text:
Julie Hermann: My job to support Rutgers football, Kyle Flood
Ryan Dunleavy
PISCATAWAY - The irony to the nearby shovels, hard hats and mounds of freshly dug dirt was that Rutgers still hasn't completely buried the controversy surrounding its flagship athletics program.
Athletics director Julie Hermann celebrated the most significant day of her 29-month tenure Saturday as she and other school officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for the fully privately fundraised $3.3 million Fred Hill Training Complex for the baseball and softball programs.
But Rutgers football, which is under broad investigation by school-hired outside counsel to determine if it has violated any NCAA rules, still was a topic broached during a rare interview with beat reporters.
"I have one job every day and that is (to) support my student-athletes, that is to support my coaches," Hermann told Gannett New Jersey. "I support Kyle and my football team every day and we're totally focused on it."
Rutgers holds groundbreaking for new baseball, softball facility
As was the case with past Rutgers athletic directors, it is Hermann's policy not to comment on coaching performances in-season.
Of course, this isn't the typical season, with Flood having served a three-game suspension handed out by Rutgers president Robert Barchi for his impermissible contact with a faculty member.
Seven players have been arrested -- six of whom were dismissed from the program and one of whom had his charge dismissed -- since Sept. 3.
One of those former players, Lloyd Terry, allegedly told police that he failed multiple drug tests while a member of the team, shining a spotlight on Rutgers athletics drug policy, especially the difference in penalties for football players and other student-athletes.
So the significance of changing the narrative with a groundbreaking -- Rutgers hasn't added a new athletics facility to the campus map since 1987 -- wasn't lost on Hermann.
Rutgers football rewind: Ohio State rolls to 49-7 win
"We had a lot of momentum coming into the summer," Hermann said. "And it's time to build the momentum back and get going. We've got great opportunities in the Big Ten and we've got supporters willing to do that. We're focused on that going forward."
Rutgers Board of Governors approved a new long-term wide-ranging facilities plan in June and then Rutgers athletics alums Carli Lloyd and Todd Frazier captured the nation's attention with standout performances in the Women's World Cup and the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, respectively.
Hermann released a statement of support for the football team on Sept. 14 after speaking at a practice. Two days later, she released another statement when Flood was suspended.
Staff Writer Ryan Dunleavy: rdunleavy@gannettnj.com


The Center for Social Awareness, Advocacy and Ethics (CSAAEINC), a non-profit organisation, has called on relevant government agencies to investigate a syndicate allegedly issuing fake Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificates to non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Godswill Agbagwe (pictured), president of CSAARINC, made the call at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The group's president, who is in the country for some youth conferences billed to take place in Kwara and Imo states, said members of some NGOs travel out of the country under a false guise only to seek asylum thereafter.
Citing an example, he said the syndicate preys on unsuspecting NGOs who plan to attend international meetings such as the World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, US.
He said this practice has left the World Bank civil society team worried and may affect genuine organisations who travel with genuine intent as immigration policies become stricter in the US.
Agbagwe said the fake certificates were discovered while the IMF/World Bank team were trying to verify the authenticity of some organisations that applied to be part of the 2018 World Bank spring meetings.
"One of the things I want to bring to the attention of the Nigerian government is the issue of forging of certificates by Nigerians who want to attend programmes like the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings," he said.
"There is a website that is creating fake certificates from CAC for Nigerians. This shameful act was brought to my attention by the team. I was asked to look at some of the certificates and to confirm if the certificates were coming from CAC. I was very depressed hearing about that because that does not portray a good thing for us.
"We do not know exactly why they are doing these but these programmes are meant for civil societies who are legally registered in Nigeria but then people are going to forge certificates and to submit them to the World Bank so that they can attend this civil society policy forum.
"I do not find it very funny because it continues to question the integrity of other genuine civil society organisations who are Nigerians.


text:
import os.path
import tornado
import tornado.auth
import markdown
import re

from gblog import config
from gblog import utils
from gblog.handlers.basehandler import BaseHandler

class HomeHandler(BaseHandler):
    """Handle URL '/'.

    Subclass of BaseHandler and RequestHandler, support standard GET/POST
    method.
    """

    def get(self):
        """Return the home page."""
        # Calculate the pages num
        entries_per_page=config.options.entries_per_page
        try:
            int(entries_per_page)
        except ValueError:
            raise tornado.web.HTTPError(500)

        count = self.db.get("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM entries")
        count = list(count.values())[0]
        pages = int((count-1)/entries_per_page + 1)  # equal math.ceil(a/b)
        pages = pages if pages else 1  # pages cannot be 0

        entries = self.db.query("SELECT id,title,slug,abstract,published,\
                readtimes,comments FROM entries ORDER BY published DESC \
                LIMIT {0}".format(entries_per_page))
        if not entries:
            pass
        tags_list = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM tags")
        dates_list = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM dates")
        self.render("home.html", entries=entries, tags_list=tags_list,
                dates_list=dates_list, pages=pages)

    def post(self):
        """Return the entries in home page #."""
        page = self.get_argument("page", None)
        if not page: raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)
        entries_per_page=config.options.entries_per_page
        start = int(page)*entries_per_page - entries_per_page
        entries = self.db.query("SELECT id,title,slug,abstract,published,\
                readtimes,comments FROM entries ORDER BY published DESC \
                LIMIT {0},{1}".format(start, entries_per_page))
        self.render("modules/entry.html", entries=entries)

class AboutHandler(BaseHandler):
    """Handle URL '/about'.
    """
    def get(self):
        """Return the about page."""
        about_file_path = self.settings["config_dir"] + '/about.md'
        if os.path.isfile(about_file_path):
            f = open(about_file_path)
            content=f.read()
            content = markdown.markdown(content)
        else:
            content = None

        comments = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM comments WHERE \
                entry_id={0}".format(0))

        #if comments:
        reply_map={}
        i=0
        for comment in comments:
            reply_map[ comment["id"] ]=i
            i+=1
        self.render("about.html", content=content, comments=comments,
                entry_id=0, reply_map=reply_map)

class DefaultHandler(BaseHandler):
    """handler of default_handler_class in Application Setting.

    """

    def get(self):
        """Return the 404 page."""

        # search *.jpg, *.ico, *.css ....
        #match = re.search('\.', self.request.uri)
        #if match:
            #self.send_error(400)
        #else:
            #self.render("404.html")
        raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)

class EntryHandler(BaseHandler):
    """Handle URL '/entry/[^/]+'.

    Subclass of BaseHandler and RequestHandler, support standard GET method.
    """

    def get(self, slug):
        entry = self.db.get("SELECT * FROM entries WHERE slug = '{0}'"\
                .format(slug))
        if not entry: raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)

        # Update readtimes
        if not self.current_user:
          entry.readtimes+=1
          self.db.execute( "UPDATE entries SET readtimes = '{0}' WHERE \
                  id = {1}".format(entry.readtimes, entry.id))

        tags_list = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM tags")
        dates_list = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM dates")

        # Query the pre and next article
        query = self.db.query("(SELECT id,slug,title FROM entries WHERE \
                id<{0} ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1) UNION ALL (SELECT id, \
                slug,title FROM entries WHERE id>{0} ORDER BY id LIMIT 1) \
                ".format(entry.id))
        # Only little interger can use 'is'
        if len(query) is 2:
            pre = query[0]
            nex = query[1]
        elif len(query) is 1:
            if query[0]["id"] < entry["id"]:
                pre = query[0]
                nex = None
            else:
                pre = None
                nex = query[0]
        else:
            pre = None
            nex = None

        self.render("article.html", entry=entry, tags_list=tags_list,
                dates_list=dates_list, pre=pre, nex=nex)

class ArchiveHandler(BaseHandler):
    """Handle URL '/archive'.

    Subclass of BaseHandler and RequestHandler, support standard GET method.
    """

    def get(self):
        entries = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM entries ORDER BY \
                published DESC")
        self.render("archive.html", entries=entries)

class CategoryHandler(BaseHandler):
    """Handle URL '/category'.

    """
    def get(self):
        # Check argument
        name=self.get_argument("name")
        id = self.get_argument("id")

        # Check id
        try:
            id=int(id)
        except ValueError:
            raise tornado.web.HTTPError()

        if name == "tag":
            if id is 0:
                tagname=self.get_argument("tagname")
                print(tagname)
                tag = self.db.get("SELECT * FROM tags WHERE name = '{0}' \
                        LIMIT 1".format(tagname))
                entries = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM entries WHERE id IN \
                        (SELECT entry_id FROM tagmaps WHERE tag_id = {0})" \
                        . format(tag["id"]))
                if not entries:
                    raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)
                self.render("category.html", entries=entries, category="tag",
                    item=tag)

            entries = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM entries WHERE id IN (SELECT \
                    entry_id FROM tagmaps WHERE tag_id = {0})".format(id))
            if not entries:
                raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)
            tag = self.db.get("SELECT * FROM tags WHERE id = {0} LIMIT 1"\
                    .format(id))
            self.render("category.html", entries=entries, category="tag",
                    item=tag)
        elif name == "date":
            entries = self.db.query("SELECT * FROM entries WHERE id IN (SELECT\
                entry_id FROM datemaps WHERE date_id = {0})".format(id))
            if not entries:
                raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)
            date = self.db.get("SELECT * FROM dates WHERE id = {0} LIMIT 1"\
                    .format(id))
            self.render("category.html", entries=entries, category="date",
                    item=date)

        else:
            raise tornado.web.HTTPError(404)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Continuing the recent trend, the turnout at the Kent County Libertarian Party meeting for June grew from our May total of around 20 people to more than 30. Please help us to continue this astonishing growth by telling your friends, coworkers, and neighbors about our meetings and the opportunity they provide each resident of Kent County to become more involved in their local political process and to hold our elected officials accountable to their constituents instead of their favorite special interests.
By far the most pressing of the items discussed at the June meeting was the bylaws draft for the Kent County Libertarian Party. Included in these bylaws are a transparent and open process for spending the money raised on behalf of the Kent County Libertarians. The bylaws also codify a typical agenda for the monthly meetings and lay a solid groundwork for establishing similarly open and transparent processes for carrying out all of the activities of the County Party. These bylaws will be ratified, and the nominated Executive Committee members, Richard Bieker, Jeff Munn, and Richard Cook will be confirmed at the next monthly meeting on July 20th. Please review these bylaws on the forums, offer any suggestions or questions, and prepare to vote on the 20th.
Much of the meeting's agenda was booked up with Guest Speakers. We were privileged to have three candidates in attendance. Norman Wood, the Democratic candidate for Kent County Sheriff came and gave a brief presentation on his plans should he be elected. He addressed the lack of arresting authority held by the Kent County Sheriff and discussed the need to update their communications technology to avoid interfering with cell phone transmissions, among other issues. Ron Poliquin, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 31st State Representative District came and discussed his record of fighting for taxpayers against the establishment and some of his plans for saving money on a state level before taking questions from the audience. Christine O'Donnell, a candidate for the Republican nomination to the US Senate was also present and offered her views on the current state of our country and the steps she believes are necessary to remedy them. While she was eager to appeal to those in attendance currently registered in the Republican Party, she was also respectful of the Libertarian Party's candidate for US Senate, Jim Rash.
The candidate presentations went on longer than expected and unfortunately crowded out some other items on the agenda for the month, but Tim Pancoast was still able to make an informative presentation on the changes being considered to the Delaware History Curriculum. Under the veneer of providing "balance", a commission of union leaders has been assembled to modify the curriculum. Tim and the assembled membership of the Kent County Libertarian Party wonder what balance can be offered without the inclusion of business leaders, economists, and historians on this panel. Tim also discussed a new initiative to expand the school breakfast program using a one-time injection of stimulus dollars from the federal government. In addition to further expanding the role of the schools in raising our children at the expense of the parents' relationship, this program demonstrates the short-term thinking and big-spending tendencies of a government taking advantage of a short-term increase in revenues with no thought or planning for the future after these funds are no longer available. Tim encouraged everyone assembled to get in contact with their legislators to voice their concerns on these changes.
Jesse McVay was also able to make a presentation on HB198, the National Popular Vote bill currently before the Senate Executive Committee. This bill has been promoted heavily by organizations outside of Delaware through the Advantage Research Corporation under misleading pretenses. Without further information available to their staff, Advantage Research has been portraying HB198 as an effective mechanism for expanding Delaware's influence in the presidential process by effectively abolishing the electoral college. Rather than the 0.5% influence Delaware holds by virtue of its 3 electoral votes, the National Popular Vote would reduce Delaware's influence to approximately 0.2% in proportion with Delaware's share of the national population. Jesse encouraged all members of the Kent County Libertarian Party to contact their legislators and voice their opposition to this bill as well as warn them of the deceptive manner in which it is being promoted by its supporters.
Please remember that the next monthly meeting will be held on July 20th at the same time and place. Please contact Will McVay, the Kent County Chair, with any suggestions or questions for the next meeting or any other issues.
Thank you for your supporting the Kent County Libertarian Party!
On June 14th the League of Women Voters endorsed the National Popular Vote bill (HB 198) at their annual convention in Atlanta.
The small states are the most disadvantaged group of states under the current system of electing the President. Political clout comes from being a closely divided battleground state, not the two-vote bonus.
12 of the 13 smallest states (3-4 electoral votes) are almost invariably non-competitive, and ignored, in presidential elections. Six regularly vote Republican (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota),, and six regularly vote Democratic (Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, and DC) in presidential elections. So despite the fact that these 12 states together possess 40 electoral votes, because they are not closely divided battleground states, none of these 12 states get visits, advertising or polling or policy considerations by presidential candidates.
These 12 states together contain 11 million people. Because of the two electoral-vote bonus that each state receives, the 12 non-competitive small states have 40 electoral votes. However, the two-vote bonus is an entirely illusory advantage to the small states. Ohio has 11 million people and has "only" 20 electoral votes. As we all know, the 11 million people in Ohio are the center of attention in presidential campaigns, while the 11 million people in the 12 non-competitive small states are utterly irrelevant. Nationwide election of the President would make each of the voters in the 12 smallest states as important as an Ohio voter.
The concept of a national popular vote for President is far from being politically "radioactive" in small states, because the small states recognize they are the most disadvantaged group of states under the current system.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support for a national popular vote is strong in virtually every state, partisan, and demographic group surveyed in recent polls in closely divided battleground states: Colorado-- 68%, Iowa --75%, Michigan-- 73%, Missouri-- 70%, New Hampshire-- 69%, Nevada-- 72%, New Mexico-- 76%, North Carolina-- 74%, Ohio-- 70%, Pennsylvania -- 78%, Virginia -- 74%, and Wisconsin -- 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): Alaska -- 70%, DC -- 76%, Delaware --75%, Maine -- 77%, Nebraska -- 74%, New Hampshire --69%, Nevada -- 72%, New Mexico -- 76%, Rhode Island -- 74%, and Vermont -- 75%; in Southern and border states: Arkansas --80%, Kentucky -- 80%, Mississippi --77%, Missouri -- 70%, North Carolina -- 74%, and Virginia -- 74%; and in other states polled: California -- 70%, Connecticut -- 74% , Massachusetts -- 73%, Minnesota -- 75%, New York -- 79%, Washington -- 77%, and West Virginia- 81%.
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 30 state legislative chambers, in 20 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon, and both houses in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. These five states possess 61 electoral votes -- 23% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.


The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (Minister: Park Sungchoon) invites 23 families of the Korean War veterans who rest in peace in the United Nations Cemetery in Korea(UNMCK), in Busan, Korea from October 22 to 28. The families are from the UK, Canada, and Australia. The UNMCK is the only United Nations cemetery in the world and contains 2,300 graves. Laid out over 14 hectares, the graves are set out in 22 sites designated by the nationalities of the buried servicemembers.


text:
← Renaissance Heavy Metal
A disservice to the history of Islamic Astronomy →
The emergence of modern astronomy – a complex mosaic: Part IX
In 1542 the manuscript of De revolutionibus arrived at Petreius' printing office in Nürnberg followed by Rheticus who intended to see it through the press. I argued in Part VII that Johannes Petreius had in fact commissioned Rheticus to see if Copernicus had written anything substantial on his astronomical theories and if so to persuade him to allow Petreius to publish it. Petreius' printing office was certainly the right address for the publication of a major new work on astronomy, as he was certainly the leading scientific publisher–astrology, astronomy, mathematics–in the Holy Roman Empire of German States and probably the whole of Europe but who was Johannes Petreius?
The Petreius printing office in Nürnberg Photo by the author
He was born Hans Peter, whereby Peter is the family name, into a family of wealthy farmers in the Lower Franconia village of Langendorf near Hammelburg in 1496 or 1497. He matriculated at the university of Basel in 1512, graduating BA in 1515 and MA in 1517. He next appears as a witness in a court case in Basel in 1519, where he is described, as working as a proofreader for the Basler printer publisher Adam Petri. This explains why he had chosen to study in Basel, as Adam Petri was his uncle. Petri is the Swizz German version of the name Peter. Presumably, having learnt the black art, as printing was known, from his uncle he moved to Nürnberg in 1523 and set up his own printing office. The was almost certainly an attempt by the Peter family to cash in on the gradual collapse of the Koberger printing office following the death of Aton Koberger in 1513. The Petri-Froben-Amerbach printing cooperative had been Koberger's licensees in Basel, printing his titles on commission.
Hans Peter now sporting the Latinised name, Johannes Petreius, succeeded in establishing himself against the local competition and by 1535 was the leading printer publisher in Nürnberg. Like most other printer publishers Petreius' main stock in trade was printing religious volumes but in the 1530s he began to specialise in printing scientific texts. Exactly why he chose to follow this business path is not known but it was probably the ready availability of the large number of mathematical, astrological and astronomical manuscripts brought to Nürnberg by Regiomontanus when he set up his own printing office in 1471. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that several of Petreius' earliest scientific publications were all of manuscripts from this collection, all of which were edited for publication by Johannes Schöner, who would later be the addressee of Rheticus' Narratio Prima.
This series of publications started with Schöner's edition of Regiomontanus' own De Triangulis in 1533, a very important work in the history of trigonometry. This was also one of the volumes that Rheticus took with him to Frombork, as a present for Copernicus.
Schöner followed this with Regiomontanus' Tabulae astronomicaein 1536. Petreius' activities in the area were not however restricted to Schöner's output. Earlier he published the first Greek edition of Ptolemaeus' Tetrabiblos, under the title Astrologica, edited by Joachim Camerarius (1500–1574), which included Camerarius' translation into Latin of Books I & II and partial translations of Books III & IV together with his notes on Books I & II and the Greek text of the Centiloquium, a collection of one hundred astrological aphorism falsely attributed to Ptolemaeus, with a Latin translation by Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503).
Opening chapter of the first printed edition of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, transcribed into Greek and Latin by Joachim Camerarius (Nuremberg, 1535). Source: Wikimedia Commons
A year earlier Petreius had published Johann Carion's Practica new – auffs 1532 mit einer auslegung des gesehen cometen. Through these publications it is clear that the principle interest is in astrology and it is here that money was to be made. Over the next twenty plus years Petreius published more texts from Regiomontanus edited by Schöner, some of Schöner's own works on astronomy and cartography, reckoning and algebra books from Christoph Rudolff (c. 1500–before 1543) and Michael Stifel (1487–1567). Various scientific texts edited by Peter Apian including his and Georg Tannstetter's edition of Witelo's Perspectiva (1535), another of the volumes that Rheticus took with him to Frombork for Copernicus. Various Arabic astrological texts, the Tractatus astrologicae (1540) of Lucas Gauricus (1575–1558), who along with Schöner and Cardano was one of the most important astrologers of the first half of the sixteenth century. Petreius became the publisher of Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576) north of the Alps, publishing his works on mathematics, astronomy, medicine, astrology and philosophy, all of which were highly successful.
He also published alchemical works from Abū Muḥammad Jābir ibn Aflaḥ better known in the West as Geber. As well as all this, Petreius commissioned and published the first German translation of Vitruvius' De architectura, a bible for Renaissance artist-engineers.
Petreius' scientific catalogue was very wide but also had depth, including as it did various classics by Regiomontanus, Schöner, Stifel, Cardano and Witelo. If anybody could adequately present Copernicus' masterpiece to the world then it was Johannes Petreius.
Rheticus had originally intended seeing Copernicus' manuscript through the press but Philipp Melanchthon had other plans for his errant protégée. In the meantime Rheticus had, at the request of Joachim Camerarius, who was now rector of the University of Leipzig and had obviously been impressed by Rheticus during their meeting in Tübingen, been offered a chair in mathematics at Leipzig.
Joachim Camerarius, 18th-century engraving by Johann Jacob Haid. Source: Wikimedia Commons
In the autumn of 1542 Rheticus, under pressure from Melanchthon, left Nürnberg and preceded to Leipzig, where he was appointed professor of higher mathematics i.e. astronomy and music and his direct involvement in De revolutionibus came to an end. Petreius still needed an editor to see Copernicus' weighty tome through the press and this duty was taken over, with serious consequences by Nürnberg's Lutheran Protestant preacher, Andreas Osiander (1496 or 1498–1552).
Andreas Osiander portrait by Georg Pencz Source: Wikimedia Commons
Osiander was born in the small town of Gunzenhausen to the south of Nürnberg, the son of Endres Osiander a smith and Anna Herzog. His father was also a local councillor who later became mayor. He matriculated at the University of Ingolstadt in 1515 where he, amongst other things, studied Hebrew under the great humanist scholar and great uncle of Melanchthon, Johannes Reuchlin. In 1520 he was ordained a priest and called to Nürnberg to teach Hebrew at the Augustinian Cloister, a hot bed of reformatory debate, where he also became a reformer. In 1522 he as appointed preacher at the St Lorenz church and became a leading voice for religious reform. Osiander achieved much influence and power in Nürnberg when the city-state became the very first Lutheran Protestant state.
Osiander first became involved with Petreius when the latter started publishing his religious polemics. Petreius also published numerous religious works by both Luther and Melanchthon. Where or how Osiander developed his interest and facility in the mathematical sciences is simply not know but they are attested to by Cardano in the preface to one of his books published by Petreius. In fact it was Osiander, who was responsible for the correspondence between Cardano and the Petreius printing office and he edited Cardano's books there. When or how Osiander became an editor for Petreius is also not known. In his capacity as editor of De revolutionibus Osiander committed what many have as one of the greatest intellectual crimes in the history of science, he added the infamous ad lectorum, an address to the reader with which the book opens.
Latin Wikisource
The ad lectorum is an essay that it pays to read in full but here we will just consider the salient points, Osiander writes:
There have already been widespread reports about the new novel hypothesis of this work, which declares that the earth moves whereas the sun is at rest in the centre of the universe.
Here Osiander lets us know that knowledge of Copernicus' heliocentric hypothesis was already widespread–spread by the Commentariolus, the Narratio Prima and by rumour–indicating that there was going to be a high level of expectancy to learn the mathematical details of the system. He goes on:
Hence certain scholars, I have no doubt, are deeply offended and believe that the liberal arts, which were established long ago on a sound basis, should not be thrown in confusion.
Anticipating criticism from conservative circles Osiander goes into defensive mode:
But if these men are willing to examine the matter closely, they will find that the author has done nothing that is blameworthy. For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study. Then he must conceive and devise the causes of these motions or hypotheses about them. Since he cannot in any way attain to the true causes, he will adopt whatever suppositions enable the motions to be computed correctly from the principles of geometry for the future as well as the past.
Here we have the crux of Osiander's defence. Astronomers are here to produce geometrical models in order to provide accurate predictions of celestial motions and not to determine the unobtainable true causes of those motions. This argument has been dubbed instrumentalist and some hail Osiander as the first instrumentalist philosopher of science. Instrumentalism is a metaphysical attitude to scientific theories that enjoyed a lot of popularity in modern physics in the twentieth century; it doesn't matter if the models we use describe reality, all that matters in that they predict the correct numerical results. Osiander expands on this viewpoint:
For these hypotheses need not be true or even probable. On the contrary, if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is enough.
Here we have the core of why the ad lectorum caused so much outrage over the centuries. Osiander is stating very clearly that the mathematical models of astronomers are useful for predictive purposes but not for describing reality. A view that was fairly commonplace over the centuries amongst those concerned with the subject. Copernicus, however, very clearly deviates from the norm in De revolutionibus in that he presents his heliocentric system as a real model of the cosmos. Osiander's ad lectorum stands in clear contradiction to Copernicus' intentions. Osiander then goes into more detail illustrating his standpoint before closing his argument as follows:
…the astronomer will take as his first choice that hypothesis which is easiest to grasp. The philosopher will perhaps rather seek the semblance of the truth. But neither of them will understand or state anything certain, unless it has been divinely revealed to him.
Here we have Osiander restating the standard scholastic division of responsibilities, astronomers provide mathematical models to deliver accurate predictions of celestial motions for use by others, philosophers attempt to provide explanatory models of those motions but truth can only be delivered by divine revelation. The modern astronomy, whose gradual emergence we are tracing had to break down this division of responsibilities in order to become accepted as we shall see in later episodes. Osiander closes with a friendly appeal to the reader to permit the new hypotheses but not to take them too seriously, and thereby make a fool of himself.
Therefore alongside the ancient hypotheses, which are no more probable, let us permit these new hypotheses also the become known, especially since they are admirable as well as simple and bring with them a huge treasure of very skilful observations. So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than he entered it. Farewell.
There is a widespread belief that Osiander somehow smuggled his ad lectorum into De revolutionibus without the knowledge of either Copernicus or Petreius but the historical evidence speaks against this. There are surviving fragments of a correspondence between Osiander and Copernicus that make it clear that Osiander discussed the stratagem of presenting De revolutionibus as a hypothesis rather that fact with him; although we don't know how or even if Copernicus reacted to this suggestion. More telling is the situation between Petreius and Osiander.
There is absolutely no way that Osiander could have added the ad lectorum without Petreius' knowledge. This is supported by subsequent events. When the book appeared Tiedemann Giese was outraged by the presence of the ad lectorum and wrote a letter to the city council of Nürnberg demanding that it be removed and the book reissued without this blemish. The council consulted Petreius on the subject and he let them know in no uncertain terms that it was his book and what he put in it was his business and nobody else's.
Petreius' reaction illustrates an important point that modern commentators often overlook. Our concept of copyright didn't exist in the sixteenth century, the rights to a publish work in general lay with the publisher and not the author. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that when a publication provoked the ire of the authorities, civil or clerical, it was the printer publisher, who first landed before the court and then in goal rather than the author.
The ad lectorum was anonym but any reader, who was paying attention should have realised through the phrasing that Copernicus was not the author. The Nürnberger astronomer and instrument maker Johannes Pratorius (1537–1615), another Wittenberg graduate, wrote in his copy of De revolutionibus that Rheticus, when Pratorius visited him in 1569, had revealed to him that Osiander was the author of the ad lectorum.
Michael Maestlin's copy contains the same information also from Rheticus via Peter Apian. Kepler's second hand copy had this information added by its original owner Hieronymus Schreiber (birth date unknown–1547), yet another Wittenberg graduate, who had received a gift copy signed by Petreius, because he had substituted for Rheticus in Wittenberg during the latter's time in Frombork. All of this indicates that Osiander's authorship of the ad lectorem was circulating on the astronomers' grapevine by 1570 at the latest. It was first put into print, and thus made general public, by Kepler in his Astronomia Nova in 1609.
As with most books in the Early Modern Period there was no publication date for De revolutionibus but it seems to have been finished by 20thApril 1543, as Rheticus signed a finished copy on this date. According to a legend, put in the world by Tiedemann Giese, Copernicus received his copy, which was placed into his hands, on his dying day the 24thMay 1543. Owen Gingerich, who is the expert on the subject, estimates that the 1stedition probably had a print run of about 400 copies, which carried the mathematical details of Copernicus' hypothesis out into the wide world.
Filed under Early Scientific Publishing, History of Astrology, History of Astronomy, Renaissance Science
12 responses to "The emergence of modern astronomy – a complex mosaic: Part IX"
having learnt the black art, as printing was known
A handle with an obvious sardonic tone to modern ears. Did it share that at the time?
Thony C
No, in the 16th century art still meant technique or technology and printing ink was black, so the term was fairly harmless
Hi Thony,
Could you could you clarify how common were the instrumentalist views of astronomical models as presented in Osiander's Ad Lectorem?
On the one hand you say:
Here we have the crux of Osiander's defence. Astronomers are here to produce geometrical models in order to provide accurate predictions of celestial motions and not to determine the unobtainable true causes of those motions. This argument has been dubbed instrumentalist and some hail Osiander as the first instrumentalist philosopher of science.
which I take to be suggesting that Osiander's instrumentalism was not only rare, but unprecedented.
But on the other hand you say:
Osiander is stating very clearly that the mathematical models of astronomers are useful for predictive purposes but not for describing reality. A view that was fairly commonplace over the centuries amongst those concerned with the subject. Copernicus, however, very clearly deviates from the norm in De revolutionibus in that he presents his heliocentric system as a real model of the cosmos.
which seems to suggest that Osiander's instrumentalism was "commonplace," even "the norm."
FWIW, my leaning at present is towards thinking that Osiander's views as presented in the Ad Lectorem were rarely held, and even more rarely, sincerely believed among his contemporaries (although I could be convinced otherwise.) I read Ptolemy, for example, as presenting what he believes to be the reality of the cosmos, and not a convenient fiction. In fact he seems to suggest that mathematics, in which he includes astronomy, is more certain than physics or theology, which he gives as the other two branches of theoretical philosophy. (Makes sense if we're judging by predictive accuracy at the time.) Did Peuerbach or Regiomontanus have a different take on these matters? Likewise The fact that several of Copernicus's followers were offended by the Ad Lectorem seems to indicate, they at least did not share the views presented by Osiander. Do you have quotes from other 16th century authors suggesting they shared Osiander's views?
Until modern times, at least in astronomy, the term of art was not "instrumentalism" but "save the phenomena". I too would be interested to know who said that Osiander was the first instrumentalist.
Of course, ripping these terms from all historical context is Not Good. Instrumentalism got a big boost in the early twentieth century from relativity and from quantum mechanics. The physicist David Mermin once memorably described the most popular philosphy of quantum mechanics (at least among working physicists) as "Shut up and calculate!"
On the other hand, Ptolemy composed two separate works(*), the Almagest and the Planetary Hypotheses. The first delineates the geometrical models needed to predict planetary positions (and eclipses and so forth). The second added a bunch more cycles to give a physical mechanism for the planetary orbits. It would seem that Ptolemy did not regard the sole task of astronomy as "saving the phenomena", but did believe in separating that part from more "realist" aspects.
(*) Actually Ptolemy composed two other astronomical works: the Tetrabiblios, on astrology, and the Handy Tables.
Point taken regarding anachronistic terminology. That said, what seems notable about Osiander's Ad Lectorem is not just that it says astronomers should strive to "save the phenomena," but that that should be their goal to the exclusion of all other goals. In particular having a model based on "true or even probable" hypotheses is not considered a reasonable goal for astronomers. This goes beyond the slogan of "saving the phenomena" in somewhat the same direction as that of 20th century Instrumentlists. The difference, I think, is that 20th century Instrumentalists typically denied that a coherent distinction could be made between seeking the truth and "saving the phenomena." The Ad Lectorem on the other hand seems to believe in such a distinction but deems truth in astronomy to be unattainable without divine revelation. This seems like a very extreme position.
Of course Osiander was right in at least one respect. Every astronomical model on offer, including that of Copernicus, was wrong in at least some important way.
While in general I would agree with you that it is Not Good to use anachronistic terminology such as instrumentalist, here I think that it is applicable. Remember that the spheres of the Ptolemaic system were thought to be physical (made of the fifth element, quintessence); by avoiding the idea of physical spheres and only thinking in terms of the mathematics of spherical motion, Osiander's approach made possible models like Tycho's where the orbits of the Sun and Mars intersect.
One can even consider Newton as an instrumentalist in this sense, as he declined to offer any hypothesis on the cause of gravitation.
@Lawrence Cox:
I agree. Actually I was never an absolutist about anachronistic terminology, and certain forms of whiggism; it's more a "handle with care".
I've become even more accepting after reading David Wootton's The Invention of Science; he makes a strong case that all the huffing and puffing about "scientist" is overblown, for example.
I have no problem calling Archimedes a mathematical physicist, so long as it's clear that he's not solving wave equations in a curved spacetime. After all, people say "King Agamemnon", "King Edward I", and "King Edward VIII", without implying that they occupied the same political positions.
I wanted to highlight that the senses in which Osiander and (say) Bohr were instrumentalists are as far apart as the kingships of Edward I and Edward VIII. Very different motivations, for one thing.
By the way, Osiander was not broaching a new view of the task of the astronomer—at least that's my understanding.
Ray, I'm neither your teacher nor your servant. You want to learn about Renaissance astronomy then go away and read the books on the subject!
Coming somewhat late to this discussion just a few comments. The view that Osiander's position is instrumentalism is one applied by modern historians and one that I personally don't accept. He is certainly a holder of the view first expounded by Plato that the role of the astronomer is to save the phenomena and attributed to all astronomers from Plato down to Newton by the 19th century French physicist Duhem (1861–1916). The task of explaining cosmological reality was the domain of philosophers not astronomers, strict demarcation. This concept, as Ray correctly says, was certainly not held by Ptolemaeus, who makes very clear at the beginning of his Syntaxis Mathematiké that he believes in the reality of his system. However, it is very clear in the Renaissance that astronomers are only interested in mathematical models, tables etc that deliver the most accurate predictions of celestial motions and not in any form of cosmological reality. The best example of this is that Maestlin chastises Kepler for suggesting a cosmological mechanism for his heliocentric model in his Mysterium Cosmographicum, which Maestlin edited for the press. Kepler is trespassing on the territory of the philosophers. As to the complaints of Copernicus' friends about the Ad lectorum they are not concerned with the status of astronomers contra philosophers but the falsification of Copernicus' intentions.
Hi Thony. You say:
However, it is very clear in the Renaissance that astronomers are only interested in mathematical models, tables etc that deliver the most accurate predictions of celestial motions and not in any form of cosmological reality. The best example of this is that Maestlin chastises Kepler for suggesting a cosmological mechanism for his heliocentric model in his Mysterium Cosmographicum, which Maestlin edited for the press.
Is this demarcation of roles clear from before the time of Copernicus and Osiander or only 50 years later, when Kepler and Maestlin were moving Mysterium Cosmographicum to press? Do you have any earlier examples? Also, I should like to know more exactly what Maestlin said in criticizing Kepler. It is one thing to say that an astronomer should leave speculation about causes to philosophers, and another to say that an astronomer should freely speculate without regard to whether his speculations are true. The latter, which I take to be Osiander's stated view seems much odder.
That is to say. Are there good historical examples that distinguish between
1) A scenario where Osiander is faithfully continuing a widely held tradition regarding the role of the astronomer.
2) A scenario where the Ad Lectorem and similar views that followed are a reaction to Copernicus's work, which concretely demonstrated that a view based on radically different assumptions about reality could "save the phenomena" as well as the long dominant view of Ptolemy.
Thony, how responsive you choose to be to blog commenters is your own business I suppose, but if you wish to set yourself up as HistSci Hulk, enemy of bad history in your chosen niche, you really ought to make sure you aren't promoting bad history yourself.
I am quite capable of doing my own research, but thus far everything I'm finding is suggesting that the idea that 16th century astronomers didn't care about the *reality* of their models is mostly a myth (possibly based on a few passages of Aquinas's works having similar wording to Osiander's preface, despite it being fairly clear from context that Aquinas's intended message was quite different.) Certainly not only Ptolemy, but Copernicus, Tycho, and Fracastoro all cared about the truth of the models they originated. Ursus may be an exception among the major model builders (although I need to investigate further if he had strong opinions about whether celestial spheres should intersect.) Additionally, it seems many of the justifications for the claimed efficacy of astrology seem to have relied on the ordering of the celestial spheres, and the weak justification for that ordering in the Ptolemaic system was a bit of a scandal. This debate also makes no sense in a world where 16th century astronomers/astrologers have no interest in the reality of their models.
I am also suspicious of your explanation of Copernicus's friends' objections to the Ad Lectorem. In the case of Rheticus, the annotation describing the incident from Maestlin's copy of De Revolutionibus (as translated by Gingerich) suggests that Rheticus thought Osiander was "slandering astronomers" which is a bit of an odd phrasing if his concern was limited to the fact that Osiander was misrepresenting Copernicus in particular.
As an amusing side note, on rereading Osiander's preface, I noticed that his main argument against the reality of Ptolemy's model was that it had Venus over 4 times closer to Earth at inferior conjunction than at superior conjunction. This is of course true not only in Ptolemy's model, but also Copernicus's,Tycho's and reality. Nonetheless, he thought this had been refuted by experience. Not sure what to make of this. Osiander argues as if the absurdity of Venus varying so much in distance was common knowledge, but of course, even Tycho, who took naked eye "measurements" of star sizes seriously, didn't find Osiander's argument a sufficient reason to abandon his system.
…but if you wish to set yourself up as HistSci Hulk, enemy of bad history in your chosen niche, you really ought to make sure you aren't promoting bad history yourself
A gratuitous ad hominem attack is never a good way to start an argument
Certainly not only Ptolemy, but Copernicus, Tycho, and Fracastoro all cared about the truth of the models they originated.
I have already agreed earlier that contrary to the oft stated opposite Ptolemy certainly did believe in the reality of his model. Fracastoro wrote about the homocentric model as a philosopher and not as an astronomer and it is here that the division exists. Before Copernicus astronomers produced models that produced predictions of the positions of celestial objects without considering whether the models that they used represented reality or not. Philosophers discussed the reality of cosmological models. This was exactly Maestlin's admonishment of Kepler, who he accused of having crossed the disciplinary line. With Copernicus we see a game change, he and an increasing number of astronomers, most notable Tycho in the early phase started discussing the reality of their models. However the majority of the lesser know astronomer/astrologers didn't.
In the case of Rheticus, the annotation describing the incident from Maestlin's copy of De Revolutionibus (as translated by Gingerich) suggests that Rheticus thought Osiander was "slandering astronomers" which is a bit of an odd phrasing if his concern was limited to the fact that Osiander was misrepresenting Copernicus in particular.
As far as Rheticus was concerned there were only two astronomers in the world Copernicus and himself, so I wouldn't read too much into his use of a plural.

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News, Thoughts and Current Affairs, right from Kate Doak's pen and camera lens
So who exactly is Kate Doak?
Missing the story – Indonesia's been asking for and using "Phone Tapping" technology for years
Posted on November 23, 2013 November 23, 2013 by Kate Doak
By Kate Doak.
Over the past few days I've been getting rather bemused by the phone tapping scandal that's been hiting the Australian and Indonesian Governments. However the events surrounding this scandal haven't surprised me anywhere near as much as some of the comments that have been made about it. Namely, that Indonesia didn't have a clue that Australia was tapping the phones of Indonesian citizens. This is closely followed by some of the seriously deficient research that parts of the Australian and Indonesian media have conducted into this story, since it first broke. The context of a story often provides its key, and in all honesty that's what I feel has missing from this entire scandal so far.
I also regret the statement of Australian Prime Minister that belittled this tapping matter on Indonesia, without any remorse. *SBY*
— S. B. Yudhoyono (@SBYudhoyono) November 19, 2013
Now as anyone who follows South East Asian current affairs and politics closely would know, Indonesia's Detachment 88 has been tapping the phones of Indonesian citizens for ages. Given that none of the tapped phones on the list provided by the Australian Signals Directorate to the other "5 Eyes" members were secure models, it's no surprise at all that these phones were tapped. As a Reuters article from 2010 shows, phone tapping technology and expertise are resources that the Indonesians have requested and received from Australia, the US, France and the UK throughout most of the period since the 2002 Bali Bombings.
A U.S. embassy spokesman in Jakarta declined to comment, but a U.S. government document showed the unit had received technical support, training and equipment under the State Department's Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) program since 2003.
An Indonesian official, who spoke on condition on anonymity, confirmed the unit got Australian and U.S. help in advanced wiretapping technology, and also some British and French aid.
Indonesia and the United States are likely to discuss further security cooperation during Obama's visit. Washington has been considering whether to lift a ban on military training for Indonesia's notorious special forces unit, known as Kopassus.
This is further reinforced by an interview that Allan Nairn, a George Polk Award and Robert F Kennedy Memorial recipient, conducted in 2007 with the progressive-leaning media outlet "Democracy Now" in New York. During this interview, Nairn examined the Signals-Intelligence capabilities of the Indonesian Government and its utilisation of them against West Papuans and other dissidents, with US and Australian support. Nairn was one of only a handful of reporters who were able to cover the Dili "Santa Cruz" Massacre of 1991 of East Timorese by Indonesian Military Forces, while he has covered the Indonesian military and intelligence community for decades.
As Nairn stated:
And now, in this piece today, I disclose that there are actually US personnel working inside the Detachment 88 headquarters in Jakarta. And what they are doing is tapping the cell phones of Indonesian civilians. They're listening in on their calls. They're reading their text messages. And it's precisely such an SMS text message that led to the recent arrest by Detachment 88 of a Papuan human rights lawyer, a man by the name of Iwangin. And his offense was merely that he forwarded an SMS that criticized the Indonesian army and criticized the president of Indonesia. And for this, he was seized by this US-created antiterrorist unit.
Photo courtesy of ABC's 7.30 – Story: Australia faces link to West Papua torture
Throw in an extensive undercover investigation that focused on Detachment 88 by the ABC's Hayden Cooper and Lisa Main for 7.30 last year, and some serious questions have got to be asked as to why Indonesia's Politicians are claiming that they didn't know that Phone Tapping was going on, when they were extensively utilising and requesting such resources themselves for use within independence-seeking regions of their territory.
Now with an election coming up and corruption concerns running rife all across Indonesia, causing a stink over spying allegations serves the political interests of the major Indonesian parties at this time, as it gives them justification in playing the righteous victim during this part of their campaign. At the same time, this is also in the interests of the Indonesian media, as a juicy spy-related story always sells papers and attracts audiences reasonably well whenever they come up.
However while the Indonesian Government and media's actions can be explained away by self-interest, the absolutely sloppy researching and analysis made by parts of the Canberra Press Gallery and wider Australian media throughout this story most definitely can't be.
Take The Age's Michael Gordon, for example.
Rather than checking to see if there might be a reason behind why Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor called various members of the Indonesian Government unethical operators (alongside a reference to pornography producers of a certain vintage), Gordon instead decided to do an article about how Australia is full of caricatures and Textor is nothing but an offensive racist. For example:
So what did we see this week, as the focus of Indonesian anger turned from the revelation to Abbott's admit-nothing response? Evidence that the caricatures are alive and well and still doing damage. Witness Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor and his offensive tweets, and the flag-burners outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
This was followed by:
Back in Australia, the story went in many directions, with suggestions that the Indonesian anger should be seen through the prism of that country's looming election (and SBY's unpopularity); criticism of the Guardian Australia and the ABC who jointly broke the story; and questions of whether publication was in the public interest and/or the national interest, and whether the story had been delayed by what former Liberal foreign minister Alexander Downer called that "left-wing" publication [The Guardian] to damage Abbott (it hadn't).
Much of the debate missed the point. The bigger issue is what purpose is served by attempting to tap the conversations of friends in a WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden world where the prospect of disclosure is so much greater – and how this behaviour is consistent with all the talk from successive prime ministers about this being Australia's most important relationship.
Now while Snowden's disclosures are obviously in the public interest, that doesn't mean that we should exclude all other information involving particular events as well. At no time within any part of his article, did Gordon even hint at raising the issues surrounding Detachment 88, the verified atrocities that Indonesia has partaken in West Papua over the past decade that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's been in power, or the fact that Indonesia already had the resources required to undertake such phone tapping of senior government officials, due to the resources that the same government officials had requested from both Australia and the United States. Nor did Gordon or any other member of the Australian media even reference the fact that senior Indonesian Police and Military officials have been under investigation for corruption, at scales that may make Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald look like little kids at their first day of Pre-School once all is said and done.
5 minutes and a laptop, smart-phone or tablet would've been all that was needed to find and verify the information present within this article, especially given the extent that the ABC, Fairfax, News Corp and The Jakarta Post amongst others have produced content on these issues over the course of the past few years. Simple research that would've made both Australian and Indonesian politicians sit back and answer a few tough questions, though due to what's probably a mix of personality conflicts and egos, this is all easily verifiable and crucial information that's conveniently gone overlooked.
Retweeted by @LatikaMBourke – 23rd Nov. 2013
To be fair, this mistake wasn't made by Gordon (or Fairfax for that matter) alone. Over the past couple of days, the ABC's Latika Bourke has made a few Tweets and retweets without confirming the information within them or conducting further background research, while others such as The Australian's Ben Packham have focused on the here and now (pretty decently in Ben's case, I might add) at the cost of the backstory as well.
Liberal Pollster Mark Textor quits Twitter following 70s porn star rant…but his digital legacy won't be forgotten: http://t.co/AfNAHvAeqZ
— Latika Bourke (@latikambourke) November 22, 2013
Needless to say, you've got to wonder if it was stories like these that prompted Textor to make the comments that he did, even if they were offensive to both Filipino Porn Stars and Indonesian Politicians alike. If so, questions need to be asked as to why so many journalists within the Canberra Press Gallery and elsewhere haven't researched the backstory of Textor's comments and this scandal as a whole, as a part of their coverage so far.
Posted in Australian Media, Australian Politics, Crime, Indonesia, Media, TelecommunicationsTagged Coalition, Diplomacy, Espionage, Indonesia, Mark Textor, Phone Tapping, SBY, Spies, Tony Abbott
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This is the basis for his exhortation. Because of this wonderful assurance, we are to "comfort each other and edify one another." The idea of the word translated as "comfort" is that we are to personally make a call on one another in their times of sadness such as when a fellow believer has died in Christ. At such a time, we are to remind them of the promises of God which Paul has penned to us. The word "edify" means to build up. When another's faith is wavering, we are to take them to the word and build them up once again, assuring them that all will be fine. The Lord has it all under control, and we are to convey this to them.
Paul then finishes the thought with, "just as you are doing." Those at Thessalonica were following through with this. Paul knew that, but somehow it appears that a thought of doubt concerning those who had died had been introduced into their minds. Because of this, he was doing exactly what he was admonishing them to continue doing – comfort and edify. They would would now be able to do this with the tangible proofs of an apostolic letter available to them. Should someone come in and attempt to reintroduce doubt or make conflicting statements, they would only need to go to the word to prove the truth of the matter.
Life application: How can we know if Mormonism is right or wrong? What about the doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses? What about any other false sect? The answer is, "Whatever conflicts with, or contradicts, what is already written in God's word is to be rejected." The word is written. It is fixed, firm, and forever. Let us not be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine which is given through the trickery of men. Instead, let us stand fast and firm on the truth of the Word of God.
Heavenly Father, You have given us a choice in life. We can accept or reject Your word. Help each of us – from any and every background and culture – to be willing to search out the truths You have laid down, and to accept them as they have been given. Truth is what corresponds to reality, and surely Your word is truth. Help us to accept this, O Lord. Amen.


Here you can see how Chuck sets up his kit.
The set up is a personal thing, of course, but it can be interesting and helpful to see how other drummers do it.
Chuck is not only a singing drummer, he also twirls his sticks to the amazed delight of his audience. Then when he gets out his harmonica you just know the music is in his blood.
Chuck has been playing drums since he was a rhythm possessed kid. He played drums and trumpet in the school band and was mentored, at an early age, by Wally Heider, creator of Filmways. Chuck studied with Murray Spivak during his formative years. The Grip is especially important to becoming a good drummer. There are a couple of methods worth studying. The Spivak grip and the Moeller Method, are both good to know.
Here's a link to a video of The Spivack Grip.
Chuck and Kenny Park had a great time collaborating on Drum Songs From Around the World. Their aim was to create percussion sounds much the way a regular popular song is composed, the verse,the chorus, the bridge, and so on. If you listen closely you can hear the transitions. Here is just one example but they are planning to release an album in the future. If you sign up on the Contact page, we will definitely let you know when that happens.
Chuck is co-composer and drummer on tracks #14, #15 and drummer on #16. Here's s a link to MEGATRAX where you can listen to the full track and the edits that are available for TV and film.
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Inbox Time to support sprint football
By Paul A. Gabriele '82, Andrew Gabriele '11
In Response to: Time to end a sport?
I am writing in response to Stephan J. Bednar '60's letter (Feb. 24), which suggests that Princeton end its sprint football program because it cannot compete effectively in the league. While it is true that Princeton's sprint football has not been competitive for some time, I believe it is time for the University to step up and support the program.
Are you aware that sprint football does not have recruited athletes and a fulltime coaching staff? What other varsity sport would be competitive if it had to recruit players from the general student body every year? President Tilghman has been quoted as saying that "Princeton is the gold standard when it comes to athletic achievement in an academic setting in the U.S." However, I don't believe she truly believes that. By not allowing this proud varsity team with a 75-year tradition to have recruited athletes and fulltime coaching, she has not only made a mockery of the program, but has disgraced the University. When does Princeton do anything halfway? If Penn and Cornell can be competitive, then so can Princeton.
Sprint alumni and current players have made the request for recruiting slots to President Tilghman many times, always falling on deaf ears. If this team had seven to eight recruited players a year and a fulltime coaching staff, it would be competitive in two years. It's time for Princeton to support sprint football, not cut it.
Paul A. Gabriele '82
Andrew Gabriele '11
Time to support sprint football
Paul A. Gabriele '82, Andrew Gabriele '11
Keep sprint football
Richard W. Hagner '09
Lessons from sprint football
Arthur "P.J." Chew '95
Promote 'the ultimate underdog' sport
Joe Salerno '84


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Many people try rehab many times with no luck, and this can be discouraging to the point that they may give up on ever being. Not every drug and alcohol rehab facilities in Black Mountain, NC. are identical however, and because somebody is in rehab doesn't mean they are necessarily in a facility that is right for them. So it is important to consider when selecting a drug rehab facility in Black Mountain, NC. is if it's an ideal center based off of one's degree of dependency and whether or not it's enough time and also the right environment to ensure that an individual can experience real rehabilitation. Short-term programs will be the least ideal for example, because short-term programs of 30 days or fewer are just not enough time for a person to recover in any other way than physically in many instances, when there are plenty of things left to address. Likewise, outpatient centers in Black Mountain aren't best because addicts thrive in rehab whenever they can get away from that prompted their drug abuse as opposed to remaining in this kind of environment that will more than likely sabotage their time in rehabilitation.
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Land Demographics, Black Mountain, NC.
Household and Income Statistics in: Black Mountain, NC.
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Life Moments: Sometimes…the adventure can be a real challenge to see.
When I woke up today, I regretted how I went to sleep. I went to sleep angry and frustrated. And that's how I woke up.
and then I fell on the sidewalk on my way to work.
I left work angry and frustrated.
So I decided to break the pattern.
to try and combat my rocky morning and 11 hour work day…I did a snow celebration dance. To prove society wrong about what I am supposed to live for.
And I felt a little better.
These feet, one day, will walk past this same spot again...and keep going. And THAT is what is going to keep me going... for now.


I just found another Thrifty Threads submission in my spam folder, after finding three last month. I don't regularly check my spam, so it makes me heartsick to think of all the submissions that may have been lost.
If you sent me a photo for Thrifty Threads and I didn't use it, please send it again. I will use any submission that isn't obscene or illegible, and I can't remember not using any so far.
I would hate for anyone to think I rejected their photo, and I hope that hasn't happened.
If you send in a Thrifty Threads submission, please put Thrifty Threads in the subject line, and I'll let you know within a week that I received your email. Otherwise, I never got it.


As all of us struggle to remain engaged and avoid distraction, please embrace this holiday for all that it means and all that is possible when you convince friends and family to wince, shrug and continue to shop for the best opportunities.
Freedom is a powerful thing. The arrival of July serves as an annual reminder — complete with exploding overhead displays — that experiencing a lifetime of successful long-term investing is a path to a different form of independence. But an investing world is fatigued and frustrated and our community is far from immune. As all of us struggle to remain engaged and avoid distraction, please embrace this holiday for all that it means and all that is possible when you convince friends and family to wince, shrug and continue to shop for the best opportunities. It's incumbent on all of us. Make a difference. Enable freedom.
The August 1979 cover of BusinessWeek magazine lives in infamy as a poster child for historically reliable contrarion signals that point out things like "darkest before dawn" conditions. When Bears dominate the cover of Barron's and pundits suggest it's time to run for the hills — it's invariably prudent to do precisely the opposite.
We're generally reluctant to make "market calls" outside of our continuous observations about the relative median projected annual return for our universe of stocks and times when specific opportunities become a little more plentiful or evasive. But we look back on 2008-2009 and our efforts to extract lessons from historical precedents. Readers will recall that we visited the Boondocks, complete with snapshots from 1974 and 1938. We explored the genesis of the triple play strategy (seeking high-return potential combined with an opportunity for margin and P/E expansion) and we're quite proud of the difference delivered by Triple Play-centered shopping pursued while we were still in the teeth of the bear market that accompanied the Great Recession not so long ago.
And it's in that spirit that we can't help but gasp with the events of the first few mornings of July 2012.
Hollywood would reject the movie script as unimaginable.
We're going to assume that esteemed ML strategist Savita Subramanian is (1) old enough to remember the BusinessWeek cover, (2) capable of performing a Google search and/or (3) using a sensational technique to get somebody's attention. As we understand it, Subramanian draws attention that rhinos are now more bearish on equities than they were at any point during the collapse of the tech bubble or the recent financial crisis.
Coming on the heels of a fairly recent Goldman Sachs meme about the "best buying opportunity of a lifetime" who can fault a nation of fatigued and frustrated investors for fermenting distraction and indifference?
Long-time readers also know that I'm generally loathe to display any historical profiles that happen to include anything before 1941, the inflection point for the modern stock market.
In this case, I'm willing to make an exception. In the accompanying figure, the ubiquitous blogger Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture shared a long-term perspective on secular bear and bull markets. We like long-term perspectives around here.
Legacy of Lost Decades. The current version of a Lost Decade should actually serve as a powerful reminder that this isn't the first time that we've "lost a decade." Focus your attention on the powerful blue trends (secular bull markets) that have followed previous renditions of lost decades. The last one started not long after that infamous BusinessWeek magazine cover. Grit your teeth. Hold your nose (if necessary). Hug a friend or family member and get ready. Invest like there's a tomorrow.
In a recent interview on Bloomberg, Ritholz joined with another one of our favorite rhinos, David Rosenberg, to talk about the outlook for markets. In addition to the visual evidence, they both feel that the current secular bear market will send sometime in the next 3-7 years.
Ritholtz shared that a common stock allocation of at least 50% is probably prudent. Barry holds out tactical asset allocation as a means of capital preservation blended with vigilant participation in common stock investing — a position shared by the likes of Jeremy Grantham.
Different This Time? We know how dangerous the question is. But frankly, we're concerned about the shift in investing behavior displayed. In the past, those market lows would have been accompanied by accumulation and new highs greeted with inflows and some semblance of "chasing." The exodus and potential indifference is palpable.
We're big believers in individual stock selection potential, a la Grantham's emphasis on quality companies and his firm's methods that include honoring mean reversion even if it riles rhinos in general.
We'll be taking a look in the MANIFEST Forum at 1979 and the conditions prevalent while the ink was drying on that BusinessWeek cover. 3-7 years? What was the outlook between 1979 and 1982? What lessons can we deploy from the experience of waiting for the secular bull market to find second gear.
One thing we do know: the opportunities (incrementally superior returns) will likely be a work-in-progress by the time most rhinos and herds of average investors notice.
Fatigued & Frustrated? Fire up!
Might it be different this time? Perhaps. In comments made by leading investment advisor, David Kudla of Mainstay Capital, he expressed concern about "the cookie-cutter, potentially conflicted advice" made possible by recent 401(k) legislation regarding computer models. Our nutshell? The financial services industry is far too willing to prey on the disinterested masses with the likes of target-date funds and asset allocation-based general models based on potentially unfounded under-performing theories.
The fatigued and frustrated are not expected to intervene. Predatory rhinos count on it.
This is where you and morning coffee in July come in. Grit. Hug. Invest.


I've been happy using KeePass (http://keepass.info), which is a similar idea except open source. It's available for many platforms, but I've only really used it on Windows. I keep the database in Dropbox, so I can always get to it if I need to.
Thanks for the tip, Adam. Same concept- keeping a database, or in 1Password's case, the keychain, in Dropbox so one can access passwords across devices. What did we ever do before Dropbox?!


So you're FOX and you know you've got 80 hours of "American Idol" to program this week, but you've also got a new episode of "House" kicking around ready to air. What could be better than plugging it in on Monday night at 8 p.m. for some bonus ratings? Yes, that's how viewers ended up with a family hour medical mystery about drugs, childhood sexual molestation and [SPOILERS] TV's latest doctor show to mine the profitable "Girl Who Turns Out To Really Be a Boy" surprise diagnosis.
It was only a month ago that "Grey's Anatomy," in the episode titled "Begin the Begin" went to that well with George (T.R. Knight) testing an artistic middle school girl who turned out to have some variation of hermaphroditism (I'm really unclear on the specifics). The twist in that episode was that for George's patient, the diagnosis was something of a relief, it confirmed things that she'd always feared or suspected about herself (himself?) . It freed him/her.
Not-so-much with last night's "House." To begin with, I like Cameron Richardson just fine. She's definitely beautiful. But just as I didn't buy her as a high school student on the late and not-so-lamented "Point Pleasant," I sure didn't believe that the 26-year-old actress was 15. As my colleague Alan observes, casting her made it only barely less disturbing that large portions of the episode were dedicated to discussions of her breasts, her rump and her sexual history. Sigh. In any case, the writers were just a little bit too blatant with their clues this week. By the time the docs were making off-the-cuff and unmotivated conversations about the fact that she'd never had a period and that her ovaries were, if anything, undersized, I was sitting at home going, "Oye. She's a dude." She reacted with the flip side of what happened on "Grey's," with rage and confusion and a bit of exhibitionism that made sense for the character but was doubly disturbing.
Do I remember "E.R." doing a similar plot at some point? Sounds right.
Oh and "24" has reached that annual point where the writers lose all grasp on the plot and spend several episodes killing off potentially useful witnesses at inopportune times. Three weeks, three prematurely assassinated witnesses. That's bad writing. After such a promising start, TV's most erratic show is back on a downswing.


text:
By Richard Rose
Anti-racists in Cambridge and Manchester take action after Islamophobic abuse
Part of the 'Solidarity Walking Bus' in Cambridge last week (Pic: Richard Rose/Flickr)
Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) activists mobilised last week in response to racist attacks in Manchester and Cambridge.
Around 80 children, parents, local councillors and anti-racists joined Cambridge SUTR's "Solidarity Walking Bus" to a primary school on Thursday.
It was organised quickly after a Muslim woman was abused as she went to collect her child from the school. People who came to help her were also abused.
Kevin Blencowe, deputy leader of Cambridge City Council, said, "Attacks on people because of the religion or the colour of their skin are the lowest of the low."
SUTR activist Zareen Taj, a parent governor at the school, vowed that Cambridge SUTR would continue to oppose racism.
Manchester SUTR also held a vigil on Sunday opposite Southern Cemetery in Chorlton, where a Muslim man was racially abused and punched in the face last week.
The attacks were the latest in a spate of racist incidents in both cities.
Nahella Ashraf, a leading SUTR activist, told the Manchester vigil, "I point the finger at the politicians and also some of the press who choose to criminalise the Muslim community collectively."
Nahella suffered racist abuse earlier this year. She said mobilising helps support victims and defy the racists.
"It is very important we come out and show solidarity with victims of racist attacks to show to them that they are not on their own," she said.
"We are the majority in Britain. We are the ones that stand together against racism, against hate, and we won't allow those people to divide us."
Stand Up To Racism will hold its annual conference in London on Saturday 21 October. To find out more or to get involved go to standuptoracism.org.uk
Stop the Nazis in Rochdale
Anti-fascists are preparing to protest in Rochdale on Saturday against the Nazis of Britain First. The protest is organised by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and local trade unionists.
A Rochdale Unity Statement produced by UAF has won broad support.
Signatories include the CWU North West Region and GMB North West & Irish Region along with individual trade unionists and Labour Party activists.
Britain First hopes to use a child sexual exploitation scandal in the town to whip up racism and Islamophobia.
The UAF statement said, "Sexual exploitation is an appalling crime but it is not linked to ethnicity or religion.
"Join us in opposing the fascists of Britain First."
Assemble 12 noon, Saturday 22 July at The Butts, opposite Wetherspoons, Rochdale town centre. Go to bit.ly/2t6doWM for more, email [email protected] to add your name to the statement
Topics Anti-fascism, Anti-racism, Stand Up to Racism, uaf
Stand Up To Racism activists take action for migrants and refugees
Letters: Building Stand Up To Racism has created a buzz at school
Tens of thousands join demos to stand up to racism


Call off the search party — we just found the real Slim Shady. At her sister's wedding on Saturday, the maid of honor, Jennifer Gabrielli, bust out a seriously impressive rap to Eminem's "Without Me."
Check out Gabrielli's rap skills in the video above, filmed by EK Media Productions.
Jennifer: Where should we mail your invitation to our wedding?


Spencer Fane is a full-service Midwest-based business law firm with 8 offices, including Springfield, Missouri. Spencer Fane has approximately 150 attorneys with a wide variety of practice areas, including corporate, real estate, labor and employment, tax and commercial litigation. Our Springfield lawyers primarly focus on the following practice areas: real estate development, development incentives, construction, corporate, tax, labor and employment and litigation.


text:
Honest John Classics Reviews Jaguar
Jaguar S-type (1963 - 1968)
Last updated 7 April 2013
Quicker and better to drive than the Jaguar Mk2
Uglier than the Jaguar Mk2
Updated 1 August 1968
Jaguar S-type production ended
With the 420 now on the market, production of the S-type dived to 1008 in 1967 and 909 in 1968, the year British Leyland was formed. With the XJ4 about to be launched as the Jaguar XJ6 on 26 September...
were produced
S-Types for sale
MOT pass rate
S-Types left
Read Owners' Reviews
The story of Jaguar's Mk2 family is complicated - the original Mk1 was transformed into the Mk2 before being re-jigged into the 240/340. There were also two further offshoots, the similar looking S-type and the 420 (and let's not forget the V8 engined Daimler versions). The 1963 S-type was technically more sophisticated than the Mk1 and Mk2.
The catalyst for the introduction of the S-type seems to have been the launch of the MkX as the new top of the range Jaguar. With its independent rear suspension, better handling and smoother ride, it made the Mk2 look antiquated. Therefore Jaguar needed a more sophisticated car than the Mk2 to fill the gap in the range that had emerged between it and the MkX.
Using the Mk2 as a starting point, the company created the S-type by adding the MkX's independent rear suspension and extended rear end styling (and a subtlely revised nose), as well as improving its interior. The end result was a fine luxury sports saloon that actually drives better than the car it was based. And that usefully extending the life (and profitability) of the Mk2 platform.
Next: Model Timeline
2005 Jaguar S type
1964 Jaguar S-type 3.8 '64
Jaguar S-Type 3.4 manual with overdrive and PAS. Classic Jaguar. Not E-Type
1999 (T) Jaguar S-Type 3.0 V6 SE 4dr Auto


What would you do with a $100K to start or grow your business?Create new products to sell, organize an event, invest in marketing and advertising, hire a sales person?Watch your dream take off when resources are abundantly flowing into your business! During this engaging session, Maria will share how starting her first business nearly drove her into bankruptcy even though she sold it at a profit.
She'll share THE FACTS about how and WHY you want to protect your personal assets while leveraging other funding resources at your disposal:What resources are available given the current economic climate.How to decrease your personal liability without personally guaranteeing or co-mingling any of your own assets in your business.Become a money and client magnet by following a few simple inspired action steps. Maria is on a mission in 2011 to support and empower business owners to access $100 million in business funding.Join her as she shares the very strategies she's using with her clients to achieve this goal! Finance Your Business Using Business Credit (With No Personal Guarantees).
What would you do with a $100K to start or grow your business?Create new products to sell, organize an event, invest in marketing and advertising, hire a sales person?Watch your dream take off when resources are abundantly flowing into your business!One of the easiest ways to build value, ensure long-term success and attract strategic partners is to establish your business credit profile.It's the foundation of your business and allows you to create financial success more easily.
1. How to decrease your personal liability without personally guaranteeing or co-mingling any of your own assets in your business.
2. How to access up to $100K in business credit using a 4-step process and with out personal credit checks or personal guarantees.
3. Know what the banks want to see so they can lend your BUSINESS money and not have you personally guarantee the loan.
4. Become a money and client magnet by following a few simple inspired action steps.
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2 different topics around funding that are inspiring, empowering, informative and can be done on a panel or in 10-30 min increments….


Building a practice and working on building a community of colleagues that are invested in the mental health field? Please consider joining us for our monthly group where we network, discuss current trends in mental health and substance abuse care, and leverage with balancing demands of maintaining a private practice. This has become an established resource for many members of Minnesota Women in Psychology. Beginning December 2018 we will meet every other week at 11:00 AM at the Claddagh Coffee House, 459 7th St W in Saint Paul. This is not a clinical consultation group as we are in a public area, it is more of a casual group that has organic discussions each time we connect. Please feel free to join us!