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hughcurtler
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The Tail That Wags The Dog
Let's Fix College Sports — Now (updated July 27, 2012)
I am reblogging a post from several years ago that makes the point I was trying to make in my last post in a slightly different — and more effective — way.
We pride ourselves on being open and honest about our most private lives. We think ourselves superior to the Victorians, with all their hangups, their unwillingness to discuss sex or to see one another naked. We have been taught by every pop psychologist who can set pen to paper or manage a spot on a daytime TV show that we must let it all hang out to be healthy: it's not good to repress our feelings. Though they may never have read him, these people are playing fast and loose with some of the ideas of Sigmund Freud who knew whereof he spoke. But it is no more clear that these ideas are truly Freudian than it is that we are any healthier than the Victorians, for all our "honesty" about sex and the widespread display of naked bodies on the TV and movie screens. Wallace Stegner, who has a way of asking troublesome questions, wrote about this and presents us with an interesting set of questions.
In his Pulitzer-winning novel, Angle of Repose, his hero is writing a history of the marriage between his grandmother and her husband, whom he greatly admires. His grandmother was an unadulterated Victorian woman, a lady, and one who bore all the burdens of womanhood in an age when women were supposed to be handmaids to their husbands — a quality that has come under severe scrutiny from the feminists among us. In his novel, Stegner also presents us with a young, liberated woman named Shelly Rasmussen, who helps the wheelchair-ridden narrator in his attempts to gather material for his history and get it ready for him to work with. Shelly is in her early 20's and has already had a failed relationship with an "acid-head" who has forced her to flee back to her parents where she finds work with Lyman Ward, historian, and narrator of this story. While musing about one of the chapters Ward has written about his grandmother, Shelly admonishes him for being prudish about his grandmother's sex life. If this "history" is largely a novel, why not juice it up and make it more interesting, instead of turning out the lights just when things get interesting? Ward muses:
"I felt like asking her, if contemporary sexual attitudes are so much healthier than Grandmother's, how Grandmother managed to get through a marriage that lasted more than sixty years, while Shelly Rasmussen hides out in her parents' house at the age of twenty or so to escape the attentions of her liberated and natural lover."
Stegner's novel was written in the early 1970s, soon after the radical movement had blown the top off pretense and restraint, as one might say, and started "telling it like it is." Stegner may be reeling somewhat from the aftershock of that explosion, but his questions still seem bothersome many years later: are we really better off for all our "honesty"? We have been told we are, but it is not all that obvious.
Freud, of course, never said we should let it all hang out, and if we were leaning on Freud for our psychological insights, instead of a bevy of pop-followers who may never have read the man's works, we would learn that civilization presupposes repression, or at the very least, sublimation, in order to provide us with the many benefits we so much take for granted. Repression does result in neuroses, but there never was a time when humans were completely free of those — even caused early-on in history by numerous tribal taboos. Freud knew all about repression, and he borrowed Nietzsche's notion of sublimation to instruct us about the mechanism that makes creativity and real progress possible. It's not all about "letting it all hang out," it's all about being honest with ourselves and acknowledging those things that inhibit us, facing up to them, and "sublimating," i.e., redirecting, our energies in productive ways.
Lyman Ward sits imprisoned in his wheelchair in almost constant pain, looking at a picture of his grandmother on the wall, a face that reflects "discipline, self-control, modesty. . " Then he notes Shelly Rasmussen sprawled on the floor, disheveled, unkempt, bra-less and full of rage, letting it all hang out — literally and metaphorically. Readers are aware not only of the stinging things this young woman says to an elderly, retired professor of history who is racked with pain, grilling him and critiquing his book and his prudery as well as his beloved grandmother's. But we are also aware of the fact that she has the audacity to do so in the first place. Without a doubt, we are less civilized than the Victorians; we live such shallow lives. We are asked by Stegner to question whether we are happier.
Posted in Hugh's blogs
Tagged Angle of Repose, honesty, neurosis, repression, sex, Sigmund Freud, suppression, wallace stegner
It seems odd to suggest in this sophisticated (?) day and age that we might learn something from people who lived centuries before us and who were in some respects quite different. But, then, in most respects they were not so different and despite the centuries that have passed, there are lessons to be learned. After all, during the "classical period" that only lasted a few decades, Athens, especially, produced some of the greatest minds that the world has ever witnessed. And they spoke to us, providing us with the wisdom, creativity, and brilliance that launched Western Civilization.
Later, Plutarch wrote his Parallel lives of Greeks and Romans in order to show that history repeats itself and to teach young men how to live by witnessing the lives of the greatest of those who went before them. It was a given that we could learn valuable lessons by bearing witness to the lives of the great. These men were the heroes of the age and the ones who were looked to in order to help get one's bearings in an increasingly confusing world. Today, we have our athletes and warriors. So did the Greeks and the Romans, though their heroes tended to be more …. heroic.
Consider, for example, one of the oldest works ever written down, though it was originally passed down orally from the old to the young. I speak of Homer's Iliad. It tells us about the extraordinary warrior, Achilles, who has his prize taken away from him by Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition to Troy. He pouts and sits sulking in his tent while his comrades are fighting a losing battle. Finally, he allows his best friend Patroclus, to don his armor and go forth to lead the Greeks into battle. Patroclus dies and Achilles is finally determined to fight and, being the great warrior he is, he turns the tide. In the process he kills the greatest warrior on the Trojan side, Hector. In the end Priam, Hector's father, comes to Achilles and begs him to allow him to take Hector back within the walls of Troy and give him a proper burial. Achilles agrees.
In Achilles' development throughout the course of the story, we see him going from childish petulance to anger, to rage, to courage, to compassion. In the process, we suspect, he learns the greatest of the Greek virtues: temperance — or self-control. In fact, this concern with temperance is echoed in Greek dramas where we discover that temperance is held up repeatedly as something priceless in itself, though very hard to achieve. Without it, without self-control, the Greeks realized that men and women were invariably headed toward tragedy. The Greeks admired wisdom, courage and justice. But above all else they admired temperance. Later, the Stoics in Rome made it the centerpiece of their world view.
If we contrast this with our world view a great many things jump out. But the largest, certainly, is our lack of temperance. The notion that we should restrain ourselves and exhibit a calm demeanor while others around us are losing their minds shows others that we just "don't get it." Our mantra is "it's not good to keep things bottled up." Those who do are viewed as "uptight." This is the age of letting it all hang out, exhibiting our emotions for all to see and holding nothing back. We see it all around us, especially in those athlete-heroes I mentioned above. In the eyes of many it is what sports is all about. The athletes set the tone and many of our leading politicians have started to follow their lead, exhibiting outrage, hatred, and contempt, raw emotion, at every opportunity — some more than others.. And they are not held in contempt: they are admired for it.
Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to healthy emotions. On the contrary. It just seems to me that we should hold something back, even if to create an air of mystery. And self-control, coupled with careful thought, is important if we hope to work our way out of the morass we seem to have fallen into.
Achilles sulked and exhibited rage, though he learned important lessons from his encounter with Hector and his exchange with Priam. He learned to be compassionate and to control his emotions. Those are the lessons we seem not to have learned as we simply wallow in a sea of our own uncontrolled passion. It is not admirable. But more importantly, it leads to tragedy. The Greeks knew that above all else.
Tagged Achilles, Hector, Homer, Plutarch, Priam, Rome, Stoics, temperance, Troy
Trump And American Education
Whatever other conclusions we might draw about the depressing number of Americans who have decided that Donald Trump can save America, one things stands out as a surety: it is an indictment of American education. I say that as one who spent 42 years of his life seeking to help young people gain control of their own minds and become independent, thoughtful citizens of the world.
We have known for some time that America lags behind the other so-called civilized nations on earth — anywhere from 17th in the world to 35th — and far behind such tiny nations as Finland. Indeed, a commission formed under Ronald Reagan in 1983 published a document titled "A Nation At Risk" that concluded that America was in serious trouble in contrast with other nations in such basic subjects as mathematics, science, and language comprehension. Skeptics at the time insisted that this was a "conservative" group put together by a reactionary president and it was dismissed as so much hooey. In a word, we shoot the messenger rather than to take the message to heart. All sorts of excuses were made — and are still being made — for the world rankings that placed this country in a bad light. But the fact remains that subsequent studies from agencies around the globe support what that commission determined was the case back in the early eighties.
There are reasons, of course, why America falls behind such countries as Finland — and I have touched on them in previous posts. It is obvious, for example, that teaching is not a prestige occupation in this country and does not attract the best and brightest of our college students, as it does in Finland. In a country such as ours where success is marked in dollars and cents, the students have disdain for anyone who would work for slave wages — such as their teachers. We pay our teachers barely enough to live on and then expect them to teach difficult subjects to our children who as parents we have not taken the time to raise properly. Thus, much of their time is taken up with attempting to discipline spoiled children while at the same time they are told that they must not touch the students or even raise their voices.
Whatever the reasons, and I expect there are many more, the fact remains that our kids are simply not being taught how to read, write, and think. I know this from my own personal experience during which I saw the level of learning drop from year to year and realized that much of my time was taken up explaining what the assigned text was saying — rather than expecting students to take the text to task and raise troublesome questions about what the authors were saying. My readings became shorter and easier to comprehend and my tests became easier to take. And my own readings about the experience of other teachers around the country — at the primary and secondary levels as well as in "higher" education, where much of the work has become remedial — confirmed my own experience.
In any event, what this all translates to is that large numbers of people are easily taken in by a glib speaker who seems self-assured and says the kinds of things people want desperately to hear. And this is especially the case if that speaker pledges to start anew, with a clean slate, and make America great again. They don't know what the man is talking about except that they have been told all their lives that certain things are taboo and this man tells them this is not so; and they don't even realize that as an American president there is very little he can do, in fact, because of the limitations of the Constitution he would be sworn to uphold — but which none of those people have read and about which the man himself has shown astonishing ignorance. No one with a modicum of critical thinking skills would be taken in by such a charlatan. He has bragged that he holds the educated in low esteem, but he need not do that because there are very few educated people any more — at least in the sense of this word that has any meaning whatever: those who can read, write, speak, and figure the tip in a restaurant.
The fact that folks have fallen in behind a self-absorbed demagogue should not surprise anyone. It was inevitable, given the failure of our education system. That's where the problem starts.
Tagged America, Donald Trump, education, failure, Finland, Ronald Reagan
Why? In Politics
I posted recently about the need to continue to ask "the why question? in an effort to exercise the little gray cells. At no time is this more important than when we have to make major decisions in the midst of a media frenzy that overwhelms us with political rhetoric and thinly disguised lies and fictions. Like many others, I continue to ask myself why I should or should not vote for particular candidates and here's what I have come up with so far — noting that this is tentative and subject to further evidence and argument.
Why Donald Trump? I honestly cannot find many reasons to support this man and this makes the project that much more difficult. I don't like him or what he stand for, thus I fear that I am guided by gut feelings. But, at the same time, I seek to understand why so many people have fallen in behind this man and I discover a few reasons though they do strike me as rather weak. I doubt that their affection for this man has much to do with reasons. Anyway, many who seem devoted to him are opposed to "big government" which they also regard as corrupt. They see Trump as a step in another direction. There is a certain weight to this reason. It is said that he is anti-establishment, not a politician of the usual stripe. Many find him disarmingly honest and straightforward, though when one looks closely this appears to be a facade behind which hides a failed businessman, a xenophobe and misogynist, a thin-skinned bully, and a megalomaniac who is, as was recently noted, a "serial liar." Moreover, and more importantly, he is ignorant of international affairs and lacks credibility with our allies, thus weakening the nation's position vis-á-vis other nations. In a word, it would appear the "reasons" for supporting this man are few in number and very weak.
Why Bernie Sanders? Here the reasons jump out. He appears to be a man of principle and integrity. As well, it appears that he is out of the mainstream of politics, having served in the Senate as an Independent and refusing to accept any of the PAC money allowed to politicians who run for president. The fact that he lacks the support of the Democratic Party and that the media ignore him are factors in his favor, strange to say. He is bright and very up on current issues; he obviously cares about the nation and realizes that the real battle is not between Republicans and Democrats but between the corporations that are taking over this country and the people who are supposed to rule. On the other hand, he appears to be naive, an idealist who has many good ideas but very little hope of realizing many of them if elected and forced to work with a Congress like the present one that has sworn to refuse to cooperate with any Democrat of any stripe whatever. His idealism is delightful, but idealists can become cynical when they realize how few of their ideals can be realized. Unless he has a more cooperative Congress, he would almost certainly be a lame-duck for four years.
Why Hillary Clinton? Here we have an interesting problem. This woman is a seasoned politician though this is not a good thing these days when so many folks are convinced that all politicians are corrupt. There are clear signs that she is not above corruption: she has her hand deep into the pockets of the corporations and has shown a disturbing willingness to compromise her principles. But she is a progressive Democrat with a good mind and she might be able to work with an otherwise intransigent Congress. She knows where the skeletons are buried and if she doesn't her husband does. Together they have shown they have consummate political savvy, and while this is a curse as well as a blessing, it would serve her well as Leader of the Free World (as some would have it). And given the shenanigans of the Democratic party and its system of nominating those chosen by the "superdelegates" Clinton is almost certain to be the nominee.
On balance it would appear that anyone who might approach this election with an open mind — which, admittedly is a very difficult thing to do when we are surrounded by lies and half-truths and are asked to go with our gut rather than with our minds — Clinton appears to be the least problematic of the three, the one most likely to accomplish a few things while president which under her leadership, unfortunately, will continue in the direction of an oligarchy — as many, including myself, believe our system already is.
When the dust finally settles and we are provided with two candidates for president (who might be none of the above!) I side with the the leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, who worked closely with Donald Trump on the development of one of Trump's golf courses. He recently said America has a choice between insanity and sanity. If Trump emerges as the Republican nominee I do believe the Scot is basically correct.
Tagged Alex Salmond, Bernie Sanders, democracy, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, oligarchy
Super Delegates
For all his popular support, Bernie Sanders has refused to play ball with the D.N.C. and that may cost him the election. The key to the Democratic nomination is the superdelegates, some 712 hand-picked delegates who are "encouraged" to vote the party line and that line points to Hillary Clinton, not Sanders. As was recently asked by the New Republic,
How is this possible? The answer is superdelegates, the 712 votes doled out to Democratic National Committee officers, elected officials, and other party luminaries. The superdelegates are free to vote for their preferred nominee, unbound by the will of the voters—and if a nominee they think is terrible for the party is close to securing the nomination, they can conceivably throw their weight behind an alternative.
The reason this can and almost certainly will happen is due to the fact that in the early 1980s a handful of powerful Democrats met to decide how to make sure mavericks like George McGovern and Jimmy Carter (who were soundly trounced by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, respectively) would never again be the party's nominee. They paved the way for the 712 delegates to be kept in the wings until the nomination is taking place, at which time they will vote for the person they think is the best candidate — presumably the one who will toe the party line — though, as mentioned above, the superdelegates are (theoretically) free to vote their conscience.
How did this come about? For seven months, between August 1981 and February 1982, 70 of the most powerful people in the Democratic party formed what was called the "Hunt Commission" which met in posh hotels in Washington D.C. and came up with the notion of the superdelegates. As has been noted:
The [initial] gathering got off on a light note when Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser joked that the party could simply announce it wouldn't nominate anyone selected through the primaries. This, the transcript [of the meetings] notes, elicited "general laughter."
The very democracy of the primary process [up to that point] appears to have made the commission members nervous. They felt they had to give party elites — elected officials and high-ranking party members — a greater hand in choosing candidates, or as Xandra Kayden, a member of the Center for Democratic Policy (now Center for National Policy), put it, the power to "to regain control of the nomination."
This was partly couched in a belief in elites' superior judgment. "They bring to the convention a certain political acumen, a certain political antenna," explained Connecticut state Sen. Dick Schneier, a liberal member of the party.
'Thus, no matter how popular Bernie Sanders is with the voters, and even though the polls might say (as they assuredly do) that he has a better chance to beat Donald Trump than does Hillary Clinton, it is all but assured that the superdelegates (all but 39 at present count) will vote for Clinton, the party's choice to be next president. She currently has 2,293 delegates while Sanders has only 1,533. The shift of the superdelegates at the Democratic Convention will put her well over the 2,383 necessary to win the nomination, regardless of what occurs in the interim — unless there should be a sudden rush to throw the weight of several hundred of these special people behind Sanders.
In the 1970s the Democratic party decided that the people should be the ones to determine their nominee, and they promoted the primaries and encouraged more of the rank and file to participate in the selection process. But the selection by the people of McGovern and Carter (and Sanders??) is not consistent with what the party leaders want. Thus, they changed the game. The result is the absurd concept of the superdelegates who will, in large part, determine who the next Democratic Nominee for president of this country is to be — if not the president himself or herself.
Is it fair? Certainly not. Is it Democracy? It is not. But it is realpolitik in today's world where the powerful and the wealthy (usually the same people) determine who plays the political game. The rest is simply window dressing: for some reason it is important to keep up the impression that the process is a democratic one, that the people are the ones who choose their president. But that is simply not the case any more — if, indeed, it ever was.
Tagged Bernie Sanders, George McGovern, Hillary Clinton, Hunt Commission, Jimmy Carter, Richard Niixon, Ronald Reagan
Noam Chomsky's Prediction
I have decided to borrow the following article from a site called "Salon" despite the fact that Chomsky worries about the rise of an "honest" charismatic character and what we have is a dishonest charismatic character in Donald Trump (who, admittedly appears to be honest to the blind mice who follow him). But the prediction is remarkable and worth pondering. Can anyone still have doubts about this nation being a de facto oligarchy?
In an interview with Chris Hedges in 2010, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist and dissident intellectual, remarked that he has "never seen anything like this."
By this, he meant the state of American society, relative to the time in which he was raised — the Depression years — and to the tumultuous state of Europe during that same period.
"It is very similar to late Weimar Germany," Chomsky said. "The parallels are striking. There was also tremendous disillusionment with the parliamentary system. The most striking fact about Weimar was not that the Nazis managed to destroy the Social Democrats and the Communists but that the traditional parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties, were hated and disappeared. It left a vacuum which the Nazis very cleverly and intelligently managed to take over."
For decades, Chomsky has warned of the right turn of the Democratic Party, which has, in an effort to win elections, adopted large swaths of the Republican platform and abandoned the form of liberalism that gave us the New Deal and, later, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society.
"Trump has been viewed with bewilderment by politicians who have divorced themselves from the needs of the people and who have sold them false goods to get ahead. But Trump, as Chomsky's prescient interview demonstrates, was inevitable."
This new approach was canonized by Bill Clinton, who triumphantly declared that the "era of big government is over."
With this declaration, Clinton ushered in a new era of the Democratic Party (the so-called New Democrats), which left behind the working class and cultivated amiable relationships with corporate executives and Wall Street financiers; many of them would eventually occupy key positions in Clinton's government, and many of them emerged once more during the presidency of Barack Obama.
The philosophical bent of the New Democrats was best summarized by Charles Peters in "A Neoliberal Manifesto," in which he defines neoliberalism as an ideology perfect for those who "no longer automatically favor unions and big government or oppose the military and big business." Democrats, since Peters penned his manifesto, have far exceeded the bounds of this seemingly neutral stance.
Bill Clinton, for his part, destroyed welfare, deregulated Wall Street, worsened the growing mass incarceration crisis, and signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement, a sweeping deal that harmed millions of workers, in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere.
Today, President Obama, in partnership with congressional Republicans, is lobbying aggressively for the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has been deemed by critics "NAFTA on steroids." The agreement, if made the law of the land, will encompass 40% of global GDP and will grant massive companies unprecedented power.
Despite President Obama's promises of transparency, the public has been forced to rely on leaked information to glean any specifics about the deal — and, based on the information we have, the agreement is a disaster for workers and the environment and, unsurprisingly, a boon for multinational corporations.
Democrats, in short, have left the working class in the dust, often using "the excuse," as a recent New York Times editorial put it, "that they need big-money backers to succeed."
Republicans, meanwhile, as Chomsky has observed, are "dedicated with utter servility" to the interests of the wealthy, and their party, with its longing for war and denial of climate science, "is a danger to the human species."
So we are faced with a political system largely devoted to the needs of organized wealth, which leaves working people anxious, worried about the future, and, as we have seen, very angry. In essence, political elites — on both sides — have created a vacuum into which a charismatic and loudmouthed demagogue can emerge.
As Chomsky noted in his interview with Hedges, "The United States is extremely lucky that no honest, charismatic figure has arisen. Every charismatic figure is such an obvious crook that he destroys himself, like McCarthy or Nixon or the evangelist preachers. If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger and the absence of any coherent response."
Tagged Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, Donald Trump, neoliberalism, Nixon, Noam Chomsky, Republicans
Albert Camus, the novelist and member of the French Underground during the occupation of France by the Germans, died at the young age of 46 in an automobile accident. Throughout his life he was opposed to capital punishment. He sensed that his opposition would be ineffectual, but he thought it worthwhile none the less. Indeed, he championed the view that despite the absurd nature of human existence one ought always to fight against what one thought was evil. Once one stops fighting he simply takes up space. He thought capital punishment was evil.
A clue to the depth of that feeling is found in his autobiographical novel The First Man, which was published after his death by his daughter, working from notes scribbled in the margins of the hand-written manuscript. In that novel he tells of an experience his father had early in the child's life when he went to a public hanging of a man who was reputed to have killed his employers and three children. There was widespread hatred directed toward the killer and the trial was quick and public hanging was the verdict. Speaking of himself in the third person, as "Jacques," Camus describes the scene afterwards:
". . . Jacques's father was livid when he came home; he went to bed, then got up several times to vomit, and went back to bed. He never wanted to talk about what he had seen. And on the night he heard the story, Jacques himself, when he was lying huddled on the side of the bed . . . choked back his nausea and his horror as he relived the details he had heard and those he imagined. And throughout his life those images had followed him even into his sleep . . ."
I have written about capital punishment before though it is a topic that seems to be only of mild interest to people for the most part — perhaps because we don't have public executions — yet. There has been discussion of such a possibility, but even in this blood-lusting culture so far it has remained only a dream in the hearts and minds of those who think justice is all about revenge. Because, in a word, that is was capital punishment is: revenge. It is assuredly not justice, especially in an age when we discover growing numbers of cases of false identity and miscarriages of the legal procedures that incarcerate (and execute) men, mostly black men, only to discover that they were innocent. Indeed, it is precisely the likelihood (and I stress that term) of human error that undermines any possible argument for taking the life of one human being because he presumably took another or other lives. If humans were infallible, which we assuredly are not, there might be a case for capital punishment. But because we are not and because we tend to let our passions and raw emotions dwarf our judgment, there can be no possible argument for taking a human life to avenge another life.
I have often thought about this on a deeply personal level: how would I react if my wife or my sons were killed and the killer was caught and brought to trial? Would I want that person executed in order to right a wrong? It's hard to say, but I expect I wouldn't be thinking clearly and would simply want someone punished and punished soundly for what they did. But that would be my emotions taking control. In my mind, when it is clear, I know that it would be wrong. Taking a human life under any circumstances is wrong and cannot be justified. It can be rationalized, we can find bad reasons for doing what we want to do on a visceral level, but it cannot be justified.
Tagged Albert Camus, capital punishment, executions, justice, justification
Though it was, admittedly, many years ago, I recall vividly the very first seminar I attended as a Freshman in college. This was a real seminar, where the students were expected to carry the ball; not a "seminar" where students sat and listened to an "expert" talk at them. We had been reading Homer's Illiad and about midway through the two-hour seminar I made what I thought was a salient point about the reasons Hector dragged Achilles' body three times around Troy after killing him. Almost immediately another student looked at me and asked "why?" I was stunned. I thought the point was obvious. Why should I have to give reasons for what otherwise was as obvious as the proverbial nose on your face?
My blogging buddy Keith recently mentioned that his daughter, a college Freshman, was praised by her professor for writing a paper in his class in which she took exception to what the author had said. She was praised because she was one of the few students who disagreed with what she was reading and being told. She had asked herself the question: "why?" She was praised because she was one of the few who had done so.
Little kids ask the question "why? repeatedly out of their natural curiosity. Their fathers and mothers answer until they are finally forced to say "because I said so." Perhaps this stops the question, but not for long. The child soon begins again: "Why Daddy?" "Why Mommy?" Eventually they stop asking the question. And the schools rarely encourage students to ask the question, so the kids stop asking questions and increasingly believe what they are told — even by chronic liars who couldn't tell a fact if it came up and bit them in the butt.
Why is this? I never stopped asking this question after that first seminar. In fact, we had four years of seminars twice a week in which students were constantly asking the "why question." It led me to philosophy where I have continued to ask the question ever since. Indeed, I wrote an ethics book that centers on the question "why?" in an attempt to encourage the students to ask that question at every turn — just as they did as little children. The "why question" requires that reasons be given for claims being made. One doesn't simply accept as fact the things people say or write. One demands evidence and argument support — even in ethics, where we too frequently dismiss complex issues with the lazy response "who's to say?"
Complex issues demand thought and the refusal to stop asking the why question until we have reached a point where the answer seems to be staring us in the face. When the weight of the evidence seems to have provided the answer, it is time to stop (subject to further review). But we never know when we have reached that point until we have examined the issue from both sides and have eliminated all possibilities. It is an exhausting process, but it is what makes us think when we might otherwise allow our mental faculties to sleep and simply accept as true a claim that is blatantly false. You know, the kinds of things that certain politicians say all the time.
There has never been a better time than the present to ask the "why question," and we should not stop until it seems pointless to ask it any more. And that point cannot be reached without persistence and determination to know what is true and separate the true from the false, the absurd from the plausible, the reasonable from the unreasonable. We will never know where that point is until we have reached it. And it is best to have someone asking it with us, because two heads really are better than one — as I learned lo those many years ago in that seminar.
Tagged children, discussion, Homer, Illiad, question, seminar
Empty Churches
Abandoned Church
Photo by Matthias Haker
The photograph on this page is one of a series of abandoned churches around the world taken by German photographer Matthias Haker. Interestingly, he does not name the churches or the places where they can be located. But all are, like this one, abandoned and falling apart. The pictures tell a story much more powerful than words: like the churches, religion is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
This is not a popular theme and I have written about it in the past with little or no response. People don't like to think about it. But the fact remains that traditional churches, generally, are being abandoned and turned into apartments, homes, or even public houses and taverns. The latter are simply more useful in a culture absorbed by itself and its pleasures. The church which has traditionally made demands of people — following the admonitions in the New Testament — preaches to closed ears and closed minds.
To be sure, the mega-churches have grown in size while their preachers buy jet planes and try to explain their huge salaries in light of the fact that the Gospel they preach urges all to give up their wealth and follow the Lord. But these mega-churches, as I have noted in the past, are really gathering places for folks who want to give the appearance of being religious while, during the rest of the week — if not the rest of the day — they go back to business as usual. It should not be thought for a moment that those churches have anything whatever to do with religion. They simply collect people once a week in huge buildings complete with coffee bars, lounge chairs, TVs, and bookstores selling the latest publication written by the man standing before them in flowing robes pretending to be a model of religious purity.
Indeed, the commonality among all religions is the notion of sacrifice. Those who seek to follow the path laid out for them by divine direction always, without exception, must sacrifice short-term pleasure and control their desires in order to do "the right thing," the holy thing. The notion that one can simply "go to church" once a week and ipso facto be a religious person borders on the absurd. There is nothing whatever about attending church in, for example, the New Testament, though there is a great deal about the sacrifices required in order to do what is required to purify one's soul.
But, like the churches themselves, the notion of the soul, along with the concern for what might happen to it after one's body finally gives up, are passé. That's yesterday's news. Today, it's all about growing the numbers of communicants and making sure they are told what they want to hear and not required to do what they might find demanding. Talk about sacrifice would result in wholesale exiting of the congregation in order to find a more appealing church to attend of a Sunday. I know of a specific case in which a large portion of a congregation left a particular church because the leaders had decided that it was acceptable to hire homosexual preachers. Now, the fact that the number of homosexual preachers can probably be counted on one hand, it was regarded, nevertheless, as a matter of "principle." That is, it was grounds for rejection of a doctrine that is consistent with the love preached in the Gospels, because those retreating members regarded that doctrine as unacceptable. Today it's not about what others demand of us, it's about what we demand of ourselves. And that seldom, if ever, requires any sacrifice whatever.
Thus the crumbling and abandoned churches. Nietzsche was right: God is dead. We don't need Him any more. We've got Google.
Tagged God, Gospel, Matthias Haker, mega-churches, New Testament, Nietzsche, religion
There's Still Hope!
I meet on a regular basis with a good friend who still teaches at the university where I taught for 37 years. He teaches English and was talking about a remarkable paper written by one of his students in a Freshman Composition class. The student is a high school student taking college classes in order to reduce the time and money spent in college later on. It's a program that Minnesota has had in place for many years now and some of our best students have been those kids who are still in high school. In any event, the paper this student wrote was so remarkable that I asked for a copy and read it with astonishment. The assignment was to go to the library, take any magazine and write what most impressed the student about that particular publication. The idea was to (a) teach the students where the library is, (b) have them read a magazine and (c) test their observational and writing skills. This student picked the National Geographic. He decided to compare and contrast recent copies with several written years before — as early as 1915.
The student was impressed with the great difference between the older version of the magazine and more recent issues. He compared the length of the articles and was struck by their simplicity and brevity. As he noted "Fewer words and more pictures." He then went through two articles, both on Armenia as it happens, in the two publications — word by word! After the more recent article, he concluded:
"This passage contains ninety-six words, four sentences, nine commas, two colons, one pair of quotation marks, and one pair of dashes."
He then contrasted this with an older article on the same topic and noted that:
"This passage has 146 words, four sentences, twenty-two commas, two semi-colons, and a pair of dashes. There are four lists, if groups of adjectives are not counted, and there are even instances of figurative language present in the older article that are not found in the newer one. On average, there are 4.67 letters per word in the first [newer] passage and 1.39 syllables. This is significantly different from the 5.58 letters per word in the second [older] excerpt, and the 2.26 syllables. We are simpler now than we were before. . ."
Needless to say, after this remarkable study of the particulars in the two articles he was eager to draw conclusions — as you can see from his final comment. But he shores up that conclusion with further evidence. At the very end of his paper he contrasts two passages from literature, a short story by Conan Doyle and another current one by Stephanie Meyer. His conclusion is worth pondering:
"These passages both describe characters that the protagonist is meeting for the first time. The descriptions, however, are barely comparable. Meyer is vague and barely scratches the surface of the characters, while Doyle goes in depth about his character. Meyer uses sentence fragments in her writing, while Doyle uses comprehensive sentences. The styles are not simply 2000s writing against 1910s writing; there is more to the differences than that. People do not want to read the older literature on the grounds that it is 'too hard,' it takes effort and time to truly comprehend Doyle's work, where anyone could understand what Meyer writes about."
I would also note the shrunken vocabularies and diminished imaginations of those who still read and write — a number that also seems to be shrinking.
It is possible that this student is writing what his professor wants him to say (students tend to do that) or even that he pilfered this article from the net. But that would all be sour grapes. I prefer to think that this young person has a good head on his or her shoulders and not only writes well but also thinks well. I realize, of course, as does my friend, that this student is one of those few that have slipped between the cracks of a decaying educational system. This is why we were so excited. So many of their peers in colleges all around this country prefer the picture books and the short paragraphs that demand no intellectual effort whatever. Reading, writing, and thinking have become passé.
This explains the growing popularity of a demagogue who uses small words, twists the truth around his tiny fingers, makes vapid promises he cannot possibly keep, and seems, contrary to Lincoln, capable of fooling a great many people most, if not all, the time. Still, it is delightful to read such a paper and to know that there is hope if young people such as this manage to work their way to the top and have a say about the future of this country and our besieged planet.
Tagged college students, Conan Doyle, Freshman Comp, high school students, National Geographic, Stephanie Meyers
Stealing Signals
Improved Learning
Ethical Dilemma
Odd Goings-On
The Arts and Real Life
Once Again In the Toilet Bowl!
Is Repression a Bad Thing?
Search Hugh's site


We're excited to bring you a roundup of interesting links and January book releases of fantasy by and about women.
As always, we'd love to hear from you. If you've sold a fantasy work, read a great recently-released story, discovered a fantastic link that we missed, or if you've got a book or story review to share, please get in touch. Send news to (help at sirensconference.org).
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text:
Q: Dilation about a point (a,b), but not about the origin I recently had a question on a test that asked me to modify the transformation (where r is a scalar of sorts)
$D(x,y) = D(rx,ry)$
so that I could use any arbitrary point $(a,b)$. I am quite sure I didn't do it correctly. I got that for a dilation about the origin
$D(x,y) = (rx,ry)$ by
$$ \left[
  \begin{array}{ c c }
     r & 0 \\
     0 & r
  \end{array} \right]
\left[
  \begin{array}{c}
     x \\
     y
  \end{array} \right]
$$
and also proved that the dilation equation for some $(x_{1},y_{1})$ and $(x_{2},y_{2})$ is
$|r|\sqrt{(x_{1}-x_{2})^2 + (y_{1}-y_{2})^2}$
For any point $(a,b)$, would it be enough to just simply plug in $(a,b)$? Then the new dilation transformation would be
$D(a,b) = D(ra,rb)$ by
$$ \left[
  \begin{array}{ c c }
     r & 0 \\
     0 & r
  \end{array} \right]
\left[
  \begin{array}{c}
     a \\
     b
  \end{array} \right]
$$
I am quite lost at how to go about modifying the original transformation for a dilation about the origin and am sure I am going about this wrong and thus got it wrong in my test. This is for a higher level college math course and again, cannot for the life of me come up with a strategy to figure this out.

A: In general, if you have a linear transformation $L$, you can create the affine transformation $L_{\mathbf p}$ that is "$L$ centered at $\mathbf p$" by translating the origin to $\mathbf p$, applying $L$, and then translating back. That is, $$L_{\mathbf p}(\mathbf v)=L(\mathbf v-\mathbf p)+\mathbf p.$$ Applying this to your dilation with $\mathbf p=(a,b)$ gives us $$D_{(a,b)}(x,y)=(r(x-a)+a,r(y-b)+b).$$
In general, any affine transformation can be decomposed into a linear transformation followed by a translation, i.e., $A(\mathbf v)=L(\mathbf v)+\mathbf t$ for some linear $L$ and fixed vector $\mathbf t$. If $\mathtt M$ is the matrix of $L$, then we can write $A(\mathbf v)$ in matrix form as $$A(\mathbf v) = \left[\begin{array}{c|c}\mathtt M & \mathbf t\end{array}\right]\begin{bmatrix}\mathbf v\\1\end{bmatrix}.$$ This is a simple example of the use of homogeneous coordinates. We can apply this idea to get a matrix for $L_{\mathbf p}$. Observe that by linearity $L(\mathbf v-\mathbf p)+\mathbf p=L(\mathbf v)+(\mathbf p-L(\mathbf p))$, therefore the matrix of $L_{\mathbf p}$ is $$\left[\begin{array}{c|c}\mathtt M & \mathbf p-\mathtt M\mathbf p\end{array}\right].$$ Applying this to the dilation produces $$\begin{bmatrix}r&0 & (1-r)a \\ 0&r & (1-r)b\end{bmatrix}.$$ You can verify for yourself that multiplying $(x,y,1)^T$ by this matrix gives the same result as the formula for $D_{(a,b)}$ above.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Submitted By sousab
The research paper should review a topic in employment law that is of particular interest to you. For this assignment, you are to go to the library don't forget the Keller library and seek out at least 10 articles and/or court cases on the topic. Articles should come from scholarly journals.
Midterm Assignment-The Outline
Your first task will be to write an outline approximately 2-3 pages in length which is due the very beginning of week 5. The purpose of the outline is to give students an opportunity to organize their research in a useful manner and to provide the blueprint for the final research paper. Further, outlining your paper will help you gain a better understanding of your ideas by arranging them according to their interrelationships. If, in this planning stage, you carefully arrange your ideas, it will provide a basic structure for the body of your paper, and make the job of writing your paper much easier.
Submitting an Outline
Students are expected to accomplish four tasks in the Final Draft: * draw on the Topic Page to state your thesis * analyze the primary evidence in three paragraphs; * compare the information you provide in your analysis of the primary sources with the secondary sources; and * offer a thoughtful conclusion.
Narrowing the Topic
After you have selected a topic of interest to you, an important task will be to narrow that topic. Probably the most common mistake in writing a review paper (besides procrastination) is to try to write about a topic that is too broad. For example, the topic of discrimination has generated a multitude of court cases and articles. These studies cover a range of issues such as male, female and national origin. To try to write a 10-page review paper about any one of these areas, let alone all of them, would be next to impossible. It would be better to narrow this topic to make it more manageable. The Thesis
The narrowing of your topic can be achieved by developing an idea that can serve as your thesis. A thesis is not a fact, which can be immediately verified by data, but an assertion worth discussing, an argument with more than one possible conclusion. The thesis sentence will appear in the introduction of your paper and expresses the task or goal you intend to accomplish. Thus, the thesis informs the reader (me) of your goal, and helps you to narrow in your own mind the focus of your paper.
The Literature Search
After you have formulated your thesis, you need to track down court cases and research articles. There are a number of ways to do this. One way might be to simply go through recent court cases on findlaw.com. After finding cases, you might look through the reference section and find earlier cases that address your topic. However, the most efficient way to find research articles is to use a databank that may be available through the university. A computerized data bank, allows you to look up articles and cases by topic, author, or using other key terms.
Final Paper- Research Paper Length and Format
The research paper should be at least 8-10 pages, and should be written according to the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. These guidelines can be obtained from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Additional information about APA style can be obtained at the APA Style Resources page.
. A typical research paper would be organized as follows. Remember, in your final draft, you delete the outline, i.e., I, II. A. B. and so on, and just use paragraphs.
By [Your Name]
Purpose: Here students will accomplish three tasks: introduce the subject, give some background, and offer a conclusion. Students need to launch their introduction with a sentence that captures the readers attention. Then, students need to provide historical context in order to illustrate the three themes they will explore in the research paper. Finally, students will conclude the introduction with a dynamic thesis that explains the argument of the paper.
Directions: Use your topic page to frame the research paper. Think of the introduction as a way to set the stage for your reader. Emphasize the data that will help the reader understand the three main points that you will explore in later evidence paragraphs. For the Final Draft, you need to revise the final sentence of the introduction. Instead of stating why the research matters, as you did for the Topic Page, now you need to tell your reader what you learned. Tell your reader what you think is the most important thing they need to know. So, conclude your paragraph with a dynamic thesis statement where you tell the reader what you think and why.
A. Literature Review
Purpose: Here students will use the secondary sources from the Annotated Bibliography to provide historiographical context. Students will explain how the secondary sources treat the themes stated in the introduction. The purpose of this paragraph is to give the reader a sense of what other historians have said about the topic.
Directions: Focus on your Topic and use the information from the sources in the Annotated Bibliography to talk about how other historians have dealt with the same themes. You should be able to use your discussion of the secondary sources in the Annotated Bibliography to expand on the historical context covered in the introduction.
[Outline format]
1. Topic sentence
2. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different secondary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft. See the Documentation requirements below for the proper format for citing your sources.
B. Evidence
Purpose: In the next three paragraphs, students will examine the themes discussed in the introduction by offering evidence drawn from the primary sources. These paragraphs give the student a chance to show the reader the evidence they have collected and how that evidence supports their contention in the thesis statement.
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the first of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
2. Quote from primary source with end note.
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft. See the Documentation requirements below for the proper format for citing your sources.
C. Evidence
Purpose: See B. Above
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the second of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
[Outline format] 1. Topic sentence
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft.
D. Evidence
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the third of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in each point 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft..
E. Evaluation
This is most important paragraph in the Final Draft. Here, you will evaluate your evidence and compare that to the analysis provided by the secondary sources. Does your research support, contradict, and/or modify the existing literature? Your research might do some of all three. Show how and why with specific examples from the secondary and primary sources.
2. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least two (2) different primary sources and two (2) different secondary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft.
III. Summary
In this paragraph you must summarize your paper. Briefly restate your purpose, summarize your main points, and offer some final thoughts.
...And Then There Were None by AGATHA CHRISTIE CHAPTER 1 IN THE CORNER of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times. He laid the paper down and glanced out of the window. They were running now through Somerset. He glanced at his watch-another two hours to go. He went over in his mind all that had appeared in the papers about Indian Island. There had been its original purchase by an American millionaire who was crazy about yachting-and an account of the luxurious modern house he had built on this little island off the Devon coast. The unfortunate fact that the new third wife of the American millionaire was a bad sailor had led to the subsequent putting up of the house and island for sale. Various glowing advertisements of it had appeared in the papers. Then came the first bald statement that it had been bought-by a Mr. Owen. After that the rurnours of the gossip writers had started. Indian Island had really been bought by Miss Gabrielle Turl, the Hollywood film star! She wanted to spend some months there free from all publicity! Busy Bee had hinted delicately that it was to be an abode for Royalty??! Mr. Merryweather had had it whispered to him that it had been bought for a honeymoon-Young Lord L-- had surrendered to Cupid at last! Jonas knew for a fact that it had been purchased by the Admiralty with a view to carrying out some very hush hush......
Words: 53558 - Pages: 215
And Then There Were Nonr Summary
...And Then There Were None Agatha Christie ← Plot Overview → Eight people, all strangers to each other, are invited to Indian Island, off the English coast. Vera Claythorne, a former governess, thinks she has been hired as a secretary; Philip Lombard, an adventurer, and William Blore, an ex-detective, think they have been hired to look out for trouble over the weekend; Dr. Armstrong thinks he has been hired to look after the wife of the island's owner. Emily Brent, General Macarthur, Tony Marston, and Judge Wargrave think they are going to visit old friends. When they arrive on the island, the guests are greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, the butler and housekeeper, who report that the host, someone they call Mr. Owen, will not arrive until the next day. That evening, as all the guests gather in the drawing room after an excellent dinner, they hear a recorded voice accusing each of them of a specific murder committed in the past and never uncovered. They compare notes and realize that none of them, including the servants, knows "Mr. Owen," which suggests that they were brought here according to someone's strange plan. As they discuss what to do, Tony Marston chokes on poisoned whiskey and dies. Frightened, the party retreats to bed, where almost everyone is plagued by guilt and memories of their crimes. Vera Claythorne notices the similarity between the death of Marston and the first verse of a nursery rhyme, "Ten Little Indians," that hangs in each bedroom. The next......
...None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights to any work but this. None I don't want to give you rights......
...KEEP THIS BOOKLET FOR YOUR RECORDS Assistance Application Information Booklet Welcome to the State of Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) We have programs to help you and/or your household (everyone living in your home) with food, medical care, child care, cash and emergencies. We can also tell you about other programs and resources that may help meet your needs. We look forward to helping you and your household. If you need help with reading, writing, hearing, etc., please tell us. If you need an interpreter, we will provide one or you may bring your own. Steps to Assistance - Apply online for assistance programs at www.michigan.gov/mibridges. You may bring, mail or fax your assistance application to the DHS office in your area. You can find the address and phone number to the office in your area in your phone book under the state government section, or online at www.michigan.gov/dhs-countyoffices. 2 - Read this booklet and keep it. It tells you about our programs and has important information. When you sign the assistance application, you agree to the rules in this booklet. 3 - Answer the questions on the assistance application. We need your answers to decide what help you may receive. You can apply for all or some of our programs. 4 - For some programs we may need to ask for more information (proof). We will let you know what we need. 5 - We will send you a letter in the mail telling you if you are approved or denied. Keep this letter. It has important......
...Carl robins works as a recruiter at a new campus for ABC, Inc. However, even though his only worked there for six months his faces serious problems and has found himself in quite a predicament. After hiring fifteen new trainees for his operational supervisor, and scheduling an orientation for new hires to take place in mid-June. After assuring his supervisor Monica Carrolls that the work she ask would be done by the time she wanted, he stated noticing everything was going wrong and time was running out. Soon he realized that the paper work his supervisor asked for was not completed and files were missing. The missing files consisted of several missing applications that weren't completed on the new trainee's transcripts. Also he found out none of them had been sent to the clinic for a mandatory drug screen. At this point his frustration was through the roof but, the bad news did not end there only continued. Soon he found out, after reviewing the scheduling log for the training room he notice that there was yet another problem. The training room where he is to hold the orientation for the new trainees is booked up and reserved for the entire month. Alternatives Fighting procrastination is an...
...with a reality that isn't changeable. This world; which is contingent; is imperfect in an aesthetic moral way. This goes after reality, because it's awesome and unique. This phase refers back to Plato, where's the concept, that the world is "real" and more "factual"; plus, the fantasy world we live in, as of our embodied frame of mind. Our universe has many correct forms. With relations to this, it's hard to explain correctly; so how they're not both in common, be kin in any other way. How can you tell from the "really real", and the "want to be real"? You can examine the perception, which will show the lines of metaphysics realness, and not the outcome of regular skills. With skills, we find objects and forces, that are perceptional, and none perceptional; that we can keep intake. We find a universe that's always changing. Idols are conceived, breathed, and ended. The solar system is after an agenda course as everything in it. In life, we're models of constellations, and goes after our fate. You know everything is different because it's in a current. Within our sense skills, this is the knowledge of oue universe. B. Is The Physical World Real, More or Less Than The Spiritual or Psychological The physical universe is more realer than either, because the physical is concerned on seeing and observing things. With the spirit you doesn't see it, it's what embeds the soul, and believing by faith. The psychological is within your mentality, because it causes you to imagine......
...Memory Systems Exam PSYCH 640 October 6, 2014 Gaston Weisz Student Name: Class: Cognitive Psychology 640 [Memory Systems Test] Achieved Score: Possible High Score: 100 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. What type of memory stores information for about 30 seconds? A. Working Memory B. Long Term Memory C. Short Term Memory D. None of the Above E. All of the Above 2. What is the estimated amount of neurons in the human brain? F. 1 Trillion G. 450 Billion H. 100 billion I. 895 million J. 1,000 trillion 3. What is the correct explanation for encoding memory? A. Encoding in psychology is taking information into the mind and coding it with brain code and storing the information for later retrieval B. Encoding memory is when memory is recalled to working memory for use and access, then returned to long term memory when the information is no longer required C. Encoding in psychology is the transformation, as well as the transfer of information into a memory system that requires selective attention which is the focusing of awareness on a particular set of stimuli or events. D. Encoding memory is when your brain applies "1's and 0's" to information that is collected and placed in long term memory or discarded depending on if the memory is rehearsed or discarded • True or False questions: True False 1. Can a false memory seem real and be perceived as a genuine memory? True False 2. Is long term memory controlled by the hippocampus......
...distribution. The timeframe for this strategy is the end of the week to the vice president. With such a short time to complete this complex tasking would require a formal communication channel, in which to explain the direction to the team with the requirement and with the tasking deadline. Therefore, the final presentation is due Thursday, for the meeting with the vice president on Friday. The presentation to the vice president will occur on Friday will dictate a formal communication channel. Scenario number two, is a role of a travel agency manager, in which first thing in the morning, the username and password to company application system does not allow anyone to access the application. This immediately caused a work stoppage, to where none of the travel agents could perform assigned responsibilities, affecting existing, and new customers. An informal communication channel, of a telephone call to the IT Department, determined the cause to the username and password problem. Because there was no formal communication put in place by the travel agency, this dictates an informal communication channel. The IT Department determined the...
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...Elemental Geosystems, 5e (Christopherson) Chapter 1 Foundations of Geography 1) Geography is described as A) an Earth science. B) a human science. C) a physical science. D) a spatial science. Answer: D 2) The word spatial refers to A) the nature and character of physical space. B) items that relate specifically to society. C) things that are unique and special. D) eras of time. Answer: A 3) A principal methodology governing geographic inquiry A) is behavioral analysis. B) involves spatial analysis. C) uses chronological organization. D) is field work. Answer: B 4) Which of the following best describes the current emphasis in the field of physical geography? A) understanding soil development B) modeling economic interrelationships among countries C) studying weather D) understanding how Earth's systems interact to produce natural phenomena Answer: D 5) Which of the following most accurately characterizes the goal of geography? A) the production of maps B) memorization of the names of places on world and regional maps C) memorization of the imports and exports of a country D) understanding why a place has the characteristics that it does Answer: D 6) Which of the following......
...can we look at? 1. Purpose: to predict what's going to happen in the future 2. Look at recent performance, outlook, changes in the company, changes in the market(s) the company is in, and other indicators. b. Working on Bank of America, what was challenging about, for example, finding Weighted Cost of Capital? 1. It was difficult to find because of the many different markets and submarkets that each have their own cost of capital. 2. The percent of each of these that BoA has was difficult to find. III. Homework Problems a. 9-5 1. Part A: Find Total Debt i. Assets – Equity (Common Stock + Retained Earnings) – Accts. Payable = Total Debt Side note: Equity also includes preferred stock, but this company has none ii. $1,200,000 – $720,000 – $375,000 = $105,000 2. Part B: AFN = (A*/S0) ΔS – (L*/S0) ΔS -MS1 (RR) i. A* = Assets = $1,200,000 ii....
...Title Name SCI 207: Dependence of man on the environment Instructor Date Title Abstract In these experiments that we have conducted, we used oil, vinegar, laundry soap, and soil to simulate contaminated groundwater. We then constructed a variety of filters to attempt to clean the ground water and make it drinkable. We also tested various bottled and tap water for certain chemicals. Introduction Many areas have water containing impurities from natural or artificial sources. These impurities may cause health problems, damage equipment or plumbing, or make the water undesirable due to taste, odor, appearance, or staining. Those impurities which cause health problems should be attended to immediately; other problems caused by water impurities can be corrected if they are a nuisance. Before beginning any treatment plan, have water tested by an independent laboratory to determine the specific impurities and level of contamination. This will help you select the most effective and economical treatment method. (Ross, Parrott, Woods, 2009) The reason why we conducted this experiment is to test the filtration to remove oil, vinegar, and laundry detergent has on soil before it reaches groundwater. These chemicals go to our local water supply, but first it goes through the soil. Materials and Methods The materials and methods section should provide a brief description of the specialized materials used in your experiment......
...WEAKNESSES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY According to Marmet (2005) , the big bang theory believes that the universe originated from an extremely dense concentration of material. The original expansion of this material is called the big bang theory. Moskowits (2010) describes the big bang theory as an assertion that the universe began extremely hot and dense. Around 14 billion years ago, space itself expanded and cooled down eventually allowing atoms to form and clump together to build the stars and galaxies we see today. Taylor (2012) says According to the Big Bang theory, all matter and all space was originally part of an infinitesimally small point called the Singularity. The theory says nothing about where that singularity came from. It is assumed to have come about by a random quantum event. The theory was first proposed in the 1930s, based on Edwin Hubble's discovery that distant galaxies are receding. Hubble measured the distances to a large number of galaxies which was based on the observed brightness of certain stars within them, he went on to collate these distances with their electromagnetic spectra. As it turned out, more distant galaxies had the features in their spectral lines shifted to lower frequencies in a linear manner: that is, more distant galaxies exhibit greater redshifts. The only known mechanism for generating a spectral shift is the Doppler effect, which means that distant galaxies are receding from us. Another dominant idea connects the dots between......
...Psychoanalytic Psychology 2004, Vol. 21, No. 3, 353–370 Copyright 2004 by the Educational Publishing Foundation 0736-9735/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0736-9735.21.3.353 THE UNEXPECTED LEGACY OF DIVORCE Report of a 25-Year Study Judith S. Wallerstein, PhD Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition and University of California, Berkeley Julia M. Lewis, PhD San Francisco State University This follow-up study of 131 children, who were 3–18 years old when their parents divorced in the early 1970s, marks the culmination of 25 years of research. The use of extensive clinical interviews allowed for exploration in great depth of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they negotiated childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. At the 25-year follow-up, a comparison group of their peers from the same community was added. Described in rich clinical detail, the findings highlight the unexpected gulf between growing up in intact versus divorced families, and the difficulties children of divorce encounter in achieving love, sexual intimacy, and commitment to marriage and parenthood. These findings have significant implications for new clinical and educational interventions. The study we report here begins with the first no-fault divorce legislation in the nation and tracks a group of 131 California children whose parents divorced in the early 1970s. They were seen at regular intervals over the 25-year span that followed. When we first met......
...MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY GNED 1401: Intermediate Composition Instructor: Sharren Patterson Exercises Sentence Fragments Identify and correct sentence fragments wherever they occur in the following exercises. Some of these are correct sentences. If the sentence is correct, indicate this by writing a capital "C" beside the sentence. 1. Why she persists in refusing to look for a job. 2. Part-time students assembling to discuss tuition fees. 3. Animals that are abandoned are brought to this shelter in the hope that they will be adopted. 4. In rare cases, cruises beginning in July continue until September. 5. Which I knew about in the first place. 6. What I have always liked about it. 7. What are his chances of recovery? 8. Barring unforeseen complications, somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight weeks, if he's careful. 9. Whatever she does, wherever she goes, there are problems. 10. Repairing the roof was a costly and difficult job. 11. Will he answer? 12. Though I've never been to Vancouver before. 13. Because he had never seen a case of encephalitis, the diagnosis took some time. 14. As long as you know what you're doing. 15. Move over! 16. Even though you ought to know better. 17. Money talks. 18. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. 19. Who's the designated driver? 20.	The terrier that growled at the intruder. Run-on sentences (comma......
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This Friday is the downtown Christmas Parade and I am here as your go-to girl for Knoxville to give you some tips on how to make the night perfect for a date night, a family-friendly event or just to go and get into the Christmas spirit. The WIVK Christmas Parade will start on Church Street towards Gay street and will turn onto East Jackson Street and end in the Old City just past Barleys. This parade will go rain or shine, so make sure you dress accordingly. You are not supposed to go throw candy from the floats, but I would always bring a little bag if you have one, just in case someone sneaks some candy in. Being a mom, you do not want a jacket full of melted chocolate because you didn't bring a bag. I also always bring cash. The past few years there have been little gadgets that you can buy that blink and sparkle, but they only take cash. The Parade will start at 7pm and at the end of the parade the main person will be Santa himself.
When you're done with this great event, you can walk on to Market Square to go ice skating or check out the Elf on the Shelf event that is going on through January. Hope to see you all there, Loves!
There's a lot going on in the big little town of Knoxville, Tennessee!


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Q: java.sql.Time object being confused with java.sql.Date object I am querying a MySQL table and selecting varchar, Date, Time, Double, and Boolean data types. I take the data from the ResultSet and put it in a DefaultTableModel, which then gets put in a JTable, and then a JScrollPane for displaying.
All of the data is displayed correctly except the columns with java.sql.Time objects in them. These are being displayed as a date object, and they all have the value of Jan 1, 1970.
It seems that java.sql.Time objects are being read as java.sql.Date objects (I am guessing Jan 1, 1970 is being returned because the time value is outside of the range that would be valid for a date object).
I am confused because if I override the getColumnClass method in the DefaultTableModel to always return String.class and use the table method setAutoCreateRowSorter(true), when I click on the header of a column containing java.sql.Time objects to sort it, a java.lang.ClassCastException is thrown, and it says that java.sql.time can't be cast as a String. Why does this correctly identify the data as java.sql.Time, but if I override the DefaultTableModel getColumnClass to return the correct class, it sees it as a date instead of a time? Any help resolving the issue would be greatly appreciated. Here is how I am overriding he getColumnClass method in the DefaultTableModel:
        model = new DefaultTableModel() {
            @Override
            public Class<?> getColumnClass(int columnIndex) {
                if (columnIndex == numberOfColumns) {
                    return Boolean.class;
                } else {
                    return getValueAt(1, columnIndex).getClass(); //return actual class
                    return String.class; //return string regardless of what class is
                }
            }
        };

A: The ClassCastException is coming because you are trying to cast the Time class as an String. It appears as an Date object because java.sql.Time and java.sql.Date are both subclasses of java.util.Date. These subclasses are just thin wrappers (Same thing with just enough extra information to be mapped in to SQL columns). So in a Swing JTable it's being used as java.util.Date since java.sql types are irrelevant to swing components for the most part.


text:
Malcolm Ginsberg
PO Box 758, Edgware HA8 4QF, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)(0)20 8952 8383 Mobile: +44 (0)7973 210631
email: malcolm.ginsberg@btnews.co.uk
website: http://www.btnews.co.uk
Malcolm Ginsberg is one of the longest established UK specialist air and business travel journalists and in a lengthy and very active career has been a successful public relations practitioner, publisher and writer.
In the late 1960s Malcolm reported on motor racing for Autosport, the motor sport weekly. He caught the eye of Colin Chapman and was invited by Lotus Cars (at the time World Motor Racing Champions) to become press officer and later on publicity manager, helping to sell the Elan, Elan +2, Europa and Lotus 7 (now Caterham 7).
In 1973 he founded Malcolm Ginsberg & Associates (MGA), public relations consultants, with Moonraker Boats (owned by Colin Chapman of Lotus), Clan Cars (essentially a Lotus spin-off), Piper Aircraft and CSE – The Oxford Air Training School as his first clients. CSE introduced Embraer to the UK and were instrumental in winning the RAF order for the Tucano trainer. HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, no longer with us although its name is now part of the vocabulary, was another decade-long client. MGA has acted for, long-term, American Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British World Airlines and for 15 years Brymon Airways plus a number of airports and aviation associated companies. Roy Watts, the former CEO of British Airways retained MGA when he became chairman of Thames Water Plc.
Malcolm purchased Air & Business Travel News (ABTN), a tabloid size bi-weekly travel trade publication in 1992, turning it into a fax bulletin in 1997 and by the beginning of the century an electronic international digital weekly newsletter. It has developed since that time and in 2012 became Business Travel News (BTN).
Aviation Directories Ltd was part of Malcolm Ginsberg and Associates for 20 years, during which time it published over 30 directories including the Flight International Directory of British Aviation and Directory of European Aviation series, the Farnborough Airshow Trade Catalogue, the ABTN Travel Industry Directory series, the Aerospace International World Airline Directory, various Business Travel World directories, part works for TTG and Travel Weekly, and the APRO (Airline Public Relations Organisation) Directory.
Today Malcolm is no longer involved in PR and, as well as editor in chief of BTN he acts as an aviation consultant and journalist writing for various nationals, weeklies and magazines on travel, motoring, cruising (starting with Australia and back in 1950/51 as a 'ten pound pom'), and aviation matters and appearing from time to time on TV as an aviation pundit. He is a committee member of the Aviation Club of Great Britain, the meeting place for those concerned with UK commercial aviation and is a (long suffering) season ticket holder at Luton Town Football Club. Malcolm is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, and the International Travel Writers Alliance.
International Travel Writers Alliance
Guild of Motoring Writers
Chartered Institute of Journalists
Travel & Motoring writer - The Jewish Weekly
In November 2017 Business Travel News published "LONDON CITY AIRPORT – 30 Years Serving the Capital", the definitive exposition of LCY since the first test landing in June 1982 until present.
Now available from www.crecy.co.uk/btn ISBN 978-1-900438-07-0


We add supporting circuitry as well, such as a 3.3V regulator so you can power the breakout with 3-5VDC safely and level shifting for the I2C pins so they can be used with 3.3V or 5V logic. Finally, we specified a nice neutral 4150°K temperature LED with a MOSFET driver onboard to illuminate what you're trying to sense. The LED can be easily turned on or off by any logic level output.
A detailed tutorial is here, check out our Arduino library and follow our tutorial to install. Wire up the sensor by connecting VDD to 3-5VDC, Ground to common ground, SCL to I2C Clock and SDA to I2C Data on your Arduino. Restart the IDE and select the example sketch and start putting all your favorite fruit next to the sensor element!


Hide SuperMemo (Shift+Ctrl+G) - hide SuperMemo from view and move its icon from the taskbar to the notification area near the system clock (notification area is colloquially known as the system tray). This option is particularly useful if you use Tools : Plan to organize your day. This way you can hide SuperMemo from view and focus on an activity at hand. SuperMemo will then automatically reappear towards the end of the slot. If you pause your mouse over the SuperMemo icon in the notification area, you will be able to see how much time is left until the end of the activity when the alarm is raised.


text:
Bob's Sea and Ski Helps over 150 Special Olympic Athletes
Gazelle Published: March 20, 2019
Courtesy of Bob's Sea & Ski
The 25th Annual Special Olympics Ski Trip was a memorable one and by far one for the books.
Owners Bob Mercer and Pam Parent, alongside the entire crew, raised over $35,000 from local business supporters and individuals; $35,482, to be exact. Every penny went to the Special Olympics of Southeastern Massachusetts so that athletes can participate in competition and games without the costly burden to their families.
Every $250 raised from Bob's ski trip allowed one athlete to perform in the Special Olympic games for a year. The money that was raised helped over 150 Special Olympic athletes, so they can participate in the next upcoming games.
What a day it was, and to paint a picture, here's how the trip went down:
On March 3, Bob's Sea & Ski embarked along with five completely full buses from Fairhaven around 5 a.m. and arrived at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire just before 8 a.m.
Sitting about 10 rows back, I was well-rested and ready to take on the day alongside my girlfriend and a packed bus, ready to hit the mountain. On the ride up, each bus had about $1,000 worth of brand new merchandise from Bob's ski shop (a total of $5,000) that was raffled off, and let me tell you this, the raffle prizes were nothing less than awesome.
Once we arrived at Loon, the sun was shining bright, the temperatures were comfortable and not too cold and the conditions were absolutely perfect. We unloaded the bus and our skis and snowboards and headed on into the Governor's Lodge, where we were greeted by back-to-back tables covered from end-to-end with more donated merchandise, coming in at a total of $20,000, ready to be raffled off towards the end of the day.
After hitting the slopes for a few hours, we then headed back inside to the Governor's Lodge where an awesome Bavarian band (believe it or not, just take my word) was setting up to perform around lunchtime, where the food was delicious and the music was even better. As we were hanging out, enjoying the company of good friends and family, we were gifted by the presence of Melissa Riley, a Special Olympics athlete from Brookline who was nothing less than extraordinary and an inspiration to all.
At the end of the day, as we gathered our belongings and loaded back onto the buses, Stafford and Company Insurance of Fall River provided every bus with Italian grinders from Marzilli's bakery and chocolate chip cookies for the ride home.
Overall, it was a great time with family and friends, getting together to support a wonderful foundation that supports the Special Olympic Athletes of Southeastern Massachusetts.
I highly recommend taking this trip next year. Bob and Pam's goal for 2020 would be to help and support at least 200 or more athletes, so the more people who participate in the trip, the better it helps the organization.
Kudos to everyone who helped make this year's Special Olympic Ski Trip a successful and memorable one.
Filed Under: 25th Annual, athletes, Bavarian Band, Bob Mercer, Bob's, Bob's Sea and Ski, family, fun 107, Fun Morning Show, Fundraiser, Gazelle, Governors Lodge, Loon Mountain, Merchandise Giveaways, Money Raised, Pam Parent, Raffles, Ski, Ski Trip, skiing, snow, Snowboard, snowboarding, Special Olympics, The Rock and Fox Show
Categories: Articles, Community, Family, Local Stuff, Money


What is RCIA? The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is the process of becoming a Catholic. In the RCIA process inquirers enter into an extended time of formation in which they discern and welcome God's invitation to embrace life in the Catholic Christian community. During this process of initiation a person grows in knowledge of the teachings of the Church, explores the meaning of the Scriptures for daily life, develops friendships with members of the parish community, learns to pray and worship in the Catholic tradition, and discovers the joy of serving others. RCIA is also for anyone interested in learning more about the Catholic faith or learning about faith in a new way.
We call Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist the initiation sacraments, because they are the foundations of the Christian life. Through these sacraments, we are immersed or initiated into the mystery of Christ's saving death and Resurrection.
In Bapti sm we are immersed into the dying and rising of Christ, all our sins are forgiven, original sin as well as all personal sin. We become a new creation in Baptism. Our old selves are put to death and we emerge from the waters of Baptism reborn as sons and daughters of God. Baptism, then, is more than just a rite for Church membership. When we are joined to Christ, we are united to him in such an intimate way that Saint Paul could write, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). One with Christ, we share his mission as priest, prophet and king.
Confirmation is intimately connected with Baptism. It brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace. In the sacrament of Confirmation, we are sealed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Through this anointing with holy chrism oil and the imposition of hands, we are conformed more closely to Christ and are more perfectly bound to the Church so that we may bear witness to him in the world. Through Baptism and Confirmation, we become missionaries commissioned to carry on the work of Jesus.
We call the Eucharist a sacrament of initiation because our participation in the Eucharist brings about a unity with the People of God and communion with Christ at a very profound level. The Holy Eucharist completes our Christian initiation, but it is the only one of the three sacraments of initiation that is repeatable. We return to the Lord's table again and again because each day provides a new occasion to be initiated more deeply into the mystery of Christ by joining our sacrifices with his.
RCIA is part of a four stage process. There is no set time period for any stage. The first stage, precatechumenate is the time of inquiry, asking questions and introduction in the Gospel. The second stage, catechumenate is a time of learning and formation. During this time inquirers develop spiritually and get to know the parish through Sunday worship. The Period of Purification and Enlightenment is a more intense time of preparation and spiritual development. The last stage, the period of mystagogy is the rest of your life! It is a time for living in Christ.
For more information please contact Roberta at 330-452-9539 or rmuoio@stanthonycanton.org.
Click here to view the R.C.I.A brochure and interest form.