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MODERN SECULARISM
FAITH AND UNFAITH IN THE MODERN AGE
Denys G. M. Jackson, M. A.
From the earliest ages, men have differed from one another in their conceptions of Divinity, their notions varying according to the degree of their intelligence and the level of their culture, and being affected by manifold other factors in their lives and circumstances. The overwhelming consensus of mankind, however, has been that a spiritual order existed, and interpenetrated our visible world: that the establishment of a right relationship with that order was a matter of overwhelming importance, both to individuals and to the community. Man could not live well or be safe from disaster of varied kinds unless he rendered this due to the hidden Powers which overshadowed his life, and exercised their secret control over the material world, which was commonly regarded as 'the garment of the living Spirit.'
All the controversies of yesterday were between men who agreed, at least, upon the existence and importance of this Divine Order. This belief formed a basis of unity for Christians of every kind; and it linked Christendom with Judaism and Islam, and with the Platonist and Aristotelian philosophies, as well as with the pagan world of the Gentiles in Asia, Africa and America. To be sure, there were to be found a handful of disbelievers here and there especially among highly civilized peoples: while there were a larger number of 'worldlings' whose lives were conducted with small regard for anything but mundane motives and expediency. But one of the features of the modern world which seems to be new in the history of mankind is the systematic attempt which has been, and still is being made to expel or exclude the 'spiritual idea' and its implications from the whole body of a civilization; an attempt which has, actually, achieved a very substantial degree of success.
Not only is full and clear belief in God more frequently absent from human lives than ever before, but the whole background of thought in which that belief is found is now very commonly rejected. It has become a basic assumption in our Western world that the temporal and material order is the only one of which we need to take practical account in our way of life, whether as individuals or as communities.
This assumption, it must be emphasized, is not peculiar to avowedly atheistic systems of thought like Communism: it underlies all the principal 'ideologies' which have been contending for world power during the present 20th century: Fascism, Communism, Socialism and Democratic Liberalism as understood by many of its adherents. True, the 'materialism' of these movements conceals an undercurrent of idealism whose origin is spiritual and which gives them their driving force: but this force tends to grow weaker as the 'perfume of the empty jar' of the rejected religious tradition gradually fades away, and the implications of a purely 'space-and-time' view of man as a planetary social animal are realized in thought, and made the basis of action.
About the ultimate results of this process I shall have some reflections to make shortly: meanwhile I must re-emphasize the rampant fact of materialism of which any man of vivid and realistic supernatural faith must be aware in the world surrounding him both in 'new lands' like Australia and the United States, and in the older Western communities of Europe. Its outlook and values are reflected in our political and social life, in our press, radio, television, literature and cultural institutions, and in the day-to-day life of millions of our fellow-men. Just as the Western culture of the Middle Ages was Christian and Catholic, so the culture of our modern era is 'secularist,' treating religious truth, in effect, as non-existent.
The Two Worlds
The life of Faith, of course, continues to survive in the midst of this secularist civilization. We have as Rosalind Murray has well said 'Two separate mental worlds, each self-contained' which exist side by side, intersecting and overlapping, though no more fusing than oil and water. Those who belong to one or the other are, in general, externally indistinguishable. They live side by side: they work together in office or bench or field: sometimes they are members of one family, or even sharers of one marriage-bed. Yet, spiritually, they remain poles apart: and it is becoming harder than ever to establish spiritual contact between one side and the other.
The Christian warriors and 'Paynim' Moslems of the crusading era were far nearer akin to one another than many who dwell in constant and apparently intimate association in our own world.
We have said that the man of real faith cannot fail to be aware of this secret division between belief and non-belief. It is, however, largely ignored or treated as unimportant by public opinion and the organs through which that opinion is formed and expressed. Moreover, the attitude of 'those who profess and call themselves Christians' reveals too often the unconscious infection of their thought by the prevailing tone of the world. They are, it seems, reconciled to this anomalous situation as though it were normal: and they, too, are accustomed to talk, act and think about everyday affairs as though the differences of basic attitude to life were of no particular account. It is taken for granted that political views, nationality, social class, intellect, taste, differences of technical knowledge and skill are important in classifying human beings: but classification according to 'religious opinion' is regarded as giving undue importance to a purely private matter which has or ought to have no social significance. In the case of teachers, for instance, it is commonly assumed that 'religious tests' are not only objectionable, but unnecessary the official Catholic view to the contrary is regarded as reactionary bigotry. To the secular world it does not matter whether these people believe in God or not, so long as they can do their job without making life uncomfortable by insisting on their personal views about its meaning and purpose.
The Secularist Mind and Religious Persecution
Indeed, the typical secular-minded 'Modern Man' has become so profoundly alienated from religion that it is incomprehensible to him that anyone can truly regard the order of things with which believers are concerned as real and of ultimate importance. When the fact of religious persecution or conflict is presented to him in the modern world, his first reaction is one of sheer disbelief. The stories are 'propaganda,' invented to discredit the movements accused of intolerance. When the mass of evidence presented makes it impossible for him to hold this opinion any longer, he tries to interpret the conflict in terms of secularist 'realism.' The Christian is a victim because he is suspected of Fascism, or 'reactionary associations'; the militant 'anti-God' atheism of the U.S.S.R. and Red Peking is a party-gesture which he deplores but explains away, treating it as without fundamental human or social significance, and therefore unfit for more than passing attention.
The 'real' issue as seen by most of the foes as well as the friends of Communism in this country has no relation to this side of Red activity: it is concerned rather with questions like whether Soviet planning works efficiently or not, and whether the new 'world order' which the Marxist-Leninist Revolution proposes to establish will be comfortable from the point of view of man's peace and social well-being, and will help or hinder his 'progress' in the sciences. Again, there is vivid interest in the possibilities of a compromise which will enable the Communist and Democratic-'Capitalist' ways of life to flourish side by side: or in that of a modification of the Communist ideology so that its adherents may pursue their objectives in a humane and efficient way, without resorting to the nastiness of police-terrorism, servile labour and armed blackmail and aggression. If some change of this sort could be accomplished, the great multitude of our people, as well as their leaders, would be perfectly satisfied. They are entirely uninterested in the tragedy of the massdestruction of spiritual belief and religious tradition by deliberate, organized pressure on the part of atheistic authorities: and generally speaking they regard the improvement of 'living standards' and literacy as more than compensating for the destruction of human faith and hope and the vision of spiritual truth. And this multitude of secularist-minded people includes a large body of those who would profess themselves 'believers' in God, and even in the Christian religion.
Tolerance and Intolerance
The secular assumption of the unimportance and unreality of religion is behind all the current smooth language about 'agreeing to differ,' 'living and letting live' and the rest of it. In effect, the believer is told that no one will interfere with his religion if he will conform in his actions and words to the secular convention that God is of no account. But if he ventures to challenge openly the current local standards of secularism, he is soon made to feel that he is a 'peculiar' person, and that his sort of views are repugnant to the ruling influences of his world. For example, while Catholic beliefs about the Virgin Birth, Purgatory, the Assumption, Holy Images and so forth, are widely regarded with good-natured indifference, tinged with romantic sympathy or 'scientific' contempt, it is different with the rulings of the Church about such things as divorce, 'mixed' marriages, contraception, sterilization, abortion, difficult cases in childbirth, or euthanasia, in which the law of God is asserted dogmatically in fields which 'modern thought' regards as governed solely by social expediency. Here, the reactions to Catholic views are frequently violent: and it is made clear that the intrusion of God as a Reality into the sphere of public policy and social life is regarded as intolerable. For the rest, the secularist 'standard pattern' has been imposed on the free public education systems of this country and others, which is based on the implicit assumption of the unimportance of religion in the sphere of culture and general knowledge: and those who will not conform to this principle of secularist orthodoxy are obliged to pay a part of the expense for the secular school system based on it, as well as bearing the whole burden of their own 'dissident' Christian educational structures (so sadly the position of Catholic schools in the Australia of the 1950s).
There are, in fact, no terms of reconciliation between the worlds of those who believe that Theism is an 'opinion' of no account socially, and those who believe that 'the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever,' and that He is the Supreme Reality upon which all mundane things depend. This is already realized by the more radical secularists on the one side and the Catholic Church on the other: and as our civilized world moves on from one crisis to the next, the terms of man's choice will become clearer, and the irrepressible conflict may be expected to grow more bitter in one social sphere after another.
THE SECULARIST LOOKS AT THE WORLD
Let us take a closer look, now, at the 'way of thought' which has replaced the Christian faith of our ancestors. We must remember, of course, that secularism is not a definite, thought-out philosophy except in the case of the few, and that there is considerable variation in the detail of the opinions of those who stand by it. In general, the design here set forth is implied in the actions and attitudes of most men, rather than systematized in their minds.
(1) The 'Real World' is conceived as the visible, tangible order in which man lives, as a denizen of the planet Earth: everything beyond this is, more or less, 'Gas and gaiters.' Nothing certain can be known about it, so that it can and must be treated as non-existent for the ordinary purposes of practical life. The discussions of 'supernatural truth' in which religious controversialists engage are, in effect, discussions about the government of fairyland: their dogmatic statements are no more valid than the fantastic utterances of astrology. And with these go all the assumptions about 'sacred authorities' and other sanctities in the sphere of social life.
(2) The universe is a sort of machine, working according to natural laws which are unalterable: these laws govern all life, both physical and psychological. They can be observed and described by human science, and are actually being so observed and described more and more.
(3) The stories of 'miraculous' events and revelations in human history are, therefore, 'legends': they can sometimes be explained as due to natural causes, or symbolical interpretations of natural phenomena; but many must be dismissed as purely mythical. Some of these myths may have moral value for children or for simple-minded people who need their aid for good living and happiness: but the growth of man's mind to its full stature involves the progressive rejection of 'all that nonsense' and the 'facing of facts' as revealed by 'scientific modern thought.'
(4) The laws which govern ethical conduct are not based in a 'Higher Law' either implanted in the minds and hearts of men by God, or positively revealed by Him (e.g., through Moses, or Zoroaster, or Mohammed, or Jesus Christ). They are simply based on the agreement of men to follow certain customs in order to live peacefully together, and develop their higher faculties. The practical standard of ethics is that of 'good citizenship,' and good neighbourhood, the observance of the customary code of 'decency, kindness and tolerance' in private relationships, and so on.
(5) The idea of 'revealed' Truth is commonly felt to be somehow degrading to human reason: 'We can work things out for ourselves and save ourselves.' Belief in immortality and justice in the 'after-life' is sneered at as 'escapism,' and regarded as 'anti-social,' on the ground that it leads men to neglect social reform here on earth, and to endure tyranny and injustice in hopes that all will be eventually made right in Heaven. Men should have the courage, we are told, to face the grim truth about personal mortality without this sort of 'wishful thinking,' and to work for an earthly consummation of communal happiness through enlightened goodwill. The Christian way of thought is condemned as undemocratic as well as cowardly since it derives human authority and justice from a Divine Despot rather than from the creative powers of ascendant man himself.
(6) Unlike revelation from above, however, revelation from below through the subconscious animal instincts is to be taken very seriously. These must not be 'repressed,' but their demands met especially in regard to sex: a 'healthy frankness' about the body and its functions is to replace the 'unnatural' reticence of the past, caused by religious superstitions concerning 'purity.'
(7) Since the authority of Government comes from man alone, the only legitimate form is that in which rules are regarded as delegated by the people to carry out their will and serve their material well-being. No Power 'by the grace of God' is to be admitted as real. Hence the power of Church dignitaries is regarded as a spiritual tyranny exercised over superstitious minds: while monarchy, in its traditional form, is held intolerable if the King exercises real political power. It is only to be endured, when politically inactive, as a concession to the irrational 'romantic' instinct of the people, and their desire for a symbol of the nation's unity.
(8) The 'churches' are regarded as having real 'value' only in virtue of their social function as agencies of humanitarian reform and of education and moral supervision especially for the young. The criterion by which their activities are measured has nothing to do with sanctity: the 'fruits' looked for are those of earthly well-being: and comparison is made between their activities in this respect and those of the State and other human organizations, without regard to the primary religious aims of teaching the Truth of Christ and drawing men to a higher life of grace through His Love.
The Decline of Liberal Humanism
At the end of the progress of four centuries from a fully 'Christian' order to that of modern secularism the general mind has been stamped with a view of man which sees the animal side of human nature as fundamental, and regards him as 'of the earth, earthy' in the strictest and fullest sense. But this descent did not take place all at once: nor is it yet complete. There was a long 'middle period' in which the leaders of Western thought dreamed of an 'ideal humanism' which would retain a sense of the high value and perfectibility of the human person, while denying the foundation of Christian thought and belief upon which that idea had formerly rested. But once the conception of man as wholly mortal was accepted, it was seen before very long that the short individual life could only have value and significance in relation to the larger, permanent life of the community, and the 'human process' of which that community itself was a part.
This meant the doom of the 'middle way' of liberal-humanism. The ideas of 'human happiness' and 'human well-being' could only be considered realistically in relation to a pattern of life planned by men for masses of men: the individual being a mere temporary 'nexus' of social relationships. Secular intellectual interest shifted, therefore, from humanist philosophy and rational ethics to politics and social planning. The 'new order' the secularist substitute for 'salvation' must be set up by external organized action: the applied scientists and social technicians not the pure scientific inquirers after truth became the 'significant men' of the new age to whom the communities of the world must look for the enhancement of human power and the new designs for well-being even for the making of a new race by eugenic breeding and educational 'conditioning.' Culture was no longer the perfection of the individual understanding, wisdom and sense of beauty, but the training and tailoring of the individual 'social cell' for social purposes, so that he would 'fit in' with the new organized pattern of communal living. For the new secularists, moral virtue and 'social usefulness' are precisely equivalent. The 'good' man is the active, trained collaborator in the tasks of the social hive, obedient to the directives of those who speak in the people's name, living smoothly and easily with his fellowmen so as to avoid every kind of social friction. He is, in fact, the perfect 'yes-man' conforming to the pattern of the hive in thought, word and deed.
Towards 'Insectification'
In a word, in 'emancipating' man from Divine Authority, modern secularism has begun a process towards what has been well called the 'insectification' of the human community the total absorption of the life of the person in the life and activities of the hive within which alone it can have 'meaning.' 'Modern thought' moves already in the direction of giving the State full control of its members' bodies and minds.
the 'unfit' are to be eliminated by scientific eugenics�'including marriages 'planned' under medical supervision, enforced sterilization or contraception in certain cases, and 'euthanasia' so-called mercy killing for the hopelessly sick, insane or deformed.
Secondly,
the public communal authority of the State is to be substituted gradually for the family in the moulding of citizens. Little ones are to be cared for in creches; the young are to be fed and receive medical attention at school; and their educational 'conditioning' is to be handed over to vocational experts, who will decide upon their training and placing according to the requirements of planned social construction.
'humane' social pressure is to be used to eliminate recalcitrant groups and organizations from the field of culture, and to oblige all to submit to the planned secular pattern of thought and life.
Once again, let me emphasize that I am describing the trend of secularist 'modern thought,' rather than setting forth a doctrine accepted by secularist-minded people generally in Australia at the present time. Among these, there are still wide differences as to what their way of thought implies, and most still cling to the illogical outlook of liberal humanism. But the process of 'materialization' goes on apace, and is very widespread: and a vivid sense of non-material truth and sanctity as affecting the whole life of man and the community is already comparatively rare, even among Christians.
THE PHENOMENON OF DISINTEGRATION
The ordinary modern man whether nominally infidel or 'Christian' or even Catholic is 'disintegrated' in the sense that he is found to be holding simultaneously opinions which are logically incompatible with one another. In the case of the Christian, this means that his thought is 'dashed' with materialism, national idolatry and national blood feuds, the politics of class hate and envy, false secular 'humanism' and so on. On the other hand, the thought of the actual materialist is 'dashed' with all kinds of remnants of Christian idealism and 'personalism' which have no proper place in the materialistic system of thought at all. People who deny all real value to individual life and personality except in relation to the 'social mass' are nevertheless shocked, sometimes even more than Christians, at the infliction of indignities and cruelties upon their fellow-men, or the ruthless 'social engineering,' 'conditioning' and liquidation carried out by the Nazis or Communists, who accept the full consequences of their philosophy of man and the universe. This mingling of a secularized Christianity with a secularism tinged with Christian sentiment has the effect of producing a general common level of social conduct and standards, such as prevails in communities such as our own at the present time. It tends, also, to foster the illusion of the insignificance of religious thought and belief in relation to practical conduct.
The materialist's outlook logically leads to the view that the word 'should' has no true meaning, since a man's conduct is determined by the social pattern in which he finds himself, together with his physical structure and the laws which govern his psychological life. Yet he usually continues to talk and act as if he, and he and other men were morally responsible beings: and his designs for secular living the very idea that such living can be consciously designed are still based on that assumption. He is horrified, as I have noted, at social cruelty and injustice; on the contrary, he approves humanity, virtue, heroism and zeal for the cause of liberty.
Exhausting Moral Capital
It should hardly be necessary to point out the danger of the prevalence of this state of mind. The man who practises virtue only because of his instinctive habitual attachment to values which in terms of his philosophy he must hold to be irrational has a moral foundation for his life which is essentially unstable. A society of such men is living on its moral capital without replacing it from one generation to another. Faith and the rational morality based on theism no longer has a firm hold over the desires of rulers and peoples: their concentration on material achievement and wealth and power means that their control of nature through applied science becomes increased, while they also become progressively less fit to exercise such control. That is why we find that natural science, in our own secularist age, is prodigal of promises for human betterment which remain largely unfulfilled: while its development for purposes of destruction have reached sinister heights under the guidance of the 'will-to-power.' That is why the highly-developed techniques of large-scale organization which we have mastered are used so much to create engines of oppression and falsehood and human de-formation of which the devilish imaginations of our ancestors never dreamed.
Secularism, then, would appear to be essentially a destructive and parasitic way of thought and life, since it can only survive by making use of values which are constantly eroded by its own action. Having noticed this feature reflected in the instability and inconsistency of individual lives, and the growth of destructive forces in the social sphere, let us look more closely at certain common secularist assumptions, and see how far they are coherent from the standpoint of the common-sense idea that human thought has some relation to real life.
THE SUICIDE OF THOUGHT
We will begin with a common 'line' set forth by secularist 'modern minds' at the present day. 'I don't' they will say 'maintain the position that everything can be explained in terms of matter and energy, because I don't know enough for that. But I intend to continue trying to explain everything in this way until I can find something for which other assumptions are required.'
Now that sounds a fair enough proposition: so let us offer one fundamental problem for our secularist to explain in terms of matter and energy if he possibly can: namely, the fact that he is thinking. He will answer, no doubt, that the study of the mind itself is by no means excluded from the world view of modern secular science: and point to the results of psychological research, the work of Freud, Jung and others, in order to show that the process of thought is increasingly being explained in terms of matter and energy. Actually, what the new psychologists are concerned with is the results of mind: they classify the way people behave, giving an exterior view of their mental life: and the results they have attained by this research are very valuable indeed.
It would not, however, be of any value at all if the minds of those engaged in the research were no more than a mass of 'complexes' produced by a material process. If we argue (with the Freudian) that 'thoughts' are merely due to a process of this sort: or (with the Marxist) that they are due to 'class conditioning' we have to make an exception of the particular thought-process we are using in our argument.
The dilemma may be expressed more simply in this way. We have two propositions, based on two arrangements of thoughts, which, on materialist principles, are reducible to terms of matter and energy. One is 'The moon is made of green cheese, and is eaten slowly by the sky-giant every month.' The other is 'The moon is a satellite attached to our planet earth, and the monthly phases' we observe are caused by the variation of its position in relation to the earth and the sun.' How is it that one of these propositions comes to be qualified as objectively 'False' and the other as 'True,' if they are no more than different arrangements of 'matter and energy,' in the human thinking organ? What is the basis of this valuation, and how can it have any meaning? And if it has no meaning, how can we reach any conclusion about life or reality by any process of thinking whatever?
This argument has been set forth in brief by Professor J. B. S. Haldane himself, strangely enough, a zealous Marxian who says, 'If any mental processes are determined wholly {italics mine} by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose my beliefs are true . . . and hence, I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.'
To sum up, materialistic logic has no explanation of the function of the human mind as a truth-finding organ: a function which must be assumed, in some fashion, in order to relate thought to objective reality. If the psychologists cannot tell us truth, they can't tell us the truth about how our minds work! All knowledge and therefore all science, has become impossible: all language unmeaning.
A way of thought which is reduced to this idiotic incoherence in its attempt to describe the nature of thought itself, and which finds it necessary to doubt or deny the freewill which is assumed as a fact in every human relationship of our lives, can only be described as a road to the suicide of thought. This suicide, in fact, is the inevitable consequence of the view that man's thought and action is simply part of the process of nature, determined in the same way as other physical phenomena.
The Rational Approach to Faith
The difficulties involved in accepting a non-materialistic philosophy or faith are real and serious: but, in tackling them, we are not brought to the same kind of impasse. The method of argument which leads to such conclusions as God's existence, the possibility of Divine Revelation, and the probability of the survival of the human soul after the death of the body, is a rigorously rational one: and where there are problems such as those of evil and pain they are faced up to by the great philosophers of Christian Theism in an honest and realistic fashion, even though their conclusions remain tentative and imperfect. The trouble is not that the secularist 'modern man' cannot find an answer to the questions he asks: but that he either does not ask the questions at all, or refuses, like Pilate, to 'stay for an answer,' on the dogmatic assumption that there is none of any worth to be given. He will say, 'I don't know: no one can know: and, anyhow, it doesn't signify.'
The first word (or sentence) is, no doubt, true: the second he has not tested: the third is both false and foolish since it ought to be clear that enormous practical consequences are involved in the great questions about what man is and to what destiny the human race is moving, individually and collectively.
THE REVOLT AGAINST TRUTH
The startling truth about the world in which we live is that most of those who guide its thinking are not really interested in objective truth at all. The rebellion against religious 'dogma' is, in fact, a far more profound revolt than most of us realize. It is not as its maintainers seriously and sincerely contend simply an impulse to slough off inessential and 'unreal' ideas which have cribbed, cabined and confined the rational mind. Rather, it is a fundamental revolt against the laws of man's being a refusal to accept objective truth. If we look at the points of our faith most generally attacked by modern thinkers, it will be realized that they are those which embody the basic truths about man's position in the universe and real nature.
Thus, the Divinity of Christ is rejected as a incomprehensible fantasy: and we substitute the myth of a 'higher human' raised by his own power and acquired social virtues to a sort of earthly divinity. The initiative in redemption is transferred from God to man: man replaces God as the focus of adoration. The process from material being to rationality, from rationality to the new higher humanity, is a process which takes place in defiance of all the laws of thought perceived by reason it involves adding two and two to make five at each stage. But it is pleasing to man's self-assertion: it makes him a master, a self-creator not a created being saved by the descending love of his Maker. The whole concept of secularist 'progress,' in fact, is a mass of 'wishful thinking': the materialization of the idea of 'salvation' has turned it into an erection of nonsense built on pride.
Again, denial of eternal punishment is represented as a humane reaction to the primitive conception of a vindictive Divinity those indignant about the doctrine of hell almost invariably conceive it in crude and childish imaginative terms, and refuse to trouble themselves to examine the careful statements of Christian philosophers and theologians. In reality, at the back of it there lies something very different: a refusal to accept the principle of retribution which runs through actual life. Once again, the secularist will not have the nature of the universe, in which inexorable consequences result from the misuse of free-will. 'Don't worry: it won't really happen' 'It does not really matter.' This is the other facet of the rejection of religious dogma to the impulse to self-assertion. The serpent, you may remember, told our first parents that they would not die, by their disobedience, but would become as gods.
The Habit of Self-Deception
Of course, our attitude does not affect the truths we are running away from: but they do not seem so near and so menacing if we can manage to pretend that they are not there. This gesture of 'non-recognition,' therefore, has become a characteristic feature of our world even in lesser matters than those of the foundations of life and thought. We have a powerful school of politicians and 'intellectuals' who hold that the way to peace is to pretend that the aggressor-powers are sincere in their desire for an accommodation; that they do not hold by their Marxist principles, but by others less uncomfortable in their implications: that they are not really guilty of the crimes against religion and humanity of which overwhelming evidence exists: or that those crimes are not related as they really are to the fundamental aims and beliefs of those who have ordered them. They invent new smooth names to describe ancient evils, and deem that they have thereby exorcised them: they propose solutions to bitter, menacing problems by doing the comfortable thing and 'wishing upon a star.' Communism is to be 'cured' by social well-being without arming to repel the Red totalitarian power-machine: Asia is to be reconciled without any real concessions to inter-racial justice . . . and so the dream-story goes on.
Science and the New Thought
Even the Laws of Science hitherto assumed to be the immutable and authoritative ultimate basis of existence in our secularist world, as those of faith were in Christian ages are no longer immune from the subjective erosion which has undermined the idea of 'Truth' in other spheres. Thus in a Scientific Charter of Scientific Principles, drawn up during the recent Second World War, by the British Association we find the statement: 'That the basic principles of science rely on independence combined with co-operation, and are influenced by the progressive needs of humanity.' A letter of 13 October 1941 to the British Daily Telegraph draws attention to the implications of this oracle. 'Men apparently do not rely on the basic principles of science, but the basic principles rely on man! The law of gravitation, the principle of the conservation of energy, the theory of relativity, depend for their validity on the proceedings of men, and are influenced by their progressive needs. Newton's apple would have acted quite differently if men had been less independent and co-operative, or if their progressive needs had been different!'
So, the 'truth of the senses' which secularism alone admits, faces the denouement of its own dethronement. Scientific propositions themselves are mere 'conventions,' expedient for the operation of this or that individual or group. Scientists are even found contending that they are not concerned with reality, but formulate their schemes 'as if they corresponded with reality.' But if science is not concerned with reality, what is it concerned with? And if its sages talk in these terms, what can we expect of political and social ideologues except a 'truth' which is conceived purely in terms of temporary expediency; a criterion according to which Hitler's and Stalin's dogmas have precisely the same validity as those of the civilized democratic world! And, with the downfall of truth, man tumbles from the lofty pedestal upon which he was set by liberal-secularism as a 'seeker after truth' to the level of an animal intent on the exaltation of his greed, his appetites and his egoism by means of 'rationalizations' of various kinds.
THE MORAL CHALLENGE TO MEN OF FAITH
One of the commonest answers of the secularist to the Christian who speaks to him of the merits of his faith is, 'If the difference between your way of life and mine is as great as you claim, why is it that Christians are in practice so difficult to distinguish from us pagans in the fashion of their actual behaviour?' He will go on to cite examples of Catholic drunkards and lechers, Catholics who are uncharitable and grossly dishonest, cruel and narrow-minded . . . and so on.
I have already answered this challenge in part by pointing out that our world is not composed of all-out Catholics living in the light of Catholic truth, and all-out secularists living in accordance with their own philosophy, but of Catholics infected by the values of the secularist world around them, and secularists who have inherited Christian habits of thought which raise their conduct above the level of their philosophy. Hence the tendency towards a certain common level of practical standards.
The reply, however, is not one which we Christians can accept as in any way satisfactory in answer to the challenge regarding our own inadequacy. The man who makes it is, often enough, really in quest of truth: and he is puzzled by the paradox of the elevation of Catholic principles and beliefs, and the contrasting insufficiency of the people who have received the new 'Life of Faith' but show small sign of having been transformed by it, or by the torrents of grace to which they have access through the Sacraments.
The Christian of today, living in the world, carries a grave responsibility: for, willy-nilly, he stands for those who do not share his faith as representing the Church of God in action. 'What has it done for you, anyhow?'
We may as well begin by admitting, with shame, that both as a community and individually we have failed lamentably to 'Come up to scratch.' Don't let us minimize a truth which is very patent to our critics, but rather make it clear that we realize it a good deal more fully than they can possibly do. Indeed, it belongs to our position that we should see our defects better than any outsiders can: and the degree to which we do so is actually the measure of our progress in the spiritual life. It is not without significance that St. Francis of Assisi, whose life was, in the opinion of some, more completely Christ-like than any in Christian history, should have cried out upon himself constantly as utterly degraded: 'the chief of sinners.' The ordinary Christian lives on an immeasurably lower level, yet he operates in the same medium: and is capable, therefore, of understanding that he is very far from what he ought to be.
We do not claim to be better as individuals than very many non-believers: but we do claim that the way is open to us, through Divine grace, to a level of goodness, even sanctity, to which those without the life of faith cannot aspire. We have been privileged to see further into the meaning of life: the scope of what we mean by good and evil has been infinitely extended for us, and with this extension of our understanding an immeasurable source of strength has been offered to us.
Through faith we see truth: through grace we can act upon it, by responding to the Divine Gift offered to us: but neither faith nor grace can make the Christian life an easy one. It is a 'way of the Cross,' and neither Christ nor His disciples have ever pretended that it was anything else. No mechanical transformation, no automatic moral regeneration is effected by faith. If we assent in a merely nominal and external fashion to the truths of religion, they will not be sufficient to transform our lives: if our reception of the Sacraments is automatic and superficial, we are failing to make use of the graces given to us . The force and dynamism of the gift is not affected: but our souls are deprived of the full benefit inherent in it.
The Half-Christian
That is the trouble with most 'ordinary Catholics.' Their faith is only half-alive: and it is because it lacks vitality that they become infected with secularism in their practical life, as an ill-nourished child 'picks up' germs. That there should be so many 'so-called Christians' who fail to appreciate and live by their faith may be a 'cause of scandal' to secularist inquirers: but it is explained by the general tendency of human nature to turn away from the 'hard and rare' in every field of activity. All higher religions and philosophies have been confronted with the same problem: in proportion to their demands has been the natural man's reaction to them. But no other religion makes so complete and 'totalitarian' a demand on the whole nature of man as Christianity which presents him with a goal to which his unaided efforts are incapable of attaining. This being the case, there is no ground for surprise that man being man, and in a fallen world, so few Christians do attain perfection, and 'Christian civilization' has always been a patchy business, even in days when the Church's beliefs and standards were almost universally accepted in Europe, at least officially.
We Catholic Christians cannot avoid a large part of responsibility for the process which, beginning with the revolt of the Renaissance and Reformation eras, has ended in the nightmare of secularist nihilism in which our modern Western world now groans and tosses unrestfully. What are we going to do about it?
Showing the Flag
To begin with, it is necessary for the ordinary lay Christian to lay hold on the 'Life of Faith' with something of the new zeal of converts in the ancient world of paganism, and in the mission-fields of our own day. He must do his utmost to grasp something of the pattern of Christian thought and make it his own, so that all the corners of his personal life and values may be 'Christianized.' He must not be content to carry the faith around in a bag as a sort of jigsaw puzzle of dogmas and cultural traditions which he has inherited: but he must open the bag, put the picture together and look at it himself, before showing it to others.
In a world of disinterested and confused thinking, men who 'know their own minds' and have a clear-cut philosophy of life by which they actually live are certain to create an impression if they show their flag so that others can see it, and read the image and superscription upon it. That is one reason for the impressive success of the Communists though there are others far less creditable to them. But while Catholics in their public lives and social relations are concerned simply to see how far they can go along with this or that secular movement, or approve this or that secular initiative; while the effect of their faith appears in nothing but a certain number of negations and criticisms concerning the details of secular organizations and policies; while they keep Christ and the Cross, and the Law of God, out of sight as though they were a sort of secret or even something a little indelicate, the destructive process of the secular system will not be reversed in our favour: there will be no return of our world to the sanities of Christian thought and the Christian order.
The Need for Holiness
The temptation of the 'good Christian' today is to despair of the salvation of a society which is 'nonconducting' to the Christian current. He withdraws into his shell, shrinking from anticipated rebuffs. He 'hides his light under a bushel' and is content to remain unnoticed and unmolested. Even, however, if he does all that in him lies, he finds his action 'insulated' by the character of his environment. He must choose between an inertia which belies his whole position, or an activity which is alien and distasteful to the social group in which he moves.
If he chooses activity, however as he must there is still another danger to be avoided: that of accepting the secularist standard which regards external visible action as the real action. The essential activity of the Christian is spiritual: holiness as distinct from social action being as the most potent kind of doing. And the more we find our world idolizing external energy, force and 'output,' the more we ourselves need to cultivate contemplation, prayer, the 'Life of the Spirit.' It is only in proportion as it is a flowering of this interior life that our visible action can be effective against the hostile 'principalities and powers' which lie behind the secularist revolt against God: it is only if our lamps are filled with the sacred oil of Divine love that they can 'shine before men' in the sort of personal service which wins souls and transforms societies.
The Sign of Contradiction
But if hostile reaction is the chief effect of mere outward Christian action taken against the general secular opinion, it is not to be supposed that a spiritual contradiction will be more endurable to those who deny or ignore spiritual Reality. The contrary is the case. External opposition can be countered by methods which the secular world understands very well indeed: and it arouses correspondingly less fear among those who command the machinery of power and propaganda. It is precisely when it becomes apparent that the Catholic community really 'lives by the spirit' and accepts its standards of value as the only real ones, that it provokes the deepest opposition: because this challenges the entire structure of the secularism which is today's orthodoxy.
The easygoing, low-tension quality of both Faith and the reaction to it has concealed from most observers in Australia the extent of the divergence between the believer and non-believer. But if there were to be an awakening: if Catholicism were to come alive, not as a 'social action' or political pressure movement, but as a spiritual force permeating the community, we should find a corresponding strong anti-religious movement. We have to reckon with a positive non-religious standard of value held however illogically by many people in this country, varying from 'anti-God' bigotry to cultivated 'social-humanism': but wherever this standard is confronted with positive, dynamic Faith, it reacts with violence, as against a visible enemy. The position of the rebel heretic the Voltaire or Diderot�'challenging an officially Christian society is often recalled today by secularists with sympathy and admiration: but, it is the opposite situation which now confronts us increasingly everywhere�'involving the much older question of the Christian's position as citizen of a non-Christian state.
We usually think of this problem as being peculiar to the 'totalitarian' States Nazi or Communist where it has appeared in an obvious and drastic form. But it concerns this country also, since in Australia Christians are in a minority in a community whose real standards, ideals and principles of action are based on a different principle from theirs. Our conception of our country's well-being will not be that of most of them if it is based on Christian concepts: the good we want for her is not what they conceive as 'the good.'
In time of crisis such differences of underlying standards tend to become intensified. The Christian, in so far as he is true to his own values, becomes to some extent suspect, as in but not of the community. Thus it was with the first Christians. They obeyed Caesar in all lawful things they did not even resist active persecution: yet they were held to be dangerous, because they testified by their conduct and way of life the strength of their 'other-worldly' loyalty. The diluted Christo-secularist is not feared; he is innocuous and 'sterilized' by his conformity to the world. It is the 'total' Christian, the apostle, who is a permanent challenge to the world's Caesars, whether they are styled emperors, or leaders, or 'Sovereign People's Representatives.'
Victory Through the Cross
The life of faith must be an apostolate, or it will perish: and its very nature makes it a sign of contradiction in relation to secularism. It requires that we give all we have, ourselves, our lives, in the service of Christ our Lord. This is costly: but there is no cheap and easy substitute. The Christian in our secularist world must choose between his faith and that world's 'works and pomps.' He cannot serve two masters or combine 'the best of both worlds' by some kind of tour de force. We have to save our world, it seems, if we are to save ourselves: but we have to begin by Christianizing ourselves. And we must face up to the fact that those who do the work of Christ must be prepared to pay the price He paid for victory. We, too, must be lifted up on the Cross, so that the peoples of the world may see and understand, and its valleys of dry bones may be filled with the hosts of a new Christendom, raised out of their death by the power of the renewing Spirit.


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Interesting Times – Review
On April 19, 2017 September 19, 2017 By Perpetually Past DueIn Book review, Writing
Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
"This is where the gods play games with the lives of men, on a board which is at one and the same time a simple playing area and the whole world."
Such an enigmatic opening can only be the beginning to yet another Discworld novel. Interesting Times, by Terry Pratchett, picks up the thread of Rincewind's life and sends him sprawling into adventure once again. Fraught with peril, politeness, and parody, Interesting Times continues the story of Rincewind; a man who seeks boredom in lieu of his naturally exciting life.
Much of Interesting Times alludes back to the first two books of the Discworld series. The stage is set with Fate and Luck, two of Discworld's gods, playing a game (as was first mentioned in The Color (or Colour) of Magic). Fate never loses but Luck is tricky and challenges him, choosing none other than her favorite (or favourite) pawn.
Once the game is put in motion, an albatross from Agatean Empire (the Discworld equivalent to Asia) arrives at Unseen University looking for the "Great Wizzard." This references Rincewind's hat, which is notorious for its misspelled label. Rincewind has been enjoying a boring life on a deserted island and is forcibly taken back to the University in order to be sent to the Agatean continent.
He is coerced into being teleported onto the continent where he runs into Cohen the Barbarian (first mentioned in The Light Fantastic). Cohen and the Silver Horde, his band of geriatric barbarians, are busy pillaging the continent with the aim of stealing the seat of the emperor (though not literally).
We are introduced to Lord Hong, the villain of the tale, who wants to supplant the emperor but since war on the continent is polite due to tradition, he has to do so through subterfuge and espionage. He wants to attack Ankh-Morpork because he is tired of all of the traditions of his homeland and cooks up a scheme to bring the "Great Wizzard" to his continent in order to seize power.
The story of the "Great Wizzard" came about when Twoflower (another main character from The Color (or Colour) of Magic and The Light Fantastic) wrote of his adventures with Rincewind in a book titled, "What I did on My Holidays." This unintentionally creates a rebellion because the people read about Ankh-Morpork and Rincewind's apparent bravery, believing him to be their savior. There was already a legend of a Great Wizard who created the Red Army (an army of Terracotta warriors) and united the continent many years ago; the followers of Twoflower's book call themselves the Red Army in tribute.
Through a series of lucky (or unlucky) events, Rincewind is captured by the emperor and is reunited with Twoflower in the dungeon. They escape and come upon Cohen, who has become emperor after Lord Hong killed the old one and tried to blame it on the Red Army. Cohen and the Silver Horde meet Lord Hong and the assembled armies of the other lords and prepare for a fight to the death.
As it turns out, the legendary Red Army was real and Rincewind literally stumbles upon them in his attempt to run from the battle. He is able to control them through an apparatus that is part of a suit of armor and uses the army to defeat Lord Hong's forces. The wizards of Unseen University try to teleport Rincewind back to Ankh-Morpork but, due to the intervention of Luck, accidentally teleport him to the continent known only as XXXX (the Discworld equivalent of Australia).
Interesting Times is filled with references to feudal Japan and ancient China. The people of the Agatean continent live in a state of forced isolationism; they believe everything outside their continent to be inhabited by ghost-vampires and refusing to believe otherwise because there was no one brave or curious enough to find out if it was true (until Twoflower, that is). The Red Army is also reminiscent of the Terracotta warriors that guard the tomb of the first emperor of China.
Interesting Times takes the goofiness of Pratchett's humor and the wit necessary to craft a story that is not only entertaining, but one of the better works of fantasy I have ever read. The jokes are quick and serve the plot, rather than the reverse, and the story sets up the next book of Rincewind's adventures nicely. Pratchett hits a high point with one of the standouts in a series filled with wonderful storytelling.
Verdict: 4 miscalculated teleportation attempts out of 5
Recommended for: Fans of the Discworld series, fans of Terry Pratchett, readers who can discern between writing a parody of stereotypes and actually stereotyping, and you!
Not recommended for: Enemies of the Discworld series, readers who cannot discern between writing a parody of stereotypes and actually stereotyping, Lord Hong, or people who don't like to be entertained.
Book reviewBooksDiscworldDiscworld SeriesFantasyFictionInteresting TimesLiteratureTerry Pratchett
Of Human Bondage – Review
On the Subject of Choosing to Read
6 thoughts on "Interesting Times – Review"
Kingshuk Kundu
If you feel, you can visit my blog at : https://cheerfulbeings.wordpress.com
Thank you so much! I will definitely check it out. Thanks for your comment!
=Tamar
Good review! Here's hoping The Lady doesn't notice you used her name… 😉
I had a hard time deciding whether or not to provide the full name, but figured I would err away from the side of caution because maybe I would get…lucky.
Pingback: The Last Continent – Review – The Past Due Book Review

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Getting Started provides an introduction to the IFAP website for new users and others who want assistance in using IFAP. Federal Student Aid hopes that it will be particularly helpful to those new to financial aid by showing what information is available and where it can be found. It highlights what you need to know about accessing the many electronic systems that institutions must use to participate in the Federal Student Aid programs and provides information about obtaining guidance and training in the administration of the programs.
Help Navigating IFAP Click on this box for assistance with navigating the IFAP website. The IFAP website consolidates guidance, resources, and information related to the administration and processing of Title IV federal student aid into one online site.
Hierarchy of Written Guidance Click on this box for more information about the difference in Laws, regulations, Dear Colleague Letters, Electronic Announcements, and other written guidance.
Training Click on this box for information regarding Federal Student Aid's many training opportunities, including both e-learning and instructor-led events with links to registration where required. Past conference presentations are also available.
Access to Federal Student Aid Systems Click on this box for information regarding Title IV federal student aid systems and gaining access to them.
RSS Feeds Click on this box for information about Really Simple Syndication (RSS). RSS will assist you in keeping current with postings to the IFAP website.
Mailing Lists/Listservs Click on this box for mailing lists and listservs that you may join to receive the latest information about publications and technical issues.


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Q: unable to input string into a struct I have a header file structs.h as follows:
#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct
{
    char *name;
}
student;

In the file structs.c,
#include <stdio.h>
#include "structs.h"

int main()
{
    student students[3];

    scanf("%s", &students[0].name);

    return 0;

}

The scanf statement gives an error since it says %s is of type char* but argument is of type char**. Removing the & gives a segmentation fault.
How else would I write this? It is a array within an array of struct variables but it should be able to take input...

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Betra given all-clear
Franck Betra has been given the all-clear following a clash of heads during the Under-21s' home game with Leeds on Monday.
The young Frenchman was knocked out cold and taken to hospital but was thankfully discharged, much to the relief of the Wednesday camp.
Coach Lee Bullen said: "Franck was completely sparked out and obviously it was a very worrying situation and not nice for the kid.
"He was taken to hospital but I've spoken to Franck just an hour ago and it's all good and first and foremost a big relief."


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On March 8, Pam Coe and other members of the Oxford Quaker Friends will be a part of our Sunday Service, helping us to understand that, in the words of Phillip Gulley, "...to be a Quaker is to live out as best we can the virtues of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality." Living life simply leads one to perceive "success" differently than most of American society does today. At the end of one's life the person who has true wealth, defined in Quaker terms, might say, "A banquet was spread before us, and we partook of the most substantive fare life had to offer: love, joy, compassion, community, generosity, and more. This is the abundant life of which Jesus spoke—and not just Jesus but also other great teachers that God has given our world. Collectively, they teach us that outward treasures have no inward profit, and that those lives that are arrayed against the plainest velvet, like precious gems, will possess the greatest beauty." (Gulley: Living the Quaker Way, 57). Please join the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford as we learn life lessons from the Quaker Way. Mari Kuhnle will be the Service Leader.


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What You Need to Know About the New Moomin TV Series
Moomin figures |© Photopin
Fans of the beloved Finnish book, comic, and television franchise The Moomins, first created by Tove Jansson back in 1945, have been eagerly awaiting an upcoming new animated adaptation by Gutsy Animations, to be named Moominvalley. On September 12, the first names of the English cast were announced, much to their joy. Here is what we know so far of the new series.
Crowdfunding Success
This is the first official addition to the Moomin franchise to be financed by the fans. Gutsy Animations started a crowdfunding campaign in April 2017 to fund the series, which surpassed its $200,000 goal to get the project off the ground.
A Multi-National Collaboration
Just as previous animated adaptations have collaborated with other countries, most commonly Japan, this one will be a joint venture between Finnish and British production companies. This is highly fitting as Britain first picked up the Moomin comic strip back in the 1950s, bringing international attention to the franchise. Finnish animation company Gutsy Animations will be collaborating with British Oscar-winning director Steve Box and Aardman Animation, both of whom most famously worked on the Wallace and Gromit films.
Stop motion set at Aardman Animation / Jan Hagelskamp / WikiCommons
The First Moomin Series Since 1992
There have been several animated Moomin series over the years, some of them better received than others. Moominvalley will be the first animated series released since the anime series of the early 90s, which was so popular that it was broadcast in 124 territories and launched the second wave "Moomin boom." A few films and remastered edits have been released since, but they received more mixed reviews than the anime.
Costume character at Moominworld / kallerna / WikiCommons
An All-Star Cast
The English dub of the 90s anime used relatively obscure voice actors. Moominvalley has gone the opposite route and hired big-name stars for its cast, which is also quite possibly the most diverse Moomin cast to date. This includes Taron Egerton as the lead role of Moomintroll, Warwick Davis as Sniff, Kate Winslet as Mrs. Fillyjonk, and Will Self as The Muskrat. There are not one but two actors from the popular British sitcom The IT Crowd—Matt Berry as Moominpapa and Richard Ayoade as The Ghost.
There are dozens of characters in the Moomin world, so announcements for the rest of the cast are forthcoming. Fans are still eagerly awaiting the actors for favorite characters including Snufkin, Little My, and Snork.
Taron Egerton, the voice of Moomintroll / WikiCommons
Combination of Animation Techniques
The Moomins have been animated in a variety of techniques in the past, from traditional animation to marionettes to fuzzy felt. Moominvalley will use a combination of 2D and 3D animation effects to bring the characters and their world to life. With this technique, the characters are rendered in 3D on a background using 2D illustrative effects. So far only a few pieces of concept art have been released, so it is yet to be seen what the final product will be like.
Moomin stage play © kallerna / WikiCommons
More Moomin Projects
This isn't the only upcoming Moomin project. A 3D Finnish-Polish feature film Moomins at Christmas is being released in December of this year. In addition, a second Moominworld theme park, to be named Metsä (Forest) is opening in Japan soon.
Moominworld theme park in Naantali, Finland © whiteg / Flickr
The first of the two-planned series is expected to air at some point in spring of 2019, so fans still have a while to wait, but there will be many more exciting announcements to come for Moominvalley.


As our patterns in production and consumption of food evolved over the last few decades, the economics of the industry have developed as "millions of farms have folded as government policy has encouraged larger, more intensive farm operations, such as industrialized farming" (Food Economics, Grace Communications Foundation). Much of the world has seen an increase in industrialized agricultural methods as the need for mass production of food seems to over exceed the capacity of traditional farming practices. Increasing the availability and sustainability of crops has been a challenge for the farming industry, especially with political and socioeconomic provocations.
Industrial agriculture and factory farming refers to a modern type of agriculture which requires high inputs of money, fertilizers, and eliminate jobs. Industrialization of the farming industry is relatively new. Since the rise of fast food restaurants in the 1950's, the agricultural industry gained some incentive to mass produce as consumer tendencies shifted. "In 1960, on average, one farmer fed 26 people per year. Now, a farmer feeds about 155 people per year" (Farmers Feed US). "The food industry has evolved enormously, utilizing science and technology to make food production 'bigger, faster, badder and cheaper" (Food Inc, 2008). The post war economies of the 1920s and 1940s caused "capital and technology [to] replace labor and management as farms were consolidated into larger and fewer farm businesses" (Ikerd), causing a significant decline in the number of small farms by the 1970s.
According to Business Insider, approximately 10 companies control most of the world's food supply today. These companies operate as monopolies and essentially represent the industrialization of food production. Major food corporations are solely concerned with profit maximization and therefore uses monetary power t o dominate the market in order to maintain control over prices, production and supply. Food monopolies lobby to influence political agendas that suit their business endeavours which include creating food and agricultural policies. "There is the premise that water, land, food, and agriculture should be handed over to powerful, corrupt transnational corporations to milk for profit, under the pretense these entities are somehow serving the needs of humanity" (Kashmir Times). Corporations have long sought to control basic human necessities. According to his article, John Ikerd believes "corporatization of the food system is no longer being driven by profit… the motives of further corporate consolidation are market power and political power". Market power can be used to extract profits by exploiting both consumers and producers.
While we often blame corporate greed for the rise in industrialized agriculture, we forget to assess consumer demand which helps drive the industry. The world population has more than doubled since the emergence of industrialized farming in the 1960s, which means, hypothetically, we should have doubled the food supply since then. As corporations engineered ways to amp up production at lower and lower costs, the majority of consumers remained ignorant to the truth as people continue to chase 'the lowest price' without considering the circumstances behind it. "Admittedly, for people living in poverty, choosing good food is more of a challenge. Some poor people may spend up to half of their income for food and spending another ten to twenty percent for food would require five to ten percent more income" (Ikerd) Particularly, the rise in income inequality in America has given people the incentive to consume at a far lesser cost. Therefore, companies are willing to producer at as low possible a cost in order to provide prices.
There are many debates around the cost and benefits of industrialization. "Industrial agriculture has been sold to the public as a technological miracle [which]… would allow food production to keep pace with a rapidly growing global population, while its economies of scale would ensure that farming remained a profitable business"(Union of Concerned Scientists). One of the main arguments for industrialization is the ability to mass produce food and therefore feed those in the world who lack adequate resources to access such. Industrialization has provided far cheaper alternatives which make it easier to address world hunger issues. Some agro-economists argue that industrialization can be made sustainable for example, by "turning to high-tech solutions like precision agriculture"(Lusk, NYT). Lusk believes "big problems [such as climate change, growing world population, drought and water quality" can be addressed by industrialization through innovation, entrepreneurship and technology". The question then becomes of whether mass production is actually good for humanity. Other agro-economists see industrialization as an inherent problem for our health safety and our environment. "Industrially produced food appears to be inexpensive, but the price tag doesn't reflect the actual costs that we taxpayers bear."(Industrial Livestock production, Grace Communications Foundation). The Grace Communications Foundation article continues, to argue that "monocultures and factory farms pollute communities and adversely affect public health". The agricultural industry can be said to suffer a market failure as the external costs of the industry are often not internalized by firms. Factory farms are considered agricultural instead of industrial and are therefore not subject to the regulation that their scale of production (and level of pollution) warrants. Because they employ powerful lobbyists that can sway government agencies responsible for monitoring agricultural practices, industrial farms are often left free to pollute.
Our goal is to reach some level of sustainability that reduces the environmental and economic costs of producing food, while providing enough for the world population. Industrialization has proven some negative as well as positive over the last few decades. The controversy has evolved to show innovative new ways of producing food as well as its destructive consequences for which we must be aware. Consumers and producers have a duty to acknowledge both by internalizing the possible externalities in order to navigate the industry toward higher benefits and lower costs.
Foundation, GRACE Communications. "Food Economics." GRACE Communications Foundation, www.sustainabletable.org/491/food-economics.


Novelties benefit from being different and therefore interesting, but they also give good cause for scepticism. They are not per se significant, unless elaborated in a careful and responsible way in order to provide a basis for further progress.
New technologies are a major catalyst and an important means for setting inventions in motion. They generate new needs and expectations, and allow for new architectonic expressions. For example, blob-like forms or interactive buildings can be designed and constructed thanks to technological inventions. The introduction of the computer as a draughting tool began in the 1960s. Apart from being an aid for producing plans, it became a medium that supported the architect in exploratory design processes and the management of complex construction processes. The Internet, as a global communication network, makes it possible to construct virtual spaces for collaboration and collective reflection among professionals and students alike.
There are new fields opening up in the architectural discipline. The design of virtual information and communication spaces is known as 'information architecture'. Architecture is the correct term for this respect, even though there are some disputes on this issue. Information architecture, as a very young field, makes it possible to appreciate and demonstrate the qualities of architecture in a new context. It allows for the re-discovery of underlying principles, of crucial aspects of the intellectual discourse, and of important thought processes to handle the constant challenge posed by an ever-changing world.
Architecture is not only developing in its own realm, it is constantly assimilating achievements from other fields. Currently we are confronted with the need for a convergence of architecture with the many technologies we rely upon. 'Smart buildings' or the 'combination of the digital and the physical space' combining information architecture with physical structure and spaces, are upcoming issues in this regard. They raise questions about the conceptual design as well as social, cultural, economic, and health-related implications.
State-of-the art architecture is the collective result of the efforts of architects from the past and the present. The insights and experiences of many centuries provide us with an undeniable wealth of qualities, principles, and strategies. Some of them are valid fundamentals, while there are others that we have yet to transcend. The acceptance or rejection of achievements of the past is as important for ongoing architectural evolution as coming up with new inventions.
Designing and realizing great buildings is the traditional occupation of an architect. But most graduates opt for other kinds of careers. Some positions allow for a bigger impact on architecture than others. Theorists, journalists, construction firm managers and politicians all play a vital role in the advancement of the field.
I often get e-mails from former students telling me they have decided to abandon architecture because they are 'much more interested in programming/writing/interface design/…'. I suspect that they will become architects and programmers/writers/interface designers. The acquired architectonic expertise can drive any creative process, even more so if structure, usability, reliability and aesthetics are important qualities of the result.
There is no other academic field that is as interdisciplinary and as visible as architecture. Everybody is confronted with architecture and everybody is a user of architecture. The architectural discourse is not confined to an academic and intellectual level. There is a large audience for architecture and giving it a voice is beneficial to the development of the field; on the one hand because of the insights this can throw up and on the other hand because it accelerates acceptance of the changing architectural culture.
Regarding architecture as a field and not only as a profession is a precondition for an intellectual discourse that respects different perspectives. The education of designers does not have to be central to the curriculum; the aim should be to educate professionals who can contribute significantly to the field of architecture. It is an education towards understanding the importance of architecture, towards taking responsibility in whatever position one later finds oneself, and towards collaborating creatively in a field that is in a constant state of development, stimulated by the changes in the manifold aspects of its global context. Some of this can be learned in design tasks, but there are other equally important learning processes. Occasions must be provided for sound theoretical work, for research, for explorations of new technologies, for the integration of social themes, and for inquiries regarding the validation of innovations so that architecture graduates will be equipped to take on the numerous important roles in the field of architecture.
Maia Engeli is Assistant Professor for Architecture and CAAD at the ETH Zurich and Head of the ETH World Center. Her field of specialization is Information Architecture.


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BFC COMMUNITY TRUST TACKLE UNEMPLOYMENT
The Barnet FC Community Trust have been busy in the borough
The Barnet FC Community Trust, in partnership with Job Centre Plus Barnet and the Department of Work and Pensions, have developed and delivered a pilot work programme tackling youth unemployment in the borough.
Candidates were put through an intensive eight week programme called Barnet Return 2 Work, where they looked to improve upon job application skills, sports coaching, sports administration, as well as general office duties.
There were eight successful candidates who will now enrol as sports coaches with the Community Trust, and who will apply their new skills and knowledge delivering sports coaching in the community once they have obtained their Level 1 and CRB.
Barnet FC Community Trust Manager, Birtug Kazim, said:
"We are delighted to have eight new local coaches come through the programme and to help Job Centre Plus Barnet and the Department of Work and Pensions tackle youth unemployment.
"It is a growing concern not just in this country but throughout Europe and the World. The candidates worked particularly hard to develop their potential, and they will all be a fantastic addition to our current team our coaches.
"We look forward to working with them in due course, and to continue our commitment and support to tackling worklessness in the borough."


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Bawa: EFCC has recovered over $100m for NPA
by Aderemi Ojekunle 0 Comments
Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the agency has recovered over $100 million for the Nigerian Ports Authority
Bawa said the recovery was part of the outstanding remittances owed to the country through the Nigerian Ports Authority.
In 2017, the federal government had terminated the boat pilotage agreement it signed with Intels, after Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), said it violated the constitution.
The company was also accused of not paying taxes in 2017 — the same year NPA accused it of failing to remit an outstanding debt.
Speaking at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the presidential media team at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Thursday, Bawa said EFCC had made recoveries directly for the federal government and indirectly to other victims.
"Just a couple of weeks back, we recovered $100 million for the Nigeria Ports Authority but the monies were paid into the account of NPA but through our efforts," he said.
"Am I not going to record that we have recovered such an amount for NPA? Are you going to see it in the EFCC recovered account with the CBN? No. There are recoveries that are made directly into the EFCC account.
"It is through systems and processes, there is a department of asset forfeiture and recovery management department in EFCC responsible for collating all the data regarding recovered assets, assets on interest forfeiture and assets on final forfeiture as well as their location and of course their management."
Bawa said there is a department of asset forfeiture and recovery management in EFCC responsible for collating all the data regarding recovered assets, assets on interest forfeiture and assets on final forfeiture as well as their location and management.
"From the time I took over, we have recovered over N6 billion, over $161 million, over £13,000, €1,730, 200 Canadian dollars, CFA 373,000, ¥8,430," he added."We have recovered 30 real East's, one carpet, 13 electronics, one farm land, one factory, two motorcycles, one filling station and about 32 automobiles."
On a minister who laundered $37 million through real estate, the EFCC chairman said he was making reference to Alison-Madueke, former petroleum minister.
The anti-graft agency had filed charges of money laundering against Alison-Madueke who left the country for the UK shortly before the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
Ibrahim Magu, former EFCC chairman, had said Alison-Madueke stole "not less than $2.5 billion" and had secured the final forfeiture of over $80 million worth of properties owned by the former minister.
economic and financial crimes commissionEFCCNigerian Ports Authority


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Security, Virtualization
Citrix expands browser app offerings with new Secure Browser family
by Mark Cox • March 29, 2016
Citrix rebrands the Workspace Cloud Browser Apps Service introduced last summer as Citrix Workspace Cloud Secure Browser, and complements this hosted service with two other offerings, the Citrix XenApp Secure Browser and the Secure Browser Deployment Kit.
Last summer, Citrix offered up the Workspace Cloud Browser Apps Service, a trial offering which provided a secure way of delivering Web and SaaS applications to any modern browser. Now they have broadened out that portfolio significantly. The new family of Citrix Secure Browser offerings has three components. One is that original Browser Apps Service, rebranded as Citrix Workspace Cloud Secure Browser. It has now been supplemented by two other offerings aimed at different markets – the Citrix XenApp Secure Browser, which is sold through perpetual license, and the Secure Browser Deployment Kit, which is free for existing XenApp and XenDesktop users.
"The Workspace Cloud Browser Apps Service, which was introduced last year as a trial service only, has now been renamed and is the fully hosted service component of the family," said Brett Waldman Senior Manager for Product Marketing at Citrix. "This is a fully hosted and managed service for customers who want everything to be deployed and managed by Citrix." It starts at $USD 20 per user per month, for the secure delivery of an unlimited number of web apps.
Citrix originally entered the secure browser market last year to address the problems created in a world where customers often want to use custom-built web applications that use Internet Explorer in other browsers, and where browser convenience features may violate compliance and security policies.
"More than half of all apps are now delivered through a browser, and the top app delivered on XenApp is a web browser," Waldman said. "We wanted to simplify the delivery of web apps in a secure manner. With this, you don't have to worry about what you are running, or about security, or about what browser it is. We've abstracted all that complexity." The Secure Browser provides a turnkey virtual delivery of apps to the end-user's browser of choice, locking them down, eliminating compatibility issues, and protecting sensitive information.
Waldman said the service introduced last year has had a great response, divided into two types.
"The very advanced crowd likes what we have done, because they have done something similar themselves, hardening their browsers," he said. "But for the vast majority of people it's a 'wow,' something that they had thought about perhaps, but hadn't actually done. Many had never thought about publishing Web apps from Citrix this way."
Waldman said Citrix thinks the market for this is significant.
"Something like Google and ESPN won't be published this way, but within the enterprise or SMB markets, it's very much use case driven," he said. "In conversations we have had, it comes down to a better user experience, security, or manageability story."
The two new secure browser offerings are the Citrix XenApp Secure Browser and the Secure Browser Deployment Kit.
The Citrix XenApp Secure Browser is available as a perpetual license beginning at $USD 150 per user or device.
"This is for customers who want to manage themselves, and who don't want the full service," Waldman said.
The Secure Browser Deployment Kit is free for XenApp and XenDesktop customers with active Subscription Advantage or software maintenance, with the exception of XenDesktop VDI edition customers. It leverages the Citrix Lifecycle Management XenApp Secure Browser blueprint to streamline new deployments of XenApp dedicated for publishing web apps.
"We think that the channel will be more inclined to sell the Citrix XenApp Secure Browser or even the Secure Browser Deployment Kits, because of the services opportunities," Waldman said. "However, they may also find that the Citrix Workspace Cloud Secure Browser is a great conversation starter for customers who haven't thought about this before."
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Main Street's midtown side sporting new street lights
A road improvement project on Main Street sits almost completed on Monday. The city of Gainesville has installed new lighting and paved the road in the $400,000 project. - photo by Nick Bowman
Jeff Gill Follow @jeffgtimes
Updated: Aug. 22, 2017, 6:32 p.m.
The new decorative street lights on Main Street in Gainesville not only are up, but they flickered on during Monday's solar eclipse.
"That looked pretty good," said Barry McNicholas, group manager for Slack Auto Parts, which has a store at the corner of Main and Jesse Jewell Parkway.
More work lies ahead as Gainesville continues to dress up Main Street south of Jesse Jewell as part of a $400,000 streetscape project.
Road striping and installation of benches and trash receptacles are projected to be completed within the next 30 days, City Manager Bryan Lackey said.
"The final landscaping may extend into late September depending how long the summer heat hangs on," he said.
The streetscape project, also involving new and wider sidewalks, runs to College Avenue and near where the old Hall County jail once stood.
Earlier this year, Main Street in that area was closed to motorists for a couple of months as workers replaced 100-year-old cast-iron water lines.
The work was done to enable the streetscape project to take place at the least inconvenience to residents, Assistant City Manager Angela Sheppard said earlier.
McNicholas said the water line work affected Slack's retail business, but "we were still able to work out of the back door for our commercial deliveries.
"But (the project) was for the good of the community … and in the end, it's nice-looking improvements, for sure."
Cars roll over an improved Main Street on Monday. The city of Gainesville has installed new lighting and paved the road in the $400,000 project. - photo by Nick Bowman
Jessica Tullar, the city's special projects manager, has said the improvements are part of a plan to connect the Main Street area to the existing Midtown Greenway on Parker Street "and to give a visual connection to the pedestrian bridge."
The pedestrian bridge spanning Jesse Jewell links the downtown and midtown areas.
Gainesville is seeking planning money from the state to study how best to connect the Midtown Greenway to Highlands to Islands — a Hall County trails systems now separated by a major four-lane road, Queen City Parkway/Ga. 60.
The Main Street project and greenway connection are part of a larger effort to reinvigorate that area of town — one that also includes tearing down the old Hall County jail off Main and Parker.
Tristar of America — the Norcross contractor awarded a $377,000 contract to do the work — began the project on the 4-acre site in the spring.
The jail is gone, but the entire project around the fenced-off area is expected to be completed by September.
"That is still the anticipated completion time frame," Lackey said last week.
City staff "will be meeting over the next few weeks to develop information for potential developers," he added.
The jail demolition could be a major starting point in the area's redevelopment.
"We have a blank canvas, a whole block in that midtown area, for us to start marketing for a public-private partnership," Lackey has said. "Then, we could put that back on the tax rolls as some kind of mixed-use development."


Man, I really need to get on top of these things. It's not like I don't have a huge list of stuff to post. Ah well, here I am.
And lookie, hitching another car to the crossover train!
Author's Summary: Dean had them heading towards Golden Valley on I-93 when the semi and the fighter jet went screaming by, blasting at each other with what looked like laserbeams. That was crazy enough, even before both of them smashed into the overpass and stopped long enough to unfold into giant robots.
Another brilliant crossover idea, because what do the Winchesters have that might be somehow even better were she to be Transformed? Hmmmm? You got it. Baby. Baby.
It's short but awesome. I sort of wish it were a 100k story, because there's just so much potential for Baby to help them hunt (and Dean's so happy, and that's always fun), but astolat (like she always does), does an amazing job with the perfect amount of words.
Pretty girl! Amazing. Amazing. And Dean's so in looooooove. ♥ I think I am, too!
And now, on my day off, I will be watching Transformers and maybe some Supernatural and making a little crossover in my head.


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Staffordshire Police
Dad fined £200 for holding birthday party for daughter in Tamworth
When officers knocked on the door, the curtains of the property were shut quickly
Daniel Newbould
Get the latest news from Tamworth straight to your inbox
A man has been fined for holding a child's birthday party for his daughter.
Police were called to an address in Tamworth last weekend after reports of a gathering.
When officers knocked on the door, the curtains of the property were shut quickly.
It was later established a 52 year old man was holding a party for his daughter, with his adult friends, a child, and a neighbour present from a total of four separate households.
He was fined £200.
Tamworth teenager fined £200 for holding 'spontaneous' party during lockdown
Tamworth's hardest-hit Covid areas as new strain "tightens grip on Staffordshire"
Staffordshire Police confirmed: "A 52-year-old man has been fined for holding a gathering of people from different households at a property in Tamworth for a child's birthday party.
"Police were called to an address on Saturday, January 23 to reports of a gathering.
"Upon arrival, a birthday banner was seen on the front door.
"When officers knocked the door, the curtains of the property were shut quickly.
"Officers continued to knock and when the man opened the door, he explained he was holding a party for his daughter, with his adult friends, a child, and a neighbour present from a total of four separate households.
"The man was issued with a £200 fixed penalty notice as was a 25-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man from two different Tamworth households."
Giovanni Pernice upsets fans as he breaks silence on rumours Rose Ayling-Elis has quit Strictly tour
Strictly Come DancingThe annual Strictly Live Tour is set to kick off this week at Birmingham's Utilita Arena