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What does it take to be a world champion? A little bit of luck, certainly. A whole heap of talent, for sure. But above all, it takes preparation: physical, mental and mechanical. That, most of all, is the lesson of Jorge Lorenzo's 2012 MotoGP championship. The 2010 champion came better prepared to the title chase, and ground down his opponents with his sheer consistency.
Lorenzo's assault on the 2012 championship started in Yamaha's racing department in 2011. The new 1000cc M1 may have been visually almost identical to the 800cc 2011 machine, but beneath the similarities was a very different machine. Yamaha's engineers had made the bike longer to cope with the extra torque and horsepower, and completely redesigned the engine to cope with the new rules. Modified electronics improved traction, while better wheelie control meant the bike lost less time in acceleration. The improved wheelie control alone cut a tenth of a second from the lap time.
It was obvious to Lorenzo that the 2012 bike would be competitive as soon as he rode it for the first time during the post-race test at Brno in August 2011. Where on the 800cc bike, he had been nearly half a second slower than Casey Stoner during Sunday's race, the day after, on the 1000cc M1, he was immediately within a tenth of the Australian on the Repsol Honda. Yamaha had done their homework, and Lorenzo knew that the rest was down to him.
Lorenzo's own preparation began during the winter of 2011. Knowing that the additional power and weight of the 1000cc bikes would make different demands on the rider, he focused his training on coping with that. At the Sepang tests in February, while the rest of the grid sat in their garages waiting for the sweltering afternoon heat in the tropics to subside, Lorenzo was pounding out the laps, running full race simulations to test his endurance and the behavior of the bike. He wanted to be sure he was ready for the first race of the year in Qatar. He was not as fast as Casey Stoner during preseason testing, but he knew he could be competitive.
His dedication did not go unnoticed. Nicky Hayden: "This winter, we got to the Jerez test after being in Malaysia for two tests, and me and Filippo Preziosi were talking about something, saying Casey this, Casey that, and I said I think if I had to pick a champion, I thought Lorenzo was the favorite." Why did Hayden have Lorenzo pegged as the favorite for the 2012 title back in February? "Even in the winter in Malaysia when we were testing, when it was hot in the afternoon and most people were staying in the box, he was out doing really long runs. Some people talked about long runs, but he was doing full race simulations, and it was clear he was ready, he was very hungry for this title."
Lorenzo's preparation paid off immediately at Qatar. After the flag dropped, the first race of the season started to play out as many - including myself - had expected. Casey Stoner's preseason speed on the Honda saw him edge away from the Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, opening a gap of over two seconds by the halfway mark. But then the tide turned: Stoner's progress stopped, and he slowly fell back into the clutches of Lorenzo. Arm pump had struck the Australian, and caused his pace to slow, by half a second at first, then by over a second a lap. Lorenzo was prepared, and cruised to victory. "You saw it in the first few races," Lorenzo's team manager Wilco Zeelenberg explained. "What were Casey and Dani complaining of? Arm pump. Jorge was ready, he knew the 1000s would put more strain on his arms."
Beating Stoner at a track he has traditionally dominated at gave Lorenzo a mental boost. More importantly, ending the race in great shape while his main title rivals had struggled confirmed to him that his approach to the season was paying off. It gave him the confidence to accept the two defeats which followed - at Jerez and Estoril - without losing his focus. Both times, he ended 2nd to Casey Stoner, but both times, he was close enough to be in contention, and he left Portugal just a solitary point behind Stoner in the championship race.
He seized control of the championship again at Le Mans, with an imperious display of wet weather riding that saw him win by a country mile. His victory in France was a demonstration not just of his preparation, but of the strength of the team that surrounds him. On Sunday morning during the warm up in the soaking rain, Lorenzo was two thirds of a second slower than Casey Stoner. He came in complaining of problems getting his Yamaha M1 into the corner, the rear of the bike breaking away. Wilco Zeelenberg, who had been watching from track side, talked to both Lorenzo and his crew chief Ramon Forcada and told them that everyone was having the same problem, with the rear breaking away in the wet conditions, and that actually, Lorenzo was much faster than the rest on corner entry. Where Lorenzo was losing out was on corner exit, Zeelenberg said, and Forcada set about helping Lorenzo get the bike upright more quickly so he could get on the gas faster. Lorenzo would win the race by nearly 10 seconds. His riding was sublime, but he had a bike that allowed him to ride with such confidence.
This same narrative would play out all throughout the year. Though Lorenzo would complain of problems after practice a number of times throughout the year, come race day, his team always gave him a bike he could win on. "The team deserve a lot of the credit, and especially Ramon [Forcada] and [Takashi] Moriyama (Lorenzo's technical engineer - MM) for giving him a bike that he felt he didn't need to come in for adjustments every three laps," Zeelenberg said of the championship. "That collaboration is so important, five years now with Ramon, four with Moriyama and I've been there for three years. It's a really strong group," Zeelenberg emphasized. Confident in his equipment, he could concentrate on finding the last few minor irritations that allowed him to get to the end of the race and still be fast.
Now firmly back in charge of the championship, Lorenzo went to Barcelona and then Silverstone and won comfortably. The Yamaha was starting to benefit from the new spec tire which had been introduced by Bridgestone from Jerez, a tire on which the Hondas were struggling badly. The tire had been tried at the official test at Jerez in March, and been voted an improvement by all of the teams except for the factory Honda riders, who complained of a lack of stability under braking. The Hondas were already struggling with chatter, a problem their riders attributed to the extra 4kg added to the minimum weight at the end of 2011, though both Stoner and Pedrosa had complained of some chatter at the first 1000cc test at Brno. With the rain that seemed to be following MotoGP around robbing the riders of dry practice time, it would take the Repsol Honda team the best part of the season before they got it sufficiently under control to be consistently competitive, though it never really went away.
Lorenzo's luck appeared to change at Assen. Lorenzo qualified on the front of the grid, with strong enough pace in practice to contend for the win, but he would not make it past the first corner. Alvaro Bautista got a fantastic start from 8th on the grid, but took his enthusiasm just a little too far. He braked far too late to make it through the Haarbocht at the end of the front straight, lost the front, and he and his Gresini Honda slammed straight into the Yamaha of Lorenzo, who had followed Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner into the first corner. Lorenzo went down, and worse, the engine of his M1 immediately started spewing smoke as it lay in the gravel. The 25-point championship lead which Lorenzo had taken to Assen was removed in one swell swoop, with Casey Stoner drawing even after winning the race.
The loss of 25 points may have been painful, but Lorenzo's biggest fear was the loss of one of the six engines each rider is allowed for each season. The engine that had gone up in smoke had been fitted to his M1 the day previously and had less than 180 km on it, a very long way short of the 2000-odd budgeted for each engine. With 11 races left to go, Lorenzo feared that this could cost him the championship if he was forced to start from pit lane. His first instinct was to go up to Race Direction to point out the injustice of losing an engine in such a situation. He was placated by the promise of one member of the four-man group which oversees the rulebook that they would look into whether the rules would allow him a new engine, as this one had been lost through no fault of his own. But the rules were mercilessly unambiguous. No exceptions, no matter what the cause. You have six engines to complete the season with, end of discussion.
While Lorenzo pinned his hopes on the clemency of Race Direction, his team, who knew better, were already planning their strategy. Even directly after the race at Assen, Wilco Zeelenberg said that he did not expect it to be an issue, and that it just meant a bit more work for the mechanics, as they would have to juggle engine usage to the end of the season, swapping out older engines with more mileage on during practice, and only replacing the engine with a newer one for qualifying and race day. Zeelenberg would prove to be right; Lorenzo made it to the end of the season with relative ease, while at Brno, Motegi and Phillip Island, Ramon Forcada and his team had more work slotting engines in and out of the bike to balance the mileage.
Lorenzo headed to Germany equal on points with Casey Stoner, but fearing that Assen had been a turning point in the season. All through practice, his fears appeared to be justified, as Lorenzo struggled to make any headway against a pair of rampant Hondas ridden by Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. On race day, things were looking even bleaker, with Stoner and Pedrosa leaving Lorenzo for dead and building up a lead of nearly 15 seconds. But fate, or perhaps an excess of ambition, intervened. After spending all race long dicing with his teammate Pedrosa, Stoner made one last bid for glory. He lunged to pass Pedrosa at the bottom of the hill, but lost the front and slid off into the gravel. Pedrosa went on to take his first win of the season, while Stoner's crash handed Lorenzo 2nd, and gave him the lead in the championship again, this time by 14 points over Dani Pedrosa. The luck which had deserted Lorenzo so badly at Assen was back, and back with a bang.
Lorenzo celebrated his change of fortunes with his best performance of the year, annihilating the field at Mugello. He exploited a minor mistake by Dani Pedrosa at the first corner, holding the tight line while Pedrosa ran wide, and then disappearing off into the distance. He rode a near-perfect race, running at a pace within a few hundredths of a second of each lap, a punishing pace which no one else could follow. He left Italy having extended his advantage even further.
At Laguna Seca, the Hondas once again shone. At tracks that go left - like the Sachsenring and Laguna - the chatter which plagued the RC213V for most of the season simply was not an issue, and Lorenzo found himself with a fight on his hands. He held off the challenge from Stoner for the first part of the race, but eventually was forced to succumb to the relentless pressure from the Australian. But despite finishing 2nd again behind Stoner, Lorenzo extended his championship lead once again, as Dani Pedrosa came in behind him in 3rd.
After the all too brief summer break, the paddock reconvened at Indianapolis. Though the second US Grand Prix would pass reasonably successfully for Jorge Lorenzo, it would nevertheless prove to be a turning point in the championship. It would end Casey Stoner's championship run, and nearly his season, as the Australian suffered a serious and very painful injury to his ankle and the base of his foot. But it also marked the point at which Dani Pedrosa went from being merely competitive to dominating the MotoGP championship. He blitzed the field at Indy - with a little help from Ben Spies' abominable luck, the Texan suffering a massive engine blow up just as he was preparing his attack on Pedrosa - and went to Brno with the bit firmly between his teeth.
All through the weekend at Brno, Pedrosa looked to have the situation in hand, until a crash early in qualifying saw him forced to fall back on his #2 bike, which suffered serious chatter issues despite being set up identically to his #1 bike, which didn't. Lorenzo's crew chief Ramon Forcada had decided to revert to a setting which they had used the very first time he rode the 1000cc M1, a year earlier at the first test of the bike. It worked brilliantly, allowing Lorenzo to smash the pole record held by Valentino Rossi since 2009, and putting him back in contention.
The race at Brno would turn into the best of the season, with two men perfectly matched in pace, and never separated by more than a few tenths of a second. It also provided a graphic example of the difference between the Honda as ridden by Dani Pedrosa and the Yamaha as ridden by Jorge Lorenzo. Where Lorenzo was smooth and natural as an eagle in flight, swooping through turn after turn effortlessly in pursuit of his prey, Pedrosa was harsh, physical and jagged, stalking like a lion and hurling his Honda about to maximize braking leverage and acceleration.
It would be decided on the last lap. Pedrosa led, but Lorenzo was on him like a shadow, waiting for a chance to pounce. The pass he would make on Pedrosa was phenomenal, sweeping underneath the Repsol Honda man in the stadium section, where Pedrosa had not expected the attack. Lorenzo came carrying more corner speed than he had any right to expect to get away with - Cal Crutchlow had said of Lorenzo earlier in the year that the data showed he should be crashing in every corner, with the amount of lean angle he was carrying - and was past Pedrosa and into the lead ahead of the crucial uphill section. There, at the bottom of what has been nicknamed Horsepower Hill, Pedrosa used the strength of the Honda to his advantage, getting better drive out of the corners and powering past Lorenzo, leaving him defenseless. Lorenzo tried one last desperate move round the outside of the penultimate corner, but it was not to be.
Despite Lorenzo's loss there, Wilco Zeelenberg nominated Brno as his high point of the season. "Funnily enough, Brno was the best race of the season for me, despite the fact that we got beat there," he said. "The move [Jorge] made in the Autodrom was phenomenal. It was totally obvious that Dani won the race in the area where they have an advantage, but in terms of fighting spirit, and tenacity, and force of will, Jorge really excelled himself."
In just two races, Jorge Lorenzo's championship lead had been slashed from 23 to 13 points. From nearly a win, to a fourth place finish. Lorenzo was using his consistency - apart from Assen, he had never finished in anything other than first or second place - to grind out a path to the championship. But Pedrosa was clearly closing; Lorenzo's Spanish rival had momentum behind him, and had become the favorite in every race he lined up at.
That pattern looked set to be repeated at Misano, with Pedrosa showing outstanding speed - once the track had dried up sufficiently to make it worth the riders' time to actually go out - during qualifying, though Lorenzo was close behind. But the second Italian race would prove to be yet another turning point in the championship, this time through a series of bizarre incidents which started with a leaking clutch cylinder.
The red lights had already come on ready to start the race at Misano, when Karel Abraham suddenly raised his hand after his Cardion AB Ducati stalled on the grid, the leaking clutch cylinder making his clutch ineffective. The start was aborted, but the chaos which ensued left the teams wondering exactly what was going on. They all rushed back out onto the grid to prepare the bikes for another wait, and in the pandemonium, a tire warmer stuck to Dani Pedrosa's carbon disk brake. When the mechanic charged with removing the tire warmer found the front wheel locked solid, the team wheeled Pedrosa's bike off the grid and into pit lane to try to fix the problem.
Once in pit lane, the front wheel unblocked itself, and Pedrosa started the warm up lap from pit lane. That meant he would have to start the race from the back of the grid, forfeiting the pole position he had worked so hard for. A great start saw him quickly work his way forward, but his progress would be stymied by Hector Barbera, making the same kind of unthinking move on Pedrosa that Alvaro Bautista had made on Lorenzo at Assen. Down they both went, and Pedrosa's chances of points were gone, along with any realistic shot at the title. With Lorenzo winning the race, the Yamaha man now had a 38-point lead in the championship.
All Pedrosa could try to do was win every race left on the calendar, a task he set about with some verve. At Aragon, Motegi and Sepang, the races followed the same pattern: Lorenzo took the lead early, with Pedrosa sitting on his tail until the halfway mark, before passing the Yamaha man with ease and opening up an unstoppable gap. Even in the downpour in Malaysia, there was no holding Pedrosa, the Honda man taking the first rain victory of his entire racing career, slaying a bogey man which had haunted him throughout his racing life.
Pedrosa's problem remained unchanged, however: the spirit-sapping, grinding consistency of Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo may have understood that winning against Pedrosa now that Honda had the chatter problems under control was almost impossible, he also knew that taking 2nd at every race would be good enough to become champion. And that's what he did, everywhere, with no one to challenge him for the position.
Pedrosa's hope lay with his teammate. Casey Stoner had returned to action at Motegi, his damaged ankle still nowhere near healed enough to be truly competitive, but determined to get some miles under his belt ahead of his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island. Stoner's ankle had slowed him at Motegi, the heavy braking and many right-hand corners taking their toll on his ankle, and his arms were suffering in an attempt to compensate. At Sepang, it was the rain which had initially spooked Stoner, the Australian fearing that another crash could leave him with permanent damage. Once he got into his rhythm, he started to close on Jorge Lorenzo, chasing him down as the rain started to fall ever more heavily. He caught the Spaniard too late to be of any help to Pedrosa: Race Direction had already red-flagged the race once Stoner reached Lorenzo's tail. The Australian would take no points off the championship leader in aid of Pedrosa's title bid.
The MotoGP circus headed to Australia for the final leg of the flyaway triple header, and the penultimate round of the series. Pedrosa's wins had seen him cut Lorenzo's lead from 38 to 23 points, and with 50 points still in play, Pedrosa still had a shot at the title, at least in theory. He now really needed help from his teammate, though he neither expected nor requested such assistance. Casey Stoner had come to Phillip Island with one goal only, to win the last MotoGP race he would ever compete in on his favorite circuit, and in front of his home crowd. As if to underline the expectations for the weekend, on Thursday, the circuit held a ceremony to rename Turn 3 "Stoner Corner". All through practice, Stoner lived up to those expectations, no one getting within half a second of the Australian's times. If Pedrosa wanted to take extra points from Lorenzo, he was going to have to do it all himself.
The Repsol Honda man gave it his best shot from the start. Lorenzo led away from the line, wanting to wrap up his second MotoGP title in style, but Pedrosa was in no mood to hang around. At the Honda hairpin, Pedrosa stuffed his RC213V inside Lorenzo's Yamaha to take the lead, and started to push as hard as he could for a gap. As they crossed the line at the end of the first lap, Stoner sliced past Lorenzo to put himself exactly where Pedrosa wanted him: between the two Spaniards, potentially taking another four valuable points from Lorenzo. But Pedrosa was having to push hard to keep Stoner behind him, and it quickly became apparent just how hard. Pedrosa ran about a foot wide going into the Honda Hairpin for the second time, just enough to end up on a piece of old, damaged tarmac with less grip than the rest. He slid out of the race, taking any hope he still had of the 2012 MotoGP title with him.
It was Dani Pedrosa's only mistake of the season, but it was a costly one. Though Casey Stoner went on to dominate the race in the same way he had dominated practice, Jorge Lorenzo once again came home in 2nd, the tenth time he finished there this season, and more than enough to wrap up his second MotoGP title. He celebrated in style, liberated, but it had been a very long and very hard slog. "This year has been even tougher than the first time I won the world title in 2010," Lorenzo told reporters afterwards. "I knew the competitors were stronger and more constant this year, so I had to be stronger and more constant than them. It was not easy, because I had to be very strong, very fast, and take a lot of risks but I didn't make a mistake. Also, Yamaha offered me a much better bike than last year. For this reason we are the best in 2012."
"I feel liberated, freed of the weight," Lorenzo had said, and it was apparent at Valencia. Stoner's win at Phillip Island meant that the three men who had tyrannized the 2012 MotoGP championship headed into the last race of the year nearly equal, on wins at least. Jorge Lorenzo had taken his six victories early in the season, while Dani Pedrosa's six wins had all come in the second half of the year. Casey Stoner's five wins had come at various stages throughout the years. The final race of the year was a matter of honor, for bragging rights for the rider with the most wins of the year. If Pedrosa won, he would at least have the consolation of having won more races than the man who took the championship from him. A win for Stoner would bring him level on victories with his two main title rivals. For Lorenzo, a victory would be a fitting end to his second world title, a crown on his season.
The difficult conditions - a wet track with a single dry line - caused everyone problems, though once again, Lorenzo and his team made the smartest choice on the grid. After the sighting lap, Lorenzo realized he would be able to run slicks, not wet tires, a change he promptly made on the grid. During the warm up lap, Dani Pedrosa followed Lorenzo around, saw his tires, and came to the same conclusion. Pedrosa came into the pits, jumped onto his dry-weather bike, and started from pit lane. Once the racing line dried out properly, Lorenzo started to push forward, leaving Andrea Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner behind him.
As riders who had started on wet tires started returning to the pits for slicks, Lorenzo's smart decision started to work against him. The Spaniard quickly began to come up against traffic, as he lapped riders who had lost time in the pits. Behind him, Pedrosa was closing rapidly, the Repsol Honda man suffering less with traffic than Lorenzo had. Determined to win, and with nothing to lose, Lorenzo closed quickly on James Ellison, the next rider ahead of him. He misjudged his closing speed and was forced to take a wider line through Turn 10, running off the dry line and onto the still wet surface. It was too much to ask of his tires, and he highsided out of the race, one of the more spectacular crashes of his career though without any serious effect. Pedrosa went on to win the race comfortably, scoring the best win tally of his career and earning bragging rights as the rider with the most wins of 2012.
Lorenzo's crash was, in an odd way, illustrative of his entire season. His team had put together a brilliant strategy, adapting to the situation quickly and cleverly. Lorenzo saw a possible advantage, and immediately tried to exploit it.
But in the previous 17 races, Lorenzo had been forced to exercise restraint, to keep one eye always on the title chase. Now he had the title already wrapped up, he could give free rein to his ambition. With less at stake, he could afford to err on the side of boldness, and take risks that might not pay off. He made a mistake, his first of the season, though in typical racer fashion he tried to lay the blame elsewhere, on Ellison in this case. At Valencia, he finally allowed himself the freedom to take a chance and make a mistake. That he did had no real bearing on his season, other than some fairly costly repair bills for Yamaha.
There were many elements that went into Lorenzo's second MotoGP World Championship. The YZR-M1 Yamaha had given him was clearly a better bike than the 800cc machine he had campaigned in 2011, meaning he could be competitive right from the very start. The bike never showed any of the chatter which had so badly plagued the Hondas, the Yamaha's chassis clearly better adapted to both the old and the new Bridgestone tires. The bike was fast all year, though Honda caught up and eventually surpassed the Yamaha by the end of the season. Yamaha's basic philosophy - make a bike which is as easy as possible to ride, helping the rider to feel comfortable while seeking out the limits of the machine - paid off once again. And the ease with which the bike both held its line and turned played into Lorenzo's strength, rewarding the smoothness of his style.
But a good bike still needs to be set up properly to get the best out of it, and the staff in Lorenzo's garage excelled themselves this year. Not once did Lorenzo start a race with a bike that was sub par. Not once did he have a bike with significant problems he had to ride around. Ramon Forcada, Takashi Moriyama and the rest of the mechanics and engineers started each weekend with a bike that worked well enough for Lorenzo to focus on setting up a bike which would last the distance, not just get around the track in one piece. Wilco Zeelenberg acted as the perfect liaison, watching Lorenzo from track side, and steering his comments where necessary based on what he saw. The balance of maturity, wisdom and experience in his garage gave Lorenzo the tools he needed to get the best out of himself.
Most of all, though, it was Lorenzo himself who earned his second world championship the hard way. It was Lorenzo who understood that racing a 1000cc MotoGP bike would not be like racing an 800cc machine with more power. The demands were different, the physical strain greater, the effort required for braking and turning greater also. He put in the hard miles in the tropical heat to prepare himself for the season, and it paid off in the first half of the season. With the maturity and experience of four seasons in MotoGP, he knew what it would take to win a championship, rather than a race. He won when he could, took second when he couldn't, and was always strong enough to fight off any challenge for second. He did not make a mistake all season, only letting himself go when there was nothing more at stake. His focus, his discipline, was second to none. In 2012, Jorge Lorenzo was the best motorcycle racer in the world.
He was also a joy to watch. His style looked effortless, sweeping through corners imperiously like a Roman general leading his troops into battle against a band of disorganized marauders. He barely moved on the bike, and the bike barely moved underneath him, yet the pace he achieved was scintillating, too hot for anyone but Pedrosa and Stoner to follow. But the smoothness of Lorenzo's style belied the effort which the Spaniard actually had to put into riding. "His style only looks effortless," Zeelenberg said. "It costs a huge amount of energy, but perhaps less than other riders. But because of this, he can find the limits more easily, can put in seven or eight laps and understand where the problems are. He does the same thing in the race, and that means he runs less risk of crashing."
Can Lorenzo repeat the achievement again next year? It looks like being an awful lot harder in 2013. The Hondas are now better sorted than before, and the change in Dani Pedrosa is palpable. Pedrosa is calmer, more focused, but also braver, fiercer, more willing to push to the very limit and take on a battle. Buoyed by his performance in 2012, Pedrosa will be a tougher man to beat next year. And then there's Marc Marquez: the rookie has been sensational in Moto2, and just gets better and better. He was already quick on a MotoGP bike, the few laps he did get to put in, and should be up to podium pace from the very first race. He is also fearless, as fearless as Marco Simoncelli was, but with the talent of a young Valentino Rossi or Casey Stoner. Marquez has all the makings of a superstar, and will ruffle Lorenzo's feathers a number of times in 2013. Lorenzo will need all the equanimity he can muster in the fact of that much aggression.
Last, but a very long way from least, there's Valentino Rossi. The former champion returns to Yamaha humbled by his experience at Ducati, but with two years of stifled ambition bursting to get out. Whether Rossi is still fast enough to pose a serious challenge against Lorenzo is as yet to be seen, but it would be foolish indeed to bet against him trying. Rossi may or may not be able to challenge for the title, but he is certain to have his eyes on a few wins. The old fox still has plenty of tricks up his sleeve, and will be pulling them all out throughout the year to try and beat Lorenzo, both on and off the track. First, beat your teammate, runs the old racing adage, and there is nothing that would give Rossi more pleasure than beating the man he regards as the Spanish usurper. The Yamaha hospitality was always a warm and welcoming place in 2012; in 2013, the temperature could get more heated at times, and positively icy at others.
No doubt Jorge Lorenzo is aware of these challenges, and will be ready to face them. Jorge Lorenzo was the best rider in the world in 2012, and will want to be the best again next year. He has the intelligence and maturity to go with his raw talent, that much he proved this season. He has the team surrounding him to defend his title successfully. But he also knows it will not be easy. If he thought 2012 was tough, just wait for 2013.
Lorenzo left himself behind
"Once the racing line dried out properly, Lorenzo started to push forward, leaving Andrea Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner behind him."
??? ;-)
Also, pray should be prey in
"... swooping through turn after turn effortlessly in pursuit of his pray ..."
Sorry to be nitpicky, but I'm sure you don't want these minor errors tainting your otherwise excellent article.
In reply to Lorenzo left himself behind by minderaser
In reply to Fixed now by David Emmett
Big, big call
"He is also fearless, as fearless as Marco Simoncelli was, but with the talent of a young Valentino Rossi or Casey Stoner."
A lot of riders have looked great in the lower classes before moving up to the top eschelon. Pedrosa was every bit as impressive as Marquez in the lower classes but in 7 seasons on a factory RCV his stats are unimpressive. Biaggi also dominated 250 but didn't quite have what it took to beat the best. Its simply too early to say Marquez has that level of talent.
In reply to Big, big call by Desh
Right idea, wrong examples ...
While reserving judgement is always prudent, and the jury is indeed still out on Marc, you could not have picked two worse examples to illustrate the idea of riders who didn't succeed in the big leagues. I'd be willing to bet that most riders, having accomplished what Pedrosa or Biaggi have in that class, would call their careers a screaming success.
In reply to Right idea, wrong examples ... by morbidelli17
I chose the most extreme examples
I could think of to illustrate that lower class success doesn't mean a rider has what it takes to beat the best in the world to titles in the top class. I could have compared him to Aoyama or Elias who also won titles on 250/Moto2, but neither have had as much hype or were really as impressive in the lower classes as Biaggi, Pedrosa and Marquez. To me the expectations of the latter 3 riders correlate better than guys like Elias, Aoyama, Melandri, Jacque etc etc. As you say though if Marquez can match the acheivements of Biaggi and Pedrosa he'll be doing very well, but that just underlines my point that to go further and compare his talent to the likes of Rossi and Stoner before he's turned a wheel in the top class is very premature. And I doubt that either Biaggi or Pedrosa would regard their respective careers in the top class as 'screaming successes'.
In reply to I chose the most extreme examples by Desh
Picking the most extreme
Picking the most extreme examples - OK, fair enough, and it makes the point.
Here's the context I was thinking about: I just heard Crutchlow talk about the deep satisfaction that the two podiums he has in two years of MotoGP gave him. And it was clear when he was saying it that he meant it - the WSBK and WSS years weren't even on his emotional radar when he was speaking. What a single MotoGP win would mean for that guy, words probably couldn't describe. To him, career stats like Biaggi's and Pedrosa's seem like something from another species.
Great write-up
For me one of the biggest deciding factors of this season was Casey Stoner. In the first half of the season he was winning or relegating Pedrosa do 3rd, while in the second part of the season, there was only Lorenzo and Pedrosa. Nobody else was close to them. Maybe the outcome would be the same with Stoner winning a lot, and relegating Pedrosa to second, but Pedrosa was also riding incredible well, so who knows.
Either way, Lorenzo had a fantastic season. His team, preparation and skills got him this well deserved championship.
Fair appraisement of GP 2012
George,as I like to call him is the consumate racer. Never takes his eye off the ball. Total commitment,dedication and integrity. His team responds in kind.
Great write up,David. Watching Lorenzo reminds me so much of Wayne Rainey and that is an absolute compliment. Mentally, he's the toughest I've seen since King Kenny back then. Well,thats to be expected having enjoyed Kenny's boot camp back then.
Pedrosa stats unimpressive??!!
If having the second highest podium rate of active riders (behind VR) and having won one more race than the champion this year is unimpressive stats; then I would really like to hear what are "impressive stats" according to your standards....
In reply to Pedrosa stats unimpressive??!! by Uppili
You are ignoring the relevant stats
Since 2006 Pedrosa has 22 wins and 0 titles to his name, despite being the lead factory Honda rider throughout that period. In the same period Stoner amassed 38 wins and two titles, despite being on a privateer bike in 2006 and Ducati until 2010. Over the same period Rossi also has more wins and two more titles than Pedrosa, and Lorenzo has more wins than Pedrosa despite being in the top class for two less years and also has two titles. Maybe unimpressive is the wrong word, I certainly think Marquez has a lot to do before he can be mentioned alongside someone like Pedrosa in terms of talent or anything else, But when you're talking about the cream of the crop Pedrosa falls short over his seven years as lead Factory Honda rider.
In reply to You are ignoring the relevant stats by Desh
You are also ignoring one stat
You forgot to include:
Number of events missed due to injury?
Number of events a rider was riding recovering from injury?
Probabily even if you take these into account Stoner will still be up, but not by the same margin.
You should paint the whole stats picture and not just the numbers that support your argument, otherwise, how about we compare Rossi's last 3 years against Pedrosa's?
Maybe to make it more fare we should also include the relation with number of wins another rider had on the same bike in the same period.
Bottom line, Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa are brilliant. Let's hope that Marquez is also and we have everyone healthy on well sorted bikes.
In reply to You are also ignoring one stat by gunbalina
No difference
And I'm not being selective with the numbers - I'm comparing their stats since they have all been racing eachother in GP, regardless of the fact Stoner wasn't on a factory bike in 06 and both Rossi and Stoner had to contend with the Ducati. And Stoner actually has 1 more DNS than Pedrosa due to illness or injury since they joined the top class in 06 - between his lactose issues and busted ankle he's spent the most time convalescent or riding unfit out of all the aliens. But Rossi also had his broken leg and wrist issues, Jorge tore ankle ligaments in a stack and missed races after losing the top of his finger in 2011.. Pedrosa's injuries occurred over a short timespan but over the full 7 year period (or 5 in Jorge's case) they even up, and he still doesn't rank alongside the other three.
In reply to No difference by Desh
Riding with injuries
These are remarkably hard to assess, and judge. Your claim that Stoner spent the longest time riding with injury is hard to prove, I think. A few examples:
- Valentino Rossi injured his shoulder in motocross accident after the Qatar race in 2010. That injury hampered him for the rest of the season, and even impeded him for the first 2 or 3 races of 2011. The tear in the ligaments connecting his shoulder was extremely serious.
- Dani Pedrosa crashed in Motegi in 2010, and had a plate fitted to his collarbone. Though that quickly fixed the problem, it also caused him to suffer the symptoms of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which hampered him through the first few races of 2011. He had surgery after Jerez to remove the plate causing the problem, but it meant riding with yet more pain. A couple of races later, he was knocked off by Marco Simoncelli and broke his collarbone again.
The point is that these riders spend a lot of their time riding with injury, probably the best part of a season. Stoner has had his share of injuries, and lost his share of time to recovery, but then so has everyone else.
In reply to Riding with injuries by David Emmett
That's true David
Though it is true that Stoner has more DNS's due to illness or injury since 2007, the 'riding handicapped' part is a lot harder to determine. How long Stoner's lactose issue were troubling him is also hard to define. But in the end the point you and I are making is the same - Pedrosa cannot really have been said to have been more or less hindered than anyone else through injury if we look at it on balance since they have been riding against eachother.
It also underlines one other thing - they're all tough sumbitches!
In reply to That's true David by Desh
Stoner's lactose problem
If I remember correctly, Stoner said he first started noticing the lactose problems around Jerez, and they got steadily worse as the season progressed. By Barcelona, he was almost incapable of lasting an entire race. Still ended up on the podium though, which is an achievement in itself!
If you wanted to try to figure out when it started, you could probably check the lap analysis PDF files from MotoGP.com's results page and try to spot the lap time declines toward the end of the race.
In reply to Stoner's lactose problem by David Emmett
I could
but then I would have to do the same for the other riders and I think it would just confirm the original point you were making, it's hard to determine!
I remember that Barcelona race well. Pedrosa has had some bad luck but you wouldn't say Stoner's been blessed by good fortune in MotoGP either. There was the lactose thing which stopped him being a contender in 09. Then there was the Laguna 08 race is rightly regarded as the turning point that year, yet it was Rossi that blinked first in that battle by running off at the corkscrew. Had he not miraculously found a grate cover off track that season could have played out quite differently.
Ben Spies has to take the award for being the least fortunate rider I can think of in Modern GP though, there again maybe he's just managed to condense all his bad luck into one season, which could actually be a good thing!
+1. I often marvel at how
I often marvel at how differently the record books would look with one crash, or one front-end save, here and there turning out differently. It's very easy to imagine VR with at least two more MotoGP titles than he has - and it's equally easy to imagine him with half the titles that he has.
In reply to +1. I often marvel at how by morbidelli17
In Rossi's case
I think it's fair to say for a good proportion of his career fortune smiled upon him. He stayed incredibly free of injury until 2010.
Overlooking the Spies Curse
Lorenzo owes a debt of gratitude to Spies. In any given season, at this level, your teammate will beat you at least a few times. Even Criville would beat Doohan from time to time. Lorenzo didn't lose a single point to his factory-backed teammate all season long. That helps - a lot. Had Stoner not raced, or had the results that Spies had, Dani would be champ.
I Don't believe this for a second
Wilco Zeelenberg explained. "What were Casey and Dani complaining of? Arm pump. Jorge was ready, he knew the 1000s would put more strain on his arms."
Does anyone really believe this to be the case? C'mon at the top level of racing in the biggest team with two title contenders who forgot to do their chin ups before the season? Or that one long hot afternoon session protects you from arm pump? Why wasn't the entire field suffering from arm pump since Jorge was the only one prepared for it?
Otherwise a pretty decent summation of the title fight of 2012. Thanks and merry Christmas to one and all. God bless you and yours.
Great content
Enough said. Thanks David!
Rewarding consistency kills the beauty of racing
Another fantastic article David. Thank you.
I will never write or say anything against the huge talent that Jorge Lorenzo is. He is a fantastic rider, gifted, consistent, disciplined and above all he is smart. Wiggysan calls him Mr. Inch Perfect and I think that´s a great description.
But the fact that avoiding DNF´s is more important these days than winning races is damaging the spectacle. I love racing since the mid 70´s and I realise rule making is not easy, but I do not enjoy a race when riders are not trying their best in order to win.
To be a champion in MotoGP you need to be outrageously fast, have one of the best two bikes available, a lot of guts and plenty of luck. But once you´re there the most important thing is not finishing out of the points. Therefore top riders will decide before or during a race whether they will try to win or just harvest as many points as possible. Lorenzo won just one of the last nine races. He was definetely not racing for wins but for points and avoiding DNF´s. Stoner and Pedrosa were racing with a different mindset and their DNF´s were simply too much in the end. 2nd and 3rd places were in the end more important than race wins in order to decide the Championship.
I´m not blaming anybody or complaining. It´s just the result of having very competitive riders who do their math.
In reply to Rewarding consistency kills the beauty of racing by Ciccio
A bit
I believe it also goes with the fact that there are only 4 bikes on the grid who can contend victory. This call for conservative racing equal 4th at the very worst. Take away Spies (incidentally from your team) and you are third. Scrap an injured Stoner and you are second.
If there were 8 bikes capable of winning .... Lorenzo could have been second anyway (I am not doubting for a split second his talent) but it would have been much harder or at least it would have required more effort or risk taking.
Next year we still have the two Hondas and the two Yamahas ... possibily with Tech3 gap from factory machines likely to increase rather than shrink (same goes for sat Hondas)
I know that at least Cal is
I know that at least Cal is concerned that the gap from the Tech III bikes to the factory bikes will be bigger.
In reply to Rewarding consistency kills the beauty of racing by Ciccio
Well you can blame the rules
Well you can blame the rules also. Rules that Honda have pushed and pushed for. They pushed for 6 engines stating a R&D exercise and a reduction in costs. Behind closed doors it's an increase in costs to get these engines to do that many KM's. It does bode well for R&D for streetbikes, for reliability sakes, at least they can make that argument to their corporate heads. The reality is Honda knows they make the most reliable motorcycle engines so pushing this gets them an advantage and believe me Honda will barter to get every advantage they can, much like Ducati in WSBK. Now Honda has pushed and got 5 engines for a season.
I bring this up because you (Ciccio) brought up the riders playing the numbers game. Well the engine rules are a numbers game too, a game for which the fans suffer for. This rule means less time on the track and less times for the fans to see X rider and bike doing circles. I think this factors into the riders playing the numbers game and was definitely a factor in Jorge's championship title. Remember, as the article pointed out, that he lost a fresh engine through no fault of his own. That played a big factor in his choices for the remainder of the season and dictated some of those teams' decisions on how to approach each race.
It was nice in the (g)old(en) days where this wasn't as much of a concern, full power Mr. Sulu, tires smoking, and sliding, and very little intervention of electronics in the fray.
Wouldn't the spectacle be vastly improved with 24-25 liters of fuel for the factory riders, 10 or more engines per season, and a ban of TC, WC, anti-spin, turn by turn mapping, and launch control? The rider would have to manage the launch at the start of the race (instead of LC with a rev limit) , the spinning of the tires, and TC would be their right wrist. Some are afraid of Valentino leaving the series. Implement what I said above, and even without Rossi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner or Marquez, you'd have your spectacle back. The spectacle returns as soon as all these electronic nannies are removed and those functions installed back in the riders' right wrists. These bikes can be designed without TC, contrary to popular belief. The current ones cannot be ridden without TC because they were completely designed around it.
Nakamoto made it clear in an interview this year prior to decisions coming forth about 2014, that the spectacle and fans are just not his concern. If this doesn't change then expect more of the same. Carmelo should have stood his ground, lost Honda, and made MotoGP like F1 where the mfr's make engines, and the teams build the bikes. Engine limits, fuel limits, tire limits, and the overabundance of rider nannies are why many say it's boring today.


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Cybele Lyle
Cybele Lyle
Dance Desert at Et al. Gallery, 2021
Looking for the sun at Artsy Viewing Room, 2020
Stay at Home at Gondola Wish, 2020
Built Environments at San Francisco State University Gallery, 2019
The Desert in Four Parts; Part 1 Between What Came Before at Et al. etc. Gallery, 2018
California-Pacific Triennial: Building As Ever at Orange County Museum of Art, 2017
Are You Me or Are You a Stranger at Recology San Francisco, 2017
Material Art Fair, 2017
bring me here, now take me away, at Et al. etc. Gallery 2016
Altered State at Oakland Museum, 2016
Adventures In Solitude at Headlands Center for the Arts, 2016
Radical Landscapes at di Rosa, 2016
Where Have All the Flowers Gone at ATA's Right Window, 2015
Personal Space at PLUG Projects, 2015
segments|partitions|intervals at Adjunct Positions, 2015
Another Place at Hunter College Art Gallery, 2014
Para-Apparatus at Kala Art Institute, 2014
The Moon Is Slowly Rising at Et al. Gallery, 2014
Pro Arts 2 x 2 Solos, 2012
The Chasm Arena at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 2014
Boxed Out at The SFAC Grove St. Gallery, 2014
Space, Time, and Architecture at Royal Nonesuch Gallery, 2012
Producing Space at Interface Gallery, 2014
Fictional/Familiar at Swarm Gallery, 2013
S.H.E.D. Projects: House Show, 2012
Placemakers at the Bemis Center, 2012
Disjecta Summer Performance Series, 2013
Space Shuttle at Krowswork, 2010
I think this is going somewhere at Queen's Nails, 2012
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict at Et al. Gallery, 2013
Untitled (Waves) at NOMA Gallery, 2011
Untitled (Shifting Headlands) at the Roxie Window, 2011
A Floorless Room without Walls at The Lab, 2011
The Last Resort at Krowswork Gallery, 2010
Some of All Parts
John T. Lyle Exhibition, 2019 (Curator)
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For years now, I've been wanting to venture into the kitchens of chefs and cooks I admire, to take a peek and to share those glimpses (and a recipe of course!) with you here. I can't imagine a better place to start than Boulette's Larder and Bouli Bar.
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to be welcomed into Amaryll's kitchen. From the crisp cool maritime light, to the steamy pots on the stove top, bushels of rosy apples, rows of copper pans of every imaginable size, and stacks of jars packed with spices, herbs, and other temptations, this place is magic.
Lori and Amaryll's quiet corner of the SF Ferry Building has become a much busier place over the past few months since they've opened their second restaurant, Bouli Bar right next door to Boulette's. I've eaten a couple of scrumptious lunches since the doors opened and I'm looking forward to many many more.
Abby, my best friend from high school - co-founder of international architecture firm Kallos Turin - designed Bouli Bar (and the quietly revamped Boulette's). She would be horrified at my gushing, but I can't help myself... the space is stunning. Another friend perfectly described Bouli Bar as modern and clean, yet jewel-like; and I have to say that the space has a freshness completely unlike any restaurant I've seen. There are cozy banquettes, warm communal tables, seating in the atrium of the bustling Ferry Building, while a beautiful brass-clad wood-fueled oven burns at the heart of Amaryll and Lori's new venture.
Both Bouli and Boulette's feel just right and the food is unbeatable. We're so lucky.
Amaryll was willing to share some cooking wisdom with me that I had to pass along to you. One of the most irresistible plates of food being served the morning I spent at Boulette's was a bowl of "corn cream" - kind of a fresh corn polenta - topped with buttery scrambled eggs, fresh lime and sea salt. Talk about comfort food!
How do we make this Corn Cream at home? I had to know. Here's the scoop...
CORN CREAM serves 2
printable recipe
- 4 ears sweet corn
- 3-4 tablespoons butter
- sea salt to taste
- optional: heavy cream
Place cut corn in a blender or food processor. Press the kernels down with a wooden spoon to help release the liquid and to make blending easier. Thoroughly puree the corn for a minute or two until frothy like a cappuccino. (You can also run the corn kernels through a juicer, if you've got one). Feel free to strain the puree through a loose sieve if you want a very smooth texture, but a coarser texture is nice as well.
Pour your puree in a saucepan with butter and a few pinches of sea salt. Warm the corn over low heat, stirring occasionally. The corn will release its starches as it cooks, thickening the puree. The cooking also brings out the natural sugars of the corn, making for an amazing naturally sweet bite.
After only 5-10 minutes of gentle cooking, your Corn Cream will be ready to eat. Feel free to add a little cream for a looser consistency. Season with additional sea salt to taste.
I can imagine endless ways to serve the sweet creamy goodness: with poached fish, sauteed greens, grilled chicken, fried eggs, seared tomatoes.... So many delicious possibilities.
Trust me, you need Corn Cream in your life.
Thank you, Amaryll.


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"Why does the Chief of Staff want to attack?" asks Uri Avnery, who morphed over the years from a member of the Israeli paramilitary Irgun to a peace activity, in a widely posted op-ed.
What? Iran? No, writes, Avnery. Because of the "catastrophic, even apocalyptic" economic consequences, Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz "knows that he cannot have it."
It's Gaza he wants to attack. Why? How about … to "compel Hamas to become extremist again." It seems that Hamas is just not holding up its end of the bargain as an enemy. Avnery writes:
Hamas is being accepted by the international community. Their Prime Minister, Isma'il Haniyeh, is now traveling around the Arab and Muslim world, after being shut in Gaza – a kind of Strip-arrest – for four years. Now he can cross into Egypt because the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' parent organization, has become a major player there.
By joining the PLO, [Hamas chief Khaled Mash'al] is committing Hamas to the Oslo agreements and all the other official deals between Israel and the PLO. He has announced that Hamas accepts a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. He has let it be known that Hamas would not contest the Palestinian presidency this year, so that the Fatah candidate – whoever that may be – would be elected practically unopposed and be able to negotiate with Israel.
By removing the reasons to attack it, Hamas is pulling the rug out from under Israeli calls for Cast Lead II. It's always a sad day for an army when it loses an enemy, especially one it knows it can engage without unleashing World War III.


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In World War II every single aspect of war was crucial: from troop movements to supply, from logistics to diplomacy, from innovation to careful use of terrain. Many games have tried to replicate the depth and complexity of this global conflict and only a few have managed to give an all around experience to players.
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Ryan Senior Portraits
Most monitors have a default setting that is too bright for optimal viewing of photographs. Lisa uses a calibrated monitor to process all of her images so the colors and tones are accurate to her print lab. If they appear too bright to you, turn down the brightness level of your monitor until you can see details in the white areas.Read More
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Online ESA certificates are valid only after a telehealth visit with a licensed doctor. Same day appointments are available.
Airline companies refused to take dogs on board.
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Main Page
From Hybridgraphics
Hybrid graphics on Linux
This wiki is intend to be used as a common information database, to sum up all the informations and reports submitted on the mailing list.
The whole wiki is published under GNU Free Documentation Licence.
- Ironhide -- allows you to run specific programs on the discrete graphic card, inside of an X session using the integrated graphic card -- by Martin Juhl (abandoned)
- Bumblebee -- allows you to run specific programs on the discrete graphic card, inside of an X session using the integrated graphic card. Works on Nvidia Optimus cards -- by Bumblebee Project
- asus_switcheroo -- a solution for Intel/Nvidia switching on ASUS and other laptops with a similar hardware mux -- by Alex Williamson
- byo_switcheroo -- a solution to build your own handler (like acpi_call) to switch between cards with vga_switcheroo -- by Alex Williamson
- vga_switcheroo -- the original GPU switching solution primarily for Intel/ATI notebooks -- by David Airlie
- acpi_call -- allows you to switch off discrete graphics card to improve battery life -- by Michal Kottman
- PRIME -- long-term Optimus solution in progress -- by David Airlie
- hybrid-windump -- dump window using Nvidia onto Intel display -- by Florian Berger and Joakim Gebart


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Let me welcome you from upstate New York where you'll find light, witty and rather entertaining articles on every topic imaginable from The Little Black Dress to Making Whoopie. So if you get a chance to kick back and exhale, if only for a brief moment ... come on over and see me some time. Don't be too overwhelmed by MBC. The ladies are awesome here and sooo embracing. Hope you enjoy your stay :)
Welcome and Hi. Time is precious to us all, I know and this may seem so overwhelming with everyone vying for your attention. Hope your stay here is awesome. But, if you're a petite woman 5'4" and under & would love to read great articles about the best things that come in small packages ~ come on over for a visit and stay a spell ... we'd love to have you.
Welcome! I just wanted to introduce myself and my blog, The Book Buff: Book Reviews for Regular People. Check it out at http://www.thebookbuff.blogspot.com
It can be a little overwhelming around here, so if you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to ask!
-Kate the Book Buff
Hello and welcome to Mom Bloggers Club. MBC is one of the largest social networks for mom bloggers. It is a place where moms who blog converge to talk about the latest trends in blogging and support each other in their blogging endeavors and a place to make new friends. I review and blog about children's books & gifts and if you have time you can stop by and become a Subscriber by clicking on http://mymcbooks.wordpress.com. I will be stopping by your blog.
Have a great day and Happy Holidays.
Become a Fan on facebook
Welcome to the club Jennifer!!


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Because this...[dramatic pause]...is your story.
Yes, every year you need some good "louck" as you embark upon that harrowing journey:
Here you will continue on for an indeterminate amount of time.
During this time, you will expand your students' cultural horizons:
And, of course, you will strive to instill a love of reading into your young charges:
And your reward?
Now you can join with your students' families in saying...
And if you're really lucky, one day a former student just might come back to visit, bearing cake:


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Psychological Egoism
Q&A Radio: 6 October 2013, Question 2
I answered a question on psychological egoism on 6 October 2013. You can listen to or download the podcast of just this question below – or check out the whole episode of Philosophy in Action Radio.
Isn't every action selfish, ultimately? Unless coerced, people act however they deem best at that moment. Even if that action is harmful to themselves, aren't they acting selfishly, so as to satisfy their own desires? Even paragons of altruism act because they want to help people, please God, or save the environment: that's what makes them happy. So isn't true, deep-down altruism impossible?
My Answer, In Brief: Psychological egoism is false: actions are motivated, but not always self-interested. Psychological egoism completely incompatible with ethical egoism – and false. (Note: I was wrong to claim that psychological egoism is deterministic.)
Tags: Altruism, Egoism, Ethics, Psychological Egoism, Self-Interest
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- Download: MP3 Segment (3.7 MB)
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Relevant Links
- "Isn't Everyone Selfish?" Nathaniel Branden in The Virtue of Selfishness
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About Philosophy in Action
I'm Dr. Diana Brickell (formerly Diana Hsieh). I'm a philosopher, and I've long specialized in the application of rational principles to the challenges of real life. I completed my Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009. I retired from work as a public intellectual in 2015.
From September 2009 to September 2015, I produced a radio show and podcast, Philosophy in Action Radio. In the primary show, my co-host Greg Perkins and I answered questions applying rational principles to the challenges of real life. We broadcast live over the internet on Sunday mornings.
You can listen to these 362 podcasts by subscribing to the Podcast RSS Feed. You can also peruse the podcast archive, where episodes and questions are sorted by date and by topic.
My first book, Responsibility & Luck: A Defense of Praise and Blame, can be purchased in paperback and Kindle. The book defends the justice of moral praise and blame of persons using an Aristotelian theory of moral responsibility, thereby refuting Thomas Nagel's "problem of moral luck." My second book (and online course), Explore Atlas Shrugged, is a fantastic resource for anyone wishing to study Ayn Rand's epic novel in depth.
You can also read my blog NoodleFood and subscribe to its Blog RSS Feed.
I can be reached via e-mail to [email protected].


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Get the list of Top Procedures in Thoubal
Credihealth offers its patients to choose from a wide network of well-qualified and experienced doctors across Thoubal to ensure that the right healthcare decision is made. Our team of Medical Experts helps you find the right doctor from our network of doctors to avail the required medical treatment. Here's a specialty-wise break up of the doctors in Thoubal along with patient feedback & related question & answers on our CrediCommunity.


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The company on Tuesday released iOS 6.1.3. The update weighs in at a mere 18.2 MB. It can be downloaded directly to an iOS device from the Settings/General/Software Update menu or through iTunes. It is mainly intended to fix a security flaw that made it possible to bypass the passcode screen.
Exploiting the flaw requires some manual dexterity and a call made to emergency services (911) that's immediately cancelled -- perhaps not the best number for a law breaker to call. Doing so provides access to the device's contacts, voicemail and photos, but not to the rest of the apps on the device. However, anyone able to try this exploit presumably has control of the device in question and could employ other tools that can access data on mobile devices, locked or not.
[ Apple has other problems. Read Is Apple Losing War Of Words? ]
There may be other security fixes as well, but Apple has been slow to update its security updates page, through which it distributes security patch information.
Several hours after iOS 6.1.3 was released, while this story was being written, Apple finally published a link pointing to information about the security content of the update. But the link -- http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5701 -- did not point to any published content. Shortly thereafter, the broken link was removed. It's likely that by the time this article is published, Apple will have repaired the broken link.
The update also includes improvements to Apple's Maps app for Japan. Apple has been improving its cartographic data more broadly since it revised its Maps app (and was roundly criticized for it) last September. Last month, the company expanded its effort to hire engineers to improve Maps.
A link to a new Apple TV update, Apple TV 5.2.1, was also removed from Apple's security updates page, though the linked page continues to be accessible. It describes fixes for three security flaws affecting Apple TV units: CVE-2013-0977, CVE-2013-0978 and CVE-2013-0981.
The first involves a state management flaw that has to do with the way Mach-O executable files with overlapping segments are handled, a vulnerability that could be exploited to allow unsigned code. The second involves an information disclosure flaw in the ARM prefetch abort handler that could allow a local user to access the address of structures in the kernel. The third involves an IOUSBDeviceFamily driver that didn't adequately validate pipe object pointers, allowing the possibility of arbitrary code execution.


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Joe Biden, Paul Ryan to square off in vice presidential debate
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Time running short, Vice President Joe Biden faces the greater burden in his debate with Republican Paul Ryan as he seeks to use the election's only encounter between presidential running mates to slow Mitt Romney's momentum and reset the campaign storyline in time for the next Obama-Romney debate.
Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will face off in the only vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky Thursday, October 11th.
FOX6 will carry the vice-presidential debate LIVE on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. — and the debate will also stream live via FOX6Now.com.
In the aftermath of President Barack Obama's startlingly lackluster showing against Romney in last week's debate, Biden's job is to forcefully confront Ryan, and by extension Romney, while making a case for Obama's policies that strikes an emotional chord with voters.
Thursday's debate comes at a volatile moment in the election, putting the contrasting political skills of Biden and Ryan on display for millions of viewers less than four weeks before Election Day.
Ryan, whose upbeat campaign style has been a Romney asset, must fend off attacks on the conservative fiscal policies the Wisconsin congressman has promoted as chairman of the House Budget Committee. He also has to embrace or answer for the more moderate tone Romney is employing as he seeks to attract independent and undecided voters.
The vice presidential debate occurs as national polls show a tightening race, a new momentum for Romney and pressure on the Obama camp to halt any erosion of support.
While it's tempting to cast the vice presidential debate as a pivotal event, the encounter is more likely to set a tone and a foundation for Tuesday's town hall style debate between Obama and Romney in Hempstead, N.Y. Still, if Biden or Ryan emerges as a clear winner, it could either help correct the bad story line Obama provoked by his debate performance last week in Denver or strengthen Romney's image as a surging challenger.
There's plenty of material to explore over the 90-minute encounter.
Favoring Obama and Biden, new unemployment numbers last week showed a drop in joblessness. On the other hand, the administration has been placed on the defensive by conflicting accounts of the events that led to a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last month.
The debate also comes just two days after Romney said he would not pursue any abortion-related legislation if elected president. Romney's campaign sought to clarify Romney's remarks, saying without elaborating that he would support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life.
The encounter pits Biden, a 69-year-old veteran politician, against a rising 42-year-old up-and-comer.
Biden has experience in face-to-face encounters with political opponents, including the much-watched debate with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin four years ago. Despite a garrulous, sometimes gaffe-prone campaign style, Biden has proved to be a disciplined debater and likely has been preparing for succinct answers Thursday.
Ryan, while new to the debate format he will face at Centre College in Danville, Ky., is no stranger to vigorous argument as a 14-year House veteran. He has had to defend his budget policies in committee and on the House floor, and he famously debated Obama on health care during a bipartisan meeting two years ago at Blair House.
The challenge for Biden:
Where Obama was viewed as passive, Biden will have to be aggressive. Where Obama was viewed as disconnected from the television audience, Biden cuts a more empathetic figure that he likely will employ from the debate stage.
Obama aides see the encounter as a "head vs. heart" debate, casting Ryan as an effective yet wonky critic of Obama economic policies. They see Biden as the candidate who will strike a better bond with the audience.
While vice presidential candidates typically debate the policies of the candidates at the top of the ticket, Biden will have a two-pronged task of attacking the specific fiscal proposals that Ryan advanced in Republican budgets in 2010 and 2011 while also presenting a critique of Romney's less specific plans.
"It's not his job to do the cleanup for Obama; Obama has two more debates to do that himself," said Matt Bennett, a Democratic strategist who was a top aide to Vice President Al Gore. "Biden's challenge is do basically two things: one, to make a very clear, sharp critique of the Ryan plan, and two, to be brief. He did that very, very well in `08."
Biden's risk is that in staking out an aggressive posture, he could alienate voters. A new poll by the Pew Research Center found that 51 percent of voters have an unfavorable impression of Biden, whereas 40 percent hold an unfavorable view of Ryan.
The challenge for Ryan:
Ryan must find a way to fend off efforts to link his own past budget proposals with Romney's economic vision. Count on him to make a detailed case against Obama on fiscal and economic policy that points to a rising national debt as a looming threat.
Ryan will have to employ the same skills that make him a popular politician even in a Democratic-leaning congressional district that Obama won in 2008.
Though not a foreign policy expert, Ryan will have to stand his ground on territory that is far more familiar to Biden and that moderator Martha Raddatz, a foreign policy specialist at ABC, likely will pursue in an effort to find distinctions between Romney and Obama on international affairs.
Biden also is likely to single out Ryan's vote against a bipartisan commission's plan for tackling the nation's debt. Romney has said Obama should have embraced the plan from former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles, a veteran of President Bill Clinton's White House.
In that sense, Ryan will have to focus more on being an advocate for Romney than a defender of his own actions.
"To some extent, he will have to go against his natural inclinations," Republican operative Matt Mackowiak said. "But he is a fairly cool customer. He has a cheery disposition. He's the guy you want your daughter to marry when she grows up."


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HATTIESBURG – Graduates of Pearl River Community College"s medical laboratory technology program received their diplomas and pins during ceremonies on July 28 at the Forrest County Center.They are Amy Hutchinson, Sandra Moorehead and Tomekia Pope, all of Hattiesburg; Megan Branton and Kerri Cliburn, both of Petal; Stephanie Guiher Thornhill and Amy Moseley, both of Carriere; Mandi Ladner of Perkinston, Dania Saucier of Lumberton and Jana Tate of Buckatunna.Mosely graduated with special honors, was named to Who"s Who Among American Community Colleges and received the Seimens and Presidential scholarships. Saucier graduated with honors and was named to Phi Theta Kappa scholastic honorary and to Who"s Who.Thornhill graduated with special honors and was named to Who"s Who, Ladner graduated with honors and was named to Who"s Who. Moorehead was named to Phi Theta Kappa and Tate received a Presidential scholarship.Because of their own military committments or those of their spouses, Branton, Cliburn and Saucier were unable to attend the ceremony, said program director Evelyn Wallace.
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Life With The Girlfriends, April 17, 2016
Life With The Girlfriends with Christine Marie Peters & Julie Peters
Life With The Girlfriends
Join Christine Marie and Julie for a slice of Life with The Girlfriends. This mother/daughter coaching duo shares their everyday thoughts on relationships, family, hot topics and current events, and anything that tickles their fancy with warmth, wit, and wisdom. They welcome a wide range of guest to their den for some juicy conversation. So grab a cup of anything and put your feet up on the ottoman next to the fireplace. And join the girlfriends up close and personal for some daily chat that's humorous, wholesome, and heartfelt.
Christine Marie and Julie are the quintessential gals for making big changes through a series of small actions! Their contemporary podcast features special guests, spiritual guidance, grounded life theories, and a positive message. Christine Marie and Julie believe one small change can yield big results.
A podcast can be many things, come experience how Life with the Girlfriends can enrich your path in life and effect how others see and treat you. The conversations are candid, honest, and more so - fun! Never preachy and always peachy, Christine Marie and Julie bring substance to an over-saturated "advice" market.
At their core, they consider themselves to be from that proud and long lineage of Householders, and love sharing their folksy wisdom so that everyone can have a better, happier, and more joyful, playful and prosperous life.


text: by Roger Charles August 30, 2007 United States Test Laboratory in Wichita, Kansas, last week (August 20) tested nine separate, serialized Dragon Skin SOV-2000 (Level III) ballistic body armor panels that varied in age from 5 years-9 & 1/2 months to 6 years-8 months. The purpose of this test was to validate Pinnacle Armor's six-year warranty for Dragon Skin products. …Read More »


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SAN FRANCISCO » For Mina Meyer and Sharon Raphael, two women in their 70s who fell in love more than four decades ago and have been married for more than four years, the U.S. Supreme Court's pending consideration of a law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like theirs is about more than civil rights. It's about buying a new roof for their California home, replacing their 2005 Toyota Camry, and ensuring Meyer doesn't take a financial hit if Raphael dies first.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this month in a challenge to a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, that denies legally married gay and lesbian couples federal benefits available to heterosexual married couples, including tax and Social Security benefits. A decision is not expected until the end of June, but accountants and tax attorneys anticipating the 18-year-old law's demise are already encouraging same-sex couples like Raphael and Meyer to seek prospective tax refunds, back retirement payments and other spousal subsidies they may have been denied.
It is unclear how the justices might rule, but the Obama administration and former President Bill Clinton, who signed the act into law, have urged the court to overturn it on grounds that it violates the civil rights of gay Americans. DOMA supporters, including House Republicans led by Speaker John Boehner, argue that Congress — not the court — should decide as public opinion for same-sex marriage grows. Other conservative groups argue that spousal benefits should be reserved only for couples of the opposite sex.
Part of the urgency for couples to act stems from deadlines established under the U.S. tax code, which gives taxpayers three years to file protective claims for income and estate tax refunds. Same-sex couples or surviving spouses who were legally married before or during 2009 would therefore have until April 15 of this year to submit amended returns claiming overpayments on income for that tax year, said Vickie Henry, a senior staff attorney at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
At the time, gay unions were legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont, and briefly had been in California. New York and the District of Columbia, which have since legalized same-sex unions, also recognized marriages performed in other states or countries.
While married couples from those jurisdictions would have the strongest cases, couples from states such as Hawaii, Nevada and Illinois that treat domestic partnerships and civil unions as the same as marriage for tax purposes might also see federal refunds depending on how the Supreme Court rules, said Pat Cain, a federal tax expert at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
"On the income tax side, anybody who would benefit from filing jointly and who would be eligible to do so if DOMA falls should consider filing amended tax returns for the applicable years," Cain said.
The sums at stake are not inconsequential. The case the justices accepted, for example, involves a New York state widow, Edith Windsor, 83, who is seeking a refund of the $363,000 she had to pay in estate taxes after her wife, Thea Spyer, died in 2009. If Windsor had not been married to another woman, her tax bill would have been $0 because married U.S. citizens are allowed to pass their assets onto their spouses tax-free — but only if the surviving spouse is of the opposite sex.
Gerald McIntyre, directing attorney at the National Senior Citizens Law Center, said Social Security benefits, which kick in based on the date of application, are where gay couples have lost the most and stand the most to gain.
Lower-earning spouses such as Meyer have been doubly penalized under DOMA, McIntrye said, first by being unable to claim the spousal benefit that allows married heterosexuals to increase their monthly benefits by drawing half of a husband or wife's Social Security, then being deemed ineligible for survivor benefits that are equal to what a deceased spouse got in retirement each month.
A 2009 study by The Williams Institute, a think tank on sexual orientation and the law at the University of California, Los Angeles, estimated that gay couples received an average of $3,060 less a year in Social Security benefits than married straight couples. For lesbian couples, the disparity rose to $5,412. The same study found that gay or lesbian widows or widowers lost out on more than $5,700 a year in survivor benefits than their straight counterparts received.
In the case of retirees Raphael and Meyer, it could mean an additional $7,335 year in Social Security benefits because Meyer, who worked in office jobs and a bookstore, would be entitled to the Social Security benefits of Raphael, who earned considerably more as a college professor for 40 years. That would boost their fixed monthly income by about 10 percent. Last year, on the advice of a professional colleague and with the high court poised to decide if DOMA is constitutional, Meyer applied for more than a year's worth of retroactive benefits as well as bigger future checks if the law is struck down.
"This is not the only money we live on, but it does make a big difference," said Meyer, 73, who also would see her Social Security checks more than quadruple in the event she is widowed and the court overturns the act. "That $700 a month is $700 a month."
Other married same-sex couples may end up paying more in taxes if DOMA is overturned, due to the so-called federal "marriage penalty." Janis Cowhey McDonagh, a tax attorney in the New York office of accounting firm Marcum LLP, (equals) has been encouraging many of her clients in same-sex marriages to get their returns in order before the Supreme Court rules.
"If it's better for them to file single even though they are married, I tell them they need to file before DOMA comes down, because if DOMA comes down, they won't have the choice," she said.


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There's a secret that I've been keeping for years. I would have come clean a long time ago but, well, I'm pretty embarrassed about it. Here's my confession (deep breath)—I have never been to any of the exceptional, historic homes open to the public in L.A.
There. I said it. As a lover of house museums—the Musee Jacquemart-Andre is my favorite—it's just plain weird that I haven't made time to visit any of them here. So, I consulted our Decorative Arts and Design Department Head Curator, Wendy Kaplan, to help me rectify the problem. For those of you who also harbor the shame of not yet visiting one of these great places, here is Wendy's must-see list.
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=111347673634894936755.000474ba...
The Gamble House: Hands down, this is Wendy's favorite. It's Arts and Crafts nirvana.
The Adamson House: Amazing for its Malibu tiles and ocean views.
The Hollyhock House: Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Enough said.
The Schindler House: Owned by the MAK Center and not a house museum per se, but was the architect's home and is testament to his utopian modernism.
The VDL House: Designed by Richard Neutra. Only open once a week. My first stop.
Since Neutra makes me weak in the knees, I'll be hitting up the VDL house first, but my hope is to visit all of the spots above by the by the end of the year. As I found with my recent Art Month, sometimes when you're really busy, the only way to get the important but peripheral tasks done is to schedule them. So, off I go…