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Snyder vetoes Fr. Marquette board in UP
Associated Press
Gov. Rick Snyder has vetoed a bill that would create an advisory board for a memorial site in the Upper Peninsula honoring Father Jacques Marquette.
Snyder says he vetoed it because it implies that the state would help pay for a new museum at the 58-acre site in St. Ignace, on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge. He says the project would cost millions of dollars.
The governor says a state board is unnecessary and the work can be done by a community group.
Marquette was a Jesuit missionary and Great Lakes explorer in the 1600s. In the Midwest, cities, counties and a Milwaukee university are named for him.
The memorial site in St. Ignace has a trail and picnic areas. A museum was destroyed by fire in 2000.


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Lissajous Curve
|Lissajous Box
This image is protected by copyright. Click here to
ask for permission before using it elsewhere!
Lissajous Box
This is a beautiful Lissajous Box. The curves on its sides are Lissajous Curves with a frequency ratio of 10:7.
- 1 Basic Description
- 2 A Dip Into the History
- 3 A More Mathematical Explanation
- 3.1 First Method: Direct Elimination of t
- 3.2 Second Method: Experiment and Observation
- 4 Why It's Interesting
- 5 Teaching Materials
- 6 References
- 7 Future Directions for this Page
Basic Description
In physics, harmonic vibration is a type of periodic motion where the restoring force is proportional to the displacement. If you haven't seen harmonic vibrations before, please read through this helper page before proceeding, since this concept is crucial in our following discussion of Lissajous Curves.
Lissajous Curves, or Lissajous Figures, are beautiful patterns formed when two harmonic vibrations along perpendicular lines are superimposed. The following animation tells us how to generate one Lissajous Curve:
In the animation above, points X and Y are simple harmonic oscillators in x and y directions. They have the same magnitude of 10, but their angular frequencies are different. As we can see in the animation, the x - vibrator completes 3 cycles from the beginning to the end, while the y - vibrator completes only 2. In fact, these vibrators follow the equations of motion x = sin (3t ), and y = sin (2t ), respectively.
Now, we will try to get the superposition of these two vibrations, which is what we really care about. To get this superposition, we can draw from X a line perpendicular to x-axis, and from Y a line perpendicular to y-axis, and locate their intersection P. By simple geometry, P will have the same x-coordinate as X, and y-coordinate as Y, so it combines the motion of X and Y. As we can see in Figure 1, the trace of P turns out to be a complicated and beautiful curve, which we refer to as the "Lissajous Curve". More specifically, it's one Lissajous Curve in a big family, since we can easily generate more Lissajous Curves with other angular frequencies and phases using the same mechanism.
Mathematically speaking, since the motion of point P consists of two component vibrations, whose equations of motions are already known to us, we can easily get the parametric equations of P 's motion:
in which A and B are magnitudes of two harmonic vibrations, a and b are their angular frequencies, and φ is their phase difference. If you are unfamiliar with these terms, please refer to this helper page.
The Lissajous Curve in Figure 1 has A = B = 10, a = 3, b = 2, and φ = 0. As we have stated before, we can get more Lissajous Curves by changing these parameters. The following images show some of these figures:
A Dip Into the History
Lissajous Curves were named after French mathematician Jules Antoine Lissajous (1822–1880)[1], who devised a simple optical method to study compound vibrations. Lissajous entered the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1841, and later became a professor of physics at the Lycee Saint-Louis in Paris, where he studied vibrations and sound.
During that age, people were enthusiastic about standardization in science. And the science of acoustics was no exception, since musicians and instrument makers were crying out for a standard in pitches. In response to their demand, Lissajous invented the Lissajous Tuning Forks, which turned out to be a great success since they not only allowed people to visualize and analyse sound vibrations, but also showed the beauty of math through interesting patterns.
The structure and usage of Lissajous Tuning Forks are shown in Figure 3-b. Each tuning fork is manufactured with a small piece of mirror attached to one prong, and a small metal ball attached to the other as counterweight. Two tuning forks like this are placed besides each other, oriented in perpendicular directions. A beam of light is bounced off the two mirrors in turn and directed to a screen. If we put a magnifying glass between the second tuning fork and the screen (to make the small deflections of light beam visible to human eyes), we can actually see Lissajous Curves forming on the screen.
The idea of visualizing sound vibrations may not be surprising nowadays, but it was ground-breakingly new in Lissajous' age. Moreover, as we are going to see in the More Mathematical Explanation section, the appearances of Lissajous Curves are extremely sensitive to the frequency ratio of tuning forks. The most stable and beautiful patterns only appear when the two forks vibrate at frequencies of simple ratios, such as 2:1 or 3:2. These frequency ratios correspond to the musical intervals of the octave and perfect fifth, respectively. So, by observing the Lissajous Curve formed by an unadjusted fork and a standard fork of known frequency, people were able to make tuning adjustments far more accurately than tuning by ear.
Because of his contributions to acoustic science, Lissajous was honored as member of a musical science commission set up by the French Government in 1858, which also featured great composers such as Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) and Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868).
Acknowledgement: Most of the historical information in this section comes from this website: click here, and Trigonometric Delights, by Eli Maor[2][3].
A More Mathematical Explanation
In previous sections, we have encountered this question for many times:
- What determines the appea [...]
In previous sections, we have encountered this question for many times:
- What determines the appearance of Lissajous Curves?
In this section, we are going to answer this question in two ways. The first method is simple and direct, but is limited to several special cases. The second one applies to almost all Lissajous Curves, but as a result it's more subtle and complicated.
First Method: Direct Elimination of t
Since Lissajous Curves are defined by the following parametric equations:
In principle, one can use trigonometric formulas to eliminate t from these equations and get a relationship between x and y. See the following examples:
(Note: in all examples below, we are going to assume that A = B = 1, since changing these magnitudes will only make the curves dilate or contract in horizontal or vertical direction. They don't affect the structure of Lissajous curves.)
Example 1: line segment
If in addition to A = B = 1, we have a = b = 1, and φ = 0, then the parametric equations will become:
This set of equations tells us:
Moreover, since the range of sin(x ) is from -1 to 1, we have:
Together, they give us the line segment shown in Figure 3-a.
Example 2: circle
(Starting in this example we will use some trigonometric formulas to help us reduce the equations. These formulas, together with some explanations, can be found here[4].)
In this case, we still have a = b = 1. But instead of leting φ = 0, we change it to :
Using the trigonometric identity , we can get:
Since , we can eliminate t and get the following equation:
which gives us the circle shown in Figure 3-b.
Example 3: parabola
This time, if we change the parameters into a = 1, b = 1, and φ = , then the parametric equations will become:
from Eq. 1a we can get:
Using the trigonometric identity , we can get:
Applying the formula :
Combining it with Eq. 1b, we can again eliminate t and get the following equation:
with x confined between -1 and 1. This gives us the parabola in Figure 3-c.
Conclusion: pros and cons
In the examples above, we can clearly see some advantages of the direct elimination method: it's clear, accurate, and easy to understand. However, these advantages are quickly shadowed by the complexity of calculation when we get to larger frequency ratios. For example, see the following parametric equations of a Lissajous Curve:
In principle, this could be solved by expanding the x- and y- function into powers of and :
These equations come from a general formula given in 16th century by French mathematician Vieta. For more information, please go to this page.
Notice that in these equations, if we consider sin(t ) and cos(t ) as unknowns, then we will have a set of two polynomial equations with two unknowns, and in principle we can solve sin(t ) and cos(t ) in terms of x and y. Then, the identity sin2(t ) + cos2(t ) = 1 will give us a direct relationship between x and y. However, in practice, few people are willing to carry on with the algebra, because the calculations involved are just so cumbersome and annoying. To make things worse, as group theory tells us, not all polynomial equations of powers higher than 5 can be solved with exact expression of roots [5]. So there is no guarantee that our effort will lead us to the answer. Even if they can, the relationship between x and y is going to be too complicated to tell us anything useful about the shape of the curve. So the method of elimination fails here, and we would like a new way to study these curves.
Second Method: Experiment and Observation
As shown in the previous discussion, the attempt to directly solve Lissajous Curves fails when we try to deal with large angular frequencies, so we have to find another way to study them. One such way is to study them through experiment and observation. That is, we can use computer software to draw some Lissajous Curves with different parameters, and see how they affect the appearance of Lissajous Curves.
When we study something with multiple variable parameters, it's much easier to study these parameters separately, rather than together. There are three variable parameters, a, b, and φ , in Lissajous Curves. So in the rest of this section we will fix the phase difference φ to study the angular frequencies a and b, and then fix the angular frequencies to study the phase difference.
Study a and b with φ fixed
The following table shows the Lissajous Curves:
with angular frequencies a and b varying from 1 to 5, and phase difference φ fixed at 0:
There are many interesting properties associated with this table:
- 1. All Lissajous Curves in the table are confined in a 2 * 2 square box. The curves can touch, but cannot go beyond, the lines x = 1, x = –1, y = 1, and y = –1, because the amplitudes of both horizontal and vertical vibrations are set to 1.
From these properties, we can see that many Lissajous Curves with different angular frequencies are actually the same thing, and we do not need to study all of them. In fact, we can use the following family to represent all Lissajous Curves:
in which r stands for the angular frequency ratio of two component vibrations. It could be rational or irrational. Here we are only studying the rational case because it's simpler, and the irrational version comes in later sections. The argument for this representation goes as following:
For any Lissajous Curve,
in which a and b are integers. We can assume that a ≤ b , since if a > b then we can exchange their values, and according to property #3 the curve will only be flipped about line y = x. This doesn't affect the curve's structure, which is what we really care about.
The next step is to divide both angular frequencies by b. According to property #2, the curve will not change, and we will get:
The last set of parametric equations belongs to the family we mentioned above. So we only need to study this family of Lissajous Curves, since others can all be reduced to this case.
The following animation shows some of the Lissajous Curves in this family, with the frequency ratio a / b varying continuously from 0 to 1:
Surprisingly, as we can see in the animation, most of these Lissajous Curves are rather convoluted. But there are some simple ones scattered in them. A more careful examination shows that, when these simple patterns occur, the frequency ratio must be equal to a simple fraction. In fact, if we reduce the frequency ratio a / b to simplest fraction (that is, a and b have a greatest common divisor of 1), then the larger a and b are, the more complicated our Lissajous Curve is going to be. This phenomenon is not hard to understand if we look at the generation process of Lissajous Curves once again.
Suppose the two component vibrations start at t = t0. As long as the frequency ratio is rational, the moving point will eventually return to its starting place, and make a closed Lissajous Curve. Suppose this happens at t = t1. So the time period between t0 and t1 is a complete cycle of this Lissajous Curve. Moreover, since the starting point and ending point overlap, we must have:
Substitute into the parametric equations of Lissajous Curve with rational frequency ratio, we can get:
which leads to:
in which k1 and k2 are integers. The other possibility is omitted because they represent the intersections inside one cycle. At these intersections, although the positions overlap, the velocities don't. So the Lissajous Curve is not closed at these points.
Substituting Eq. 2b into Eq. 2a, we get:
since a / b is assumed to be an irreducible fraction (if they weren't, we could divide them by their common factor without changing the Lissajous Curve), the smallest k1 and k2 that satisfy this equation are k1 = a and k2 = b. Substituting back into Eq. 2b, we can get:
So the larger b is, the longer it's going to take before the Lissajous Curve closes and repeats itself, and the more convoluted it's going to be. For a simple angular frequency ratio like 1/2, the vibrations soon start to repeat, and the Lissajous Curve is simple, as shown in the previous table. However, a ratio like 37/335 will make the curve much more complicated. In an extreme case, if the ratio is irrational, then both a and b will be "infinitely large", and the Curve is no longer closed. This special case is treated later in this section. Click here to see.
In conclusion, the angular frequency ratio a / b, reduced to simplest fraction, determines the complexity of Lissajous Curves. Large a and b lead to complicated Lissajous Curves; small a and b give us simple ones. This is why Lissajous Tuning Forks are so suitable for tuning notes. In music theory, most of the important intervals are simple fractions. For example, the interval of a perfect octave is 1:2, perfect fifth is 2:3, perfect fourth is 3:4, and so on[6]. These intervals all correspond to simple Lissajous Curves with distinctive features.
Study φ with a and b fixed
In the previous subsection we have figured out how angular frequencies of a Lissajous Curve affect its appearance. Now we are going to fix the angular frequencies to study the third, and last, variable parameter: the phase difference φ .
The following animation shows the Lissajous Curve
with φ varying continuously from to :
An interesting fact to notice is that the animation above looks more like a rotating 3-D curve, rather than a changing 2-D one. The reason for this illusion is related to another way to define Lissajous Curves. In the beginning of this page, we introduced the following definition:
- A Lissajous Curve is the superposition of two harmonic vibrations in perpendicular directions.
However, this is not the only available definition for Lissajous Curves. These curves can also be viewed as the projection of a 3-D harmonic height function over a circular base. The following set of images explain this definition in more detail:
The first step to generate this harmonic height function is to draw a circular base in x-y plane, as shown in Figure 5-b. The parametric equation of this circular base is:
The variable parameter φ here doesn't change the shape of the circle, as we still have the relationship . But if we change the value of φ , then the circle will rotate about the origin O. Of course we can't see the motion here, because O is also the center of the circle. However, this rotation is going to make a difference later.
The next step to generate this harmonic height function is to raise (or lower) each point in this circular base to a certain height. This height is determined by the function:
The raising process is shown in Figure 5-c. Note that if we change φ now, the rotation is visible, since the curve's rotational symmetry is broken in the raising process.
Finally, if we make the projection of that rotating height curve onto the y-z plane, as shown in Figure 5-d, we can see that it's exactly same as the animation in Figure 5-a. In other words, this Lissajous Curve can be viewed as the projection of this 3-D height function. Changing the value of φ makes the 3-D curve rotate, and in turn changes the 2-D curve. In fact, this is why we had the 3-D illusion in Figure 5-a.
Algebraic analysis agrees with this result. As we have seen, the parametric equations of this harmonic height function are:
To project it onto the y-z plane, we can fix its x component to be 0:
Compare this projection to the Lissajous Curve we had before:
we can see that they are indeed the same thing.
Although we used a special case a = 1, b = 3 in our discussion, the result applies to all Lissajous Curves with rational frequency ratios. The following images show the 3-D height function of some other Lissajous Curves:
To put it all together: a java applet
So far we have talked a lot about the appearance of Lissajous Curves. We know that some simple cases can be solve by direct elimination of t in the parametric equations, that the frequency ratio of a Lissajous Curve determines its complexity, and that the phase difference φ affects a Lissajous Curve by rotating its corresponding 3-D height function. Here is an interactive java applet that puts these all together. It allows the user the change both angular frequencies from 1 to 9, and animate the curve by changing φ[7]:
What happens when things get irrational?
We have limited previous discussions to Lissajous Curves with rational frequency ratios. So, one may naturally wonder, what happened to all those with irrational frequency ratios? Well, they have all died painfully because of their irrationality ...
Just kidding. They are still there, waiting for us to study. For example, see the following Lissajous Curve:
It's a known fact that is irrational. So the frequency ratio here is also irrational, and this curve is going to be radically different from any one we have encountered so far. See the animation below to get a sense of what it looks like:
Figure 6 shows the trace this Lissajous Curve in accelerating motion. In the beginning, it looks just like an ordinary Lissajous Curve. However, soon we can see the difference: this curve is never closed! It keeps going on and on, and eventually fills the whole 2*2 box. In fact, it can be shown that all Lissajous Curves with irrational frequency ratios cannot close. Without loss of generality, let the parametric equation of such a Lissajous Curve be:
in which r is an irrational number.
Now we suppose that the curve is closed, and try to derive a contradiction. Let the starting time be t0 and the closing time be t1 as before, so we must have:
which gives us:
which leads to:
in which p and q are integers. The other possibility is omitted due to the same reason discussed before.
Substituting Eq. 3b into Eq. 3a, we can get:
However, recall that we assumed r to be irrational, which means it cannot be written as an integer fraction . So the equation above cannot be true, and this Lissajous Curve is never closed.
Why It's Interesting
As a family of beautiful figures, Lissajous Curves are themselves an interesting subject to study. Moreover, they also have some practical applications, including oscilloscopes and harmonographs.
Application to Oscilloscopes
Oscilloscope is a type of electronic instrument in physics that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages. The following image shows the simplified structure of a typical Cathode Ray Oscilloscope:
In Figure 7-1, the electron gun at left generates a beam of electrons when heated, which is then directed through a deflecting system. The deflecting system is made of two sets of parallel metal plates, one for deflection in x - direction, and the other for y - direction. A signal voltage applied to the X-plates gives them an electronic potential difference, generates a uniform electronic field between them, and makes the electron beam deflect in x - direction. Same for the y - plates. The angle of deflection is proportional to the voltage applied.
After passing the deflecting system, the electron beam is then directed to a screen, which is covered by fluorescent material so that we can see green light on the places hit by electrons. If there is no voltage applied to the deflecting system, then the electron beam hits the screen right at the center. If there is voltage applied, then the electrons will hit somewhere else. So the oscilloscope makes signal voltages visible to us.
Now if we apply a sinusoidal signal on each set of the plates, then both the X-plates and the Y-plates will have varying electronic fields between them, and the electron beam will oscillate in both directions. As a result, the trace on the screen should be the superposition of these two oscillations. As we have discussed before, this is a Lissajous Curve. The following images show some of the Lissajous Curves achieved on oscilloscopes:
Similar to Lissajous Tuning Forks, Lissajous Figures on the oscilloscope can give us some information about the two component vibrations. For example, just by looking at the Lissajous Curve in Figure 7-b, experienced observers can tell that the frequency ratio between its two component vibrations is 1:3, and the phase difference is . Engineers and physicists often use this method to analyze signals and waves.
Application to Harmonographs
A harmonograph is a mechanical apparatus that employs pendulums to create geometric images. The drawings created are typically Lissajous curves, or related drawings of greater complexity. See the following video the get a sense of how it works[8]:
As we can see in the video, a typical three pendulum rotary harmonograph consists of a table, a drawing board, a pen, and 3 pendulums. Two of them are linear pendulums oriented in perpendicular directions, and they control the motion of the pen. The third pendulum is free to swing in both directions, and it's connected to the drawing board.
Harmonographs can be used to draw Lissajous Curves. We only need to fix the pendulum connecting to the drawing board, and assume that there is no friction in the other two pendulums. In mechanics, it is a known fact that motion of a frictionless pendulum can be viewed as simple harmonic motion, provided that the swinging angle is small[9]. So the pen's motion is the superposition of two perpendicular harmonic vibrations, which is a Lissajous Curve by definition.
However, in practice, friction cannot be completely eliminated. So the two linear pendulums are actually doing damped oscillations, rather than simple harmonic motion. Physicists give us the following equation of motion for damped harmonic oscillations[10]:
in which is called the damping constant. The larger is, the more heavily this oscillator is damped, and the faster its magnitude decreases.
Since both linear pendulums are doing damped harmonic oscillations, the pen should have the following equation of motion:
If = , then the common factor can be extracted from the equations above, and we are left with the parametric equations of a Lissajous Curve:
which gives us a Lissajous Curve with exponentially decreasing magnitudes. For example, see the following computer simulations of the harmonograph with A = B =10, ω1 = 3, ω2 = 2, and φ = π/2:
Figure 8-a shows the damped case with = 0.04, and Figure 8-b shows the corresponding frictionless motion with = 0. One can clearly see that they have similar shapes, except the magnitude of the curve in Figure 8-a decreases a little bit after each cycle, which is exactly what we mean by damping.
If , then things get more complicated, because the shape of the curve is distorted during the damping process. For example, see the following images:
The three curves above all have A = B =10, ω1 = ω2 = 1, and φ = π/4. Figure 8-c shows the frictionless case, which is a Lissajous Curve we have discussed before. Figure 8-d shows the damped case with equal damping constants, and one can see that the motion decreases uniformly in both directions. Figure 5-e shows the damped case with unequal damping constants. Since the motion in y - direction is damped much more heavily than in x - direction, the shape of this curve is distorted towards x - axis during the damping process.
If we add more complexity by releasing the free pendulum connecting to the drawing board, then the curve will be the superposition of all these motions. We are not going to study the math behind this, since it's way too complicated with more than 10 variable parameters. However, as we have seen in the video, more complexity also gives us more beautiful and interesting images. The following images are works created by harmonographs. Some of them are computer simulations, others are real pictures from harmonograph makers:
Teaching Materials
- There are currently no teaching materials for this page. Add teaching materials.
- ↑ Jules Antoine Lissajous, from Wikipedia. This is a biography of Jules Lissajous, discoverer of Lissajous Curves.
- ↑ Lissajous tuning forks: the standardization of musical sound from Wipple Collections. This is a brief introduction to Lissajous' Tuning Forks and his contribution in acoustic science.
- ↑ Trigometric Delights, by Eli Maor, Princeton Press. Pg. 145 - 149: Jules Lissajous and his figures.
- ↑ List of Trigonometric identities, from Wikipedia. This page lists some of the trigonometric formula we used the derive the shape of Lissajous curves.
- ↑ Polynomial, from Wikipedia. This briefly explains why we can't find a general solution for equations of powers higher than 5.
- ↑ Interval (music), from Wikipedia. This article explains more about musical notes and their frequency intervals.
- ↑ Animated Lissajous figures.This is the source of the embedded java applet.
- ↑ Three Pendulum Harmonograph, from youtube. This is the source of the embedded video.
- ↑ Pendulum, from Wikipedia. This article explains the physics behind pendulums.
- ↑ Damping, from Wikipedia. This article explains how we derive the equation of motion for damped oscillators.
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In any case, I hope to see you there.
Also, remember yesterday when I said I was going to increase my product coverage? No? Well, perhaps you're taking too much of the "pot." Either way, are you looking for some handlebar tape with which to tape up the handlebar controls of your two-wheeled bicycle cycling bike machine? Well, why not try this stuff, which a reader tells me is actually endorsed by
Here's the "low down:"
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wrap tapes help you conquer any terrain with confidence.
Now, I'm a fickle consumer, so all of this raises a couple of questions. Firstly, if the tape is so awesome then why isn't Bret even holding it? Secondly, if you look closely, it appears that Bret's bars are wrapped with electrical tape--which, while frugal, is not exactly "cutting-edge" technology. Are we to infer that Bret prefers electrical tape to this Velo stuff? Then again, maybe this is a stroke of marketing genius, and the insinuation is that Velo tape is so grippy that all you need to do is gently rest your forearms on it and you'll form an unbreakable bond with your bicycle.
Speaking of cutting-edge materials, one material that isn't cutting edge (unless you take the term "cutting edge" literally) is wood:
And a reader informs me that you can own the above assemblage of crudely-glued broomsticks for the low, low price of $4,000:
Here's the story:
Light-weight 19lbs, single speed- 19th Century style bicycle, exceptionally stiff frame; hemp fabric composite lugs which are both internally and externally butted for maximum strength; components include Shimano Tiagra brake calipers; Tipo Uno leather saddle--19th Century style. non-adjustable seat tower for 32 inch inseam. frame is 56 cm; features Generation 8 single-speed crankset. Rims are 700 x 23C
This bicycle is exceptionally fast and the frame damps all road vibration, like riding on a cloud. It is a modern interpretation of the classic 19th Century 1898 Oak framed Chillion built by J.D. Stebbins. Hand crafted with the same attention as the original, there are 350 hours in the construction of the frame. Adorning the headtube is a pure copper red oak leaf and acorn headstamp. It's a head-turner and built to be ridden hard. The original oak frame track bike still holds the indoor Velo Drome record for wooden bikes.
The frame is finished in Swedish Tonqinoise denatured linseed maritime varnish and hand-rubbed to a golden luster. This work of art is proof that 19th Century technology is still viable and competitive today.
More detailed pictures will be posted soon.
Yes, it certainly is exquisite. Nice parts selection, too. Basically, it's like a Bikesdirect.com bike, only flammable. Also, it's finished in "Swedish Tonqinoise denatured linseed maritime varnish and hand-rubbed to a golden luster," which is funny because I was making the universal sign for "hand-rubbing" the entire time I was reading the ad.
Of course, if you prefer the dull sheen of titanium to the hand-rubbed golden luster of Swedish Tonquinoise denatured linseed maritime varnish--and you're prepared to spend an extra sixteen hundred bucks--you can always skip the wood bike and go for The Budnitz. Indeed, a few weeks back, Old Man Budnitz himself articulated his philosophy on "bikeen" in a blog post entitled "Nostalgia Is Death" that has received a bit of attention. It starts with Old Man Budnitz establishing his "street cred:"
During the 1980's and 1990's city cycling was primarily a kind of rebel subculture, something practiced by bike messengers, Chinese food delivery men, and a few lunatics like myself who rode because it was fast, fun, and dangerous.
I wonder he's talking about cycling in Berkley, where he grew up, or in Boulder, where he lives now. Was there ever a time in either place where cycling was any edgier than wheat germ or yoga?
Then, he tells us about his old Bottechia:
From 1989 through 2005 I owned an orange and chrome 1967 Bottechia steel road bike I'd bought for $100 at a flea market in Southern California.
I was stunned to learn he managed to ride this bike for 16 years, despite the fact that it wasn't titanium and cost him less than $5,600--which, as I understood from his marketing copy, were the minimum requirements for a durable bicycle.
Anyway, even though Old Man Budnitz was somehow one of the first people ever to ride a bike in New York City, he doesn't much care for the attitude of his fellow "pioneers:"
One of the other things I've noticed is that some of the original cyclists, the same pioneers who were riding single speeds to punk shows long before Manhattan had its first bike path, have begun to feel angry and left out.
I went to my share of punk shows in New York City as a teenager and I don't recall anybody riding singlespeeds to them. Actually, I don't really recall many people riding bicycles to punk shows at all. I'm pretty sure those single-speed "bike piles" outside of clubs and bars came after the bike lanes.
Even so, these fictional "pioneers" clearly lack the integrity of Old Man Budnitz:
Unfortunately, when something alternative becomes popular, innovators who are unable to muster the energy to move on instead hold on to the past, and do everything they can to attack those who they perceive are involved in the new wave. This always strikes me as sad and ironic, and a little pathetic.
Actually, not everybody does that. Some people just fabricate a false history of themselves and then try to sell the "new wave" city bikes that cost $5,600. This is hardly surprising, since Old Man Budnitz's most impressive quality is his audacity:
Any bicycle that is loved is worth praising, whether it's a $150 upright Columbia picked up at flea market, a fixie put together with parts from a dumpster, or a high-end model like the ones made by companies like Beloved, Budnitz, Rivendell, Vanilla, and other independent manufacturers. Like a classic car, bicycles deserve the respect that high-end manufacturing and design brings. Also like cars, this doesn't diminish the value of the bicycle that you bought at a flea market, and that you deeply love.
Beloved. Budnitz. Rivendell. Vanilla. One of these names doesn't belong. Sure, I've joked about the extravagance of the Beloved city bikes, but at least the $5,000 you pay for one gets you some fenders and stuff:
Also, given that they come out of the Chris King factory, I'm guessing the people involved in building and marketing them know how to properly install a wheel.
After returning that titanium creak machine I had resolved never to speak of Budnitz again, but the sad fact is that I may not sleep comfortably until Budnitz stops selling bicycles altogether and gets back to bedazzling sneakers for the Japanese.
Old Man Budnitz does make one good point though, which is that cycling in New York City has indeed become more accessible, and that is a good thing. One organization that has been instrumental in this transformation is Transportation Alternatives, and recently I received this email from them:
Basically, they wanted me to tell my representatives that I want speeding drivers to get busted:
In an editorial yesterday, The New York Times called on New York State to stop speeding drivers.
Their endorsement is great, but it's not enough to make our campaign heard. Tell your representatives you agree with The New York Times!
This sounded good to me, and so I did what they told me. But then I read the actual Times piece:
The city could cut down on traffic deaths in three ways. It should be given permission by state authorities to install cameras to photograph license plates when drivers are going too fast, since many deaths are caused by speeding vehicles. There were 115 deaths involving drivers or passengers, up from 78 the year before. The remaining 176 killed were cyclists and pedestrians.
So far, so good--and then:
City police should also increase the number of tickets given to drivers and cyclists who disobey traffic laws, like speeding, running red lights or making illegal turns.
What? "And cyclists?!?" I don't want cyclists to get more tickets! Sure, plenty of us are idiots, but we're getting enough tickets as it is! Meanwhile, I can't walk the few blocks to the playground with my 17 kids without at least five drivers breaking the law in some egregious way that could easily make all of us die.
This is not to say some cyclists don't deserve tickets. For example, many people are outraged over this story, but I'm not:
Basically, the guy ran a bunch of lights on his bike and got a bunch of tickets, pleaded guilty to them without even reading them, and then was shocked to discover what he owed:
I was guilty for sure of going through the lights and wearing headphones so naively I pleaded guilty and sent in the tickets. A few weeks later I got a letter in the mail, it contained my 4 tickets stapled to a piece of paper that indicated I owed $1555. It didn't itemize the cost of each ticket so I have no idea what each one is worth.
I realize the police do tend to treat cyclists unfairly, but if you plead guilty to a ticket without even taking the time to figure out how much you owe in fines then that means only one thing:
Especially if you don't have much money to begin with:
"This is my first bike infraction in New York City," the cyclist says. "$1,500 seems pretty excessive, especially for a 24-year-old where $1,500 is a little less than 10% of my yearly income."
If you make $15,000 a year and you don't even bother to read a traffic ticket before sending it in you deserve to be broke. I wonder if he also shops for clothes at Barney's, plunks down his credit card, and then says it's unfair when he gets a $3,000 bill in the mail a month later. Still, as cloying as Brookyn has become, it's comforting to know that the city still has enough teeth left to chew people up and then spit them out.
Sometimes cycling's only as cheap as you make it.


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John K. Samson Premieres New Video For "Longitudinal Centre"
John K. Samson is the singer-songwriter for the acclaimed indie rock band The Weakerthans and he just released his highly anticipated full length solo album, Provincial, this January 24th via Epitaph-Anti Records.
Samson has also released an intensely evocative cinematic clip for the song "Longitudinal Centre" from Provincial. The footage provides a perfect visual companion to the poignant up-tempo track. To watch the video please go to IFC.com.
Provincial contains newly recorded versions of songs from Samson's previous two EPs, City Route 85 and Provincial Road 222, alongside a collection of beautifully evocative new tracks. The songs traverse four routes woven into the prairie landscape of Manitoba, the Canadian province where Samson lives. They are hymns for the departed and rockers for the living, songs about dying villages, Icelandic longing, snowplows, broken glass, satellites, hockey skates, and staff room romances.
The Weakerthans were born out of the Winnipeg-punk-scene. The group's breakthrough album Reconstruction Site and its celebrated follow up Reunion Tour deftly merged a melodic punk with Bob Dylan-Ray Davies lyrical insights, earning a wider fan base and establishing Samson as a songwriter of immense talent. Paste Magazine wrote of Reunion Tour, "If such a prize existed, it would be the leading candidate for this year's Punk Pulitzer."
John K. Samson & The Provincial Band Tour Dates
3/7 Kingston, ON at The Grad Club
3/8 Ottawa, ON at Mavericks Bar
3/9 Montreal, QC at La Sala Rossa
3/10 Boston, MA at Brighton Music Hall
3/11 Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer
3/13 Washington DC at Black Cat
3/15 New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom
3/14 Hoboken, NJ at Maxwell's
3/16 Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe
3/17 Buffalo, NY at Mohawk
3/18 Hamilton, ON at The Casbah
3/20 London, ON at The Aeolian Hall
3/21 Guelph, ON at E-Bar
3/22 Toronto, ON at Great Hall
3/27 Winnipeg, MB at West End Cultural Centre
3/28 Regina, SK at The Exchange
3/29 Edmonton, AB at The Royal Alberta Museum Theater
3/31 Vancouver, BC at The Biltmore
4/1 Seattle,WA at Tractor Tavern
4/2 Portland, OR at Doug Fir
4/5 San Diego, CA at The Casbah
4/6 Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour
4/7 San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill
4/8 Santa Cruz, CA at The Atrium
4/11 Bellingham, WA at The Shakedown
4/13 Calgary, AB at The Palomino
4/12 Kamloops, BC at Hero's Pub
4/14 Saskatoon, SK at Amigos Cantina


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Active Supplier
www.computex.biz is running by Taipei Computer Association, one of the most influential associations in Taiwan.
The following criteria are set to reflect the current situations and the active participant of suppliers on Computex.biz. We hope these four criteria can be a useful reference provides buyers to choose business partners on Computex.biz.


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Read the comic below to learn why we stopped providing fan-made content.
Reading fan-made content online has been convenient for readers all over the world. However, when we enjoy free content, we are unaware of how much it damages creators.
Creators suffer and feel that they have no support from readers who don't care about their work.
As we work with publishers & creators, we can tell them that readers like you do care and want to support the official content. When creators know that, it will help tremendously in bringing you a legitimate & affordable way to read comics.About our working progress with creators keyboard_arrow_right


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Like most of us, you have probably imagined buying shares of a company that skyrockets in a couple of years in value, making you enough money to travel and chill for the rest of your life. Maybe even Waste Management was among your top picks for buying its shares, or it will be. In reality, investing is a bit more complex than waiting for the birds flying into your mouth ready roasted, but hey, you have to start somewhere right?
The good news is that unlike back in the days, today you can buy shares in companies like Waste Management fully online.
While we do not specifically advise to buy Waste Management shares, this article explains in layman's terms how you can buy shares in companies in general, taking Waste Management as an example. Whether your first share to buy should be Waste Management or not it's for you to decide. We strongly suggest to contact investment advisors as this article is not meant to be investment advice under any circumstance.
If you are interested in our guide about how to buy shares online, click here.
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
Overview of Waste Management
Waste Management is a US Industrial company, traded on the NYSE under the WM ticker. It is famous as an American comprehensive waste, and environmental services company. If you'd like to buy its stocks you need to find a broker that gives you access to the NYSE because that's the main exchange it's traded on (hang tight, we'll get into this in a bit).
All of this doesn't mean that Waste Management is a good company or a bad one. As part of this example you might want to get reminded of what you are considering investing in though.
Let's see the steps now!
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
Steps of buying Waste Management shares
Okay so for your own reasons you have decided you'd like to buy Waste Management. That's a good start. Let's see what lies ahead of you before you can officially state that you are a shareholder of Waste Management! The process is rather similar for any company shares and again, we only take Waste Management as an example.
Step 1: find a good online broker
One of the characteristics of an online broker is the exchanges they have access to. Not all brokers allow you to buy shares of Waste Management, simply because they don't have access to the NYSE. Needless to say, you need a broker that gives you access to this exchange.
The next important thing with a broker is that it should fit you as well. Not all brokers allow every citizen to open an account with them; some brokers are super expensive if you just want to buy a couple of Waste Management shares every once in a while, some brokers can be absolutely free. You can actually get great recommendations on choosing the right broker using our questionnaire:
When recommending a broker, we take into account different factors, like the broker's fees, trading platform, accessible markets to trade, and how easy it is to open an account. Safety is also highly important, but since we recommend only safe brokers, you do not have to worry about it.
Step 2: open your brokerage account
After finding your online broker, you need to open an account. This is much like a regular bank account and opening one is usually a fully online process. At some brokers it's as quick as opening a new Gmail account, at some brokers it takes a couple of days until they do some background check on you. Instead of storing money on it you will store your shares on this though, so you definitely need this to buy Waste Management shares and to store them.
Step 3: deposit money to your account
You will pay cash to buy those Waste Management stocks. This cash first needs to be sent (deposited) to your broker. This is usually super easy and quick, actually even easier than opening your brokerage account.
The most common way you can deposit your money is bank transfer and using credit/debit card. At some brokers, you can deposit to your investment account even from different electronic wallets like Paypal, e.g. at eToro.
Step 4: buy the Waste Management share
You have the account, the cash, and the share target. The last step is to press the buy button! You log in to your online brokerage, search for Waste Management share, insert the number of shares you wish to buy, and click buy, which will initiate the purchase of shares (in trading lingo: execute the buy order).
A couple of hints around this: when placing an order, you can choose from different order types. The market order buys at the actual market price, while the limit order allows you to specify the exact price at which you want to buy the share.
Step 5: review your Waste Management position regularly
You are not finished after you purchased your Waste Management stock. Now it is key to monitor your investments. This basically means following your investment strategy. If you bought the Waste Management share for holding it for a longer term, you might participate in the annual meeting and collect all the news and information about the company.
If you plan to sell it shortly after you see some increase in the price, you might use different position management tools. E.g. you can set the target price at which you want to sell the share with a profit, or use the stop-loss to set a price at which you want to sell the share to avoid further losses.
Now that you have mastered the 5 steps of buying shares, take a moment to look at the top 5 brokers we have selected for you.
Want to save time while comparing brokers?
Learn exactly how the BrokerChooser comparison tool helps you save time.
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
Best 5 brokers for buying Waste Management shares
|Interactive Brokers
|Interactive Brokers is a US discount broker. It is listed on a stock exchange and regulated by several authorities, including top-tier ones like the FCA and the SEC.
|Visit broker
|Fidelity is a US stockbroker. It is regulated by top-tier authorities SEC and FINRA.
|Visit broker
|Zacks Trade
|Zacks Trade is a US discount broker that also allows international clients to open an account. Zacks Trade is a division of LBMZ Securities, which is regulated by SEC and FINRA. Customers are protected by the SIPC scheme, up to $500,000 (including a $250,000 limit for cash).
|Visit broker
|eToro is a global social trading broker. It is regulated by top-tier authorities such as the UK FCA or Australia's ASIC.
|Visit broker
|Charles Schwab
|Charles Schwab is a US discount broker, regulated by top-tier US authorities the SEC and FINRA. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and holds a banking license.
|Visit broker
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
Fees for investing in Waste Management stocks
You have to count with different kind of fees when you are trading with Waste Management shares.
Commission is a fee, based on the traded volume or a flat fee per trade. For example, 0.1% of €10,000, $5/trade or $0.005/share.
Needless to say, these are different at each broker. Let's see the fees of trading with Waste Management shares at our recommended five brokers
|Interactive Brokers
|Zacks Trade
|Charles Schwab
|US stock
|$0.005 per share, min. $1, max. 1% of trade value. Free for US clients choosing IBKR Lite plan.
|Free stock and ETF trading
|$0.01 per share commission for stocks above $1 share price, or 1% of trade value for stocks below $1 share price. The minimum fee is $1 minimum.
|Free stock and ETF trading
|Free stock and ETF trading
|US stock fees class
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
How to reduce risks
Investments always come with some risks, investing in Waste Management is no difference. Please take the time to review the following tips from BrokerChooser that help you minimize your risks. You can also read more about market risk and other types of risks over here.
Avoid the scams
Risk: unfortunately, there are tons of scam "brokers" that are trying to steal your money. When you are faced with binary option ads and automated investment algorithms that generate outstanding returns, start to get highly suspicious. In these cases, the best thing to do is to immediately turn these ads down.
How to manage it: when buying shares online, go with our broker selection. We have an active account with the brokers we selected and we test them regularly.
Diversify your portfolio
Risk: spending all of your savings on one or two shares. If Waste Management goes bust, you lose all your invested money.
How to manage it: buy other shares as well, not only Waste Management to diversify your investment portfolio. This practically means buying more different shares and not putting all your eggs in one basket. The ideal number of shares in a portfolio varies somewhere between 20 and 30.
How to buy Waste Management Stocks & Shares to Invest in WM
Bottom line
How to purchase Waste Management shares online?
Just follow these five easy steps:
- find a broker
- open your account
- fund the account
- buy the share
- review your position
It may look tricky for the first time but all you need to do is progress step-by-step.


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House Speaker steadies GOP team, reframes deficit debate
By Charles Babington
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner has shored up his political clout after a shaky month, persuading his Republican caucus to pick its fights with Democrats more strategically.
His impressive rebound, aided by face-the-facts confrontations with colleagues, helped the government avoid a potential default on its financial obligations — for three months, at least.
It also reassured establishment Republicans who feared the House majority was becoming so unpredictable that it endangered the party.
But the patched-up GOP solidarity and Boehner's ability to pass bills without Democrats' help are certain to be tested again.
Surprising news this past week about a late-2012 economic slump might re-energize arguments over tax increases and impending spending cuts. An even bigger challenge will be the immigration overhaul proposals headed toward Congress.
The nation's highest-ranking Republican, who recently confronted open talk of a possible overthrow, has calmed the waters remarkably, for now.
December was a grim time for Boehner. Rank-and-file Republicans forced him to withdraw in embarrassment from White House negotiations over the much-feared "fiscal cliff," the combination of deep spending cuts and end-of-the year tax increases.
January was worse. Boehner, R-Ohio, twice had to rely on Democrats to pass major bills, and he watched a dozen fellow Republicans refuse to back his re-election as speaker.
Within days, however, he steadied his ship and persuaded his colleagues to go along with his plans to be more strategic and patient.
The implications went beyond one politician's fate. Financial markets and corporate planners were reassured when House Republicans agreed to postpone a showdown over the government's borrowing capacity.
It marked a significant cooling off by GOP conservatives, many of whom had been saying President Barack Obama's re-election meant little. Now they publicly were starting to accept the limits of minority party status in Washington.
"We're too outnumbered to govern, to make policy," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La., who had defied Boehner on votes earlier in January on the fiscal cliff and hurricane aid. "But we can make a serious impact on spending" by picking when and where to fight, Fleming said.
Republicans say Boehner's biggest breakthrough came at a two-day House GOP retreat in Virginia. With his restless caucus shut away from distractions, he lined up speakers from inside and outside Congress to help explain what he saw as fiscal and political realities.
In a speech a few days later, Boehner summarized the case he made to his colleagues. In the upcoming debates over taxes and deficit spending, he said, Republicans must decide "where's the ground that we fight on? Where's the ground that we retreat on? Where are the smart fights?"
The decisions will come soon.
Aside from big spending cuts scheduled to start March 1, lawmakers must choose whether to fund the government for another year. Some conservatives say they may temporarily shut down the government if Democrats don't accept deep spending cuts and no new tax revenues.
Boehner, at least for a while, can bask in achievements that were far from certain just a short time ago.
Dozens of House Republicans who had once refused to increase the debt ceiling without corresponding spending cuts — a position Boehner had just abandoned — backed down after the House retreat. Republican campaign strategists fear severe setbacks if voters blame the party for a default on U.S. financial obligations.
The concessions also seem to have put the speaker back on track for passing major bills with solid GOP majorities.
Early in January, Boehner twice had to abandon the "majority of the majority" rule that has guided House speakers for years. That rule says that whenever possible, a speaker wants to avoid passing major legislation that most of the speaker's party members oppose.
But unyielding Republicans forced Boehner's hand Jan. 1 on the fiscal cliff.
He had to rely chiefly on Democrats' votes to enact an Obama-backed budget deal to avoid a tax increase on most Americans and instead raise them for the more affluent. Two weeks later, Boehner again had to accept most Republicans' abandonment on a deficit-financed spending bill to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Perhaps Boehner's darkest moment came on Dec. 20, when conservative colleagues rejected his counteroffer to Obama's bid to raise taxes on the wealthy.
The setback not only embarrassed the speaker, but also forced him to the sidelines, requiring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to step in as the top GOP on the fiscal cliff.
Yet within four weeks, Boehner and his allies had vastly improved party discipline and coherence.
Boehner made his closing arguments at the party's annual mid-January retreat in Williamsburg, Va., where reporters and other outsiders were mostly kept at bay.
A daylong session began with Boehner explaining what he saw as the financial and political "facts about the debt ceiling," a participant said. Next up were his top lieutenants, to amplify his remarks and discuss possible options: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp of Michigan and
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party's vice presidential nominee last year.
They left no doubt of the party hierarchy's allegiance to Boehner.
House Republicans agreed to postpone the debt-ceiling showdown for three months. That will let Congress deal first with two less dire issues in which Republicans feel they have more leverage: the scheduled start of big, across-the-board spending cuts and the need to approve funds to keep the government running another year.
"Everybody took a hard look at it and said we can't govern from the House of Representatives," said Republican strategist Mike McKenna. Rather than confront Obama "army to army," McKenna said, Republicans decided to "do a little more sniper action."
It's unclear how long the calm will last.


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Decorate your car, truck, buggy, pit box and more with the latest HPI Racing logo set! This bright orange and black vinyl decal sheet features the new HPI hex logo in multiple sizes and shapes, so it's ideal for adding cool detail to RC vehicles of any scale.
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Unconscious Situation of Choice
Posted by The Situationist Staff on April 16, 2008
From Science Daily Release:
Contrary to what most of us would like to believe, decision-making may be a process handled to a large extent by unconscious mental activity. A team of scientists has unraveled how the brain actually unconsciously prepares our decisions. Even several seconds before we consciously make a decision its outcome can be predicted from unconscious activity in the brain.
This is shown in a study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, in collaboration with the Charité University Hospital and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin. The researchers from the group of Professor John-Dylan Haynes used a brain scanner to investigate what happens in the human brain just before a decision is made. "Many processes in the brain occur automatically and without involvement of our consciousness. This prevents our mind from being overloaded by simple routine tasks. But when it comes to decisions we tend to assume they are made by our conscious mind. This is questioned by our current findings."
In the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, [Chun Siong Soon, Marcel Brass, Hans-Jochen Heinze & John-Dylan Haynes. Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience April 13th, 2008] participants could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with their left or right hand. They were free to make this decision whenever they wanted, but had to remember at which time they felt they had made up their mind. The aim of the experiment was to find out what happens in the brain in the period just before the person felt the decision was made. The researchers found that it was possible to predict from brain signals which option participants would take up to seven seconds before they consciously made their decision. Normally researchers look at what happens when the decision is made, but not at what happens several seconds before. The fact that decisions can be predicted so long before they are made is a astonishing finding.
This unprecedented prediction of a free decision was made possible by sophisticated computer programs that were trained to recognize typical brain activity patterns preceding each of the two choices. Micropatterns of activity in the frontopolar cortex were predictive of the choices even before participants knew which option they were going to choose. The decision could not be predicted perfectly, but prediction was clearly above chance. This suggests that the decision is unconsciously prepared ahead of time but the final decision might still be reversible.
"Most researchers investigate what happens when people have to decide immediately, typically as a rapid response to an event in our environment. Here we were focusing on the more interesting decisions that are made in a more natural, self-paced manner", Haynes explains.
More than 20 years ago the American brain scientist Benjamin Libet found a brain signal, the so-called "readiness-potential" that occurred a fraction of a second before a conscious decision. Libet's experiments were highly controversial and sparked a huge debate. Many scientists argued that if our decisions are prepared unconsciously by the brain, then our feeling of "free will" must be an illusion. In this view, it is the brain that makes the decision, not a person's conscious mind. Libet's experiments were particularly controversial because he found only a brief time delay between brain activity and the conscious decision.
In contrast, Haynes and colleagues now show that brain activity predicts — even up to 7 seconds ahead of time — how a person is going to decide. But they also warn that the study does not finally rule out free will: "Our study shows that decisions are unconsciously prepared much longer ahead than previously thought. But we do not know yet where the final decision is made. We need to investigate whether a decision prepared by these brain areas can still be reversed."
* * *
For a sample of previous, related Situationist posts, see "The Situation of Reason," and Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV of "The Unconscious Situation of our Consciousness."
2 Responses to "Unconscious Situation of Choice"
December 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm
[…] than we are consciously aware, we instinctively imitate one another. When around each other we synchronize our body movements, […]
September 15, 2011 at 10:17 am
Indeed, there was a time year ago when I experienced a choice I had made having occurred at an unconcious level. It was like looking down into a depth and experiencing the choice-making action.


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Bronson woman recovering after car crash
BRONSON — All Samantha Stayner wants is to be able to sing again.
The 30-year-old Bronson woman, who was critically injured in an Oct. 13 automobile accident, remains in Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. She is the lead singer of popular local band Shattered Innocence, and because her injuries involved her neck and she has had to have breathing tubes in her throat, doctors aren't sure she will ever be able to sing again.
"They told us she'd fully recover, but that it would be a long road," said Stayner's sister-in-law Lori Stayner. "What they're concentrating on right now are the brain injuries … she injured the part of her brain that controls her breathing, so she still has a trachea tube. I think her biggest concern is whether or not she can sing again."
Bob Hout plays keyboards for Shattered Innocence. He met Stayner a couple of years ago.
"She's got a very bubbly personality and she's a dynamite singer and a very sweet girl," Hout said.
Stayner and her husband Jason are the parents of three boys — Caleb, 13; Elijah, 10; and Carson, 8.
The accident in which Stayner was injured occurred on Central Road east of Batavia Road in Bethel Township. Stayner, 30, was driving a Ford Focus westbound when she lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree.
Stayner and her son Carson were trapped in the car. They were extricated by personnel from the Bronson and Lakeland fire departments.
Both were taken to the Community Health Center of Branch County and later transferred to Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, where Carson was treated and released.
Alcohol was not a factor in the crash. Seat belts and child restraints were in use at the time of the accident.
Stayner will likely be released from the hospital in the next couple of weeks, but will still require in-home care.
A benefit to help with those and other expenses is planned for Saturday. The event will take place at the Bronson American Legion, 131 York St., and will begin at 9 a.m.
The all-day benefit will include a rummage sale, bake sale and silent auction. Later in the evening local bands, including Shattered Innocence, will perform (admission will be $5 at the door after 6 p.m.). Also taking the stage will be Meccabone and Mystimeanor.
Hout has been taking lead singer duties in Shattered Innocence during Stayner's absence.
"We haven't really played much since the accident," Hout said. "We've canceled a lot of gigs. We're not really Shattered Innocence without Sam. Our hook is that we have her as our lead singer … she's so versatile. She sings country, classics and rock."
Stayner had big plans. She was hoping to appear on the television talent show "The Voice," and had also planned on trying to get on a talent show put on by talk show host Ellen Degeneres.
"She didn't get to do those things because of the accident," Hout said.
Hout keeps in regular contact with Stayner via text messaging.
"The doctors are telling her she won't sing again," Hout said. "They told us she wouldn't he able to peep a word for a year. But we'll see."
For more information on Saturday's benefit, call (517) 317-2934 or (269) 832-9492.


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Humanity I Love You
The world, sometimes, is an ugly place. A spectacularly ugly place. A place that is made all the uglier for the fact that its ugliness creeps in at the edges, smothering the beauty in its path. When you look at it through dreamy or sleepy eyes - rose-colored glasses, I think is the term - it seems unparalleled in beauty - a baby's smile, peonies in first bloom, a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie - until you blink and rub your eyes and look more closely and realize that in the shadows lurks such ugliness as you have never imagined. And suddenly the baby's smile fades, and the peonies wither, and the Buffy movie turns out to be a cinematic crime of such epic proportions to prevent you from ever seeing a movie again.
It's the kind of ugliness, as I said, that smothers and warps beauty, turning the world ugly for no reason other than proclaim the victory of ugliness. So it is, for example, that people proclaim that an image of beauty and hope - an image of a small child nursing her infant doll - is something sordid, in order to assert their belief that nursing is ugly and that bodies are ugly and that any practice of nurture that does not accord with their limited view of what constitutes love and nurture is ugly. So it is, for example, that people proclaim that the marriage of two people who love each other and want to love and care for each other for the entirety of their lives is a deviation, simply because the people who want to marry are not of different sex, in order to assert their belief that love is ugly and that sex is ugly if these do not accord with their limited view of the character and purpose of love and sex. And so by making these assertions, they drag in the cold specters of prurience and judgment and demand that we view these unarguably beautiful things - playful joy being derived from an act of nurture, the determination of two hearts to be joined in committed love - through a chilly hateful fog. Everything takes on the cast of ugliness through such a fog. Everything.
Such a fog creates hate where none existed before, where none should have existed before. I hate those who would make me second-guess a beautiful photograph of my daughter, who would force me to defend encouraging her in something - indulging the impulse to play at motherhood, to play at nurture, to teach herself the practices of love and care - that should require no defense, none at all. I hate those who would compel me to shake my fists at the state of California and shout words like evil and stupid and unfair, who would drag me into the ring to defend, again, something that should be beyond defense, something that should just be received as a given blessing - more love in the world, more hearts bound to other hearts, more hearts in exulting in the joy of sharing a life.
There is nothing sexual about a child pretending to nurse. There is nothing sordid about two men or two women loving each other. That I even have to draw together in a written breath the words sexual-child-nurse and sordid-two-men-two-women-loving is ugly and wrong because it just perpetuates the ugliness, it just gives it air to breathe, it just acknowledges that it is there and that fills me with anger, so much anger, and so the cycle of ugliness grinds on.
So I am choosing, now, to refuse the ugliness. I am not going to argue or rant or defend. Beauty needs no defense. It just is. And I am going to celebrate it.
This is beauty:
Let's celebrate it. Maybe, by celebrating it, we can chase the ugliness back into the shadows.
Teach your child to nurse a dolly. Tell your child that Barbie can fall in love with Barbie and that Ken can fall in love with Ken. Tell them that love - good love, strong love, love that doesn't hurt - is never ugly. Tell them, teach them, that caring for other beings, is always beautiful, no matter what it looks like. Tell them to fight ugliness by celebrating beauty. And you do the same.
Let's all do the same.
(Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down
on it)
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Cancer InDepth: Kidney Cancer
Cancer is a disease in which cells grow in an abnormal way. Normally, cells divide in a controlled manner to replace old or damaged cells. If cells keep dividing when new cells are not needed, a mass of tissue called a tumor forms.
A tumor can be benign or malignant. A benign tumor is not cancer and will not spread to other parts of the body. A malignant tumor is cancer. Cancer cells invade and damage tissue around them. They can also enter the lymph and blood streams, spreading to other parts of the body. Kidney cancer is the development of malignant cells in the kidneys.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Normal Anatomy and the Development of Kidney Cancer
The kidneys are 2 bean-shaped organs located in the rear of the abdominal cavity on each side of the backbone. The kidneys are part of the urinary system that filter excess water, salts, nutrients, and wastes from the blood. The kidneys also balance acids, and regulate fluid volume and blood pressure. Blood passes through special tubes inside the kidneys that can clear wastes, excess salt, nutrients, and water from the blood to create urine. The urine is then passed into long, muscular tubes called ureters that drain urine to the bladder.
An adrenal gland sits near the top of each kidney. The adrenal glands produce and secrete hormones, such as adrenaline and the steroid aldosterone. These hormones regulate the fight or flight response, and balance minerals, salts, blood volume, and metabolism. The location or severity of kidney tumors can influence the function of the adrenal glands.
Cell division and cell death are a normal process in the body to replace old or damaged cells. The cells inside of the kidneys may have a high rate of damage and cell turnover because they interact with waste products and toxins that are the blood. The turnover and irritation of the kidney cells can be increased with kidney diseases, dialysis, or chronic exposure to toxins. Excess turnover may increase the chance of cancer developing.
Kidney cancer can cause bleeding or interfere with kidney function. If it grows beyond the kidneys, the cancer can penetrate nearby structures, such as the ureters or bladder, and interfere with their function as well. Cancer can also spread to lymph nodes or blood vessels, which can carry cancer cells to other areas of the body. The most common sites for kidney cancer to travel to are the bones, lungs, liver, and brain.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Types of Kidney Cancer
The types of kidney cancer are based on the area where they first develop. These include:
- Renal cell adenocarcinoma —Most common type. Develops in the lining of the tubes in the kidneys. There are subtypes of renal cell adenocarcinoma based on the cancer cells appearance under a microscope:
- Clear cell (most common)
- Papillary
- Chromophobe
- Transitional or urothelial carcinomas —Transitional cells are special cells that line the ureter. The cancer can develop in a section of the kidneys closest to the ureters and bladder.
- Wilms tumor —Most common kidney cancer in children.
- Sarcoma —Rare and arise from the connective tissue or blood vessels of the kidneys.
Kidney cancer may result in multiple tumors in one or both kidneys.
General information about renal cancer. National Cancer Institute website. Available at: https://www.cancer.gov/types/kidney/patient/kidney-treatment-pdq. Updated May 11, 2018. Accessed December 31, 2018.
Kidney cancer. National Kidney Foundation website. Available at: https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/kidneycancer. Accessed December 31, 2018.
Kidney cancer (adult)—renal cell carcinoma. American Cancer Society website. Available at: http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003107-pdf.pdf. Accessed December 31, 2018.
Renal cell carcinoma. EBSCO DynaMed Plus website. Available at:http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T114704/Renal-cell-carcinoma. Updated October 10, 2018. Accessed December 31, 2018.
Renal cell carcinoma. Merck Manual Professional Version website. Available at: http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/genitourinary-disorders/genitourinary-cancer/renal-cell-carcinoma. Updated October 2017. Accessed December 31, 2018.
Last reviewed December 2018 by Mohei Abouzied, MD Last Updated: 12/31/2018