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How do I go about solving for $n$ in the following equation: $$(1.1)^n = n^{100}$$ A hint suffices.
Taking logarithms, you see that this equation takes the form $an = b\log n$, or equivalently, $\dfrac{\log n}{n} = k$. For general values of $k$ (here $k=\dfrac{\log 1.1}{100}$), this solution has no neat expression since the function $n \mapsto \dfrac{\log n}{n}$ has no 'nice' inverse (multi-valued or otherwise), i.e. one expressible in terms of elementary functions.
However, it can be solved numerically using one of a large array of techniques.
Added: If it's any consolation, you can determine the number of solutions using analytic techniques, so that you're not led on a wild goose chase. To do this, you can show that the function $x \mapsto \dfrac{\log x}{x}$ takes each value $k$ with $0<k<\frac{1}{e}$ exactly twice on the real line: once in the interval $(1,e)$, and once in the interval $(e, \infty)$.
Maple shows three real solutions and many,many complex solutions in terms of the Lambert W function. Real solutions: $$ \begin{align} \frac{-100 W \left(\frac{\operatorname{ln}(11/10)}{100}\right)}{\operatorname{ln} (11/10)} &= -0.9990482585 \\ \frac{-100W \left(\frac{-\operatorname{ln} (11/10)}{100}\right)}{\operatorname{ln} (11/10)} &= 1.000954467 \\ \frac{-100 W_{-1} \left(\frac{-\operatorname{ln} (11/10)}{100}\right)}{\operatorname{ln} (11/10)} &= 9623.250526 \end{align}$$
First you can rewrite the equation a bit, as
$$\begin{align}1.1^n &= n^{100} \\ 1.1^{n/100} &= n \\ (1.1^{1/100})^n &= n \\ p^n &= n & (\text{where } p = \sqrt[100]{1.1}).\end{align}$$
This is where you normally get stuck, but by introducing the somewhat common notation of the Lambert W function $W$ satisfying $z = W(z) e^{W(z)}$ you can "cheat" your way to a closed-form expression for $n$. Example 1 on the Wikipedia page shows how to get to the following solution:
$$n = \frac{W(-\log a)}{-\log a}$$
If you insist, you can find numerics in Mathematica with the command
Algebraically, you can't isolate this equation for $n$. Solving numerically in mathematica, the solutions set to five decimal places is $\{1.00095, -0.999048, 9623.25\}$.
How about taking the log? You get $n\ln(1.1)=100\ln(n)$ or $\frac{n}{\ln(n)}=\frac{100}{ln(1.1)}$ which you can solve numerically.
Take the log of each side, then plot the graph or solve numerically.
Okay so we start with equation:
we take logarithms of both sides:
$$n\ln 1.1=100\ln n$$
Now taking squared difference of sides gives us a parabola:
$$y=(n\ln 1.1-100\ln n)^{2}$$
The parabola have minimum when derivative its is zero. However, the derivative still contains $\log n$ and this means the expression is truly non-linear.
From my knowledge, I can only take Taylor expansion of $y(n)$ to solve for step from initial guess. The numerical solution can then be written as:
$$lim_{i\to \infty}n_{i}$$
$$n_{i}=n_{i - 1}-(y'')^{-1}y'$$
and $n_{0}=1$ (or any other reasonable guess). Note that $(y'')^{-1}$ denotes inverse function of second derivative of $y$.


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Book your room at Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All Inclusive
Get an overview of this hotelResort with private beach, full-service spa
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Located in Lucea, this beachfront resort is next to a golf course, 7.5 mi (12.1 km) from Tryall Golf Club, and within 20 mi (32 km) of Montego Bay Cruise Ship Terminal and Mayfield Falls. Rocklands Bird Sanctuary and Westgate Shopping Centre are also within 20 mi (32 km).
Resort Features
Catch some rays on Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All Inclusive's private white sand beach or spend the day relaxing at the full-service spa. Then enjoy a meal at one of the resort's 3 restaurants.
Room Amenities
All 540 rooms boast jetted tubs and offer free WiFi and balconies. Other amenities available to guests include iPod docks, sofa beds, and sitting areas.Would you like to give us feedback? Share it! Opens in a new window
Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All InclusiveThe Point Lucea Hanover
Hotel Amenities
All-Inclusive Details
This resort is all-inclusive. Onsite food and beverages are included in the room price (some restrictions may apply).
Gratuities and taxes
Gratuities and taxes are included.
Food and beverages
- All buffet and à la carte meals, snacks, and beverages included
- Room service during certain hours
- In-room minibar (some restrictions)
Activities and facilities/equipment
All non-motorized water sports are included.
Water activities
- Kayaking
- Snorkeling
- Windsurfing
Land activities
- Fitness facilities
- Miniature golf
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Volleyball
- Aerobics
- Water fitness
Kids' club
- Supervised activities for children between 4 and 12 years old
- Access to onsite clubs
- Onsite live performances
- Theme parties
Not included
- Golf green fees
- Use of golf cart
- Use of golf equipment
- Motorized water sports
- Scuba-diving certification
- Scuba-diving excursions
- Scuba-diving lessons
- Snorkeling excursions
- Snorkeling gear
- Tennis lessons
- Bottled wine
- Bottled liquor
- Airport transfers
- Childcare
- Laundry/dry cleaning services
- Spa/beauty facilities and services
- Activities and services offered by independent operators
- Offsite tours
- Transportation to offsite activities
Hotel Amenities
Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All Inclusive is an all-inclusive resort. Room rates include meals and beverages at onsite restaurants and bars. Other items and amenities, including taxes and gratuities, and access to recreational activities and entertainment may also be included. Additional charges may apply for meals at some restaurants, special dinners and dishes, certain beverages, and other amenities.
Step outside to unwind on the white sand beach. Spend the day at the beach and work on your tan with sun loungers (chaise longues) or relax in the shade with umbrellas. At Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All Inclusive, pamper yourself with a treatment at the full-service spa or have fun in the sun with activities like snorkeling and scuba diving.
A complimentary breakfast is offered. Dining is available at one of the resort's 3 restaurants and guests can grab coffee at the coffee shop/café. Guests can unwind with a drink at one of the resort's bars, which include a beach bar, a swim-up bar, and a bar/lounge. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access. This all-inclusive resort also offers a complimentary water park, a children's club, and a children's pool. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa All Inclusive has designated areas for smoking.
- Beach towels
- Supervised childcare/activities (free)
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Rooftop terrace
- Luggage storage
- Porter/bellhop
- Designated smoking areas
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Beach bar
- Beach umbrellas
- Concierge services
- Arcade/game room
- Garden
- Health club
- 24-hour front desk
- ATM/banking
- Number of floors - 2
- Tennis on site
- Bar/lounge
- Business center
- Children's club
- Coffee shop or café
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Free breakfast
- Conference space
- Full-service spa
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Hair salon
- Pool umbrellas
- Free WiFi
- Free water park access
- Total number of rooms - 540
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Meeting rooms
- Multilingual staff
- Nightclub
- Poolside bar
- On private beach
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Number of restaurants - 3
- Beach sun loungers
- Pool sun loungers
- Outdoor tennis courts - 3
- Number of meeting rooms - 5
- Free self parking
- Sauna
- Shopping on site
- Spa services on site
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Children's pool
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Swim-up bar
- Wedding services
- Year Built 2008
- Number of buildings/towers - 13
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- On private beach
- Water park access (complimentary)
- Children's pool
- Supervised childcare/activities (free)
- Free Wi-Fi
- Outdoor tennis courts
- Arcade/game room
- Playground on site
- Miniature golf on site
- Sofa bed
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Phone
- In-room massage available
- Slippers
- Down comforter
- iPod docking station
- Separate sitting area
- Balcony
- Air conditioning
- Bathrobes
- Satellite TV service
- Free bottled water
- Ceiling fan
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free toiletries
- Desk
- Access via exterior corridors
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- In-room safe
- Iron/ironing board
- Jetted bathtub
- Free WiFi
- Minibar
- Pay movies
- Private bathroom
- Separate bathtub and shower
- Sofa bed
- Room service (limited hours)
Where to Eat
A complimentary breakfast is offered.
Bubbas - Overlooking the garden, this restaurant specializes in American cuisine and serves dinner only.
Reggaetoni - Overlooking the pool and garden, this restaurant specializes in Italian cuisine and serves dinner only. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Lotus House - Overlooking the garden, this restaurant specializes in Japanese cuisine and serves dinner only. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Xaymaica Creole - Overlooking the garden, this restaurant specializes in local cuisine and serves dinner only. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Poseidon Sunset Cove - Overlooking the ocean and garden, this restaurant serves dinner only. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Room service (during limited hours) is available.
Nearby Things to Do
A private beach, outdoor tennis courts, a health club, and a complimentary water park are featured at the resort. A children's pool, a seasonal outdoor pool, and a spa tub are on site. Other recreational amenities include a sauna.
Guests under 18 years old are not allowed in the swimming pool or spa tub.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Rafting nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Fitness classes on site
- Basketball on site
- Bicycle rentals on site
- Miniature golf on site
- Kayaking on site
- Playground on site
- Sailing on site
- Scuba diving on site
- Snorkeling on site
- Volleyball on site
- Windsurfing on site
Spa Services
Zentropia has massage/treatment rooms and couples treatment room(s). Services include massages, facials, body scrubs, and body treatments. The spa is equipped with a sauna, a spa tub, and Turkish bath/hammam.
Guests under 18 years old are not allowed in the spa.
- Sauna in spa
- Spa tub in spa
- Minimum age to access spa is 18
- Couples treatment rooms
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body scrubs
- Massages
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Optional extras
- Fee for wireless Internet in public areas: USD 0.01 per day (rates may vary)
Hotel Name
- Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Lucea
- Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort All Inclusive Lucea
- Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Hotel Lucea
- Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort All Inclusive
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the resort prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Children 2 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms. Some facilities may have restricted access. Guests can contact the property for details using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
Up to USD 1,500 in Resort Vouchers
Book a stay in any room or rate category and receive resort vouchers based on the length of stay:
- Stay 3-4 nights and receive USD 400 in resort vouchers
- Stay 5-7 nights and receive USD 1,250 in resort vouchers
- Stay 8 or more nights and receive USD 1,500 in resort vouchers

subset: commoncrawl


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BELTON (November 29, 2012)--Aware Central Texas will host their annual fundraiser Christmas on the Farm which will include a barn dance this year.
On Saturday, Santa will head south to join the community in a day full of fun activities for all ages.
From 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. families can enjoy pony rides, hayrides, tractor races, petting zoo, puppet show, games, crafts and shopping at the country store and book store.
There is no admission fee but some activities may cost a small fee.
The fun inside the Bell County Expo Arena will continue with a $5 barn dance from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Donations will help pay for a parenting or anger management class for adults, aiding in the prevention of child abuse.
Music will be provided by the Stars Over Texas Jamboree Band & Singers and an auction from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. will give community members a chance to bid on women's western boots, a ladies leather jacket, and Christmas gifts for the kids like a child's guitar, bicycle and large wooden dollhouse.
For more information, call (254) 939-7582.


text: I'll be totally honest, I'm blatantly ripping off the idea for this post. In my defense though, I did tell my friend Raluca I'd be stealing it. Also if I'm not mistaken she borrowed the idea from another blogger who borrowed it from someone else… so I suppose I'm not too much of a thief… Read more »


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According to CC-CEDICT, this means both "foot" and "leg". How does one know when this word refers to either foot or leg? It is difficult to discern when CC-CEDICT does not include sample sentences.
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脚 is 'foot', 腿 is 'leg', but in some dialects of Chinese 脚 is used for both foot and leg (I know this is the case in some Sichuan dialects).
I found that at least some Mandarin speakers (I don't know about other dialects of Chinese) use the word 脚 loosely. For example, if they say "我的脚不舒服" it might actually mean their leg doesn't feel good rather than their foot doesn't feel good. However, they wouldn't say "我的腿不舒服" to mean their foot is uncomfortable. So, 脚 seems to be a more general term and 腿 a more specific term.


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Texas Hold'em is by far the most popular form of poker! Discussions on Limit, No-Limit, Short-Handed and more.
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For reasons which are hard to articulate (due to they not being very clear in my mind), but having to do with the eprint From Matrix Models and quantum fields to Hurwitz space and the absolute Galois group by Robert de Mello Koch and Sanjaye Ramgoolam, I have been wondering whether there is a notion of integration over the algebraic numbers $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$, as there is over the p-adic completions of the rationals.
You can definitely talk about integration on $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$. The question is "with respect to what measure?" The reason integration theory works so well over a completion of $\mathbb{Q}$ is that such a field is, as an additive group, locally compact, and so possesses a Haar measure (a non-zero, translation invariant Radon measure) which is in fact regular because any $p$-adic field is second countable (think of Lebesgue measure on $\mathbb{R}$). In less technical language, the completion has a canonical "nice" measure against which to integrate. The (additive) group of algebraic numbers is definitely not complete in any of its (many) valuations (obtained by embedding it into the algebraic closure of some $\mathbb{Q}_p$ or into $\mathbb{C}$), and therefore is not locally compact. The main tool for constructing interesting measures on topological spaces (that interact nicely with the topology) is the Riesz representation theorem, but this is specifically for locally compact Hausdorff spaces, so doesn't apply to the algebraic numbers. Really the reason people care about completions of $\mathbb{Q}$ and of number fields in general, is because the completions are amenable to lots of tools for analysis, whereas $\mathbb{Q}$ (and I guess also $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$) just isn't. Completing fields allows one to bring analysis to the study of, say, number-theoretic problems.
Now, in another direction, integration definitely works on the Galois group of $\mathbb{Q}$, $Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q})$. This is a profinite group (meaning it is compact and totally disconnected) in its natural topology, and so, like the completions of number fields, admits a Haar measure.
In yet another direction, one can view the multiplicative group of algebraic numbers, $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}^\times$, modulo torsion (roots of unity) as a (multiplicative) vector space over $\mathbb{Q}$. J. Vaaler and D. Allcock sort of initiated the study of this group (as such) and worked out its completion as a certain subspace of $L^1(Y,\mu)$, where $Y$ is a totally disconnected, locally compact Hausdorff space whose underlying set is related to the places of $\mathbb{Q}$ and where $\mu$ is a Radon measure (got using the theorem I mentioned above) that satisfies some kind of relative invariance with respect to the absolute Galois group of $\mathbb{Q}$.
I guess maybe I went way off topic with this. My point is that interesting measures on $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ are maybe difficult to come by, and without an interesting measure, there's no reason to do integration.
Pick an algebraic number at random. What is its expected degree? As noted, since the set is countable, we cannot expect to do conventional integrals on it. But we still have things like this: pick a natural number at random---then it is square-free with probability $6/\pi^2$.
So, maybe the question is: What are "natural" Folner sets for the algebraic numbers? The usual Folner sets for $\{1,2,3,\dots\}$ are the sets $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$, which define the "density" (not an actual measure) $$ \delta(A) = \lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{\\#(A \cap \{1,\dots,n\})}{n} $$ for sets $A \subseteq \{1,2,\cdots\}$. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%F8lner%5Fsequence for information on Folner sequences.


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Ask a Chef
Join cooks with Books in March when we will be cooking the whole foods way. Make a dish to share, bring the recipe, and then ask questions fo our guest chef, Alex Russell.
About Cooks With Books
Cooks with Books is for people who enjoy researching, creating and sharing food. This book discussion group meets once a month and is facilitated by Bud Werner Library's Circulation Services Manager, Michelle Dover. Participants prepare a dish based on the month's theme and share it with the group. The group is open to anyone interested in participating, but is limited to 15 participants per meeting.
Ask a Chef Q and A
What are a few of your latest ingredient obsessions?
Ginger, I love ginger. It makes everything better with its spicy mouth coating zing its great in tea, soup, stir fry, yogurt, and just about anything you want to put it in including ginger coconut milk ice cream. Recently I made traditionally fermented sauerkraut. Half of the batch was flavored with ginger and the other half was flavored with turmeric and garlic. I haven't tasted it yet because it's still fermenting but I'm sure it will be great balance of sour and spice. Not only does it taste awesome but ginger can help with a variety of health issues from the simple motion sickness to serious problems caused by inflammation like rheumatoid arthritis.
Swiss chard, I use daily in the winter due to its availability. It's cheap; it's got a lot of flavor and can be used in so many ways. I like to pull out the stems, and save them of course, and cut the greens up into 1 inch wide strips for salads with a strong flavor. If you cut the stem off at the bottom of the leaf and blanch it for ten seconds it will makes a great substitute for a tortilla when making for a grain free wrap. Of course you can always lightly steam it and put some coconut oil and lemon or ginger juice on there for a simple easy side dish. I eat heaps of this in the winter because it's rich in carotenes that the body converts to vitamin A, a major determinant of immune function.
Coconuts, this isn't really that recent of an obsession it just has gotten stronger lately. There are so many products that are made from coconuts that are awesome: coconut milk, oil, butter, vinegar, meat and flakes, sugar, raw kefir, coconut water. I use coconut oil for everything in and outside the kitchen, from frying eggs and sautéing vegetables to covering cuts and scrapes and moisturizing my skin. For any one who doesn't do dairy, coconut milk is my absolute milk of choice and is not altered or damaged unlike other milks when exposed to heat. I will use at least one if not more coconut products every day; easily it is my favorite nut.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
I am first and foremost a lover of happiness and I love, love, love to make others happy. If I can make people happy and improve their health all in one blow by making them delicious, health supportive meals then I'll be smiling all day and night. Not only that but as Whole Foods Natural Chef and Nutrition Educator, I really get a kick out of teaching people how to better themselves through food and natural living. With all the misinformation that is out there on the web and in the media I take solace in the fact that I am providing people with science based methods to improve their health with nutrition.
What is your favorite meal to prepare that gets the approval of a diverse group?
Wow that's tough, people can be so picky about what they eat these days with vegetarian and paleo diets so popular it's hard to pinpoint on meal that works well for everyone. One meal that I have had enormous success with from SSHS students to New York City foodies is my spin on a classic Middle Eastern dinner consisting of spiced tomato red lentils, brown rice pilaf, and a green salad with a lemon citronette. It's a simple meal that covers a wide variety of flavors and textures from spicy with the lentils to savory with the rice and bitter and crunchy with the salad greens and vegetables. Honestly my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
What are a few unexpected ingredients that you use to add more pizzazz salads and vegetable dishes?
First of all pizzazz what a funny word, its like pizza that just keeps going. But seriously, I think cayenne pepper can really heat up a salad, not a lot, just a pinch in the dressing or sprinkled on the greens to round out the flavors of the salad can give it that absent Je ne sais quoi. Nutritional yeast is must for any salad I make for vegans; it adds a great nutty and cheesy flavor and is basically B vitamins and protein. I think it goes well on vegetable dishes like ratatouille, sautés, and steamed vegetables as well. Arame, a sea vegetable, dried and ground makes a great salt substitute and can really enhance starchy vegetables like potatoes and winter squashes as well as other vegetables.
Why did you choose to become a chef?
When I found out that cooking was way more fun that washing dishes, but really it was an evolution. I started cooking in restaurants at 15 and was ready to stop cooking after working in a pastry shop; I just had burnt out on the modern cuisine of highly processed foods. It wasn't until I went to Bauman College that I fell back in love with food, whole foods, and with cooking for people. It really helped me remember why I was doing it in the first place, to make people feel good, nurture them, and enhance their lives.


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5 Celebrities You Won't Believe Were Badass Soldiers
Most celebrities are profoundly disappointing in real life. The dude who's up on screen saving the world from an alien invasion is in real life a self-centered douchebag who spends his off-hours berating wait staff for serving his foie gras at the wrong temperature. That's why we love to point out those rare occasions when famous people turn out to be way more badass than what their public image would have you believe. For example ...
#5. Bob Ross Was a Sergeant in the Air Force
Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images/Bob Ross, Inc.
The Celebrity:
Aside from maybe Jesus, famed painter Bob Ross was pretty much the nicest person who ever lived. His Joy of Painting show, featuring Ross and his happy little clouds and trees, was the greatest art tutorial/electronic babysitter/sleep aid one could ask for.
When we said he was nice, we fucking meant it. He was always smiling, always full of positive reinforcement for any viewers trying to paint along. His voice never rose above that of a gentle lullaby, everything he did on the show was for free, and he donated his art to various PBS stations that aired his show, in order to help raise funds. Oh, and he bottle-fed orphaned baby animals, on the air. The man was, for all intents and purposes, a saint.
The Badass:
As it turns out, there was a very good reason he was so mellow: He spent 20 years screaming his lungs out, as a first sergeant for the United States Air Force ... and hated it. He was said to be "the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work." That's right. The sweetest, kindest, most lovable character on TV this side of Mister Rogers spent half his life cosplaying as Sgt. Slaughter.
"And maybe down in these trees, Charlie is hiding out, ready to gut you like a carp."
No photos exist of Sgt. Ross back in those days, and the man 100 percent liked it that way. He had said that the reason he ultimately told the military to go screw off was because he was forced to be "a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn't going to be that way anymore."
Fortunately for him, Ross spent much of his non-screaming time speed-painting the Alaskan wilderness around him. Soon, he became really good (and fast) at it and found that he could make more money selling his paintings than yelling at cadets for not having their boots properly spit-shined. He promptly quit the military, vowed to never scream again, and focused solely on breezy paintings and baby animals.
Though that doesn't explain why animals always marched in step behind him.
So there you have it. All those gentle drawings of fluffy clouds and serene landscapes actually stemmed from two decades of rage, anger, and hatred. But you know what? We think that was all still there, to the very end. If you don't believe us, just remember: The man painted with a goddamned knife.
Quality Art
"Don't fuck with me. I can make your death look like a happy little accident."
#4. Jimmy Stewart Took a Break from Acting to Bomb the Germans
Columbia Pictures
The Celebrity:
Jimmy Stewart was America's Everyman, the Tom Hanks of his day. The star of It's a Wonderful Life garnered a reputation as a loveable scamp who always tried to do the right thing. His positive karma was such that President Harry Truman once declared, "If Bess and I had a son, we'd want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart."
Liberty Films/RKO Radio Pictures
"Though if he ever sported that goddamn cowlick, we'd disown him."
Though many of his later roles were darker in tone (he did several Hitchcock films and played a troubled trial lawyer in Anatomy Of A Murder), the public's perception of him remained that of a swell guy who wouldn't have harmed a fly, mainly because he didn't have the strength to do so.
The Badass:
Except he did; Jimmy Stewart was an extremely decorated war hero, with a military career spanning three goddamned decades, from 1940 to 1968. That's right -- before Pearl Harbor made fighting Japan the cool thing to do, Stewart had made history as the first major American actor to join the war effort. And if you think this was just some PR stunt so he could get some easy street cred with middle America, think again.
Every time a bell rings, Jimmy kills another Nazi.
See, Stewart would have had an easy excuse to avoid any actual danger -- he actually failed the Army's height and weight requirements when he tried to enlist. But he was determined to fight for his country and decided to do so as a combat pilot. He swiftly gained 10 pounds, joined the Army Air Corps, and logged more than 300 hours of flight training, just to prove he could do it. Even then, he had to constantly fight to get anything but an instructor or desk job, both due to his age (he was in his 30s) and his superiors not wanting to risk a beloved celebrity getting blown to bits on their watch. But he kept pushing and eventually was deployed to active duty over England. He quickly established himself as his squadron's leader, due to equal parts bravado, expertise, and conveniently having more Oscars than anyone in the room.
Stewart led many bombing runs on Nazi factories and military production centers and led a squadron of bombers in the Battle of Berlin, which would later be referred to as "Black Thursday," due to the excessive number of American casualties suffered. All of this led to an impressive chest of medals by the time he was mustered out of active duty in 1946, due to the war ending and him being damn near 40.
"This commemorates your bravery, dedication, and how cool you were when I asked for an autograph for my niece; she totally loves you."
But Stewart didn't just win a war and then go home to play pretend for the rest of his life. No, he remained in the Air Force Reserve for an additional 22 years, worked on a military base during the Korean War, and even flew a non-combat mission in Vietnam. By the time Stewart finally retired, he had reached the rank of Brigadier (one-star) General. Ironically, he only appeared in a couple of war movies (The Mountain Road and Malaya) as he claimed they were "almost never realistic." Also, let's face it: After conquering the military for real, merely pretending to do so would've been too damn boring.
#3. Steve Buscemi Became Part of the 9/11 Rescue Effort
Getty Images/Getty Images Entertainment /Mario Tama/Getty Images News
The Celebrity:
Steve Buscemi is the go-to actor for when you need a whiny, loudmouthed schnook who always gets his muscular friends to do his fighting for him. He's usually cast as one of two things: a snaky criminal or snarky comic relief. Neither role requires he be a physically intimidating man, only a slightly unhinged one. In short, not badass at all, right?
The Badass:
Wrong. As it turns out, Steve Buscemi isn't snarky, unhinged, or whiny. In fact, he's a goddamned 9/11 hero.
And he always tips 20 percent.
He had the skills for it. Where many actors will wait tables, work as studio go-fers, or perform one of a hundred other degrading jobs while waiting for their big break, Buscemi took the less-traditional route of becoming a New York City firefighter. He did that until 1985, when he started getting gigs that didn't involve running into gigantic open flames on the regular. But he never forgot his roots, and this was never more evident than on September 11, 2001.
Many celebrities "helped" after the terrorist attacks by organizing fundraisers, handing out water and coffee, or recording horrible music that was no less horrible just because it was "for the heroes." Buscemi, again, bucked the trend by going right back into firefighter mode, returning to his old firehouse and volunteering for service. Right alongside the decidedly non-famous crew of FDNY Engine 55, he busted ass for up to 12 hours at a time, shoveling out debris and rubble and pulling survivors out of the wreckage. Countless people who might otherwise have perished can now say, without hyperbole, that Mr. Pink saved their lives.
They later repaid the favor by being literally the only people to go see Burt Wonderstone.
There's a real good chance you didn't hear about this in the aftermath of the attacks, but it's not because the media ignored it. Rather, Buscemi wanted us to ignore it. He refused to talk about it in interviews, simply saying, "these are my brothers." He showed absolutely zero interest in turning his duty into a publicity stunt. That's why there are only a couple of pictures of Buscemi hard at work; here, he's the dapper chap in the upper-left corner.
"Everyone ignore Jim; he's pretending to pose for beefcake calendars again."
After 9/11, Buscemi went back to showing off his crazy eyes on the big screen, but he has never forgotten his firefighting roots, even when it gets him in trouble. In 2003, less than two years after 9/11, Buscemi's old firehouse was deemed useless by the NYC government and was slated to close. Buscemi showed up with a bunch of other firefighters to protest this decision, with the entire group ultimately arrested for their efforts. He continues to support firefighters and their struggles to this day, proving that he only acts because he's too old to work his dream job any longer.


text:
For Men of Understanding
Part III: "The Signs in Living Things" /
When the bird ascending in the warm air current reaches the top, it glides down swiftly. This helps the bird save a great amount of energy both in ascent and descent.
During migration, birds also take atmospheric phenomena into consideration. For instance, they change direction to avoid a coming storm. Melvin L. Kreithen, an ornithologist who made research into birds' sense of hearing, observed that some birds can hear sounds of extremely small frequencies, which diffuse to great distances in the atmosphere. A migratory bird can therefore hear a storm breaking out over a far away mountain or thunder over an ocean hundreds of kilometres ahead. Besides, it is a known fact that birds are careful to set their routes of migration away from regions where atmospheric conditions are risky.
Only five centimetres tall.
How do birds find their direction without the help of a map, a compass or some similar direction finder during their thousands of kilometres long flights?
The first theory put forward regarding this question was that birds memorise the characteristics of the ground beneath them and thus reach their destination without being confused. Yet, experiments have shown that this theory is incorrect.
In an experiment on pigeons addressing this subject, opaque lenses were used to blur the vision of pigeons. Thus, they were prevented from navigating by landmarks on the ground, yet the pigeons could still find their way even if left some kilometres away from their flocks.
Subsequent research has shown that the magnetic field of the earth seems to act on bird species. Various studies have shown that birds have seemingly advanced, magnetic receptor systems enabling them to find their way by making use of the magnetic field of the earth. This system helps birds determine their direction by sensing the change in the magnetic field of the earth during their migrations. Experiments reveal that migratory birds can even perceive a 2% variation in the magnetic field of the earth.
Some think that they can explain the subject away by saying that birds have a sort of compass in their bodies. The main question, however, lies just here.
The question is: how do the birds come to be equipped with a "natural compass"? We are aware that the compass is an "invention" and a work of human intelligence. So how does a compass - an apparatus produced by man with his collected knowledge - come to exist in the bodies of birds? Is it likely that some years ago, a bird species, while finding direction, thought about making use of the magnetic field of the earth and invented a magnetic receptor for its own body? Alternatively, was a bird species, years ago, equipped with such a mechanism by "coincidence"? Definitely not....
The left illustration shows the twelve factors beneficial to birds while flying:
1. The sun,
Neither the bird itself nor a coincidence can add an extremely advanced compass to the body. The bird's body structure, lungs, wings, digestive system and its ability to find direction are the examples of the perfect creation of Allah:
"He is Allah - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form.
To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.
Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him.
He is the Almighty, the All-Wise."
(Surat al-Hashr: 24)
The migration story of Monarch butterflies, which live in southeast Canada, is more complex than that of the birds.
Monarch butterflies normally live for only 5-6 weeks after they develop from caterpillar. Four generations of Monarch butterflies live within a year. Three of these four generations live in spring and summertime.
With the coming of autumn, the situation changes. Migration starts in autumn and the generation that migrates, lives much longer than the other generations that lived in the same year. The Monarchs that migrate are the fourth generation in the year.
Interestingly enough, the migration starts exactly on the night of the autumn equinox. The butterflies that migrate to the south live six months longer than the previous three generations. They need to live exactly this long to complete their journey and return.
When thousands of Monarchs perch on a tree, the tree becomes invisible.
The butterflies that go down to the south do not disperse after they pass across the Tropic of Cancer and leave the cold weather behind. After migrating over half of the American continent, millions of butterflies settle down in the middle of Mexico. Here the ridges of volcanic mountains are covered with a great variety of flora. Located at a height of 3,000 metres, this place is warm enough for the subsistence of the butterflies. For a period of four months, from December to March, they eat nothing. As the fat stored in their bodies nourishes them, they only drink water.
Flowers that bloom in the spring are quite important for the Monarchs. After a four-month fast, for the first time, in the spring they give themselves a nectar feast. They now have stored enough energy to return to North America. This generation, which lives a two-month life span extended to eight months, is no different from the three earlier generations in other respects. They mate at the end of March before setting out to their journey. On the equinox, the colony starts flying back to the north. Soon after they complete their journey and arrive in Canada, they die. However, before they die, they give birth to a new generation, which is necessary for the perpetuation of their species.
The newly born generation is the first generation of the year and lives about one and a half months long. Then comes the second and third generations. When it comes to the fourth generation, migration starts over again. This generation will live six months longer than the others will, and the chain will continue in the same way.
This interesting system provokes many questions: how is that the fourth of every four generations lives six months longer? How does this long-lived generation always coincide with winter and has done so for thousands of years? How do these butterflies always start migrating at the equinox, and how do they attune themselves so sensitively, or are they using a calendar?
"Do you not see that everyone in the heavens and earth glorifies Allah, as do the birds with their outspread wings? Each one knows its prayer and glorification. Allah knows what they do".
(Surat an-Nur: 41)
No doubt, there are no answers to these questions through "evolution" or other variants on that theory. The butterflies must have borne these interesting characteristics from the time they came into existence. If the first fourth generation of Monarchs on earth did not have the characteristic to live long, then all the butterflies would die within that winter and these animals would become extinct.
Monarchs must have borne this extraordinary characteristic from the time they were created. "Coincidences" unquestionably do not have such a faculty as could arrange the generations of the animal according to migration. On the other hand, it is also unlikely that butterflies decided to make their fourth generations live longer and arranged their metabolisms, DNA and genes accordingly.
Obviously, the Monarchs were created possessing such features.


text: I've tried to plot the y(t) function, but there are complex numbers and I don't know how to plot it. I've been looking for hyperbolic functions transformation, but I didn't figured how to do this. My question is how to transform this in hyperbolic functions and plot it in the y vs t axes.


text:
Soliciting of New York University employees for any purpose (raffles, sales of merchandise, solicitation for membership or support of social, community, labor, or other organizations) is not permitted during the work time of the person being solicited or the solicitor.
Literature relating to the above activities may not be distributed in work areas.
Employees may not use University communication facilities (e.g., mail, e-mail, telephone, supplies, or equipment) except for NYU business purposes.
Salespersons, advertising distributors, and all other non-employees are prohibited from soliciting or distributing literature in any NYU building at any time.
These rules are necessary to minimize intrusions into the privacy of employees, as well as to prevent the unwarranted disruption of normal work activity. Employees engaging in prohibited activity, including solicitations that disrupt their own or other employees' work assignments, are subject to disciplinary action.
|Effective Date:
|April 01, 2000
|Issuing Authority:
|Office of Human Resources
|Responsible Officer:
|Vice President
|Office Name:
|Human Resources
To inform the University community regarding solicitation of other NYU employees
All employees


text:
Social Work or Catechesis?
NPR reported yesterday that The Franciscan University of Steubenville is apparently confused as to the difference between catechesis and proper training in social work, and as a result, the accreditation of their program is rightly being called into question. A group of alumni discovered a course on "Deviant Behavior," which claims to examine behaviors including "murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, homosexuality, mental illness and drug use," and they rightly asked the school to change it. Class of 1991 aluma, Elizabeth Vermilyea, said:
As a lesbian and as a psychological professional, I found a couple of things offensive... The state of the art in science on homosexuality is not that it's deviant. The DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has removed it ... as an illness.
Stephen Holloway, director of the office of accreditation at the Council on Social Work Education, is also concerned:
The fact that homosexuality was identified in the course description as a deviant behavior raises a flag... Understanding diversity and difference and their dynamics in society is critical for social workers to be effective in working with diverse populations.
In a statement, the University cited their Catholic mission as apparently more fundamental than their educational one and the teaching of the Catechism as a suitable alternative to the most up-to-date science:
Franciscan University bases its educational mission on the teaching of Christ as proclaimed in Sacred Scripture and Tradition and authoritatively interpreted by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, Franciscan University follows Catholic Church teaching in regard to homosexuality and treats homosexual persons with respect, compassion, and sensitivity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2358) while holding homosexual acts as intrinsically disordered (Catechism, No. 2357)... Since students have considered both sides of an argument, they leave here better prepared to assist clients than their counterparts from schools that teach only one perspective... To do otherwise would be a violation of our basic mission as a Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition.
What's next, creationism as a viable alternative to evolution in Biology 101? Ridiculous.
About the Author
Eric Bugyis teaches Religious Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma.
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Heliocentric in the science class?
One suspects that Galileo would have been asked "not to use the university's name or logo in [his] activities."
The state of the art in science on homosexuality is not that its deviant. Maybe there is some particular scientific use of the term "deviant" of which I am not aware, but it seems to me that in judgments of normalcy or deviancy "the state of the art in science" is somewhat beside the point.
Fritz,If you want to go that route, Steubenville is hardly normal and the case might be made that if one totally believes a magisterium that has been clearly wrong, that borders on deviant. Further, look at EWTN, which is like Steubenville and you will find a significant loss of reason.
Prof. Bauerschmidt: I think that what is to the point is whether homosexuality, even on theological grounds, should be considered "deviant" in the same way as "murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, mental illness and drug use." It also seems relevant to ask whether social workers ought to be taught that it is similarly deviant to these behaviors. It also seems clear from this list that whoever designed the course does not simply mean to say that these "behaviors" are "rare," and it is certainly the case that some of them might be attributable to non-normative, biologically-based pathology (e.g. mental illness). So, it is not completely irrelevant to ask where on the spectrum from "statistically rare" to "scientifically malformed" to "criminal" to "evil" this course plans to place homosexuality and to point out that "intrinsically disordered," as the church uses it, is not a medical, legal, or even a necessarily ethical, category. As such, it probably has no place in a social work class.
The closing analogy is not a good one. The church's claim about homosexuality is moral, not scientific. The church does not endorse any particular theory about the causes of same-sex attraction. But then, I don't think you will find entries in the DSM for murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, or drug use either. "Deviant behavior" is probably not the best category for these acts and practices, since "deviant" is, as Eric points out, a highly ambiguous term, whose technical meaning has been obscured by its moral connotations. Best to retire it altogether. Speaking of loaded terms, though, when a course at a Catholic college endorses one of the church's disputed moral teachings, it is not to be dismissed as "catechetical." Is Steubenville being "catechetical" when it allows its staff to suggest that there's something wrong with any of the other items on that list? Not everyone agrees that drug use is either antisocial or pathological, or deviant in any nonstatistical sense. Should Steubenville refrain from suggesting that there's anything wrong with drug use in a course designed for future social workers. And is this course designed for future social workers? The post doesn't exactly tell us.
Wouldn't celibacy be deviant behavior? One chooses to act in a way that is not biologically 'normal,' regardless of the motivation.
Matt: My closing analogy was meant to underline the category mistake involved in deploying a theological concept ("intrinsically disordered") in a non-theological, clinical context, which I understand to be analogous to deploying a similar concept ("creation") in a non-theological, scientific context. I called the course catechetical, because Steubenville cited the Catechism in defense of it. If they had provided a more sophisticated apologia, perhaps I would have offered a more sophisticated analysis.
Surely anyone who chooses to attend that school know what s/he's in for.
Gerelyn,They expect an education that will allow them to get a job as a social worker. If the mixing of catechesis into social work classes, this will cause the students major problems.If I were a potential employer, I would be very concerned about whether someone who took this class could appropriately report on situations involving gays and lesbians when they have been trained to view homosexuality as similar to drug abuse. Is the gay couple displaying deviant sexual acts to their children or are they just displaying normal couple behavior that the social worker sees as inherently deviant? Is the child displaying abnormal sexual development, or is she just a lesbian? If the school doesn't maintain separation between their religious standards and the standards of the profession, how can an employer trust their students to do so?
Quite a mixed bag they have there: three outright crimes; then prostitution, which except perhaps for a few Holly Golightly types, or maybe them too, generally victimizes those forced into it; homosexuality and mental illness, which are not in themselves behaviors at all, but states; and finally, drug useuse, notice, not abusewhich is more often than not legal, salutary, and even prescribed.Where do I find the teaching of Christ on homosexuality? Is it in the Apocrypha? Or in Tradition, that magic hat from which any rabbit of one's choosing may be drawn?
Eric Bugyis wrote:"My closing analogy was meant to underline the category mistake involved in deploying a theological concept (intrinsically disordered) in a non-theological, clinical context, which I understand to be analogous to deploying a similar concept (creation) in a non-theological, scientific context. "The question is precisely whether we should regard social work as a "science" that can be developed independently of any broader context, or if rather philosophical (NOT theological) considerations (in this case the meaning of human sexuality and its connection with procreation) should play any role in our approach to social work.You seem to be willing to embrace rather uncritically the "scientistic" approach...
Putting aside the neuralgic issue of homosexuality, I found the inclusion of mental illness as just as disturbing, if not more so. As the father of two children who struggle mightily with depression and General Anxiety Disorder, I was deeply offended by this course description.
If the school doesnt maintain separation between their religious standards and the standards of the profession, how can an employer trust their students to do so?-----------An employer of social workers who considers applications from graduates of schools like Steubenville deserves what she gets. (Periodicals aimed at social workers reflect the anxiety about status. Social workers would like to be regarded as "professionals".)
Carlo: I said that social work was a "non-theological, clinical" discipline. I did not say that it was a "science that can be developed independently of any broader context," and I would not even say that most scientific inquiry is a "science" in the way that you narrowly define it. I also am confused that you seem to think that doctrines supported by the Catechism are "NOT theological." Finally, you seem to be guilty of assuming a false equivalence between secularism and scientism. One can hold that secular reason (as opposed to special revelation) ought to inform our beliefs about sexuality without being "scientistic."Cupcake: I agree. Courses like this call into question the professional competence of those trained by them, which is why the program's accreditation is being questioned.
Clinicians have no special insight into the moral status of any of the behaviors they deal with. Nor are they specially competent to judge which behaviors count as antisocial.
Course descriptions, whether at Steubenville or Harvard, often have very little to do with actual course content. However, the description does mention that labeling theories of deviance will be examined in the course. This is a view that deviants are defined as such not because of anything intrinsic to their personality but because of the success of moral entrepreneurs in convincing public opinion about the evils of some group. A celebrated case is Howard Becker's study of Dance Musicians as Outsiders. The labeling theory is a view widely held by those on the left and they sometimes exaggerate the number of "deviant" groups - almost everyone is a victim.As I say it's a view and not a scientifically established fact (I think there is very little science in any of the social sciences). But apparently it's being given consideration in the Steubenville course and so people might want to hold their fire until more is learned about the actual contents.Just out of curiosity it would be interesting to learn about the demographic composition of the learned bodies issuing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I assume there are not a lot of religious traditionalists included. There's another post today about sanitation workers - I bet they are a more diverse and multicultural group than these psychiatrists.
Eric:you will agree that many teachings contained in the Cathechism reflect the operation of natural reason, albeit enlightened by faith, and as such cannot be regarded as "theological." The crucial point is that "distinctions" should never been turned into "separations." For that very reason I find the notion of "secular reason" highly questionable. I disagree that Catholic beliefs about sexuality are primarily informed by a "special revelation." The Church claims that its teachings are in accord with natural reason. The crucial point, however, is that reason, like all other human faculties after the fall, needs to be freed and redeemed by the operation of divine grace.
The following definition of 'deviant' (the most relevant one, I think, if we're looking at social work as a *profession*) is from http://dictionary.reference.com :Medical Dictionary deviant deviant (d'v-nt) adj. Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society. n. One that differs from a norm, especially a person whose behavior and attitudes differ from accepted social standards. ***************Is social work a *professional* field of work?According to one of the largest employers of social workers, the answers is "Yes". The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (for whom I worked roughly the first half of my federal career [including the former U.S. Civil Service Commission]) incorporates the word 'professional' in its definition of the Social Work Series, GS-0185. See http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/gs0185.pdf .OPM requires, at a minimum, that all social work applicants have a master's degree in social work from an accredited program. See http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/Standards/IORs/gs0100/0185.htm .***************What is the meaning of the word 'professional' in federal employment?OPM defines the word as follows:"Professional work requires knowledge in a field of science or learning characteristically acquired through education or training equivalent to a bachelors or higher degree with major study in or pertinent to the specialized field, as distinguished from general education."Work is professional when it requires the exercise of discretion, judgment, and personal responsibility for the application of an organized body of knowledge that is constantly studied to make new discoveries and interpretations, and to improve data, materials, and methods."There are situations in which an employee meets the formal education requirements for a particular professional field but does not perform professional work. This may be due to a lack of professional work to be done, or it may be because the organization and structure of the assignment does not require a professionally qualified employee. In such situations, the position is classified in an appropriate nonprofessional series, based on the duties and responsibilities assigned and the qualifications required to do the work [This reflects the competitive civil service concept of "rank in position" as opposed to "rank in person" - jj].""Professional occupational series follow a two-grade interval pattern and are identified as professional in the series definitions. If a series definition does not state that the work covered is professional, it should not be considered professional for classification purposes."See also 5 CFR 551.207 at http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&... .***************As far as OPM is concerned, therefore, a bachelor's degree in social work is non-qualifying for federal employment in the Social Work Series, GS-0185. An appointee must have a graduate degree in Social Work from an accredited program.
Carlo: I don't think that "secular reason" excludes the "operation of divine grace." It simply excludes explicitly theological premises from its arguments (i.e. those based on special revelation). Insofar as all that is, is graced with being, I take it that reason participates in grace to the extent that it exists at all. So, I don't see how the "operation of divine grace" gives anything explicit to reason that it does not already have by virtue of its nature, and thus, I don't see how reference to the Catechism is relevant to matters that can be decided by "the operation of natural reason." If you think that you can prove the sexual ethic of the Church non-theologically, then you should.This is why it's a mistake for Steubenville to adduce catechetical dogma in defense of its social work program. If they have a more sophisticated defense to offer, along that lines that you and Matt seem to be indicating, then they should give that, but something tells me they are afraid that it would be challenged. So, they are taking shelter in Church teaching, which they seem to think ought to be exempt from professional scrutiny. I think that they are wrong to claim such an exemption, and it seems that the office of accreditation might too.
Carlo,It would be more believable that those beliefs were not primarily informed by special revelation if people who are not relying on that revelation found the arguments compelling. People don't have problems understanding why murder, rape, theft, fraud, and a host of other wicked acts are wrong.
Eric:"So, I dont see how the operation of divine grace gives anything explicit to reason that it does not already have by virtue of its nature"Thanks for a clear statement about which we will have to disagree.You are essentially stating that original sin did not impair the exercise of reason. I think it did. I have lots of big names with "St." in front on my side....Cupcake:"People dont have problems understanding why murder, rape, theft, fraud, and a host of other wicked acts are wrong."We obviousy read different history books. Under the "right" circumstances large segments of mankindhave thought that those wicked acts are perfectly fine. Only 150 years ago many good and upright citizens of this country thought it is morally permissible to own another human being.
"Only 150 years ago many good and upright citizens of this country thought it is morally permissible to own another human being."So did those " big names with St. in front."
Bill:of course, since they were human beings and suffered from the same weaknesses as all of us. But the interesting novelty was that some of them DID NOT.
Carlo: Yes, it seems that we do disagree. However, it also seems to me that to claim that reason was impaired by the fall is a bit like saying that digestion was impaired by the fall. Reason is part of our human equipment, so to speak, and without it we would not be human. A few minor St's are with me on this. Thomas Aquinas for one. Also, in Book VII of the Confessions, it was not a failure of reason that St. Augustine says thwarted his Platonic assent, but it was a failure of desire (eros). These are, of course, complicated matters, but I think we would hardly be the responsible and rational agents that we (and God) take ourselves to be, if our reason was as fallen as you suggest.
Carlo, Your "reasoning" leaves much to be desire. Consistent with your previous posts. "I have lots of big names with St. in front on my side" How do you expect to be taken seriously with such statements? So you have the gift to discern which saints were right and which were wrong? None of them were infallible just as no pope's were. But when You're stuck in the Middle Ages what does it matter what reasoning you exercise....
Philosophy aside, the Catholic Church upheld human slavery until the last week of Vatican II in December 1965.
Matt: You wrote, "Clinicians have no special insight into the moral status of any of the behaviors they deal with." I don't think that social workers are expected (as a condition of their employment) to have "special" moral insight or to be moral theologians or to make moral judgments, they are asked to help people solve problems. Also, "intrinsically disordered" is not a moral category. It is a metaphysical category. It seeks to make a claim about an act in its essence. I don't think we expect our social workers to be metaphysicians either. These are all more category mistakes.
"I dont think that social workers are expectedto make moral judgments"All workers, social and non-social, make moral judgments. We can't not make moral judgments.
deviant is right up (down?) there with "invert." As in "Counseling the Invert" by John R. Cavanagh.Available here for those who like the term: http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=1361883"Wouldnt celibacy be deviant behavior? One chooses to act in a way that is not biologically normal, regardless of the motivation." Ooooooooooooooooooooo!
From 25 years in the mental health/substance abuse field:- all major health companies and managed care companies have networks of professional counselors. The majority of these counselors have a masters in social work that comes from a reputable and accredited university. They are also required to have licensure in the state in which they practice - usually means 2-5 years of practicum or working under the supervision of another certified professional. Health companies criteria is that the counselor meet and apply the professional standards as defined by associations of social workers, psychologists, etc.- in addition, there are *pastoral* counselors - these typically attain some type of denominational masters degree in the field of pastoral studies, clinical pastoral education, etc. These usually meet state standards so that they can bill for services. Yet, very few health companies credential pastoral counselors who do not also meet the masters level requirements in terms of licensure and professiional standards. In many states, pastoral counselors can hang their signs with little to no standards, supervision, etc. Health companies would not pay claims submitted by these counselors. They work in church, outreach, denominational social settings outside of the US insurance business.- yet, we do see abuses in this area - Medicaid and Medicare in some states accept lesser standards and will accept pastoral counselors and techniques. Example - Michelle Bachmann's husband runs a group/business that makes close to a $1 mil annually from Medicare/Medicaid offering Christian counseling to change sexual orientation. This happens even when professional associations would reject these counseling techniques as non-scientific; anti-DSM based; and rooted in evangelical or denominational beliefs.Steubenville can do whatever it wants but, as a choice, this may mean losing professional accreditation which is based upon a scientific understanding, professional clinical standards that come from behavioral studies, research, and are vetted via the best practices of the professional community.
Eric:reason is much more connected with our spiritual side than digestion. Speaking of Aquinas, let me quote a famous passage from De Malo:"Est autem considerandum quod primo homini in sua institutione datum fuerat divinitus quoddam supernaturale donum, scilicet originalis iustitia, per quam ratio subdebatur Deo, et inferiores vires rationi, et corpus animae. Hoc autem donum non fuerat datum primo homini ut singulari personae tantum, sed ut cuidam principio totius humanae naturae, ut scilicet ab eo per originem derivaretur in posteros. Hoc autem donum acceptum primus homo per liberum arbitrium peccans amisit eo tenore quo sibi datum fuerat, scilicet pro se et pro tota sua posteritate (Quest. IV, first article)As you can see St. Thomas associates tightly the correct functioning of our cognitive structure ("reason subjected to God, and the lower powers subjected to reason, and his body to his soul") with original justice. To me it is quite apparent that Thomas is arguing that the loss of original justice destroyed also such ordering of the rational faculties. And I am sure Augustine would agree, but I do not have a reference right now.
Correction: I should have said "impaired the ordering of the rational faculties." Aquinas was not a Calvinist.
In Daniel Kahneman's new book "Thinking Fast and Slow" (still on the NYT bestseller list) is about the imperfection of human reasoning. He says that until a relatively few years ago scientists assumed that we were much more rational than we are, but scientists themselves have their own biases and are not always aware of the fact. Kahneman has shown that these biases are systematic, automatic, and go on "in silence in our mind", though he agrees that more often than not our judgments are reliable. And we can sometimes correct our thinking, but its painful for all of us.Speaking of morality, I'd go so far as to say that we have a moral obligation to learn to think critically about our own thinking. That means learning about our biases and illogical habits of thought.
Questions: do we have a moral obligation to listen to others' criticisms of our own thinking? Do we have a moral right to be wrong?
I'm not sure how the DSM is relevant to whether or not homosexuality is "deviant" or not. According to wikipedia "Deviance, in a sociological context, describes actions or behaviors that violate social norms, including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime), as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). It is the purview of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and criminologists to study how these norms are created, how they change over time and how they are enforced." It is not aimed at diagnosis of mental illness, so Why talk of the DSM at all.Under this definition, homosexuality - and the other topics listed - is an appropriate topic of study in the course. Has Eric or any of the other critics reviewed the syllabus or course book?
@ Eric: I think that what is to the point is whether homosexuality, even on theological grounds, should be considered deviant in the same way as murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, mental illness and drug use. Eric, I agree with you as to what is to the point. I was only trying to say that invoking "science" as a shibboleth is not really going to help us answer that question.FWIW, I would answer your question with a "no," but not because of anything "science" says.
Why use the word deviant. Perhaps they wanted the couse to be a sellout. A great stage for educated debate.
Eric, have you looked at the descriptions or syllabi for similar courses taught at public universities? Here are some class notes from a course at University of Missouri St. Louis that lists homosexuality as a deviant behavior along with violence, economic crimes, white collar crimes, drug and alcohol use, and mental disorder:http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/200lec.htmlHere is a syllabus from Univ. of Minnesota that lists "sexuality" as a topic alongside crime, substance use, suicide, disability, and mental illness: http://www.soc.umn.edu/~uggen/4111syllabus_04.pdfIt appears that this is a serious overreaction by people who don't know much about sociology, or will you be calling for an investigation into the accreditation of these "unscientific" public universities?
"To me it is quite apparent that Thomas is arguing that the loss of original justice destroyed also such ordering of the rational faculties. And I am sure Augustine would agree, but I do not have a reference right now."According to Genesis Adam's reasoning before the Fall is nothing to write home about. So now we can say it that both Augustine and Thomas were wrong. It is not wo/man's reason that is faulty. It is our choices in which we choose to ignore reason and "rationalize" our evil deeds.Some serious research has shown that homosexuality is not chosen. But we can ignore this as well as the deviant behavior that says children are in poverty because their parents do not know how to use the market. That women are defective and the defining mark of the priesthood is its maleness.
Bill,Whether a desire is chosen or unchosen has nothing to do with the moral status of the act it motivates. Many acts that you would have no trouble describing as immoral are motivated by desires or impulses the agent did not choose.Eric,You wrote, "I dont think that social workers are expected (as a condition of their employment) to have 'special' moral insight or to be moral theologians or to make moral judgments, they are asked to help people solve problems."The question, as I understand it, is whether future social workers should be able to take a course for credit if that course suggests, contrary to the current DSM and "the state of the art in science" (whatever that means), that homosexuality is in any way "deviant." The question is not whether social worker need to be moral philosophers. Then again, if you think the problems social worker help people solve don't have a moral dimension, I suspect you haven't talked to a social worker.The church's official teaching is that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered"that is, that they are wrong regardless of intention or circumstance. If that is not a moral claim, I don't know what is.
Matt, Heterosexuality is not chosen while the decision to be promiscuous is. Our sexuality is a state or condition. Not a desire or impulse.
"Heterosexuality is not chosen while the decision to be promiscuous is." Exactly, Bill, that's my point. The morality of homosexual acts is not determined by whether or not homosexual desire is chosen or not. That's only one small step in the argument. As for your distinction, I would say that sexuality is a state constituted by desires. How would you define homosexuality without appeal to physical attraction or desire?
Matt, You want to unpack your 3:24pm post. It looks like you agree with me but....
"Heterosexuality is such an enormous assumption to have glided so silently into the foundation of our thought." (Adrienne Rich) Re: homosexuality being taught in universities as deviancy. Repeating a bias often does not make it a truth.As a left-hander I clearly acknowledge being a deviant. And I'll reveal a long-held, deeply regretted secret: I have eyes that are not the same color!


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Cantor…Then and Now!
Some things never change! There was a time that I thought people grew wiser as they aged from high school to adulthood. We pass through college where huge changes occur; my alcohol intake skyrocketed, my ability to discuss philosophical and sociological issues went from a 1 to a 9 on the Richter Scale! Love entered my life and softened me in ways I never expected. Then, children suddenly appeared and brought more change…the selfishness that is inherent in the young, suddenly dissolves when you have your own children. Instead of "sel-FISH", we become "sel-FLESS!"
These changes happen at different times for different people; but most people I know at or near my age (guess) seem to have gone through them. No wonder it surprises me to look at someone who is considered a "leader" by many, if not in reality, then certainly by the role he has taken. Consider Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA). He is the Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Formerly, he was House Minority Whip, elected to Congress in 2001, after having served in the Virginia House of Delegates for 9 years and working as an attorney in his family's real estate development business. Cantor is married and has three children.
Now, one would think that with all his experience in public and private life, plus marriage and raising three children, a person like Eric Cantor would have
gone through a maturation process, right? WRONG! When it comes to growth and maturity, Cantor is back in high school, waiting for the bell so he can go kick some sand in the face of the "90-pound weakling" who's waiting to be picked up by his mom! Now, how do we know what kind of person Eric was in high school? We need to go no further than his high school yearbook; the photo of the tie and jacketed Cantor, hair perfectly coiffed, a Mona Lisa smile on his kisser…and the quote he chose for "the Ages" to remember him: "I want what I want when I want it!", attributed to the late 19th-century lyricist, Henry Blossom.
Sure, high school kids do stupid things; most of us have done things in high school that we would never do now, as adults, with our own kids! AND THERE IS THE RUB! Eric Cantor acts today the same way he did in high school. His "no compromise" position in Congress seems to reflect the Blossom quote perfectly. Cantor's most recent exposure as a selfish, greedy, demanding, non-empathetic and uncaring 'kid' is his refusal to support Disaster Aid for victims of the East Coast Earthquake and Hurricane Irene, expected to result in billions of dollars of damage. We're talking about people flooded out of their homes, small businesses shut down, bridges and roads destroyed, and many who couldn't afford insurance to protect themselves. Cantor said he'll approve aid IF he gets 'what he wants', which is corresponding cuts in Federal spending. Oh…I almost forgot…in 2004, after Hurricane Gaston caused $20 million in Cantor's district, Cantor OPPOSED a bill to reduce Federal spending by an amount equal to disaster aid!
So, hostage-taking has again reared it's head as a tool to get Eric what Eric wants, when Eric wants it! No compromise,
no negotiation! 'Instant gratification' is something I always associated with babies and toddlers. If they don't get what they want, WHEN they want it, there's crying and screaming and whining and kicking and more crying; perhaps President Obama needs to buy a gold-plated baby rattle and send it over to Cantor's office. If nothing else, it may distract him from hurting people for a little while! "Ga-ga. Goo-goo. Bop-a woppa-goo-ga!"


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Are there any competitors to Google AppEngine that support apps written for it?
I don't know of any hosting services, but there's an open source implementation called appscale that can apparently run on Amazon EC2. I don't have any experience using it, but they claim to be compatible with the Python API version 1.3.2, and Java API version 1.3.5.
Not really.
Edit: After Matthew Crumley's excellent answer, I have substantially rewritten this answer (I didn't know about appscale before).
When you write apps to any of the cloud-specific APIs today, you're strongly locked in to the cloud vendor. Most of the business value of cloud computing comes from:
appscale may work very well, but it is far from being a proven and mature technology to build a business on. I'm not aware of a single large-scale appscale installation, and their webpage doesn't list any. So it's prudent to work from the assumption that once you build an application on a given cloud vendors proprietary storage APIs you're locked in to that vendor. The day where we can freely move a large-scale application between different cloud implementations isn't here yet.
The exceptions are the 'SQL databases in the cloud', i.e. Amazon RDS (hosted MySQL) and Windows Azure's SQL API (hosted SQL Server). If you build a traditional 2-tier web application on top of these, then you can move it to traditional hosting with a MySQL / MSSQL backend. But that's outside OPs question, since Google AppEngine doesn't offer a MySQL backend.


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It seems rather basic, but I'm having trouble finding verses that say to read God's Word often. It seems like something that Paul said quite a few times, and it's obviously a good thing, but I can't find any specific verses. Can someone help me?
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closed as off-topic by fredsbend, curiousdannii, Mr. Bultitude, bruised reed, Dick Harfield May 29 '15 at 6:53
I don't think there are any verses in the Bible that say "read the Bible", since the Bible as one book is a concept that came after the books were written.
But the following are some of the verses that talk about reading God's word or His teachings.
The Psalms have a lot on meditating on God's law.
And of course the famous Psalm 119, I'd suggest you read all of Psalm 119:
That's all I can think of for now. But I will update this answer as I remember/find more.
Isaiah 28:10New King James Version (NKJV)
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."
Study to show thyself approved to God, a worker who needed not be ashamed. Rightly divided the word of truth.
II Timothy 2:15


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We know that reading sentences with capital letters is hard. I noticed that some documents are still written with capital letters. Why are license agreements, disclaiming letters and others written with capital letters?
There are two reasons why legal documents have sections in all caps. The first is that some state laws are very specific on having a certain font size (usually no smaller than...) and some method of calling attention to a particular legal passage that has some special significance. Usually it has to do with waiving of some legal right, such as a right to a jury trial.
The second reason is that it helps to focus the reader on certain terms, such as the material terms of a contract or license. That way it is harder for someone to say they didn't see that part.
It is for these same reasons that you might have to initial certain sections of a legal document.
It's something to do with legal. The lawyers think that screaming gets the point across better. You'd have to ask the legal department which approved the document in question.


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I'm getting the hang of using my NN4 but came across this statement in the user manual.
"Detent rings can be disabled on the fly without any tool"
Does that mean that I can have a "smooth-non-stopping point" rotation around the base and just use the marks by "eyeball" in some way?
I have ONE longer lens that I'd like to try and use the NN4 with; it's a 135mm with a FOV in the vertical orientation of 10.2 and so the default detent stops of 10 degrees won't cut it.
Just a thought, aren't there detent rings for the NN4 that have 5 deg stops that would work for this FOV?


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7 Nov 2012 11:26 AM #1
Migrating to newer versions of Sencha Command
As I have upgraded from beta to beta of Sencha Cmd I have manually updated the changes in the related build scripts for my workspace and pages. Is there an automated way to do this or will there be in the future?
22 Nov 2012 8:17 PM #2
The "sencha app upgrade" command will upgrade the necessary pieces of an app. Run it from the application folder. It will upgrade the SDK as well as the Cmd pieces.
I would recommend performing the upgrade and then reviewing the diffs it produces in your version control, in case you have modified one of the few files it considers to be "internal" (e.g., build-impl.xml). If you have modified those files, you will need to merge your changes back.Don Griffin
Director of Engineering - Frameworks (Ext JS / Sencha Touch)
Check the docs. Learn how to (properly) report a framework issue and a Sencha Cmd issue
"Use the source, Luke!"


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Are you allowed to kill flies and other pests (mice, mosquitoes, etc.) or would that go under the prohibition of Tzar Balay Chaim?
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Reb Moshe in Iggras Moshe (חושן משפט חלק ב' סימן מ''ז) says if it is disgusting and or the creature ruins food,or mosquitoes who bother the person the answer is YES. Reb Moshe in an Illustration of his Tzidkus (righteousness) adds of course you should try not do it by hand instead with fly traps and the like because killing by hand desensitizes you and ruins your character. He brings the Ohr Hachaim Hakodsh (דברים י"ג י"ח) who says that even the person who kills for the Beis Din and a Shochet needs a special protection against this provided by the Torah because he is directly involved in doing a Mitzvah but here where he is just ridding himself of a bother he should try his utmost not to do it by hand.
Tzar Balay Chaim means causing pain. Killing is explicitly excluded (as long as you do it properly) since once dead the animal no longer feels pain.


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To the editor:
If you are a Jefferson County water customer, I hope you will read this letter and try to reason with me as to how the commissioners can give away more than $150,000 of our money that Smithfield owes the county for water. Yes, it is our money - the water customers' money - plus more than $140,000 in attorney fees trying to get this money, plus the thousands of dollars already spent repairing Smithfield's water system with our personnel and our material.
Smithfield's water system is in disrepair. The citizens and the government of Smithfield have been irresponsible in maintaining their water system. Now the commissioners want to bail them out at our expense.
The commissioners say that with the added customers, it will cover the added cost. That is hard for me to believe.
By the commissioners' own admission, it will take up to $1.5 million, probably more when all is said and done, to put their system in shape. They also said that the money we have in reserve to keep out system solvent will not be used and our water rates will not go up. You do the math.
I hope you keep all this in mind when you go to vote. Please get involved. It's also your water system.
Harry C. Andrews Sr.


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I was wondering how could I get started making games with java? I tried looking up tutorials but I couldnt find any ,also if I make a game with java and it connects to a database would someone be able to decompile the game and see the stuff to connect to the database
closed as off topic by doppelgreener, Noctrine♦ Aug 22 '12 at 17:47
Questions on Game Development Stack Exchange are expected to relate to game development within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
Check out LWJGL, and it's documentation (teaches you the basic stuff). Minecraft uses the same library.
Looooong time ago, when I was trying to start programming with Java, I followed a tutorial to create a simple Space Invaders in Java. I am pretty sure that there are much new (and better?) tutorials currently available on the net, but just in case... this is the tutorial I followed. It has 27 lessons that you can follow, and at the end you end up with a nice Space Invaders :)
Since you're interested in making a game and not building an engine you may want to look at Java Monkey Engine and head straight to their tutorials Tutorials
You didn't mention how experienced you are at coding in Java but you will want to either look at tutorials in OpenGL for 3D work or research Tile engines for 2D.
Check out LWJGL with Slick.


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I ask about this claim: let $f$ be an entire function satisfying $f(s)=u(s)f(a-s)$. Assume that $s$ and $a-s$ are not zeroes of $f$ and $f (bar)(a-s)=f(s)$ in a region $D$ ($f(bar)$ is the conjugate of $f$). Then the module of $f(s)/f(bar)(a-s)$ is equal to $1$, implying that the module of $u(s)$ is also $1$. The question is: Does this result implies that in fact the function $u(s)$ is constant. Thank you in advance.
Technically, the answer is yes $u(s)=1$.
However, for a quite boring reason (as hinted at in the comment of Xogn Ambandl):
If $\overline{f(a-s)}=f(s)$, then $2 \ \Re{f}(s)$ would be holomorphic in that region, as it is equal to $f(s)+\overline{f(s)}= f(s) + f(a-s)$ a sum of holomorphic functions. Yet, then as a real-valued holomorphic function $\Re{f}(s)$ is constant. And, so $f(s)$ is constant.
Thus, the only functions $f$ fulfilling your assumptions are constant functions, for which what you ask about is clear.


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Baroque trip incorporates 'chic' factor
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Hockey's Summer Blockbuster
The NHL playoffs may be the greatest annual mystery in sports. They begin Tuesday and, as usual, no one has any idea who's going to win the Stanley Cup.
Last year, the Los Angeles Kings—the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference—rampaged to their first-ever championship by losing just four of 20 postseason games. (The Kings are actually seeded higher this year, which, of course, means absolutely nothing.)
Because a lockout delayed this season's start, the playoff tournament will carry over longer than usual and into summer, when movie studios release their usual spate of blockbusters. So rather than coldly assessing the league's 16 playoff participants, we've decided to bring hockey to Hollywood and, for each team, identify the film actor whose career arc and quality most closely matches it.
Pittsburgh Penguins (No. 1 seed in the East): Smith has become everything Hollywood wants in its stars: a leading man who appeals to audiences of all ages and backgrounds and who generally makes movies worth seeing. And if there's a player and a team who have the same sort of crossover appeal, it's Sidney Crosby and the Pens.
Montreal Canadiens (No. 2 seed in the East): There was no bigger name or more respected actor in the late 1970s than De Niro, whose career was peaking around the same time that the Habs were finishing off their latest dynasty. After missing the playoffs last year, Montreal has made a minor comeback this season as an elite team in the conference—not long after De Niro scored his first Oscar nomination in 21 years, for "Silver Linings Playbook."
Washington Capitals (No. 3 seed in the East): Just when you think the Caps have gotten their act together, they do something kooky to make you lose faith again. They've flamed out early so often in recent postseasons that their fans need anger-management counseling. Once the regular season ends, the Caps seem incapable of doing the one thing that's expected of them: winning.
Boston Bruins (No. 4 seed in the East): A Boston native himself, Wahlberg combines Hollywood stardom with a tough, working-class persona in just the right proportions for a Bruins team that won the Cup in 2011 and remains dangerous. Plus, Wahlberg's acid-tongued Sgt. Dignam in "The Departed" would have made a perfect fourth-line center/irritant.
Toronto Maple Leafs (No. 5 seed in the East): The Leafs are hugely popular and get plenty of media attention, but when you really think about it, have they done anything good? They haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967, and this is their first playoff appearance since 2004. Their entire previous decade could be titled "Failure to Launch."
New York Rangers (No. 6 seed in the East): Like the Rangers, who won their last championship in 1994, Cruise saw his career peak in the mid-1990s. Yet people still talk about him like he's box-office gold. Funny: People still talk about the Rangers as Cup contenders. Even the Rangers talk about themselves as Cup contenders—all of them except their coach, John Tortorella. He doesn't talk about anything.
Ottawa Senators (No. 7 seed in the East): With two Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Waltz is the sort of critically acclaimed actor whom people appreciate but don't trust enough to carry a film alone. The Senators, who were without three of their best players for most of the season, earned deserved praise just for making the playoffs, but no one thinks they have a deep run in them.
New York Islanders (No. 8 seed in the East): This is the Islanders' first playoff appearance—and the first time they haven't finished in last place—since 2007. Sometimes it's hard to understand how this franchise reached such depths after winning four Stanley Cups in the early 1980s, but you know who would understand? The man who went from "Rocky" and "First Blood" to "Spy Kids 3D" and "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot."
Chicago Blackhawks (No. 1 seed in the West): Cooper has had a heck of a run lately, showing that he can carry hilarious comedies ("The Hangover" franchise) and high-quality dramas ("Silver Linings Playbook"). The Hawks are every bit as versatile: Their ability to play both a highflying offensive style and a grittier defensive game helped them to the league's best record.
Anaheim Ducks (No. 2 seed in the West): The former Mr. Universe built his entire acting career on his size and his muscles, and the Ducks' success is predicated on their physical dimensions and their willingness to use them. With an average player weight of more than 207 pounds, they're the third-heaviest team in the league, and they led the NHL with 71 fighting majors in 2006-07—the only time they have won the Stanley Cup.
Vancouver Canucks (No. 3 in the West): The Canucks can do a little bit of everything on the ice, as can Neeson on the big screen. They can be tough, action-hero types (sixth in the league in major penalties this season). They can be cerebral (with the skilled and creative Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel). What they haven't been yet are champions: They haven't won a Stanley Cup in their 43 years of existence. (Neeson hasn't won an Oscar, either.)
St. Louis Blues (No. 4 seed in the West): Cavill scored his first major starring role as Superman in "Man of Steel," and like this St. Louis team, he has a chance for greatness this summer. There's just one problem with casting Cavill in the movie, though, and it's the same problem that the players on coach Ken Hitchcock's roster have: No one has heard of any of them.
Los Angeles Kings (No. 5 seed in the West): The Kings burst on the scene last year and are a sexy pick to win the Cup again this year, thanks to goalie Jonathan Quick and forward (Magic) Mike Richards. Then again, there have been an awful lot of teams—and actors—who were hot for a while but couldn't sustain success.
San Jose Sharks (No. 6 seed in the West): The Sharks have been consistently good in the regular season, finishing in first or second place in their division eight straight years, yet they've never had that singular breakout performance in the playoffs. They've never reached the Stanley Cup Finals, and every season feels like it should have ended better. "Total Recall" felt the same way.
Detroit Red Wings (No. 7 seed in the West): The Red Wings are reliable and likable, just like Hanks. They haven't missed the playoffs in 23 years, and over that time, they've had lots of hits (14 division titles, four Stanley Cups). You can count on them to be solid, though they haven't been at the top of their game lately ("Cloud Atlas," anyone?), failing to get past the second round each of the previous three years.
Minnesota Wild (No. 8 seed in the West): Costner is renowned for starring in big-budget flops, and the Wild's season was almost the hockey equivalent of "Waterworld." After spending close to $200 million to sign Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, Minnesota struggled just to make the playoffs. Still, now that the Wild is in, maybe it can deliver in a way "The Postman" couldn't.
Write to Mike Sielski at email@example.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Henrik and Daniel Sedin are twin brothers who play for the Vancouver Canucks. An earlier version of this article misspelled their last name as Sundin.