text:
|Número de publicación
|Tipo de publicación
|Número de solicitud
|Número de PCT
|Fecha de publicación
|2 Dic 2008
|Fecha de presentación
|5 Ago 2005
|Fecha de prioridad
|6 Ago 2004
|También publicado como
|Número de publicación
|Joel Citron
|Cesionario original
|E.I. Dupont De Nemours And Company
|Exportar cita
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Citas de patentes (27), Otras citas (4), Citada por (2), Clasificaciones (20), Eventos legales (4)
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet
Polyolefins, preferably polyethylene, having a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, polyethylene having three or more branches having the formula —(CH2CH2)mH where m is an integer of 1 or more form heat seals at exceptionally low temperatures and/or short sealing times, thereby allowing good seals to be formed rapidly. This is advantageous when heat-sealing so-called flexible packaging made from single or multilayer films.
Polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene have been used in many applications, for example in packaging such as bags and cartons. In many instances in order to form the package it is necessary to affect a seal between two different pieces or two different parts made of the same polyolefin. This may be done using adhesives, but is more commonly done by applying heat to the surfaces to be joined to soften or melt them while applying some pressure to the place where they are to be joined to form a single piece of thermoplastic. This operation is called heat-sealing, and is commonly used to join thermoplastic parts. See for instance K. R. Osborn, et al., Plastic Films, Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., Lancaster, Pa., U.S.A., 1992, especially p. 152-153 and 173-175; H. Mark, et al., Ed., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, Vol. 1, McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, 1985, p. 527; and ibid., Vol. 7, 1987, p. 117.
Most commonly the heating is carried out by contacting the surfaces opposite those to be joined with a hot object such as a hot bar, or heating the surfaces with hot air or infrared radiation. In any event the speed at which one can heat the surfaces to be joined to the proper temperature for joining often determines the speed at which one can heat seal the surfaces. This is particularly true for thermoplastics such as polyolefins, because they often have relatively low thermal conductivities. High-speed heat sealing is important because many such operations are high volume continuous operations where slow heat sealing speeds significantly increase costs.
One way to increase heat-sealing speeds is to lower the temperature at which the seal may be formed. This is typically done by lowering the melting point of the polymer being sealed, but has its limits since if the melting point of the polymer is lowered too much the seal itself may be too weak or the polymer characteristics may be detrimentally affected. Therefore ways of forming satisfactory seals at lower temperatures are constantly being sought.
Numerous attempts have been made to find polymers with improved heat sealing properties, see for instance U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,358,792, 5,372,882, 5,427,807, 5,462,807, 5,530,065, 5,587,247, 5,741,861, 5,770,318, 5,773,106, 5,773,129, 5,792,549, 6,620,897, WO03039958, WO9303093, WO9532235 and WO9728960. None of these references uses the polymers described herein. The specific polymers used herein are not particularly noted in these publications for use in heat-sealing applications.
This invention concerns a process for lowering the heat sealing temperature of a polyolefin-based thermoplastic, comprising the step of replacing at least a portion of the polyolefin in the thermoplastic with a branched polyolefin (BPO) having a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, having three or more branches of the formula —(CH2CH2)mH wherein m is an integer of one or more, provided that said branched polyolefin has one or both of the following properties:
This invention further concerns a first article having a first thermoplastic surface suitable for heat sealing to a second thermoplastic surface of the same or another article, wherein said first thermoplastic surface comprises a branched polyolefin having a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, having three or more branches of the formula —(CH2CH2)mH wherein m is an integer of one or more, provided that said branched polyolefin has one or both of the following properties:
in said branched polyolefin the level hexyl+branches is at least 80% of the level of ethyl branches, and said polyolefin contains less than 2 methyl branches per 1000 methylene groups or less than 0.3 branches of the formula —(CH2)4CH3 per 1000 methylene groups or both.
The invention still further concerns a process for preparing an article comprising the step of heat sealing a first thermoplastic surface to a second thermoplastic surface, wherein the first thermoplastic surface and the second thermoplastic surface comprise a branched polyolefin having a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, having three or more branches of the formula —(CH2CH2)mH wherein m is an integer of one or more, provided that said branched polyolefin has one or both of the following properties:
in said branched polyolefin the level hexyl+ branches is at least 80% of the level of ethyl branches, and said polyolefin contains less than 2 methyl branches per 1000 methylene groups or less than 0.3 branches of the formula —(CH2)4CH3 per 1000 methylene groups or both.
This invention also concerns an article made at least in part from a first thermoplastic surface and a second thermoplastic surface joined together by heat sealing, wherein the first thermoplastic surface and a second thermoplastic surface comprise a branched polyolefin having a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, having three or more branches of the formula —(CH2CH2)mH wherein m is an integer of one or more, provided that said branched polyolefin has one or both of the following properties:
in said branched polyolefin the level hexyl+ branches is at least 80% of the level of ethyl branches, and said polyolefin contains less than 2 methyl branches per 1000 methylene groups or less than 0.3 branches of the formula —(CH2)4CH3 per 1000 methylene groups or both.
A process, comprising,
The polymers used herein are hydrocarbon polyolefins, that is polymers made by the addition polymerization of olefinic bonds of one or more hydrocarbon olefins. Preferably the polymers are made from one or more monomers (olefins) of the formula R1HC═CHR2, wherein R1 and R2 are each independently hydrogen or alkyl; more preferably wherein one of R1 or R2 is hydrogen, and the other is hydrogen or n-alkyl, and especially wherein both R1 and R2 are hydrogen (the olefin is ethylene). A specific preferred polymer is polyethylene, that is a polymer containing about 80 mole percent or more of repeat units derived from ethylene, and another specifically preferred polymer is homopolyethylene, which contains about 98 mole percent or more of repeat units derived from ethylene.
The polymers useful herein are obtainable (and preferably obtained) by polymerizing olefins, especially ethylene, in processes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,620,895, 6,586,541 and 6,586,550 (all of which are also incorporated by reference herein for all purposes as if fully set forth). Most commonly the polymers are made by polymerizing and oligomerizing ethylene using two different types of catalysts, a catalyst which can copolymerize ethylene and α-olefins of the formula H2C═CH(CH2CH2)mH and a catalyst which makes these α-olefins by oligomerizing ethylene. Preferably the oligomerization catalyst produces two or more α-olefins (i.e., two or more values of m), more preferably a series α-olefins of the above formula. As noted in the above patents, it is preferred that the series of α-olefins be produced by an ethylene oligomerization catalyst that produces these olefin according to a Schulz-Flory distribution. Herein it is preferred that the Schulz-Flory constant for that distribution is about 0.50 to about 0.95, more preferably about 0.55 to about 0.90. The catalysts useful as oligomerization and polymerization catalysts, and the polymerization process conditions which may be used, are set forth in the above referenced patents.
The polymer produced by the above polymerization process may then of course be formed into an article such as a single or multilayer film, or other type of article such as a bag made from a film, which may then undergo heat sealing.
Although in this polymerization process some of the ethylene is oligomerized to α-olefins that are then copolymerized into the BPO, herein these branched when made by this process are considered to be homopolyethylenes, since they may be made from only ethylene.
The BPOs have a density of about 0.86 to about 0.93 g/mL, preferably about 0.86 to about 0.91 g/mL, and especially preferably about 0.88 to about 0.90 g/mL, at 23° C. The density, as is usually done, is measured on solid polymer without filler or other materials (except for normal small amounts of antioxidants) using the method of ASTM D1505.
Consistent with the requirements for density and as otherwise set forth above, the polyolefins utilized in accordance with the present invention contain at least some branching. Measurement (usually by 13C NMR) and calculation of branching levels in these polymers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,241, which is hereby included by reference, and reference may be had thereto for further details. Most NMR machines don't have a high enough field frequencies to measure branch chain lengths of more than 5 carbon atoms, and that is what described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,241. However by using NMR machines with higher fields and using analogous methods, branches as long as 10 carbon atoms or more can be determined.
These BPOs have three or more branches of the formula —(CH2CH2)mH where m is an integer of 1, for example ethyl, n-butyl, n-hexyl, and longer. In the more common NMR methods used for branch determination n-hexyl is often measured together with branches longer than n-hexyl, and are often, and herein, termed hexyl+. Branches and branching levels herein are corrected for end groups, that is end groups are not included in the branching levels or branching related descriptions herein unless otherwise noted. Correction for end groups is well known in the art.
Preferably the total number of branches in the BPO is about 30 or more per 1000 methylene groups, more preferably about 30 to about 150 per 1000 methylene groups.
In another preferred embodiment, the BPO contains less than 4, more preferably less than 2, methyl branches per 1000 methylene groups. In another preferred embodiment the BPO contains less than 0.3, more preferably less than 0.2 n-amyl branches [—(CH2)5H]. When the BPO contains such few amyl groups it is preferred that it contain at least 25 branches per 1000 methylene groups. In another preferred embodiment the number of hexyl+ branches per 1000 methylene groups in the polymers is at least 80% of the number of ethyl branches per 1000 methyl groups, more preferably is about 100% or more (about equal to or greater than) the number of ethyl branches per 1000 methylene groups. In another preferred embodiment the BPO contains less than 5 branches, more preferably less than 2 branches, per 1000 methylene groups, total, of n-alkyl branches (including methyl) that contain an odd number of carbon atoms. It is to be understood that any of the above preferred structural features of BPO may be combined any one or more other preferred structural feature.
It is further preferred that the BPOs are polyethylenes, more preferably homopolyethylenes.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the heat sealing temperature of a polyolefin-based thermoplastic can be lowered by replacing at least a portion of the polyolefin in the thermoplastic with the BPO as described above. The BPO can simply be used in place of the original polyolefin, or can be blended in various proportions with the original polyolefin in order to replace a portion of the same. Such a blend can be a standard physical blend, melt blend, or even a reactor blend prepared by polymerizing the (preferably) ethylene in the presence of the catalyst composition referred to above, along with a second active polymerization catalyst (a co-catalyst) such as a Ziegler-Natta and/or metallocene-type catalyst known in the art, especially such a catalyst which does not readily copolymerize ethylene and α-olefins.
The resulting thermoplastic can be used to form articles with surfaces possessing a lower heat-sealing temperature and, thus, improved processibility. Heat sealing and methods of heat sealing, along with procedures for doing heat sealing are found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,897, which is hereby included by reference.
In preparing articles by heat-sealing thermoplastic surfaces, it is preferred that all of the respective surfaces which are to be heat sealed comprise the BPO as described herein. More preferably, the various surfaces are made essentially only with the BPOs described above as the thermoplastic polymer, still more preferably from such BPOs which are homopolyethylenes, and especially when each of the surfaces is the same BPO or comprise the same BPO. Of course, in addition to the BPO (and optionally other thermoplastic polymer components), the surfaces can contain other additives and adjuvants commonly found in heat sealing thermoplastics such as, for example, antioxidants and stabilizers, colorants, processing aids and the like.
More than two surfaces may be sealed together, for example three films may be sealed together, and preferably all of the surfaces being sealed comprise BPO branched polymer as described herein, and more preferably all comprise the same BPO.
Heat sealing may be done by any variety of methods well known to those skilled in the art. See for instance Plastic Films, Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., Lancaster, Pa., U.S.A., 1992, especially p. 152-153 and 173-175. Preferably the heating of the areas to be sealed is done by thermal conduction from a hotter material (e.g., sealing bar(s) or roller(s)), by microwave heating, dielectric heating, and ultrasonic heating. The amount of pressure used may vary from that needed to contact the two (or more) surfaces to be sealed, for example finger pressure to pressure applied by presses or rollers, for example up to 700 kPa (100 psi). The heating may be before, or simultaneous with the application of pressure. Although pressure may be applied before heating, it will normally not be effective until the heating is carried out. Generally speaking, the temperatures of the polyolefin surface that is being sealed will be about 50° C. to about 110° C. This temperature will depend to some extent on the amount of pressure used, higher pressures allowing lower temperatures, since higher pressures cause more intimate contact between sealing surfaces. It also depends on the polyolefin of the heat-sealing surface, and those with lower densities will usually have lower sealing temperatures. Since much of the heat sealing done commercially is on high speed lines, the lower the temperature needed to give a seal of sufficient strength, the faster the line may often run, since it will take less time to heat the sealing surfaces to the required temperature.
The materials which may be heat sealed are any whose surface to be heat-sealed is of the BPOs described herein. Useful materials which may be heat sealed include single and multilayer films, polyolefin coated paper or paperboard, polyolefin coated metal foil (which can be considered a multilayer film), polyolefin coated articles made by injection or blow molding, polyolefin injection or blow molded articles, and rotationally molded parts, in which the surfaces to be heat sealed comprise the BPO described herein. Preferred materials for heat sealing are single and multilayer blown and/or oriented films and sheet, coated paper and paperboard, and single and multilayer films are especially preferred. A single layer film will simply be a layer of the polyolefins described herein. A multilayer film will have two or more layers, and one or both of the surface layers will be a polyolefin described herein. For example other layers may be present for the purposes of increased barrier properties to one or more materials, for added strength and/or toughness, for decorative purposes (for example to have been or be printed on), adhesive layers to improve adhesion between other layers, or any combination of these. These other layers may be polymers such as polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides, polycarbonates, acrylics, or mixtures of these, paper, and metal (foil).
The present process is particularly useful to form packages, which are also particularly useful articles. By a "package" is meant any container that is meant to be sealed most of the time (sometimes called "protective packaging"), especially before the contents are used, against ambient conditions such as air and/or moisture, and/or loss of the package's content as by evaporation. The package may be designed so that the seal against ambient conditions may be broken permanently broken as by cutting or tearing to open a sealed bag. The package may have one or more inlets and/or outlets to store a material that may be added to and/or withdrawn from the package without further opening the package. These packages are preferably made from single or multilayer films, especially multilayer films, in which the present polyolefins are at least the "sealing layer" that is the layer that forms a heat seal. These include flexible bags which are sealed, such as solid or liquid food containers, intravenous bags, pouches, and dry food containers (cereal and cracker liners in boxes).
The production of single and multilayer films, and other types of items comprising the present BPOs, including packages or various types, is well known in the art, see for instance World Patent Application 03/039866, which is hereby included by reference.
As used herein, the term "bag" is inclusive of L-seal bags, side-seal bags, end-seal bags, backseamed bags, and pouches. An L-seal bag has an open top, a bottom seal, a seal along a first side edge, and a seamless (i. e., folded, unsealed) second side edge. A side-seal bag has an open top and a seamless bottom edge, with each of its two side edges having a seal therealong. An end-seal bag is made from seamless tubing and has an open top, a bottom seal, and seamless side edges. A pouch has an open top and a bottom seal and a seal along each side edge. Although seals along the side and/or bottom edges can be at the very edge itself, (i. e., seals of a type commonly referred to as "trim seals"), preferably the seals are spaced inward (preferably about 0.6 to about 1.3 cm) from the bag side edges, and/or preferably are made using impulse-type heat sealing apparatus, which utilizes a bar which is quickly heated and then quickly cooled. A backseamed bag is a bag having an open top, a "backseam seal" running the length of the bag in which the bag film is either fin-sealed or lap-sealed, two seamless side edges, and a bottom seal along a bottom edge of the bag.
Another form of packaging in which the BPO is useful is "vacuum skin packaging". As used herein, the term "vacuum skin packaging" refers to a topographic heat seal, as contrasted to a perimeter heat seals. In forming a topographic seal, the surfaces of two films are brought into contact with one another, for example by using differential air pressure. The films contour about a product and hermetically bond to one another throughout the region (s) of film-to-film contact. Vacuum skin packaging is described in U.S. patent RE 030009, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Other useful types and configurations of packaging, including those employing single layer and multilayer films will be found in World Patent Application 03/039866.
|Patente citada
|Fecha de presentación
|Fecha de publicación
|9 Oct 1990
|10 Dic 1991
|Phillips Petroleum Company
|High-temperature slurry polymerization of ethylene
|23 May 1991
|11 Ago 1992
|Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation
|Process for the simultaneous trimerization and copolymerization of ethylene
|23 Abr 1993
|25 Oct 1994
|Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
|Heat sealable blend of very low density polyethylene or plastomer with polypropylene based polymers and heat sealable film and articles made thereof
|8 Jul 1993
|13 Dic 1994
|Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft
|Biaxially oriented, multilayer polyolefin film of high shrinkage which can be heat-sealed at low temperatures
|28 Abr 1993
|27 Jun 1995
|The Dow Chemical Company
|Method of packaging food products
|20 Ago 1993
|31 Oct 1995
|Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
|Heat sealable films and articles
|25 May 1995
|25 Jun 1996
|Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
|Heat sealable films and articles made therefrom
|29 Nov 1994
|24 Dic 1996
|Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
|Resin composition for extrusion molding
|5 Sep 1996
|11 Nov 1997
|Bayer Aktiengesellschaft
|Process for the preparation of branched low-pressure polyethylene, new low-pressure polyethylenes, and preformed bifunctional catalysts
|23 Mar 1995
|21 Abr 1998
|Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
|Resin composition for laminates
|13 Ene 1995
|23 Jun 1998
|Norton Performance Plastics Corporation
|Thermoplastic seal and wrapping film
|7 Jun 1995
|30 Jun 1998
|The Dow Chemical Company
|Polyolefin compositions exhibiting heat resistivity, low hexane-extractives and controlled modulus
|21 Dic 1994
|30 Jun 1998
|Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
|Polypropylene laminated film
|30 May 1996
|11 Ago 1998
|Aep Industries, Inc.
|Biaxially oriented polypropylene cold seal release films
|19 Nov 1996
|5 Ene 1999
|Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
|Process for producing ethylene-α-olefin copolymers
|24 Ene 1996
|9 Mar 1999
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Olefin polymers
|22 Mar 1999
|10 Abr 2001
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Iron catalyst for the polymerization of olefins
|30 Ene 2001
|1 Jul 2003
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Process for production of polyolefins
|9 Jul 2001
|1 Jul 2003
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Polymerization of olefins
|28 Sep 2000
|16 Sep 2003
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Processing polyethylenes
|6 Sep 2000
|16 Sep 2003
|E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Heat-sealable polyolefins and articles made therefrom
|25 Ene 1978
|29 May 1979
|W. R. Grace & Co.
|Vacuum skin package, and process and apparatus for making same
|15 Jul 1992
|18 Feb 1993
|Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
|Heat sealed article
|27 Abr 1995
|30 Nov 1995
|Exxon Chemical Patents Inc.
|Improved propylene copolymer heat seal resin and articles therefrom
|16 Dic 1996
|14 Ago 1997
|Tredegar Industries, Inc.
|Heat sealable, peelable film and method of making same
|4 Nov 2002
|15 May 2003
|Cryovac, Inc.
|Hermetically heat-sealable-pressure-reclosable packaging article containing substantially spherical homogeneous polyolefin
|4 Nov 2002
|15 May 2003
|Cryovac, Inc.
|Packaging article having heat seal layer containing blend of hyperbranched and semicrystalline olefin polymers
|H. Mark, et al., Ed., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, vol. 7, 1987, pp. 106-127.
|K. R. Osborn, et al., Plastic Films, 1992, pp. 152-153 and 173-175, Technomic Publishing Co., Inc., Lancaster, PA.
|PCT International Preliminary Report of Patentability, International application No. PCT/US05/28015, dated Feb. 23, 2007.
|PCT International Search Report and Written Opinion, International application No. PCT/US05/28015, dated Oct. 25, 2006.
|Patente citante
|Fecha de presentación
|Fecha de publicación
|28 Mar 2011
|3 Nov 2015
|E I Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Ethylene polymerization process and polyolefin
|28 Mar 2011
|6 Dic 2012
|E I Du Pont De Nemours And Company
|Ethylene polymerization process and polyolefin
|Clasificación de EE.UU.
|528/503, 526/113, 428/35.5, 428/516, 428/35.7, 428/35.2, 526/352, 156/308.4
|Clasificación internacional
|Clasificación cooperativa
|Clasificación europea
|19 Mar 2007
Owner name: E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, DELAWARE
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:CITRON, JOEL D.;REEL/FRAME:019027/0736
Effective date: 20051031
|16 Jul 2012
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|2 Dic 2012
|Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees
|22 Ene 2013
|Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee
Effective date: 20121202


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|The web's favourite 555 timer resource (Google top!) just got better...
|The web's favourite 555 timer resource (Google top!) just got better...
|1. Pin connections
|More updated pages...
|2. Astable circuits
|3. Astable component selection
|Discovering Digital Electronics
|4. More astables
|1 : Beginnings
|5. RESET input
|2 : Logic Gates
|6. CONTROL VOLTAGE input
|3 : Astables
|7. Monostable circuits
|4 : Monostables
|8. More about triggering
|9. Retriggerable monostable
|10. 555 as a transducer driver
|Safety Lights Project
|11. Inside the 555
|Biscuit Tin Alarm Project
|12. Links
|4093 Schmitt NAND gates
Learn about the 555 by building the DOCTRONICS Safety Lights Project:
Buy using PayPal™ price: £ 3.20 + P&P
|DOCTRONICS Safety Lights construction kit
USD, Euro accepted..
|555 timer pin connections
The 555 timer is an extremely versatile integrated circuit which can be used to build lots of different circuits. You can use the 555 effectively without understanding the function of each pin in detail.
Frequently, the 555 is used in astable mode to generate a continuous series of pulses, but you can also use the 555 to make a one-shot or monostable circuit. The 555 can source or sink 200 mA of output current, and is capable of driving wide range of output devices.
Astable circuits produce pulses. The circuit most people use to make a 555 astable looks like this:
|555 astable circuit
The button allows you to open a simulation of this circuit in Yenka©, the electronics simulation program from Crocodile Clips Limited. To use the program, you need to download and install the Yenka© plug-in.
At the moment, Yenka is available for free download to home users from http://www.yenka.com/. This is a fantastic offer from the creators of Yenka©: don't miss it!
As you can see, the frequency, or repetition rate, of the output pulses is determined by the values of two resistors, R1 and R2 and by the timing capacitor, C.
The design formula for the frequency of the pulses is:
The period, t, of the pulses is given by:
The HIGH and LOW times of each pulse can be calculated from:
The duty cycle of the waveform, usually expressed as a percentage, is given by:
An alternative measurement of HIGH and LOW times is the mark space ratio:
Before calculating a frequency, you should know that it is usual to make R1=1 kΩ because this helps to give the output pulses a duty cycle close to 50%, that is, the HIGH and LOW times of the pulses are approximately equal.
Remember that design formulae work in fundamental units. However, it is often more convenient to work with other combinations of units:
With R values in MΩ and C values in μF, the frequency will be in Hz. Alternatively, with R values in kΩ and C values in μF, frequencies will be in kHz.
Suppose you want to design a circuit to produce a frequency of approximately 1 kHz for an alarm application. What values of R1, R2 and C should you use?
R1 should be 1kΩ, as already explained. This leaves you with the task of selecting values for R2 and C. The best thing to do is to rearrange the design formula so that the R values are on the right hand side:
Now substitute for R1 and f :
You are using R values in kΩ and f values in kHz, so C values will be in μF.
To make further progress, you must choose a value for C. At the same time, it is important to remember that practical values for R2 are between 1 kΩ and 1MΩ. Suppose you choose C = 10 nF = 0.01 μF:
That is:
This is within the range of practical values and you can choose values from the E12 range of 68 kΩ or 82 kΩ. (The E12 range tells you which values of resistor are manufactured and easily available from suppliers.)
A test circuit can be set up on prototype board, as follows:
With the values of R1, R2 and C shown, the LED should flash at around 10 Hz. How would you slow the rate of flashing to 1 Hz? Experiment to find a solution.
What happens if you replace R2 with an LDR or a thermistor? This gives an astable which changes frequency in response to light intensity, or with temperature.
Clicking the button under the diagram moves you on to the next prototype board layout on this page. Clicking opens the drawing in a new window which you can maximise to fill the screen: there's no excuse for putting a wire link in the wrong place! Clicking opens a small window showing the pin layout for the 555, so that you can remind yourself which pin is which. The pins window remains open and can be brought to the front from the task bar at the bottom of the screen, unless you choose to close it.
Astables turn up in all sorts of places, as you can see from the Halloween toy skull with flashing red LED eyes.
With a little practice, it is quite easy to choose appropriate values for a 555 timer astable. To make things even easier, you might like to download the DOCTRONICS 555 timer component selection program.
The program works with all versions of Windows™ from Windows 95™ through to Windows Vista™ and looks like this:
To download the program (~210K), click on its image. You can save the program to your own computer to use whenever you want.
An extremely useful variation of the standard astable circuit involves adding a diode in parallel with R2:
|Extended duty cycle astable
This simple addition has a dramatic effect on the behaviour of the circuit. The timing capacitor, C, is now filled only through R1 and emptied only through R2.
The design equation for the output pulse frequency is:
HIGH and LOW times are calculated from:
With this circuit, the duty cycle can be any value you want. If R1 > R2, the duty cycle will be greater than 50% (equivalent to a mark space ratio of more than 1.0). On the other hand, if R1 < R2, the duty cycle will be less than 50% (mark space ratio less than 1.0).
This is the version of the 555 astable is used in the DOCTRONICS safety lights project:
Buy using PayPal™ price: £3.20 + P&P
|DOCTRONICS safety lights construction kit
You can see the extended duty cycle astable in action by building it on prototype board:
|Extended duty cycle astable
The components used here are not the same as those in the test circuit for the normal version of the astable. R1=10 kΩ, R2=47 kΩ, and the timing capacitor C=22 μF.
With the diode in place, the HIGH time, when the LED is ON, should be around 0.69(0.01x22)=0.15 s (0.01 is 10 kΩ converted to MΩ). The LOW time should be visibly longer, 0.69(0.047x22)=0.71 s (0.047 is 47 kΩ converted to MΩ). What happens if you temporarily remove the diode from the circuit?
Replace the diode and then replace R2 with a 100 kΩ or a 1 MΩ potentiometer as indicated in the next prototype board layout:
|Adding a potentiometer
The 1 kΩ in series with the potentiometer, used here as a variable resistor, prevents you from adjusting R2 to zero. You need to solder single core wire to the potentiometer terminals: twisting the wire round the terminal doesn't make an effective connection.
As you adjust R2, the ON time of the LED remains constant, while the OFF time varies. Unlike the normal version of the 555 astable, the ON time can be short compared with the OFF time.
This is a cheap and cheerful astable using just one resistor and one capacitor as the timing components:
|Minimum component astable
Note that there is no connection to pin 7 and that R1 is linked to the output, pin 3.
The design equation for the circuit is:
The HIGH and LOW times are supposed to be equal, giving a duty cycle of 50% (equivalent to a mark space ratio of 1.0):
However, if you build this circuit, it is probable that the HIGH time will be longer than the LOW time. (This happens because the maximum voltage reached by the output pulses is less than the power supply voltage.) Things will get worse if the output current increases.
On protoytpe board, the circuit looks like this:
|Minimum component astable
With the values shown, the frequency should be around 2.2 Hz.
If you need an astable circuit which can be adjusted to give an accurate frequency, this circuit is not the one to choose.
The excitement and realism of electronic games, including roulette, can be increased using an astable circuit which is triggered to produce rapid pulses initially, but which then slows down and eventually stops altogether.
It is easy to modify the basic 555 astable circuit to produce this result:
|Diminishing frequency astable
When the 'go' button is pressed, the 47 µF capacitor in parallel with the timing network, R1, R2 and C, charges up very quickly through the 100 Ω resistor. When the button is released, the astable continues to oscillate but the charge stored slowly leaks away, with the result that it takes longer and longer to charge up the timing capacitor. To trigger the next pulse, the voltage across C must increase to two thirds of the power supply voltage. After a while, the voltage across the 47 μF drops below this value and the pulses stop.
With the values shown, the initial frequency is about 100 Hz and the output pulses coast to a stop after around 40 seconds:
|Diminishing frequency astable
The initial frequency can be calculated from the design equation for the basic 555 astable. To give a realistic coasting time, you should use large values for the resistors R1 and R2. The coasting time is determined by the 47 μF capacitor. Experiment with different values until you get the effect you want.
If the RESET input, pin 4, is held HIGH, a 555 astable circuit functions as normal. However, if the RESET input is held LOW, output pulses are stopped. You can investigate this effect by connecting a switch/pull down resistor voltage divider to pin 4:
|Investigating the RESET input
Here is the circuit on prototype board:
|Investigating the RESET input
Use the design formula, or the DOCTRONICS component selector program to calculate the frequency of pulses you would expect to obtain with this circuit. Monitor the output pulses with an oscilloscope to check that your calculation is correct.
In an electronic die, provided the output pulses are fast enough, it is impossible to 'cheat' by holding down the button for a definite length of time. This is the circuit used in the DOCTRONICS electronic die construction kit:
Think about how you could use this circuit together with a bistable as part of a burglar alarm. Under normal conditions, the output of the bistable is LOW and the astable is stopped. If the alarm is triggered, the output of the bistable goes HIGH and the pulses start, sounding the alarm.
By applying a voltage to the CONTROL VOLTAGE input, pin 5, you can alter the timing characteristics of the device. In the astable mode, the control voltage can be varied from 1.7 V to the power supply voltage, producing an output frequency which can be higher or lower than the frequency set by the R1, R2, C timing network.
The CONTROL VOLTAGE input can be used to build an astable with a frequency modulated output. In the circuit below, one astable is used to control the frequency of a second, giving a 'police siren' sound effect:
|UK police siren sound effect
Here is the prototype board layout:
|UK police siren sound effect
In most applications, the CONTROL VOLTAGE input is not used. It is usual to connect a 10 nF capacitor between pin 5 and 0 V to prevent interference. You don't need to do this in building a test circuit, although it is shown in the prototype board layouts, but this 'bypass' capacitor should be included in your final circuit.
A monostable, or one-shot, circuit produces a single pulse when triggered. The two questions about monostables you immediately need to ask are:
The circuit used to make a 555 timer monostable is:
|555 monostable circuit
As you can see, the trigger input is held HIGH by the 10 kΩ pull up resistor and is pulsed LOW when the trigger switch is pressed. The circuit is triggered by a falling edge, that is, by a sudden transition from HIGH to LOW.
The trigger pulse, produced by pressing the button, must be of shorter duration than the intended output pulse.
The period, t, of the output pulse can be calculated from the design equation:
Remember again about compatible measurement units:
With R1 = 1 MΩ and C = 1 μF, the output pulse will last for 1.1 s.
You can build a test version of the 555 monostable as follows:
|555 monostable circuit
By clicking on the monostable tab, the 555 component selection program can be used to investigate the effect of different R1 and C values:
To download the program (~210K), click on its image.
For a simple 555 monostable, the trigger pulse must be shorter than the output pulse. Sometimes you want to trigger the monostable from a longer pulse:
|Adding a trigger network
As you can see in the V/t graphs below, the voltage at X is normally held HIGH. A positive-going 'spike' would be generated on the rising edge of the Vin signal, but this is suppressed by the diode. On the other hand, the trigger network detects the falling edge at the end of each Vin pulse, producing a short negative-going spike which triggers the monostable:
|V/t graphs for monostable with trigger network
The period of the monostable pulse is shorter than the period of the Vin pulses.
If you want to trigger the monostable from a rising edge, you need to add a transistor NOT gate to the trigger circuit:
|Triggering from a rising edge
If you build these circuits, it is interesting to investigate the action of the trigger network using an oscilloscope.
Another version of the monostable circuit allows you to initiate a new monstable pulse before any ongoing pulse has been completed:
|Retriggerable monostable
As you can see, a PNP transistor, BC557B, has been added to the trigger circuit. To understand how the circuit works click 'play' in the animation:
|Waveforms for retriggerable monostable
The first trigger pulse results in a normal ouput pulse with a period determined by t=1.1RC. Note that the timing capacitor is fully discharged during the trigger pulse: the timing period starts when the trigger input goes HIGH.
The second trigger pulse is followed by a third and then a fourth before the normal output period has been completed. The additional trigger pulses discharge the timing capacitor, giving an extended output pulse.
To see this circuit in action, the prototype board layout for the standard 555 monostable can be modified, as follows:
|Retriggerable monostable circuit
Operate the push switch. The normal output of the monostable should be around 5 s. When the LED switches OFF, press the push switch again and then press is once more after 2-3 s.
Provided you keep pressing the switch at intervals of less than 5 s, the output LED remains ON.
If the input voltage divider is replaced by a source of pulses, this circuit can be used as a 'missing pulse' or 'low rate' detector. Any decrease in the frequency of the input pulses below the design level, will allow the monostable to complete its cycle, driving the output LOW.
A transducer is a subsytem which converts energy from one form into another, where one of the forms is electrical. In an output transducer, for example, electrical energy can be converted into light, sound, or movement.
The output of a 555 timer can source or sink up to 200 mA of current. This means that output transducers including buzzers, filament lamps, loudspeakers and small motors can be connected directly to the output of the 555, pin 3.
You can use the 555 as a transducer driver, that is, as an electronic switch which turns the transducer ON or OFF:
|555 as a transducer driver
This circuit has an inverting Schmitt trigger action. The 'inverting' part of this description means that when Vin is LOW, the output is HIGH, and when Vin is HIGH, the output is LOW.
In a Schmitt trigger circuit there are two different switching thresholds. If Vin is slowly increased starting from 0 V, the output voltage snaps from HIGH to LOW when Vin reaches a level equal to 2/3 of the power supply voltage. Once this level has been exceeded, decreasing Vin does not affect the output until Vin drops below 1/3 of the power supply voltage. (If an input change in one direction produces a different result from a change in the opposite direction, the circuit is said to show hysteresis.)
If a filament lamp is connected between the positive power supply rail and the output, as shown above, current flows through the lamp when the output voltage is LOW. In other words, the lamp lights when the input voltage is HIGH.
If you connect the lamp between the output and 0 V, the circuit will still work, but the lamp will light when the input voltage is LOW:
|555 as a transducer driver
Note that, in both versions of the circuit pins 2 and 6 are joined together. The circuit can be simplified by omitting the 10 nF bypass capacitor, and will continue to work when the RESET input, pin 4 is left unconnected.
Some people are very fond of this circuit and use it whenever a transducer driver is required. However, with a HIGH/LOW digital input signal the same result can be achieved more obviously and at lower cost using a transistor switch circuit.
You can use the 555 timer without knowing anything at all about its internal circuit. On the other hand, you might like to know something about what is going on inside.
The diagram below shows the 555 timer in astable mode with the internal circuit shown in block diagram form:
|555 Internal block diagram
Inside the 555 you can see three resistors, labelled R. These resistors are equal in value and form a voltage divider, providing reference voltages at 1/3 and 2/3 of the power supply voltage, VCC.
The reference voltages are connected to one input of each of two comparators, which in turn control the logic state of a bistable, or flip flop stage.
Pin 2 of the 555 is the trigger input. When the voltage connected to pin 2 is less than 1/3 of the power supply voltage, the output of the lower comparator forces the logic state of the flip flop to LOW. The output stage has an inverting action. In other words, when the output of the flip flop is LOW, the output of the 555 goes HIGH.
Now think about what happens when the power supply is first connected to the astable circuit. Initially, timing capacitor C is discharged. The voltage at pin 2 is 0 V and the output of the 555 is driven HIGH. C starts to charge through resistors R1 and R2. Note that C is also connected to pin 6, the threshold input of the 555.
When the voltage across C goes past 1/3 of the power supply voltage, the output of the lower comparator snaps a new level. This doesn't change the logic state of the flip flop: its output remains LOW.
The inputs to the second comparator are the voltage at pin 6, the threshold input, and 2/3 VCC from the internal voltage divider.
When the voltage across C goes past 2/3 of the power supply voltage, the output of the second comparator snaps to a new level, the flip flop changes state, its output becomes HIGH and the output of the 555 goes from HIGH to LOW.
Inside the 555, the flip flop is connected to an NPN transistor, the collector of which is connected to pin 7, the discharge pin of the 555. When the output of the flip flop goes HIGH, the transistor is switched ON, providing a low resistance path from the discharge pin to 0 V. The timing capacitor, C, starts to empty through R2 and the voltage across it decreases.
Note that the capacitor charges through R1 and R2, but discharges only through R2.
When the voltage across C decreases below 1/3 of the power supply voltage, the lower comparator snaps to a new level, the flip flop changes state and the output of the 555 goes HIGH once again.
The graph below shows how the voltage across the timing capacitor, VC , changes with the output voltage of the 555, Vout:
|555 astable voltages
The initial ouptut pulse is longer than subsequent pulses because C is completely discharged when the power supply is first connected. Subsequent HIGH and low times correspond to half-charge/discharge times, either from 1/3 to 2/3 of the power supply voltage, or from 2/3 to 1/3 of the power supply voltage.
The HIGH time is given by:
Remember, C charges through both R1 and R2.
The LOW time is given by:
C discharges only through R2.
The period, t, of the 555 astable is given by:
The frequency, f, is given by:
Try 1÷0.69 on your calculator to confirm that it does equal 1.44.
The design formula for the 555 astable follows from the behaviour of RC networks and from the two switching thresholds of the voltage divider inside the device.
In a 555 monostable, only the upper threshold is used to determine the period, so the formula corresponds to a 2/3 charge time:
You can find further details about the internal circuit of the 555 in the data sheets provided in the next section.
The links below allow you to download documents in Adobe Acrobat ©, PDF, format. In the unlikely event that you don't already have Acrobat Reader, you can download the latest version direct from Adobe:
555 data sheet (Phillips Semiconductors, 1994)
555 application note (Philips Semiconductors AN 170, 1988)
555 Timer Tutorial (Tony van Roon, University of Guelph, Canada)
555 timer IC (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)


text:
1 Kings 14:5
5And the LORD said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her." When she came, she pretended to be another woman.
English Standard Version brought to you by Good News Publishers and Crossway Bibles.


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Bird of Another Heaven
After his fictional treatment of the Donner Party (Snow Mountain Passage ), Houston's superb ninth novel details the life of Sheridan "Dan" Brody, a young Northern California radio host intent on discovering the origins of his shrouded family heritage. Dan's curiosity is sparked after seeing, for the first time, his birth certificate, which lists the name of a father he never knew. Not long after, Rosa Wadell calls Dan's radio show and reveals herself to be the grandmother he never knew about. Through Rosa's stories and her mother's diaries, a clearer picture of Dan's family history emerges. Houston interweaves Dan's life in mid-1980s San Francisco with the Hawaiian tribal legacy of his great-grandmother, Nani Keala ("Nancy Callahan"), a pioneer who learned the Hawaiian ways of life and took her place at the side of Hawaii's last king, David Kalakaua. The two story lines converge as Dan learns of and begins to hunt for a secret audio recording made at San Francisco's Palace Hotel during King Kalakaua's final days. Though it gets off to a slow start, Houston builds momentum as the novel's scope widens, and the historical detail is mesmerizing. (Mar.)
Release date: 03/01/2007


text:
The FarmVille of Your Soul
It started as just plain and simple "Farm Town"…and you already know what I'm talking about, right? Its popularity skyrocketed and now there are over 73 MILLION people *digging* this game, happily clicking their mouses (mice?) on:
If you don't own a farm yet, you probably know at least a few folks who are completely addicted to the latest Facebook crack and trying to persuade you to be their "neighbor" so they don't feel like a loser.
Of course the million dollar question in my mind is…
Did Old MacDonald have a FarmVille? Ee-i-ee-i-----NO!
I guess I get the attraction: anxiously awaiting your prized pumpkins to sprout in real time and passionately seeking out the golden chicken so you can shame your friends…but seriously, if you really want to work on a farm and make real money, maybe try a trip to Kansas or Iowa?
Perhaps there is something else fascinating about planting a seed and seeing what happens - especially knowing that growth will equate with profit.
Did you know that Jesus was a "farmer" too? Facebook wasn't around in His day, but He still planted seeds:
He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water's edge. He taught by using stories, many stories.
"Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up, it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.
"Are you listening to this? Really listening?"
When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them,
"The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
"And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
"The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
"But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams" (Mark 4:1-12; 14-20).
Interestingly enough, Jesus uses a FarmVille illustration for what impact the words of the Bible have on people. What He is saying is that everyone's soul is just like a plot of soil, and when the good news about Jesus and His death on the cross enters their ears, that message is planted - and the result of the news on that person becomes evident in real time.
Result One: The amazing idea that this person can be freed of guilt and sin and find eternal salvation by trusting Christ doesn't even make it past the first day, because Satan uses doubt, fear, and lies to steal away the message.
Result Two: This person trusts Christ and gets excited about serving Him, but the first time they are ridiculed or come to the realization that being a Christian is costly, the seed of the gospel withers away.
Result Three: Being a Christian sounds like a great idea to this person, but soon the message that they can be free of their shallow, materialistic culture is choked out by the attractive weeds of media, music, and friends.
Result Four: This person allows the message of Jesus to grow from the core of their soul. The rocky soil is broken up, the weeds are pulled, and life is never the same in their spiritual FarmVille.
I bet if I asked you about your plot on FarmVille, you'd have an immediate answer. But let me ask you a more important question…how is your spiritual soil? Are you rife with plant life or dry as the Saharan desert? And imagine this - what if everyone was as excited and motivated to tell others about the gospel as they are about FarmVille? Ironic, isn't it, that we want neighbors in a game, but we sometimes don't care about the people who may or may not be our neighbors in heaven.
So the next time you're plantin' and harvestin' your crops, remember that there is a much more important activity going on. This one doesn't get you coins, but it does "produce a harvest beyond [your] wildest dreams."
Get involved in the spreading the seed of the gospel in the lives of the teens you know. You will reap amazing rewards from the growth of those seeds!
Flashpoint: Ignite Into Action
This week try to figure out what kind of spiritual "soil" your friends have, and be bold in spreading the seed of the gospel. You'll soon know who Jesus is working on, so be sure to make sure your soil is rich as well so that you can answer any questions.
Accelerant: Feed the Fire
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction (2 Timothy 4:2).
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24).
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16).


text:
According to Crusher, X-Bit Labs has reported that for the first time, Intel will be rolling up its sleeves and aid regions to implement the WiMax infrastructure. Two major industrial city in China, Dalian and Chengdu, has agreed to work hand-in-hand with Intel Corp. to develop a WiMax zone.
Intel Corporation this week projected inking a deal with the Chinese municipal governments to build two WiMAX zones in Dalian and Chengdu to provide broadband wireless Internet in the areas where using cables is either economically inexpediently or cannot satisfy all demands for the connection.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlines plans to deploy network infrastructure to take advantage of next-generation WiMAX broadband wireless technology (also known as 802.16), which provides a wireless alternative for last-mile broadband connectivity to businesses and homes. Specific terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
Communications have changed the way people treat personal computers. Not a lot of consumers are interested in PCs with no connection to the Internet these days. However, being not satisfied with WLAN that is available only near special hot-spots and GPRS that allows only relatively low-speed connection, end-users aim at something that is fast and is available everywhere. High-speed Internet and availability everywhere is something that 3G and WiMAX technologies are able to offer later in this decade.
View: Read more at X-Bit Labs
View: Read more about WiMax at Intel Web site
News source: X-Bit Labs


text:
Tiburon City Councilman Richard "Dick" Collins died Wednesday night at home after a battle with cancer. He was 79.
Born Dec. 1, 1933, Mr. Collins and his wife, Pat, came to Tiburon from Southern California for what was to be a short visit in 1998.
"We were captivated and stayed," Mr. Collins wrote in the town's Mayors Book, a compendium of writings by Tiburon's mayors.
Mr. Collins, an attorney, served on the town's Design and Review Board in 2001 and was named in 2002 to the Planning Commission, where he served for five years.
In 2007 he ran for the City Council and was appointed to a seat when he ran unopposed. The same set of circumstances led to Mr. Collins' second term in the 2011 election. Mr. Collins served as mayor in 2010.
During his time as mayor he served on Marin Clean Energy's board, spoke at the opening of Kol Shofar's expanded synagogue and supported a decision to put in surveillance cameras in town as a crime deterrent.
"Serving as mayor gave me the chance to contribute in some small way to this wonderful community in appreciation for what it's given to my wife and to me," Mr. Collins wrote in the Mayors Book. "It was truly a great trip."
Town Manager Peggy Curran was shocked and saddened to hear of Mr. Collins' death.
"He was just so well respected and liked, everyone who worked with Dick thought he was a prince of a human being," she said.
As an attorney, Mr. Collins specialized in real estate and business matters. He was a member of the Belvedere Tennis Club — serving as president in 2003 — and the Corinthian and San Francisco Yacht clubs.
Services for Mr. Collins are pending. A celebration of his life will be held at the Corinthian Yacht Club at a later date.
Contact Mark Prado via email at firstname.lastname@example.com


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COMMERCE CITY, Colo., May 1 (UPI) -- Andre Akpan answered a Chicago score in the 49th minute Saturday, handing the Colorado Rapids a 1-1 draw with the Fire.
Chicago's Marco Pappa broke a scoreless tie in the 43rd minute, redirecting a low cross from Dominic Oduro into the net.
But only 6 minutes later, Akpan responded for Colorado (3-3-1) with his first MLS goal. He took a pass from Omar Cummings inside the area and beat goalkeeper Jon Conway with a shot inside the far post.
The Fire (1-3-3) have gone winless in their last five games.


text:
Ohio State is taking advantage of the new reaches of the Big Ten footprint.
The Buckeyes offered another East Coast product Thursday, sending out a scholarship to Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph athlete Kiy Hester. Assistant coach Ed Warriner, who recruits New Jersey for Ohio State, was in the school Thursday. Urban Meyer and the staff made several stops to St. Joseph and New Jersey since December.
"They came in and been to my school a lot the last month. Urban Meyer came in, but I couldn't talk to them or see them [due to NCAA rules]," the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Watch List prospect said. "The coaches said they were impressed with me and liked me but were still waiting to see my film."
Once Ohio State saw the film, Warriner was back in the school today and let Hester's coach know the Buckeyes are offering.
The Buckeyes could be the odds-on favorite to land Hester, too.
"They're definitely going to be at the top of my list," he said. "They were my dream school growing up. Definitely one of my favorites right now."
Hester said the Buckeyes are not his No. 1 as he has not ranked any schools yet, but the Buckeyes are toward the top along with Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Michigan State and Vanderbilt. The Commodores have not offered, but Hester believes that will come soon.
Hester said he became a big fan of Ohio State at an early age.
"I used to watch them all the time," he said. "I fell in love with their tradition and players. They were my favorite team growing up, even in basketball, too."
No visit dates have been set, and Hester does not anticipate making any until at least the spring. He would like to visit Miami and Ohio State, though.
Ohio State offered Hester as a safety.


text:
by Alex Ross
The New Republic, Sept. 28, 1992.
In November 1938, when a dark-hued and dissonant work by the late Ernst Krenek was performed in Boston, the audience responded more generously than might have been the norm in a less dark-hued and dissonant time. A Brahmin matriarch turned to her companion and observed: "Conditions in Europe must be dreadful." That casual remark anticipated a mode of music appreciation that has become increasingly dominant in recent years. Twentieth-century scores have been reduced to bulletins from one crisis or another, soundtracks to history's docudrama. Symphonies become invasions; string quartets turn into hidden diaries.
Music composed during the brief and spectacular lifetime of the Soviet Union is especially vulnerable to historically minded readings. Shostakovich is the most obvious target; he first advertised his works as affirmations of the regime, then privately advised us of alternative, subversive programs. Either way, he allowed his music to be relentlessly politicized. During the past twenty-five years, composers in what is now Russia and the other assorted republics have also spoken out in a certain "tone," a voice now impersonating the Evil Empire's interminable decadence. Anarchic and synthetic, nostalgic and visionary, cynical and serene, music in the Brezhnev era was an overflowing midnight harvest, a classic End-Zeit which might one day draw comparisons to Gustav Mahler's Vienna or to Berlin and Paris between the wars. The government that once made Shostakovich's life a living hell may have lost interest in the tendencies of its composers toward the end, but the composers did not lose interest in the tendencies of their society.
Of the numerous major figures to inhabit the Soviet fin-de-siècle, a man named Alfred Schnittke has rapidly become the most notorious. Born in 1934 of Russian and German-Jewish descent, Schnittke has achieved indisputable international stature, and his scores are being performed and recorded many times over. (The Swedish record-label BIS intends to record all of his music, and has already imprinted sixteen hours of it on glistening compact discs.) In this country, of course, Schnittke has become wildly trendy. He happens to sate a current American appetite for artists who brood at one moment and go wacky at the next. Audiences have also listened to him eager for clues to the Russian enigma, and in that respect they have not been disappointed.
All composers somehow reflect their times; some composers do little more. Schnittke is a separate case. Conditions in Russia are, indeed, dreadful, but that is the least surprising news that this composer brings. He represents not only a moment in the history of Russia, but also a moment in the history of music. To put it simply, he will not vanish when his times are up. The multiplicity of styles, of schools, of genres; the overbearing weight of an impressive past; the overshadowing brilliance and energy of present-day "popular" modes seemingly alien to the classical tradition; the possibilities of a future in which parochial barriers will crumble away—all this is acutely observed in Schnittke's music, and at times epiphanically reconciled. He is nothing less than the composer of our climate.
The wellspring of Alfred Schnittke's music is, inevitably, that archetypal twilight time, the twenty-five years before the outbreak of the First World War. A great many contemporary composers are beholden to the original and much-lamented fin-de-siècle, but Schnittke has overheard the paradoxes as well as the clichés of that era. As a devotee of Gustav Mahler, for example, Schnittke has not sought to replicate that composer's luxurious immolation of Romanticism, but rather to expand upon his last-minute discovery (realized fully in the incomplete Symphony No. 10) that the conflict of dissonance and consonance is the forge of the most intense expression. An even more important legacy from Mahler is the recurrent juxtaposition of an elegiac tone and polystylistic satire—although that technique could have been derived as well from Mahler's non-identical twin, Erik Satie.
Nor could any young Soviet composer escape the shadow of Dmitri Shostakovich. But again, Schnittke does not ape the standard profile enshrined in today's concert-halls. In place of the monumental Fifth Symphony, it is the willfully chaotic Fourth—hidden for decades in the Shostakovich's desk-drawer—that has fascinated Schnittke the theorist. Also paramount is the Bolshevik radicalism of Shostakovich's sardonic ballets and film-scores of the early thirties, rather than the socialist-realist tragedy of the later symphonies. At the dawn of Lenin's brave new world, Shostakovich began the fusion of Mahlerian expressionism and quasi-dadaist satire that Schnittke was later able to complete in the dusk of Brezhnev's decrepit monolith.
The Shostakovich Fourth—often peripatetic in layout, at times a mere anthology of banal dances and aimless marches; passing from chillingly spare chamber music to near-anarchic fortissimi for full orchestra; in Schnittke's vocabulary, a "polyphonic" work—came to light at the end of the nineteen-fifties. The composer had suppressed it after being declared an "enemy of the people" by Stalin in 1936. Other documents of the early Soviet era had been privately circulated: the refined atonal works of Roslavetz and Lourié, both of whom pioneered twelve-tone systems prior to Schoenberg; futuristic tone-poems like Mossolov's The Iron Foundry; and hybrid experiments like Vladimir Deshevov's The Red Hurricane, mingling ballet, opera, dramatic recitation, and vaudeville.
The fevered and fantastical progressivism that had been cut short in the 1930's seemed to resume abruptly after the departure of Khrushchev in 1964. Brezhnev's cultural authorities would never fully reassert their hold over what should and should not be composed; with the ascendancy of pop, they may not have cared. Still, there must have been some consternation over, say, the early works of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt—music that lapsed centuries in time at a moment's notice, plunging into Tchaikovsky or Handel or medieval chant. A group of Ukrainian composers wrote in minimalist and eclectic modes through the late sixties and seventies, well in advance of American trends. The current fad for Schnittke may soon give way to long-overdue enthusiasm for the music of Sofia Gubaidulina, who has pursued her own highly individual path through various movements and styles.
Schnittke kept a low profile through the disarray of the 1960's. His ventures into twelve-tone or "serial" composition resemble many works written in that manner, at least on the surface. The final movement of his Violin Sonata No. 1 (1963) is unobjectionable from the academic point of view, but at the same time it is rhythmically wry and engaging in a way that is alien to the whole Schoenberg/Boulez sensibility. It's positively danceable, in fact. Other works from this period show similar peculiarities, but for the most part the composer was biding his time. In his own words:
My musical development took a course similar to that of some friends and colleagues, across piano concerto romanticism, neoclassic academicism, and attempts at eclectic synthesis..., and took cognizance also of the unavoidable proofs of masculinity in serial self-denial. Having arrived at the final station, I decided to get off the already overcrowded train. Since then I have tried to proceed on foot.
This walking journey is remarkable not for any new ground that it happens to cross, but instead for the startling vistas it creates among familiar landmarks. In this respect his resemblance to both Mahler and Shostakovich is conspicuous. No less remarkable, however, is the distinct and individual accent audible in every bar, even amid the prevalent carnival of styles. We always know who is speaking, even as he does the composers in different voices.
As it first became known in the West, the music of Alfred Schnittke admittedly did not make so strong an impression. A retiring man who does not enjoy speaking to the press, Schnittke has permitted others to speak for him. And his friends in the West have sometimes chosen lesser works to get his name before the public. Silent Night, for violin and piano, was composed as a holiday greeting for Gidon Kremer; the violinist took to performing it in public, and caused consternation on a national level in Austria where Gruber's Yuletide anthem is considered sacred ground. With a breathtaking economy of means, Schnittke managed to turn the song into a miniature nightmare, Christmas at Anselm Kiefer's. In a similar vein, his cadenza for the Beethoven Violin Concerto rambles away from its core material and quotes strains of other famous concertos, while turning Beethoven's introductory timpani motif into an obsessive rant. One short work is self-evidently titled Moz-Art ("Mozart/sort of").
These acidic bonbons, while misrepresenting Schnittke as a facile ironist, give an approximate sense of his method. Nearly all of the major works are built around a moment where scraps of historical material are put under pressure from the present. According to violinist Oleh Krysa, Schnittke has described this moment as a sometimes involuntary epiphany: "I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts." He has a particular fondness for metamorphosing the sediments of Vienna's golden age, the Haydn-to-Schubert era. Veins of dissonance are marbled into a wistful turn of phrase, to the point where historical classifications become useless. The corrupting of source-material proceeds sometimes at a sinister and gradual pace, sometimes more abruptly—the pastiche-passage might break off with cluster chords and fisted dissonances, in the manner of a teenage pianist getting fed up with his assigned piece of sight-reading. These gestures of musical delinquency are at the core of Schnittke's constructive self-doubt as a composer.
The "stylistic modulations" never give a sense of arbitrariness, of random rummaging; he is always telling a story through the juxtaposition of styles. One of his most startling interventions in past music comes in the second movement of a recent work, peculiarly titled Concerto Grosso No. 4/Symphony No. 5. Gustav Mahler's teenage sketches for a Piano Quartet are amplified beyond recognition by a confused and angry orchestra; after a final gong-splattered climax of tension, the Mahler fragment is heard in its original form, beginning confidently but soon drifting off into isolated figures and hints of figures. The movement as a whole is structured so that Mahler's boyish thoughts sound like the logical completion of a late twentieth-century symphonic span. What Schnittke begins, Mahler finishes.
A fairly considerable fraction of Schnittke's output falls into the category of "anti-music," aiming to demonstrate the seeming foolishness of composition this late in the twentieth century. Much of the confusion and controversy over his work probably emanates from an over-familiarity with these extrovert exercises in self-deconstruction. The Violin Sonata No. 2 ("Quasi una Sonata"), the first piece composed after Schnittke's decisive break from twelve-tone writing in 1968, is perhaps his most strenuous exercise in futility. A "borderline case of sonata form," it never seems to get past a confident opening chord of G minor; as a "report on the impossibility of the sonata," it resembles many other works of the late-modernist era. The composer himself compares it to Fellini's 8 1/2, in which a film director is incapable of completing or even beginning his much-anticipated masterpiece.
Schnittke has also composed five symphonies, mostly out of a sense of duty: "I do not know whether or not the symphony will survive as a musical form. I very much hope that it will and I attempt to compose symphonies, although it is clear to me that logically it is pointless." None of the series conforms to the traditional symphonic plot, although all exceed forty minutes in length. The most remarkable is the Symphony No. 1 (1974), perhaps the apex of unruliness in Schnittke's output. Miraculously, the piece was performed in the Soviet Union soon after its composition—apparently even with the private blessing of Tikhon Khrennikov, long-time head of the Soviet composers' union who helped instigate the musical purges of 1948. How it came to be praised for "civic-mindedness and patriotism" is a mystery best left to future scholarship. Although classical composition no longer received the deadly scrutiny of Stalinist henchmen, conditions persisted in which the setting to music of Brezhnev's diaries (for example) was a potentially useful act of self-abasement.
Bedlam erupts in the very first bars of this symphony, and never really subsides. Jazz combos do not merely add flavor to the texture, as they do in many urbane twentieth-century scores, but actually take charge of the piece for considerable stretches. From time to time the full orchestra attempts to bring the madness to a halt, with a loud minor chord heavy on the interval of the third. This warning goes unheeded. The second movement opens with a lampoon of mindless Baroque music that falls quickly into disrepair. At the outset of the fourth, a trumpet plays the lilting second theme from the funeral-march movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, significant in the annals of musical satire for its refurbishment as kitsch in Erik Satie's Embryons desséchés. The Chopin tune is the fanfare for an unrestrained five minutes of mayhem, in which Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto (among other works) fights like a wounded animal against a fusillade of sound that recalls and exceeds the most anarchic moments in the music of Charles Ives.
The Symphony No. 1 makes an especially dramatic impact in live performance, with choreography supplied in the score for the musicians as they wander on and off the stage—the only possible precedent for this work in the symphonic repertoire is Haydn's Farewell. Schnittke has followed to its logical extreme the creed once voiced by Mahler, that "the symphony must be like the world, it must embrace everything." Western musical history is re-created as a barrage of garbled transmissions, a radio receiving many stations on one channel. Despite its veneer of goofiness, this triumph of planned anarchy has a simple and serious effect. It produces the sound of music, rather than music itself—what is overheard by a society that no longer knows how to listen. The society in question need not be Soviet.
If Schnittke were only an imp of the perverse, the composer of quasi-sonatas and un-symphonies, he would be a beloved figure of the avant-garde, but by no means a candidate for the mantle of Greatness recently offered him by various critics. Since the mid-seventies, however, he has approached the sacred genres of classical music more reverently: in the compact and emotionally intense Piano Quintet (1972/76); in the choral-orchestral Symphony No. 2 (1980), inspired by the St. Florian monastery where Anton Bruckner performed and composed; and in the staggering two-movement String Trio (1985), dedicated to and worthy of the memory of Alban Berg.
And in writing a series of concertos for soloist and orchestra between the years 1978 to 1985, Schnittke has achieved an unusually accessible balance of competing styles with his own unmistakable timbre—an extension of the technique of Berg's Violin Concerto, in which a progressive style served as frame for a rich and haunting succession of recollections and recombinations. The philosopher and musicologist T. W. Adorno, who studied with Berg, called his teacher's valedictory work a "concerto for composer and orchestra." Schnittke's concertos are seemingly a series of fantasies on this idea, with the soloist ventriloquizing the composer's lonely voice as he negotiates his way across the minefield of tradition.
The Violin Concerto No. 3 (1978) opened Schnittke's great concertante sequence. Its first movement tersely presents the various thematic materials from which the work will grow. A second movement interrogates that material to the point where it breaks down. In the finale, atonal argument is disrupted by the entrance of a straightforward and deliberately second-rate exercise in German Romanticism ("forest music," the composer calls it). A slow re-opening of musical archives follows, ending in a chorale passage cast in the moody splendor of Russian Orthodoxy. The violin's wailing trills at the outset are, in retrospect, the beseechings of a chanter whom the orchestra at first confounds and then eventually follows en masse. Opening unexpected depths in a customarily virtuoso genre, the score stands alongside Sofia Gubaidulina's masterful Offertorium (1980) as one of the late twentieth-century's premier violin concertos.
Unlike another "kindred soul," Arvo Pärt, who abandoned exuberant polystylistic exercises in the 1960's for a uniform and deadly-serious regeneration of medieval modes, Schnittke cannot permit a clean escape. The Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra (1979) again introduces a chorale in the old-Russian manner, but then catches it in a dissonant web of sound—noises from the twentieth-century street. In the Violin Concerto No. 3 (1984), the orchestra's nostalgic forest murmurs are a "fatum banale," an inescapable platitude which receives fatal wounds in the first movement but haunts the entire span of the work. Negotiations between soloist and orchestra break off completely in the second movement; the violin is reduced to performing a "cadenza visuale," frantic motions of virtuosic showmanship that emit no sound.
But these exercises in an old-fashioned medium are more notable for their subtle fluidity of musical construction than for their spectacular attempts at self-detonation—particularly in the case of the Viola Concerto, composed in 1985 just before Schnittke suffered a near-fatal stroke. This work is notable first for its dazzling exploitation of the possibilities of the viola's sound, combining the brilliance of the violin and the sonorousness of the cello. The ambivalence of the instrument is perfectly suited to the composer's predilections. The three-movement structure recalls the Violin Concerto No. 3, although it is wider in scope. In the histrionic second movement, Schnittke accomplishes what may be his most impressive conjuring act to date: the gradual transformation of a blithe German-Romantic motif into a ruthless, hammering act of orchestral rage. Everything leads up to and then retreats from this enthralling gesture. Violist and dedicatee Yuri Bashmet conceives the solo part as a Barrymore-like dramatic role, and his brilliant performances have made the concerto one of the most publicly effective of Schnittke's works.
Schnittke's course since 1985 is difficult to trace. The composer has told his friends that a "series B" has commenced, in which everything must be different. Even before his near-death seven years ago, signs of a new direction were beginning to appear. The tremendously moving Concerto for Choir, based on medieval Armenian poetry, seemed to indicate a tendency toward simplicity, a whittling down of musical means—the sort of development that took place late in Shostakovich's career. Several new works conform to this trend, and others do not. The recently premiered opera Life With an Idiot is reported to be another romp in the remorseless satiric line; but the Monologue for viola and orchestra is densely atonal in texture, with the exception of a painfully brief tonal epiphany at the end. The emergence of real-life glasnost in the Soviet Union—a decade after Schnittke's own, rather spooky prophecy of it in the seventies—evidently has not moved him to celebration. He now lives in Hamburg, Germany.
The various tendencies exhibited by recent works pale before the possibilities suggested by Schnittke's theoretical writings, which have not been translated in the West but might prove tremendously influential. In English and German interviews, he has meditated on the boundaries, past and future, of classical composition, and how an eventual synthesis might emerge in which genres will become obsolete. He reports that his own experience writing for the Soviet cinema (some thirty scores in all, including several for cartoons) has played an important role in the development of his montage-techniques, particularly in the Symphony No. 1. (One film with music by Schnittke is currently accessible on video—Elem Klimov's Rasputin, somewhat mangled in the course of release and distribution but still displaying some virtuoso musical/cinematic cross-cutting.)
Addressing the "commercial abyss" separating classical composition from "so-called light music," Schnittke has said: "Perhaps I am thinking in Utopian terms, but maybe there is a way to bridge this abyss—a way that may be the challenge for the next generation. Contemporary reality will make it necessary to experience all the music one has heard since childhood, including rock and jazz and classical and all other forms, [as] a synthesis. This has not happened in my generation." He is an admirer of jazz fusion, and speaks of a "border-complex" of fused genres as a compositional ideal. Here we enter dangerous territory. The harrowing revelation in store for artists who have previously attempted to "cross over" the classical/popular barrier (witness such bathetic spectacles as Carl Davis and Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio, or Michael Kamen's orchestral back-up for an Aerosmith song on MTV, or even the violinists accompanying the Doors in "Touch Me") is that burden of bathos falls not on the rock performer but on the classical musicians who sample his aura.
Schnittke's ventures across the border have been cautious but effective. Jazz elements appear throughout his music, although he has apparently not been influenced by the fractal dissonances of free jazz. (A meeting of Alfred Schnittke and Cecil Taylor might change the world.) Here and there one finds fascinating intrusions of a rock aesthetic. Electric guitars flavor such works as the Symphony No. 2 and the highly peculiar Requiem (1975), whose "Credo" is also propelled by the syncopated stylings of a basement drum-set. And in the cantata Seid nüchtern und wachet of 1983, a setting of the 16th-century History of Dr. Johann Faust, the gruesome scene of Faust's going-under is delivered by a Satanically amplified mezzo-soprano: in the BIS recording, Inger Blom presides over a hectic cabaret orchestra like some Ethel Merman of the apocalypse. It may not amount to "ordinary rock-music," as the composer intended, but it manages to dumbfound listeners all the same. This cantata, one of Schnittke's most viscerally thrilling pieces, will furnish material for an upcoming opera on Faust themes.
There is a final border Schnittke has put into question. From beginning to end, his music has been haunted by a man who does not and never did exist—Adrian Leverkühn, the composer-protagonist of Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus. Schnittke's Faust cantata employs the same 1587 German text that was used in Leverkühn's final composition, The Lamentations of Dr. Faustus. Schnittke's methodology of parody, of polystylistics and playing with forms, also unmistakably recalls Leverkühn, whose works were a musical endpoint at which all possibilities were combined and then destroyed. A Soviet musicologist who has interviewed Schnittke extensively has gone so far as to state that the composer "internalized" Mann's novel—"the book has been a program for him" (V. Cholopowa). There could be no better evocation of the atmosphere prevailing in Schnittke's finest music than this description of a passage from Leverkühn's Apocalypse oratorio:
Adrian's capacity for mocking imitation, which was rooted deep in the melancholy of his being, became creative here in the parody of the different musical styles in which the insipid wantonness of hell indulges: French impressionism is burlesqued, along with bourgeois drawing-room music, Tchaikovsky, music-hall, the syncopations and rhythmic somersaults of jazz—like a tilting-ring it goes round and round, gaily glittering, above the fundamental utterance of the main orchestra, which, grave, sombre, and complex, asserts with radical severity the intellectual level of the work as a whole.
Yet Schnittke does not fall prey to the "aristocratic nihilism" that shadows Leverkühn, the colossal aloofness and condescension. The "tilting-ring" that goes round and round in Schnittke's works might be either the insipid wantonness of light music or the grave and serious classical tradition itself. One almost guess that melancholy is what holds Schnittke to the tradition, and that his capacity for mocking imitation is a secret urge for the outside. Registering his discontent, he has chosen to pursue a career in music prefigured by a character in fiction.
A Faustian four-and-twenty years after his breakthrough into musical freedom, Schnittke still sounds the depth of that which he professes. His music lays itself out like a documentary record—not a transcript of the crises of any particular moment, but a confession of the unease that has gathered around the practice of classical composition. As the devil tells Leverkühn, twentieth-century music has an aspect of the "highbrow swindle" about it. Schnittke has dropped the pretense of the total, self-contained work of art, and the dreadful condition that he puts in its place has a ring of truth. His chaos clarifies; his drift is mastery.


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Re: The 30 Seconds That Sank Titanic, Dec. 5; Why We Remember The Montreal Massacre … But Is There One Part We're Forgetting?, letters to the editor, Dec. 8.
On Dec. 6, my wife and I went to Montreal to mark the anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting. It is important to remember, and pay homage to these young Canadian women who are no more. However, a lot of writing about this mass shooting has been pure twaddle. We live in an era of mass shootings and assorted gun play, and at a time when violence is glorified in all mediums.
Let's get real: One man alone did this heinous crime in Montreal, just as one man acted alone in Norway last summer. What is not talked about is an important cultural change since the 1960s: The feminization of young men. That is why no male student was man enough to attempt to stop this murderous rampage on that horrible day in Montreal.
In contrast, on April 15, 1912, First Officer William Murdoch did everything humanly possible to save lives on the sinking Titanic. As your story notes, he "is credited with helping to launch 10 lifeboats. He was last seen attempting to launch another in the ship's final moments."
He laid down his life that others — women and children — might live. Similarly, Professor Liviu Librescu, 77, deterred and delayed the shooter during the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. This Holocaust-survivor laid down his life so that others might live. This was (and is) the Judeo-Christian motif, and both Messrs. Murdoch and Librescu followed it to their ends.
Any one of the young men on hand that day at École Polytechnique should have attempted to stop Marc Lépine's murderous rampage. But no male in the engineering class did, as in more modern times, this demanding and gender-biased motif has fallen into desuetude, usurped by a touchy-feely, unmanly, unchivalrous politically correct mush. That is the real shame of this massacre — and of our times.
Rob Bredin, Orangeville, Ont.
All lives are equally valuable
Re: Why We Remember The Montreal Massacre, letters to the editor, Dec. 8; … But Not The 39 Men Who Died Days Later, Dec. 6.
Two letter writers take fellow letter-writer Brian Latham to task for daring to compare the deaths of 39 sailors to those of the 14 women of the Montreal Massacre. Much emotion is provided, but there is no explanation as to why the tragic and horrible deaths of one group of people are more worthy of our sympathy than those of any other.
Were the 14 Montreal women more innocent? More worthy of life? Where their family and friends less devastated by the loss? In my opinion the only real difference in tragedy is in the making of each: One by accident, one by a murderous misogynist.
By holding one higher than the other, it seems to me that we are giving more credit to the perpetrator than the victims.
Matthew Lohbihler, Markham, Ont.
My French is fine, thanks very much
Re: Pardon My French, letter to the editor, Dec. 8.
Dushan R. Divjak tells us that he has three nieces who live in France who "listen in horror when they hear Quebecers speak Québécois — They can't believe what has been done to their language."
I was born in Quebec and I learned English. I speak French and English and to my ears, people from France and England have horrible accents and sometimes I cannot understand them. Vive la différence.
Laurent Joncas, Gatineau, Que.
Letter-writer Dushan Divjak's snobbish Parisian nieces should not be so uppity about the French spoken in Quebec. Most Quebecers speak perfectly good French with a regional accent, just like French-speakers in certain parts of southern and northern France. And a language is enriched by its variations. English comes in all shades — Texan, Scottish, Australian, to name only a few — not always intelligible to other English-speakers, but certainly not to be sneered at.
Catherine Sinclair, Toronto.
Re: Prozac Can Cause Violence, letter to the editor, Dec. 9.
The home community for letter-writer Dr. Peter R. Breggin should have been listed as Ithaca, N.Y.
Atheists & theists need to talk
Re: Trustworthy 'Team Atheist,' letter to the editor, Dec. 9; Why We Don't Trust Atheists, letters to the editor, Dec. 7.
It is clear to me that so-called religious people are practising what is a true sin: prejudice.
I am an atheist, but it has not prevented me from being an honest person, and I know that these believers can trust me. I have seen religious people being just as malevolent as these believers say atheists are.
I do not need to believe in a God; all I need to do is just believe in myself. The power to do things, including being honest, comes from within a person, not from supposedly above.
All I ask of these believers who distrust atheists, is to at least show respect; I am willing do the same.
Allan B. Capp, London, Ont.
Some atheists seem upset that theists see them as untrustworthy. Perhaps the words of some of their militant atheist friends can explain that. A lot of atheists incessantly mock theists. Indeed militant atheists like Richard Dawkins persecute theists. It should hardly be a surprise that theists are suspicious of these militant atheists, who really are another form of religion.
I am a Christian and I have trusted agnostic and atheist friends. Trust is a two-way street.
Roy Eappen, Montreal.
Naïveté on skates
Re: China: Great Fans, But About That Free Skate …, Joe O'Connor, Dec. 9.
Much has been said about figure skater Patrick Chan's naive view of his ancestral land of China and his professed lack of knowledge about human rights abuses there. However, most elite athletes usually know very little or care about politics. While I winced when I read of Mr. Chan's naïveté, I'm glad we live in a country where he can be that appallingly naive. I will still cheer for Mr. Chan. He strikes me as a good kid.
Mark Little, Oshawa, Ont.
Three elements of the new "Chan" figure skating combination make up the spiralling regression from world champion to underappreciated national hero to disillusioned patriot. The sequence has become known in government funding circles as the Salchow/Sacred Cow/Holy Cow leap. Most devotees of the sport would also recognize it as a move only the politically uninitiated need ever attempt.
Mark S. Rash, Winnipeg.


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The day did not get off to a good start for Amir Johnson, whose participation in the morning shoot-around for the Toronto Raptors was compromised by allergies and a flu virus he was trying hard to ignore.
The night ended significantly better.
It was a re-energized Johnson who helped lead the charge Monday night with a gritty defensive effort against Kevin Love, one of the NBA's top power forwards, that helped spur the Raptors to a deserving 97-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Air Canada Centre.
"We played hard, I think we really played grimy," is how Johnson framed the victory. "I don't think we gave anybody anything, or let them get into their groove."
So concerned was Toronto rookie coach Dwane Casey about Johnson's availability for the game that he kept his condition a secret from the media when he met with reporters earlier in the day following the shoot-around.
But there was Johnson, in the starting lineup at centre and making a solid contribution with 19 points and 11 rebounds, not to mention three assists, one steal, and one blocked shot.
It was the work that Johnson exhibited against Love that pleased Casey the most.
Love came into the game leading the NBA in rebounding with an average of 15 a game, while standing fifth overall in scoring with an average of 25.4 points.
While Love hauled in 14 rebounds in the contest he was held to just 13 points and was harassed almost every time he touched the ball, primarily by Johnson.
Love wound up connecting on just three of his 16 field goals – two of them from three-point range.
"My thought was just to play hard against him," a weary-looking Johnson said as he slouched on his stool in front of his locker after the game, his left ankle resting in a bucket of ice. "I watched a couple of his games, he's crazy on the glass.
"I just wanted to play aggressive, get him off the boards."
Johnson's effort, with a big assist from power forward Andre Bargnani, who finished the game with 31 points and nine rebounds, was enough to halt a Raptors losing streak at two games.
It marked the third time in nine games this year that Bargnani has scored at least 30 points.
"Andrea for me, and I've been telling my coaching friends around the league, he's playing like an all-star," Casey said of the much maligned former No. 1 draft pick.
While Casey insists his Raptors are still very much a work in progress, the win was uplifting nonetheless coming after two desultory weekend losses to the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers where Toronto showed little interest at both ends of the court.
Monday night the Timberwolves shot just .338 from the floor (27-for-80), a season low.
"We just didn't want to think about what happened in Philly, what happened against the Nets," said Toronto guard Jose Calderon, who finished with 14 points and six assists.
"We just had to start over like those games never happened."


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- Dry cleaning tetrachloride, normal process
- Wash inside out and separately
- Do not iron print, trims and accessories
- Contains non-textile parts of animal origin
Art. nr.: D00518-7085-1522