text:
Town Square
The Debacle in Wisconsin - Who's Next?
Original post made by Cindy Cross, Parkside, on Aug 11, 2011
Democrats managed to defeat two of the six Wisconsin senators who were challenged in a recall election on Tuesday. Millions of dollars poured into the state from national labor groups in an attempt to remove republican senators who backed Republican Governor Scott Walker in his efforts in March to bust the powerful government workers union.
Exactly what happened? More specifically, what could happen in other states governed by a GOP majority?
The events that folded in Wisconsin in March surrounding the union debate widened the chasm between union and anti-union advocates. The series of events reads like a script from an Oliver Stone film; missing state senators, clandestine contributions from elusive billionaires, a pompous state Governor, working class protesters, secret internet hackers-- the cast is full of colorful characters, but all very real.
The debate had been brewing since Wisconsin began to reel from the effects of the current recession - leaving the state with a $137 million budget deficit. Many, if not most, states are in the same financial predicament as Wisconsin, but none had been willing to take a stand as large and as risky as Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, in trying to balance his state's budget.
At the core of Governor Walker's strategy to balance the budget was his decision to eliminate collective bargaining for government workers. Walker wanted most government workers (police and fire departments are exempt) to pay more for their pensions and healthcare. For union pensions, currently the union members pay nothing, while tax payers pay $150 million per year. Governor Walker is demanding that they pay half the cost of their own pensions equaling 5.8% of their pay. Also, Walker is demanding that the union workers pay 12.6% of their health care costs, up from 6% they are paying today. Governor Walker wants to strictly limit the government workers union to be held to strictly limit their bargaining rights to wages only. Simply put, all public workers, which include teachers and most government workers, would lose the inability to negotiate issues such as work conditions, vacation time or grievance processes.
In an effort to thwart the passage of the governor's bill through Wisconsin's state legislature, the state's 14 Democrat senators fled the state. Even with a Republican majority in the state's Senate, the state legislature requires a quorum, or a minimum of 2/3 be present in matters dealing with the state's budget. By avoiding a vote, the Democrat senators were hoping to kill the collective bargaining bill. Walker sent Wisconsin state troopers throughout the state to search for the missing senators.
Faced with the news of such drastic changes, an estimated 40,000 protesters flooded the Wisconsin Capitol. People from all over the country flooded into Wisconsin to either show their solidarity behind the protesters, or flocked to show their support of the Republican Governor. At issue is whether Walker wanted to simply bust the powerful public-sector unions.
Silently on the sidelines of the debate sat billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. Koch Industries, an energy and consumer conglomerate, based in Wichita Kansas was one of the largest contributors to the campaign of Scott Walker. Among many subsidiaries of Koch Industries is Americans for Prosperity, who was among the smaller group of counter protesters in Wisconsin. Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity told a group in Wisconsin, "We are going to bring fiscal sanity back to this great nation."
A spokesperson for Koch Industries denied any involvement of union busting, stating that Koch Industries has no direct stake in the union debate with the company having only about 3,000 employees in Wisconsin.
Political pundits and union activist speculated that the Koch brothers were trying to spark a debate promoting anti-union bias to other states, eventually busting unions nationwide that could save companies millions.
Hanging in the shadows, watching all the drama unfold is a group of liberal internet hackers who call themselves "Anonymous." The Anonymous group considered the events un-democratic and decided to take action by hacking Into the Koch Industries' websites. "Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America's broken political system," says the press release given by the elusive group. "For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere."
The release went on to say that the role in the "grassroots" Tea Party movement are a means to "sway voters" using "falsehoods" and "starting today we are fighting back." The Koch Industry website was only down for a short time, but the Americans for Prosperity website was down for several days.
The thirteen missing senators blocked a vote on the senate floor, Governor Walker cleverly removed all budget and fiscal aspects from the collective bargaining bill thus allowing the remaining nineteen Republican senators to vote on a "non-budgetary" bill that requires no quorum. The senators were hastily called into session to vote on the bill which passed 18-1. Governor Walker signed the bill on March 11, 2011.
On March 18, Wisconsin Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order preventing the bill from being published and delaying the law from going into effect. Judge Sumi issued the order after the Dane County District attorney filed a lawsuit arguing that the Republicans violated Wisconsin's open meeting laws by failing to give 24 hour notice of a meeting. The Republicans argued that the open-meeting law 24 hour requirement did not apply in this case.
The collective bargaining debate in Wisconsin may be the catalyst that sparks Republican Governors across America to introduce the same or similar anti-collective bargaining bills to their legislatures. Republicans are more open about their views towards villainous "Big Government." One by one each state with a Republican held majority could potentially topple collective bargaining for state workers. Republican leadership is moving towards government being run more efficiently like a business whereby the rights of the many are dictated by a select few. Where will this leave teachers and government workers without the ability to bargain for better pay, working conditions and benefits? Only time and the will of the people will say.
The state of Wisconsin was the first state to allow government workers to unionize in 1959. How ironic.
Comments (45)
a resident of Livermore
on Aug 11, 2011 at 11:59 pm
How come Walker has declared war on workers...what doe he know about war? As I recall, he's NEVER served his country in any branch of the military.
In my opinion, male and female Americans should be mandated to show up for a minimum of 2 yrs. military service and one year of volunteer service for their country before the age of 30.
College, babies, and other personal matters can wait. SERVICE TO YOUR COUNTRY SHOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST. If you want to live in the US, then earn it.
a resident of Livermore
on Aug 12, 2011 at 12:01 am
Otherwise, go back to where your ancestors came from.
Also, individuals who have never done military service, should pay federal taxes.
a resident of Livermore
on Aug 12, 2011 at 12:02 am
...should pay higher federal income tax.
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 12, 2011 at 12:03 am
How ironic? Nope. How moronic, as usual. With nothing to say, no position to defend, no insights to offer, Cindy resorts to pastings from Fox News accounts. My 14 year old could do better.
a resident of Bridle Creek
on Aug 12, 2011 at 7:03 am
You forgot the "rest of the story".
Wisconsin schools have actually BENEFITTED from Walkers policies. The effects from eliminating collective bargaining have meant that some school districts - those that did not renegotiate with the unions prior to the passage of the law - actually retained or hired MORE teachers. And guess what happened to those that didn't wait for passage...? You guessed it, layoffs.
In addition, what is noticeably missing from this screed is that the cost of healthcare that districts paid actually went down as a result of the bill. The prior contract restricted the districts to paying a union owned broker for healthcare services. Again, guess what happened? When CB was eliminated that same union-owned broker lowered their premiums substantially, saving the districts millions of $.
Take from this what you will...
a resident of Parkside
on Aug 12, 2011 at 8:36 am
When I first read the title of this topic, I immediately was thinking of the debacle that was the racial motivated beatings at the Wisconsin State fair last week. The fact that roving gangs of black thugs were targeting and beating white fair goers and their families and there was very little media coverage of the incident speaks volumes about how our country is being degraded. Spoiled zulus using their cell phones to organize targeted beat-downs, robberies and looting.....sounds a little like what's going on in England...what do they have in common, I wonder?
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:19 am
'spoiled zulus'
That about says it all.
Im not a racist I only hate the white part of Obama, steve
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:31 am
Danny Boy from Bridle Creek isn't being honest. The union-busting policies of the gov in cheeseland means that 383,000 public employees will see a drop in their pay beginning this August. The impact of lost wages is projected to have a dire effect on small businesses --- lost wages = lost spending power --- and projections are that at least 31,000 jobs will be lost across the state --- reduced sales = lost jobs. Nice.
a resident of Ruby Hill
on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:41 am
Let's be HONEST here. It sure does warm my heart when I see working-class people cannibalizing one another. The spectacle of it, combined with tax cuts on the income I make from the millions I got from my Daddy's inheritance, makes it especially nice....
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:47 am
Wisconsin was the first to sellout citizens right to govern themselves. So this suicidal path we are now on started since the 60s for most other states who have since surrendered citizens rights... turning us into hostages of blackmailer union groups. Now the exponential expansion of member are now retiring. The loposided system is simply not sustainable. Political whores and public unions are in colusion against the rest of us. We employers are the victims of these two selfish and greedy groups. Chickens are coming home to roost. Recent crazy upside-down decades, need to be salvaged. We must stop this insanity and return to common sense and integrity.
After decades of this, surely we've learned that being blindly decent and generous doesn't mean there aren't greedy who always want more, and are willing to stab the generousity of the taxpaying employer. It has now all come to light as it is apparent those excesses are taking from all of our public projects and public service programs. Roads, welfare, education, everything else taxpayers provide for, will have to be eliminated, curtailed, or downsized...OR public union excesses adjusted and immediately changed for all newhires everywhere...and it is only logical that they whould contribute to their own retirements,,,like everybody else.
Article in today's Times (BayAreaNewsGroup) about CoCO union. After all the recent exposure of their greed, the union blockheads are still demanding UNused vacation pay added to pay, and counted as future LIFETIME retirement pay....greedy backmailers are too dense to grasp the immorality of their greed. They would have the sick and poor in the street. They must be brought in line with peer groups in the country.
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 12, 2011 at 9:57 am
Slap-Happy rants, "After all the recent exposure of their greed, the union blockheads are still demanding UNused vacation pay added to pay, and counted as future LIFETIME retirement pay....greedy backmailers are too dense to grasp the immorality of their greed."
Please explain what is "immoral" about expecting unused vacation pay and having that part of your salary count toward retirement. I received both at private companies I've worked for. Never thought of it as immoral, nor did my employers.
a resident of Amador Estates
on Aug 12, 2011 at 10:09 am
Hey Cindy,
Your description of a "pompous" Governor Walker gives me convulsions.
Do you define "pomposity" as one who cares to save this State from the bankrupt policies of the socialist democrats?
The only pomposity I see is from our Democrat politicians who cannot steal enough of our hard-earned money for their insatiable power.
You make me sick and I will never spend a second again reading your left-leaning garbage.
a resident of Vintage Hills
on Aug 12, 2011 at 10:28 am
We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in Wisconsin. Some links to other news on the same topic are below. I'm sure there are plenty of others.
US Postal Service: Web Link
Contra Costa County:
Web Link
a resident of San Ramon
on Aug 12, 2011 at 10:45 am
You get paid vacation days, you don't take the vacation, you save the company having to bring in somebody new who needs training and will probably screw up. Of course you should get the vacation pay. You earned it. What kind of nitwit would claim otherwise?
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 12:40 pm
OF COURSE YOU SHOULD GET VACATION,(IF IT'S PART OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT), BUT THE CRIME IS ADDING IT TO YOU PERMANENT PAY SCALE TO EXCALATE THE CALCULATION FOR LIFETIME RETIREMENT BENEFITS....a rather corrupt EXPONENTIAL RETIREMENT PAY ESCALATOR.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm
We have been duped. While her husband destroys the american way of life and golfs a lot (terribly I might add), Michelle Obama travels the world on our nickel. Check out this.....
First Lady Michelle Obama over the last year has spent a total of 42 days on vacation, or a little more than one out of every nine days, according to a White House Dossier analysis of her travel.
Her vacations, the cost of which are mostly borne by taxpayers, include trips to Panama City, Fla., Martha's Vineyard, Hawaii, South Africa, Latin America, Vail, Colo., and her visit this week to her brother in Corvallis, Ore.
The total does not include a nine day sojourn in Martha's Vineyard that the Obamas will enjoy this month. Nor does it include a trip she made to Ireland and Great Britain in May, which I'm counting as official travel.
The total vacation time would have been slightly higher had the Obamas gone as planned for an April weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The trip was cancelled due to an extended stalemate between President Obama and Congress over the budget.
Mrs. Obama's extensive vacation travel comes while many America citizens find themselves out of work or having trouble making ends meet as the economic recovery stalls.
Taxpayers pick up most of the cost of transporting the first lady and her extensive entourage – including Secret Service and her staff – to her various destinations. While she may in some cases pay some of the tab for her personal expenses and travel, the amount is dwarfed by the overall cost to the public.
On trips she makes with the president, though, the costs are only somewhat greater that then they would have been had he travelled alone.
Mrs. Obama's vacations began in August 2010 with a two day weekend trip to Panama City, Fla., where the Obamas stayed overnight at a Gulf of Mexico hotel in a symbolic effort to show that the Gulf area was safe for travel in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.
Next up was what has become an annual pilgrimage to ritzy Martha's Vineyard, where the Obamas stayed 10 days and dined at several exorbitantly priced restaurants.
In December 2010, with President Obama delayed because Congress was still in town, Mrs. Obama decided to leave without him for their annual Hawaiian vacation, racking up at least $63,000 in additional costs because she travelled alone.
Since the president arrived late, he decided to leave Hawaii in January two days later than scheduled – resulting in a 17 day vacation for the first lady.
Mrs. Obama went right back out on vacation the following month, taking a four day skiing trip in February of this year to Vail, Colo.
In March, Mrs. Obama travelled to Latin America for a five day trip. I'm counting two days of this as vacation, though, because she took her children and her mother along, performed some sightseeing, and went to the beach.
The first lady went to southern Africa in June for six days in what was partially an official visit. Since Mrs. Obama took her mother, her children and their cousins along, since the trip was billed in advance as having personal significance for her, and since the travel included several tourist destinations and a safari, I'm counting half of the journey as vacation, or three days.
Finally, Mrs, Obama took her mother and one of her children to visit her brother in Corvallis, Ore. this week. The trip was not announced by the White House and appears to have lasted four days.
a resident of Bridle Creek
on Aug 12, 2011 at 1:08 pm
What does the drop in pay represent? Did the Gov just take the money away and put it aside? Or did the Gov require the employees to pay more for their health care? Come on genius, what's the answer?
Give us the "rest of the story".
What do you have against the employer (the taxpayer) wanting to pay less for services? Why is the public employee not responsible to pay a portion of his/her benefits? Why are the unions allowed to be the middle-man in health care delivery? Why did it take the end of collective bargaining for the union middleman to lower its rates?
Got answers?
I give you success stories, you give me snappy monikers.
So...sling your mud smart guy.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 12, 2011 at 2:34 pm
My! Well I never! What unbecoming language on this site!
Thanks for the "genius" label there Danny Boy. I'll take it. You'll understand of course if I don't reciprocate?
Health care benefits, pensions, are part of salaries -- they are deferred salaries. Got that? Requiring employees to pay more of their immediate salary towards their deferred salary amounts to ... [have you guessed yet?] ... a cut in salary! See? It doesn't require a genius to follow such reasoning.
Sorry, but I am not an employer. I do pay taxes. Public sector workers are employed by cities, counties, states, the fed govt, etc. I have nothing against self-inflated and selfish little prisses who, imagining themselves to be employers, desire to see public workers' salaries decrease so that a governor can use to pay off a deficit that (1) was created within an economic environment where the wealthy don't pay their fair share and (2) that will not be paid back when the Wisconsin state economy begins to recover. Of course (2) is unlikely when the Koch brother toe-licker governor is robbing working-class joes so as to justify not requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes into the state coffers.
So, let me make myself clear. I have absolutely nothing against self-loathing, union bashing scabs who do the bidding of the Koch Brothers and Lelands in the world.
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 12, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Re. the sicko posing as "Obama"
Ladies and Gentleman, this is what happens when racism is tied to an obsessive personality disorder.
a resident of Livermore
on Aug 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Web Link America's next prez...
a resident of Bridle Creek
on Aug 12, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Genius, (and you know who you are)
I'm not quibbling about the definition of salary; knock yourself out.
I'm simply explaining that instead of them paying $0 for benefits, they now have to pay a small amount (I'm not sure how much) towards THEIR OWN benefits, just like everyone else in private sector does.
To quote the immortal John McClane: "Welcome to the party, pal!"
Never forget this Caesar: regardless of who legally employs the public worker, they are deriving their salaries from MY TAXES.
Prissy indeed...yep, you're a real tough guy.
Oh and don't attempt to answer all the other questions I asked, your credibility left the moment you brought up the...GASP! KOCH BROTHERS!
Danny B
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 4:59 pm
"Danny Boy from Bridle Creek isn't being honest. The union-busting policies of the gov in cheeseland means that 383,000 public employees will see a drop in their pay beginning this August. The impact of lost wages is projected to have a dire effect on small businesses --- lost wages = lost spending power --- and projections are that at least 31,000 jobs will be lost across the state --- reduced sales = lost jobs. Nice."
Lost wages only equate to lost spending power if you have the money to pay the wages in the first place. The truth is the spending power is already lost for a variety of reasons. Even if the cheese state were to raise taxes to fund those employees so that their spending power weren't diminished, the taxpayers spending power would be diminished.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 12, 2011 at 6:27 pm
Danny Boy, It gives me great pleasure to correct people who are wrong. It gives me even greater pleasure when that someone who is wrong isn't a very nice person. [E.G., Danny Boy to the cop: "You can't ticket me, I'm your boss!" and other such nonsense.] And the pleasure heightens yet again when that someone who is wrong is consistently wrong, on every post, because they are unable to think their way out of a woman's shoebox.
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 12, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Some sad soul says, "Lost wages only equate to lost spending power if you have the money to pay the wages in the first place. The truth is the spending power is already lost for a variety of reasons. Even if the cheese state were to raise taxes to fund those employees so that their spending power weren't diminished, the taxpayers spending power would be diminished."
Sounds like a former Dan Quayle supporter, then Palin supporter, who has now flown those coops in order to join the Ron Paul nutcake festival. Have you ever read such pure hokem? Ya gotta read each sentence and pause for a moment before moving to the next. See what I mean? Bring on the white coats and butterfly nets!
a resident of Bridle Creek
on Aug 12, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Great come back smart guy...great come back.
When you do some real analysis come back and talk to me...
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 12, 2011 at 8:24 pm
J. Crowman asked me to read "different takes" mishmash. And then he asked me to read it slowly. I did. My analysis finds that "different take's" ability to use the word 'diminish' twice in one sentence tells me something. He must have learned a new word today.
Danny Boy, totally stupified to have learned that he isn't the boss of the traffic cop who stopped him while speeding home to re-watch the replay of the Sarah Palin reality t.v. series, can only compliment me for allowing some light into the basement he lives in. Here's to ye, Danny Boy. Join us after the shoe shop closes. Cheers.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 12, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Delighted the republicans stayed in control. Great result!
a resident of Danbury Park
on Aug 13, 2011 at 12:04 am
wah wah wah
a resident of Bridle Creek
on Aug 13, 2011 at 10:14 am
My husband has been put into a deep funk after learning that he is not the boss of our kids' teachers and principals and truant officers. He couldn't believe it. After another one of our kids got bad grades this past year, he stormed into the principal's office and demanded that the kids be given better teachers who teach more in accord with our family values. He told the principal "Look Buddy, as a taxpayer I'm your boss and I pay your salary." It seems all the principal could do to stop from laughing. The teacher then said, "You're not my boss, and you don't pay my salary." Can you believe it? He actually SAID that. Well, we have hired a law firm to get the principal and teachers fired and to get them to return the salaries we paid to them. I'll let you know what happens. But hearing from Caesar that my husband isn't the boss of the truant officers we've had to deal with over the years, well, it's been a sad day around here. At least he's still boss at home. I'm a respectful wife who submits to her husband's bossdumb.
a resident of another community
on Aug 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm
I think the original issue is taking a bargaining chip off the table in Wisconsin. Regardless of your political views or take on the distribution on wealth, it should not be against the law to collectively bargain for the demands of working people. Union busting has been going on now to the point where they're an endangered species in the grand scheme of American labor. Federal and state deficits are so out of control something drastic and painful has to be done, but taking away the rights of organized labor is a near sighted solution to a complex problem.
a resident of Livermore
on Aug 13, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Luella & her hubby just made my day! I'm so tickled I can hardly stop laughing. tee hee hee, tee hee hee...
People pay taxes...if you don't want to pay, go live in another country...where they don't tax residents.
Your husband must be a wimp if he falls into a "deep funk" just because somebody talks back and gives him a dose of reality...tee hee heee, tee hee hee, tee hee hee, tee hee hee...
get a life...wimps
a resident of Ruby Hill
on Aug 14, 2011 at 12:01 pm
My very successful Daddy who left me several hundred millions to play around with always told me to plan for the future. I've taken his advice.
Here's the plan. One, get rid of unions, smash them until there's nothing left standing (see early 1950s when CIO was decimated by loyal right-wing patriots who banned or jailed most CIO leaders on account of them being communists).
Two, outlaw collective bargaining. Why give workers that added advantage? Divide and conquer was always my Daddy's motto.
Three, repeal the minimum wage law. 22 states - all the sophisticated ones like Alabam, Mississipp, Louisian, Oklahome, the Dakota twins -- have already done so.
Four, lower teacher salaries. They don't teach a full year, and who needs that much education anyways for all the low-paying jobs that'll fall into our lap.
Five, leave my money working in the offshore operation soon to be called 3rd world United States, and move me and my family to Sweden where we can enjoy the good life.
Six, laugh when after 7 years of a Perry-Bachmann administration, Texas is finally declared a free nation which, as its first act, triumphs over a high unemployment rate by re-introducing slavery. All teachers who insist on pointing out that Davy Crockett did not die valiantly at the Alamo but in fact surrendered, dropped to his knees before Santa Ana, and through tear-filled sobs begged for his life, will be sent to re-education camps in Northern Minnesota where they will learn how to submit to their husbands.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 14, 2011 at 7:17 pm
RESULTS ARE IN.... it was really a treat to hear the actual results of the Wisconsin election. The public unions tried to have a strongarm recall election of 6 state seats. unions won 2, LOST four (4)...and the union Dems were blocked from state Senate control !! PLUS, here's the biggie, the automatic deduction of union dues for political purposes has been ELIMINATED ! ! Another BIGGIE, Wisconsin school districts can REwrite contracts. Now they are avoiding layoffs, with sensible adjustments everybody gets to keep their jobs.
FUNNY, remember how during protests the media covered sign carriers 24/7 for several weeks. But, there hasn't been much noise about the REFORMS... common sense reforms are a win for the taxpaying residents...jobs can be saved, automatic deduction theft is stopped, (turned out the protesters ending up losing, but it sure turned out great for the resident voters). It's right for everyone.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 14, 2011 at 7:17 pm
RESULTS ARE IN.... it was really a treat to hear the actual results of the Wisconsin election. The public unions tried to have a strongarm recall election of 6 state seats. unions won 2, LOST four (4)...and the union Dems were blocked from state Senate control !! PLUS, here's the biggie, the automatic deduction of union dues for political purposes has been ELIMINATED ! ! Another BIGGIE, Wisconsin school districts can REwrite contracts. Now they are avoiding layoffs, with sensible adjustments everybody gets to keep their jobs.
FUNNY, remember how during protests the media covered sign carriers 24/7 for several weeks. But, there hasn't been much noise about the REFORMS... common sense reforms are a win for the taxpaying residents...jobs can be saved, automatic deduction theft is stopped, (turned out the protesters ending up losing, but it sure turned out great for the resident voters). It's right for everyone.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 14, 2011 at 7:41 pm
"PLUS, here's the biggie, the automatic deduction of union dues for political purposes has been ELIMINATED ! ! Another BIGGIE"
California needs to come on board with this also. I've never understood why our state is providing collection services for the very unions that use those funds to lobby against the taxpayers best interest, use those funds to place candidates on city councils that will approve their contracts, etc...etc...etc. It doesn't make sense on several levels. Why is taxpayer money being spent to collect and process union dues, to fund a union agenda that may or may not align with the philosophy of the union members they're pick-pocketing.
Let the unions collect their own money, and let the union members decide if they want to contribute. This issue doesn't get near the attention it deserves!
Taxpayers need to keep pounding this important issue. Union members that oppose having money removed from their check to support issues they oppose, or candidates they don't support, need to speak up as well.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 15, 2011 at 12:11 am
Poor Danny Boy, after getting spanked every which way, and ashamed to use his own name, poses as another poster. Very sad. He is like a little child with a loser instinct who just can't get enough punishment.
Fact is, the recall effort stepped right into the heart of Republicanland and pulled out two, almost three, victories. Repub majority is down from three to one. One of the Repubs voted against the union busting scheme. So, looks like Dems didn't do too badly at all. Koch brothers poured unbelievable amounts of cash in an effort to save the Repub jackboot lickers, working people still earned two victories.
Next time around, Walker is toast as all the Koch money in their offshore accounts won't be enough to save him.
More samples of this loser's idiocy? "Oh goody, I lose my right to collective bargaining but I don't have to pay union dues!" The guy tries racist "humor"; then he comes out from behind his ladies shoe counter to thump his anemic chickenbreast about being bossman who pays workers' salaries; now he thinks everyone will recognize his idiotic reference to saved union dues. The cluelessness, bound up with the personality disorder, is beyond belief. What is even funnier is that he doesn't even recognize that his attempts at writing are a dead giveaway as to his weak-ego identity.
Sign me in as, Bored
a resident of Ruby Hill
on Aug 15, 2011 at 12:14 am
Heck, that sounds like an interesting idea. My Daddy who left me (hundreds of) millions pretty much used the Pinkertons to crush the workers unions at his plants. I still have to deal with the Teamsters, though. Maybe I'll run this by 'em. Hey Boys, how about forfeiting your right to bargain collectively? You'd save on union dues! Yep, most intelligent idea I've heard all day long.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 15, 2011 at 1:34 am
Walker looks stronger - unions spend 20 million on recall and come up short... Unions take over the capitol while threatining to "bloody the Nose" of those who oppose. Wisconsin taxpaers only asking for a fair shake tire of union thuggery and get it right. Taxpayers understand protecting the public sector union upper-middle class removes money from bank accounts of 85% of working families that will rely on savings and social security, while they fund the 15% that get lifetime pensions and lifetime healthcare.
It's not just the salary - it is the total compensation; both funded and unfunded.
Ceaser, do you understand? I didn't think so!
a resident of Parkside
on Aug 15, 2011 at 9:05 am
caesar can't reply now---he is getting ready for his latest public display of spoiled behavior and is going to the BART riot scheduled for this afternoon's commute. He's gotta show those taxpaying workers that his thug buddies are in control and they'll stamp their feet on the BART platform until they get what they want.
Only a union thug could promote the notion not being in the majority of sensible voters in Wisconsin is somehow a mandate for union gangs.
Get a life little caesar.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 15, 2011 at 11:17 am
What? No reference to "spoiled zulus" this time from steve? He must be losing his racist edge. Tell ya one thing: The women's shoe salesman won't be anywhere near the BART station. He's afraid of "those people."
a resident of Parkside
on Aug 15, 2011 at 2:44 pm
SteveP is a registered user.
OK, Caesar. Don't drop your keys...watch out for those zulu union reps.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 15, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Ha-ha-ha-ha. SteveP makes a joke. "Don't drop your keys." Get it? What a screamer he is! Combined with, ha-ha-ha, "spoiled zulus." Must be something about the name steve that lends itself to racism and bigotry.
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 15, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Caesar, how do you figure....there were 6 seats in play, Dems gained 2, and Repubs kept FOUR ! ! ! ! Plus winning several biggies,
don't try to rewrite history,
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 15, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Hey smart guy, all 6 races were in traditionally REPUBLICAN districts. Go back to school, creep.
a resident of Charter Oaks
on Aug 16, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Whose next? Whose next??? Both Dems trounced their Rep challengers in the recall elections this evening. After the Dems snatched two positions from incumbant Repubs last week, that makes the divide 16 Dems and 17 Repubs in the Senate, with one Repub having voted _against_ Walker's dictatorial Koch-financed decision to screw with the unions. Seems like the populace is not ready to stand for a tearing down of the unions under the false pretense of fiscal conservatism. Fiscal insanity more like it. What will have been achieved before the Governor is soon to be recalled? Lost wages, shuttering of small businesses, and approximately 38,000 lost jobs. Soon Walker's shinanigans will be corrected by the democratic majority and workers' right to collectively bargain will be restored. Scoreboard!
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2017 guide to summer camps
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French muckraker Mediapart to appeal to European Court of Human Rights
In the course of a couple of hours on Wednesday, France was rocked by two judicial decisions with profound political repercussions for French politics and the press' right to publish. Just as a baffled public learned that former President Nicolas Sarkozy had been put under formal investigation for corruption and influence-peddling, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, upheld a July 2013 lower court ruling ordering the muckraking news website Mediapart to take down 72 articles related to "l'affaire Bettencourt." It's a fight destined to continue, with a founder of Mediapart vowing to take the free-press case to the European Court of Human Rights.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Pulaski Technical College Choir will give a holiday concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, in the Campus Center Grand Hall.
The concert, directed by Michael Ekbladh, will feature music from the classics to modern gospel. Student soloists will present "Greater is Coming," "My Redeemer Lives," "Christmas Shoes," and an as yet untitled original song by Tim Elliff. The concert will conclude with a Christmas carol sing-a-long.
The concert is free and open to the public.
Pulaski Technical College


text:
Hope College will host Dr. Henry Schwarcz as its Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer for the year 2000. Dr. Schwarcz's topic will be, "How old are We? New Methods for Dating Human Evolution." The lecture will be held at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 1, in Peale Science Center room B50, and is open to the public.
Dr. Schwarcz is a geochemist who has collaborated with archaeologists and paleoanthropologists to study human origins in work that has taken him to Africa, Europe, and Israel. He is a University Professor of Geology Emeritus at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He earned his Ph.D. in Geology from Cal Tech.
Along with studies of human origins, Dr. Schwarcz has studied the chemical composition of human remains to learn about the diets of ancient peoples.
Dr. Schwarcz will also talk about his work in this area at Hope College's annual Science Day on Thursday, Nov. 2.
Besides his anthropological studies, Dr. Schwarcz maintains a wide variety
of active research programs. These include using cave deposits, coral reefs, and fish bones to understand past climate; dating ancient earthquake events; dating archaeological sites; and using stable isotopes in medical studies of energy use and cell growth in infants.
Dr. Schwarcz is being sponsored by the Division of Natural Sciences at Hope College and the Hope College Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. Sigma Xi is an international honor society for scientists and engineers with more than 80,000 members worldwide. It actively promotes scientific research by fostering interactions among science, technology, and society; encourages and supports original scientific research; and honors scientific research accomplishments.


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How to count to a zillion without falling off the end of the number line
Brian Hayes
Last year the National Debt Clock in New York City ran out of digits. The billboard-size electronic counter, mounted on a wall near Times Square, overflowed when the public debt reached $10 trillion, or 1013 dollars. The crisis was resolved by squeezing another digit into the space occupied by the dollar sign. Now a new clock is on order, with room for growth; it won't fill up until the debt reaches a quadrillion (1015) dollars.
The incident of the Debt Clock brings to mind a comment made by Richard Feynman in the 1980s—back when mere billions still had the power to impress:
There are 1011 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
The important point here is not that high finance is catching up with the sciences; it's that the numbers we encounter everywhere in daily life are growing steadily larger. Computer technology is another area of rapid numeric inflation. Data storage capacity has gone from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes, and the latest disk drives hold a terabyte (1012 bytes). In the world of supercomputers, the current state of the art is called petascale computing (1015 operations per second), and there is talk of a coming transition to exascale (1018). After that, we can await the arrival of zettascale (1021) and yottascale (1024) machines—and then we run out of prefixes!
Even these numbers are puny compared with the prodigious creations of pure mathematics. In the 18th century the largest known prime number had 10 digits; the present record-holder runs to almost 13 million digits. The value of pi has been calculated to a trillion digits—a feat at once magnificent and mind-numbing. Elsewhere in mathematics there are numbers so big that even trying to describe their size requires numbers that are too big to describe. Of course none of these numbers are likely to turn up in everyday chores such as balancing a checkbook. On the other hand, logging into a bank's web site involves doing arithmetic with numbers in the vicinity of 2128, or 1038. (The calculations take place behind the scenes, in the cryptographic protocols meant to ensure privacy and security.)
Which brings me to the main theme of this column: Those streams of digits that make us so dizzy also present challenges for the design of computer hardware and software. Like the National Debt Clock, computers often set rigid limits on the size of numbers. When routine calculations begin to bump up against those limits, it's time for a rethinking of numeric formats and algorithms. Such a transition may be upon us soon, with the approval last year of a revised standard for one common type of computer arithmetic, called floating point. Before the new standard becomes too deeply entrenched, perhaps it's worth pausing to examine a few alternative schemes for computing with astronomical and economical and mathematical numbers.
In their native habitat—which is not the digital computer—numbers are boundless and free-ranging. Along the real number line are infinitely many integers, or whole numbers. Between any two integers are infinitely many rational numbers, such as 3/2 and 5/4. Between any two rationals are infinitely many irrationals—numbers like √2 or π.
The reals are a Garden of Eden for doing arithmetic. Just follow a few simple rules—such as not dividing by zero—and these numbers will never lead you astray. They form a safe, closed universe. If you start with any set of real numbers, you can add and subtract and multiply all day long—and divide, too, except by zero—and at the end you'll still have real numbers. There's no risk of slipping through the cracks or going out of bounds.
Unfortunately, digital computers exist only outside the gates of Eden. Out here, arithmetic is a treacherous process. Even simple counting can get you in trouble. With computational numbers, adding 1 over and over eventually brings you to a largest number—something unknown in mathematics. If you try to press on beyond this limit, there's no telling what will happen. The next number after the largest number might be the smallest number; or it might be something labeled ∞; or the machine might sound an alarm, or die in a puff of smoke.
This is a lawless territory. On the real number line, you can always rely on principles like the associative law: (a+b)+c=a+(b+c). In some versions of computer arithmetic, that law breaks down. (Try it with a=1030, b=–1030, c=1.) And when calculations include irrational numbers—well, irrationals just don't exist in the digital world. They have to be approximated by rationals—the very thing they are defined not to be. As a result, mathematical identities such as (√2)2=2 are not to be trusted.
The kind of computer arithmetic that comes closest to the mathematical ideal is calculation with integers and rationals of arbitrary size, limited only by the machine's memory capacity. In this "bignum" arithmetic, an integer is stored as a long sequence of bits, filling up as much space as needed. A rational number is a pair of such integers, interpreted as a numerator and a denominator.
A few primitive computers from the vacuum-tube era had built-in hardware for doing arithmetic on integers of arbitrary size, but our sophisticated modern machines have lost that capability, and so the process has to be orchestrated by software. Adding two integers proceeds piece by piece, starting with the least-significant bits and working right to left, much as a paper-and-pencil algorithm sums pairs of digits one at a time, propagating any carries to the next column. The usual practice is to break up the sequence of bits into blocks the size of a machine register—typically 32 or 64 bits. Algorithms for multiplication and division follow similar principles; operations on rationals require the further step of reducing a fraction to lowest terms.
Looking beyond integers and rationals, there have even been efforts to include irrational numbers in exact computations. Of course there's no hope of expressing the complete value of pi or √2 in a finite machine, but a program can calculate the values incrementally, supplying digits as they are needed—a strategy known as lazy computing. For example, the assertion pi < 3.1414 could be tested—and shown to be false—by generating the first five decimal digits of pi. Another approach is to treat irrational numbers as unevaluated units, which are carried through the computation from start to finish as symbols; thus the circumference of a circle of unit radius would be given simply as 2pi.
The great virtue of bignum arithmetic is exactness. If the machine ever gives an answer, it will be the right answer (barring bugs and hardware failures). But there's a price to pay: You may get no answer at all. The program could run out of memory, or it could take so long that it exhausts human patience or the human lifespan.
For some computations, exactness is crucial, and bignum arithmetic is the only suitable choice. If you want to search for million-digit primes, you have to look at every last digit. Similarly, the security module in a web browser must work with the exact value of a cryptographic key.
For many other kinds of computations, however, exactness is neither needed nor helpful. Using exact rational arithmetic to calculate the interest on a mortgage loan yields an unwieldy fraction accurate to hundreds of decimal places, but knowing the answer to the nearest penny would suffice. In many cases the inputs to a computation come from physical measurements accurate to no more than a few significant digits; lavishing exact calculations on these measurements cannot make them any more accurate.
Most computer arithmetic is done not with bignums or exact rationals but with numbers confined to a fixed allotment of space, such as 32 or 64 bits. The hardware operates on all the bits at once, so arithmetic can be very fast. But an implacable law governs all such fixed-size formats: If a number is represented by 32 bits, then it can take on at most 232 possible values. You may be able to choose which 232 values are included, but there's no way to increase the size of the set.
For 32-bit numbers, one obvious mapping assigns the 232 bit patterns to the integers from 0 through 4,294,967,295 (which is 232–1). The same range of integers could be shifted along the number line, or the values could be scaled to cover a smaller numeric range in finer increments (perhaps 0.00 up to 42,949,672.95) or spread out over a wider range more sparsely. Arithmetic done in this style is known as "fixed point," since the position of the decimal point is the same in all numbers of a given class.
Fixed-point arithmetic was once the mainstay of numerical computing, and it still has a place in certain applications, such as high-speed signal processing. But the dominant format now is floating point, where the decimal point (or binary point) can be moved around to represent a wide range of magnitudes. The floating-point format is based on the same idea as scientific notation. Just as we can write a large number succinctly as 6.02×1023, floating-point arithmetic stores a number in two parts: the significand (6.02 in this example) and the exponent (23).
Designing a floating-point format entails a compromise between range and precision. Every bit allocated to the significand doubles its precision; but the bit has to be taken from the exponent, and it therefore reduces the range by half. For 32-bit numbers the prevailing standard dictates a 24-bit significand and an 8-bit exponent; a few stray bits are lost to storing signs and marking special cases, leaving an effective range of 2–126 up to 2127. In decimal notation the largest representable number is about 3×1038. Standard 64-bit numbers allocate 53 bits to the significand and 11 to the exponent, allowing a range up to about 10308.
The idea of floating-point arithmetic goes back to the beginning of the computer age, but it was widely adopted only in the 1980s. The key event was the drafting of a standard, approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in 1985. This effort was led by William Kahan of the University of California, Berkeley, who remains a strong advocate of the technology.
Early critics of the floating-point approach worried about efficiency and complexity. In fixed-point arithmetic, many operations can be reduced to a single machine instruction, but floating-point calculations are more involved. First you have to extract the significands and exponents, then operate on these pieces separately, then do some rounding and adjusting, and finally reassemble the parts.
The answer to these concerns was to implement floating-point algorithms in hardware. Even before the IEEE standard was approved, Intel designed a floating-point coprocessor for early personal computers. Later generations incorporated a floating-point unit on the main processor chip. From the programmer's point of view, floating-point arithmetic became part of the infrastructure.
It's tempting to pretend that floating-point arithmetic is simply real-number arithmetic in silicon. This attitude is encouraged by programming languages that use the label real for floating-point variables. But of course floating-point numbers are not real numbers; at best they provide a finite model of the infinite real number line.
Unlike the real numbers, the floating-point universe is not a closed system. When you multiply two floating-point numbers, there's a good chance that the product—the real product, as calculated in real arithmetic—will not be a floating-point number. This leads to three kinds of problems.
The first problem is rounding error. A number that falls between two floating-point values has to be rounded by shifting it to one or the other of the nearest representable numbers. The resulting loss of accuracy is usually small and inconsequential, but circumstances can conspire to produce numerical disasters. A notably risky operation is subtracting one large quantity from another, which can wipe out all the significant digits in the small difference. Textbooks on numerical analysis are heavy with advice on how to guard against such events; mostly it comes down to "Don't do that."
The second problem is overflow, when a number goes off the scale. The IEEE standard allows two responses to this situation. The computer can halt the computation and report an error, or it can substitute a special marker, "∞," for the oversize number. The latter option is designed to mimic the properties of mathematical infinities; for example, ∞+1= ∞. Because of this behavior, floating-point infinity is a black hole: Once you get into it, there is no way out, and all information about where you came from is annihilated.
The third hazard is underflow, where a number too small to represent collapses to zero. In real arithmetic, a sequence like 1/2, 1/4, 1/8,… can go on indefinitely, but in a finite floating-point system there must be a smallest nonzero number. On the surface, underflow looks much less serious than overflow. After all, if a number is so small that the computer can't distinguish it from zero, what's the harm of making it exactly zero? But this reasoning is misleading. In the exponential space of floating-point numbers, the distance from, say, 2–127 to zero is exactly the same as the distance from 2127 to infinity. As a practical matter, underflow is a frequent cause of failure in numerical computations.
Problems of rounding, overflow and underflow cannot be entirely avoided in any finite number system. They can be ameliorated, however, by adopting a format with higher precision and a wider range—by throwing more bits at the problem. This is one approach taken in a recent revision of the IEEE standard, approved in June 2008. It includes a new 128-bit floating-point format, supporting numbers as large as 216,383 (or about 104,932).
By now, IEEE floating-point methods are so firmly established that they often seem like the only way to do arithmetic with a computer. But many alternatives have been discussed over the years. Here I shall describe two of them briefly and take a somewhat closer look at a third idea.
The first family of proposals might be viewed more as an enhancement of floating point than as a replacement. The idea is to make the trade-off between precision and range an adjustable parameter. If a calculation does not require very large or very small numbers, then it can give more bits to the significand. Other programs might want to sacrifice precision in order to gain wider scope for the exponent. To make such flexibility possible, it's necessary to set aside a few bits to keep track of how the other bits are allocated. (Of course those bookkeeping bits are thereby made unavailable for either the exponent or the significand.)
A scheme of this kind, called tapered floating point, was proposed as early as 1971 by Robert Morris, who was then at Bell Laboratories. A decade later, more elaborate plans were published by Shouichi Matsui and Masao Iri of the University of Tokyo and by Hozumi Hamada of Hitachi, Ltd. More recently, Alan Feldstein of Arizona State University and Peter R. Turner of Clarkson University have described a tapered scheme that works exactly like a conventional floating-point system except when overflow or underflow threaten.
The second alternative would replace numbers by their logarithms. For example, in a decimal version of the plan the number 751 would be stored as 2.87564, since 102.87564=751. This plan is not as radical a departure as it might seem, because floating-point is already a semi-logarithmic notation: The exponent of a floating-point number is the integer part of a logarithm. Thus the two formats record essentially the same information.
If the systems are so similar, what's gained by the logarithmic alternative? The motive is the same as that for developing logarithms in the first place: They facilitate multiplication and division, reducing those operations to addition and subtraction. For positive numbers a and b, log(ab)=log(a)+log(b). In general, multiplying takes more work than adding, so this substitution is a net gain. But there's another side to the coin: Although logarithms make multiplying easy, they make adding hard. Computing a+b when you have only log(a) and log(b) is not straightforward. For this reason logarithmic arithmetic is attractive mainly in specialized areas such as image processing where multiplications tend to outnumber additions.
The third scheme I want to mention here addresses the problem of overflow. If you are trying to maximize the range of a number system, an idea that pops up quite naturally is to replace mere exponents with towers of exponents. If 2N can't produce a number large enough for your needs, then try
(Whatever the mathematical merits of such expressions, they are a typographical nightmare, and so from here on I shall replace them with a more convenient notation, invented by Donald E. Knuth of Stanford University: 2↑2↑2↑2↑N is equivalent to the last of the three towers shown above. It is to be evaluated from right to left, just as the tower is evaluated from top to bottom.)
Number systems based on iterated exponentiation have been proposed several times; for example, they are mentioned by Matsui and Iri and by Hamada. But one particular version of the idea, called the level-index system, has been worked out with such care and thoughtful analysis that it deserves closer attention. Level-index arithmetic is a lost gem of computer science. It may never make it into the CPU of your laptop, but it shouldn't be forgotten.
The scheme was devised by Charles W. Clenshaw and Frank W. J. Olver, who first worked together (along with Alan Turing) in the 1940s at the National Physical Laboratory in Britain. They proposed the level-index idea in the 1980s, writing a series of papers on the subject with several other colleagues, notably Turner and Daniel W. Lozier, now of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Clenshaw died in 2004; Olver is now at the University of Maryland and NIST, and is co-editing with Lozier a new version of the Handbook of Mathematical Functions by Abramowitz and Stegun.
Iterated exponentials can be built on any numeric base; most proposals have focused on base 2 or base 10. Clenshaw and Olver argue that the best base is e, the irrational number usually described as the base of the natural logarithms or as the limiting value of the compound-interest formula (1+1/n)n; numerically e is about 2.71828. Building numbers on an irrational base is an idea that takes some getting used to. For one thing, it means that almost all numbers that have an exact representation are irrational; the only exceptions are 0 and 1. But there's no theoretical difficulty in constructing such numbers, and there's a good reason for choosing base e.
In the level-index system a number is represented by an expression of the form e↑e↑ … ↑e↑m, where the m at the end of the chain is a fractional quantity analogous to the mantissa of a logarithm. The number of up-arrows—or in other words the height of the exponential tower—depends on the magnitude of the number being represented.
To convert a positive number to level-index form, we first take the logarithm of the number, then the logarithm of the logarithm, and so on, continuing until the result lies in the interval between 0 and 1. Counting the successive logarithm operations gives us the level part of the representation; the remaining fraction becomes the index, the value of m in the expression above. The process is defined by the function f(x):
if 0 ≤ x < 1 then f(x) = xelse f(x) = 1 + f(ln(x)).
Here's how the procedure applies to the national-debt amount shown in the photograph at the beginning of this piece:
ln(10,659,204,157,341) = 29.9974449
ln(29.9974449) = 3.40111221
ln(3.40111221) = 1.22410249
ln(1.22410249) = 0.20220791
We've taken logarithms four times, so the level is 4, and the fractional amount remaining becomes the index. Thus the level-index form of the national debt is 4.20220791 (which seems a lot less worrisome than $10,659,204,157,341).
The level-index system accommodates very large numbers. Level 0 runs from 0 to 1, then level 1 includes all numbers up to e. Level 2 extends as far as e↑e, or about 15.2. Beyond this point, the growth rate gets steep. Level 3 goes up to e↑e↑e, which is about 3,814,273. Continuing the ascent through level 4, we soon pass the largest 64-bit floating-point number, which has a level-index value of about 4.63. The upper boundary of level 4 is a number with 1.6 million decimal digits. Climbing higher still puts us in the realm of numbers where even a description of the size is hopelessly impractical. Just seven levels are enough to represent all distinguishable level-index numbers. Thus only three bits need to be devoted to the level; the rest can be used for the index.
What about the other end of the number scale—the very small numbers? The level-index system is adequate for many purposes in this region, but a variation called symmetric level-index provides additional precision close to zero. In this scheme a number x between 0 and 1 is denoted by the level-index representation of 1/x.
Apart from its wide range, the level-index system has some other distinctive properties. One is smoothness. For floating-point numbers, a graph of the magnitudes of successive numbers is a jointed sequence of straight lines, with an abrupt change of slope at each power of 2. The corresponding graph for the level-index system is a smooth curve. For iterated exponentials this is true only in base e, which is the reason for choosing that base.
Olver also points out that level-index arithmetic is a closed system, like arithmetic with real numbers. How can that be? Since level-index numbers are finite, there must be a largest member of the set, and so repeated additions or multiplications should eventually exceed that bound. Although this reasoning is unassailable, it turns out that the system does not in fact overflow. Here's what happens instead. Start with a number x, then add or multiply to generate a new larger x, which is rounded to the nearest level-index number. As x grows very large, the available level-index values become sparse. At some point, the spacing between successive level-index values is greater than the change in x caused by addition or multiplication. Thereafter, successive iterations of x round to the same level-index value.
This is not a perfect model of unbounded arithmetic. In particular, the process is not reversible: A long series of x + 1 operations followed by an equal number of x – 1s will not bring you back to where you started, as it would on the real number line. Still, the boundary at the end of the number line seems about as natural as it can be in a finite system.
Is there any genuine need for an arithmetic that can reach beyond the limits of IEEE floating point? I have to admit that I seldom write a program whose output is a number greater than 1038. But that's not the end of the story.
A program with inputs and outputs of only modest size may nonetheless generate awkwardly large intermediate values. Suppose you want to know the probability of observing exactly 1,000 heads in 2,000 tosses of a fair coin. The standard formula calls for evaluating the factorial of 2,000, which is 1×2×3×…×2,000 and is sure to overflow. You also need to calculate (½)2,000, which could underflow. Although the computation can be successfully completed with floating-point numbers—the answer is about 0.018—it requires careful attention to cancellations and reorderings of the operations. A number system with a wider range would allow a simpler and more robust approach.
In 1993 Lozier described a more substantial example of a program sensitive to numerical range. A simulation in fluid dynamics failed because of severe floating-point underflow; redoing the computation with the symmetric version of level-index arithmetic produced correct output.
Persuading the world to adopt a new kind of arithmetic is a quixotic undertaking, like trying to reform the calendar or replace the QWERTY keyboard. But even setting aside all the obstacles of history and habit, I'm not sure how best to evaluate the alternatives in this case. The main conceptual question is this: Since we don't have enough numbers to cover the entire number line, what is the best distribution of the numbers we do have? Fixed-point systems sprinkle them uniformly. Floating-point numbers are densely packed near the origin and grow farther apart out in the numerical hinterland. In the level-index system, the core density is even greater, and it drops off even more steeply, allowing the numbers to reach the remotest outposts.
Which of these distributions should we prefer? Perhaps the answer will depend on what numbers we need to represent—and thus on how quickly the national debt continues to grow.
©Brian Hayes
You can find this online at http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/the-higher-arithmetic/2
© 2016 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society


text: George Dameron, professor of history, has published an essay on recent research on the plague of the fourteenth century: "Identificazione di un killer: recenti scoperte scientifiche e storiche sulla natura della Pesta Nera," trans. Elsa Filosa, in Boccaccio 1313-2013, eds. Francesco Ciabattoni, Kristina Olson, and Elsa Filosa, 57-70 (Ravenna: Longo Editore, 2015). In addition, he has published an essay on the Florentine Church during the lifetime of Dante Alighieri, entitled "Church and Orthodoxy," in Dante in Context, edited by Lino Pertile and Zygmunt Baranski, 83-105 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015). On January 7, 2016, he also chaired and commented at the last American Historical Association meeting (Atlanta) on three papers as part of the panel on the Italian Renaissance state. (posted June 2016) George Dameron, professor and chair of history, has learned that his peer-reviewed article, "Florence," will be published in Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies by Oxford University Press. This is an online, annotated, extensive bibliography that also includes several short essays on current research. In addition, his essay, "Church and Commune in Thirteenth Century Pistoia: Grain and the Struggle for Political Legitimacy in Medieval Tuscany," has just been published in The Late Medieval and Renaissance City-State and Beyond: Essays in Honour of M. E. Bratchel, edited by C. I. Hamilton and Anita Virga, in The South African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, vols. 22/23 (2012-2013), 23-38. For this coming spring he has been invited to be a respondent on the panel, "Civic Peace and Conflict," at the 41st annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium in Sewanee, Tennessee, which meets on April 10 and 11. (posted April 2015) George Dameron, professor and chair of History, has learned that his essay, "The Church as Lord," has just been published in The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity, edited by John Arnold (Oxford University Press, 2014). It is included in the section of the book dedicated to "Power." On August 7 he presented and discussed his paper, "Feeding the Medieval Tuscan City-State: Food and Political Legitimacy in the Tuscan Commune, c. 1200-c. 1350," at the Second Annual Vermont Medieval Summit, meeting at Marlboro College. Recently he has also been invited to contribute an essay on the teaching of Dante for the second edition of Approaches to Teaching Dante's 'Comedy,' published by the Modern Language Association in its series, Approaches to Teaching World Literature. (posted December 2014) George Dameron, professor and chair of history and director of the Humanities Center, was invited to present the paper, "Identifying a Killer by Cracking the Teeth of the Dead: Recent Scientific and Historical Research into the Nature of the Black Death," at the fall 2013 meeting of the American Boccaccio Association at Georgetown University on October 4. A month later he completed his three-year term as Secretary of the New England Medieval Conference at the annual meeting of that association at the Rhode Island School of Design. Finally, in January 2014, at the annual conference of the American Historical Association in Washington, D. C., he presided over a session he was invited to organize by the Society for Italian Historical Studies: "Current Trends in Franciscan Studies: The Case of Medieval Italy." (March 2014) George Dameron, professor and chair of history, recently had his essay, "Purgatory and Modernity," published in Bridging the Medieval-Modern Divide: Medieval Times in the World of the Reformation, edited by James Muldoon (Ashgate, 2013), 87-105. George also presented a paper at the meeting of the Medieval Academy of America on April 4 at the University of Tennessee. Entitled "The Political Economy of Grain and the Tuscan City-State, 1200-1350," it focused on the subject of his current major project. And George delivered a public lecture, "Florence at the Time of Dante and Giotto," at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto on June 4. The lecture accompanied the exhibition, "Revealing the Early Renaissance". Currently vice president of the advisory board of the Lane Series at the University of Vermont, he is also completing his terms this year as secretary of the New England Medieval Conference and member of the Hinesburg Village Steering Committee.


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Wasson students reflect on first day following closure announcement
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The waning days of Wasson High School won't be anything worth celebrating if the first day following the announcement of its closure is any indication.
On a near unanimous vote Wednesday night, the District 11 school board voted to close the school at the end of the semester. School board members are trying to save money and better utilize their aging buildings. The plan is to use the Wasson campus for alternative schools next school year.
The plan upsets teachers, parents and students at Wasson.
"My best friend, she looked at me a certain way and I just started crying because I know I'm going to lose all my friends," said Ashleigh Lemee, a Wasson student.
She was one of several students who described a sad scene at school Thursday. Students report seeing teachers well up over the morning overhead announcement of the school's closure. Students also broke down at the thought of losing the special connections they made at the school.
"It really is horrible seeing this happen," said Gianfranco Dorazio. "This school has many things that we need. Some people may not think so, but it has things that people like us need."
Multiple students recalled finding trouble at other area high schools before landing at Wasson. The school and staff were praised by students for after-school tutoring lessons
"It really helps a lot of kids and I think that's why a lot of kids like this school," said Alexis Miller.
From now until May, the School District 11 administration will be working on new boundary lines for the four remaining high schools in Colorado Springs. That means students who currently attend other schools may be asked to switch schools as well.
Closing Wasson will save about $1.2 million per year according to estimates drawn up by school district administrators.


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What spectrum of light or wavelength do bees not 'see'?
I ask because I may receive new packages in April, but can not transfer them into accepting nuc due to outside temperature (Alaska).
My thought is that I can perform the transfer from package to nuc in my heated garage, and if the lights were off (combined with spraying package with sugar water), the transfer would go better (calmer bees in my ignorance of thinking). Can I light up my garage with a spectrum of light that a human can see, but a bee can not, to aid in package transfer?


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text: I don't know here....The Jets had a VERY good draft IMO. They got Milliner, Richardson, Geno, (all considered top 10 talents) Winters and Aboushi who both are upgrades on their O-line. I'm sorry...I don't see how we can have a laugh at the Jets thread here. They have one of the best drafts out there IMO....as much as I hate to say it.


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By the time you read this, the Senate will have confirmed — or will be poised to confirm — President Bush's appointment of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court. As anyone who has been reading these editorials knows, we think that's bad news, extremely bad news. How much damage Alito will do, together with the other conservatives on the court, remains to be seen. To the extent that anyone following the confirmation hearings can draw conclusions from what Alito said, it seems clear that with the exception of abortion (he danced around Roe v. Wade in alarmingly vague ways) he has more in common with archconservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas than with the other justices. Since it's too soon to tell just how arch the admittedly conservative Chief Justice John Roberts is, there is profound cause for concern.
Another depressing, frightening, and inescapable conclusion to draw from the Alito confirmation hearings is this: even a Bush wounded by a war gone wrong in Iraq, even a Bush in the midst of a constitutional scandal due to warrantless domestic spying, and even a Bush whose political party is besmirched by lobbying crimes of historic proportions can foist a right-wing radical onto the nation's highest court.
There is good reason for this: a significant portion of the American public is brain-dead. They are prisoners of the medium, focused on the images instead of the message. Because Alito is bland, they assume his jurisprudence will be mush. Because he went to good schools (Princeton and Yale Law) and isn't arrogant (like Judge Robert Bork) and his wife cries when he's attacked (the little lady stands by her man), then he's a-okay, ready for prime time — not only for the Supreme Court, but perhaps for a sitcom or, even better, a reality-based TV show.
Alas, the reality of the decisions the Supreme Court wrestles with is serious. It's real life, real time, real stuff. There is little reason to believe that Alito will not support Bush's contention that anything Bush does as president while acting as commander in chief is constitutional; that Congress cannot pass laws against right-wing interest groups like the National Rifle Association; and that government agencies that are supposed to regulate big business should mind their own business. In a nutshell, that is what Alito's record as a federal judge tells us about him. Is this cause for alarm? Only among Democrats, it seems. Because Alito is bland, the American people think he's impartial.
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By Type
Exchange Programs | Integrated ("Direct Enrollment") Programs | Combined Programs | Internship Programs | "Island" Programs | Independent Enrollment | Summer Programs
Photo by: Marina Isaacson, Czech Republic, March 2011
There is a wide variety to choose from. Center for Study Abroad staff will guide you. They'll also direct you to many excellent on-line resources.
Exchange Programs
UR students trade places with their overseas counterparts for a semester or year. This offers the chance for students in each country to meet past, current and future participants.
UR has exchanges with Bristol University, the University of Sussex, and the University of York in the UK, Meiji Gakuin University in Japan, Braude College in Israel, the Australian National University and the University of Western Australia, the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Jagiellonian University in Poland, Uppsala University in Sweden, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the University of Cologne in Germany.
Language of instruction: English or host country
Academics: regular university courses with host country and international students
Housing: residence hall, apartments, or homestay; varies by university
Learn more about UR Exchange Programs
Integrated ("Direct Enrollment") Programs
Integrated, or direct enrollment programs, are often arranged by a sponsoring American college or consortium, and allow you to enroll in an overseas university and to take courses with regularly matriculated local students.
The advantage of integrated programs is that they normally offer American-style transcripts, academic advising, and orientation programs for American college students. Even with a high level of support, students find that complete immersion in the host culture can be quite challenging, and requires a high level of maturity, flexibility and resourcefulness.
Language of instruction: host country (approximately four or five semesters of college-level language study or the equivalent) or English
Academics: regular university courses with host country and international students
Housing: residence hall, apartments, or homestay; varies by program
Examples: the IES program at the University of Sydney in Australia, and the CIEE program at the University of Sharjah
Browse Programs by Country/Region
Combined Programs
Combined or "hybrid" programs are a cross between island programs and those which integrate students into an overseas university. On-site academic advising will ease you into the foreign university setting.
Students interested in full integration may choose combined programs because of the greater challenges of direct enrollment. Even if students are reasonably fluent in the local language, there are significant differences in learning, teaching and testing styles.
Language of instruction: English, host country, or both
Academics: courses arranged for the study abroad students, as well as local direct enrollment opportunities
Housing: residence hall, apartments, or homestay; varies by program
Examples: on the IES program in Madrid, which requires the equivalent of four or five semesters of college-level Spanish, you might choose to take some IES courses and some regular courses at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Browse Programs by Country/Region
Internship Programs
Many study abroad programs combine traditional academics with hands-on experience outside the classroom. In internship programs, you are placed in an internship and concurrently take courses. Internships are offered in many fields, including politics, medical research, museum, theater, business, and media.
Internship programs provide academic credit and are not paid. Most countries do not allow you to enter the country as a student and then obtain paid employment.
UR has excellent examples of internship programs in London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, and Bonn/Cologne. Other programs offer opportunities for field research or independent study, which likewise take place outside of the classroom.
"Island" Programs
On an island program you will take courses that have been specifically created for the program. They are arranged by a sponsoring college or consortium, and are taught either by faculty members of the home campus, or by host country faculty contracted for individual courses.
Language of instruction: English, in the local language or both
Academics: in class with other American college students only
Housing: shared apartment with American students or locals, residential hotel, or private home with a family or landlord/landlady
Examples: UR program in Arezzo, Italy
Summer study abroad programs are normally "island" programs because most overseas universities do not offer regular instruction during the summer.
Learn more about Summer Programs
Independent Enrollment
While UR has existing affiliations with numerous overseas institutions that offer direct ("integrated") enrollment, it may be that your academic and personal interests lead you to look elsewhere. For example, you might choose to enroll independently at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
This option is not open at institutions with which UR already has an existing affiliation. For example, there is an IES program at Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland. If you are interested in applying to Dublin City University, you must apply through UR and IES, not Dublin City University.
If you enroll independently at a university that does not issue an American-style transcript, you will be required to document successful completion of the program of study by having your transcript evaluated by a service such as World Education Service (WES).
To transfer credit, you will need to bring back syllabi and reading lists for each course, along with all your written work: notes, essays, research papers, examinations, and any available evaluations of your work by overseas faculty. The Center for Study Abroad will review these documents with faculty before credit can be granted.
Browse Programs by Country/Region
Summer Programs
If you are thinking about studying abroad, but are not quite sure if you would like to spend a full semester abroad, a summer program is a great way to test study abroad. Likewise, summer programs are a good option if you are unable to fit a semester or academic year of study abroad into your plans. You may participate in a summer program as early as the summer following your freshman year.
UR summer programs normally offered:
- The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures sponsors summer language programs in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Spain. Information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/mlc/
- The Internships in Europe program offers summer internships in Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
- The Department of Religion and Classics sponsors an archaeological dig in Italy.
- ASL offers a French Sign Language program in France.
- The history department offers a field experience in Bermuda.
- Anthropology offers the Malawi Immersion Seminar.


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Helix - Live Linux Distro for Forensics
- As the title of this post indicates, this is a bootable, live linux CD. It is a heavily modified version of Knoppix.
- It is specifically for forensics and incident response. For this reason, such features as never using swap space are always on. This distro is also updated every 3 months to stay current.
- In addition to a bootable CD, it can also be used as a Windows application.
The quote below and much more can be found in their document, Helix for Beginners.
Helix operates in two different modes – Windows and Linux.
Helix is a forensically sound bootable Linux environment much like Knoppix, but a whole lot more. The "other side" of Helix, a Microsoft Windows executable feature, contains approximately 90 MB of incident response tools for Windows. The rationale behind this was that a majority of incidents require interaction with a live Windows system, the dominant operating system in the computer market.
For the whole scoop:
Hope this helps,


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Last year people were blaming TT's knee injury from JPP's leg whip on the strength&conditioning coaches.
well wasnt part of the reason Fassel got fired was bc of constant injuries? remember how TC said how the proper work ethic and attitude would lead to less injuries or something?
he said Giants staff, not training staff, so maybe he meant coaches included...
you gotta admit, this is not a coincidence, its a trend. we constantly get ravaged by injuries every year. and no, its not the same for every team. last year we had the most injuries to starters/key depth over the past decade aside from the 0-16 Lions and a ****ty Bills team. This year feels even worse, so many starters/key depth players are hurt...its frustrating, and I know its a little silly to blame anyone for injuries, but TC did say we'd have less injuries under his watch and it just hasnt happened
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. MB Rule # 1
The Bengals and Colts are worse off than us going by how many they have on IR. Pats list is inflated because they have guys like Ballard and Shancoe listed on there.
All Hail The New York Giants!!


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text: Well, I really wish I could disagree with what most people are saying. But I cannot. It feels like this show is either written by a grade 9 class, or for a grade 9 class. I know that younger audiences bring in more $$$ in regards to advertising, so I'm wondering if the powers behind the show are dumbing it down for a more lucrative audience? I'm going to give Revolution at least two more episodes before throwing in the towel. There have been so many shows since Lost that I wanted to like...Fringe, Alcatraz, Terra Nova, Grimm, Once Upon A Time...I wanted Revolution to be the one that kept me coming back week after week. Oh well, I still have The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Nikita and The Good Wife.


text: There is no doubt that Gil Brandt was ahead of his time when drafting early on in his Cowboy career. The truth also is that Brandt brought down the Cowboy brand with terrible drafts in the 80's. His picks for the first two rounds from 1980 to 1987 were: no picks in 1980 first two rounds than, Howard Richards,Doug Donley, Rod Hill, Jeff Rohrer, Jim Jeffcoat, Mike Walter,Billy Cannon Jr. Victor Scott, Kevin Brooks, Jesse Penn, Mike Sherrard, Darryl Clack, Danny Noonan and finally Ron Francis. Some nice players and some outright busts. That's why Dallas picked number 11 in 1988 and ultimately number 1 in 1989.