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Drabblecast 289 – The Cold Equations
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Algernon Sydney is Dead
Location: PRK (California)
Post by Algernon Sydney is Dead » Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:39 am
Feature: The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
No drabble for this episode.
Genres: Drama Sci-Fi
He was not alone.
There was nothing to indicate the fact but the white hand of the tiny gauge on the board before him. The control room was empty but for himself; there was no sound other than the murmur of the drives — but the white hand had moved. It had been on zero when the little ship was launched from the Stardust; now, an hour later, it had crept up. There was something in the supply closet across the room, it was saying, some kind of a body that radiated heat…
Episode Art: Rodolfo Arredondo
Read by: Bryan Lincoln- Narrator, Stephen Granade as Barton, Rebecca Rinas as Maralyn, Dan Kelly as Delhart, Alex White as Gerry Cross, Michael Stokes as Man from Group 2, Hugh O'Donnel as Ships Records, John Riendeau as Man on the Stardust
Twabble: " My soap dish broke. It had a lifetime warranty, so I called it in. Soon, axe men smashed my door. "You know what we must do." " by Algernon Sydney is Dead
Twitfic (twabble) sizer is here .
Re: Drabblecast 289 – The Cold Equations
Post by strawman » Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:34 pm
Okay. This was sad.
The main way this episode dates itself is that back in 1954, people had sympathy for naive little misbehaving girls.
59 years later, it would take the audience of Showtime at the Apollo 20 seconds after hearing "But it's not my FAULT! I didn't DO anything!" for the third time before they'd be shouting something like,
"Shove dat ho'
Out de do';
We can't take dat shit no mo'."
And then there was a moment of embarassment when mention was made of what sounded like a typewriter ribbon for a computer printout.
But the point is made. Of the 3 billion (now 6.5 billion) people on earth, 99% of them die having DONE nothing to warrant death. And no one has yet to acknowledge it was their fault.
Extraneous observation: There was the possibility that the EDS commander could have sacrificed his own life for the girl. I thought, "No that can't be, because the commander has the ship to run, duties to perform." But then I realized that the EDS captain has done nothing more than converse with the girl, explain, console, check with the Cruiser, radio the brother, and feel bad. He is apparently there for no other purpose than executing stowaways.
This left me with a vague fantasy of the Gerry Springer Show audience screaming out to save the girl and ditch the captain, who represents the implacable forces of nature, representative of oppression, sexism and imperialism.
"But it's not my FAULT! I didn't DO anything!" as timely in 2013 as it was in 1954.
Go, Drabblecast.
DireCari
Location: Increasingly questionable.
Post by DireCari » Wed Jul 17, 2013 5:46 am
Geez. Throw a dead kitten on top.
Usually, when there is such early and sustained pathos, the author pulls out a happier ending. The fact that the plot was originally shaped for this, and then dramatically altered, may explain a lot. And yes, I did wonder if he'd shove her out the chute, just to get some peace.
Still, The Cold Equations works for me as a classic human-versus-environment meditation on mortality: we're all caught in the terminal equation of what is, our fragile pods hurtling toward the deceleration zone, some smug bastard making fun of our cheap sandals.
I don't know about you, but I didn't do anything, either.
Like strawman, however, I did notice that—except for re-setting the deceleration speed—Barton seemed expendable and might well have chosen to jettison himself.
But this was an older story, and between the firm, paternal EDS pilot (aka knowledge, reason and order) and the nubile little rule-breaker (aka ignorance, emotion and chaos), we all knew who would get the spanking.
(I confess I also found myself wondering whether tossing out the clunky communications equipment, pilot's seat, and all clothing—including bedazzled footwear and possible regulation moonboots—might be enough to offset 110 pounds, premise be damned.)
Alas. Campbell got his way, and depending on your views, maybe the girl did have to die—for the sake of all those metaphors. Still, I'm glad Godwin wanted to find a different equation.
Ironically, if he were alive today, Campbell might be the one hoping for a different equation: one that can save the old mathematical universe from the heresies raised by the Higgs particle.
It just may be that we are riding in an equation-defying mutant bubble of the multiverse, that chaos is the only source of life, that loving-kindness is the only thing that makes it worthwhile, and that moonboots weigh a ton.
Wherever we are, this episode was another fine piece of thought-provoking programming. Thanks, Drabblecast, for helping make things fun...till the airlock kicks open.
Beware the tentacled Drabblecast, all ye who google nearly bare, lest "yer panties" end up in a dubious twabble, there.
Connor Choadsworth Defender
Contact Varda
Post by Varda » Wed Jul 17, 2013 5:36 pm
DireCari wrote: (I confess I also found myself wondering whether tossing out the clunky communications equipment, pilot's seat, and all clothing—including bedazzled footwear and possible regulation moonboots—might be enough to offset 110 pounds, premise be damned.)
Yeah, pretty much my exact thoughts throughout the story. Every time an object was mentioned, I mentally shouted, "Well, why don't you throw that out the airlock, moron?" Pencil, paper, clothing, pilot's seat, communication equipment, food, water... if it's all run by computers, just replace it when you land and win moral brownie points. I thought the descriptions should have made it very clear that the ship was so Spartan that this wasn't a possibility.
My other grump's the fact that there's so much emotional mileage that relies on the belief that a girl's death is inherently worse than a guy's. I'd chalk it up to a relic of when this was written if this tired old trope weren't still used to death in our media today (I'm looking at you, video games!). On another level, the trope serves a slightly clever function in this story at getting someone who's accepted the necessity of airlock-euthanasia for all stowaways to suddenly re-examine his assumptions. If it was wrong but unavoidable to kill a doe-eyed, kitten-clutching little girl, then it's wrong when it's a man too. Everyone's life is equally precious to them, even if our blowhard narrator ranks 'em differently.
strawman wrote: "But it's not my FAULT! I didn't DO anything!" as timely in 2013 as it was in 1954.
My thoughts exactly. Some of our lives are novels, some are short stories, and for an unfortunate few, they're Drabbles. Not really a whole lot we can do about it except try to live life to the fullest, I guess.
Overall, very thought-provoking episode and very good production. I enjoyed the voice acting for Maralyn especially - really captured those teenage voice patterns for me, being simultaneously pathetic, sympathetic, parasympathetic, and other such divisions of the nervous system.
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silverflute
Post by silverflute » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:22 pm
I think it's natural, for the reader/listener to grasp at straws and try to figure out solutions and loopholes to save the girl. I wondered as well, surely there must be some expendable equipment/clothes laying around equaling 110 lbs that could be chucked out the ship to save her. I listened to the story again actually because the first time I was distracted trying to listen for extraneous items and estimate their weights (also because the production and voice acting of this was just brilliant and a pleasure to listen to twice.) Pencil, paper, both their sets of clothes, gun... in the end it seemed still a good bit away from 110 lbs. I get the impression there weren't many items on the ship without some necessity attached to them.
Also I wonder if they started making exceptions to policy for one girl, just because she's a girl, the whole system would start unwind. Physics aside, an argument can be made for her jettisoning just because she broke the law. In this universe on the frontier these EDS ships play a crucial role in saving lives and progressing humankind int space. You can't have dumb and naive civilians hopping around in them and jeopardizing important (and probably costly) missions any more than you can have terrorists, hijackers, drug trafficers, etc. It's clearly such an important task that these EDS ships have that a blanket policy as harsh as execution is necessary. So then here's my main beef with the story:
Why not have the warning sign say "No Trespassing UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH".
Post by DireCari » Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:29 am
Varda wrote: My other grump's the fact that there's so much emotional mileage that relies on the belief that a girl's death is inherently worse than a guy's. I'd chalk it up to a relic of when this was written if this tired old trope weren't still used to death in our media today (I'm looking at you, video games!).
I agree that there is sexism involved, but I'm not seeing it as a higher value being put on the girl's life. Traditionally the qualities that hard sf valued (knowledge, reason, order), indeed science itself, were characterized as male, and the qualities that it denigrated (ignorance, emotion, and chaos) were characterized as female.
This symbolism disappoints me, and I'm not excusing it, but I do understand its artistic expediency in the story as a piece of 50's sf.
The fact that the female is also nubile has to do with the--somewhat less than rational--steamy interior world of the anticipated male audience. Let's just leave it at that.
silverflute wrote: here's my main beef with the story:
Because one of the qualities Maralyn exemplifies is ignorance, she can't actually understand the implications of her actions, until it's too late.
Moreover, in this mode of narrative, it's important that the person who dies be someone who—according to ordinary human sensibilities— does not "deserve" a death penalty.
Creating culpability would concomitantly invoke a sense of moral agency in the workings of the universe, and so destroy the story, entirely.
andyd273
Post by andyd273 » Fri Jul 19, 2013 5:19 pm
DireCari wrote: Because one of the qualities Maralyn exemplifies is ignorance, she can't actually understand the implications of her actions, until it's too late.
It would, in fact, destroy the story entirely. That doesn't mean that it isn't how it should be.
That was actually one of the things that detracted from the story for me; the line goes something like "People from Earth wouldn't know about the penalties of stowing away, and so a sign had been put up: Authorized personnel only". Really, they expect Authorized personal only to stop a criminally ignorant person?
On one hand I actually would have been disappointed if it had had a happy ending (this is not a normal opinion for me, but for this story it feels right), but on the other hand, 110 pounds is not that much weight. Seems like they could have found a few less than important things to chuck out.
Something like "Well, we got our clothes, the supply closet door, all of the loose items, a fractional amount of reserve fuel in our favor and the weather is clear. Unfortunately that gets us up to 85 pounds. The only way I can get you down to the ground is if you lose that leg. Better than breathing vacuum though."
My second thought is why didn't they have a way to kill people in the supply closet before the door opens.
If it was a hardened criminal instead of a young girl, I'd pretty much expect them to come out shooting, knowing that they would die otherwise.
Post by strawman » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:12 pm
Woah, take me back to the 50's, and speculative fiction's roots, before things got really sophisticated with "The Outer Limits". Reminds me of that old Jules Verne artillery-to-the-moon movie - once upon a time people reacted to that the same way we respond to Star Wars? In retrospect it all seems corny. But considering female tropes, it occurs to me that the 50's pulp fiction, whether scifi or detective, was steamier than Playboy at the time. Imagination's the greatest erogenous zone.
Coarse back then, you couldn't get arrested for your thoughts. Progress, I s'pose. Except that if you've got a problem with that, then you're a helpless little girl.
"But I don't deserve that. It isn't FAIR. I didn't DO anything."
Post by DireCari » Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:46 pm
andyd273 wrote:
I believe I understand what you're saying andyd273.
When you say "how it should be" you are referring to the surface story. The place where you'd think that even the cosseted suburbanites would be aware of any capitol offenses, that EDS portals would be secure, and that chatty teenagers would not be allowed anywhere in proximity.
What I'm proffering is that the surface story has been crafted to serve the subtext, leaving us with simplifications that--while not quite allegorical--certainly move in that direction, at the expense of some realistic detail.
This is a literary modality with a long and illustrious pedigree. Though we might wish for a smoother integration with the surface story, sometimes these "bumps" are our clue to look beneath the text, to find what's hiding beneath.
A contributing factor to our discontent is that this is not a pristine (hu)man vs implacable universe narrative. (Cf.London's To Build a Fire.)
Godwin has to deal with an array of intervening human artifacts: the EDS interior, Barton's presence, human legislation, and apparently lax boarding protocols.
Each of these non-natural elements is a weak link that allows the reader to argue against the premise.
When I say that alteration (e.g. increasing Maralyn's knowledge or culpability) would ruin the story, I'm speaking of the story qua art, not as a matter of personal taste, ideology or jurisprudence.
I dare say frying her in the closet sans dialogue would do violence to the narrative, as well.
If we can appreciate that, subtextually, The Cold Equations is an elegant little credo from the golden age of science fiction, maybe we can overlook the lack of boarding area security clearances.
Anyway, that's what makes it work for this reader listener.
Post by Varda » Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:15 pm
DireCari wrote: What I'm proffering is that the surface story has been crafted to serve the subtext, leaving us with simplifications that--while not quite allegorical--certainly move in that direction, at the expense of some realistic detail.
This is a great insight, DireCari. In that vein, it reminds me a bit of Ep. 227 - "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke, which suffers from a similar problem of the premise driving the plot construction. The plot and the characters become slaves to whatever "point" the author's trying to drive home, and if the reader's not already inclined to agree with the premises, then the process of reading becomes a bit antagonistic. Instead of suspending our disbelief and getting lost in the story, we're too caught up noticing the strings and the man above the puppet show manipulating them.
Given all that, I think you're right to point out this story's best enjoyed as a period piece, and given the background you've provided on what function the sexism served in this time period (ignorance vs. rationality), it's easier to laugh it off the way I do when I read Henry Rider Haggard's She.
This is just a personal thing, but I struggle to enjoy stories that are mainly allegorical in nature. I had similar problems with Ep. 217 - "Followed", even though I agreed with the author's point. When you write a story, in a sense you're a god of the mini-universe you create. You get to set the rules, and you get to make people behave however you want to. Unless done with a high level of skill, allegory feels like cheating because you got to make all the rules and decide how people would react, not because it's how real people would react but because you the author say so. It's like setting up a trial where you've got the verdict chosen in advance, but you also got to pick what evidence is presented, and then asking me to pretend like it was a real trial where something was really at stake. Just not my thing, I guess.
alhilton
Contact alhilton
Post by alhilton » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:54 pm
When I saw this story in my podcatcher, I almost deleted it. I've heard it before, and I hate it. But...it's a Bryan Lincoln and Norm Sherman production, so...I listened.
And I still hate it, although it was very well-produced.
It is an effective story (as well as affective), and it does make profound observations about the human condition. It's a *good* story in many technical senses, but I still loath it.
It's depressing, obviously, but mostly I loath it for the reasons that everyone has already stated. The author's weird biases get in the way of his point and contribute nothing to it. The whole "OMG it's a Grrrrrrl!!" thing is old after a single repetition, and it seems like he says it about 40 times. It doesn't make sense, even giving the misogyny of the period. The point is that she's *young,* not female. She's got her whole life ahead of her. If the stowaway had been a 13-year-old boy, would the protagonist have grimly beat him about the head and shoved him out the airlock without qualms? Surely not. What about an 8-year-old boy? Does he get any pity? What about a 60-year-old, overweight female criminal? Does she get the same "It's a grrrrl!" nonsense? I doubt it.
Even in the 1950's, they surely understood the concept of generosity to children because they haven't gotten their fair turn on the ride. Emphasis of the stowaway's youth contributes to the story's main theme of death and the brevity of life and the human condition, whereas the emphasis on gender contributes nothing.
I was also baffled by the protagonist's insistence that the girl must "come to terms" with her senseless death. Whatever for? He's going to shove her out the airlock, whether she goes quietly or kicking and screaming. His stubborn insistence that she "come to terms" with her death seems mostly selfish. If she goes like a lamb, it's easier for him, but she's going to die either way. She will be out of her misery in short order. He is the one who will live with this memory, not her. Some admission that he's trying to make things easier for himself would balance the story better.
Finally, I really hate the way she dies. The author seems to take a sadistic pleasure in describing the agony of death in space. All the while, we're assured that the protag has a blaster in his pocket. He could give her a quick mercy shot before ejecting her body. But instead she's got to die choking on her own lungs. All because the protag is a rank coward. He wants to keep his hands as clean as possible. He's not dragging her out the door if he can get her to come gently, and no way is he putting a mercy shot in her head.
The fact that the protagonist's cowardice is never acknowledged (the author seems oblivious to it) and that the author seems to revel in the girl's fear and needlessly painful death really disgusts me.
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Post by strawman » Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:07 pm
When I saw there was a comment from Abby Hilton on this story, I almost deleted it.
Why? because it would have been interesting to see if I could write my own Abby Hilton comment on this story, then see how close I came to her's. So I did that the lazy man's way, in my head. I've got to say, aside from a few conjunctions and interjections, I score about 95% Abby Hilton.
Post by alhilton » Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:35 pm
strawman wrote: Haha!
Dude. Who put battery acid your coffee this morning? If you're going to mock me, at least spell my name right. It's Abbie.
Richmazzer
Post by Richmazzer » Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:57 pm
I agree with ahilton that the focus would have been better focused on her age, not her gender. The sympathy is there either way. At the same time I was not distracted- certainly did not loathe the story, because of alleged sexism. It was the 50's, people opened doors for women and shows had gentlemen throwing their coats over mud puddle for them. Of course making her a young girl would have been a reasonable choice to milk extra sympathyback then. Either way, that debate doesn't really strike me as the point here.
On the other hand, I was actually VERY surprised at how underplayed her death was. I actually "rewound" the story because I thought I'd missed it. I think it describes her as a "bump"in the airlock, then moves on.
Post by strawman » Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:49 am
alhilton wrote: Dude. Who put battery acid your coffee this morning? If you're going to mock me, at least spell my name right. It's Abbie.
I guess I deserve that, Abbie, for the mispellerization. But I wasn't mocking you, and wouldn't have posted anything if I thought it would give you that impression. I just enjoyed anticipating your criticism.
Post by Algernon Sydney is Dead » Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:30 am
I read this decades ago, and I've become a bit of a callous bastard since, but this story was still a kick in the pants. Every character is sympathetic, and every character does the right thing, within the confines of the silly story constraints.
The girl was a bit more whiny than I would have liked, but that's understandable, and she still meets her end with a high amount of grace. Nowadays, it's hard to believe there were really once kids like that (never mind adults). I can imagine swapping her out for any of my neighbors (or any face from current TV), with traji-comic results.
Some observations (before reading the thread):
This is a fantastic example of a very rare breed of story. The "sad ending" tale that (1) did not get there by reader/audience bashing or by super-ridiculous lapses of logic, and (2) showed the victims dealing with their bad situation with intelligence and honor. One more example of why John Campbell was one of the greats.
The irony is that all the men died anyway! The calculations were made with the girl's listed weight. Since when has any broad had the correct weight on her photo ID?
About that. That extra 110 pounds (or more) would have been detected immediately, upon the launch of the EDS.
Trust me, if the safety margin is cut that close (and the story has believable-ish reasons why they would be), then they would be much more careful about the EDS' mass. Hell, if a 1960's rocket launch had an extra few pounds, our slide-rule-slinging engineers knew about it very quickly.
After the first bastard got locked out of the air, warning signs and education would have been much clearer (or worse, lawyers would get involved). Marilyn would realistically, have had more and harsher realities explained to her, before she stowed away. "Extreme Danger" and "Lethal Force" signs, at a minimum.
The idea that they have FTL drive and FTL radio, but still rely on snail-mail, was ridiculous even when this story was written. Radio fax machines have been operational since the 1920's and precursor systems were around for decades before that.
Yes, it was my twabble, but Norm's pick was very thematically simpatico with death as the result of cold calculations.
strawman wrote: ...then I realized that the EDS captain has done nothing more than converse with the girl, explain, console, check with the Cruiser, radio the brother, and feel bad. He is apparently there for no other purpose than executing stowaways.
No. He also changed the acceleration to salvage the mission. In fact this is a perfect example of how/why we have pilots on what would otherwise seem as automatable flights... To detect and adapt to changing conditions and/or emergencies -- something this pilot did admirably.
Furthermore, you did not see this pilot at either of the normally crucial periods for any flight: Launch and Re-entry to landing.
That said, realistically, the pilot and the cruiser would both have the responsibility and the mechanisms to detect a mission-threatening deviation of mass during, or immediately after, launch.
The pilot also must have fudged his pre-flight checklist...
"Emergency supplies secure... Check."
"Closet empty or cargo secure..." *opens door* "Boobs... Uh, check" *closes door*...
PS: I've seen fatigued pilots make this kind of mistake, but usually with a wasp's nest or missing oil cap.
Varda wrote: If it was wrong but unavoidable to kill a doe-eyed, kitten-clutching little girl, then it's wrong when it's a man too. Everyone's life is equally precious to them, even if our blowhard narrator ranks 'em differently.
The narrator was very clear that the men he'd dealt-with, or heard about, were depraved and/or deluded in some offensive way. The girl supposedly made an "innocent" mistake with no intentions to harm anyone. Plus, unlike those others, she was prepared to "Pay the fine" and pay her way. She was just tragically wrong about what the cost was.
Various wrote: surely there must be some expendable equipment/clothes laying around equaling 110 lbs...
Maybe it's the engineering crowd I run with, but I thought this would be obvious. (1) You don't put a lot of expendable stuff on this kind of craft. (2) Considering the G forces involved, the pilot probably needs his chair to stay conscious, or maybe even alive. (3) If they are shaving fuel to such insane margins (which I doubt they would ever do in real life -- except in less "routine" emergencies), then there is no way, they wouldn't have already cut mass to the bone, to save that precious fuel.
Say the pilot ditches all their clothes, his pencil and tablet, his blaster, and even any reserve oxygen. We're still talking 23 lbs, tops. Everybody dies.
What's next? Amputate 4 legs? We can forgive him for not thinking of that even if it was near the top of my list.
silverflute wrote: Why not have the warning sign say "No Trespassing UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH".
In reality they would have this. I'm guessing that the author did not visit many of the right (similar) facilities.
andyd273 wrote: on the other hand, 110 pounds is not that much weight.
Ah, but that's just what it said on her "Driver's License".
Also, if the destination is Earth-like, then that's AT LEAST another 600 to 700 lbs of fuel+oxidizer needed to decel her mass (with 10 times that, being more likely).
andyd273 wrote: My second thought is why didn't they have a way to kill people in the supply closet before the door opens.
Good point. The answers are: (1) Criminals really were much more "civilized" in the 1950's, on average. (That's my recollection and the Hollywood myth, and I'm sticking to it.), (2) The author was making it up, versus stealing from real-life analogues.
The author seems to take a sadistic pleasure in describing the agony of death in space. All the while, we're assured that the protag has a blaster in his pocket. He could give her a quick mercy shot before ejecting her body. But instead she's got to die choking on her own lungs. All because the protag is a rank coward. He wants to keep his hands as clean as possible. He's not dragging her out the door if he can get her to come gently, and no way is he putting a mercy shot in her head.
Wow. It's really sad how rare the concept of Death with Honor and dignity seems to be these days. (As oxymoronic as that may sound.)
Sorry, Abbie, you couldn't be more wrong about the character and about the author.
There is a time-honored tradition (now rare) of meeting your end with your eyes open and your head up. The pilot, and author, wanted to give this girl that chance and she took it admirably. Although, I am sure that the pilot would have given a mercy shot if she asked for it; she had the grace and honor not to make such a callous request.
He respected her feelings (the whole story shows that), and her honor and dignity. She did the same right back for him. In the end, they both did their duty with the utmost integrity. They were both Goddam Heroes! It's a shame you can't see that.
Contrast that to the true coward's way, which we see, almost weekly in police departments across the USA... The needle twitches. The pilot unloads a full clip into the closet, no doubt causing hundreds of thousands in collateral damage.
The pilot then waits a full 30 minutes to make sure whoever it is is dead, and while he calls for backup. The cruiser instructs him to jettison the body and abort the supply mission because the EDS is now a "crime scene". The pilot and cruiser both agree that the stowaway was a hardened criminal who "resisted arrest". Drugs, or a failed drug test, will probably be found.
Scores of people die; millions are impacted; trillion$ are wasted. But... "We had to make sure our men were safe."
Beth Peters
Post by Beth Peters » Mon Jul 29, 2013 9:15 pm
First of all, this was an outstanding production. I don't think I've ever heard better voice acting on any audio production I can recently remember. Sets a new bar for full cast audio IMO. Kudos to the guest producer, I see why Norm is a fan.
Second, Algernon Sydney pretty much said everything I was going to say. This was overall a great story and I was actually moved a bit to tears at the end. That said, it did have some flaws and not just flaws that we can sweep under the rug of "oh but it's a golden age time piece". There definitely would have been a sign not just saying "No Trespassing" but also indicating the penalty as harsh as it was. Surely word would have gotten out how serious the offense was after the first handful of people received capital punishment for being stowaways.
Also, like Algernon said I found it hard to believe that the pilot, crew and a ship this advanced didn't have a way to tell there was a threatening differentiation in mass prior to lift-off.
But despite these, I thought the end was deeply poignant, particularly because of the emotional performances by sister and brother, and the story really resonated with me.
A Jetson Your Llama! I never said that it was a Mexican McDonalds!
Post by tbaker2500 » Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:04 am
DireCari wrote: Geez. Throw a dead kitten on top.
Best comment so far!!
I fast forwarded most of the story, and didn't really miss anything besides extra pathos. Hey, I get that some people like this type of story. I'm not complaining.
Post by Beth Peters » Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:58 am
tbaker2500 wrote: I fast forwarded most of the story, and didn't really miss anything besides extra pathos.
Well, aside from maybe the best dramatic performance in Drabblecast history. I'm caught up on 290 and can't remember better. Let us Praise Awesome Dinosaurs maybe.
Post by tbaker2500 » Thu Aug 01, 2013 3:27 pm
Beth Peters wrote:
Yes, but I would have been crying so hard I wouldn't have heard it anyway.
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Fluoride is a very controversial topic because fluoride is a known toxin. In the National Medical Library, over 40 articles can be found on the toxicity of fluoride. Half of the articles said fluoride promotes cancer (mutagenic). It should be noted that Proctor and Gamble paid for some of the "negative-concluding" research. The toxicity of fluoride has caused many countries to rethink allowing fluoride to be added to water. Those banning fluoride are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, France, and The Netherlands. Despite these retractions of fluoride, the US still presses on with the goal to fluoridate (poison) every community water supply in the United States. However, many cities in the United States (including Santa Barbara, Escondido, Santa Cruz) have stopped adding fluoride to the water supplies based on the concern about fluoride's toxicity.
All dentists are very familiar with the American Dental Association (ADA) and other "authoritative" positions on fluoride. These groups rarely mention its toxic potential or the few studies revealing increased tooth decay after fluoride use. You may wonder why the ADA and other public "health" agencies continue to recommend fluoride. This is the biggest error found in studies using large populations of people. What happens is that the study shows a benefit compared to plain water. What does that mean? It simply means that some people had fewer cavities than those who did not have fluoride. Did every person benefit? No. Will you benefit? Maybe. But is having 1 cavity less than you might have had worth the risk? This is the dilemma.
The research of Burk and Yiamouyiannis revealed that every major city with fluoride had increased rates of cancer. If you don't want to look at this data, that is your decision. As health professionals, we don't want to harm patients in any way and fluoride has the potential to produce great harm. I am referring to taking fluoride internally, where it has been found to cause unscheduled DNA synthesis, sister chromatid exchanges and yes, mutagenic effects on the cells. All of these events increase your risk of cancer. These may not ever effect you, but they do increase the risk of cancer after the ingestion of fluoride. Tsutsui, et al found that adding fluoride to healthy liver cells in the laboratory changed some cells into a cancer-like appearance.
The ADA's official position is that fluoride is safe, yet there have been deaths of children in the dentist's office due to fluoride, albeit very few. This is a very different situation than the addition of a small amount of fluoride to the water, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. Do not confuse acute fluoride intoxication as many of the fluoride opponents scare you about with long term intake. It is the same issue as taking a large (overdose) of Tylenol or iron compared to their effects is consumed excessively over a long period of time. One is an intoxication, the other is a different disease altogether.
In a letter to Ted Spence, DDS, the ADA stated, "There are three basic compounds commonly used for fluoridating drinking water supplies in the United States: sodium fluoride, sodium silicofluoride, and hydrofluorosilicic acid." Any chemist will tell you that sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorisilicic acid are not the same as the sodium fluoride we are all told about. Sodium hydrofluorosilicic acid is one of the most reactive chemical species know to man. Apparently it is so corrosive that it will eat through metal/ plastic pipes and corrode many materials including stainless steel and other metals. It will dissolve rubber tires and melt concrete. This is added to our water to produce "healthy teeth".
Fluoride reportedly does the following:
inactivates 62 enzymes (Judd)
increases the aging process (Yiamouyiannis)
increases the incidence of cancer and tumor growth (Waldbott/Yiamouyiannis)
disrupts the immune system (Waldbott)
causes genetic damage (Tsutsui, et al)
interrupts DNA repair-enzyme activity (Waldbott)
B. Spittle wrote in his article, Allergy and Hypersensitivity to Fluoride, in the journal called Fluoride(1993, 26:4, 267-273) that canker sores (Aphthous stomatitis) and ulcers of the mouth have been described as being not uncommon in persons using fluoride toothpaste and in children who have had topical fluoride applications applied to their teeth. Douglas described 133 cases of stomatitis from fluoride-containing toothpaste. All the lesions were refractory to antibiotic therapy and local medication. The lesions cleared up with changing to a non-fluoride toothpaste. In 32 patients the reaction was reproduced by applying the fluoride toothpaste, in some as often as six times. Waldbott records the case of Mrs. LCH aged 62 years who developed a mouth ulcer within three days of starting the use of a fluoride toothpaste. Elimination of the fluoride toothpaste caused the condition to gradually disappear. Application of a saline solution with a cotton swab beneath her tongue produced no ill effect. When a 1% aqueous solution of sodium fluoride was applied, there developed, within five minutes, a red swollen intensely itchy lesion in the test area which extended into a large portion of the mouth. A smear of the mucus from the area showed marked eosinophilia, which suggests an allergic reaction.
Hives was described with acute sodium fluoride poisoning by Lidbeck, Hill and Beeman. In 1959, Waldbott described six cases of hives due to fluoridated water. In one case, Mrs. PO aged 40 years, the relation of the hives to fluoride in water was confirmed by a double-blind test. Another patient, Mrs. HP aged 48 years, had generalized hives that began three weeks after moving to a fluoridated area. On using water with a low amount of fluoride in hospital (0.1 PPM) the hives subsided. Within 24 hours of resuming using fluoridated water her hives came back. An skin test with a dilute solution of sodium fluoride gave a large hive reaction followed by a generalized outbreak of hives all over her body within ten minutes. Control tests with were negative. With double-blind testing involving three bottles of water only one of which contained fluoride, hives recurred within two days of taking the water from the fluoride-containing bottle.
Contact dermatitis is a term used to describe any rash resulting from a substance touching the skin. A patch test, whereby the suspected substance is applied to the skin for one to two days and the test site observed after removal, is the best way to test for contact dermatitis. In 1948 Abelson reported a typical contact dermatitis on the hand of a dentist occurring immediately upon application of a 2% solution of sodium fluoride to a patient's teeth. Waldbott reports observing repeatedly the same pattern of dermatitis in dentists with confirmation by patch testing. Waldbott also described a scaly red rash on the thighs of a woman aged 20 years that subsided after moving to a non-fluoridated area. After she had been symptom-free, the rash recurred at the same site with intense itching within an hour of receiving a test dose of fluoride in water. A placebo test with distilled water produced no ill effect.
Fluoride can damage the lining of the stomach and duodenum as supported by Susheela et al along with other potential mechanisms such as enzyme system inhibition. By studying patients intensively, including by direct visualization and microscopic exam, they found that the lining could be severely damaged by the toxic effects of fluoride resulting in stomach and abdominal pain. The changes included surface abrasions with loss of microvilli in the stomach and duodenum, and a 'cracked-clay' appearance of the lining of the duodenum. Gastrointestinal discomfort was thus seen to be an important diagnostic feature in identifying persons affected by fluoride and it was considered that such symptoms should not be dismissed as non-specific.
Moolenburgh described abdominal discomfort occurring on a double-blind basis with exposure to fluoride. He found in his Dutch general practice patients with illnesses similar to those described by Waldbott. He considered that far from having exaggerated the side effects, Waldbott had, on the contrary, been inclined to under-statement. Although Moolenburgh expected to find an allergic basis for the adverse effects associated with fluoride, he considered that the symptoms represented poisoning with inhibition of the immune system by a toxic substance in sensitive persons. Where an exacerbation of illnesses with an allergic component such as eczema and asthma occurred, his view was that immune system inhibition by fluoride had resulted in a loss of the ability to cope with the allergy. Double blind testing with 60 patients showed that certain individuals were intolerant to fluoride and that exposure to this could reproduce gastrointestinal symptoms, stomatitis, joint pains, excessive thirst, headaches and visual disturbances.
Petraborg described a wide spectrum of symptoms in 27 persons exposed to fluoridated water. He considered that since none of the persons were aware that their drinking water was fluoridated or were familiar with the manifestations of fluoride toxicity. HE felt that the accounts of their illnesses were equivalent in validity to those associated with double-blind procedures. He noted that several patients were not convinced that something in their drinking water was causing their illness and resumed drinking fluoridated water. Relapses of their illnesses followed. The symptoms included extreme chronic fatigue, excessive thirst, general hives, headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms.
The fact that fluoride has some serious negative effects is not new. L P Anthony, DDS editor of the Journal of the American Dental Association, reported in 1944 that "Fluoride is a highly toxic substance…. " He was not alone in his concerns. "….we have very strong circumstantial evidence of systemic toxicity of the so-called absolutely safe concentrate of fluoridated water" wrote Roy E Hanford, M.D., Where is Science Taking US? in a reprint from Saturday Review. Even the American Medical Association is on record. "Don't drink fluoridated water …. Fluoride is a corrosive poison which will produce harm on a long term basis." stated Dr. Charles Heyd, past AMA president.
M Diesendorf, et al., (New evidence on fluoridation, Australian NZ J Public Health, April 21, 1997; (2): 187-190) reviewed recent scientific literature and found a consistent pattern of evidence — hip fractures, skeletal fluorosis, the effect of fluoride on bone structure, fluoride levels in bones and osteosarcomas — pointing to the existence of causal mechanisms by which fluoride damages bones. In addition, there was evidence accepted by some eminent dental researchers and at least one leading United States proponent of fluoridation, that there is negligible benefit from ingesting fluoride. Any (small) benefit from fluoridation comes from the action of fluoride at the surface of the teeth before the fluoridated water is swallowed. Public health authorities in Australia and New Zealand have appeared reluctant to consider openly and frankly the implications of this and earlier scientific evidence unfavorable to the continuation of the fluoridation of drinking water supplies.
Fluoride and the Brain
The 1991 review, Fluoride Benefits and Risks, published by the USPHS states that there is "relative impermeability of the blood-brain barrier to fluoride." No reference was made to fluoride effects on the brain.
In their 1978 book Fluoridation, The Great Dilemma, Waldbott, Burgstahler and McKinney describe the findings of Soviet physicians that 79% of patients with occupational fluorosis demonstrate brain dysfunction.
Studies from China show in endemic fluorosis areas a lowered IQ. Chinese studies indicate that the influence of a high fluoride environment on intelligence may occur early in development such as during the stages of embryonic life or infancy when growth is more rapid. Ultramicroscopic study of human embryo brains in endemic fluorosis areas showed "differentiation of brain nerve cells were poor, and brain development was delayed."
The studies of Li et al. (soot fluorosis) and Zhao et al. (water supply fluorosis) compare the IQ status of children living in high fluoride areas to those in low fluoride areas. Li's data shows a flattening in the high fluoride population of the normal "Bell Curve" distribution of IQ. Both studies show a shift of the curve toward the low IQ (<70 IQ) end in the high fluoride group. Both studies demonstrate that IQ is lower in all age groups in the high fluoride areas compared to those in the low fluoride areas. This finding suggests neurological damage in early development; that is, in utero. Other causes of lowered IQ appear to have been ruled out. These include: iodine deficiency; other congenital and acquired diseases; and cultural and ethnic differences. Dietary differences, which are known to play an important role in dental and skeletal fluorosis were not specifically accounted for although the authors mention "similar circumstances of material life."
These studies present evidence that, as is the case with infertility, brain dysfunction is prevalent in endemic fluorosis areas in countries outside of those in which deliberate fluoridation of drinking water is practiced. When the rising prevalence of dental fluorosis and the high dietary intakes of fluoride in fluoridated areas are taken into consideration, it may be said that large areas of endemic fluorosis have now been created in Canada, the US and other fluoridated countries. How much responsibility can be attributed to fluoride for the fertility and behavioral problems addressed by the authors of Our Stolen Future?
In 1995, the 50th Anniversary of fluoridation in the US, and Canada, Mullenix, Denbesten et al. published a study of the neurotoxicity of sodium fluoride in rats. The authors state: "[T]his is the first laboratory study to demonstrate that CNS functional output is vulnerable to fluoride, that the effects on behavior depend on the age at exposure and that fluoride accumulates in brain tissue." The authors state further that "[E]xperience with other developmental neurotoxins prompts expectations that changes in behavioral function will be comparable across species, especially humans and rats." This study indicated a potential for motor dysfunction, IQ deficits and learning disabilities in humans. The authors point out that the plasma levels in their rat model (0.059 to 0.640 ppm fluoride) are similar to those reported in humans exposed to high levels of fluoride.
These authors refer to early Chinese studies in their paper and point out that high levels of fluoride in drinking water (i.e., 3 to 11 ppm) affect the nervous system directly without first causing physical deformations from skeletal fluorosis. Thus evidence of obvious toxicity is not suspected since the latter is currently used as the ultimate indicator of intoxication in discussions by proponents of fluoridation. "Still unexplained," the authors continue, "is the possibility that fluoride exposure is linked to subtle brain dysfunction."
Fluoride and Fertility
One of the major problems encountered with excess fluoride exposure in animals concerned a high percentage of infertility. After the animals were changed to a diet low in fluoride, the number of offspring born increased; the number of litters increased; and the numbers born alive increased. The adult death rate also decreased from 14.6% to 3.3% in just one year. A number of abnormalities associated with the fluoride-contaminated feed were passed on through multiple generations.
Freni, in his 1994 review, demonstrated decreased fertility in many different species of animals. High doses of fluoride in rats showed birth defects with cumulative effects. This phenomenon, according to Freni's research, was first noted in 1933 and confirmed in 1984. His paper presents multiple examples to conclude that fluoride easily crosses the placenta.
Freni participated in the 1991 Public Health Service review of the toxicity of fluoride and in the NTP study that emphasized the "cancer paradigm" discussed in Our Stolen Future.1
He was concerned about the implications of reproductive problems that were encountered. As a result, in 1991, he searched for reproductive studies that involved humans; but, he found none. It may come as a surprise to recognize that, after 46 years of fluoridation of drinking water, no study had taken place on the effect of fluoride on the developing fetus!
Freni found that in counties whose water supplies had at least 3 ppm fluoride there was a lower fertility rate.
Narayana and Chinoy referred in a 1994 paper to "the wide prevalence of infertility in the fluorosis-afflicted human population in India and other parts of the globe." In their study, mature rats were given a high dose of sodium fluoride for almost two months. They found that fluoride interferes with sexual development (androgenesis). They suggested that the effect of fluoride may inhibit the action of testosterone. This was the same concern described in Our Stolen Future about hormone-disrupting chemicals. (Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? by Theo Colborn, et al.
Fluoride and Cancer
According to the research by Burk and Yiamouyiannis, 61,000 cancer deaths in the U.S.A. result from fluoridation each year. One study found that fluoride increased cancer deaths 17% over a 16-year period in large cities (from Gerald Judd, Ph.D.).
"You have been led to believe the fluorine makes teeth harder. The fact is, it actually makes teeth softer." Says George Meinig, DDS, a founder of the American Academy of Endodontics. The U.S.A. shows a 22% increase in decay every 16 years from fluoride use and a 50% decline in decay every 20 years. This must be compared with Finland's 98%, Sweden's 80% and Holland's 72% declines. None of these countries fluoridate their water. (Gerald Judd)
A paper published by the Health Freedom News indicates that fluoride is toxic to the nervous system (a neurotoxin). This fact this has been known for some time; at least since the early 1940s, well before the fluoridation experiment with Grand Rapids. Dr Gerard Judd, Ph.D. in chemistry and Emeritus of the Manhattan Project, found that fluoride could inactivate 62 enzyme systems.
Geoffrey Smith stated, "Recent studies suggest that fluoride may be genotoxic." (p 79) and "There is now a substantial body of evidence suggesting that fluoride is mutagenic." (p 93).
Gibson also noted, "Fluoride is one of the most toxic inorganic chemicals in the Earth's crust, … However, with increasing experience, doubts about both safety and efficacy have arisen." (p 111). He added, "A possible link between fluoridation of public water supplies and an increase in the cancer death rate has been debated for over 20 years and there is now no doubt that fluoride can cause genetic damage." (p 111). Gibson noted, "Inhibitory effects of fluoride on different enzyme systems have been demonstrated." (p 111) and "A section of the population may therefore be at risk of compromised immune system function from water fluoridation schemes." (p 112).
Tsutsui et al noted a significant increase in chromosome aberrations at the chromatid level, sister chromatid exchanges, and unscheduled DNA synthesis was induced by sodium fluoride in a dose- and time dependent manner. These results indicate that sodium fluoride is genotoxic and capable of inducing neoplastic transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells in culture." (p 938).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that fluoride at 2 PPM salmon were sterile, yet at 1 PPM fluoride is placed in our water supply. According to Dr. Richard Foulkes, fluoride only helps [if it helps] children up to age 12 years. Yet, everybody is "forced" to drink it. It has been reported that Oscar Ewing, the lobbyist who pushed for fluoridation in the legislature, told the senators not to drink it.
The prevention of tooth decay requires good nutrition. Tooth-brushing [important as it is] does not stop tooth decay. Fluoride does not stop rampant tooth decay. Fluoride only hardens to outer surface of the enamel and may prevent calcium from being deposited when a tooth is re-mineralized. Nutrition stops tooth decay. There are supplements designed to help build and maintain strong teeth. Call or e-mail us if you want more information.
Nutrition to combat the effects of fluoride:
The 22nd conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research was held in Bellingham, Washington from August 24 to 27, 1998. Several papers presented at the conference described how vitamins can be used to reverse the damage that fluoride causes. We usually think of fluorosis as a permanent damage to bones or teeth. Fluoride can also damage the liver, kidneys, and reproductive organs. However, the effects are reversible with vitamins.
Fluoride accumulates in ovaries. In laboratory experiments with mice, fluoride damaged the tissues and cellular structures of ovaries and uterus. Scientists showed photographs of the tissues they studied. The sequence of photographs showed the tissues being progressively damaged as the mice became intoxicated with fluoride. When the mice were given vitamin C and calcium supplements and fluoride was not put in their water anymore, the tissues almost returned to the original state of good health.
As mentioned above, fluoride interferes with male fertility as well. In an experiment with male mice, a larger proportion of the sperm became abnormal when they ingested fluoride. The sperm lost their motility or died. When the same mice were given vitamin C and calcium and no fluoride, their sperm significantly recovered.
Fluoride impairs the production of free radical scavengers such as glutathione. Fluoride impairs the function of enzymes that prevent lipid peroxidation. These enzymes include glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase.
In another experiment with mice, Vitamins E and D repaired the damage that fluoride did to liver and kidneys. Fluoride caused the glomeruli, those tiny blood vessels in the kidneys for removing waste, to atrophy. In the liver, fluoride caused fatty deposition and the death of cells. Vitamin E was beneficial because it is an anti-oxidant. Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus so that their optimal concentrations will be maintained in the blood. This optimal concentration supports the metabolic activity of various tissues. Vitamins E and D were effective after fluoride was removed from their diet.
In an experiment with rats, fluoride impaired the growth rate, but the rats that were given beta-carotene and superoxide dismutase supplements had a faster growth rate. Fluoride causes damage to the fat in your body (lipid peroxidation), which is counteracted by the anti-oxidants beta-carotene and superoxide dismutase.
Fluoride and "The Paradoxical Effect"
Our Stolen Future emphasizes the importance of the "paradoxical effect" in establishing the biological effects of toxins and, more particularly, the hormone-disrupting artificial chemicals. The authors credit Frederick Von Saal's investigations of DES to show the "paradoxical response"; that is, the response increases for a time and then diminishes with even higher doses. This produces a "U-shaped" response curve.
This phenomenon in which a high dose may paradoxically cause less damage than a lower dose was described in a 1964 article by Schatz, Schalscha and Schatz. These authors show that paradoxical effects are not isolated phenomena but are broadly operative and of widespread importance in the biochemistry and physiology of many living systems under many different conditions.
Schatz et al. stated that "[P]aradoxical effects have been produced by radiation, temperature, mutagenic and carcinogenic chemicals, fluoride, steroid hormones, dextran, detergents, trace metals, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, germicides, antibiotics, drugs and a host of other agents." It is noteworthy that fluoride is included in this list. They show, as an example, the curve of inhibition of human prostatic acid phosphatase. "[A]s the fluoride concentration is increased over a thousand-fold range, the extent of inhibition rises, attains a maximum that may approach 100% and subsequently falls."
Schatz compared low level fluoridation with low level radiation: "[T]he occurrence of paradoxical effects with low level fluoridation and low level radiation shows that there is no threshold level below which fluoride and radiation are harmless."
The similarities between the DES story told in Our Stolen Future and the story of the fluoridation of drinking water is striking. In both, numerous animal studies have been declared to be irrelevant. Both DES and fluoridation of water supplies have been shown to be without effect for the purposes claimed; the prevention of abortion in the case of DES and of tooth decay in the case of fluoridation. DES continued to be prescribed for several decades after it had been discredited; fluoridation is being pushed now as hard as ever with the full support of the Public Health Service and professional organizations representing Dentistry and Medicine, especially Pediatrics.
The failure of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to act on DES is described in Our Stolen Future. This failure to act is repeated in the case of the human consumption of fluoride.
COMMENTS: Using a fluoride toothpaste makes sense, but drinking water and children's multi-vitamins with added fluoride (Poly-Vi-Flor, Tri-Vi-Flor, etc) doesn't.
Colborn, T., Dumanoski, D., Myers, J.P., Our Stolen Future, Dutton, Penguin Books U.S.A., New York, N.Y., 1996.
Cox, W.R., Hello Test Animals É Chinchillas or You and Your Grandchildren, The Olsen Publishing Co., Milwaukie, Wisc., 195l.
Freni, S.C., Exposure to High Fluoride Concentrations in Drinking Water is Associated With Decreased Birth Rates, Jour Toxicol and Environ. Health; 42; 109-121; 1994.
Narayana, M.V., Chinoy, N.J., Effect of fluoride on Rat Testicular Steroidogenesis, Fluoride, 27; 1; 7-12, 1994.
Department of Health and Human Services, USPHS, Fluoride Benefits and Risks. February 1991.
Waldbott, G.L., Burgstahler, A.W., McKinney, H.L., Fluoridation, the Great Dilemma, Coronado Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1978.
Schatz, A., Schalscha, E,B., Schatz, V., Soil Organic Matter as a Natural Chelating Material, Part 2, The Occurrence and Importance of Paradoxical Concentration Effects in Biological Systems, Compost Science 5; 22-30; Spring 1964.
Schatz, A., Low Level Fluoridation and Low Level Radiation – Two Case Histories of Misconduct of Science, Published by A. Schatz, PhD, Philadelphia, PA, 1996.
Yaimouyiannis, John, Fluoride: The Aging Factor, 1993, Health Action Press, Delaware
Sodium Fluoride-induced Morphological and Neoplastic Transformation Chromosome Aberrations, Sister Chromatid Exchanges, and Unscheduled DNA Synthesis in Cultured Syrian Hamster Embryo Cells, Takeki Tsutsui, Nobuko Suzuki and Manabu Ohmori, Cancer Research, 44:938-941, March 1984.
Sodium Fluoride-induced Chromosome Aberrations in Different Stages of the Cell Cycle: A Proposed Mechanism, Marilyn J Aardema, et al, Mutation Research, 223:191-203, 1989.
Varner, J A, et al, "Chronic Administration of Aluminum Fluoride or Sodium Fluoride to Rats in Drinking water: Alterations in Neuronal and Cerebrovascular Integrity", Brain Research, 784(1-2):284-298, 1998, Feb 16, 1998.
Isaacson, R L, et al, "Toxin-Induced Blood Vessel Inclusions Caused By the Chronic Administration of Aluminum and Sodium Fluoride and Their Implications in Dementia", Annals NY Academy of Science, 825:152-166, Oct 15, 1997.
Varner, J A, et al , "Chronic Aluminum Fluoride Administration, Part I: Behavioral Observations", Behavior Neural Biology, 61(3):233-241, May 1994.
Burgstahler, A W, Colquhoun, J, "Neurotoxicity of Fluoride", Fluoride, 29:57-58, 1996
Li, X S, Zhi, J L, Gao R O, "Effects of Fluoride Exposure on the Intelligence of Children", Fluoride, 28:182-189, 1995
Mullenix, P J, et al, "Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride on Rats", Neurotoxicity and Teratology, 17:169-177, 1995
Zhao, L B, et al, "Effect of Fluoridated Water Supply on Children's Intelligence", Fluoride, 29:190-192, 199

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Manal Al Dowayan
Imperfect Chronology @ Whitechapel Gallery, Aug 23 – Jan 8
The Imperfect Chronology: Mapping the Contemporary II group exhibition is on at London's Whitechapel Gallery, opening August 23 and running to January 8.
The exhibition features work by Sophia Al-Maria, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Etel Adnan, Marwa Arsanios, Ali Cherri, Manal Al Dowayan, Sadik Al Fraji, Susan Hefuna, Zineb Sedira, Iman Issa, Jumana Manna, and GCC.
The works are drawn from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection of modern and contemporary Arab art, and the final display of a year-long series at the Whitechapel will focus on the theme of what the press release calls 'mapping geographies' which examines "the notion of statehood and exploring how artists engage with the rapidly expanding cities of the Arab region."
Visit the Whitechapel Gallery website for more details.**
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 'The All Hearing' (2014). Video, 12:42 minutes. Image courtesy Galeri NON + Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah.
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Contemporary Middle Eastern film @ ICA
There's a lot of interest in the art and cultural map of the Middle East these days and we have a feeling ideas on Gulf Futurism, as proliferated by Sophia Al Maria, and Slavoj Žižek's Living in the End of Times might have something to do with it (not mentioning Bidoun, those memes and the 'Arab Spring') . But there are plenty more impressions of the diverse region to be had, hence, the ICA's Off-Site: Cinema on The Steps:Contemporary Middle Eastern Film in London, running from Tuesday, August 20, to Thursday, August 22.
It features three nights of screenings curated by Abdellah Karroum, Alia Al Senussi and Abdullah Al Turki, and Ahmed Mater, including restored Egyptian classic The Night of Counting the Years (Al Momia), Manal Al Dowayan's silent mash-up of belly dancing The Legends, and a talk by fellow contemporary artist and event curator Al Turki himself.
See the ICA website for details. **
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Q: Likert package - problems with include.histogram + ggsave I use the likert package by jbryer in order to plot likert data which is working quite good so far.
1.But when I add include.histogram = TRUE to my existing plots, I get an error saying:

non-numeric argument to binary operator

See the example data set provided: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109495328/example.ods and the code I execute upon it (my dataframe is called rawdata).
library(ggplot2)
library(reshape2)
library(likert)
require(devtools)
install_github('likert', 'jbryer')

teaching_liking <- rawdata[, substr(names(rawdata), 1, 4) == "B004"]
teaching_liking <- rename(teaching_liking, c(B004_01 = "expertise in the subject", B004_02 = "ability to engage students", B004_03 = "clarity", B004_04 = "attendance and punctuality to lessons", B004_05 = "attendance and punctuality to office hours", B004_06 = "availability to the relationship with students"))
i <- 1
while(i<=ncol(teaching_liking)) {
  teaching_liking[[i]] = factor(teaching_liking[[i]],labels = c("Not at all", "A bit", "Enough", "Much"), levels=c(1:4))
  i <- i + 1
}
teaching_liking_plot <- likert(teaching_liking)
p <- plot(teaching_liking_plot, centered = FALSE, wrap = 30, include.histogram = TRUE) + ggtitle("How satisfied are you with the following aspects?*")
g <- arrangeGrob(p, sub = textGrob("*Order of questions were randomized in questionaire.", x = 0, hjust = -0.1, vjust=0.1, gp = gpar(fontface = "italic", fontsize = 10)))
print(p)
ggsave((filename="teaching_liking.pdf"), scale = 1, width = par("din")[1], height = par("din")[2], units = c("in", "cm", "mm"), dpi = 300, limitsize = TRUE, g)

2.In rare cases, when I somehow manage to get the full net-stacked plot with
   histogram working, I cannot save them in one plot via ggplot. It will
   save either the likert scale or just the histogram but never both of
   them.

A: This may be a bug, or at least undocumented behavior, in plot.likert(...)
p <- plot(teaching_liking_plot, centered = FALSE, wrap = 30, include.histogram = F)
class(p)
# [1] "likert.bar.plot" "gg"              "ggplot"

p <- plot(teaching_liking_plot, centered = FALSE, wrap = 30, include.histogram = T)
class(p)
 # [1] "NULL"

In the first case plot.likert(...) does not display the plot, but returns p as as "likert.bar.plot" object. In the second case, plot.likert(...) does display the plot, but returns NULL (in other words p is set to NULL). This is why you get that error when you try to add the result of plot(..., include.histogram=T) to ggtitle(...).
Edit
Here's a workaround. Produces plot below as a grob which can be saved, edited, etc. Code is after the plot. Wasn't able to match the colors exactly but pretty close. Workflow is as follows:

*

*Load data

*Set up category and response labels

*Create bar chart of responses by category

*Create bar chart of missing/completed responses

*Combine into a grob with annotations

*Save

## Version of likert analysis, with missing response histogram
libs <- list("reshape2","plyr","ggplot2","gridExtra","scales","RColorBrewer","data.table")
z    <- lapply(libs,library,character.only=T)

rawdata <- fread("example.csv")   # read rawdata into a data.table
teaching_liking <- rawdata[substr(names(rawdata), 1, 4) == "B004"]
# set up category and response labels
categories <- c(B004_01 = "expertise in the subject",
                B004_02 = "ability to engage students",
                B004_03 = "clarity",
                B004_04 = "attendance and punctuality to lessons",
                B004_05 = "attendance and punctuality to office hours",
                B004_06 = "availability to the relationship with students")
responses  <- c("Not at all", "A bit", "Enough", "Much")
# create the barplot of responses by category
ggB <- melt(teaching_liking, measure.vars=1:6, value.name="Response", variable.name="Category")
ggB[,resp.above:=sum(Response>2,na.rm=T)/sum(Response>0,na.rm=T),by=Category]
ggB[,resp.below:=sum(Response<3,na.rm=T)/sum(Response>0,na.rm=T),by=Category]
ggB[,Category:=reorder(Category,resp.above)]    # sets the order of the bars
ggT <- unique(ggB[,list(Category,resp.below,resp.above)])
ggT[,label.below:=paste0(round_any(100*resp.below,1),"%")]
ggT[,label.above:=paste0(round_any(100*resp.above,1),"%")]
cat <- categories[levels(ggB$Category)]                       # category labels
cat <- lapply(strwrap(cat,30,simplify=F),paste,collapse="\n") # word wrap
ggBar <- ggplot(na.omit(ggB)) +
  geom_histogram(aes(x=Category, fill=factor(Response)),position="fill")+
  geom_text(data=ggT,aes(x=Category, y=-.05, label=label.below),hjust=.5, size=4)+
  geom_text(data=ggT,aes(x=Category, y=1.05, label=label.above),hjust=.5, size=4)+
  theme_bw()+
  theme(legend.position="bottom")+
  labs(x="",y="Percent")+
  scale_y_continuous(labels=percent)+
  scale_x_discrete(labels=cat)+
  scale_fill_manual("Response",breaks=c(1,2,3,4),labels=responses, values=brewer.pal(4,"BrBG"))+
  coord_flip()
ggBar
# create the histogram of Missing/Completed by category
ggH <- ggB[,list(Missing=sum(is.na(Response)),Completed=sum(!is.na(Response))),by="Category,resp.above"]
ggH[,Category:=reorder(Category,resp.above)]
ggH <- melt(ggH, measure.vars=3:4)
ggHist <- ggplot(ggH) +
  geom_bar(data=subset(ggH,variable=="Missing"),aes(x=Category,y=-value, fill=variable),stat="identity")+
  geom_bar(data=subset(ggH,variable=="Completed"),aes(x=Category,y=+value, fill=variable),stat="identity")+
  geom_hline(yintercept=0)+
  theme_bw()+
  theme(legend.position="bottom")+
  theme(axis.text.y=element_blank())+
  labs(x="",y="n")+
  scale_fill_manual("",values=c("grey80","dark red"),breaks=c("Missing","Completed"))+
  coord_flip()
ggHist
# put it all together in a grid object, then save to pdf
grob <- arrangeGrob(ggBar,ggHist,ncol=2,widths=c(0.75,0.25),
                    main= textGrob("How satisfied are you with the following aspects?*",
                                   hjust=.6, vjust=1.5,
                                   gp = gpar(fontsize = 14)),
                    sub = textGrob("*Order of questions were randomized in questionaire.",
                                   x = 0, hjust = -0.1, vjust=0.1,
                                   gp = gpar(fontface = "italic", fontsize = 10)))
grob
ggsave(file="teaching_liking.pdf",grob)

A: Here is the answer to part 2. I will have to get back to part 1.
The ggsave function will save the last
call of ggplot. Since the histogram and bars (on the left) are two
separate calls to ggplot, ggsave will only save the last one. Try this
instead:
pdf('mylikertplot.pdf')
plot(l)
dev.off()

Note there are other functions other than pdf for other file
formations (e.g. png). They also have width and height parameters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Touring is expensive business, so musicians and labels frequently turn to tour sponsors and concert sponsorship opportunities to help them foot the bill. Competition is, of course, intense, and sponsors will, of course, want something in return for their cash.
If you're planning a strictly local event, approach a local business to make your pitch. If you're looking for help on a domestic tour, you need a sponsor who can benefit from being seen around the country - in that case, think regional or national business.
The amount of money you need also makes a difference. Certainly asking the local bakery to sponsor your gig to the tune of $2 million isn't likely to get you more than a babka!
Know exactly how much money you need and why - and the answer is not, "as much as possible." Formulate a budget for your concert or tour, figure out exactly how much money you need and determine what you need it for. Not only is this process instructive, it will enable you to talk knowledgeably about the financials of your project when convincing sponsors to take a chance on your event.
Keep in mind that this exchange isn't all about someone giving you money. You are offering a branding opportunity, so spend some time analyzing the reasons why potential sponsors should get on board with you. What kind of advertising and branding can you offer? Signage on the stage? The company's name all of the show promotional materials ("Presented by...")? Handing out coupons or samples to the audiences? Come ready to discuss these details and be prepared to make your case.
Be ready to negotiate and know your limitations. If the company wants to pick the opening act, make a presentation on stage or use your music in their advertising in exchange for their sponsorship, for instance, are you willing to accept those terms? Know what is on and off the table before you make you make your pitch.
Before you approach your potential sponsors, do your homework and determine the right point of contact. Depending on the business, you might find this task is easier said than done. Large companies, particularly alcoholic beverage businesses, for examples, are approached frequently, so you will likely find specific instructions for making a sponsorship bid on their website. Follow their procedures, even if you feel like their rules restrict the way you envision making your pitch. These rules are in place to help the company effectively deal with requests, and if you don't stick to them, your request will likely be destined for rejection.
With smaller companies, start with the PR and marketing department. For very small, local businesses without designated departments, start with the owner or manager.
While sponsorship might be old hat to some large companies, the local mom and pop shop you're eying as a partner for your local gig might never have considered the possibility. You might have to sell the entire idea to them - what you're seeking, what you're offering, and why it would be good for you both. Be prepared to take the lead and convince them that sponsorship is a winning idea--show them the road map to making it happen.
Venues can be a great source of information- in fact, the booker at the venue might have a standing relationship with sponsors, such as an alcoholic beverage company they can contact on your behalf to sponsor an open bar for your gig in exchange for some branding. Agents and promoters are also excellent info sources.
Look at arena tours of major artists. There is almost always a big league sponsor on board. You might not land that same sponsor for your small club tour, but the companies you see attached to larger tours provide clues for your to follow. Check out their websites - you'll almost certainly find information about applying for sponsorship, including the requirements. You may find that the company is willing to sponsor smaller scale shows. Companies accustomed to music sponsorship sometimes run contests that award smaller acts with big money sponsorship. Take some time to get to know the usual suspects and keep them on your radar.
Sponsorship almost always comes at some kind of cost, but is the price tag worth it? Knowing your audience is critical to making your music career work, and sponsorship is an excellent case in point. What will your fans allow? A beer sponsorship might turn off some fans of your Christian rock band while your megastore sponsorship might send the indie kids running for the hills. Think carefully about companies with clear political and religious affiliations, and remember that alcohol and tobacco can be controversial to some groups. You're linking your name to this sponsor, so make sure that you're building a relationship that you and your fans are comfortable with.
Money is ALWAYS an issue in the music industry. Learn more about how you can manage your cash with info about funding sources, preparing funding applications and business plans, and how to spend the money once you do get it.
Responding to all requests for information from your sponsor promptly.
Staying on top of the planning process (if you have a manager, this is a job for him). Make sure the plan is progressing and stay connected with your sponsor so all of their materials are on track for on-time delivery.
Ensuring that all advertising, marketing and signage adheres to the sponsorship deal.


Michael Crichton, as he was in life, is turning out to be a bit of a surprise in this regard. After passing away at the relatively young age of 66 from cancer in 2008, Crichton has remained on our bestseller lists and will remain in our movie theaters. So far the man has reached out from beyond the grave to publish three new novels since his death, one of which is being adapted into a film with Steven Spielberg producing. There's no telling how many more novels might be lurking in Crichton's files, so there might be many, many more to come—but should we be excited? After all, some novels are unpublished for a reason, even if you're Michael Crichton. Let's consider the three posthumous novels the Crichton estate has published—in order of quality.
Micro, by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston.
Micro was the last book Crichton actively worked on (though the second to be published after his death); he was scrambling to complete it when he succumbed to his disease, and left behind a manuscript that's been described as perhaps two-thirds complete, with a raft of handwritten notes. The story is typical Crichton, combining plausible sci-fi with factual scientific background: A group of graduate students—ambitious scientists all—are invited to Hawaii to interview for jobs at a hot microbiology company. They accidentally learn about all sorts of illegal shenanigans going on, and the ruthless CEO has them shrunk down to about half an inch tall. They flee into a rain forest and must then fight for their lives against an equally ruthless nature: Ants, spiders, and other threats humans normally ignore.
A little crazy? Sure, but so was cloning dinosaurs. The publisher brought in Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and other notably science-oriented works, to finish the book from Crichton's notes, and this decision was pretty sound. The end result has Crichton's knack for twisty, fast-paced thriller writing backed up by enough scientific gravitas to float the crazy premise, and many of the sequences where our heroes battle it out with insects and other predators as they fight for survival are pretty tense. On the flip side, those characters are a little thinly written, making it hard to care—but the action is tense enough to ignore some of the pedestrian writing. Overall, this is easily the best of Crichton's three posthumous novels—one reason Spielberg is producing the film version.
The first of Crichton's novels to be published after his passing was very likely written long ago and left in his files. While we can't be certain when, exactly, it was written, the writing style on evidence is reminiscent of Crichton's earliest work, lacking some of the relaxed, confident work he produced as he matured. Additionally, Crichton made references to a pirate novel set in the 17th century as far back as 1979, so it's very likely this is an old draft pulled out of the files.
That said, it was also a complete draft that only needed a polish before being published; no co-writer was necessary, which is one reason it was the first of Crichton's posthumous novels to be published. It's the story of Captain Charles Hunter, hired by the Governor of Jamaica to retrieve a sunken treasure. It's got pirates, of course, sword fighting, sea battles, and treasure-hunting, which ought to be a winning combination. But the book never gels, and around the two-thirds mark it begins to meander a bit in a way that indicates Crichton was throwing ideas at the wall to see what would stick, and then probably rapped out an ending just to have something finished he could later return to. It's not a bad novel, really, but it's also not particularly good, or interesting. Very likely Crichton knew it, and that's why he kept it in a filing cabinet instead of publishing it—which someone of Crichton's caliber and sales record could have easily done, flaws and all.
Dragon Teeth, by Michael Crichton.
Which brings us to Crichton's most recent novel, Dragon Teeth. Another manuscript dating back to the 1970s, and another fully completed work that didn't need any additional writing, it's not Crichton's best work by a long shot—unsurprisingly for a project he worked on and then abandoned, it's very undercooked.
The story is set during the real Bone Wars, a strange moment in American history when two prominent paleontologists went hammer and tongs in the American West, fighting over fossils—literally. There was bribery, violence, and elaborate schemes, and if you're thinking this sounds like a fantastic period of true history to set a story in, you're right. Unfortunately, Crichton obviously never found the right tone or the right approach; his characters are dull and uninteresting, and he crams in so many real historical personages it starts to feel like a gimmick. There's a good-to-great story in here somewhere, and one wonders if Crichton had dug this out and worked on it for a year or so he might have shaped something spectacular. As it is, it's the sort of failed project every writer has by the dozens, and if you're intrigued by the historical facts and setting, there are better books to read about them.


text:
Промеса (, від  — обіцянка) — документ, за яким власник облігації, або лотерейного квитка зобов'язується переуступити їх за певну винагороду, якщо на них випаде виграш у найближчому тиражі. Одна з форм спекуляції виграшними позиками.

Див. також
 Обіцянка

Джерела

 Словник іншомовних слів. За редакцією О. С. Мельничука. Головна редакція Української радянської енциклопедії. Київ — 1977.
 Промеса

Азартні ігри
Адміністративне право

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Magnetic drive centrifugal pumps are applied to pumping corrosive, toxic or inflammable liquids, as well as liquids with solid particles.
Several magnets lead the pump in motion; the external magnet, located on the shaft, transmits the motion to the inner magnet, built into the impeller, which is hermetically isolated. The impeller is not fitted to the pump shaft, therefore, seals are elimimated, which prevents fluid leakage as a result of seals wear. The pump bonnet consists of few components, thus maintenance is simplified. The standard constructing materials used are polypropylene (PP) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).
Dry run is allowed. Pumping contaminated liquids leads to the pump service life reduction.
Available in: Polypropylene (PP) - PVDF.
MAGNETIC DRIVE CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS ARE MADE OF PP, PVDF.
The series of DM magnetic drive centrifugal pumps is represented by a variety of models with capacities ranging from 5 l/min to 850 l/min and with a total head ranging from 1, 5 m to 32 m.
DM pumps are successfully applied in many different fields. They are as follows: laboratory technique, medical equipment, metal finishing machines, graphics, heat exchangers, aquariums, water treatment, chemical and galvanic industry.


text:
Die DM41 bzw. DM41A1 ist eine in der Bundeswehr verwendete Splitterhandgranate. Sie ist ein Nachbau der US-amerikanischen M26A2-Handgranate mit Zünder M215. Hergestellt wurde sie von der Firma Diehl aus Nürnberg (LOS DN) und der Fábrica Militar de Braço de Prata Lissabon (LOS FMP). Nach der Einführung der DM51-Spreng-Splitterhandgranate 1974/75 wurden keine weiteren Exemplare gefertigt und die DM41 ersetzt. Die Handgranate DM41 besteht aus dem durch Falzen verbundenen Oberteil mit Mundlochbuchse und dem Unterteil mit Haltering. Vor dem Falzen wird die vorgefertigte Splitterspirale in den Handgranatenkörper eingelegt. Die Splitterspirale besteht aus Vierkantstahl, der vor dem Wickeln auf der späteren Innenseite auf ganzer Länge eingekerbt wird. Die Einkerbungen dienen als Sollbruchstellen bei der Explosion des Sprengstoffes. Die Sprengladung besteht aus etwa 150 g Composition B und wird in den Handgranatenkörper gegossen. In die Mundlochbuchse des Handgranatenoberteils wird der Schlagzünder eingeschraubt. Der Handgranatenzünder zündet nach einer Brennzeit von 4,5 ± 0,5 s. In die Handgranate DM41 ist der Handgranatenzünder DM72 eingeschraubt, in der Handgranate DM41A1 der Handgranatenzünder DM82. Äußerliches Unterscheidungsmerkmal neben der Beschriftung ist die beim Handgranatenzünder DM82 verwendete Schutzkappe mit Klemmbacken für den Ring am Sicherungssplint. Eine Umzünderung von Restbeständen auf den Schlagzünder DM82 erfolgte unter anderem in den Munitionsdepots Kropp (LOS KRO), Liebenau (LOS LIE) und Pflummern (LOS PFL).

Daten

Kontroverses
Am 19. und 20. Oktober 2014 wurden über der von den IS Dschihadisten belagerten Stadt Kobane Waffenlieferungen für die verteidigenden Kurden abgeworfen. Dabei trieb vermutlich Wind einen der von amerikanischen Flugzeugen ausgeführten 28 Abwürfe ab. Am 21. Oktober 2014 wurde ein Video auf YouTube veröffentlicht, das offensichtlich IS-Kämpfer mit den erbeuteten Waffen zeigt. Im Laufe des Videos sind zahlreiche Kisten mit DM41 zu erkennen. Als eine der Handgranaten aus ihrer Verpackung genommen wird, lässt sich die Beschriftung genau erkennen. Auffällig ist, dass es sich bei allen gezeigten Kisten und dem Exemplar nur um das Grundmodell DM41 von FMP handelt. Im Anschluss an dieses Video befassten sich die Medien mit der Frage, wie für die deutsche Bundeswehr vorgesehene Handgranaten in IS-Hände gelangen konnten. Ursprünglich wurde die Waffenlieferung von der Regierung der autonomen Region Kurdistan und deren Streitkräften "Peschmerga" zusammengestellt.

In der Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten Jan van Aken, Christine Buchholz, Annette Groth, weiterer Abgeordneter und der Fraktion DIE LINKE vom 7. November 2014 wird dazu offiziell Stellung bezogen. Auf die Frage, welche Kenntnis die Bundesregierung über den Inhalt der abgeworfenen Waffenlieferungen hat, gibt sie an, die erbetene Auskunft aufgrund Geheimhaltungsbedürftigkeit und "weil sie Informationen enthält, die im Zusammenhang mit Aufklärungsaktivitäten des Bundesnachrichtendienstes (BND) stehen", nicht geben kann. Über die Herkunft der Handgranaten hat die Bundesregierung keine gesicherten Erkenntnisse. Außerdem sieht sie "keine konkreten Ansatzpunkte für weitere Nachforschungen" zur Aufklärung der Herkunft.

Übungshandgranate DM48

Die Übungshandgranate DM48 ist eine Nachbildung der Handgranate DM41 und ersetzt die Übungshandgranate DM28. Sie dient der Ausbildung und ist gewichts-, form- und handhabungsgleich. Durch ihre lichtblaue Farbe(RAL 5012) ist sie eindeutig von der Gefechtsversion zu unterscheiden. Die Übungshandgranate DM48 besteht aus:
 Handgranatenzünderoberteil DM62 bestehend aus: Schlagstück, Spannfeder, Zünderbügel und Sicherungssplint mit Ring
 Handgranatenzünderunterteil DM62 mit eingeschraubtem Verzögerungsstück
 Dichtring
 Übungshandgranatenkörper
 Übungshandgranatenladung DM38
 Verschlussstopfen

Der aus Gusseisen gefertigte Handgranatenkörper besitzt zwei Bohrungen. In die obere Bohrung mit Innengewinde wird der Handgranatenzünder eingeschraubt. Die untere Bohrung dient zum Entweichen der Verbrennungsgase der Übungshandgranatenladung und ist mit einem Stopfen aus Filz verschlossen. Dieser verhindert das Eindringen von Fremdkörpern in den Innenraum. 4,5 ± 0,5 Sekunden nach dem Wurf zündet der Handgranatenzünder DM62 die pyrotechnische Übungshandgranatenladung DM38, welche einen Knall und Rauch erzeugt. Durch das Erneuern der Teile außer dem Handgranatenkörper kann die Übungshandgranate DM48 wiederverwendet werden. Die Übungshandgranatenladung DM38 wird stets mit dem Handgranatenzünderunterteil DM62 in einem Stück geliefert.

Bilddarstellung

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Handgranate
Abkürzung

en:Diehl DM-41


The Patriot's Pen program is designed to foster patriotism by allowing students the opportunity to express their opinions on democracy based on an annual theme, this year's being, "What I Would Tell America's Founding Fathers." The first-place winner, Mariessa McKenna, sponsored by VFW Post 8065 and Ladies Auxiliary in Bowie, Md., received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where she received a $5,000 award. Here;s video of her delivering her speech. Congrats Mariessa!


text:
« Iraq Stock Exchange Index takes off again | More Obama amateur hour diplomacy (updated -- Power resigns) »
Some thoughts on 3 A.M. phone calls to the White House
By Clarice Feldman
The 3 a.m. phone call ad by Hillary has inspired some interesting studies. Rasmussen looks into the subject and finds voters prefer that call be answered by McCain, not Obama or Clinton:
42% of all voters said the person they'd most want to answer the phone was John McCain. Among all voters, 25% picked Clinton and another 25% named Obama as the person they'd want in the White House when a foreign policy crisis call arrived.
Among Democrats, 46% said they'd like Clinton to take that call while 36% named Obama.
Among Republicans, 79% named McCain while neither Democrat reached double digits.
Among unaffiliated voters, 39% said McCain would be their top choice to handle such a crisis. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of unaffiliateds said they thought Obama was the best to handle the call while 18% named Clinton.
Among men, 51% preferred McCain, 21% Obama, and 19% Clinton. Women were evenly divided-33% for McCain and 30% for each of the Democrats.
Mickey Kaus is intrigued by the fact that the Luntz meters indicated voters didn't like the ad when ,in fact it, turns out voters did find it persuasive.He uses this as an example of why he thinks these instant reaction meters are useless at measuring anything more than the instantaneous visceral reaction to panderings:
The meters measure the voter's visceral reaction to whatever the candidate is saying. If the voter hates abortion, and Candidate A attacks abortion, the meter goes up. If the voter is pro-choice, the meter goes down. What the meter doesn't capture is actual rumination--even fleeting doubts or flashes of confidence. The reaction loop's too short for that. So if something Candidate B says, in the course of defending a right to abortion, actually makes a pro-life voter think twice about the issue, that will happen later, after the meter has moved on (and probably after the meters are locked up and everyone's gone home). Indeed, the voter's immediate reaction to a candidate who prompts reconsideration of a long-held position may be more negative than usual, reflecting the voter's annoyance at being challenged and forced to think. ....
In short, the meters are good at measuring effective pandering, not at measuring effective persuasion. And sometimes candidates do persuade! ... In the case of the "3 A.M." ad, the MediaCurves "undecided" voters were viscerally turned off when they learned it was an ad for Hillary. Their dial-graphs plummet downwards. But a lot of "undecideds" seem to have been affected, non-viscerally, in a different way later.


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Almost $2 million worth of fake Nike sneakers were seized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after a three-month investigation.
A press release from the CBP describes the seizure, which began when officers at the Port of New York/Newark inspected a shipment from Dongguan, China in late September. The package was destined for Chino, California and contained 9,024 Nike sneakers which, after months of working with specialists, were determined to be fake.
Specific models weren't named, although images of fake Air Max 98s and Air Max 270s were provided. According to the release, the sneakers would have been worth an estimated $1,695,600 had they been authentic.
The seizure was wrapped up last Thursday, Nov. 29.


text:
Who is Xavier Musk, Elon Musk's transgender child who wants to change name?
Billionaire Elon Musk's transgender daughter has petitioned a California court to change her name and gender, according to reports.
Vivian, 18, who was born Xavier, announced her decision to change her gender and famous surname in order to lose any association with the Tesla and SpaceX founder.
The official reason stated by Vivian in the petition, which was shared online, is: "Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.
Musk, 50, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is the world's richest person with an estimated net worth of $214 billion.
The teenager is changing her full name from Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson, taking her mother's last name, and that "she wants to be recognized as female," TMZ reported.
The teenager's hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Vivian Musk has filed a petition to change her name and gender. She is pictured here with her dad, Elon Musk, her mother Justine Wilson and twin brother Griffin.
One of Elon Musk's children has allegedly filed to change their name to distance themselves from their father, according to reports.
Who is Vivian Wilson?
Vivian Wilson, born Xavier Musk, is Elon Musk was born in 2004, she has a twin brother, Griffin Musk.
Vivian and Griffin have an older sister, Nevada Alexander Musk, born in 2002. Sadly, Nevada died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at 10 weeks old.
The pair welcomed triplets Damian, Kai and Saxon in 2006, before separating in 2008. Musk and Wilson share custody of their five children.
The controversial business man shares son X AE A-XI, born in 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, born in 2021, with singer Grimes, who split in September 2021.
Musk has said he supports transgender issues, but came under fire in 2020 for Tweets criticizing preferred pronouns for transgender and nonbinary people, tweeting: "I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare" and "Pronouns suck."
Meanwhile, reps for Musk have not responded to The Post's request for comment — and it remained unclear Monday if he was aware Vivian filed the petition.
Elon Musk's 18-year-old daughter has filed to legally change her name to confirm to her gender identity.
The official reason given: "Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form." pic.twitter.com/t04P9m8fEI
— KnowNothing (@KnowNothingTV) June 20, 2022
Who is Vivian's mother?
Musk's ex-wife, Justine Wilson, has revealed that she's "proud" of Vivian's name change.
The Canadian-born fantasy author has reveraled a sweet conversation with one of the couple's twins after it was revealed that their transgender daughter decided to legally change her name to cut all ties with her billionaire dad.
Wilson, the 49-year-old mother of five of Musk's seven children, shared the exchange with one of her twins on Twitter Monday: "'I had a weird childhood,' my 18-year-old said to me," Wilson said after news of Vivian's gender and name change petition began circulating online. She also quoted the child as saying: "I can't believe I'm as normal-seeming as I am."
Alhough Wilson didn't specify which twin the conversation was with, the post came after news of Vivian deciding to publicly distance herself from the Tesla CEO broke Monday. The proud mom also said she told the twin, "I'm very proud of you," to which the child replied, "I'm proud of myself!"
Elon Musk is seen here with his ex-wife Justine Musk, the mother of five of his seven children. The Canadian-born fantasy now goes by Justine Wilson.
Justine Musk
The teenager is changing her name from Xavier Musk to Vivian Wilson, taking her mother's surname.
Aggressive Rate Hiking by FED Could Lead to a More Sooner US Recession Says Deutsche Bank
Did Beyonce Get Plastic Surgery? Singer's Transformation Photos
One-time rising star Jason Kander won his
Jason Kander says if his new book "INVISIBLE STORM: A Soldier's
'The View' hosts slam Washington Post reporter
"The View" weighed in Wednesday on the widening rift within the
Sexual assault suit against ex 'GMA' producer
A New York state Supreme Court judge has tossed a lawsuit
Disney fires TV content chief Peter Rice
Embattled Disney CEO Bob Chapek canned TV content boss Peter Rice
Savannah Guthrie says husband working for Johnny
"Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie interviewed Johnny Depp's legal team on Wednesday's


text:
Q: What is the difference between Anaconda and Pycharm? I currently have Pycharm 5.0.4 right now and my teacher wants me to change to Anaconda.

Do different GUIs actually affect your programming?
What are libraries and what causes one GUI to be more advanced than another?
How does the Kernel change the way the user interfaces with the code?

I am a beginner at python and I'm not sure if Pycharm is best for me... For beginners is Pycharm still the best?

A: They can't be compared. In fact, Anaconda is not an IDE, Anaconda is a Python distribution, according to their website:

Anaconda is a completely free Python distribution (including for commercial use and redistribution). It includes more than 400 of the most popular Python packages for science, math, engineering, and data analysis. See the packages included with Anaconda and the Anaconda changelog.

Actually, you can even use Anaconda with PyCharm, according to the PyCharm website:

PyCharm integrates with IPython Notebook, has an interactive Python
  console, and supports Anaconda as well as multiple scientific packages
  including Matplotlib and NumPy.

A: PyCharm is a IDE, anaconda is a set of libraries (a distribution). The good news is that pyCharm supports anoconda. Below is some documentation I pulled from the Wayback Machine (for some reason Anaconda removed their documentation on integrating with Pycharm). If any part of this is outdated, please let me know so I can update it.

Use PyCharm's Preferences to set it to use Anaconda. There are multiple methods to access the Preferences Window, including selecting Preferences within the PyCharm file menu or by clicking the Preferences icon in the top icon bar.

After the Preferences window is open, navigate to Project Interpreter -> Python Interpreters. Click on the + sign to add Anaconda to the Python Interpreters list.

If the Anaconda Python path is not listed, select Local... and navigate to the directory in which you installed Anaconda Python. Typically this directory is ~/anaconda/bin/python.
After you have added Anaconda, you will see it displayed in the list of Python Interpreters, along with the other packages that were installed with it. Click OK. The PyCharm IDE is now set up to use Anaconda.

MORE INFO: Configuring available packages and configuring Anaconda environment.

See also Using (Ana)conda within PyCharm.


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