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An Expanding Readership?
Anyone who writes for publication wonders from time to time whether anyone is reading their work. It was with some interest, then, that I noticed that the Papal Nuncio to the United States,Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigan, quoted a post from DotCommonweal in a recent address he made on the subject of "Religious Freedom, Persecution, and Martyrdom."To be sure, the Archbishop was not entirely pleased with the post in question--which was penned by our own Eduardo Pealver--as can be gleaned from the following paragraphs:
Cardinal Dolan has recently exhorted the Catholic faithful to confront the challenges which the faith faces today. His brother bishops in this country and around the world have taken similar action. It is a desperate day when well-educated persons label these efforts as attempts by the hierarchy to control the activities ofCatholics in public life. Some have even criticized publicly Cardinal Dolans call to the faithful to defend the Catholic contribution to political debate in this fashion: Dolan to Lay Catholics: Be Our Attractive, Articulate, (and Unpaid) Flacks.I pray that theauthors meant well in saying this, in spite of the statements disparaging tone, but these persons fail to recall the nature of the Church as explained by the Second Vatican Council and reiterated by Blessed John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (1988).
In this exhortation, the Pope urged the lay faithful to be mindful of their crucial role in temporal affairs as disciples of Christ rather than as elements of some political or secular ideology that bases its platform on an indecipherable formula established on the ambiguous foundation that unsuccessfully relies on the cure of social justice. It is theproper function of bishops to be teachers of the faith, but it is also true that the laity exercise a major role in implementing this same faith in the affairs of the world. This is why John Paul repeatedly encouraged the faithful with the words of Jesus: You go into my vineyard, too (Mt 20:4).
In order to respond affirmatively to this call, religious freedom is essential. We are still a far cry from fully embracing the Holy Fathers encouraging exhortation when we witness in an unprecedented way a platform being assumed by amajor political party, having intrinsic evils among its basic principles, and Catholic faithful publicly supporting it. There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted.
I'm tempted to post some thoughts on the Archbishops' remarks, but to be honest I am growing rather exhausted with this whole debate. In any case, my hat is off to Eduardo for gaining the attention of such a distinguished reader...:-)
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"We are still a far cry from fully embracing the Holy Fathers encouraging exhortation when we witness in an unprecedented way a platform being assumed by a major political party, having intrinsic evils among its basic principles, and Catholic faithful publicly supporting it. There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted."Isn't the implication of these two sentences that the "body of the Church" will be divided and weakened until all Catholics vote for the same party? Are political disagreement among Catholics really a sign that the Church is weak? This may be so, but it isn't obviously so at least not to me.And is it really unprecedented for a major political party to have "intrinsic evils among its basic principles"? Most political parties in Europe are in favor of legal abortion, to take only one important example. Or maybe the papal nuncio was referring only to America's major political parties. Even in that case, however, there is nothing very novel about the current situation of the Democratic Party. As David Cloutier recently pointed out, neither of our major political parties is interested in outlawing several things taught to be intrinsically evil by the Church (e.g. adultery and artificial contraception). True, their unwillingness to prohibit these things hardly counts as a basic principle of their platforms, though maybe it would if these issues were actually in dispute. The papal nuncio was making a speech, not writing a treatise, so maybe it isn't fair to expect that he would define all his terms. But I wonder what he means exactly by a "basic principle."
Matthew:I am just curious: how did Mr. Cloutier support the statement that adultery and contraception are "intrinsic evil" as opposed to just plain, regular sins? Are all sins "evil" to the same degree?
Carlo,You can read Cloutier's article here. As he points out, in Catholic moral theology an action is intrinsically evil if it is always and everywhere evil, no matter what the circumstance or intention. Intrinsically evil acts are not necessarily more gravely sinful than extrinsically sinful acts (those whose sinfulness does depend on circumstance or intention). The critical question for Catholics engaged in politics, either as voters or as politicians, is not which evils are intrinsic and which aren't, but which immoral acts (or sins) should also be treated as crimes since no one believes that all sins should be treated thus.
On reading your thread, congratulations, Eduardo Penalver.
Dear Archbishop Vigan: if you are reading this, would it be possible for you to take some action regarding Bishop Finn? Thank you!
Matthew:thank you, that makes sense. I wonder, however if really the nuncio (and many other people) really intended to use that expression in such precise trheological sense, or rather they used it loosely to indicate the negative counterpart of what Pope Benedict XVI recently called "non-negotiable" principles for Catholics involved in politics (whoich include life and the nature of the family if I remember correctly). Personally, I would be inclined to believe the latter scenario.
I thought the Archbishop's point here was ecclesiological. Laity aren't "flacks" of the bishop. We are Catholic Christians, full stop, with our own responsibility for the welfare of the Church.
Kathy is exactly right.
"In this exhortation, the Pope urged the lay faithful to be mindful of their crucial role in temporal affairs as disciples of Christ rather than as elements of some political or secular ideology that bases its platform on an indecipherable formula established on the ambiguous foundation that unsuccessfully relies on the cure of 'social justice.'"What party do you think he's talking about?"We are still a far cry from fully embracing the Holy Fathers encouraging exhortation when we witness in an unprecedented way a platform being assumed by a major political party, having intrinsic evils among its basic principles, and Catholic faithful publicly supporting it."And do you think this statement means something other than "Catholics should not publicly support the Democratic Party"?
Peter,I found the Archbishop's talk well worth reading -- so thank you for making it available.I think his discernment of rising threats to religious freedom in the North Atlantic world deserves attention. He does speak from a not inconsiderable experience as a reader of the signs of the times -- even in the Vatican. As he says:"In my service to the Holy See, I have worked in various parts of the world including Iraq and Kuwait, Great Britain, Strasbourg, Nigeria, in the Vatican, and now the United States, it has been a part of my personal makeup and official duties to monitor and register concerns to my superiors about efforts that harm, intentionally or otherwise, the Church and Gods people."
Carlo--If you are correct, I find this trend quite disturbing. One of the beauties and strengths of the Catholic tradition is that we have developed--over centuries of thought, argument, and discussion--certain languages that allow a great deal of nuance in moral discussion. Intrinsic evil is one of these, as are the gradations of moral complicity encapsulated in discourse about remote, proximate, and other cooperation with immoral acts. If this language is indeed being flattened by official church teachers to mean something as vague as "non-negotiable" (morally? politically? legally? Is adultery more negotiable than gay marriage? If so why, and what does that possibly mean? Negotiable by whom and for whom?) we are all the poorer for it. Sadly, however, due to the sloppy way all these terms are bandied about at the highest levels, I fear you may be correct.
Andy:I agree to some extent but not completely. The Church has also a long tradition of what are called "prudential" judgments. The statements that the legalization abortion or the separation of marriage from gender and procreation are "non-negationable (because the magisteruim regards them as mortal wounds to our shared social life) while adultery clearly is not, fall in such category.
Andy:sorry for the sloppy typing: "non-negotiable." I will add a comment on your last question: Negotiable refers to what Catholic can tolerate as unavoidable effects of mankind's fallen condition (say, prostitution). Non-negotiable is what by its scale or seriousness gravely harm human rights and dignity and imperils the existence of whole societies (and the salvation of souls, but our neo-Pelagian culture does not know what that means). Again, it is a prudential judgment to which the teaching authority of the Church is perfectly emtitled, in my opinion.
Carlo--All the language that I'm referring to is precisely intended to help our prudential judgments. The distinction between proximate, material, and remote cooperation, for instance, is only useful in trying to discern where one can and cannot conscientiously cooperate. Muddying these waters hinders sound prudential judgment, it does not further it.As for the "wounds to our shared social life," it seems to me that adultery and divorce are far more harmful than gay marriage to these points (actually I would argue that gay marriage is not harmful at all, but that's neither here nor there at the moment). The early church placed adultery in the same category as murder and apostasy. It was certainly "non-negotiable" then. Why do you think it is clearly not now? It was also illegal until fairly recently, largely for the same claims about "moral wounds to our shared social life" that you are currently espousing. What changed that shifted these wounds from mortal to minor? And again, are there no distinctions between moral, civil, political, and legal planes? The rich taxonomy in Catholic moral thought is intended precisely to allow for these distinctions. The current rhetoric serves only to obscure them, and, pace the good nuncio, it is not unreasonable to wonder which political party profits from such obscurantism.
I think comparing the contraception mandate to the experience of Christians in Nigeria, China and Syria is very callous and dismissive of the experiences of those persecuted peoples elsewhere in the world.
Carlo: Sorry I just saw your second comment. I appreciate your clarification. I am still far from convinced how gay marriage falls into this category, but even more importantly, I am not at all clear how many more things don't fall into it as well. Perhaps I'm dense here, but I'm very unclear as to why prostitution, adultery, and divorce fall into a "tolerable" level, but gay marriage into the "intolerable" level. All the above are clearly assaults on the "traditional" conception of marriage in different aspects. Why is the gender aspect more essential than the indissolubility or the faithfulness aspect (or the procreation one, for that matter, since adulterous relationships are just as likely to create children as married ones)?
Irene--I agree with you completely. Or even comparing it to the very complicated and neuralgic issues of infant, male circumcision or the hijab in France.
Andy:I would say that prudential judgments by definition have to respond to historical circumstances. In the 1960's no-fault divorce was non-negotiable for Catholics, and so was slavery, if anybody had tried to re-introduce it. At the time of St. Paul standing against slavery would have been perfectly correct in principle but prudentially useless. Today, if the Pope told Catholics that they have to make a principled stand against divorce (which is not on the table anywhere in the Western world) how would that respond to the challenges of the time?So even if I agree with you that (as the Church predicted) divorce and pornography have done greater damage to our society than gay marriage may ever do (who knows), the Pope has to speak to what is on the table today.
I don't remember when the Democrats became so tied to the abortion issue. It is a marriage at this point, a (the) core of the platform, and a basic requirement for candidates being backed by the Party. Why is that? And are liberal Catholic Democrats up in arms about it? If not, why not? I don't think anyone would suggest that people ought to sever ties with the Democratic Party if they were fighting just as hard, and just as publicly, against the abortion policies as against, e.g., Roman Catholic bishops.
I am delighted to see that the Papal Nuncio to the US does read Dot Commonweal. It is excellent, indeed.I may be throwing in something here that may belong with another concern. But when talking about sin---Original Sin---"mankind's fallen condition" as Carlo phrased it---I look at some MAJOR problem in our theology. The official Church has accepted evolution (at least physical evolution). We are not Creationalists. BUT---our Church has yet to adjust our doctrinal teachings to express that reality.In the CCC, in art. 374---it is written that the first man was situated in harmony with all of creation (in paradise as the article heading has is), and in harmony with God. But that did not happen in reality. There was no time when creation was completely in harmony. And there were more than one "first man and first woman" in different parts of the world. In subsequent articles 337-378-379----there is the discussion of a state that never existed. In speaking of sickness, suffering, and death---(art. 418), the CCC states that because of original sin---these evils entered the world. Sorry, but sickness, suffering and death existed in the animal world (who cannot sin), thousands and thousands of years BEFORE a single member of the 'homo' species ever appeared.It seems that the whole concept of original sin---was devised by St. Augustine. That sin exists----yes. But the Jewish community in Christ's time did not understand Original Sin as the Catholic Church teaches it. And the whole concept doesn't wash if we accept evolution as the means by which God created the world. In dealing with sin
Little Bear:you are speaking too confidently about very mysterious matters. Even if biology could explain in complete detail how our bodies were formed from "the mud of the earth" through an evolutive process, that would still tell us nothing about who was the first "human being" in the sense of a conscious, sentient being able to enter into relationship with God. By definition those notions fall outside the scope of the empirical sciences.
Carlo,I think many reasonable people of good will would conclude that your argument, despite its appeal to changes of historical circumstance, amounts to this: the state can accommodate the wayward desires of heterosexuals, but it must carefully guard against every accommodation of homosexual desire. I don't think this is a winning argument, or a prudent onenow or ever. It makes Catholic moral norms look like a cover for bigotry. Our sins are weakness, the predictable result of human fallenness; your sins are depravity, a "wound to our shared social life."
Matthew:where did I say that? That's a very unfair interpretation of my statement, especially because we were not discussing gay marriage per se but the nature of certain magisterial pronouncements.If you really want to start the millionth discussion on gay marriage, I would say that if Catholics really want to start a fight to restore some seriousness to our common cultural understanding of marriage, they should begin by criticizing the current fairly meaningless notion of civil HETEROSEXUAL marriage. Of course, extending it to other groups of people is an indirect endorsement of such faulty notion, which to me does not make much sense. At the end of the day, as cultural and social collapse accelerate this whole controversy will look like a semi-comical episode, but at least the Church should witness to the truth as she sees it.
Carlo,When the biblical authors and even the medieval doctors of the Church were writing, people's understanding of the world about them was still at a primative stage. The popular understanding of biological and medical science at that time, was that rats, mice and flies were spontaneously generated from trash and filth.In the 18th and 19th centuries, people believed that devasting cholera epidemics ere caused by breathing bad air. Before the 1800's we had no sense of the vast scale of anthropological time. Nothing about early humanity was known until old skulls were discovered in Belgium in 1829.It was not until 1857, that is was announced that human bones found in Germany's Neandertal Valley were different from ours; they were the remains of an earlier race. The science of astronomy was at a primitative stage as well, for people believed, that the plethora of smudges of light in the sky that were not stars, were part of a close geocentric sphere. It was the numerous branches of science that cleared these mysteries up. And science has gone on delving into the heart of matter itself and into the deepest reaches of space. But our values remained rooted in the philosophies, religious traditions and ethical structures constructed one or two thousand years ago. Our religious views and theologies were firmly set before anyone knew the world was a globe. They reflect how we understood the world when we did not understand the world. According to scientist Carl Safina, "our economis, religiious and ethical institutions ride antique notion too narrow to transport what we've learned about how life really works. Our theology hasn't assimilated the last century's breakthroughs: that all life is realted by lineage, by flows of energy, and by cycles of water, carbon, and nitrogen. Resources are finite, and creatures are fragile."It is a wonderful thing that many of our outstanding theologians today have a very strong background in science---e.g. evolution, as well as in theology. We can see that Christ comes from the heart of creation, rather than from outside of it. Christ came to re-connect us to our true nature in creation instead of saving us from our 'sinful nature' caused by original sin (as Augustine saw it).
Little Bear:as a working scientist myself I love science, but it certainly does not shed much light on mysteries such as the identity of Adam and Eve or the nature of original sin.If I may tease you a bit, your first paragraph seems to be taken straight out of Comte, while your last paragraph sounds like Teilhard De Chardin. To any connoisseur of the history of Catholicism in the XX century, this fusion of Comte and Teihlard is highly symbolic of the intellectual trajectory of a certain strand of left-wing Catholicism.
+ Vigano knows corruption and injustice when he sees it. It was for seeing those things at the Vatican that he was removed from his lofty post there and promoted to his present one here. I think he is doing nothing more than lamenting the fact that so many Catholic laity apparently owe their first allegiance to a political party that embraces without reservation evils regarded as intrinsic by the teaching church. On these pages we regularly find the well educated articulating thoroughly secular views on issues such as pro "choice" and gay marriage while dismissing those who question such views as intellectual troglydites. Pope Ratzinger is surely not beyond criticism, but his mind is sharp and well honed by the disputations of scholarship. But his views--unlike those who merely claim the Catholic faith--include as a primary reference point the Gospel tradition. Vigano is his envoy in the US and is himself no intellectual slouch. Thanks for your opinion, Archbishop.
The Archbishop really should come straight out and say "American Catholics shouldn't vote Democrat", if that,in fact, is what he meant. Why all of the coyness?
the state can accommodate the wayward desires of heterosexuals, but it must carefully guard against every accommodation of homosexual desire.Matthew,The state is not sanctioning adultery, it just chooses not to criminalize it. Gay marriage is asking for official approbation which is distinctly different. Also, adultery and divorce attack marriage from the inside, while the gay marriage concept is an attack from the outside.
The other question I have is: how does the Archbishop's blanket criticism of the Democratic party and, by extension, this Administration, further diplomatic relations between the US and the Holy See? Isn't he supposed to be the Vatican's ambassador to the US?
Bruce,Your first point is a good one. Your second point, not so much.Adultery does not attack marriage "from the inside," whatever that might mean. I could be wrong here, but it seems to me that such talk of "inside" and "outside" attacks is really about what is inside or outside our own experience. People "like us" are responsible for adultery and divorce; we can even imagine being responsible for them ourselves. But homosexuality, that's someone else's problem.But to your good point. The distinction you're getting at is real and important, and it may be decisive. The question, however, is whether our nonconfessional state is, or ought to be, in the position of granting "official approbation" to any sexual relationshipand whether it needs to do so in order to allow people to marry. In other words, is permission to marry the same thing as approval?The natural-law argument against same-sex marriage is that the state can't allow two people of the same sex to get married because that just isn't what marriage is. Advocates of same-sex marriage reply that it's up to us to decide what marriage will be for us now: the definition of marriage, like that of any other social institution, may change from one time or place to another. The natural-law team responds that while certain things about the institution may have changed over history, other things have notbecause they couldn't without evacuating marriage of its basic meaning. They say the state ought to grant its official approbation only to traditional marriage because of its interest in the welfare of children. And in response to this response, a critic may reply: Then why doesn't the state forget about marriage and concern itself only with households in which children are being raised? Leave the rest to the privacy of consenting adults and their elective communities. For legal purposes, one could designate anyonespouse, sibling, or close friendas one's "partner." Individuals can decide what counts as marriage for them just as they now decide what counts as friendship (which has as much social weight as marriage in some societies).And on and on the argument goes. The important thing to notice is that the most persuasive arguments in such a controversy may not be the best ones. But in politics it doesn't matter if one's arguments are better if they aren't persuasive, or even intelligible, to most of one's fellow citizens. The best argument against same-sex marriagethe one that doesn't boil down to bigotryis also an argument against divorce and deliberately childless marriages, and the natural lawyers aren't about to win that one. You can lament that state of affairs but there's no point in denying it.
Right on, Irene Baldwin. Archbishop Vigano is an ambassador of the Vatican head of state (Pope) to the U.S. head of state (President). It seems to me that his not so subtle political comments against this administration are not helpful to his diplomatic function to foster peaceful relations between states.Interestingly, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. has another function that I think is unique among ambassadors to the U.S. He is the point-of-contact between a specific group in the U.S., the Catholic hierarchy in America, and the Pope. Cardinal Dolan was one of the secretaries to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. (1987-1992). So he knows how things work in there.I suspect that there are some back room negotiations going on between Archbishop Vigano and Cardinal Dolan. Perhaps their paths crossed when Cardinal Dolan was Rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome (1994-2001).
what is inside or outside our own experienceMatthew,I was actually thinking of inside or outside in the context of marriage as an institution as understood by the Church. So divorce is an attack on marriage by insiders, i.e. participants, similarly adultery defined where at least one party is married; while gay marriage is an attack by outsiders i.e. would be participants.I think your comment about households with children would be a workable solution but it presents an 'ex ante' 'ex post' problem. That is, the child forces the parents into a commitment which society (I'll assume) requires after the fact. Thats a kind of enslavement (forced decision) which the marriage first solution makes voluntary and explicit.Finally, I would note that gay marriage is essentially allowing any two people to claim they are 'partners'. There is no external way for outsiders to observe whether the relationship is sexual other than a verbal claim by the participants, who may or may not lie, unlike a heterosexual relationship where children are observable by all. I've often thought that were I in college again, I might 'marry' one of my roommates to take advantage of the benefits afforded to married students. Then just 'divorce' when those circumstances were no longer favorable or wanted. I suppose 'no-fault divorce' affords a similar opportunity now, but I personally think its more difficult to convince an opposite-sex friend to game the system than it would be a friend of the same sex. But who knows...
"The natural-law argument against same-sex marriage is that the state cant allow two people of the same sex to get married because thats just not what marriage is." The natural law team needs to take a refresher course on natural law. What does "thats just not what marriage is" have to do with reason planning action so that good may be done and evil avoided? With protecting life, doing what accords with our physical nature, and doing what accords with our rational nature? With being guided toward those behaviors which can move us to happiness through the love of God and fellow creatures in charity? Bupkis.
I am so glad to learn that "the magisteruim regards them (abortion and same-sex marriage) as mortal wounds to our shared social life) while adultery clearly is not, ......"Now if someone will show me how 2 people loving each other and wanting legal recognition of their relationship "wounds our shared social life" and adultery clearly does not.I'll speculate (and am willing to be proven wrong) that adultery harms and causes more heterosexual marriages to dissolve than does same-sex marriage. But that might be simply "prudential" of me.For a law to be "natural" it has to be clearly justifiable by reason to those who see and experience it. In this day and age, the natural law argument against same-sex marriage is not clearly justifiable by reason to a large number of people throughout the world, including a substantial percentage of Catholics in the U.S.
Ill speculate (and am willing to be proven wrong) that adultery harms and causes more heterosexual marriages to dissolve than does same-sex marriage.Jim,I totally agree with you, but that is no argument for same-sex marriage. In fact, its completely irrelevant.
Why do we have diplomatic relations with the Holy See anyway? I think it encourages a confusion of spiritual and temporal matters. As a state, the Vatican is insignificant. As a religion, the See of Peter is highly significant. I think a web of official state relations confuses the relationships. This nuncio is here as a representative of the government of the Vatican. But how common is it for ambassadors to tell citizens of another country how to vote? He says this legitimately under his religious hat, not his diplomatic hat. But he wears his diplomatic hay to say it.
What does thats just not what marriage is have to do with reason planning action so that good may be done and evil avoided?Jeanne,If marriage is conjugal and procreative, then any relationship which on its face fails those requirements, but attempts to mimic marriage, is by definition evil, because it is claiming a truth which it is not. Conforming our will to Truth is good and the opposite is evil. We do not get a vote on what accords with our nature; that is determined by our Creator. And our fallen nature means we can get it wrong by following our desires or misinformed reason.
I suppose it would not have suited Archbishop Vigan's case to mention, along with the martyrdoms of Thomas More and John Fisher, the hundreds of Protestants burned at the stake for heresy when Roman Catholicism was temporarily reestablished in England under Mary Tudor. Those included at least one pregnant woman and her presumably heretical fetus, an instance in which respect for life from conception to natural death was dishonored at both ends.The archbishop gives the game away with this narrow definition: "Religious freedom is the exercise of fidelity to God and His Holy Church without compromise." Does he really believe that that is the whole of it? Is there no religious freedom for non-Catholics? What of those people who, right or wrong, wish to enjoy freedom from religion? It is headshakingly absurd to see these men grumbling on about loss of religious liberty in the country that has been the Catholic Church's happiest home. Under the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment, it is free to worship and evangelize and carry on its works of mercy as it sees fit; under the non-establishment clause, it is preserved from its worst totalitarian instincts. And when disputes do arise, they are referred to a judicial system that has always treated the claims of religion with great respect, while still giving a fair hearing to competing interests.
Carlo,Teilhard de Chardin is a hero of mine. I do believe that he was given the shaft by the Vatican---and eventually it will rue the day that it did.What is considered a certain 'left-wing strand' of Catholicism here in America is considered the medium by many in Europe.
Bruce, if you want to make up your own version of natural law, then what you say is true. But that's not the natural law that's a part of the Catholic intellectual tradition as fleshed out by Thomas Aquinas. I think we need to pay attention to the real thing, and be guided by it.
Thanks, Peter. I'm guessing that the Archbishop is not familiar with the norms of sarcasm in blog post titles. Still, it looks like I can cross "getting chastised in public by a Papal Nuncio" off my bucket list.
doing what accords with our physical nature,Jeanne,per your natural law quote above, the physical nature of sex is about procreation and that makes in male-female.
"In order to respond affirmatively to this call, religious freedom is essential."This statement by the archbishop reflects the problem with the church as empire. While we hope that laws will be just that was not the track taken by Jesus who was crucified by the state. The examples of our lives is what makes us followers of Jesus not philosophical treatises. Plato and Aristotle, who are given too much credence by theologians would have thought Jesus a complete fool. The bishops shamelessly, "Underline this Archbishop) chose one party over the other. The archbishop chimed in disgracefully by mocking social justice while reverting to one issue politics. And Cathy is quite right when she notes how the archbishop is representative of a state while pretending to defend the gospel. The Archbishop and the American bishops insistence on legislation for their apostolate is a farce. They should shed their corporate palaces and identification with the rich and stay with the gospel which is: " a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." The church thrives on the witness of its members. Not Vatican declarations.


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27 Jun 2012 6:36 AM #1
MultiGrouping and MultiGroupingSummary
I have an implementation of the Grouping and GroupingSummary extensions with support for multiple groupers.
All the files needed are attached.
The code has been kept as unmodified as possible compared to the original features.
The files attached are.
- A patch for the Store.aggregate function that executes the aggregation function for every group level.
- A couple of patches for AbstractSummary as explained in this post: http://www.sencha.com/forum/showthre...fixes&p=836776
- An improvement for Summary to allow showing the summary above or below the grid content.
- A patch to avoid that the Summary feature interferes with the MultiGrouping feature. Using {%this.recursive = true%}{[this.recurse(values)]} in the MultiGrouping template allows this patch to detect recursive calls and not modify them.
- A patch for Summary to stop using different parameters for summaryRenderer and use the same that are used in the standard renderer function. It will now call summaryRenderer or renderer if summaryRenderer is not set and summaryType is not false.
- A patch for Summary to store the total values using the column dataIndex instead of the column id.
Works exactly the same as Grouping but supports multiple groups in the store.
A new pair of events are fired at the view: enablegrouping and disablegrouping.
A couple of bugs have been fixed:
startCollapsed didn't work quite well.
groupchange events were not fired properly.
some html markup that was not needed has been removed.
Known issues: Modifications of the store are not fully supported: the new events onAdd, onUpdate and onRemove have not been modified to work with multiple groups. I still have to work on those, but for not modifiable stores it's not needed (that's why it's not done yet) .
A new method printGroupSummary has been added to avoid conflicts with the Summary feature, so both can work together, MultiGroupingSummary will print summaries for groups and Summary should print the summary for the whole grid.
It can be modified but the default behavior is to show the calculated totals for every group in its header row, instead of adding a new one.
It can be modified but if the last level of grouping has only one child row, that row is removed and the group is made not expandable (the data of the child is still shown in the group summary so the child is removed to avoid having two row with the exact same information).
It uses the same modifications added to the Summary feature to use the same type functions for renderer and summaryRenderer and to save the data using the dataIndex instead of the column id.
I think that's all I hope you find it useful.
Of course any bugs you find or improvements, please report them so I can fix them.
Update 2012/09/21: New you can set startCollapsed with the depth level.
startCollapsed: true is equivalent to startCollapsed: 0
startCollapsed: 1 will expand the first level and collapse everything else.
Last edited by ExTriqui; 21 Sep 2012 at 2:54 AM. Reason: Fixed a bug with icons
27 Jun 2012 6:41 AM #2
Thank you for the contribution!
8 Aug 2012 4:05 AM #3
Great function works perfect for my application.
The css has been changed for 4.1.1 though
the plus and minus image are not rendered correctly,
I changed the css to:
.x-grid-group-hd .x-grid-group-title { background:transparent no-repeat 0 -1px; background-image: url(http://cdn.sencha.io/ext-4.1.1-gpl/resources/themes/images/default/grid/group-collapse.gif); padding: 0 0 0 14px; } .x-grid-group-title { background-image: none; padding: 0px; } /* line 510, ../themes/stylesheets/ext4/default/widgets/_grid.scss */ .x-grid-group-hd-collapsed .x-grid-group-title { background-image: url(http://cdn.sencha.io/ext-4.1.1-gpl/resources/themes/images/default/grid/group-expand.gif); } .x-grid-group-no-expand .x-grid-group-title { background-image: none !important; } /* Decoration only not need for multigrouping */ .x-grid-group-hd.group-depth-0 .x-grid-group-title { color: black; font-size: 12px; }
furthermore on line 894 of MultiGrouping.js you say if a group has one record it should not bij expandable, not sure about the thought behind this decission but for my application I want to show the rows of the group even if it has only one row. I changed it to the following code:
group.children = group.records; if (group.children.length == 0) { group.noExpandCls = me.noExpandCls; me.getGroupRows(group, [], preppedRecords, fullWidth); } else { me.getGroupRows(group, records, preppedRecords, fullWidth); }
To integrate the multigroup I defined the groupers in my store. In the features part of the grid I defined it like this.
features: [ { ftype: 'multigrouping', groupHeaderTpl: 'Subject: {name}', }],
I'm not sure how to use multiple templates. The firstgroup and secondgroup should have different templates, how can you identify which group is used in your template?
Thank you for the function!
10 Aug 2012 4:51 AM #4
I have updated the code to work with version 4.1.1.
bwelting, glad you find it useful. Regarding your comments.
The css has been changed and the noExpandCls has been remove and now it makes use of the new hdCollapsibleCls css class.
Regarding non expandible groups when there is only one child, it comes from the fact that following the standard behavior, having groups and summaries would result in three rows (header, row and summary) with the same data for every group with only one child. So to make the data easier to read, this extension puts the summary in the header and removes the child, resulting in only one row. This only happens for the last level though.
I have plans to make it possible to configure both these "features". So you could choose to include the summary in the header or displaying it after the children and you could choose to make the group expandable even if it has only one child.
I haven't had a lot of time to keep working on this, but I expect to revisit it soon.
I don't know what you exactly want me to explain about how to define a multigroup.
Basically you define the groupers you want to use in your store or the user selects "group by this field" in the column headers to add a new level of grouping. There is no way to remove a column from the grouping, you have to clear all groups and start adding groups again. I have not needed this, but it's something I will have to implement for sure, so I will work on this too.
Using multiple templates is not possible at this moment, but I will have a look at it. But templates are the part that gave me more headaches when writing the code.
I guess you know that you can define different styles for every group level using the group-depth-# class:Code:
.x-grid-group-hd.group-depth-0 .x-grid-group-title { ... }
Sorry for the brief answers, but I'm a bit busy.
Let me know if you have any other question or suggestion.
31 Aug 2012 2:43 AM #5
Hi, ExTriqui !
Thanks for sharing and I have some questions about this feature. I want to group by 2 fields, one inside another (in example data "departments ->seniority"). First of all, it is possible to implement it into ext-4.0.7 and how should I write groupeField?
11 Sep 2012 12:09 AM #6
Well there are little differences between 4.0.7 and 4.1.x, so I think it should work properly. Maybe you have to change some little things, but I don't think so.
Grouping with this plugin works exactly the same as the official ext plugin (only you can group by two or more columns). So in order to enable it, you only need to specify your groupers in the store.
groupField is shorthand forCode:
groupers = [{ property : groupField, direction: config.groupDir || me.groupDir }];Code:
groupers: ["departments", "seniority"]
PS: In case it doesn't work with 4.0.7, let me know and we will see what to change in order to have it working.
11 Sep 2012 10:14 PM #7
Thanks for reply, ExTriqui! But feature does not work for me. May be you can help me with that issue.
As you say, I use "groupers" instead of "groupField". But when I try to switch ftype from
features: [{ ftype:'grouping', }]
features: [{ ftype:'multigrouping', }]
TypeError: this.grid is null
o.data = record.getData(); MultiG...9951875 (line 837)
TypeError: record.getData is not a function
o.data = record.getData();
var store = Ext.create('Ext.data.Store', { storeId:'employeeStore', fields:['name', 'seniority', 'department', 'phone'], // groupField: 'department', groupers: ["departments", "seniority"], data: {'employees':[ { "name": "Michael Scott", "seniority": 7, "department": "Management", phone: '777-55-5124' }, { "name": "Dwight Schrute", "seniority": 2, "department": "Sales", phone: '777-55-5100' }, { "name": "Jim Halpert", "seniority": 3, "department": "Sales", phone: '777-78-5124' }, { "name": "Kevin Malone", "seniority": 4, "department": "Accounting", phone: '771-55-5124' }, { "name": "Angela Martin", "seniority": 5, "department": "Accounting", phone: '777-55-5124' } ]}, proxy: { type: 'memory', reader: { type: 'json', root: 'employees' } } }); Ext.create('Ext.grid.Panel', { id: 'myGrid', title: 'Employees', store: Ext.data.StoreManager.lookup('employeeStore'), columns: [ { text: 'Name', dataIndex: 'name', flex: 1 }, { text: 'Seniority', dataIndex: 'seniority', flex: 1 }, { text: 'Phone', dataIndex: 'phone', flex: 1 } ], features: [ { // ftype:'grouping', ftype:'multigrouping', groupHeaderTpl: 'Dept: {department} {phone} ({rows.length} Item{[values.rows.length > 1 ? "s" : ""]})' } ], width: 450, height: 275, renderTo: Ext.getBody() });
14 Sep 2012 9:23 PM #8
20 Sep 2012 1:05 AM #9
Cool! I was checking my code to see what I had from 4.0.7 but all I had was a non working version, the first working version I have is for 4.1.0. So it's great you made that version.
I hope some day we see this features in the official release.
20 Sep 2012 1:08 AM #10
record.getData is only available since 4.1 (http://docs.sencha.com/ext-js/4-1/#!...method-getData) so you can use the 4.0.7 version posted by azesm.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Two questions:
- One is not allowed to eat in a restroom. Does this apply to actually putting food into one's mouth or merely having food in one's mouth? If I am chewing gum and want to go to the bathroom, is it necessary to spit out the gum first?
- Would I be allowed to make a bracha with a sucking candy in my mouth? Would it be different if I moved the gum or candy to the side my mouth?


text:
McChrystal, Petraeus predecessor, releasing memoir
Posted at: 11/14/2012 4:05 PM
(AP) NEW YORK - A memoir by the man retired Gen. David Petraeus succeeded as commander of forces in Afghanistan is coming out Jan. 7.
Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal's "My Share of the Task" had been scheduled for this month but was delayed because security clearance was still needed from the government.
The 58-year-old McChrystal stepped down in 2010 after a Rolling Stone article quoted him and his associates making unflattering remarks about Obama administration officials.
McChrystal's publisher is Penguin Group (USA), which also released the Petraeus biography "All In." Biographer Paula Broadwell allegedly had an affair with Petreaus, who recently resigned as CIA director.
Penguin spokeswoman Christy D'Agostini declined to comment Friday on specific contents of the book. She did say McChrystal and Petraeus have "been colleagues and friends" for decades.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


text:
I tried to find copyright information about music lyrics, but it is too confusing, because it is related to the usage.
There are lots of websites providing lyrics, but it seems they are somehow illegal (though no complaint against them). Most of them put copyright notice that the copyright holder is the owner, and some indicates that the lyrics have been contributed by users (probably claiming that it has not been copied from the commercial CD).
However, the case of copyright for published materials like books is more serious. Consider a book about music, is it needed to obtain copyright permission for including a song lyrics?
It is popular to translate the lyrics of a singer to another language, and the final book contains the original lyrics and its translation?
Is copyright permission needed, or it is treated as a referenced materials (no need for copyright permission as we are referring to/citing the original world). Moreover, the main part of a song is its music rather than lyrics.


text:
He summons a wolf thing often and I have some spare potions I could give to him, but I'm not sure if it would be any use.
I have never seen or heard of a follower using any potions. Logically, I understand why they wouldn't, too. Followers are typically used as pack mules, so if you ask them to hold your rare and valuable potion, you don't want them drinking it to combat a pair of bandits.
Marcuro (destruction Mage) will go binge drinking on any magicka potions you leave in his supply. Only give him some before a big fight because he will rain lightning on every rabbit he comes across...
I had the Serana follower equipped with a Vigorous Magika Potion.. and sure enough, she gobbled it up in a fight I had with a Frost Dragon. So yes, I can confirm that followers do eat health/magika potions, but I don't think they touch the buff potions. I'm not sure about Stamina potions.


text:
In the server console I tried
kill <playername>
But I get
[INFO] You must specify which player you wish to perform this action on.
Is this even possible?
In the server console I tried
But I get
Is this even possible?
Is not a OP command but a player command to commit suicide so it can only apply to the one who use it. (Source)
But... if your server is running on Bukkit, you could install Essentials plugin and the you'll be able to use the command
and a lot of other useful stuff that every server moderator should have. But if you are not on bukkit or any modded server then why don't you
so the player will be teleported to you and then just kill him :D
One thing that you can do is simply do
The only drawback is that the player's items will disappear entirely if you do this. However, depending on the circumstances, it sometimes is still good enough.
For Minecraft >=1.5:
You can put the "instant damage" potion effect on the player using the
This gives "instant damage" effect (id
Since each level deals 3 hearts of damage, amplifier of
Exceptions where this method don't work: when the player is in creative mode, or the player has a
Note that when the player has a level 5 resistance effect, the player is immune to most (if not all) damages. That means even falling into the void and/or executing
You can try the following commands (in client or SSP):
After executing these commands you should still be alive but not dead.
Though, you can still "attempt" to remove the "resistance" effect by the following command before attempting to kill the player:
Sources: Minecraft Wiki - Commands and Status effect
The simplest way to kill some one is to teleport them over lava
You have to be in the game to kill anyone without any plugins.
You can install the Butcher plugin which allows you to kill mobs and other players from the console.
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?


text:
Basically I boiled a turkey carcass on Thanksgiving night for about an hour. I then turned off the heat and left the lid on (never took it off). Since then it has been sitting on my stove for the last three days. I popped off the lid just now and everything smelled fine. I believe I've heard that food prepared and stored in this manner will keep for quite a while without spoiling. Is this true?
If both foodstuff and cooking vessel are heated fully and tightly sealed, you may sterilize them well enough to delay spoilage. It is not safe to rely on this, because it is easy to compromise the seal. You can't be sure the lid of the pot got hot enough to sterilize it too, and escaping steam will open the lid slightly, allowing outside air in. Once contaminated, warm broth and meat are a perfect growth medium for bacteria.
The safer approach is opt for fast cooling in an ice water bath with the lid off to allow steam to escape, followed by prompt refrigeration. This gets the food out of the temperature danger zone (40-140F) where bacteria multiply rapidly, and doesn't rely on maintaining a sterile environment in your pot.
Sous vide cooking is an exception: with a sealed bag, you're recreating Louis Pasteur's famous proof of the germ theory. In his experiments, he sealed boiled broth in containers that prevented dust particles (carrying microorganisms) from contaminating them. The sealed containers did not spoil. Of course, this ignores the problem of botulism: the spores aren't killed, even at a full boil, and can then germinate and start to multiply. This (and similar pathogens) are why sous vide foods do not have infinite shelf life in their bags.
No. It is more likely to be a petri dish than safe to eat. Leaving the lid on does not keep microbes from re-entering the environment once it has cooled.


text:
29 Aug 2012 7:28 AM #11
29 Aug 2012 7:57 AM #12
Ha! Hello. Yes, I'm here. The Sencha.io team is quite large. Chris and Jason answer most of the forum questions now.
We're all working away on the next release, which includes fixes for all known issues.
29 Aug 2012 8:02 AM #13
@dpwilson Yesterday one of the servers failed which caused app/group creation to fail. It was going very slowly, rather than not working at all, so we didn't notice until the evening. I fixed it last night.
The next release is built on all new infrastructure, which is much more resilient to failures like these.


text:
Two men died after being shot in Lake Worth on Wednesday evening, deputies said.
All 14 gunshots were caught on tape by a surveillance camera near the shooting in the 100 block of South F Street at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.
More From WPBF: Email alerts | Mobile | Social
Both victims were flown to Delray Medical Center, where they died.
Deputies have not released the victims' identities.
Deputies were searching for the shooter Wednesday night.
It's not clear what prompted the shooting.
No other information was immediately available.


text:
We all know that $2^5$ means $2\times 2\times 2\times 2\times 2 = 32$, but what does $2^\pi$ mean? How is it possible to calculate that without using a calculator? I am really curious about this, so please let me know what you think.
We all know that $2^5$ means $2\times 2\times 2\times 2\times 2 = 32$, but what does $2^\pi$ mean? How is it possible to calculate that without using a calculator? I am really curious about this, so please let me know what you think.
This is easier to answer if you use $8$ instead of $2$. What does $8^{1/3}$ mean? It means you multiply by $8$ one-third of one time, and that means you do something that, if done three times, amounts to multiplication by $8$. If you multiply by $2$ three times, you've multiplied by $8$. Therefore multiplying by $8$ one-third of one time is multiplying by $2$.
With $2^x$ instead of $8^x$, the idea is the same but the numbers are messy.
This leaves the question: What is $8^x$ if $x$ is not a rational number like $1/3$? The function $x\mapsto 8^x$ is monotone: as $x$ gets bigger, so does $8^x$. That means $8^x$ is bigger than $8^r$ when $r$ is any rational number less than $x$, and $8^x$ is less than $8^r$ when $r$ is any rational number bigger than $x$. That's enough to narrow down $8^x$ to just one number.
When $x \in \mathbb{N}$
You were probably taught that "exponentiation is repeated multiplication":
$$b^x = \underbrace{b\times b\times b\times\ldots\times b}_{x\text{ times}}$$
From this simple definition, you can observe two properties:
For example:
We can then definite exponentation over more general sets of numbers in a way that these two properties continue to hold.
When $x \in \mathbb{Z}$
From the above rule for addition of exponents, we obtain a rule for subtraction of exponents: $b^{x - y} = {b^x \over b^y}$, because then $b^{(x - y) + y} = b^{x-y} \cdot b^y = {b^x \over b^y} \cdot b^y = b^x$ as expected. This lets us expand the domain of exponents to include zero and negative integers:
$$b^0 = b^{y-y} = {b^y \over b^y} = 1,\; b \ne 0$$ $$b^{-y} = b^{0-y} = {b^0 \over b^y} = {1 \over b^y},\; b \ne 0$$
When $x \in \mathbb{Q}$
If you assume that the multiplicate property of exponents holds for rationals, then $\left(b^{1 \over n}\right)^n = b^{{1 \over n} \cdot n} = b^1 = b$. So $b^{1 \over n}$ is a number whose $n$th power is $b$. In other words,
$$b^{1 \over n} = \sqrt[n]{b},\; b \ge 0$$
And $b^{m \over n} = \left(b^{1 \over n}\right)^m = (\sqrt[n]{b})^m$.
For example, $4096^{5/12} = \left(\sqrt[12]{4096}\right)^5 = 2^5 = 32$.
When $x \in \mathbb{R}$
I still haven't answered your question of what $2^\pi$ means. But at this point, we can calculate $2^x$ for $x$ aribitrarily close to $\pi$.
As $x$ approaches $\pi$, $2^x$ approaches a limit, which is approximately $8.824977827076287$. For the sake of making $2^x$ continuous, we define $2^{\pi}$ to be equal to this limit.
(Note that there's nothing special about decimal fractions. I could have used the sequence $[3, {22 \over 7}, {333 \over 106}, {355 \over 113}, \ldots ]$ of best rational approximations, but that would have been less obvious.)
However, taking the trillionth root of huge powers of a number isn't very practical for calculation. A more useful method is to use logarithms.
$\log_c y$ is defined as the number $x$ such that $c^x = y$. From the two basic properties of exponentation, you can obtain the identities:
And from the latter, you get $$b^x = c^{x \cdot \log_c b}.$$ This means that if you have an exponential and logarithm function for one value of $c$, you can calculate them for any value for $b$.
Typical choice of $c$ are:
So, if you wanted to calculate $2^{\pi}$, you'd actually calculate $10^{\pi \cdot \log_{10} 2}$ or $e^{\pi \cdot \ln 2}$. And that would typically be done with the assistance of a logarithm table or a slide rule.
When $x \in \mathbb{C}$
In Calculus, you'll learn about Taylor series, and the well-known ones for $e^x$, sine and cosine:
What happens when you plug $x = i \theta$ into the Taylor series for $e^x$?
$e^{i \theta} = 1 + i \theta + \frac{(i \theta)^2}{2} + \frac{(i \theta)^3}{6} + \frac{(i \theta)^4}{24} + \frac{(i \theta)^5}{120} + \frac{(i \theta)^6}{720} + \frac{(i \theta)^7}{5040} + \frac{(i \theta)^8}{40320} + \cdots$$
$$= 1 + i \theta + i^2 \frac{\theta^2}{2} + i^3 \frac{\theta^3}{6} + i^4 \frac{\theta^4}{24} + i^5 \frac{\theta^5}{120} + i^6 \frac{\theta^6}{720} + i^7 \frac{\theta^7}{5040} + i^8 \frac{\theta^8}{40320} + \cdots$$
$$= 1 + i \theta - \frac{\theta^2}{2} - i \frac{\theta^3}{6} + \frac{\theta^4}{24} + i \frac{\theta^5}{120} - \frac{\theta^6}{720} - i \frac{\theta^7}{5040} + \frac{\theta^8}{40320} + \cdots$$
$$= (1 - \frac{\theta^2}{2} + \frac{\theta^4}{24} - \frac{\theta^6}{720} + \frac{\theta^8}{40320} - \dots) + i (\theta - \frac{\theta^3}{6} + \frac{\theta^5}{120} - \frac{\theta^7}{5040} + \cdots)$$
$$= \cos\theta + i \sin\theta $$
This is called Euler's formula, and it lets us extend exponentiation to the complex numbers:
$$e^{x+iy} = e^x \cdot e^{iy} = e^x (\cos{y} + i \sin{y})$$
$f(x) = 2^x$ is the unique increasing real-valued function that satisfies $f(1)=2$ and $f(x+y) = f(x)f(y)$ for all $x,y \in \mathbb{R}$.
You can first define $2^r$ for rational numbers $r$: if $r = p/q$ where $p$ and $q$ are integers and $q > 0$, $2^r = (2^p)^{1/q}$ is the $q$'th root of $2^p$. It turns out that with this definition, $2^r$ is an increasing, continuous function of $r$. You can then define $2^x$ for any real number $x$ as the limit of $2^{r_n}$ for a sequence of rational numbers $r_n$ with limit $x$.
From the "formal mathematics" point of view, one could argue that you are asking the wrong question. The right question to ask may be "What is $\log 2$?", which in turn leads to the question "What is $\log x$?" Let me explain what I mean, and why these questions are related to your question.
Formally, we define $\log x$ as an integral: $$\log x := \int_1^x \frac{1}{t} dt$$ so that $\log 2$ is just the area under $f(t)=\frac{1}{t}$ between $t=1$ and $t=2$. From this definition, one can prove all the properties that one expects from $\log x$. For instance:
Since $\log x$ is continuous and strictly increasing in its domain, the function $\log x$ is invertible, and we define $e^x$ as the inverse function of $\log x$, so that $e^{\log x} = x$, for any $x>0$, and $\log e^x = x$, for any real number $x$.
Now that we have defined $\log x$ (in terms of areas under $1/t$) and we have defined $e^x$ (as the inverse function to $\log x$), we can talk about $2^5$: $$2^5 = e^{\log 2^5} = (e^{5\log 2})$$ and the same works for any real number $\alpha$: $$2^\alpha = e^{\log 2^\alpha} = e^{\alpha\log 2}.$$ If we use the fact that $e^x$ is the inverse function of $\log x$, and the definition of $\log$ in terms of areas, we reach the conclusion that:
Think of it this way:
$2^5 = 2^1 \cdot 2^1 \cdot 2^1 \cdot 2^1 \cdot 2^1 = 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 2 = 32$
because of the property that $a^b \cdot a^c = a^{b+c}$
Now examine $2^{\pi}$
$2^{\pi} = 2^{3.1415926535...} = 2^1 \cdot 2^1 \cdot 2^1 \cdot 2^{.1415926535...} \approx 8 \cdot \sqrt[7]2 \approx 8.8249778...$
For any power (aside from zero), if it is negative flip the term over (reciprocal), take the whole terms out as powers, and think of any remaining decimals as 'roots.'
Euler's identity would be another use of exponents outside of integers as there are some complex numbers used in the identity. Euler's formula explains how to evaluate such values which does help in some cases to evaluate the function.
If this helps:
For all n:
$$2^n=e^{n\log 2}$$
This is a smooth function that is defined everywhere.
Another way to think about this (in a more straightforward manner then others described): We know
Then say, for example, $b=c=1/2$. Then we have:
Thus $a^{1/2}=\sqrt{a}$ is a number that equals $a$ when multiplied by itself.
Now we can find the value of (for some p and q), $a^{p/q}$. We know:
Other exponents may be derived similarly.
We assume that $\mathbb{R}$ is constructed using equivalence classes of rational Cauchy-sequences and $\alpha^\frac{1}{n}$ is defined as the unique non-negative solution of $x^n = \alpha$, where $\alpha$ is non-negative. For rational $a=\frac{p}{q}$, $p,q \in \mathbb{Z}$, $2^a$ is defined by $(2^\frac{1}{q})^p$. We first show that $2^a$ from $\mathbb{Q}$ to $\mathbb{R}$ is a strictly increasing function. Take $a,b\in\mathbb{Q}$, $a<b$. Then $a = \frac{p_1}{q_1}$, $q_1 > 0$ and $b = \frac{p_2}{q_2}$, $q_2 > 0$, where $p_i,q_i\in \mathbb{Z}$. The following lines are equivalent \begin{eqnarray} 2^a & < & 2^b \\ 2^\frac{p_1}{q_1} & < & 2^\frac{p_2}{q_2} \\ (2^\frac{1}{q_1 q_2})^{p_1 q_2} & < & (2^\frac{1}{q_1 q_2})^{p_2 q_1} \\ p_1 q_2 & < & p_2 q_1 \\ \frac{p_1}{q_1} & < & \frac{p_2}{q_2} \\ a & < & b \ . \end{eqnarray} The fourth line is the definition of the ordering relation $<$ in $\mathbb{Q}$. Hence $2^a$ is strictly increasing. Take now any Cauchy-sequence $\{a_n\}_{n = 0}^\infty \subset \mathbb{Q}$. Because $a_n$ is a Cauchy-sequence, it is bounded and there is an integer $m$ s.t. $a_{n_k} < m$. Assume that $2^\frac{1}{j}$ does not converge to $1$ as $j \rightarrow \infty$. The sequence is decreasing and bounded below. It has a limit. Note that the limit cannot be reached because the sequence is strictly decreasing. Let the limit be $\beta > 1$. Then we have $2^\frac{1}{j} > \beta$ for every $j \in \mathbb{Z}^+$. We can now estimate \begin{eqnarray} 2 = x_j^j > \beta^j \rightarrow \infty \ , \end{eqnarray} that is a contradiction. Hence \begin{equation} \lim_{j \rightarrow \infty} 2^\frac{1}{j} = 1 \ . \end{equation} We next estimate the sequence $a_n$. Choose $\epsilon > 0$. Choose $j \in \mathbb{Z}^+$ s.t. $ 2^m (2^\frac{1}{j} - 1) < \epsilon$. Choose $N \in \mathbb{N}$ s.t. $k,l>N$ implies $|a_k-a_l| < \frac{1}{j}$. We estimate \begin{eqnarray} |2^{a_k}-2^{a_l}| & = & 0 < \epsilon \ \ , \ a_k = a_l \ , \\ |2^{a_k}-2^{a_l}| & = & 2^{a_l} (2^{a_k-a_l} - 1) < 2^m (2^\frac{1}{j}-1) < \epsilon \ \ , \ a_k > a_l \ , \\ |2^{a_k}-2^{a_l}| & = & 2^{a_l}-2^{a_k} = 2^{a_k} (2^{a_l-a_k} - 1) < 2^m (2^\frac{1}{j}-1) < \epsilon \ \ , \ a_k < a_l \ . \end{eqnarray} Hence $2^{a_k}$ is a Cauchy-sequence and it converges to a limit. Continuity of $2^a$ can be shown as follows. Assume that $a_n$ converges to a limit $a\in\mathbb{Q}$. Then replace $a_l$ by $a$ in estimates and obtain the definition of convergence.
We define \begin{equation} 2^x = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} 2^{a_n} \ . \end{equation}


text:
I'm (perhaps) an 'early intermediate' pianist. Are there any Vaughan Williams pieces I could look at that I have a reasonable chance of being able to play? Wikipedia suggests that I may be out of luck due to a complete absence of solo piano, but I'm not inclined to assume that it's 100% correct.
Here is a list of his keyboard works.
There's one called "Six Teaching Pieces," and I found a youtube video of someone playing one of the movements from it. Does it sound like it's within your ability level?
You might also want to have a look at some of his songs for voice and piano. In many of them, the piano accompaniment is not too difficult, and the piano doubles the voice, so it's "complete" as a "Song Without Words." (For example, his Three Poems by Whitman aren't too complex.)


text:
Akbarian S, Huang HS. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of altered GAD1/GAD67 expression in schizophrenia and related disorders. Brain Res Rev. 2006 Sep ; 52(2):293-304. Pubmed Abstract
Akbarian S, Huang HS. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of altered GAD1/GAD67 expression in schizophrenia and related disorders. Brain Res Rev. 2006 Sep ; 52(2):293-304. Pubmed Abstract
The evidence is becoming overwhelming that the GABA system disturbances are a critical hallmark of schizophrenia. The data indicate that these processes are present across different brain regions, albeit with some notable differences in the exact genes affected. Synthesizing the observations from the recent scientific reports strongly suggest that the observed GABA system disturbances arise as a result of complex genetic-epigenetic-environmental-adaptational events. While we currently do not understand the nature of these interactions, it is clear that this will become a major focus of translational neuroscience over the next several years, including dissecting the pathophysiology of these events using in vitro and in vivo experimental models.
View all comments by Karoly Mirnics
Related News: Genetics, Expression Profiling Support GABA Deficits in Schizophrenia
Comment by: Schahram Akbarian
Submitted 26 June 2007
Posted 26 June 2007
I recommend the Primary Papers
The three papers discussed in the above News article are the most recent to imply dysregulation of the cortical GABAergic system in schizophrenia and related disease. Each paper adds a new twist to the story—molecular changes in the hippocampus of schizophrenia and bipolar subjects show striking differences dependent on layer and subregion (Benes et al), and in prefrontal cortex, there is mounting evidence that changes in the "GABA-transcriptome" affect certain subtypes of inhibitory interneurons (Hashimoto et al). The polymorphisms in the GAD1/GAD67 (GABA synthesis) gene which Straub el al. identified as genetic modifiers for cognitive performance and as schizophrenia risk factors will undoubtedly spur further interest in the field; it will be interesting to find out in future studies whether these genetic variants determine the longitudinal course/outcome of the disease, treatment response etc etc.
View all comments by Schahram Akbarian


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9 Rules for Keeping Your Teen Driver Safe
7 of 10
Lead By Example
Do not use your cell phone for calls or texts when driving — these are both leading distractions and causes for crashes among teen drivers. Remind your teen to keep his hands off the center of the wheel and feet off the dashboard. In the event of airbag deployment, having hands and feet in this position can result in serious bodily harm.
Next: Wear a Seat Belt


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September 10, 2013. Modern brain imaging has allowed researchers to start mapping networks of brain areas that carry out different tasks (for review, see Bressler and Menon, 2010). Of particular interest to schizophrenia researchers is the "salience network," which is thought to monitor a person's immediate needs, select the stimuli most relevant to those needs, and feed them to the "central executive network" for further processing to ultimately guide behavior. These two networks do not appear to talk to each other as they should in schizophrenia, and two recent studies focus the blame for this on a key component of the salience network, the insular cortex.
By tracking the timing of brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in people at rest, the two studies find a breakdown in how the anterior insula shapes activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)—a key member of the central executive network—in schizophrenia. Though fMRI studies often focus on functional connectivity between brain regions, as measured by simultaneous activity in any two regions, these studies examined "effective connectivity," which measures how activity in one region precedes or predicts activity in another region.
The first study, led by Lauren Moran of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore and published online April 25 in Biological Psychiatry, focused on selected brain regions and found that, in schizophrenia, the right anterior insula did not modulate the central executive network as it should. The second study, led by Lena Palaniyappan in collaboration with Peter Liddle at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and published August 21 in Neuron, found much the same thing, but through a more agnostic, brainwide approach. Not only did the anterior insula fail to influence the DLPFC in schizophrenia as it did in controls, but feedback from the DLPFC to the anterior insula was also weaker than normal.
"This story is evolving rapidly and in an exciting direction," said Angus MacDonald, SRF advisor and researcher at the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the studies. "There is specificity of the relationships as demonstrated by convergence of these studies."
The findings suggest a central role for the insula in schizophrenia. Though structural and functional anomalies in the insula are consistently found in the disorder (e.g., Ellison-Wright et al., 2008), these often take a back seat to findings in frontal or temporal regions. The two new studies suggest that well-known frontal dysfunctions in schizophrenia could stem from weak connections with the anterior insula.
The findings also bolster the idea that schizophrenia's pathology involves disrupted interactions between large-scale networks within the brain. Disruptions in how networks communicate with each other in schizophrenia first emerged in studies of the default-mode network, a collection of brain regions activated when a person is resting quietly and suppressed when one is doing a task. In schizophrenia, this network is not adequately suppressed during tasks, suggesting a difficulty in disengagement from an introspective state (see SRF related news story).
The new research suggests this may be due to problems with the insula-containing salience network, which normally orchestrates the switch between the default-mode network and the central executive network, which enables task performance (Menon and Uddin, 2010). Consistent with this, another recent study found decreased functional connectivity within the anterior insula in schizophrenia, and this correlated with disturbed interactions between the salience network and the central executive network, as well as with severity of negative symptoms (Manoliu et al., 2013).
"The problem is not simply in one of these networks, but rather in the switching between the two networks," Palaniyappan told SRF. "This is revealing because we know that people with schizophrenia find it very difficult to switch between their internal representations, and they find it hard to process external information as well."
Centered on salience
"These studies build on and modify the leading hypothesis of this time, which, in my opinion, is aberrant salience," MacDonald wrote to SRF. The aberrant salience hypothesis of schizophrenia proposes that faulty dopamine signals incorrectly assign importance to innocuous elements of a person's experience (Kapur, 2003), thus producing the disordered thinking and delusions of psychosis. The new findings may be seen as a brain network-based extension of this, in that a malfunctioning salience network does not flag the most relevant things in a person's environment.
"The insula takes in signals from every part of the body and creates a kind of neuronal readiness to orient to the most appropriate things," Palaniyappan said. For example, hunger signals from the gut would create a neuronal readiness in the brain to pay attention to any sign of food that might come along. Problems with this state of readiness, which Palaniyappan calls "proximal salience," would mean that the things that matter most to people's well being would not necessarily capture their attention.
Broken switch
Although effective connectivity requires looking at the timing of activations across the brain, the poor temporal resolution of fMRI precludes any firm conclusions about which area directly drives another. Nevertheless, researchers can get a sense of the direction of information flow between them.
In the Biological Psychiatry study, first author Moran and colleagues found a reduced outflow of activity from the right dorsal anterior insula. Based on brain activity measured in 44 people with schizophrenia and 44 healthy controls, the results were the same for two methods of measuring effective connectivity. In controls, activity in the anterior insula was followed by robust activity in regions belonging to the central executive network, including the DLPFC, as well as in regions of the default-mode network, including the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the lateral parietal cortex. In schizophrenia, however, activity in the anterior insula did not switch these networks on. Specifically, the usual follow-up activity in the DLPFC, PCC, and lateral parietal cortex did not emerge.
As in previous studies of inter-network connectivity, these results came from people asked to simply rest in the scanner. This raises questions for some about how to interpret any differences found in brain activity in people with a mental illness, who may experience the scanner differently (Buckner et al., 2013). Moran's study also measured brain activity while study participants were engaged in a sustained attention task, which might engage the brains of both groups more similarly. Even then, reductions in anterior insula outflow were found in schizophrenia compared to controls, particularly to the default-mode network, and these correlated with task performance.
Loop failure
In the Neuron study, first author Palaniyappan and colleagues imaged brain activity in 38 people with schizophrenia and 35 healthy controls while they rested. To find the region that was maximally influenced by right anterior insula activity, the researchers compared right anterior insula activity in one scan with activity in all brain voxels in the next scan, taken 2.5 seconds later. For both controls and people with schizophrenia, the DLPFC turned up as a region whose activity correlated with earlier anterior insula activity; in the schizophrenia group, however, this correlation was weaker than in controls, indicating that the anterior insula had a weaker than usual influence on the DLPFC. When the researchers looked across the brain for neural repercussions of DLPFC activity, the anterior insula turned up: In both groups, its activity was negatively correlated with earlier DLPFC activity (indicating a decrease in activity following DLPFC activity), but in schizophrenia, this correlation was weaker.
These data suggest that the right anterior insula and the DLPFC do not exert normal levels of control over each other in schizophrenia. This disruption may be a core feature of the disorder, as a measure of the extent of this "loop failure" varied with illness severity but not with antipsychotic dosage.
Palaniyappan noted that the resting-state paradigm he used avoids performance-related differences in brain activity that might occur between the two groups. Still, he said he expected a complementary task-based study would give a more pronounced effect than what was found here.
The researchers also reported a decrease in influence from the visual cortex onto the anterior insula in schizophrenia compared to controls. This suggests a chain reaction: The visual cortex doesn't send enough signals to the insula, the insula doesn't send enough signals to the frontal cortex, and the frontal cortex does not provide the usual feedback to the insula. Though all correlational, the results recall bottom-up theories of schizophrenia in which impaired sensory processing brings about its complex symptoms (Javitt, 2009, and see SRF related news story).
The new results put the insula at the center of a model of information processing in schizophrenia that can be further tested with methods such as magnetoencephalography (MEG), which better captures the timing of brain activations, or other task-based schemes. The intertwined nature of the insula and frontal cortex suggests that modulating one, possibly through non-invasive stimulation methods, may rehabilitate the other. The results highlight the interconnected nature of the brain and make steps toward understanding which connections matter to schizophrenia.—Michele Solis.
Moran LV, Tagamets MA, Sampath H, O'Donnell A, Stein EA, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Disruption of anterior insula modulation of large-scale brain networks in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Sep 15;74(6):467-74. Abstract
Palaniyappan L, Simmonite M, White TP, Liddle EB, Liddle PF. Neural primacy of the salience processing system in schizophrenia. Neuron. 2013 August; 79: 814-828. Abstract
PRIMARY PAPERSNeural primacy of the salience processing system in schizophrenia.Disruption of anterior insula modulation of large-scale brain networks in schizophrenia.
RELATED NEWSDeconstructing Negative Symptoms in SchizophreniaDefault Mode Network Acts Up in SchizophreniaDelusions Linked to Bottom-Up and Top-Down ProcessesCorticostriatal Connectivity Predicts Antipsychotic ResponseMental Illnesses Share Common Brain Changes


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I have a United Airlines flight this week and I would love to listen to an Audio book for the duration. Unfortunately my only working pair of headphones are bluetooth. I've looked on United's web page for prohibited items but see nothing about bluetooth devices. Does anyone know if bluetooth is banned on United flights?
Technically, they are not permitted in-flight. Bluetooth is a form of wireless communication, and all wireless communication is banned during airborne operations by the FCC and the FAA.
As mentioned by @AnkurBanerjee in this post, FAA Advisory Circular 91.21-1B covers this regulation.
My advice in either case get yourself a pair of wired headphones if you are travelling by plane because while not on the list of forbidden devices the flight crew can ask you to turn them off anyway they have this discretion.
Yes. Short-range Bluetooth devices including typical headphones, keyboards and mice have been allowed on flights for some time. (Probably since airlines began to provide and sell Wi-Fi internet access.) There have been recent developments that expanded the use of personal electronic devices, Wi-Fi, and short-range Bluetooth during all phases of flight.
The FAA news items below discusses this expanded use but makes mention of both previous and continued allowed use of short-range Bluetooth devices.
I've not been able to find specific documents regarding individual airline policies around short-range Bluetooth, but I would imagine any airline that provides Wi-Fi internet connections during flight should have personnel that allow short-range Bluetooth devices.
It should be noted that particular airlines, aircraft or even individual personnel on a particular flight may not be fully informed of the latest procedures and the finer points involved in the guidelines. There may be different policies on flights that do not provide Wi-Fi internet connections.
While it may be possible to provide airline and plane-specific documentation to plead your case, it might ultimately be best to respect the airline employee's instructions.
There are some Bluetooth devices that have abnormally longer-range capability so it might pay to verify that your device falls in the short-range category (generally 10-15 meters or a bit more than 30 feet maximum). It is fairly safe to say most popular Bluetooth devices are short-range.
I should also mention that contemporary devices should allow you to set the device in airplane mode (which turns off all cellular and wireless communication features) but then selectively re-enable separate features that are allowed, like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
My children got bluetooth headphone for Christmas. I just called Southwest airlines and was told that they will be allowed to use them on the flight as long as they are connected only to an iPod or MP3. They are not allowed if they are hooked up to a phone. So I will have to use my wired ones, but they can use the bluetooth ones if they choose.
According to eHow.com (but there is no reference to airline/regulation organisation), you CAN use Bluetooth devices on a plane. It just has to be AFTER they say you can use electronic devices (i.e. not when taking off and landing).
Just to be safe, you could get a pair that support both Bluetooth and a wired connection like the Tenqa REMXD Bluetooth Headphones:
No problem with bluetooth transmitting devices (including headphones), except the obvious switching off during landing and takeoff.
I've been able to use mine, without objection, on several flights (United and others...).
Bluetooth headsets are generally allowed, just not during takeoff and landing. Since they only transmit signal within a few metres, and on a different frequency range than the plane equipment, they don't interact with the equipment and are perfectly safe.


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WEIRTON - A third-quarter scoring burst combined with near-perfect free throw shooting down the stretch helped Brooke's girls earn a 55-46 victory over Weir High Thursday.
Three Lady Bruins reached double figures (two recorded double-doubles) as Ryan Scherich's club won its third straight and earned the season sweep over the Red Riders.
Weir, which celebrated Senior Night at the Carl Hamill Fieldhouse, appeared to take control with a 9-0 scoring run late in the second quarter. Senior Raven Young ignited the rally with a triple and four consecutive makes from the line. Another senior, Kayla Lemley, contributed the other points.
Article Photos
MAKING A PASS — Weir High senior Kayla Lemley makes a pass during the second half of Thursday's 55-46 win by the Brooke Bruins.
-- Fred Younce
LOOKING — Brooke's Angela Staffileno looks to make a pass against Weir's Shelva Burns during Thursday's 55-46 win by the Bruins.
-- Fred Younce
That run allowed Bill Smith's squad to grab a 26-21 advantage at the intermission. Both the teams shot the ball well during the second stanza, Weir hitting six of 12 and Brooke seven of 14. The Bruins had 10 first half field goals compared to nine for the Riders. The hosts used six free throw conversions to build their lead.
Brooke then exploded to start the third stanza, sinking its first four shots. Freshmen Paige Farmer got things going with back-to-back hoops. Marena Cline scored following a Weir turnover and Michaela Hinerman converted a second Rider miscue into points. The burst put the Lady Bruins ahead to stay at 29-26.
To its credit, Weir would hang tough. Two Young free tosses pulled the hosts to within two (35-33) heading into the final eight minutes.
Early in the final stanza, Brooke's outstanding sophomore Angela Staffilino drew her fourth foul and headed to the bench. Instead of faltering, the Lady Bruins actually extended their lead to seven as Hinerman drained one from behind the arc and Emily Stuck scored following an offensive rebound.
Young answered with her second three-ball of the evening. That's when Brooke went to work from the line.
Hinerman swished a pair with 4:23 to go. Her trip to the line was Brooke's first of the contest. Farmer then made two and Staffilino followed. The Lady Bruins hoisted 14 free throws during the frame and made 13. Staffilino's final pair of makes put Brooke up by 10 at 56-46.
"That's probably the best they have played all year," Scherich said of his Bruins. "They looked like a team tonight. They were calm, they moved the ball well and they got what they wanted for about the first five minutes of the third quarter. We got a little erratic for a minute or so but settled down. They did a nice job tonight."
After committing 16 first half turnovers, the Bruins were guilty of just six during the final two periods.
The Brooke coach also praised his unit for its performance during the fourth quarter stretch when Staffilino was on the bench.
"Angela fouled out late in our last game, but we were able to get the win," he pointed out. "I think they still had confidence from that experience and we were even able to extend the lead."
Staffilino took game scoring honors with 20 (she was six for six from the line) and hauled down 15 of Brooke's 46 rebounds. In addition, she blocked six Weir shots.
Hinerman, who was a perfect four of four of the stripe, added 14. Farmer ended with 10 and grabbed 10 missed shots.
"She's coming along," Scherich noted of Farmer. "She has come a long way. We had three girls in double figures and when you get scoring like that you should be able to win games. That's big getting a performance like that from a freshman."
He added Brooke has "been shooting real well from the line in the last couple of games."
"Angela has made 23 of her last 23, she was 17 for 17 in our last game," Scherich said.
Weir was paced in scoring by two seniors, playing their final game on the home floor. Young tallied 14 and recorded six steals. Shelva Burns recorded her 20th career double-double, getting 13 points and 10 boards. Alyssa Shingle contributed 10.
"They just outhustled us," Smith noted. "They outrebounded us (46-28), they made shots when they had to make them and they made their foul shots going down the stretch. Hat's off to them. They played harder over a longer period of time than we did."
Both teams will enter tournament play next week. Brooke, 4-17, will travel to Parkersburg South Wednesday for Class AAA action. The tip is set for 7 p.m.
Weir, 9-11, has a Monday date in East Fairmont. The Class AA sectional game will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Smith did salute his four seniors (Young, Burns, Lemley and Taylor Long) for "contributing so much to our program for the last four years."
"They gave us all they could give us," he pointed out. "I am proud of them and wish them well as they move on."
Brooke, 55, Weir 46
Brooke 6 15 14 20 - 55
Weir 8 18 7 13 - 46
BROOKE (4-17): Cline 3 1-2 7; Farmer 4 2-2 10; Fowler 0 0-0 0; Alotbell 0 0-0 0; Hinerman 4 4-4 14; Duffy 0 0-0 0; Stuck 2 0-0 4; Preston 0 0-0 0; D'Ulisse 0 0-0 0; Staffilino 7 6-6 20. TOTALS: 20 13-14 55. 3-pointers: Hinerman (2); Rebounds: 46 (Staffilino 15, Farmer 10); Turnovers: 22.
WEIR (9-11): Young 3 6-6 14; Stead 1 2-4 5; Shingle 4 0-0 10; Robinson 0 0-0 0; Lemley 2 0-0 4; Burns 6 1-8 13; 3 1-2 8; Dalrymple 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 9-18 46. 3-pointers: Stead, Shingle (2), Young (2); Rebounds 28 (Burns 10); Turnovers: 17.


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I was wondering if:
- it's OK to post these (properly tagged as 'puzzle's of course), knowing that it's not a 'real question' in the sense that the one who asks (usually) knows the answer?
- others would be interested?
@Rob Cooper:
- the 'puzzle' tag (or some other...) could be used just to identify these questions I guess, so that it would be clear to everyone;
- is there really always a need to pick a 'best answer'? Note that lots of questions being asked are quite subjective in nature, and do not have any 'best answer'...


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I continue to be uplifted by the energy, talent, and commitment to student success that I see coming from all corners of our college. I am constantly touched and inspired when I talk with students who are serious, hardworking, and dedicated to their own success, against untold life challenges.
At MCC, we have a strong focus on teaching and learning in every physical or virtual classroom, with a continuous commitment to updating and enhancing the learning experience. Over the past three years, we have enriched and expanded student support services. I encourage new and returning students to take advantage of these services.
We actively embrace and foster success for employees, and we strive to be a good community partner supporting initiatives that align with the purposes and responsibilities of being a nationally respected community college. To live up to the expectations the community places on our institution, we are ever more mindful of the importance of an open, candid, and timely flow of information and support to our students and to our internal and external communities.
As we enter a new academic year, we face new challenges and we embrace new hopes. We will continue to work hard to enhance the excellence we have achieved in so many areas. We will continue to work smarter because of fewer resources allocated by the state and lower property tax revenues. We will also continue to tackle difficult issues such as meeting the needs of students who for whatever reasons come to MCC underprepared for college success. Challenges bring new thinking and new initiatives. We are dedicated to ensuring success for our students, our employees and our community. I believe this is what makes Mesa Community College a great community college.
Shouan Pan, Ph.D.
mesacc.edu | 480-461-7000 | © 2016 Mesa Community College | A Maricopa Community College
The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is an EEO/AA institution and an equal opportunity employer of protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.


text:
RX pot bill snubs war veterans suffering from PTSD
A Granite State Poll conducted earlier in February found that 79% of New Hampshire adults support allowing doctors to recommend marijuana for patients suffering from serious illnesses.
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Discovery Store: 25% off Staff Picks
Use code PICKS25 through December 8.
3 Comments add a comment
Anybody have a free shipping code so I don't have to spend $100?
@cat31302: AFFSHIP75 cuts it down to $75. Every little bit helps, right?
Says on the bottom of the screen on the discovery site "$1.99 flat shipping with code flatship"


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I have a paper I am trying to submit to a journal, but my advisor is unable to get it to compile on his computer. He has Windows XP.
It compiles on my Mac, and I also compiled it on Windows Vista (downloaded
ProTeXt, which includes MiKTeX 2.9, as well as the
IEEEtran.sty file since it wasn't included) and it worked on Vista,
but when we try it on XP, we get a
No appropriate script or program found: epstopdf for the epstopdf script. I don't understand; it is the exact same installation of
ProTeXt that I used. Googling reveals that it may have something to do with security or script execution?
We'd love to use LaTeX but we're thinking about going back to Word. It works much better and doesn't have all these weird problems :P


text: I have drawn plenty of fairies in my day, and even though when I think that there are enough lessons on the site, I get more requests to make other tutorials on these little fantasy creatures from lore. For my next tutorial request, I will be showing you "how to draw a fairy girl", step by step. She is a beautiful fairy that has an attractive pose. Her look is simple, and her style is sweet. The green tones represent an earth fairy, and her long hair just adds to her beauty. Even though I have drawn plenty of pixies, and fairies, I still had good fun with this sketch. I chose to draw her in a side pose because I feel that is the simplest way to show others "how to draw a fairy girl" too. When you're done with your drawing, you can choose what types of shades you would like your fairy girl to be colored in. Finding words to say about another fairy is sort of difficult. That is why I won't say another word. Instead I will let you have fun with this tutorial on drawing a fairy girl, step by step. I hope she is everything you ever wanted in a fairy.


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This is my first foray in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. You may remember that I made my own raisin bread recipe, but it is made from white flour. This is a 100% whole wheat recipe that it so tasty it is rather like eating cake. The boys absolutely love it and kick off their day with a nice hearty slice for breakfast. I will warn you that it does take 2 days to make, but it is totally worth it. Letting the dough sit brings out the flavour of the grain and makes for a softer and tastier loaf. The recipe calls for an egg, so I used a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water. Let sit for a few mins, then whisk until thickened). You can find the recipe here.
UPDATE: I kept wondering why I had to add way more flour to the dough than Reinhart calls for. Instead of elastic and kneadable, the dough was wet and sticky. Now, you will notice in the pic above that you can't see many raisins in the raisin bread. That's because the raisins are put in the soaker. When they are kneaded into the final dough, they break down, upping the moisture content in the dough, and making it more sticky. So, to solve that problem, I made the following adjustments.
- Add only 1/4 cup of raisins to the soaker.
- Optional: add 1 tbsp of wheat gluten to the biga.
Final Dough:
- Soak remaining 3/4 cup of raisins in hot water for 15 mins while you mix the other ingredients and bring together the dough. Drain and dry raisins, then sprinkle with flour. Gently knead into the dough and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
This is my first foray in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. You may remember that I made my own raisin bread recipe, but it is made from white flour. This is a 100% whole wheat recipe that it so tasty it is rather like eating cake. The boys absolutely love it and kick off their day with a nice hearty slice for breakfast. I will warn you that it does take 2 days to make, but it is totally worth it. Letting the dough sit brings out the flavour of the grain and makes for a softer and tastier loaf. The recipe calls for an egg, so I used a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water. Let sit for a few mins, then whisk until thickened). You can find the recipe here.
29 comments:
- Run Saraah said...
That looks amazing! I love raisin bread as a treat but haven't seen 100% WW before...time to make it myself!
Thanks for the link.
- March 3, 2009 at 8:40 PM
- carrie said...
Oh, I am so making this for my daughter to eat for breakfast. Sounds like a lovely "treat" for the morning. What did you use to replace the egg that is called for??
- March 3, 2009 at 9:07 PM
- Sue H said...
It looks wonderful, may I ask, what did you substitute for the egg?
- March 3, 2009 at 9:24 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
I just revised the post. I used a flax egg.
- March 3, 2009 at 9:25 PM
- Meg said...
Yeah. I love cinnamon raisin bread. I will try it with flax egg too!
- March 3, 2009 at 9:41 PM
- Eating Consciously said...
what a hearty breakfast!
- March 3, 2009 at 10:00 PM
- fauxpas said...
Vegan Dad, you are a joy and inspiration!
- March 3, 2009 at 10:21 PM
- Chantal said...
Wow! Looks better than in the original book :) I've always struggled to veganize breads. Thanks for the motivation!
- March 3, 2009 at 11:26 PM
- DJ Karma said...
Was wondering if you've ever tried whole wheat white flour? I just got some, but haven't tried it yet. That bread looks delicious!
- March 3, 2009 at 11:49 PM
- DJ said...
That looks delicious - it's nice to have a bit of variety for the kids for breakfast, this is worth a look!
- March 4, 2009 at 6:33 AM
- Kiersten said...
I have that book too. I haven't tried the cinnamon-raisin bread recipe yet but it's on my list. I think it's a really good book, but sometimes it drives me a little crazy that most of the recipes take 2 days to make.
- March 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
- veggie belly said...
the swirls in the bread look great!
- March 4, 2009 at 10:57 AM
- Kelly said...
That looks delicious. I have some downtime this weekend so I may have to bake a loaf. Cinnamon Raisin Bread is a particular favorite of mine and one that I've been meaning to make. The fact that it is whole grain makes it even better.
- March 4, 2009 at 11:43 AM
- Bianca said...
Oh super! I only eat whole grain breads at home (I'll eat white when eating out), so I'll bookmark this recipe. I love a good cinnamon raisin bread!
- March 4, 2009 at 4:21 PM
- Laci said...
I love Vermont company cinnamon raisin bread (or anything cinnamon!) but this looks so homemade, fluffy and decadent! I made my own yeast bread recently too, just a nice big whole wheat loaf! :)
- March 4, 2009 at 5:14 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
DJ Karma,
I have not used white whole wheat yet. From what I understand, it's made from white wheat instead traditional red wheat. I'm not sure if it acts the same way, or if there is any benefit to using it other than colour.
- March 5, 2009 at 8:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thank you :) I tried to search your blog before I asked and couldn't find rasin bread...guess what I will be doing...T
- March 5, 2009 at 11:11 PM
- Anonymous said...
I made this yesterday and it turned out good. I had a gap in my spiral (didn't roll it tightly enough, I guess) but it tasted wonderful and my kids enjoyed it. I am trying to wean my family, especially my husband, off of so much white flour bread. Thanks for suggesting the recipe!
- March 6, 2009 at 1:14 AM
- JohnP said...
I love this recipe so much! It's been too long since I made it - may have to start a batch this weekend...
- March 6, 2009 at 7:18 PM
- Anonymous said...
Awesome looking Bread !!!!
2 Questions though: DO you use a bread maker ever and if yes, which brand do you own??
ii) My bread maker bakes a giant 2lb loaf, so I was thinking to just make dough the bread maker and then bake it in the oven....did you ever try that??
As a special thanks for all the inspiration you have provided throughout the years, I small gift for you...
- March 8, 2009 at 4:40 PM
- Rachey said...
I just tried the bread, but I think I had a yeast confusion... I guess instant and active dry are not the same because mine ended up just as dense as every other whole wheat loaf I make... also took forever to rise :( I'm really trying for a lighter loaf... maybe I should add gluten to the dough? maybe (as DJ Karma suggested) using white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour would result in a fluffier end product... hmmm.
for the record, it tastes amazing, even if it is quite heavy.
- March 9, 2009 at 9:18 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
This is a pretty serious loaf of bread, so don't expect anything too fluffy. First, instant yeast is different because you can add it straight to the flour without dissolving it in water first (like with active dry). Second, I find I need to let it rise longer that the recipe specifies (possibly because its so freakin' cold here). And, yes, some gluten will help your bread rise more.
- March 9, 2009 at 9:47 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
I have never used a bread maker, but my father in law makes the dough in his and bakes it in the oven all the time. It won't really work for this recipe, tought.
- March 9, 2009 at 9:48 PM
- Jen said...
Best raisin bread ever it is so good :)
- March 17, 2009 at 4:14 PM
- russ said...
I've been attempting to make sourdough type bread for the last couple of weeks, and I've been finding it always ends up quite a sticky dough. As soon as I cave, and add more flour to make it easier to kneed, the bread comes out very dry/heavy, and the one time I continued with the sticky wet dough, it came out better.
A tasty low-gluten non-crumbly loaf is my goal, but I guess I've got a lot to learn about bread! Have you tried any sourdough rye breads that have come out well?
- March 17, 2009 at 7:02 PM
- dreaminitvegan said...
This looks perfect! As a kid, my dad and I always ate raisin bread. I haven't had it for years. I can't wait to have a go at it.
- March 18, 2009 at 11:29 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
I have had zero luck with sourdough. Spectacular failure every time.
- March 24, 2009 at 11:14 AM
- VeganLinda said...
My husband made this tonight and he followed your changes (except I think he added a bit more gluten). It tastes wonderful, but the middle falls out when you cut it. Is this a problem with rolling?
- December 29, 2009 at 8:58 PM
- Vegan Dad said...
Try to roll as tight as possible, but remember that the dough really won't bind together like it usually does because it is separated by the filling.
- January 1, 2010 at 9:11 PM