemporary globalized, regulated free market, as structures of sin. Let's put it on the table that they are not, as a class, structures of sin. That is not to say that none of them harbor or encourage sinful behavior like greed or the exploitation of labor; we all know that these sins occur depressingly often. But the worlds of corporations and market life are too complex to hang a tag like "structures of sin"on them. There is a lot of virtuous living to be found in the marketplace. I am certain that when Cardinal Dolan wrote this WSJ piece, he had in the back of his mind the many generous, virtuous, even holy business persons with whom he comes in contact as archbishop of New York. Any theory of marketplace morality needs to be able to account for them; that, too, is an obligation of truth-telling.
Jim P. --
I complain a great deal about the "capitalists", which, ISTM is a rather ambiguous term. In economics it refers to the owners of wealth of various sorts. expecially money. in ordinary, everyday use it connotes especially the super-rich with vasts amounts of money and non-productive means of obtaining money. The latter includes the financial segment of the population which in recent decades has used the money at their disposal (which mainly did NOT belong to them) to make huge amounts of money for themselves. These include the ones who invented the derivatives market, one which ended up destroying the wealth of many little people. They were called upon to make money for the lenders, but instead shafted the little lenders. That was sinful, sinful, sinful, sinful, no matter how you cut it.
I grant you there are good capitalists (anyone with retirement investments is a capitalist), good CEOs, other good management people. I've known some. But the laws of the land are such that the bad guys can do their economic dirt and not only get away with it, but can actually be bailed out when Congress deems it wise because the Congress has been bought by the super-rich. The corporate laws of this nation are not generally for the benefit of the common good. They favor the rich, and especially the super-rich. And the middle-class is finally catching on. (I hope.)
(Tangent: Elizabeth Warren is looking better and better to me :-)
Jim P pushes exactly the right question. As I said in my post, I think many market participants are individually committed to fairness, generosity, etc. The further questions that must be pursued are two: (1) Can these virtues be active and leading in the market activity itself, or are they compartmentalized, in such a way that managerial decisions reflect a different moral calculus than their care for their children, their work in parishes, etc.? (2) Does the structure of the large corporation - and perhaps the large multinational corporation in particular - incline to sin and vice in a way that other structures do not? As explained in the papal documents, structures of sin are not pure "mechanism" that "force" people to sin - rather, they more or less tilt the moral playing field in a particular direction. Neither George Bailey nor Potter are large corporations! So Jim P is absolutely right that vices are not peculiar to this form? But does this form have a peculiar bias? My own inclination is to say that it does, and I think I will do another post to explain why...
This post, it seems to me, with its emphasis on the "regular and pervasive" ills and vices of contemporary economic life, comes pretty close to describing corporations and, at a larger level, our contemporary globalized, regulated free market, as structures of sin. Let's put it on the table that they are not, as a class, structures of sin.
Let's see if the table is big enough to hold this: They are not, as a class, structures of virtue, either. I have to insist on this because it seems that too often we are told that sin is the aberation, and virtue is the end toward which all corporate capitalism is tending. That leads to such fatuous commentary as the contention that poor Americans would seem rich "in a lotta other countries." And so we hear, too, that other countries' capitalism may be crony, but ours is not. But if we know that corprate capitalism can tend toward greed or toward the greatest good for the greatest number, why is it that anyone can cite numerous cases of the former, but you really have to slice your definitions thin to find any case of the latter? Today we may pray over the inability for years of General Motors to make a safe ignition switch.
And as a sort of P.S., I came to this post after reading Massimo Faggioli's piece elsewhere on the site. And, thinking about Cardinal Dolan tempering Pope Francis's varous criticisms of capitalism, I wish we had some bishops who are as enthusiastic about this pope as Catholic publishers, Catholic laity and agnostics are.
David, thanks for your positive response to my comment. Your question (2) in your response sounds like a really juicy topic :-), and I'll await your post before sharing any thoughts. Regarding your question (1):
Can these virtues [such as fairness and generosity] be active and leading in the market activity itself, or are they compartmentalized, in such a way that managerial decisions reflect a different moral calculus than their care for their children, their work in parishes, etc.?
You're right that the "church on Sunday/work on Monday" syndrome is common. Yet I would say that, yes, those virtues can be active and leading in the marketplace- but there is certainly no guarantee that they will be. I take it from the Cardinal's article that it is dependent on managers and directors who are committed to fostering those virtues. I would agree that this is a necessary condition. I can think of three ways that managers and directors can be induced to foster these values:
As I noted in my previous comment, business leaders may perceive that it is in their self-interest to be fair, generous, just and so on. A reputation in the marketplace for fair dealing and ease of doing business is an asset; leaders recognize that happy employees (or at least minimally disgruntled employees) are more motivated to work hard and produce good qualilty work; and there are clear benefits to keeping the community and its political leaders happy. Thus, doing the right thing is also doing the shrewd thing.
Regulations imposed by governments and private groups such as bar associations provide a concrete incentive for business leaders to do the right thing (or, as is commonly the case, a concrete disincentive to do the wrong thing). Perhaps this is another variation on the maxim that doing the right thing is also doing the shrewd thing, assuming that (as is generally the case in the US), the regulatory regime is aligned with society's notions of justice and fairness.
- The managers and directors are personally committed to the organizations they lead doing the right thing, not only because it is the shrewd thing, but also because it is the right thing. Here is where the possibility of personal Christian conversion comes into play in a direct fashion. Let me hasten to add that Christian conversion certainly isn't the only way that business leaders can be committed to doing the right thing for admirable and disinterested reasons, but the marketplace is a vast and fertile field for Christian witness and even evangelization.
On that last point, let me note that the holy order to which I happen to belong, the diaconate, is active in the workplace, witnessing to and encouraging ethical business behavior as being consistent with Christian mission. The same could be said for apostolates such as Opus Dei. And really, all the baptized who go into the marketplace have an opportunity and, arguably, a duty to witness in this way.
They are not, as a class, structures of virtue, either
Tom - quite right. I can't think of too many of those in any walk of life!
Ann - you make some good distinctions in your comment. Regarding the financial meltdown and resulting Great Recession: it was a catastrophe with many fathers, and maybe quite a few mothers, too. I don't think anybody actually set out intentionally to crash the world economy, but the confluence of sins and sinful tendencies, in many sectors and at many levels, with circumstances that virtually nobody understood or predicted in time, led to it. If I had to pick a character trait that topped all the others in leading to the crisis, it would be ignorance. If I'm not mistaken, that's one of the deadly sins. Having worked for a few years in the financial industry, I can report from personal experience that a lot of people who are in charge of a lot of other people's money would never be admitted to a MENSA meeting.
Mr. Cloutier and JP - link to this excellent discussion:
Warren's book demonstrates that there are two worlds and two sets of rules (and welfare) in America; one for the wealthy and one for everybody else. As they suggest, trickle down theories of wealth distribution are little more than magical thinking, and they have led to increased economic inequality. It is time for a reality-based public discussion on how move to greater equality and shared prosperity, along with a look at the high cost of not doing so, morally, socially, politically, and economically."
Jim P. --
You say "virtually nobody understood" the circumstances that cause the recession. Well, Paul Krugman predicted the housing bubble but admitted that, like everyone else, he had no inkling of how bad the further consequences would be. He thinks that now the reasons for it are clear.
You say that one cause was ignorance, and that's partly true. But there is ignorance (invincible) and ignorance (vincible). Krugman says that since the bust the conservative economists are denying the truth of data that has emerged since the bust which explains it, and they're making decisions pro austerity that are exactly the opposite of what they should be deciding. Instead of sitting on their money, the private sector (which at the moment has a great deal of money) should be investing, and the government should be taxing and spending to produce more jobs.
And don't tell me that the conservative establishment is open to new data, just look at the conservative reception of Picketty's book -- most of them automatically condemned it. We have, I think, an *obligation* to look at new data and ideas when the old ones are palpably inadequate or downright wrong, and if necessary we have an obligation to revise our presuppositions.
In our country our essentially Puritan conservative thinking is that in bad times spending money is wasteful. According to that theology, bad times are times to be particularly virtuous, steadfast, i.e., to be very, very thrifty and make no more mistakes. I grant you that people should save money -- but in good times so they'll have it to invest and spend when times are bad. But for the Puritan economists recessions and depressions are times for being self-protective and letting that invisible hand (what a convenient superstition!) do its work.
That's terrible theology. God helps those who help themselves. He wants us to have enough courage to be optimistic, not pessimistic -- and then act. A recession is not a time to hunker down and essentially do nothing, waiting for His miracles to get us out of our economic hole. Rather, it's a time for the rich to risk some of their cash to stimulate the economy for the sake of the common good, and it's a time for the rich to pay more taxes so the government can spend it on large-scale projects, thus providing many jobs and kick-starting the economy.
(I might add that I'm not hurting in this bad economy. It's the irrationality of the conservatives that drives me up the wall. And I see so many good people suffering because there are no jobs for them, so their dreams are being destroyed.)
I always love reading about the supposed culprits of the financial crisis like all of us were just innocent bystanders. IMHO, we made a significant mental error, treating homes as though they were an investment rather than the consumption that they actually represent: shelter. We compounded that error with the erroneous belief that home prices would miraculously continue upward forever and then lied about our incomes on our mortgage applications to greedily bet on our views. We all did it to ourselves...
Cooperatives, mutual aid arrangements and so on are possible in the globalized, regulated free market arrangements that prevail. I would say that the popes are not wrong to call for them
but let's remember these are also human institutions that are also infected with the same accidental vices, greed, fraud etc. They are not some panacea.
Bruce, Speak for yourself. I never thought that home prices would continue miraculously upward. I wrote that they couldn't keep going that way when they were only four or five times median income. I didn't lie about my income on mortgage applications. A lot of serious people, including the head of the Federal Reserve, were making that first mistake, and a lot of banks and mortgage companies headed by highly feted and continuously honored entrepreneurs were encouraging the second scam.
What happened was done to (most of) us by irresponsible greedheads. It is not a case of everyone was guilty so no one was guilty. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided we can't prosecute the greedheads who knowingly engaged in illegal activities with cockamamie financial instruments they didn't understand, but I don't agree with Eric Holder. So next time you are spreading the guilt, I want to be left out of it again.
One way to recapitulate this conversation is by focusing on the distinction between "Virtuous Capitalism" and "the virtuous Capitalist." Of course, "virtue" is a squishy term. Aristotle discussed the "virtue" of a horse but not the "virtue" of economic activity, which he treated as the mundane means for achieving higher human ends.
The Puritans were the last generation of Americans who attempted to construct a "moral economy." In response to that experiment, our ancestors turned to "free market" capitalism. (The despicable institution of slavery, however, has been a lingering cancer that has contaminated American capitalism from its beginnings.)
Markets, while requiring agreed upon rules for "fairness" in exchange and trade, do not require participants to be "virtuous." Indeed the "hidden hand" is prized because winners and losers emerge without reference to their personal moral worthiness. To paraphrase Madison, since human beings are not angels, we have had to settle for "the market" as the least pernicious – and most efficient-- mechanism for allocating scarce resources.
The culture of capitalism assumes that human beings will generally seek "the best deal possible," whether buying groceries, stocks and bonds, or a corporation. Further, individuals will generally be motivated to enhance their personal "well-being." Even in a world where the individual's quest for "the best deal possible"-- and improved "well-being"-- is constrained by standards of fairness and transparency, there will be losers—and unintended consequences. Capitalist competition inevitably generates "creative destruction": products fail to sell, competitors are more creative, firms and individuals go bankrupt, workers and managers lose their jobs, families are disrupted.
David Cloutier's reference to "A Wonderful Life" should draw our attention to the 21st century fate of small town banks, credit unions, and grocery stores. We consumers, looking for the "best deal possible," are complicit in the inevitable "creative destruction" of "the local" and the market success of national and global corporations.
The Catholic Church has never been at ease with capitalism and its explicit enthronement of earthly acquisitiveness, self-interest, and competition. Seldom do Sunday sermons stress that, in the wake of Original Sin, competitive capitalism with its "creative destruction" represent God's plan for the "fallen" human race. (Perhaps that is what Cardinal Dolan really intended to write!)
Facing the moral ambiguities embedded in capitalism—but being more afraid of socialism and communism—Church leaders waffle on whether the current economic system represents a "structure of sin." Instead they focus on "virtuous capitalists." Like generals engaged in a "just war," capitalists are to be judged by their personal integrity and humanity—not the negative social consequences of their "professional decisions."
j p --
Yes, "creative destruction" on principle is enough to give a preacher pause. But in the long run the community benefits by (theoretically) better and cheaper products. The problem is the displacement of the workers whose employers' businesses fail. They're out of work. But that is far from unsolvable -- even Hayek grants that in those circumstances are inevitable and that the government should provide a safety net for such workers in the interim when they have no work. (Hayek is a lot more liberal in some ways than the Tea Party wants to grant.)
To me the biggest theoretical and practical problem with capitalism is that there is no good criterion for determining a minimum fair wage. Leaving it up to the mythical invisible hand to solve the problem just has not worked.
a lot of banks and mortgage companies headed by highly feted and continuously honored entrepreneurs were encouraging the second scam,
Tom, last I checked, no one could force me to borrow money. I might be encouraged but I have to agree and sign on. Not everyone participated, but anyone who spent more because they thought their home was worth more was complicit.
Bruce, last I checked no one could force me to put on a shirt, but one goes along with convention unless one has reason to doubt the convention. With low, low, low rates advertised everywhere, it became conventional to use one's home as collateral. The folks on the cover of Business Week had leveraged their companies (which may have included the company you worked for); leverage was the L in LBO, and if it worked for the smart guys, why wouldn't it work for you? (Unless you were a contrarian, like me, but not, I am sorry to say, like you.) Those who participated thought they were as smart as Hewlitt-Packard, not complicit.
The fact that "They thought they were as smart as Hewlett Packard is exactly what makes them complicit. They were wrong and that error across the entire economy created the problem. If most people had acted like you, then no crash.
Btw, you have no idea what I personally thought about home prices.
Not to beat a dead horse, Bruce, but complicity implies a wrongful act. There is nothing intrinsically wrongful about debt, or leverage. Of course, everything goes to hell if you base an economy on it. But all of our betters told us it was OK. Take Angelo Mozilo, for example, cofounder of Countrywide. He made hundreds of millions, was acclaimed a financial genius and later paid a fine of tens of millions but did not have to admit wrongdoing. So in the eyes of the law, the complicity was in a not very wrongful act. By your reckoning, most of us were like him.
What did you think about home prices?
Jim Pauwels @ June 6, 11:55 am
The Seven Deadly (Capital) Sins: pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth. --- CCC, 1866
John Page - thanks. My mnemonic failed me:
Pride = the Professor
Averice = Mr. Howell
Envy = Mary Ann
Wrath = ?
Lust = Ginger
Gluttony = the Skipper
Sloth = Gilligan
I don't see Mrs. Howell as wrathful. I thought she was, well, a bit clueless.
Interesting article in the NYT today by a neuroscientist/former stock broker who claims that economic bubbles are caused not primarily by greed but investors response to risk. When the economy looks very stable investors tend to become too fearless and make bad, too optimistic choices. When it looks volatile, investors retrench. And there is a correlation beween this behavior and the levels of cortisol in the body. The author has some research to back up his claim about the levels of cortisol and risk taking.
This implies that when the Fed tells the world what it is going to do, that increases the stability of the market and produces too much exhuberance (unfounded optimism). Yes, this is counter-intuitivre -- the expectation of constant stability is not a good thing for the markee.


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Brian O'Connell
You are hereHome/ Brian O'Connell
Brian M. O'Connell earned a B.S. in music education from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell and a M.M. in choral conducting from The Boston Conservatory. He holds certification in voice therapy, also from The Boston Conservatory, and an Ed.D. in curriculum and teaching with a music education emphasis (ABD) from Boston University. He has completed vocal studies with David Blair McCloskey and Robert Gartside and performance studies with Lucas Foss, John Gibbons and Peter Phillips. O'Connell's awards include the Lithuanian Presidents Medal (1985), the Boston University Consortium Scholarship (1992) and the Boston University/Chelsea Partnership Scholarship (1991). He was also awarded the Lexington Education Foundation Grant (1994–1995) to develop a jazz choral curriculum while studying with Peter Phillips of the Tallis Scholars in Rimini, Italy (2003).
O'Connell has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He is the founder and current director of the Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop in Italy for music educators and conductors. He is also director of choral activities at Lexington High School and serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell.
O'Connell is the former voice department chair at Berklee College, director of choral activities at Tufts University and guest conductor at Northeastern University. He has developed curriculum and taught graduate choral conducting at the New England Conservatory (NEC) and choral methods/conducting at Boston University. As part of his Boston University/Chelsea Partnership, he served as lead teacher. O'Connell has directed the Handel and Haydn Youth Chorus, Cambridge Chorale, Nashua Choral Society, Quincy Choral Society, Neponset Choral Society and Nashoba Valley Chorale; he has premiered works by Kacinskas, Levine, Maloof, Prosser and other composers. Additionally, O'Connell is a frequent festival conductor and adjudicator. He has made several recordings in the commercial music industry. O' Connell is currently a member of Phi Delta Kappa and is a former president of the Massachusetts branch of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
5 Famous Wars That Showed Up in the Last Place You'd Expect
#2. German and British Fleets Bumped into Each Other in a "Safe Zone"
Via photo pantai
During World War I, pretty much all of South America (save for Brazil) was neutral. As such, Chile had no reason to think that any of the warring countries would just randomly show up on their doorstep. And when it happened, it wasn't a couple of random boats like in the Civil War example we told you about before -- these guys each brought a goddamn naval squadron with them.
Public domain
And the ability to make panties evaporate with a glance.
In the blue corner, we have Christopher "All the Bling" Cradock. In the red corner, Maximilian "Too Cheap to Have a Photo Taken" von Spee. Both were going through particularly relaxed parts of their respective missions. Von Spee's squadron had performed a two-month scouting mission to the Pacific, eluding enemy troops left and right, and were finally back in the safer waters of the Chilean coastline. Cradock was expecting even less trouble -- he was just in the process of moving his squadron along the coast.
So ... Cradock was heading down the coast. Von Spee was heading up the coast. Both were secure in the knowledge that there would be no enemies around because, goddamn it, the ocean is a big place, and what the fuck are the odds. So what happened next was a nasty shock for everyone involved.
Via World War I: A-D
"We're trying to swim here, you assholes!"
The fates of the two forces intertwined near the port city of Coronel in late October of 1914. Von Spee immediately gained a dual advantage in their unavoidable contest: Not only did he learn of the enemy's existence first, he also had much better ships. Still, he had his work cut out for him, as both sides had a lot of goddamn ships.
The Brits, in a trademark stiff-upper-lip moment, put up a good fight, but the German forces quickly took out the two largest ships, damaged two retreating ones, and generally scored the kind of curbstomp victory rarely seen outside professional wrestling. It was, by the way, the first naval battle of World War I, and, for the good people of Coronel, the fireworks display of the century.
Nick Daly/Photodisc/Getty Images
"I think I'll just stick with these. There's much less blood involved."
#1. Japan Attacked Alaska ... and Oregon ... and California
Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
For a "global" war, World War II stayed pretty far away from North America. The few battles that took place nearby were entirely naval, but except for a bunch of random bomb balloons, no enemy ever entered U.S. soil.
That is, except for the Japanese. Something that gets left out of history lessons is the fact that, after Pearl Harbor, they attacked American soil all the time, in increasingly random places.
For instance, Japan kicked things off with a submarine attack against Ellwood, California, a small town right next to Santa Barbara. Although there was a viable target in the form of an oil refinery, the sub only managed to slightly damage a derrick and a few surrounding buildings. Still, this attack against a random West Coast town did its job, sending shockwaves all around America and single-handedly launching the whole Japanese Invasion hysteria that ran rampant until the tide of the fight turned definitively in favor of the Americans.
Via Goleta Valley Historical Society
Back then, newspapers damn well knew how to make headlines.
Then a few months later in June, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced outside another random target, an Army fort in Oregon, and started blasting the base with artillery shells from its 5.5-inch deck gun. The sub soon had to escape a retaliating bomber, but not before damaging phone lines, destroying part of a baseball field, and ... well, that's about it.
The biggest Japanese attack on U.S. soil, however, was an actual, honest-to-God invasion. In fact, for a while it looked like it could have actually become a major battlefront. Its destination was even less expected than the previous ones: The Japanese brought their A-game to the extremely surprised residents of the tiny Alaskan Aleutian Islands. In a legendary feat of thoughtlessness, however, they then proceeded to try to attack Canada. As fighting an enemy while standing on another enemy's soil is referred to in military strategy books as "What? Shit no," Japan soon found itself beaten back by the collective force of the American and Canadian troops.
Via US Navy
"Prepare for the combined wrath of Dunkin' Donuts AND Tim Hortons!"
Evan V. Symon is a moderator in the Cracked Workshop. When he isn't plotting to take over Finland, he can be found on Facebook, and be sure to bookshelf and vote for his new book, The End of the Line.
For more bizarre battles, check out The 5 Most Retarded Wars Ever Fought and 5 Lesser Known (Completely Ridiculous) American Civil Wars.


text:
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To make a purchase using a gift card please contact (888) 273-2537.
Since 1828 Guerlain has been a leader in the fragrance, skincare and color industry. As one of the few Guerlain Boutiques in the U.S., The Breakers is proud to feature this luxurious brand. All Guerlain online orders are tax-free (excluding Florida) and standard shipping is complimentary within the continental United States.


text:
Eric Michael David '96
Tech Matters
In a relatively short amount of time, scientists at Organovo can create functional human liver tissue using a 3D bioprinter. The company's co-founder and chief strategy officer Eric Michael David '96 J.D., '02 M.D. admits that Organovo's work has been compared to something that would be seen on Star Trek or other shows about the distant future.
"It's a very cool technology, and it sounds very science fiction," David explains, "but [we are careful to explain] what it can do now, what it can do in two to five years, and after that." Currently, pharmaceutical companies want to use the bioprinted tissue to test new drugs in clinical trials prior to human testing, and David says that Organovo's long-term goal of printing fully composed, functional organs is about a decade away.
A graduate of both Columbia Law School and Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, David did not initially plan on studying medicine. He notes that a Law School seminar on the legal issues involved in organ transplantation taught by Professor Harold S. H. Edgar helped inspire his interest in the field.
"I looked around and saw so much cutting-edge technology and was fascinated by the questions dealing with how you bring that to market, commercialize it, get it out of the lab, and make the world a better and more productive place," he says.
David went on to serve as the assistant chief resident in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital before working as an associate partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He co-founded Organovo in 2007.
Now, as the only lawyer among a staff of 35, David balances a wide variety of responsibilities, including overseeing the company's intellectual property filings and its business development efforts. "What we're doing is truly at the intersection of science, business, and the law," he says. "Wearing all these different hats really keeps me sharp."


text:
Thursday, November 17, 2011
20 comments:
Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders fame takes an early look at
The Cold Cold Ground, here
- November 17, 2011 at 7:20 AM
- speedskater42k said...
I'm interested in 1Q84 and likely will get the audio book soon.
Does Murakami score any points w/ you for being a Chandler fan? He's translated several Chandler books (e.g., "Farewell, My Lovely") into Japanese.
- November 17, 2011 at 7:23 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
Big points. And there is a nice mystery element throughout the book so far. Also a nice Chandleresque low key style.
- November 17, 2011 at 7:25 AM
- Conor Mac said...
I'm almost finished Book 1, enjoying it a lot. I wasn't a big fan of Kafka on the Shore either.
I was so excited about this one arriving, then when it did it sat untouched on my desk at work for about a fortnight, the sheer size of it was a bit daunting.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:06 AM
I loved one of the stories but not the other, if that makes any sense.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:13 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
Kafka on the Shore, right. The other one I read was Hard Boiled Wonderland I think. Actually I think I may have read 3 of his books before this. Isnt there one called The Wind Up Bird Chronicle? I remember reading a science fiction novel called The Wind Up Girl and thinking that I liked it (the sci fi one) much better.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:28 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
Initially I liked the girl's story better but she lost me a bit when
the girl got kidnapped from the half way house and instead of ringing the alarm bells they spent the next few pages talking about what type of replacement dog to get.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:30 AM
The female protagonist was completely unbelievable, especially her obsession with the size of her own breasts. This reminded me of Lizbeth Salander! Women don't get together and talk about the size of their breasts, men like to think think they do but they don't.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:54 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
Really? They dont? Thats a shame.
I did find that stuff in the book a bit pervy.
- November 17, 2011 at 9:57 AM
I saw a 12year schoolboy reading a Murakami book on the train. I felt a smidgey bit sense of inadequecy at myself not being able to finish the one I tryed and here's this young upstart who has obviously given Harry Potter the swerve, flying through one of Murakami chunky ones.
- November 17, 2011 at 10:59 PM
- adrian mckinty said...
12 year old boys would like this one. Other Earths, lots of focus on the shape of women's breasts, Ninja style assassinations...
- November 17, 2011 at 11:43 PM
- Gavin said...
I really like Murakami's early books a lot. Haven't read his more recent work yet, though. I liked "Hard-Boiled Wonderland," but it's definitely an outlier for his general body of work.
I think the short story is a good form for him, because he has to keep himself more in check.
Everyone talks about his protagonists being a sort of every-person, but I think that's a huge mis-reading. They tend to be really blase about things that would upset real people, or at least throw them off-balance. They go off onto weird tangents at a moment's notice (less so in the short stories), they tend to be slackers, and so on.
Reminds me that I've been meaning to finish the Wind-up Bird Chronicle for a while; I should get back to it (finished vol. 1, 2 & 3 to go).
- November 18, 2011 at 5:46 AM
- lil Gluckstern said...
I read Murakami's short stories due to the urging of a patient (Disclosure-I'm a Jungian trained therapist), and I enjoyed them. I don't think I want to wander in these labyrinthine waters for too long; I do that in my work. Which is why I like down to earth, action packed books :) He is so different from Chandler. I feel as though I should like Murakami more, but I really can only take him in small doses.
- November 18, 2011 at 6:29 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
I think populating your novels with people who dont react in real ways is a bit of a flaw. It annoys me a bit when EVERYONE is blase. I've been to Japan and I've seen Japanese people getting upset. I wonder if he thinks he has to project a certain image of the Japanese to themselves and the outside world.
- November 18, 2011 at 8:38 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
I'm enjoying the book but I'm finding it hard to love it. I feel that if an American or British novelist had written it the books flaws would have been more eagerly dissected.
- November 18, 2011 at 8:42 AM
- lil Gluckstern said...
With sadness, over the years, I have noted that some authors are in fashion, where disliking them can make you very unpopular. Meanwhile, I go around happily talking up Irish and Scottish Noir. Maybe it's my mood. Japanese art is very moving; but there is a lot of other stuff going on when we look at it. Murakami is far more lush than the simple beauty I've grown to expect of Buddhist shrines, for example.
- November 18, 2011 at 9:31 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
My problem with Japanese Buddhist Shrines is that there is a lot of simple beauty swamped by 10,000 people taking photographs, making videos and listening to very noisy tour guides.
- November 18, 2011 at 9:52 AM
- Gavin said...
I don't think that he's trying to project an image to the outside world -- his earlier works were written before his popular in the outside world. It's just the way he writes.
What I mean is, there's a very specific voicing that his characters have. I don't know if it translates well into English (I've only read him in Japanese). I feel like, even if they're an unreal sort of person, they're a very specific person -- I have a very clear image of this guy in my mind. Part of the reason I feel like "Hardboiled Wonderland" is an outlier is because that protagonist feels different from the others to me. He's more engaged in what's going on around him. (Leaving aside the more overt sci-fi feel, of course)
People in his stories do get upset; it's just that his protagonists don't, usually (although the guy in "Wind-up Bird" does get upset when he ends up in the well with no way out). For all I know, Murakami acts that way in real life :-).
- November 19, 2011 at 2:57 AM
- adrian mckinty said...
Gav very cool that you've read him in Japanese!
I'm impressed.
And yes I am liking the book much better than the others I've read.
However whats the deal with the breasts throughout this novel?
I just read the scene last night where the protagonist's friend is murdered in a sex crime and instead of spiraling into a cycle of grief and panic she starts waffling about away about the size of her own breasts again.
Women are constantly talking about their breasts and comparing them, touching them etc. If a western male writer had written stuff like this he would have been laughed out of town.
- November 19, 2011 at 7:40 AM
**possible spoilers
when i picked up the talking cat one i sensed the recurring themes in Murakami's that i put it away because i thought there would be little surprise. when i got back to it about 2 years later, i actually found the ghosty and soldiery bits rather interesting as they reflect a lot on other ghosts ideas that i have been told over the years, in particular that ghosts are where they are because they are looking for closures. personally i don't believe in ghosts though.
- November 24, 2011 at 9:07 PM


text:
Pregnancy Fitness
In This Article:
How your body adapts
Your body changes to nurture the health of both you and your growing baby. The priority is to optimize blood flow and its supply of oxygen, fluid supply, nutrients, and temperature control to your baby. Just as your organs function to do this for you, they work at their maximum to do this for your baby.
Your heart rate increases to handle the larger volume of blood it pushes throughout the body in order to reach the fetus. Heart rate increases as the pregnancy goes on. By the third trimester, your heart rate can actually increase 10 to 15 beats per minute to accommodate the baby. This is demonstrated by an increase in pulse rate both at rest and while exercising.
Your blood increases in many ways: number of cells, volume (overall amount of fluid), and size of vessels. This allows it to more efficiently transport oxygen and nutrients to both mother and baby. Blood can also become slightly thicker, as it is carrying more nutrients and cells. This requires drinking increased amount of fluids to maintain proper blood flow.
Breathing can sometimes seem like work in pregnancy. Your breathing rate increases to supply oxygen to your baby and also to accommodate for your higher metabolism. Your body also becomes more sensitive to levels of humidity or change in air temperature, causing you to "overbreathe," or feel as if you are hyperventilating at times. Adding to your change in breathing is pressure on the breathing muscles (diaphragm and rib muscles) and lung space as your baby grows, making your lungs slightly smaller and less able to fully expand.
Temperature regulation is slightly impaired during pregnancy. Thicker blood and more red blood cells slow your body's natural cooling mechanism. Also, pregnancy hormones interfere with your normal thermostat that controls body temperature. This increase in temperature can be detrimental to a pregnancy, because research has shown that a fetus can develop abnormally if body temperature stays elevated for long. Therefore, you must avoid a rise in body temperature by not exercising in heat, wearing light clothing, and drinking cool fluids during exercise. If you have trouble judging your body temperature, check it with a thermometer while exercising; it should not go over 100 degrees. Exercising in heat also increases your risk of dehydration. Overheating should be avoided at all times, not just while exercising. It is for this reason that saunas, Jacuzzis, and hot tubs are prohibited during pregnancy.
Drinking more fluids is one of the most important changes you need to make to accommodate to pregnancy for many reasons, including preventing constipation, temperature regulation, maintaining increased blood flow, and higher breathing rate. Fluids are lost at increased amounts through digestion, sweat, in urine and stool, and through the lungs. Because your body system requires much more fluid when you are pregnant, it is very important to stay well hydrated.
During pregnancy, your body uses up its supplies of glycogen (stored energy) faster. The hormone changes of pregnancy require that you use carbohydrates as an immediate energy source during exercise, especially when exercise lasts longer than 45 minutes. With regular exercise, you need at least 400 to 500 more calories per day after the first trimester than you were eating before.
Body System Changes During Pregnancy
|Body System
|Increased rate
|Increased breathing rate, decreased lung space
|Increased cells, thickness, volume
|Blood vessels
|Increased size and number
|Body temperature control
|Glucose supplies
|Used more quickly
WARNING Dehydration can cause decreased oxygen and nutrient supply to the baby, overheating, and early labor.
Your growing baby experiences the same responses to exercise you do: heart rate and temperature go up and blood sugar supply goes down. Remember this as you are exercising and considering whether to run that extra mile in the heat (don't!). Also, when you exercise, more of your blood is going to the muscles to allow them to work, taking some away from your baby. Therefore, if you are a competitive or professional athlete who wants to stay as fit as possible, it is recommended to split your workout into two 30- to 45-minute sessions at two different times of the day to decrease an overload of stress on the baby.
Exercise Guidelines During Pregnancy
- Be able to say three sentences in a row without getting short of breath.
- Do not allow yourself to feel hot for more than a few minutes.
- Make sure you have carbohydrate snacks available for each 30 to 45 minutes of exercise.
- Drink at least 1/2 cup of fluid for every 10 minutes of aerobic exercise or 15 minutes of light exercise.
- Be aware of changes in balance and increased fall risk; avoid uneven or slippery terrain.
- Rest if you have pain or feel weak or tired.
- Always cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before resting completely.
- During the last trimester, do not lie on your back for more than five minutes.
More on: Postpartum
excerpted from:
From The Active Woman's Health and Fitness Handbook by Nadya Swedan. Copyright © 2003 by Nadya Swedan. Used by arrangement with Perigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit Amazon.


text: Beauty Autumn 2012 Make-Up Trends 15 October 2012 Lisa Niven IT'S always a little sad when the Fashion Weeks are over, but rounding up the make-up trends is one of the best bits of show season - and autumn/winter 2012-13 was no exception. From red lips at Thakoon and Rick Owens to paintbox-hued eyes at Anna Sui and Dries Van Noten, there was no shortage of colour on the catwalks. And with winged liner, peacock-coloured shadow and blue mascara all making an appearance, eyes were a big autumn/winter story. So whether you opt for Jean Paul Gaultier and Louis Vuitton's daring "morning-after" eyes or Michael Kors and Mulberry's pretty flushed cheeks, autumn/winter 2012-13's beauty trends should offer something for everyone. Related Reading Backstage Beauty: Autumn/Winter 2012-13 11 Jul 2012 Autumn 2012 Hair Trends 15 Oct 2012


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I am having a big time getting my laptop to boot again. I have launch the upgrade process yesterday before going to sleep and today upon waking up, I saw that the upgrade somehow failed to complete successfully and some package could not be updated. I was upgrading from Quantal to Raring. The laptop stopped responding and I had to restart it. However, from now on, it will not boot. Upon booting, I am getting the following message:
General error mounting filesystems.
CONTROL D Will terminate the shell and reboot this system
As I am new to linux, I am stuck right here and have no clue what I should be doing. Therefore I searched around the forum here as I always did in the past and I found some suggestions.
Trying to use the LiveCD
One suggestion was to use the liveCD to boot the system and after it boots, there are direction to solve the problem. I tried using the liveCD but strangely, the liveCD will not even load and fails. I get the menu screen to choose 'Start/Install Ubuntu' and when I chose that... It will start loading and will freeze when it is 'mounting filesystem' and after a while will land on the BusyBox console. And from there, I am stuck. No idea how to proceed since the LiveCD will not load.
Using Boot Repair Disk
The other suggestion was to use the Boot Repair Disk and it will correct the errors with the broken packages and grub. I downloaded it and burned it on a CD. I then loaded it on my laptop. I was able to successfully boot the Boot Rapair Disk and I chose the 'Recommended Repair'. The repair tool started and did some stuffs and afterwards a dialog message showed up saying 'Boot successfully repaired' and asked me to reboot the machine. I was quite delighted but upon rebooting, I ended up with the same problem. It looks like nothing was fixed. The Boot Rapair Disk gave me this url http://paste2.org/DMH7nG8b where it has saved some report apparently.
Information regarding my disk
I have a single hardisk with 320GB. It has been partitioned in 3 parts. 1st is ext4 where the ubuntu files are stored, 2nd is the swap partition and 3rd is the logical partition where I store my stuffs. I do not have a dual booting system and use only ubuntu.
So, currently I am a bit desperate as I need to get some work done but I am unable to use my machine. However, I do know that there are very helpful souls here and as I have found many solutions to my problems in the past from here, I expect this problem will not be leaving for long now that I have placed it here. If more information is needed, I will gladly add it.
Thanking you in advance...


text:
Pictures: Evidence photos released in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin
Evidence photos released by the Fourth Circuit Court State Attorney's Office and the lawyers for George Zimmerman in the shooting death of teen Trayvon Martin. Sanford resident Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in Martin's death.
This photo gallery is featured in these articles:


text:
The White County Republicans met earlier this week at GOP Headquarters, located in the Reagan Building on Main Street in Carmi. County Chairman Bill Williams called the meeting to order with 20 members present.
The pledge to the U.S. Flag was led by Williams followed by the minutes, which were read by Jeff Whitler.
The March 9 fundraiser was discussed. The sausage and pancakes and/or gravy and biscuits breakfast will be held from 6:30 until 10 a.m. at the American Legion in Carmi. Tickets to the event are $5 and the breakfast is "All You Can Eat."
Committeemen and others present included White County Board Member Wes Trout and David Dosher, Nancy Winter, supervisor of assessments, and Denton Aud, White County States Attorney. Carmi Township Supervisor Jimmie Mallette, Roger Heckler, Carmi Township trustee and Amy Short, candidate for assessor were also in attendance.
For more information on the White County Republicans, contact Glenda Ackerman, White County GOP Chairwoman, at 387-1740.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
If $p$ is a polynomial with real coefficients and p(x)>0 on [0,1], then $p(x)=\sum c_{i,j} x^i(1-x)^j$ with $c_{i,j}$ positive. I know this is true but but I need a proof/reference. Thanks!
See "Polynomials that are positive on an interval" by myself and Bruce Reznick, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 352 (2000), 4677-4692. We give a brief history of this problem along along with a bound for the minimum $m$ so that $p$ can be written $p = \sum_{i=1}^m c_i x^i (1-x)^{m-i}$ with $c_i \geq 0$. The bound depends on the minimum of $p$ on $[0,1]$ and the size of the coefficients. The best reference for this (without the bound) is probably P\'olya-Szego.
The following extension of Keivan Karai's comment proves the result.
Consider $q(x):=p(x)-c$ where $c=\frac12 \min p([0,1])$.
Approximate $q(x)$ as Keivan suggested: let $$ q_n(x) = \sum_{i=0}^n q(i/n) \binom ni x^i(1-x)^{n-i} . $$ Then $q_n$ is a polynomial of at most the same degree as $q$ (and hence $p$) and $q_n$ converges to $q$ uniformly on $[0,1]$. Since the degree is bounded, it follows that the coefficients of $Q_n$ converge to the coefficients of $q$. In particular, $\deg q_n=\deg q$ for all large enough $n$. Let $a$ be the leading coefficient of $q$ and $a_n$ the leading coefficient of $q_n$. Then $a_n\to a$ and hence the polynomial $$ r_n(x):=\frac a{a_n} q_n(x) $$ converges to $q(x)$ uniformly on $[0,1]$. Choose $n$ so large that $|r_n-q|<c$ on $[0,1]$, then $r_n<p$ on $[0,1]$. Since $r_n$ is already represented in the desired form, it remains to represent $p-r_n$. Observe that $\deg(p-r_n)<\deg p$ and proceed by induction.
Appendix: Why $\deg q_n\le\deg q$.
Since $q_n$ is linear in $q$, it suffices to consider the case $q(x)=x^k$. Let $$ F_0(u,v) = (u+v)^n = \sum_{i=0}^n \binom ni u^i v^{n-i} $$ and $$ F_m = u\cdot \frac{\partial}{\partial u} F_{m-1}, \qquad m=1,2,\dots $$ Then $$ F_k(u,v) = \sum_{i=0}^n i^k \binom in u^iv^{n-i}, $$ hence $q_n(x) = n^{-n} F_k(x,1-x)$. By induction in $k$ one sees that $F_k(u,v)$ is a linear combination of terms of the form $u^j(u+v)^{n-j}$ with $j\le k$. Hence $F_k(x,1-x)$ has degree at most $k$, and so does $q_n(x)$.
Remark. Analyzing the coefficients of the above linear combination, one can see that, as $n\to\infty$ and $k$ fixed, the coefficient at $u^j(u+v)^{n-j}$ goes to 1 and all other ones go to 0. This gives an elementary proof of convergence $q_n\to q$ (coefficient-wise) avoiding the general theory.
My first response (which I'm leaving below) was fallacious, but it was based on the idea that this method had to work, given the truth of the assertion. Since it doesn't work ..., I'll show why my interpretation of the question (I thought $n$ was implicitly bounded) is impossible. Note that Sergei Ivanov's answer, based on a comment suggestion of Keivan Karai, solves the problem when $n$ is unbounded.
When the degree $n$ is bounded, the assertion for positive polynomials implies the limiting case, for polynomials that are non-negative in the interval.
But polynomials of the form given in the question do not have zeros on the unit interval (as suggested by commenters). In particular, (x-1/2)^2 cannot be represented by in this form, since all coefficients would be forced to be 0.
Moreover: there cannot be any positive finite generating set for the convex cone of positive polynomials of degree $> 1$. This cone is not polyhedral, having uncountably many different extremal rays for instance in degree 2, where for each $a$ in the unit interval and $t > 0$, the ray of polynomials $t (x-a)^2$ is extremal, not expressible as a convex combination of other positive polynomials.
Here is a plot of the convex cone showing coefficients of positive quadratic polynomials. The three triangles bound the convex combinations of basis functions mentioned in the question. The curved side consists of coefficients of nonnegative quadratic functions with a 0 in the interval. These are not positive linear combinations of any finite collection of positive polynomials.
The $n$th Bernstein polynomial expressions for quadratic polynomials, as described in Ivanov's answer, map to this space as convex cones. Here is a slice, in the quadratic coefficient space, of the images of cones of positive quadratic polynomials so obtained for $n = 2..6$. The vertices in the pictures are coefficients of approximations of quadratic polynomials that have the form $(x-i/n)(x-(i+1)/n$. Even though these polynomials are not positive, the coefficients in the Bernstein approximation are postiive, since they only make use of values at the $(i/n)$ points. The cone of positive quadratic $n$th Bernstein polynomials is somewhat bigger than this, but these are enough to illustrate how they converge.
That's a nice, simple representation; I wasn't aware of it, but presumably something this simple must be known. Here's a proof:
The case $i+j = n$ is sufficient to get degree $n$ polynomials (perhaps that's what you meant).
Here is a plot of this positive basis, for $n = 3$; the picture suggests a working strategy.
Since only one of the functions is positive at each endpoint, you know what the coefficients of these functions must be. If you subtract, is it still positive? That follows from
(My proof was fallacious ).
From the lemma, it follows that $q(x) = p(x) - p(0) (1-x)^n + p(1) x^n$ is still positive. Since $q(x)$ is 0 at the endpoints of the interval, it is divisible by $x(1-x)$. Use induction to represent the quotient; this gives the desired representation for $p$.
Later Still: See Vicki Power's answer for a reference more suitable for your specific question.
Alternatively, if you simply want a reference, this is an application of the highly nontrivial Schmüdgen theorem (a.k.a. Schmüdgen's Positivstellensatz) 1. The theorem says that if you have a compact semialgebraic set $K \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ defined by inequalities $\{g_1 \geq 0, \dots, g_s \geq 0\}$, then any positive polynomial $f$ on $K$ belongs to the cone generated by $\{g_1, \dots, g_s\}$, i.e. sums with positive coefficients of products of the $g_i$'s (including powers) together with squares of arbitrary polynomials.
In your case, you have $g_1(x)=x$ and $g_2(x)=1-x$, and because you're in the one variable case, you should be able to get rid of the arbitrary squares (I might come back to this answer when I have more time).
1 K. Schmüdgen, The K-moment problem for compact semi-algebraic sets. Math. Ann. 289 (1991), no. 2, 203-206. (link)
Added Later: Note that Schmüdgen's result is only when $f|K>0$. If you relax to $f|K\geq 0$, it is not true any more. More surprisingly, Stengle points out in the MR that this result does not hold if you replace $\mathbb{R}$ by an arbitrary real closed field.
As Vicki already pointed out above, Polya-Szegö (Problems and Theorems in Analysis II. Theory of Functions. Zeros. Polynomials. Determinants. Number Theory. Geometry.) is a good reference for this particular result.
See §6, Problem 49 in that book: By the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra you can restrict to quadratic polynomials. For lines it is trivial. For parabolas opening down it is easy. The only nontrivial case happens for parabolas opening up. Parabolas opening up whose minimum lies above the interval are also just a little exercise. The only case remaining is parabolas opening up without zero on the real line.
Now determine a polynomial $h \in \mathbb Z[K,L,A,B,C]_ 4$ such that for all $a,b,c\in\mathbb R$ and all $\ell\in\mathbb N_{\ge2}$ one has $$aX^2+bX+c=\sum_{k=0}^\ell\frac{(\ell-2)!}{k!(\ell-k)!}h(k,\ell,a,b,c)X^k(1-X)^{\ell-k}.$$
Show that each $f\in\mathbb R[X]_ 2$ with $f>0$ on $\mathbb R$ has the desired representation by comparing the discriminants of $f=aX^2+bX+c\in\mathbb R[X]_ 2$ and $h(K,\ell,a,b,c)\in\mathbb Z[K]_ 2$ for $a,b,c\in\mathbb R$ and large $\ell\in\mathbb N_{\ge2}$.
This approach unfortunately does not carry over for the numerous generalizations of the theorem.


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Established in 1978, Moores Cancer Center is one of just 45 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States, and the only one in the San Diego region. Such centers are prominent among the leading institutions in the nation dedicated to scientific innovation and clinical excellence. This designation — reserved for centers with the highest achievements in cancer research, clinical care, education and community contributions — makes an enormous difference to our patients. Studies show that outcomes are better at NCI-designated centers.
Our cancer services were ranked among the top 25 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its 2015-16 "Best Hospitals" survey, which recognized UC San Diego Health as the top adult hospital in San Diego. Also in 2014, we were named one of "100 Hospitals and Health with Great Oncology Programs" by Becker's Hospital Review. Learn more about our awards and quality reports.
Our mission is to save lives by transforming cancer prevention, detection and care. Our vision is to make personalized cancer medicine a reality by creating, translating and disseminating exceptional cancer science and medicine.
Our unique "bench-to-bedside" approach to cancer research and patient care supports the broadest range of cancer activities in the San Diego region. From research in molecular genetics to the most advanced treatments, Moores Cancer Center is at the forefront of the fight against cancer, developing promising new therapies and making them available to cancer patients throughout the region.
Our model for providing patient care features a multidisciplinary team approach. These teams include specialists from a variety of disciplines such as medical, surgical and radiation oncology, pathology, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, nursing, social work, genetic counseling and more, who meet regularly to discuss the best options available for each patient. Using the advice from this group of experts, patients can then decide with their primary physician on the best course of treatment.
In 2005, Moores Cancer Center dedicated its new home on the east campus of UC San Diego Health, adjacent to Thornton Hospital. The new facility unites cancer-related research laboratories, clinical trials, prevention and outreach programs, and clinical care under one roof. The building comprises two structures — a three-story facility for clinical services and administration, and a five-story research tower —that share a common base. This design encourages interaction and intellectual exchanges between our world-renowned clinicians and researchers.
This beautiful building was designed with you and your family in mind. In 2008, it was awarded an Orchid Award for excellence in architecture by the San Diego Architectural Society, as it brings nature into the building and surrounds a bamboo courtyard. All of the services that you might need are located within the first two floors. Moores Cancer Center is for outpatient treatment only—procedures that require an overnight stay are usually performed at Thornton Hospital.
With our patient population currently growing 18 percent a year, a new state-of-the art facility is needed to meet our projected needs for inpatient care, including bone marrow transplants.
Jacobs Medical Center, currently under construction, will include a new cancer treatment pavilion, designed with significant input from cancer patients and their families to create a healing, supportive environment. Learn more about our future.
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Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo 2013 commences in Monza
With 10 teams, 20 cars on the grid, 22 drivers, seven nationalities and six races leading to a World Final to draw together Lamborghini's racing series in Europe, Asia and the US, the European season gets underway in Monza this week, the fifth running of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo.
In Lamborghini's 50th anniversary year, Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo and the marque's commitment to motorsport takes on central significance as the company builds a deeper investment in a ladder of motorsport activity under its new Lamborghini Squadra Corse operation.
From 2013, the Squadra Corse will provide an integrated approach to Lamborghini driving experiences including new series of 'Esperienza' events to provide enthusiasts and prospects with opportunity for a first test-drive and to experience the world of Lamborghini. The Lamborghini Academies, on both track and ice, provide driver training and the initial steps towards racing. The Super Trofeo series provides the perfect first race experience for young and gentleman drivers, with the Lamborghini GT3 for more experienced racers wanting to compete with the Lamborghini marque worldwide.
Monza's high-speed and historic race track, home of the Italian Grand Prix, is a fitting location to commence competitive activity for the 2013 season. 2012 season champion, Cédric Leimer returns to the series along with key protagonists, Adrian Zaugg and Andrea Amici in the PRO-AM category and Roberto Tanca and Andrea Mamé in the Amateur category. Automobili Lamborghini will field a VIP car for invitation celebrities, partnered by factory driver, Mario Fasanetto and in Monza, small screen star Jimmy Ghione, known and adored across Italy, will be the first celebrity to occupy the #1 car. Monza will also be notable for the first Super Trofeo start for 16 year old sensation, Alessandra Brena, who will be piloting the number 36 Autocarrozzeria Imperale car alongside Oscar Ortfeldt.


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You're From Chicago. We Get It
When Players Visit the White House, Obama Seldom Misses a Chance to Name-Drop His Favorite Teams
If you live in the U.S. and have paid any attention at all over the past four years, you know by now that President Barack Obama is a fan of Chicago's sports teams. (Well, except the Cubs.)
He likes the Chicago teams so much that he will take any opportunity to pledge his allegiance to them—even when he's supposed to be congratulating another team. The Miami Heat visited the White House this week in honor of their 2012 NBA title. Obama commended LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Co. for their success despite admitting he felt "a little disappointed that the Bulls didn't make it."
This wasn't the first time Obama made his rooting interests known. In fact, throwing in a barb about a Chicago team has become his signature move. When the Dallas Mavericks visited last January, Obama jokingly claimed that Bulls legend Michael Jordan stole the No. 23 from him. When he met with the Los Angeles Lakers before that, he noted that while coach Phil Jackson won his fifth title in L.A., it was still one fewer than he won in Chicago. "We are still grateful for you, coach, in Chicago," he said.
In August 2011 when hosting the Green Bay Packers, the archrivals of his beloved Bears, Obama peppered his congratulations with a warning: "Just keep in mind that there's only one person here who can ground all planes in and out of Green Bay if he has to."
A White House spokesman wrote via email, "we'll let the President's frequent/extensive comments speak for themselves."


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Palladino: Bring on hoop season
Is it possible? Are we just one week away from the start of basketball season?
Indeed, the first official day of practice for girls basketball is Nov. 25, one week from today. The boys start Dec. 2.
To dust off the phrase I have used for many years: Meaning no disrespect to any athlete in any sport, but, I can't wait. Let's get this season going.
And it is a long season. The trail begins in a high school gymnasium before Thanksgiving, and ends, we hope, with a trip to Mohegan Sun Arena in March.
Nowhere, Conn.: We love our hoops here in Nowhere, Conn., also known as The Center of The Universe. It was once called Waterbury. Now it is Nowhere, or didn't you know?
That fact was pointed out to us recently by a student at Loyola Marymount University.
One week ago, The Los Angeles Loyolan featured an article about former Crosby High star Anthony Ireland. The headline was revealing:
From nowhere to big time: LMU's hungry and humble leader.
Huh. From Nowhere.
Written by an LMU student, the feature lauded Ireland as the face of the Lions' program, which he is, and described his long journey to stardom, which began here, in Nowhere.
Much of the story's focus is on Ireland's prep year, at The Winchendon School, where he unlearned everything he picked up in Nowhere.
It is typical, when writing about a college basketball star, to shine more light and credit upon a player's prep school path. High school is thought of as something to escape.
Fine. We can take it, here, in Nowhere.
See HOOPS, Page 8B
On the coaching trail: We were reminded recently and we happily repeat it: Former Wilby High star Brittany Parker begins her third season as an assistant coach at Niagara University. Parker played at St. Augustine's University in Raleigh.
Can't beat anybody: The defending NVL and BL champions, Torrington and Thomaston High Schools, will be very good again this season, but the outlook of Torrington coach Mike Fritch has not changed one bit.
Typically, Fritch tells us: "Don't pick us this season. We can't beat anybody."
Of course, 18 wins later he kills me because I did not pick the Raiders.
This season, Fritch has a new tune: "Meh, we'll be OK."
Wow. Must be loaded.
Remember the dates: You'll want to write these down, or load them into your smartphone if you are digitally hip.
The 2013 City Basketball Jamborees: Girls, Dec. 7; Boys, Dec. 14. Both are at Sacred Heart's Alumni Hall.
The girls will tip late afternoon because it is SAT day. The boys will start early, perhaps at 11 a.m.
Ah yes, these are the days when sanity returns to Nowhere.
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In this 3D scan the baby's skin looks quite lumpy in parts. This isn't really the case. If the baby suddenly moves during a scan, the image can have difficulty "keeping up" and creates this unusual effect.
Up until this time, your baby has had little opportunity to store fat, because growth has been the most important priority. But now your baby starts to lay down a layer of fat beneath her skin and it becomes less translucent. The placenta is responsible for supplying fats to your baby.
Fat circulates in your bloodstream and within the placenta it is broken down into three free fatty acids, as well as cholesterol, which are passed into your baby's circulation. These fatty acids then recombine to form fats for storage or growth.
Fats are important for adequate nerve and brain development. A layer of fat covers each nerve cell, insulating it from adjacent nerves and improving its connections with other nerve cells.
I would advise you not to. We told people at first and found it upsetting to find we had so many negative reactions. People freely told us how they had negative associations with the name or that they knew a cat or gerbil called that-a fact that we didn't need to know! Older relatives told us it was "odd" and went on to give us a list of alternatives.
So I would say keep it to yourself until the baby is born and it's all a fait accompli. It takes a bold person to question your choice once your baby has been named.
Choosing one name can be difficult enough, so if you're expecting twins, start thinking now. If you want to avoid people making jokes at your twins' expense, avoid obvious pairs such as Jack and Jill, and Holly and Ivy. Consider how the names might sound when abbreviated (William and Benjamin, for instance, becomes Bill and Ben).
Finally, it might be a good idea to opt for names of similar length and complexity. For example, young Christopher may be discouraged as he struggles to spell his name, while his twin Jack has no trouble.
In Hawaii parents often choose names that are associated with beauty.
Some examples of these are: Nohea-"loveliness"; Leia-"child of heaven"; Maka Nani-"beautiful eyes"; Hiwalani-"the attractive one"; Pualani-"heaven's flower"; and Nani, meaning "beautiful, pretty one."
Excerpted from Pregnancy Day by Day.
Copyright © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Buy this book now!
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What is a good yet affordable hi-fi audio alarm clock?
I'm looking for something that I can listen to music to and use as an alarm clock. I really liked my Bose Wave alarm clock(especially how the music gradually increased in volume for a gentle wake) but that is now gone and I don't have the $$ to buy another. Any help?
3 Answers answer
Are you looking for something that has an ipod dock, cd player, and/or radio?
An Ipod dock would be great. If it only has Aux, that would be ok. Radio is nice too. CD players are a bit outdated so I'm ok without that. The ideal is to wake to music and have a few functions like snooze.


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Hybrid View
17 Jul 2012 6:45 AM #1
Unanswered: can't change size of tabpanel items on ipad orirentation
when I am showing tabpanel on button click. As I change orientation on device then the base panel get rendered properly, but the inner component (formpanel) does not set according to base panel.
I am attach code and Image also.
Please help me.
Thanks in advance.
19 Jul 2012 4:26 AM #2
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Inspect the DOM, is that element sized with a fixed size by the layout manager?Mitchell Simoens @LikelyMitch
Sencha Inc, Senior Software Engineer
Check out my GitHub, lots of nice things for Ext JS 4 and Sencha Touch 2
Think my support is good? Get more personalized support via a support subscription. https://www.sencha.com/store/
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19 Jul 2012 5:09 AM #3
I checked on monitor it shows fixed width and height.
How we can inspect DOM on device?
whole code link
19 Jul 2012 5:12 AM #4
I inspect DOM on desktop it shows fixed width and height.
But on device how I can check on orientation?
whole code link


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Practical, innovative ways to BEEF UP the male
presence on your kidmin team…
From the earliest days of his ministry, Jesus recognized the
importance of enlisting the assistance of men and women who weren't
afraid to get their hands dirty and who had the resolve to stand
strong even when facing uncomfortable situations and overwhelming
opposition. He made a point of calling people into service who
wouldn't let the little things like mobs of lepers or threats of
prison distract them from their mission — people who understood
the need to disciple the next generation of followers.
Jesus enlisted men and women who wouldn't shrink at anything — not
even service in the nursery. Not even coping with a frustrated
preschooler. Not even facing a firing squad of preteen questions.
And yet more than 2,000 years after Jesus called those first 12 men
to follow him, it's tough for children's ministers to convince a
sufficient number of men to follow Jesus into children's
How did a faith and a church built upon the foundations of
Jesus' strong leadership, bold actions, and acute interest in
children come to have an apparent shortage of men willing to step
up and volunteer to serve in children's ministry?
When we consider the latest statistics, we begin to see why getting
guys to take an active role in children's ministry can be
challenging, and at times, downright difficult. According to the
Barna Research Group, on any given Sunday:
• There are 13 million more adult women than men in America's
• Almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship
without their husbands.
• Only a third of the 90 percent of American men who believe in God
will attend church.
• Nationwide, the majority of church volunteers serving are
As Leon Podles succinctly put it in his book The Church
Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, "Women go
to church, men go to football games."
So how do we overcome the weak presence of men in today's church
and encourage the men in our congregations to roll up their sleeves
and get involved in children's ministry?
The fact is, it may be easier than we think.
At its very core, the call to involve more men in children's
ministry needs to include an approach that truly focuses on
creating a culture of serving, stresses Dale Hudson, director of
children's ministries at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach,
Florida. In his book Turbocharged: 100 Simple Secrets to
Successful Children's Ministry, Hudson explores practical
steps that churches, both large and small, can take to actively
encourage more men to partner with, and take an active role in,
their children's ministries.
"When a church's leadership is committed to serving and
communicates its commitment to serve, this creates a synergy that
helps the men of the church take a greater interest in serving as
positive male role models," says Hudson. "It's such an important
role, especially at a time when so many young children lack
positive male role models in their lives."
Here are key strategies Hudson recommends to increase the male
presence on your children's ministry team.
Intentionally enlist men to serve. Never assume that the
men in your church are simply afraid to commit. As with any
relationship, it takes time and effort to develop communication and
a sense of trust with potential male volunteers in your church. So
before you post an announcement in your church bulletin seeking men
who like kids and are willing to commit, get to know the guys in
your church. Go to where they are in your church — including
sports fellowships, small groups, and even groups for retired
church members. Remember, when Jesus built his team of disciples,
one of the first places he looked was at the marina where the local
fishermen stopped to swap fish stories.
After you've taken time to become familiar with potential
volunteers, share your vision and introduce them to service


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July 18, 2011
We're in the middle of a sweaty, suffocating heat wave right now. Just running across the street to grab the mail this morning was miserable. So, I'd say this means no bike rides for me anytime in the near future. We're supposed to have temperatures in the upper 90s at least until Wednesday, I think. The dew point is also extremely high, reaching tropical levels (75 deg. last time I checked online). I know talking about the weather is boring and I should be grateful it's not snowing right now (I am). I do love summer yet the heat and humidity is hard on my body and causes a definite increase in swelling and pain in my joints. My ankles especially are both puffy and very sore to the touch. I'm sure I would be better off living in a drier climate, however Minnesota is home for now – with its sultry mosquito-filled summers and bone-chilling endless winters. Today I'm mostly annoyed that I can't go on a bike ride or just sit in the backyard reading a book without melting into a puddle on the patio.
In other RA-related news, unfortunately the steroid injection I had in my right ankle almost two weeks ago did not help. I had a feeling it wouldn't, because I suspect that the problem is in the soft tissue of my ankle and not the actual joint itself. The numerous other cortisone injections I've had in the past never helped, but I was really hoping it would be different with this one. I'm dreading calling my orthopedic doctor again about this because I'm afraid he'll say what he said the last time I saw him in December after he looked at another new MRI scan – "I don't know what to do." What DO I do next? Try the Mayo Clinic again? The ankle isn't that complicated of a joint (not compared to the wrist, for example); I just don't understand how no one can figure out the problem. I've been dealing with these bad ankles since 2005 and it's come to the point where I'm about ready to have the right one fused. I don't want to do that but I don't know what else to do to ease the pain. Does anyone have any insights or experience with this? If so, I'd really appreciate your input.
8 Responses to "Heat"
July 18, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Wish I could help you on a the ankle info. you are seeking but I have no direct experience with a fusion. You may want to go over to the about.com arthritis board and put a post there. I have been using them for years and I know a few of them have had fusions done but not sure if it was wrist or ankle. (((HUGS))) Pain stinks!
July 23, 2011 at 10:36 am
Hi Angela, I work with Good Days from Chronic Disease Fund, and it is our goal to assist chronic disease sufferers in gaining the treatment they need. http://www.gooddaysfromcdf.org/ Contact us if you need further information. We are simply here to help.
July 24, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Hello! I had a triple fusion (the 3 joints) leaving the main ankle joint alone.. I had pain for years in my ankle 3 surgeries cleaning the inflammation out and a synovectomy. my ankle joint is healthy but the other ones were really bad! The fusion helped a lot with the pain and I am getting used to not having the side to side motion.. it is a long recovery 3 months of non weight bearing and then another 3 months of physical therapy.. its been 9 months and sometimes i still have some swelling after i get off work!, but the pain is gone and it feels 100X better then before =) I was diagnosed with RA 12 yrs ago. mine mainly affects my feet and knees and one finger.. if you have any questions let me know!!!
July 25, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Hi Angela,
I'm new to this forum. I came on your comments because our son is getting married in three weeks but this heat wave has my wife lying in a ball crying 24/7. You see, she has very bad rheumatoid arthritis. I have been looking on line for confirmation of my suspicion that heat waves make RA sufferers flare up.
Since my wife's RA is attacking her entire body, her pain is like what you have in your ankle but is all over her body. And it isn't in any bones. It's all soft tissue. RA does cause bone damage and deformities unless you take meds to ward off those side effects. Methotrexate and Plaquenil are both good at keeping boney changes from happening. But senovium grows back (my wife's joint replacement surgeon just found a bunch in her knee that did not show up on any scans.) I don't think the doctor's are always the first ones to figure things out. Your ankle is probably overgrown with senovial malformation and it just doesn't show up.
In the mean time, if you have a significant other, kids in the house, a husband…whatever. Do what we do. I get my wife on the bed just before she goes to sleep and literally "milk" her swollen tissues. I have to work the fluid out of her toes, then her feet, then her ankles, then her calves. I do all this while I have her legs propped on a pillow to help the fluid run away from her feet and calves. This helps her sleep much better but the heat wave still makes her miserable. We'll most likely miss our son's wedding because she can't sit in a car for four hours, it would kill her.
Good luck on your ankle. You are right about what is wrong. It is soft tissue that is wrong and you probably need to see a rheumatologist rather than an orthapedist given your symptoms and history.
David Rodgers


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Steelers and Ravens may get caught looking ahead
November 8, 2012
As past history would indicate, nothing like a spirited AFC North slugfest between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. But hold on a minute. The bitter division rivals don't meet until week 1....
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If $f(x)=e^x-kx$ for $k>0$, find the values of $k$ for which the local minimum at $x=\ln(k)$ is the largest.
I found the derivative, which is $e^{x} - k$, and when I set that to $0$ I got $-e^{x}=k$. I'm not really sure if this is useful information and if it is, I am not sure how to use it to answer the questions, so I would appreciate any tips on where to go next! Thanks!