Here’s a story about an autistic teen — worth the read, and make sure you watch the embedded video to the right.
society and culture
Any surprise
why such a large percentage of Americans are overweight?
Here are the facts: 11.2 million pounds of potato chips; 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips; 4.3 million pounds of pretzels; 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, and 2.5 million pounds of nuts.
That adds up to 30 million pounds of snacks that Americans will wolf down Super Bowl Sunday, according to research by the Calorie Control Council and the Snack Food Association.
That means the average armchair quarterback will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat just from snacking -- not counting any meals. (Source)
Value Monkeys
Why is it people with a strong belief in the literal six-day creation of the world seem to take the notion of evolution so personally?
“I didn’t evolve from slime, from monkeys!”
A friend gets a little perturbed when she’s watching something on Animal Planet and evolution is mentioned — as if that completely falsifies anything the particular individual who mentioned the “e word” might have to say.
Of course being offended by it doesn’t make it not true, but that’s beside the point. The point is this: why does where you came from millions of years ago have any affect on your personal value now?
There’s this underlying fear, “If we’re evolved from monkeys, then we can do whatever we want to each other! There is no such thing as rape, murder, etc — it’s all just animal cruelty!”
In this view, humans cannot make values, cannot make meaningful laws. And forgetting the pragmatic side of most laws, these folks promptly jump in their cars and drive to work on the right side (or left, in some countries) of the road…
Mów po polsku!
“Have you ever noticed how few of these children of Polish families actually speak Polish?”
Kinga asked -- in Polish, of course -- the other evening. She was speaking mainly of the children of a Polish couple who have been in America for more than twenty years, and who rarely if ever go back to Poland as a family. The children of these very nice folk usually speak to their parents in English, even though their parents often simply speak Polish to them.
Kinga and I both want our children to grow up bilingual, but that’s difficult enough when both parents are foreigners. When only one is a foreigner, it might be all but impossible. The language of society dictates what is Language One for the child, and not the language at home.
Where there is a community to support the use of the foreign language, it’s much easier. But North Carolina is no Chicago, and the opportunities to use Polish will be rare.
“We’ll just have to send the kids to Poland every summer,” I replied to Kinga. There’ll be Polish music in the house; we’ll eat Polish cuisine; I’ll try to speak more and more Polish at home; we’ll have Polish books in our library; we’ll just cram Polish culture down their throats! (That is a joke -- in reality, there’d be no better way to turn them off of all things Polski.)
Will all that even be feasible, though?
One would think that instilling in them a sense of pride in and love for their heritage would suffice. But at a certain points in their lives, the “un-coolness” of being different would stifle any urge to speak Polish.
Perhaps I’m wrong? Hopefully I’m wrong. We shall just have to read a few books about raising bi-lingual children.
Illegal Words
Lyrics and tab sites are "now illegal" (From Thud)
In light of this, I think Thud had better be careful with publishing lyrics on his website as he does. After all, he does also have a film review site which has ads, and he does link to said site from his blog, and I'm sure his "Guess Ten" posts drive a lot of visitors to his site, so in a round-about way, he's making money from his illegal publication of lyrics.
MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.
He said unlicensed guitar tabs and song scores were widely available on the internet but were "completely illegal".
Mr Keiser said he did not just want to shut websites and impose fines, saying if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective".
I've heard of exaggeration, but this is damn ridiculous. Jail time for typing up lyrics -- generally with mistakes -- and putting them on the internet? Is it illegal to recite these lyrics -- you know, as a clever retort in a conversation? What about singing the song in the shower? If I have a dream in which the song plays some role, was that an illegal dream until I pay royalties?
Is the song writer the only person who can legally express those lyrics in an oral or written form?
Excuse me
while I kiss this guy
If not for lyrics sites, a whole generation might think that this is what Hendrix is singing!
As for the guitar tabs, that's even worse.
The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income," he said. "But now the internet is taking more of a bite out of sheet music and printed music sales so we're taking a more proactive stance."
David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, added his concerns.
"Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said.
In what way? Has this guy ever actually looked at the tabs available on the internet? They're generally so off as to be perverse.
Now, if it's a question of someone scanning pages from a published tablature book, that's a different story. But if it's some schmuck, sitting in his bedroom, listening to the same portion of a song 1x10^173^ times to figure it out, then publishing what he thinks is the proper way to play the song -- and again, these tab sheets are usually so far off that one can only use them as a rough guide -- then kudos to the guy.
There are wider implications, though. Does this mean that I can't then play any of the music I've figured out on guitar by myself in the privacy of my own home? I'm not a performer. I'm not making any money off this. Usually, I'm not even providing anyone but myself with any enjoyment.
The music industry is saying, "You vill enjoy dis music, und you vill enjoy it how ve say to enjoy it!" Once again, it is showing itself in fine, pimpin' colors.
The Great Deception
If you rearrange the letters of "Santa," you can make the word "Satan." Coincidence? Another term for "Satan" is "Old Nick." Another term for Santa Claus is "Saint Nick." Coincidence? Santa Claus descends into fire -- just like the Devil. Coincidence? Santa is dressed in red. The traditional images of the devil have him dressed in red. Coincidence?
In most people's world, yes, all these things are coincidences. But in the tilted universe of Blow the Trumpet, it's most decidedly not a coincidence, but rather part one of the greatest deceptions ever pulled over mankind's eyes.
It leaves you shaking your head and very pessimistic about the general intelligence of our species, but it's worth it.
And so, I now present "The Great Deception."
The Ageless Tradition
New instructions from Bennie XVI about gay priests.
"The criteria of the Instruction are also entirely consistent with the teaching of the church for the past 2,000 years. To portray the Instruction as 'gay bashing' or 'gay banning' is to misrepresent it," [Cardinal Francis George] said at the conclusion of his statement. (Chicago Tribune)
Read: the Church has been homophobic for 2,000 years, so this is nothing new.
Is the Catholic Church trying to make itself a sociological relic, or does it come naturally?
And what about claims that the Church is doing this to try to head off the kind of bad publicity it suffered from the sexual abuse scandals or recent years?
"At best, it's a distraction; at worst, it's damaging," said David Clohessy, national director of the advocacy and support group Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. "It will feed the mistaken notion that [the abuse scandal] is about the behavior of priests and not the behavior of bishops. Gay seminarians didn't hire and transfer and cover for child-molesting priests. It was bishops who did that." (ibid)
Cardinals' archbishops' blindness to this simple fact is a sure guarantee that this "solution" will not work.
I wonder if left-handed seminarians are beginning to feel the heat...
The Poll
More creationism nonsense in the news. This time, yet another poll:
In a finding that is likely to intensify the debate over what to teach students about the origins of life, a poll released Tuesday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
The poll found that 42 percent of respondents hold strict creationist views, agreeing that “living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”
In contrast, 48 percent said they believed that humans had evolved over time; but of those, 18 percent said that evolution was “guided by a supreme being,” and 26 percent said that evolution occurred through natural selection. In all, 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution, while 38 percent favored replacing evolution with creationism.
The poll was conducted July 7-17 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The questions about evolution were asked of 2,000 people, and the margin of error is 2.5 percentage points. (Source)
Creationists will never get through their head that creationism is, at best, a philosophical theory, not a scientific one.
In the end, though, I have no problem with teachers mentioning the idea of ID and asking students what they think of it, as long as it’s not called science. What will it be called then? I don’t know. I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t take too much time from the already overburdened curriculum.
What was most striking about the poll was the data dealing with a simple question: Who should decide what’s taught?
The poll showed 41 percent of Americans want parents to have the primary say over how evolution is taught, compared with 28 percent who say teachers and scientists should decide and 21 percent who say school boards should. Asked whether they believed creationism should be taught instead of evolution, 38 percent were in favor, and 49 percent were opposed.
Parents decide? In the end, I guess they do – they’re going to elect the officials who will force this nonsense down the public’s throat. But should they have an active hand in deciding what’s taught?
What would a nice response be for a science teacher? Mine would be along these lines:
Great! Saves me some time. You’re going to do this pro bono, right? And while you’re at it, since I didn’t study any of this in college and am completely unqualified to teach it, why don’t you make out my lesson plans for me? And write and grade the tests? Shoot, just come in and teach, and I’ll simply serve as a pedagogical consultant. You do the work, I get the pay. Sounds great.
Maybe parents want to come in and decide the entire curriculum and teach it as well? Teachers will just wander about the internet…
Support from Your Principal
Erin O'Connor at Critical Mass has a fascinating and yet disturbing post about a way of dealing with student profanity...by allowing it.
An English high school has decided to cope with the problem of student profanity by tolerating it. Beginning this fall, students will be allowed to curse at their teachers, just so long as they don't say "f -- k" more than five times during a lesson. Part of the new policy involves keeping a running tally on the blackboard of how many times the word "f -- k" has been uttered during a given lesson--a practice that promises to distract students.
I for one would feel this as a complete abandonment on the part of the principal of any acknowledgment even of my authority as teacher.