text:
About Butterflies and Wheels
Does God Hate Women?
Extracts: Does God Hate Women?
Reviews: Does God Hate Women?
The Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense
Why Truth Matters
Extracts: Why Truth Matters
Reviews: Why Truth Matters
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Two Nice Guys
May 19th, 2006 5:50 pm | By Ophelia Benson
Did you read the excerpts from Rebecca Clarren's article about near-slave labour in the Mariana islands and the sterling work Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff did to block all legislative attempts to reform the situation? That's the far right for you, revealed in all its squalid glory – peel away all the heavy breathing about culture of life and family values and Christian nation, and what you find is the reality: destitute Asian women worked practically to death for execrable wages and in execrable conditions while fat prosperous happy safe white men collect huge payments to bribe each other and take each other on junkets all in aid of preventing those overworked underpaid Asian women from being paid the minimum wage. It's bottomlessly disgusting.
30,000 "guest workers" — predominately women — from China, the Philippines and Thailand sew clothing for top-name American brands, which are then allowed to label them "Made in USA" because the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a U.S. territory. But workers in these factories are not covered by U.S. minimum-wage and immigration laws. Coming from rural villages and the big-city slums of poor Asian countries, these garment workers arrive in Saipan with a huge financial debt, having borrowed money (at interest rates as high as 20 percent) to pay recruiters as much as $7,000 for a one-year contract job. In a situation akin to indentured servitude, workers cannot earn back their recruitment fee and pay for housing and food without working tremendous hours of overtime…Abramoff and his team brought in nearly $11 million in fees from the Northern Marianas government and Saipan garment manufacturers to block congressional efforts to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the islands' exemptions from U.S. immigration laws. His efforts focused on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories. And he also cultivated powerful allies in the House leadership — notably Tom DeLay, who, as Majority Whip at the time, could keep a bill off the House floor even if the Resources Committee voted in its favor.
Could, and did. And then apparently slept well at night. A pretty picture, is it not? Powerful rich men keeping powerless poor women in wretched grinding poverty, because they've been paid to do so.
Update: Terri Gross interviewed Rebecca Clarren, the reporter who wrote the story, and Katherine Spillar, the editor who commissioned it, on Fresh Air last Tuesday. They say more about DeLay's work to block legislation than appears in the extracts at Alternet and TomPaine. I'd link to the full article but it appears not to be online. The interview is pretty gripping.
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 13 comments
Hero-worship
Well, no, since you ask, I couldn't resist; of course not. What do you take me for? It would take a saint, or rather a hero, to resist, and I'm not either of those things, nor a martyr neither, I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger – no, wait, that's a song. I'm just a poor shlub at a keyboard, and I don't resist stuff. I don't have the grit and the fibre and the steel it would take to resist hooting with laughter at New Statesman readers voting for Thatcher as one of their top heroes. Snerk, snort, shriek. She's in the top five.
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 6 comments
It's scary when they start shooting up judges. Very scary, in the same way it's scary (terrifying, actually) when there are Congressional representatives willing to try to pass legislation as grotesquely unconstitutional as the mockingly-named Constitution Restoration Act, and when an angry (and thoroughly corrupt) senator threatens judges from the floor of the Senate. It's scary when theocrats start to target the judiciary, because in a secular state, the judiciary is the only institution that can block majoritarian moves to establish theocracy.
And they know that in Turkey. They are scared, and they're pissed.
Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Turkish capital, Ankara, in protest at the killing of a judge by a suspected Islamist gunman. Protesters waved Turkish flags and chanted slogans that the country must remain a secular state. A man calling himself "a soldier of Allah" shot dead Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin and wounded four others at a top administrative court on Wednesday…Correspondents say the attack may have been linked to the court's record in upholding the ban on Muslim headscarves in universities and government offices – a decision condemned as illegal by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling party has Islamist roots…The gunman reportedly burst into a committee meeting of the Council of State, shouting "Allahu akbar!" (God is great) as he fired his weapon…"This massacre attempt is directed against the secular republic. We strongly denounce it," said the statement read by Sumru Cortoglu, chairwoman of the Council of State.
Bad, bad, very bad.
The Turkish newspapers are interesting. Bekir Coskun in Hurriyet for instance:
Whether they have a gun or a bomb in their hand, their target is the same: To wipe out the secular republic, to prevent modernity and civilization and push Turkish society into a way of life from the Middle Ages, to make Sharia law dominant.
Bad.
So I suppose right now somewhere in the middle of London (where is the ICA, anyway? I forget. Piccadilly? Bedford Square? next to Hatchard's? I have no idea) some people (how many, I wonder? fifty? a hundred? two?) are listening to three or four guys talking about truth. I wonder what they're saying about it. That it can be hard to get at, perhaps. That it's in a well. That Bacon named an essay after it. That it's not a bad thing to aim at, on the whole. That people who play certain public roles have a particular obligation to aim at it, and to avoid aiming at the other thing. That it's just a matter of common sense, when you get right down to it. No, not that last one, that one's a joke.
Well, I hope they're all enjoying themselves, at any rate.
Ward Churchill
May 17th, 2006 2:23 am | By Ophelia Benson
Interesting. The University of Colorado has released a report on its investigation of Ward Churchill. And?
Among the violations that the committee found Churchill had committed were falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, failure to comply with established standard regarding author names on publications, and a "serious deviation from accepted practices in reporting results from research."
Uh – that's bad. That's what you don't do. You know like when you go to the dentist? The dentist isn't supposed to take the sharp things and jam them into the roof of your mouth on purpose. That's contraindicated. Same thing with this. Academics aren't supposed to falsify, fabricate, or plagiarize. It doesn't matter whether they're controversial or offensive or rowdy or longhaired; they don't get to falsify and fabricate. They just don't. Being controversial and offensive doesn't mean they do get to, as some kind of compensation for the fatigue or risk of being controversial and offensive. It doesn't work that way. Made-up social science just isn't wanted, no matter how thrillingly controversial the maker-up is.
It's like David Irving, again. Ward Churchill doesn't have a free speech or First Amendment right to falsify and fabricate. It's not a criminal offense and not an imprisonable one, but it's not a protected free speech right, either. He doesn't get to say 'it's my First Amendment right to fabricate and falsify my research' and carry on doing it.
He doesn't get to say his hand slipped, either. They thought of that, and said No.
The Committee found that Professor Churchill's misconduct was deliberate and not a
matter of an occasional careless error. The Committee found that similar patterns recurred
throughout the essays it examined. The Committee therefore concluded that the degree of his
misconduct was serious, but differed on the sanction warranted.
The committee also pointed out that the controversy is one thing and the misconduct is another. Important point, that.
The Committee notes that the Laws of the Regents of the University of Colorado
define "academic freedom" as "the freedom to inquire, discover, publish and
teach truth as the faculty member sees it, subject to no control or authority save
the control and authority of the rational methods by which truth is established."
We understand and were careful to distinguish "misconduct in research"…from the issue of "truth" addressed by
the Regents' Laws' definition of academic freedom. The Committee observes
also that the allegations we were asked to investigate were initiated in the wake of
the public outcry concerning some highly controversial essays by Professor
Churchill dealing with, among other things, the 9/11 tragedy. While not
endorsing either the tone or the contents of those essays, the Committee reaffirms,
as the University has already acknowledged, that Professor Churchill's right to
publish his views was protected by both the First and Fourteenth Amendment
guarantees of free speech. Although those essays played no part in our
deliberations, the Committee expresses its concern regarding the timing and
perhaps the motives for the University's decision to forward charges made in that
The timing and context are highly unfortunate. Too bad Churchill provided so much ammunition for his critics.
Why Bother To Read Books Before Reviewing Them?
Here's some, shall we say, flexible thinking in action. Someone (the name sounds male so I'll decide it is male, in order not to have to say s/he, which I do not like to say) admitting in the first words of a 'review' that he has not read the book he is reviewing, then blithely and absent-mindedly proceeding to discuss said book quite as if he had indeed read it and taken detailed notes. I can tell you he hadn't and hasn't and didn't, though, because everything he says about it is flat wrong, and I know that on account of I co-wrote the book.
Behold his artless frankness at the beginning –
I can imagine, and i've heard from friends that this is a good and funny read if you're coming from the same camp as the authors (which i guess much of the general public will), but the (apparently witty) attacks on the "fashionable lunatics" of modern philosophy and religious believers are as far is it goes.
There you go. He can imagine, and he's heard from friends, but he doesn't know. The 'attacks' are 'apparently' witty but he doesn't know that from personal knowledge. Not until the next sentence, when suddenly he does know all about it.
Look at them! They're saying things which we don't seem like intuitive common sense! They must be idiots! Ho ho.
Right. That's just what Why Truth Matters is like. That's all we do: we just point and laugh. Spot on.
It's clear neither of the authors really understand post-modern philosophy, particularly its effect on ethics, and worse the book lumps together everything from art to history that anybody might have described as post modern into a single post modern opinion, so it can ridicule them all at the same time, apparently failing to realise the extremely wide range of phenomena that it covers.
Yup, that's right, that's an accurate description all right, we lump together everything from art to history and then ridicule the whole stew; we have no clue about the wide range of whatnots. What we did is we found a couple of columns by George Will and just kind of riffed on them, and let it go at that.
Okay, so, speaking of the effect of 'post-modern philosophy' on ethics, this Mojo fella has an interesting idea of ethics. He apparently considers it ethical to tell a pack of flat, brazen lies about a book he hasn't read in hopes of damaging its chances because he doesn't like what he thinks he knows (but doesn't) about the contents. Fortunately, he's also stupid enough to say he hasn't read it and only then set about the lying. Perhaps that's the effect of 'postmodern philosphy' on the intellect.
Foundational Commitments
So, where were we. Here's one thing JS said in the discussion.
The other general point is that I think people make the best cases for
scientific method when there are genuine threats to the scientific process.
I don't think having imaginary arguments does the job nearly as well. So,
for example, Dawkins, Dennett, Jones, etc., are all doing what they're doing
at least in part because they think that evolution is under threat as an
accepted truth. So there's an instrumental reason for wanting dissent.
That did make sense to me, and since that made sense to me, I was better able to see what he was getting at in the interview. (The interview, being so brief, was a little cryptic. I think the subject probably needs more room to breathe than that.) I don't really know for sure that Dawkins, Dennett, Jones and co are doing what they're doing better than they would be doing it if they did not think evolution was under threat as an accepted truth – but I think it's at least possible. Because for one thing the misunderstandings that ID-defenders keep kicking up perhaps show what needs explaining. (On the other hand, I know PZ for instance thinks those misunderstandings are just repetitive and futile and a waste of time that biologists could be spending on research rather than on endlessly arguing the same points over and over again with ID-defenders who will just repeat the process tomorrow. But the two needn't be in contradiction. It could be that people who write about the public understanding of science are in a way helped by misunderstandings while people who are doing research are not. It could be a matter of division of labour.)
There's a lot more, but we ended up pretty much agreeing, I think, except possibly on some not particularly important details. There's an issue about what foundational beliefs B&W takes for granted, or is committed to, and whether they are rationally grounded or not – but it probably doesn't matter all that much, because I certainly see the point at issue even if I'm not sure I agree with him on the details. The details have to do with my view that apart from a commitment to rational inquiry, which I don't think could be revisable even in principle, the other truth-claims B&W perhaps takes for granted are nevertheless in principle revisable, if new evidence turned up. His view is that many foundational truth claims aren't really revisable even in principle, or (stretching) that they just barely are in principle but not psychologically. I can buy the second version, the in principle but not psychologically one; but the first one, I don't. Maybe that's just because I'm too ignorant! That could be. It could be that I'm so ignorant that all my foundational beliefs about how the world is are quite loosely held, simply because I don't know enough to hold them more firmly. But I think it's also simply because I can imagine in a thought-experiment way some sort of inside-out universe evidence that could turn up; but I can't imagine deciding that rational inquiry is systematically wrong, because I don't see how one could get there except with some kind of rational inquiry. If I try to imagine it I always end up with some version of rational inquiry at some stage – and some pretty early stage at that. The very idea of revising a commitment to rational inquiry involves rational inquiry – so – I can't get my mind around it, it keeps sliding off.
But that's a detail. (We talked about it while writing the book, too, I think. Went round and round for awhile and then gave it up and went back to work.) But I find this kind of thing inexhaustibly interesting, so I thought you might too. Anyway there's no need to produce one of those nice Erratum slips to shove in the remaining copies of WTM saying 'Never mind'. Amusing though that would be.
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Oh That Kind of 'Adopt'
So, about those puzzling issues to do with what B&W's basic commitments are and how one goes about figuring stuff out – I've had a chance to discuss them with JS now and it turns out we don't disagree all that much and that he wasn't saying quite what I thought he was. It all turns – as I said in a comment but didn't make enough of – on the word 'adopt'. I thought he meant adopt as in 'decide to believe', but he meant not 'believe' but 'act as if I believe' – which is a whole different thing, as we said in those comments. So that clears that up!
There are some interesting issues involved, which I want to ponder a little, but I also want some fresh air and abrupt violent movement, so I'll ponder later. The weather forecast says it's going to be 87 here today. ? Is that possible? In mid-May? I object. I don't like that kind of thing in mid-July, but I realize I have to put up with it, but in mid-May? No. Weather forecast says it will be in the 80s all week. This is not right.
Interlude for Own-trumpet-blowing
Okay how can I do this without being repellent and awful. I can't. Okay I'm going to be repellent and awful. But hey, there's such a thing as marketing and advertising, you know – don't think of it as being repellent and awful, think of it as advertising. What am I supposed to do, co-write a book and then not say anything about it? Well then!
Right, so Johann Hari wrote this review of Why Truth Matters. It seems fair to say he thinks it's good. Boastful and repellent, but fair.
He concludes pleasantly.
In Why Truth Matters, Benson and Stangroom answer the clotted, barely readable sentences of the postmodernists with sentences so clear you could swim in them. There should be a law demanding every purchase of a Jacques Derrida "book" be accompanied with a free copy of this shimmering, glimmering answer.
Sentences so clear you could swim in them. My goal in life, in a way. Really – I do love clarity.
Hello, Canada?
The walls keep getting closer and closer and closer. Read Michelle Goldberg on the subject if you want to have nightmares for a week.
Speaking to outsiders, most Christian nationalists say they're simply responding to anti-Christian persecution. They say that secularism is itself a religion, one unfairly imposed on them. They say they're the victims in the culture wars. But Christian nationalist ideologues don't want equality, they want dominance.
Yes of course they say secularism is a religion. Secularism is a religion, science is a religion, 'evolutionism' is a religion, 'Darwinism' is a religion, atheism is a religion, humanism is a religion, naturalism is a religion, rationality is a religion, everything that doesn't bow down and grovel before their benighted impoverished world view is a religion. And if some of them get their way – we won't just be silenced or put under house arrest for life, we'll be executed. So let's hope they don't. But…listening to Goldberg on Fresh Air on Thursday I learned more about the Constitution Restoration Act and became very very afraid. If enough loonies get into Congress, which seems not nearly as impossible as I would like it to be, that thing could pass. The Supreme Court would throw it out in a heartbeat, because it's so unconstitutional it's a joke – but then they would just amend the Constitution. I don't think that's likely (she said nervously) – but – I wish I could be more confident than I am. What's the Constitution Restoration Act, you wonder? Oh, nothing. No biggy. Just a little tweak that strips judges of the power to hear cases involving 'any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), concerning that entity's, officer's, or agent's acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.' That's all. Nothing. Just a law that would forbid the judiciary to review official moves to impose theocracy. Why would anyone object to that?
Terrifyingly, there doesn't seem to have been much news coverage of this. Like, any. Oh well done. The major meeja ignored the little matter of Bush systematically ignoring acts of Congress that he didn't feel like obeying by cranking out more than seven hundred fifty 'signing statements' in which White House lawyers say he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to; and now we find they also slept through this little business of legislation aimed at establishing a theocracy in the US. What would be outrageous and terrifying enough to get their attention, one wonders? Does it absolutely have to emit huge clouds of black smoke and cause giant buildings to fall down to be worth noticing? Or does it have to be not Republican and not Rush Limbaugh's greatest hero to be worth noticing? Or what? Why is this kind of thing allowed to ooze along in such soothing silence?
There is one article at Znet. Great; that'll reach millions.
Znet wonders about the non-coverage too, not surprisingly.
The potential impact of the Constitution Restoration Act on American life, law and politics is so radical and vast that you would expect a boiling national debate. Yet just as with the crimes and questions of 9/11, everyone in the media seems terrifically busy looking the other way. If you want yet another dramatic metric of US journalistic dysfunction, try Googling "Constitution Restoration Act" in their News category and see what you get. Today, three weeks after the bill was filed, I find a grand total of three throwaway mentions in Alabama's Shelby County Reporter, the Decatur Daily, and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. ("Terry Schiavo" in contrast will net you over a thousand news hits, and "Michael Jackson" just passed 36,000 with a bullet.)
Just so. Googling 'Constitution Restoration Act' in Google News is exactly what I did – that's how I found the Znet article – and sure enough – a year later, and the cupboard is still bare. That is pathetic. I have few illusions about the US 'news' media, but that is pathetic. The 'signing statements' were all but ignored until Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe got busy, and an attempted theocratic putsch is also ignored. It boggles the mind.
The CRA already has 28 sponsors in the House and Senate, and a March 20 call to lead sponsor Sen. Richard Shelby's office assures us that "we have the votes for passage." This is a highly credible projection as Bill Moyers observes in his 3/24/05 "Welcome to Doomsday" piece in the New York Review of Books: "The corporate, political, and religious right's hammerlock… extends to the US Congress. Nearly half of its members before the election-231 legislators in all (more since the election)-are backed by the religious right… Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to 100 percent approval ratings from the most influential Christian Right advocacy groups."
That was 2005. It hasn't passed yet. But the bastards are still gathering.
Threat Threat Threat Bless You
And there arose a great noise in the land, and a whirling on the waters, and the people were sore afraid, or upset, or worried, or puzzled, or something. Why? Because of a movie, of course. What movie? you ask, all athirst to know. Well what movie do you think? The Rembrandt code, of course. No no, I know; the Renoir code. No no, I'm just playing silly buggers; the Kandinsky code. Oh all right, the Da Vinci Code. (A title which causes a faint electrical hum of irritation every time I hear or see it, because as any fule kno, Da Vinci is not Leonardo's surname. It's like titling a book and movie The Of Devonshire Code after the Duke of Devonshire, or the Of Arc Code after Joan of that ilk. Tsssss.) Okay so the Da Vinci Code and how people are all knotted up about the underwear. There's this cardinal for instance.
"Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," said Arinze. "Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical…This is one of the fundamental human rights – that we should be respected, our religious beliefs respected, and our founder Jesus Christ respected," said Cardinal Arinze.
See, I didn't know that. I didn't know that it was a fundamental human right that we should be respected. (We who? Christians? Humans? Cardinals? People who pitch fits about movies? Zealots? Wannabe censors? Nags? Bullies? Who?) I also didn't know it was a fundamental human right that our religious beliefs be respected and our founder Jesus Christ be respected. That is news to me. Here's me trundling along from day to day with my human rights being violated from here to Sunday, because I can tell you for a fact that there are people in this world who don't respect me. The ones who've never heard of me would be one place to start; the ones who know me well and think I'm a bore and a nuisance would be another. And yet, all the time, it is my human right to be respected (and not, apparently, everyone else's human right to decline to respect me, however boring and useless and a complete waste of time I may be), and nothing is done about it. Comrades, what we have here is a wholesale violation of civic order, a massive breakdown in the fabric of how things are supposed to be. What we also have here is a potentially worrying state of tyranny, in which we are all required to respect more than six billion people, at least five billion of whom we wouldn't recognize if they sat next to us at the annual Bus Spotters' Gala and said howdy. That seems like a lot of respect-duty we've all been falling down on.
The cardinal goes on, in his pleasant mild humble conciliatory way.
"Those who blaspheme Christ and get away with it are exploiting the Christian readiness to forgive and to love even those who insult us. There are some other religions which if you insult their founder they will not be just talking."
Ah! Very true! They will not be just talking, they will be shouting and threatening and torching and killing. They will be putting out bounties, they will be traveling towards Denmark, they will be taking action. How heart-warming it is to see a cardinal using their pleasant example to threaten the blasphemers. How exhilarating it is to know that religions think they have a right to veto novels and movies that tell stories about their story. How the walls do keep getting closer and closer and closer.
The I Word
Thought for the day. From Dave Hill at 'Comment is Free'.
Why are some progressives turning against identity politics? After all, aren't they the means for liberating the oppressed? In fact, they have always had their critics from the left. But Islamic terrorism has, I guess, provided a new and more public momentum. Awkward questions are being asked, not least on this site: how can liberals support assertions of Muslim identity when these include the subordination of women and hatred of gays? How can the anti-war left march hand-in-hand with hardline Islamists? Tricky issues. And I'm a bit conflicted about them. I'm wary of accidentally joining in with the dreary right-wing drone about "victim culture", "multiculturalism" (whatever they think it means), "political correctness" and so on, which some "hard liberals" seem in danger of doing. Yet it has long been very clear that while identity politics can be a rational and affirming response to prejudice and oppression they can also be deeply reactionary: racial essentialism, inward-looking nationalism, cultural purism and a general suspicion of difference and change too often become integral to them.
Just so. One always is very wary of joining in dreary right-wing drones, and yet, there are times, in the deep of night, when all is asleep save for the occasional bat streaking past the window, when the little pool of light cast by the reading lamp is surrounded by darkness as far as the eye can see, when bits of those dreary drones can seem disconcertingly…not entirely wrong. When one suddenly knows what they mean about victim culture, and wonders how whiny one may be oneself. Then one decides to stop thinking and go to sleep instead.
But, he's right: identity politics can be and in fact is both a rational response to oppression and indeed victimization but it can also (often at the very same time) be horribly reactionary and confining. That's why Amartya Sen and Anthony Appiah both have new books out on the subject. It's a difficult, tangled, and important one.
the Foucauldian in the Leather Jacket
This little aside in Scott McLemee's column made me laugh.
For better and for worse, the American reception of contemporary French thought has often followed a script that frames everything in terms of generational shifts. Lately, that has usually meant baby-boomer narcissism – as if the youngsters of '68 don't have enough cultural mirrors already. Someone like Bernard-Henri Lévy, the roving playboy philosopher, lends himself to such branding without reserve. Most of his thinking is adequately summed up by a thumbnail biography – something like, "BHL was a young Maoist radical in 1968, but then he denounced totalitarianism, and started wearing his shirts unbuttoned, and the French left has never recovered." Nor are American academics altogether immune to such prepackaged blendings of theory and lifestyle. Hey, you – the Foucauldian with the leather jacket that doesn't fit anymore….Yeah, well, you're complicit too.
Snicker, snort. I love that. 'You're complicit too.' In fact I'd like a sweatshirt or bumper sticker with that on it.
Speaking of bumper stickers, a kind reader of B&W who is connected with the Bioliteracy Project at the University of Colorado at Boulder sent me a couple of bumper stickers that say: 'Leave No Child Behind: TEACH EVOLUTION'. Life is good.
Funnily enough, reviewers aren't thronging and jostling to review Why Truth Matters. Maybe they figured out that it was actually an extended exercise in irony, or something, and didn't want to be made to look foolish by taking it seriously. Anyway there is one review from Library Journal, posted at Barnes & Noble.
Benson and Stangroom (coeditors, www. butterfliesandwheels.com) set out to prove why truth matters. Their argument isn't so much one for truth as one against ideologies and philosophies that minimize truth's importance. These counterarguments include discourses on basic human thought, cultural relativism, political reasoning, feminism, and other current and historical thought movements. The writing is superbly engaging, and each chapter is well argued. But the book's strong point is its reasonable and concise overview of the major arguments and viewpoints directly and indirectly limiting the precedence of truth. This overview allows readers to grasp easily not only each argument but also the subtle patterns into which the arguments connect. Though easy to follow, the text does assume a fair amount of prior reading. Recommended for academic collections and larger public systems with suitable demand.-Jason Moore, Madison Cty. Lib. Syst., MS Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Well, yeah. It does assume at least a little prior reading. It wouldn't be anyone's choice for the first or only book a person ever read. But some books are like that. They're part of a conversation. Not all books can be the ideal choice for the first or only book a person ever reads. Some have to fit into the middle somewhere, so that the conversation can go on. (I mention that because it's actually quite difficult to figure out how much to assume readers will know or be able to figure out and how much they will want explained. Too much in one direction and you frustrate readers and perhaps make them feel ignorant or stupid or both, but too much in the other direction and you risk making them feel patronized and insulted and also slowed down and impeded and plain bored. It can be very tricky.)
Let's talk about sin. We don't talk about sin enough, I've noticed. We're very slack that way. Very lax. Very slothy and loose and – well – sinful. So let's give it a look-see.
First let's see what a godless philosophy type has to say about it.
…ideas of right and wrong can be entirely separated from ideas of what is sinful. Aristotle, for example, thought of good and bad in terms of what allowed human beings to flourish as rational animals, with no reference to God's will. Whereas sin separates us from the divine, doing wrong separates us from our true natures or our fellow humans.
Got it. Okay. Sin separates us from the divine, so for those of us who don't think the divine is actually there (or divine if it is there, in fact if it is there it's a right bastard, so separation from it is just what we want, as far off as possible, please), sin separates us from an empty signifier, so it turns out we don't need to talk about it much, because there's nothing much to talk about. Got it. Now let's see what a goddy type has to say about it.
Julian Baggini's article on sin (G2, May 9) misunderstands the significance of sin. There is in fact no distinction to be made between doing something contrary to God's will, and doing something contrary to our own good. The Aristotelian guiding principle of human happiness, to which Baggini refers, is not intrinsically without reference to God's will – if human beings have been created by God, then the happiness of the rational animal will involve conformity to God's will, as only God can satisfy the human body and soul.
Yes, 'if'. Certainly, 'if'. Of course, 'if'. But that's just it. If. You think the answer to the question implicit in that 'if' is yes, but others of us think it is no, so it's slightly pointless to re-inform us of what follows from answering yes when we in fact answer no. The people who answer yes mostly already take your point (sort of, more or less, perhaps with some leeway), but you're addressing Julian and the rest of us no-sayers, on whom your argument is wasted, because it relies so heavily on that 'if'. In fact since our answer to the implicit question is No, we tend to think that the putative conformity to God's will is in fact conformity to what a long line of church boffins and theocrats have asserted God's will to be, and we prefer not to conform to that, thanks.
May 9th, 2006 10:48 pm | By Ophelia Benson
A commenter raised an interesting point on the pontifical post, a point that I've been pondering on and off (mostly off) ever since JS cc'd me his replies to the HERO interview.
The point the commenter raises is the same one JS raises: the idea that it's good to teach pseudoscience in universities because otherwise people get smug and lazy. Bridget in comments:
Students who are not exposed to a range of theories with stronger or weaker truth claims, do not develop the ability to critically judge the validity of what they are taught – they become lazy thinkers.
JS in the interview:
I'm not comfortable with consensus, so I think if it turned out that the kinds of views that B&W advocates became mainstream and taken-for-granted, then I'd have to adopt alternative positions. This isn't just bloody-minded contrarianism; I think there is value in dialectical engagement. It inoculates against the possibility of a smug complacency over our truth-claims.
I told JS that I'd tell him why I disagreed with his replies if he had more time (if he weren't working on 57 books), but he doesn't have more time (because of working on 57 books), and my thoughts on the subject are as it were burning a hole in my pocket. I feel dissatisfied and irked keeping them to myself. It's kind of like keeping a sexual urge to yourself, only different. I have informed one or two people I know about my thoughts on the subject, and they were immensely pleased and thankful, but I find I still want to air them some more.
One problem I think that idea has is that it contradicts what JS himself wrote about B&W on the About page when we first set it up.
There are two motivations for setting up the web site. The first is the common one having to do with the thought that truth is important, and that to tell the truth about the world it is necessary to put aside whatever preconceptions (ideological, political, moral, etc.) one brings to the endeavour.
There's a reason for that thought, surely. The reason is that preconceptions get in the way of telling the truth about the world (and of finding out what the truth about the world is) because they are extraneous. They impede, they get in the way, they detour, they introduce the irrelevant, they distort. (Of course, we're all only human, and we can't get rid of all our preconceptions, but that doesn't mean we should just shrug and let them run riot.) They replace the endeavour to find the truth with the endeavour to find whatever matches up best with one's preconceptions – and that's the wrong way to go about trying to find the truth. And it seems to me that deciding in advance to 'adopt alternative positions' when the views one thought were true become mainstream, is simply bringing another preconception to the endeavour. It seems to me that displaces asking to the best of one's ability 'are these views true?' in favour of asking 'are these views mainstream?' and that that is the right way to get at what is or is not mainstream, but the wrong way to get at what is or is not true. It seems to me to be introducing an irrelevance.
I'm not very fond of conventional wisdom and received opinions and the tepid waters of the mainstream myself, but the fact remains that in scientific or factual matters, popularity is irrelevant to truth. It is of course relevant to 'truth,' to what passes for truth, as Susan Haack puts it; but it's not relevant to actual truth. So I don't quite see why concerns about potential smug complacency should trump concerns about telling the truth about the world. Smug complacency is irritating stuff, no doubt about it, but is it really worse than lying? And does it make sense to lie for the sake of avoiding smug complacency over our truth-claims? And then of course there's the obvious problem that resisting consensus and the mainstream can lead to smug complacency over our truth-claims at least as easily as simply going along with consensus can. So maybe it's more sensible just to do one's best to get at the truth with whatever methods seem to do the job and not worry about smug complacency, rather than deciding to talk nonsense and risk being a smugly complacent anti-consensus rebel.
Better Than Being in the Phone Book
May 9th, 2006 2:12 am | By Ophelia Benson
I found something at Wikipedia. It's quite amusing.
The entry is: Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
"Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?" is a quotation from Alexander Pope's Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot of 1735, which has entered common use and has become associated with more recent figures.
Ah – has it? Who's that then?
The philosopher Mary Midgley used a variation on the phrase in an article in the journal Philosophy written to counter a review praising The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, where she cuttingly said that she had "not attended to Dawkins, thinking it unnecessary to break a butterfly upon a wheel." Dawkins replied that this statement would be "hard to match, in reputable journals, for its patronising condescension toward a fellow academic." The name Butterflies And Wheels was then adopted by a website set up to oppose Pseudoscience, Epistemic relativism and those disciplines or schools of thought whose truth claims are prompted by the political, ideological and moral commitments of their adherents.
Why – that's us. (By 'us' I mean all of us, here, reading this and occasionally writing it.) They're talking about us – me, you, the butterflies, and the wheels. Don't know why they didn't make the name a hyperlink, the silly prats, but anyway – it's fun to make a cameo appearance in an entry.
What Care I For Evidence, Peasant?
A reader sent me an article from Nature Immunology a couple of weeks ago – it's about the part that immunology played in the Dover trial, and very interesting it is. Immunology and the stacks of evidence for how it evolved blew Behe and his black box out of the water. There's a nice illustration of a tall pile of books with another thick pile of papers on top of it; the caption reads "We can look high or we can look low, in books or in journals, but the result
is the same. The scientific literature has no answers to the question of the origin of the immune system." The footnote of course is to Darwin's Black Box.
Here's the best part:
That background set the stage for the crucial
face-off at the trial…Rothschild then presented
Behe with a thick file of publications
on immune system evolution, dating from
1971 to 2006, plus several books and textbook
chapters. Asked for his response, Behe
admitted he had not read many of the publications
presented (a small fraction of all the
literature on evolutionary immunology of the
past 35 years), but summarily rejected them as
unsatisfactory and dismissed the idea of doing
research on the topic as "unfruitful."
Judge Jones commented in his decision on that summary rejection:
In fact, on cross-examination, Professor Behe
was questioned concerning his 1996 claim that
science would never find an evolutionary explanation
for the immune system. He was presented
with fifty-eight peer-reviewed publications, nine
books, and several immunology textbook chapters
about the evolution of the immune system;
however, he simply insisted that this was still not
sufficient evidence of evolution, and that it was
not 'good enough.'
We find that such evidence demonstrates that
the ID argument is dependent upon setting a scientifically
unreasonable burden of proof for the
theory of evolution.
That reminds me of something Dawkins says in 'Root of All Evil?' to the effect that no matter how much evidence scientists present of evolution or natural selection, it makes no difference at all; creationists don't trouble to look at it or worry that there's so much of it, they simply ignore all of it – summarily. A mountain of evidence has exactly the same effect as a grain of it: none whatever. That's a good point, you know – there's something badly wrong with a way of thinking that is as blithe about dismissing a mountain of evidence as it is about dismissing a thimblefull.
Bless This Laundry Room
Nnnnnnokay, time for another spot of mockery and ridicule. I've done plenty of real work today – plenty, I tell you. Finishing an article, subbing, official correspondence, all sorts. (Of course, I also took an hour or so to go for a walk in the fat leafy yellow-green lush spring streets, but hey, I'm not a vegetable, here, I can't sit at the desk for twelve hours straight.) So it's time for dessert. (Yes, besides the orange, and besides the chocolate cookie. Be quiet.)
Well, after all, what do you expect, when you get real estate agents and vicars together? Rational dialogue? I don't think so. On the one hand you got people who talk about fabulous homes with cozy stoves and divine soffits and the original reputable hand-carved Torrescino marbled antiqued spotted louvered hatchukas, and on the other hand you got people who talk to an imaginary playmate, so you see what I'm getting at.
The Church of England is going into partnership with estate agents to offer blessing services to people moving home. From this week, house buyers in a number of dioceses will be offered the services of a vicar, who will say special prayers to cover almost every eventuality.
The hatchuka breaking down, the soffits going mouldy, the hand-carved Torrescino marbling peeling off and dribbling onto the Swedish hand-sanded birch flooring, the spiders taking over the bathtubs completely, the den filling up with bears, the flat-screen tv not being flat enough – all of it will have been foreseen and prayed about and warded off and prevented by an honest to god authentic hand-dressed black and white two-eyed church of England vicar. Now that's exciting.
As the vicars go from room to room, they will lay hands on everything from the bed, praying for a healthy sex life, to the lavatory, asking for "good health and to give thanks for sanitation".
Wait – wait, wait, wait, you forgot the prayer of protection, and the going in with the left foot first, and the facing not Mecca, and not the opposite of Mecca, but the side (the side of you, towards Mecca, so that you're facing the side, instead of Mecca – see?), and the squatting, and the door closed, and the not doing it in front of fifteen people who have just sat down to three-cheese lasagne and spinach salad and don't want to watch, and the making sure to do what the prophet did, because only the prophet knows how to use the toilet the right way, even though he never actually clapped eyes on one. Just asking for good health and saying thanks for the sewer system is nowhere near enough. Pikers.
In the kitchen they will say: "O Lord, to all who shall work in this room that, in serving others, they may serve you and share in your perfect service and that in the noise and clutter of the kitchen they may possess you in tranquillity; through Jesus Christ our Lord." A prayer for the garage says: "Almighty and everlasting God, be to this household a guide in all their journeys and a shield from every danger."
The noise and clutter of the kitchen! What noise and clutter? Who are these people, how do they think they know what our kitchens are like? My kitchen happens to be exactly like an undisturbed expanse of new snow: chilly, pale, clean, pure, and silent. Noise and clutter indeed. I save that sort of thing for the living room, thank you.
Mr Painter said: "We will pray for people who are anxious about dry rot that they will be given guidance about how to tackle it. There will be those who are worried about security and we will ask God to watch over the house."
So…praying is a way to get guidance for people who are worried about dry rot? Not just, you know, looking up dry rot in the yellow pages, or online, or in one of those Yes of Course You Can Do House Repairs Yourself books? No no, I know, that's a silly question. Anyway, I gotta go: I'm going to go back to school to get a degree in real estate divinity.
On Euthanasia
George Felis wrote such an elegant and apposite comment in reply to another commenter that I wanted to put it on the main page.
You apparently missed the word "voluntary." You typed out the word, but then you talked about doctors and relatives instead of focusing on the choices available (or denied) to suffering people – and not necessarily just the elderly. (I will simply ignore your instant degeneration into Nazi comparisons, which in reasoned argument is always the first resort of a scoundrel.) Have you actually read anything about the specific proposed law? Or are you opposing it on general principle and your vague suspicions about doctors' and relatives' nefarious "utilitarian" motives? Because the actual bill being proposed by Joffe is very clear about specifics like multiple explicit consent decrees, and has a mental health clause as well. The proposed law makes euthanasia genuinely voluntary, and a nearly identical law has worked very well in Oregon with absolutely NO evidence of any of the horrible consequences that slippery-slopers always predict (with confidence inversely proportional to their actual evidence).
In fact, Oregon ranks very high (if not highest) among U.S. states in terms of number and quality of palliative care facilities, the very opposite of what opponents to voluntary euthanasia always predict. The failure of euthanasia opponents' slippery slope scenarios is unsuprising, because their fears about life becoming "de-valued" are predicated on a warped view of what constitutes valuing life in the first place. To value life simply is to think that no one should suffer needlessly, and to think that everyone has a basic right to self-determination (among other things). To insist that valuing life requires the preservation of life no matter what – without regard to the choices of the person whose life it is, without regard to their suffering – ignores freedom and happiness, which are surely chief amongst those things which give human life value. Such a view fetishizes mere metabolism, reduces the value of life to the continued ticking of the body's workings.
As for the fears of the elderly… If you think the elderly don't fear wasting away in agony and/or in a humiliating fashion, then you haven't spoken to that many elderly people about this subject. I'm not particularly elderly myself, and I fear that sort of death. Having watched my father waste away in agony over the course of several slow months as cancer consumed him, it is a very well-grounded and rational sort of fear at that.
On the more practical/legal side of the argument, the anti-euthanasia case is even worse. There is no law in the UK or the US against suicide as such, but the law prevents those who would willingly and with clear mind make that choice for themselves from carrying out their wishes in the best fashion by denying them medical help. By denying patients that right, current law actually makes it easier for non-voluntary euthanasia to be carried out by those utilitarian doctors you implicate. You are no doubt correct in your suspicion (implied) that some doctors, using overprescription of opiates and similar covert methods, do what they (or the patient's relatives) think is best – with or without the active voluntary consent of the patient: Since a majority (or at least a significant minority) of people of good will support a patient's right to choose an end to his or her own suffering, but the law forbids a physician to aid the patient to that end, there is a very natural tendency to assume that a terminally ill patient who dies suddenly chose death of his or her own free will – but that no one (doctors, relatives) can say so without running afoul of the law. In the face of this very commonly made assumption, the absence of any evidence against voluntary consent is taken blindly as evidence for voluntary consent – a gross logical error, of course, but a common (and emotionally easy) error to make in this situation. A law that allows physician-assisted suicide only under conditions of very explicit consent undermines this pernicious assumption, ensuring that every case of euthanasia is genuinely voluntary – and encouraging investigation into sudden deaths where euthanasia has not been explicitly requested.
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Art exhibit: Up July 7th through September 27.
A multimedia talk and art show showcasing the amazing wild places that are still here in the state of Florida where you can find inspiration and natural beauty.
Curtis Whitwam is a watercolor artist and native Floridian, focused on capturing the beautiful Florida landscapes and fauna that he grew up exploring.
His paintings have been featured in Rum 138 Gallery in Fort White, First Magnitude in Gainesville, Sulphur Springs Museum in Tampa, The Portico, and more! After completing the Florida Master Naturalist program with instructors at the Whitney Lab for Marine BioScience and Riverwalk Nature Center in Rockledge, Curtis went on to learn more about Florida's waterways through the Field School program with the Florida Springs Institute.
His current work highlights moments from his travels paddling the Suwannee River from White Springs to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Hillsborough, Santa Fe, Weeki Wachee and Ichetucknee Springs and Rivers in an effort to inspire people to treasure these beautiful waterways and protect them.
Please join us as we discover these amazing places through art and experience. I'll have prints, cards, and more! Support goes to Tampa Bay Watch.
Watercolor Demo at Blick Art in Tampa!


Built on the Unreal Engine, Eden to GREEEEN pits you "against alien machines from another planet" (so we can conclude "alien" doesn't mean "immigrant" here) who are trying to steal Eden's natural resources. It's up to you to save Euphoria, the natural energy of Eden.
Great news for those who have pre-ordered Notion Ink's first tablet, the Adam: they're starting to ship. Notion Ink has apparently just received their first large shipment, and posted their own unboxing and hands-on photos, while some pre-order customers now have tracking numbers in their hot little hands. Very exciting, no?
First up are the shipping details, courtesy of Adam fanblog AdamLogs. Looks like the person behind the blog has found that there's now a link to "Check Pre-Order Status" on the Notion Ink website.


Based in the South East we are a local specialist leak detection company covering Hertfordshire.
Our leak detection engineers in Hertfordshire are registered plumbers and have many years experience in installing and maintaining all types of plumbing systems. We therefore normally offer a same day 'find and fix' service, including excavation of concrete floors as necessary.
Call us on 01279 701888 or send us a web enquiry. Our lines are open Monday to Friday, 08.30 – 19.00 , Closed.


text:
Forums » DC Universe Online »
#4769568 Aug 08, 2011 at 06:45 PM
ThunderBear
This thread covers how a few things will be handled, like the changing of screenames and League names. It also details what they are now calling their "Mega Server Phasing Technology". Since this terminology was not previously announced to the press, we can assume this is what they were simply able to pull off with their replication code. Replication is what carries the details to your PC, showing you where everyone is standing, etc.
Recently we've noticed a bug that does not allow us to see all members in a party. We'd like to see this fixed first. The fact that its now being rolled out as a "feature" gives us cause for alarm. Regardless, here's their plan:
Will my character name be changed once MegaServers are implemented?
When the transition is complete, it's possible that two players could have the same name. The system will use established criteria based on character age/account age/account status to determine which player will keep the original name. Players whose names are affected by such a collision will have their character name temporarily changed, by appending a mnemonic of their server name to it.. Example: PlayerName_NML (a player who was on No Mans Land). Affected players will also receive a free name change token via in-game email which will allow them to select a new available name of their choice.
What criteria are used to determine who gets to keep their name?
Our system takes a number of factors into consideration including Account Status (active or inactive) and the amount of play time of the character to determine who will keep the original name.
How does "phasing" actually work?
MegaServers use "phasing" technology, meaning there is more than one version, or phase, of the shared areas in the game: Metropolis and Gotham City, Police Stations and Night Clubs, The JLA Watchtower and the Hall of Doom, etc.. PvP and PvE players will have their own phases on the server, but they can switch from PvE to PvP and vice versa using the Phase Shifters in the JLA Watchtower and the Hall of Doom.
Will I be able to enter the PvP Phase if I am a PvE player?
PvE players and PvP players will have separate phases on a MegaServer, however players who are interested in changing their status can use the Phase Shifters in the JLA Watchtower and the Hall of Doom.
Will my League Name be changed?
If there is a collision of a League name, we will first check for the number of active subscribers who are members, with the league having the most active players retaining the name. If there is more than one character on an account who is a member of the league this will still only count as one member or one account. In the case of a tie we will then sum up the aggregated amount of playtime for all characters active in the League and award the name to the League with the highest level. Any League affected by a name collision will be able to change its name using a League Name Change token sent to the League leader.
Will I still be able to play with my friends?
Yes! We have algorithms that will attempt to place you in the same phase as your friends and League members. Even if you end up in a different phase, you can almost always phase to your friends. Using the in-game social menu you can select "Phase With" from your Guild, Group, or Friends list. There will be some limitations on when you can phase based on whether you are in combat, in an Alert or Duo, versus other game play areas, as well as your PvP status. but I think you will find it is easy to get together with the folks you want to play with.
How will Queues work with MegaServers?
The Queues for Alerts, Raids, Duos and Arenas will select players from the entire server population across all phases. This should provide shorter queue times and get you into the action evenfaster.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Rhus schiedeana är en sumakväxtart som beskrevs av Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal. Rhus schiedeana ingår i släktet sumaker, och familjen sumakväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Externa länkar

Sumaker
schiedeana

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
HII delivers US Navy's Virginia-class submarine Delaware
29 October 2019	(Last Updated October 29th, 2019 12:35)
Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division has successfully delivered the US Navy's Virginia-class submarine Delaware (SSN 791).
Delaware (SSN 791) sails the open waters during sea trials. Credit: Ashley Cowan/HII.
The 377ft-long, 7,800t nuclear-powered fast attack submarine was launched in December last year. It completed sea trials earlier this month.
Delaware, which is the second ship to be named in honour of the US state, is the ninth Virginia boat to be delivered by Newport News Shipbuilding division. It was christened by the ship's sponsor, Jill Biden, in October 2018.
The 18th submarine of the class has been built under HII's teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat.
Newport News submarine construction vice-president Dave Bolcar said: "Like the last two submarines we delivered to the navy, Delaware has received some of the highest quality scores since the Virginia-class programme began."
"Our team of shipbuilders continues to perform at a high level, and nothing makes us prouder than delivering one of the most mission-ready submarines to the fleet."
According to HII, construction of the vessel started in September 2013. The construction phase saw the participation of over 10,000 shipbuilders from Newport News and Electric Boat.
The US Navy is expected to commission the future USS Delaware in 2020. Delaware falls under Block III submarines, which feature a new bow design with a water-backed Large Aperture Bow array and two large-diameter 87-inch Virginia Payload Tubes.
The Virginia-class vessels are being procured to replace Los Angeles-class submarines. They can conduct a range of peacetime and wartime missions such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, covert offensive and defensive mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface ship warfare.
Humphree
Electric Trim and Stabilization Systems for Naval Applications


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Can you heal type 1 diabetes using stem cells? Sara visits Dr Dipnarine Maharaj of the South Florida Stem Cell Institute to discuss his work on stem cell technology. Find out what she learned and why she's having her own stem cells frozen.
Sara talks to two people who've undergone stem cell treatment with Dr Elias Weizmann Furka. Is it painful? What's the process? And most importantly, does it work?
Stem Cells | The Cure For Almost Everything?
Stem cells may very well be the answer to overcoming the diseases we have struggled with for millennia. Discover why Sara is so excited about these new discoveries in the first of four blog posts. Are stem cells the cure for everything?


These are our furry family members.
This is Lexus she is a longhair red dapple.
She may be small but she thinks she is big.
She tries to be the boss of everyone.
This is Misty she is a longhair shaded cream.
She is a very gentle girl with a great personality.
She loves to explore and just be outside.
This is Lisa she is a longhair black/tan dapple.
She is very affectionate and loves to be with us.
She loves to run and play in the yard with her brother.
This is Lance our handsome longhair cream.
He loves patrolling the perimeter of the yard to make sure everything is under control.
This is Collin he is a longhair red.
He is best buds with Lance and they are true hounds.
He loves to play and wrestle with all of the girls.
This is Paige she is a longhair black and tan.
She is a very fun loving little girl.
I don't think there is anyone she doesn't like.
This is my Sophie she is a longhair dilute red.
She is a wonderful companion and just loves being with me.
She knows what I'm thinking before I do sometimes.
Her mom is Misty and her brother is Collin.


43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
1812 War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
1934 The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1944 World War II: Liberation of Paris - Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1960 Sputnik program: Sputnik 5 - the Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, * 2 rats and a variety of plants.
1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Crimea.
Also in 1991 - I got married. Which of course brings us to the annual anniversary haiku.
19th of August Bad day for Mr. Gorbachev My best day ever.


text:
Q: How do Torontonians pronounce the name of their hometown? Toronto - The capital and largest city of Ontario, Canada, in the southern part of the province on Lake Ontario.

*

*[tə-ˈrän-(ˌ)tō, -ˈrän-tə] — Merriam-Webster

*[tuh-ron-toh] — Reference.com

*[təˈrän(t)ō] — Oxford Dictionaries

Context: The 2012 Oscar winning movie "Argo".   Decades ago, when the Iranian revolution was reaching a boiling point and the American embassy in Tehran was invaded, six Americans escaped and found shelter at  the Canadian ambassy. To get out of Iran more or less safely they received new identities as Canadian teachers.   At this point, they were told they would be asked where they came from, at the airport, and were warned that Torontonians don't pronounce the name of their city the same way most English speaking people do.

I've searched several dictionaries and have only found the usual pronunciation.

A: 'Trawna' if we're both from there, 'Trawn-toe' if we're speaking to someone who isn't from there.

A: Peter Shor's comment is right: that second 't' is silent, in the stereotypical accent, so it's something like, "te-rah-na" ... eh?
Also Wikipedia gives /ˈtrɒnoʊ/ so the first vowel, too, is elided.
I'm not sure whether the first vowel is there or not. I think it's something like /tɨˈrɒnoʊ/ with a reduced first vowel and more stress on the 'R' than on the initial 'T', but who knows.
As an aside: apart from that "Canadian" accent, 50% of the inhabitants of Toronto were born outside Canada. So actual "Torontonians" are also likely to pronounce it with a Ukrainian accent, or with a Chinese accent, or etc.

A: When I was living in Calgary, Alberta, in the early 1970s, a student fresh from Toronto (where she had grown up) enrolled in our high school—and I would swear that she pronounced Toronto in two syllables: ˈträn-ə.
Admittedly (1) the pronunciation may have changed or (2) our transfer student may have had an idiosyncratic pronunciation or (3) even though I would swear to the accuracy of the memory, I may not be remembering it correctly.
I do know that the nasal tone with which she pronounced Toronto was a source of great mirth to the chirpy native Calgarians.

A: Your merriam-webster link shows two pronunciations: [tə-ˈrän-(ˌ)tō] and [tə-ˈrän-tə].  The second of those, ending with a short vowel, more or less agrees with the pronunciation I was told by a Torontonian about nine years ago.  Due to the lapse of time, I don't remember for certain if he slightly elided the second t – ie, somewhat like [tə-ˈrän-ə] instead of [tə-ˈrän-tə] – but I think he might have.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home Politics Second U.S. Capitol Police officer dies
Second U.S. Capitol Police officer dies
Marianne LeVine
A second U.S. Capitol Police officer has died this week, authorities reported on Sunday.
In a statement issued Sunday morning, U.S. Capitol Police did not link Howard Liebengood's death while off duty to Wednesday's deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill.
"The United States Capitol Police is deeply saddened by the off-duty death on January 9, 2021, of Officer Howard Liebengood," the agency said. "He was assigned to the Senate Division, and has been with the Department since April 2005. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and colleagues."
USCP did not specify the cause of Liebengood's death. He was 51.
Lawmakers immediately issued statements mourning his passing and called for additional support for the U.S. Capitol Police officers in the wake of Wednesday's riot that left five people dead and dozens of officers wounded.
"Our officers need more than gratitude," tweeted Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.). "They need authentic, capable leadership and meaningful support, and I call on my colleagues to join me demanding it immediately."
Liebengood's death comes days after USCP announced the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed after confronting the mob of rioters who raided the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. The U.S. Capitol is flying its flags at half-mast in Sicknick's honor, which the White House has so far refused to do.
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Brands and the Podcast Revolution
We've all lived through more digital revolutions than we can remember. Today, around 71% of UK adults own a smartphone, and we're free to go about our lives snapping photos and videos, uploading them with accompanying punchy captions in seconds. In fairly recent memory, digital cameras were a novelty, the internet was a sort of weird, dial-up underworld, social media was MySpace, and Apps and filters were something different altogether.
There's a rough pattern to the evolution of this consumer tech:
First comes the innovation, then the early-adopting consumers and investors, then better tech, then the mainstream users and creators, then a mainstream race to cash in, then naturally the hike in overall standards.
But who thought the next revolution would be in audio? I wouldn't have put money on it, until now.
ONLINE LISTENING
There are some 22.3 million people who listen to online audio in the UK, from on-demand music services to online radio and podcasts. 19% of those people listen exclusively online (even more so for younger demographics)
Now, 12 short human years (a ripe old age in digital terms) after it first appeared, the podcast has come of age commercially. And it's going to be powerful.
Imagine a digital marketing tool that rivals the depth of engagement and intimacy of reading a book and has all the convenience of an on-demand, multi-platform entertainment, but without the big production price tag.
This beautiful and simple media has blossomed quite organically from the timeless spoken word. Moreover, from storytelling and conversation. Yet it's different from traditional and even current radio. Radio has long been smart to brands that are built around listener lifestyles and demographics, choosing the commercial partners who are most appropriate to this, but within the confines of a broadcast platform. Podcasts, on the other hand, whilst still able to place content integrity first, can be brought to you directly by these companies, making those same companies no longer mere partners in delivering something a listener can be passionate about, but the providers of it. All this adds up to increased intimacy with the host brand and - if it's a good product - all the good feelings the listener associates with the programme.
PODCASTS FOR MARKETING
To state what is increasingly obvious to brands exploring podcasting - and I say brands, because this is still, predominantly a marketing exercise - the benefits of providing podcast content is that it allows them to build key strategic messages into an entertainment context. When Fresh Air Production worked with the National Trust to pilot their new podcast project last year, we took this simple commercial radio principle into how we designed our programmes, seeking out interviews and on-site stories that allowed our presenter to weave in little known facts about the Trust's wider remit, in a natural context.
The other benefit is the in-depth engagement that podcasts bring. Podcasts provide the panacea to a life of incessant motion and dwindling down time, particularly for metropolitan audiences. Engagement is hooked mainly around the narrative, storytelling format. Audiobooks may have long fed this busy audience's need for information or knowledge, but now they are seeking entertainment, amusement, exhilaration, relaxation and escape through a personal experience that mimics a social one. This is surely something that Audible are very aware of as they work to launch their 'Channels' programme platform in the UK. Through podcasts, we're able to engage in the conversations, stories, memories and emotions of others privately, without censorship. The average listening duration for podcasts is around 17-20 minutes, which allows people to fit listening in whilst they're relaxing or doing something like commuting, exercising or cooking; it's a way of supersizing their time by learning new stuff, or making tasks more enjoyable. That's long enough to plant some really strong emotive messages about your brand or product in the hearts and memories of a listener, provided you do it in the right way. Compare the cost of that 20 minute engagement to the cost for 18 seconds of dwell-time on a web page or video, and this is interesting indeed.
A NEW AUDIENCE
But podcasting as a commercial venture doesn't just have to be a brand or product-selling exercise. A recent brief Fresh Air Production took from the UK Houses of Parliament was to engage more people with the basics of how Parliament is run. With the help of presenter Meera Syal, we created a 6-part series that not only did the job and blasted into the iTunes top ten in its second week, but also became a useful learning resource for the public and new staff alike, helping them explore a brand new audience on this channel. I would argue that a company or organisation's podcast audience is not the same as its web audience, or social media audience. Granted, podcast consumers live in a digital space, so anything that helps them explore this in one finger tap is a coup for cross-promotional marketing, but in another sense, this is an entirely unique audience that we are only just starting to understand.
Another asset is the versatility of the medium. There's no standard format for a podcast, beyond what will be most appealing to your target listener. You can curate a fictional drama with your product at the heart of it, as GE did with 'The Message', a nail-biting story of a an "alien" coded message, or you can create indirectly related content, as ASOS did with smart, inspirational businesswomen in 'My Big Idea', or as fashion brand Mr Porter has done with their award-winning, candid series of brave and smart conversations 'Fathers and Sons'. Or, of course, you can stick to your core subjects, like a National Trust podcast about gardens, and develop your core existing audience's perceptions through that. Some hosting platforms are experimenting with hyperlinked images in situ for podcasts. Imagine hearing a URL mentioned on your listening device - a link to donate to a charity perhaps - and at the very moment you were moved by a story, it was possible to tap the image on your phone and go directly to the donation webpage.
DIRECT RESPONSE vs 'UPSELL'
But the confusion I am surprised to meet in many a conversation with new clients is this: In spite of the fact that content is now the driver for a thriving, multi-million dollar industry, the idea of creating something that doesn't directly and explicitly tell people your brand does "X", can be hard to sell-in. The challenge is that many of them are still looking for a direct response. They want to walk away with a number or a measurable action to quantify their investment, and so the challenge for podcast creators or production companies is to either change this point of view, or promise to deliver these numbers.
The funny thing is that commercial radio programming has been doing this for years! I'm not talking about ads or even sponsorship - I'm talking about integrated programming: client messages woven into entertaining content that people will engage with, enjoy listening to and react to. Clients will pay a premium for this over promotions and sponsorships too. Of course, they do have numbers to back it all up, but RAJAR aside, the soft sell is that radio brands have an emotional closeness and trust with their audience that a brand can piggy-back on. Surely this power is only more pronounced in the personal, self-curated entertainment podcast audiences search out?
And this is the other big change we're starting to see in podcasting. In spite of all that lovely, soft brand messaging and emotive power, investors still want cold, hard data.
A TURNING POINT FOR DATA
iTunes don't release their data to just anyone (although they're about to get better at this), but the hunger for this information has driven a wealth of innovation with apps, services and hosting platforms springing up all over the place, offering insights on demographics, listening behaviour, numbers and interests. Surveys are another old-fashioned but powerful way to find out what your most engaged listeners are like.
Research into podcast listeners is swallowed up like water in a drought. We know these audiences are intelligent, curious and well-educated. They don't want information that's crammed into their ears en-masse, but curate their own playlists and, I would suggest, seek out an emotional experience that they will remember, as well as new information they can share. They're self-educating, generally a little more affluent and predominantly (although by no means exclusively) aged between 18 and 34. A large percentage of them get to make decisions in their business too, which makes this a very exciting arena for products and services to explore commercial partnerships in.
But we don't yet win podcast business from brands by proclaiming that almost every smartphone owner has the option to listen. Lifestyle habits and preferences like this develop organically over time, as long as the experience gets easier and more strongly represented in the cultural zeitgeist. Nor do we trade off the fact that nearly 5 million people (calculated from midas stats) regularly listen to podcasts in the UK. We are asked for the number of people who download these programmes, or the number of people who listen. It is a digital tool. Marketers prefer to be able to measure how old those people are, where they live, perhaps their income, work, social or family background. Sadly, information that isn't readily volunteered in this liberal new medium.
RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE
This is where the rise of programmatic advertising aligns with the podcasting story, and although podcast platforms tell us little about the socio-economic status of their listeners, they can give us a strong idea about the mutual interests and passion points of their consumers in the selection of programmes they choose to listen to. Where the likes of Contently have found solutions by collecting 'story' content, repackaging and serving it to multiple diverse and localised audiences, brands themselves, sitting on small goldmines of first-class content, seem reluctant to release their property into the new and unexplored platform of podcasting. The ones that do so may well win big.
So in short, I think there are very exciting things to come from podcasting, very soon, and the brands who are exploring this now are placing themselves streets ahead of the flock that will follow.
So how best to prepare? It may feel premature to think about what comes next, when the struggle to make cash and data out of this has barely begun in earnest, but my bet is that the next era will be that of a more discerning ear.
QUALITY CONTENT FIRST
Podcasting is a beautiful, liberal platform which harnesses new technology and easy software to put content creation in the hands of the public at relatively low cost. Most mobile phones have an in-built microphone after all. But what previous content platform explosions have taught us is that a quality product and finish will also speak volumes about the company that's paying for it. So whilst self-styled podcast producers and tech whizzes are falling over themselves to make things quickly, Fresh Air's plan is to be concentrating hard on doing what we've always done: providing premium, well-targeted content of the highest standard, lovingly-crafted mixes and detailed, immersive soundscapes, all recorded on the best kit we can get, as per our radio broadcast training and backgrounds.
From a content perspective, the BBC were early pioneers of the podcast, of course, their main selling point being that their content is second to none in quality, creativity and innovation. The mistake would be to compromise this standard with weak commercial integration. In 2010, when changes to the OFCOM codes around undue prominence led to a sudden mad panic for some commercial radio stations to sell everything from their bread and butter to grandma's knickers, what the industry quickly learned was that this very bread and butter was one of highest value assets their businesses possessed. "Just because we can, doesn't mean we will" was the unofficial mantra of the Global Commercial Programming department at the time, a company that has continued to increase its reach and share of UK listening audiences with a strong brand ethic and nose for well-aligned partnerships - plus a healthy eye for its audiences.
In this way, Apple may have led the charge to put technology in the hands of many once again, but radio has paved the way for consumer expectations. It is radio standards, principles and talent that will win biggest when brands stop asking if podcasts can work for them and start asking how well
In podcasts, audio, digitalaudio Tags marketing, brands, content
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Fresh Air Production /12-14 Berry street, london EC1V 0AU / info@freshairproduction.co.uk /+44 (0) 870 1417117


text:
Symonds, Janet Catherine North (1837-1913) author, 4 results 4
Ewart, Mary Anne (1830-1911) supporter of education for women, 1 results 1
Furse, Dame Katharine (1875-1952) nursing and military administrator., 6 results 6
Sidgwick, Eleanor Mildred (1845-1936) Principal of Newnham College Cambridge, 5 results 5
Sidgwick, Henry (1838–1900), philosopher, 4 results 4
Vaughan, Margaret Symonds (1869-1925) writer, known as Madge, 4 results 4
Furse, Charles Wellington (1868-1904) painter, 3 results 3
Vaughan, William Wyamar (1865-1938) educationalist, 3 results 3
Leaf, Walter (1852-1927) classicist and banker, 2 results 2
Leaf, Charlotte Mary (1867-1934) née Symonds, wife of Walter Leaf, 2 results 2
Symonds, John Addington (1840–1893) writer and advocate of sexual reform, 2 results 2
Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes (1854-1926) historian, 2 results 2
Furse, Dame Katharine (1875-1952) nursing and military administrator.
Letter from J.C. Symonds to Nora Sidgwick
Add. MS c/103/122
Has just finished reading Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir, and thanks Nora again for giving it to her; reading it 'has been like living with old friends over again. Remarks on how Henry's 'unique character shines out of that wonderful series of letters from early days to the patient givingup of all that life means in the last dozen....' Notes also that at the end he was not tired of life; that he wanted to live, and had Nora by his side. Recalls Henry at Mentone, 'and then through the [ ] of years until that last pitiful sight of him in the nursing-home....' Suggests that the love he won from his friends was his best gift, and declares what good company he was. Has a letter he wrote to her daughter Katharine 'in the last weeks of her engagement to Charles Furse.' States that she has Katharine and her boys with her now. There is an exhibition of Charles' work at the Burlington Club Rooms in the following few weeks, and they will probably go to it.
Symonds, Janet Catherine North (1837-1913) author
Letter from Janet Catherine Symonds to Henry Sidgwick
Add. MS c/95/130
Claims that she cannot help writing, after reading Sidgwick's last letter to H.F. B[rown]. Says that she has thought of him and Nora much since she saw them in London. Glad that they are 'able to move about among [their] fellow-men even at Margate'. Reports that the weather is persistently bad in the High Alps, and remarks that it is well that Horatio has the History of [Venice] 'to employ his mind, for his walking boots won't sit idle on the shelf on such a day as this.' Reports that her sister [in law] Charlotte - Mrs Green - is there, and that Lina Duff Gordon and 'Charles Furse's nice sister' went off to England that day. Refers to Katharine's happiness, and confesses that it is infectious, but expresses her concern as to whether it can last. Reports that Charles writes to Katharine that he has eight portraits to finish and two large decorative p[ ]s for Liverpool 'before he can possibly find time for marrying her'. States that 'Madge's letters are all agog about the prospect of Sedbergh' [her husband William may have been in the running for a position there] and that the elections are to be settled by the twentieth of the month. Declares his testimonials to be excellent, and says that she is glad that Sidgwick saw him. States that she loves him best of her sons-in-law. Sends her love to both Sidgwick and his wife.
Letter from Henry Sidgwick to F.W.H. Myers
[27 Jun 1886]
Thanks him for his letter. Thinks that he must come back [to England from Switzerland]. Explains that he has agreed to put his name on the Unionist Liberal Committee, and would feel that he 'had not acted up to [his] principles' if he did not turn up to vote [in the General Election]' Requests him to send a telegram 'as soon as the day is known', and gives directions in relation to the address to which it should be sent. Reports that they are having a good time, and that J A. S[ymonds] and his three younger daughters are well. States however, that 'they have hardly any hope' in relation to Janet [Symonds' eldest daughter, very ill with tuberculosis].
Letter from Mary A. Ewart to Nora Sidgwick
Add. MS c/103/38
Refers to the current number 'of the [American] Outlook [6 Oct 1906]' sent to her by her friend Miss Sington, part of which she now encloses [included]. It contains a review of Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir by H. Addinton Bruce, which Sington believed Ewart would like to see, and suggested that it should be shown to Nora, or to someone at Newnham College. Expresses the desire to introduce Sington to Nora, and hopes to do so when the latter goes to her flat the following February.
Reports that she spent September at A[rmadale?], opposite R[um], and spent two days with Madge and Mr Vaughan and their four children. Adds that she spent a day in August with Katharine's nurse, and her mother and boys. States that that Katharine and her mother 'are enlarging the garden before they move to Lyme Regis', and that Katharine will probably go to Davos in the winter.
Ewart, Mary Anne (1830-1911) supporter of education for women
Letter from Janet C. Symonds to Nora Sidgwick
Refers to Henry's letter to Katharine, which induced her to write to Nora and Henry, 'just to feel in touch with [them] both.' Declares that she loves them both dearly, and thinks about them constantly. Reports that three days previously H.F. Brown sent her Henry's letter 'to him, dictated to Graham Dakyns...' Wishes that they both could have come out to Switzerland again, 'just as in the old days!' Recounts her memories of the Sidgwicks' last visit there, when the latter were 'just fresh from [their] [Hyères] visit', and the wonders of their latest mediums, '[not yet proved fraudulent]'. Laments that now 'the last of the children will soon be gone too', and that his world in the past few years 'has been shrinking at an appaling rate'. Claims that the Sidgwicks were her favourite visitors, and refers to how 'Johnnie' [John Addington Symonds] loved the talks he had with Henry, and how he made point of keeping his letters. Hopes to see them both in the autumn, when she intends to go to England. Asks Nora who will do her work at Newnham, as she assumes that she could not stand the social strain of it now.. Reports that their house is full now, with Madge, her husband and baby, Walter Leaf, and others. Announces that Katharine is to go to England in three weeks, and in two months will be married, the idea of which, she claims, she has yet to get used to. Refers again to Henry's letter to Katharine. States that she hopes that 'C[harles] F[urse] is worthy of all the believing love of which she [Katharine] is making him the centre.' Prays for God's blessing to be upon the Sidgwicks.
Expresses her delight that Nora is to give her a copy of Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir; Nora will miss it now, though it must be 'a comfort that the responsibility is out of [her] hands.' Remarks also on 'how infinitely pathetic' to her must have been the work of that last dictated bit of autobiography', and states that no one ever lived in his letters as Henry did. Has kept 'that last little note' which Henry wrote to her, which came to her 'at [Mary] Ewarts'. There are 'too many people still left to whom [Henry] was a real friend as well as teacher' for the book to remain unread.
Reports that Katharine is at Davos, that the latter's boys are with her [in Lyme Regis], and that they and Katharine were all at Am Hof with her 'until the last days came.' States that she and [ ] are going to live together at Y[ickley] as soon as the Leafs leave it. Does not know if the arrangement will work out or not. She intends to return to Lyme Regis the following winter. Wishes that the house were really her own. Reports that she heard from Baron von Hügel some days previously. Fears that she has been very ill. Expresses her desire to come to see 'both of them' and Nora 'one day soon'.


Lustrous 14K white gold cross of religious necklace is accented by channel set round CZ with total gem weight of 2 carat. This religious CZ cross pendant necklace is suspended from 16 inch white gold chain with secured lobster clasp. Cross is a symbol of faith and protection.


text:
Tucker Carlson is the Enemy
From Breibart:
"Halfway through Monday's broadcast of Fox News Channel's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," host Tucker Carlson put to rest supposed rumors that his show would leave his current network.
Instead, Carlson said the show was not leaving, and instead, it was expanding its presence within Fox News."
"Before we get to the next segment, a quick note about this show: Over the weekend, we got a lot of calls asking if we're leaving Fox News. Ironically, at that very moment, we were working on a project to expand the amount of reporting and analysis we do in this hour across other parts of the company. This show is not going anywhere. It is getting bigger. People who run Fox News want more of it, not less, and we are grateful for that. We'll have specifics soon. But as always, thank you for your trust in us. We'll do our best to be worthy of it."
Fuck Tucker Carlson.
That castrated asshole is the only thing keeping Leftie Lachlan Murdoch's empire afloat. He only covers things that won't genuinely hurt the Left. You aren't going to hear him talking about George Soros or Dominion software.
Carlson is a valued enemy resource. And if you are still watching hime you are part of the problem.
7 thoughts on "Tucker Carlson is the Enemy"
macarch says:
Tucker and Gutfeld like the money and positions they have built up in the Fox organization. It is "easy" for them to stay. I hope people don't reward them for their laziness.
Eidolon says:
You're giving them too much credit. Would you watch Fox News do what it did and then double down on supporting it?
Carlson is just the latest version of the token conservative. He pretends to be a little further right than other tokens, but the role is still to pull in the more gullible conservatives and make sure they watch more Fox News and stay under control.
Sanders says:
If Tucker is not controlled opposition (99% he is) he will leave Fox in the next year.
I think he's a good communicator, and we do not have that many in our side.
chief_tuscaloosa says:
enjoy the silver while it lasts, Judas. how much money does Carlson need to be happy?
Tucker who? On the Fix network? Isn't that the channel where the Washington Generals always play?
eh, isn't he just returning to form?
i thought he was sketchy when he was wearing those stupid bow ties.
wormwoodtg says:
Tucker Carlson is not the enemy. The left wins by ensuring you never know who is who, or whether what they say is true or not. I've often wished that our side was more like that. That we could burrow into the establishment the way they have, but that's just not us, or at least most of us. I'm been surprised that Tucker has been as bold as he has on his show. He's always been a conservative who played his cards close to his vest and sniffed the wind before he made his intentions known. He's never been afraid to run back to the cover of being a "moderate conservative". Nothing has changed since the bowtie days.
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text:
Q: Problemas con un Virtualhost Apache 2 Hola estoy teniendo problemas a la hora de configurar un virtualhost en Apache, después de configurar todo y poner la dirección en chrome me lanza la búsqueda en google en lugar de visitar el virtualhost.
Os explico los pasos:
1 - He creado una carpeta en var/www/todo-empresa-tarea-daw02
2 - Dentro de etc/apache2/sites-available he creado un archivo llamado empresa-tarea-daw02.conf con el siguiente codigo.
<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/todo-empresa-tarea-daw02/
    ServerName www.empresa-tarea-daw02.local
    ServerAlias empresa-tarea-daw02.local

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

3 - He modificado el archivo /etc/hosts con el siguiente código:
127.0.0.1   localhost
127.0.1.1   luis-Lenovo-Y50-70

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

127.0.0.1 www.empresa-tarea-daw02.local

4 - Luego he usado el comando sudo a2ensite empresa-tarea-daw02.conf
5 - He reseteado apache con sudo service apache2 restart
La carpeta tiene un index.html para probar
Gracias


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text:
Fighting the flab with a square meal
FATTY foods are threatening to bulge the nation's waistline, and clog up Halton's schools with hundreds of couch potato children.
Consumer watchdogs have warned that Britain's increasing desire for junk food culture has caused levels of child obesity to soar in the past decade.
Youngsters are opting out of exercise, and with parents' fears over child safety, even fewer are choosing to walk or cycle to school.
And leading research authorities on healthy eating patterns reveal obesity among young people has more than trebled in 20 years - prompting calls for schools and Government to take urgent action.
Dr Daniel Seddon, the director of public health and health strategy for Halton, says today's youngsters are in danger of serious health problems.
'A poor diet, accompanied by a lack of exercise increases the risk of heart disease, affects life expectancy and is threatening to turn us into a nation of couch potatoes.
'Problems that arise from eating unhealthy foods are the increased risk of heart disease, cancer and now child diabetes is on the rise.
'At the moment, they are simply not getting the nutrients they need and are on calorie overload.'
Halton has one of the worst health records in the UK.
Shock statistics rank the borough as having the highest death rate for females in the country, with the incidence of smoking-related cancers 44% higher than nationally.
Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of turning into over-weight or obese adults, and 24m adults are classed as overweight.
Now, nutrition experts in the borough have vowed to tackle obesity, which is partly blamed on schools buying salty and sugar-fuelled foods.
And the problem of substituting home-cooked meals with snack foods is something which is constantly being addressed by Halton council's in-house catering team.
Those in charge of school menus, and directing the 520 catering staff in the borough, are school meals manager Kim Ellor, marketing developing manager Ella Coakley, and divisional manager for hospitality and stadium services, Chris Patino.
The catering service claims to be more concerned with meeting Government health targets than raising profit, and works within a budget set by Halton council to provide healthy options.
Over the last five years, there have been a number of healthy eating initiatives by Halton council's catering department, to improve health and education.
These include physical activities and more fruit and vegetables to cut obesity and tooth decay.
Funding for a cooking in school project has enabled The Park Primary in Castlefields to create cooking facilities for parents and children.
A breakfast club has been launched in 14 of Halton's schools, dedicated to kick-starting the metabolism and increasing children's concentration.
Schools are also increasingly aware of the benefits of healthy food served at morning break.
The school catering service is working with Halton Primary Care Dental Service to introduce health-ier break time snacks, and has helped promote the Tasty Tuck award.
The award, created by the dental service, has been presented to 20 schools which serve fruit, toast, vegetables and milk as a substitute for chocolate and fizzy drinks.
The emphasis is on healthier, homemade fresh food options, and in some areas salad bars have been introduced.
Said Mr Patino: 'It used to be very much price driven, but we're now gaining 100% backing from Halton council to provide quality food.
'Because Halton is classed as a deprived area, we have had funding pumped in. Otherwise, it would cost us £150,000 to provide free fruit, £125,000 to provide free milk to under fives, and £25,000 for the salad bars alone.'
Ms Ellor added: 'It has been quite shocking touring round some of these schools, to find some of these children don't even know how to pick up a knife and fork properly.
'They never sit round a table to eat proper meals, and when we conducted a survey, we found most children were eating processed foods much more than they should.
'In areas like Murdishaw there's no fruit being sold in the local shops. It's a disgrace and that's why we want to educate young people as early as possible.'
Now, in a victory for health campaigners, fizzy drinks and food companies are being urged to replace their vending machines and junk stock.
And Government experts have suggested introducing a 'traffic light' system, to colour-code foods high in fat and sugar, to highlight the health risks.
Mr Patino says Halton is already phasing out vending machines - a move which has been welcomed by Dr Seddon.
Coupled with the school meals initiative is a massive push to encourage children to take more exercise.
The average child is advised to burn off an extra 200 calories a day to prevent obesity creeping in, and exercise for an average of 60 minutes.
Shock statistics have found some toddlers are physically active for just 20 minutes a day.
Apart from existing school initiatives to promote exercise, a New Body programme has been launched with the youth service of Halton council, geared towards teenage girls and includes intensive fatbuster aerobics and gym workouts.
For more information on extracurricular activities in physical education, contact health and physical activity development officer Paula Parle on 0151 424 2061 ext. 4190.


Lightweight long handle (extendable) shears for clipping, shaping, cutting hedges and bushes (i.e. box plants) at greater heights.
Handles: lightweight facetted aluminium with ribbed red plastic grips. Handles extend from 435mm to 765mm with adjustable locking device.
Blades: sharp carbon steel 135mm.