TORONTO, ONTARIO - Once upon a time, I was one of the plethora of readers of William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times. Since the end of that column, its place in my ongoing language education has been taken by the Verbal Energy column from Ruth Walker in the Christian Science Monitor, a column cited in this blog before.
Walker has now delved into one of my other favorite things, radio, to create what may be
my favorite Verbal Energy column of all time. I'll sign off now.
Showing posts with label Christian Science Monitor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Science Monitor. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, April 12, 2010
Culture: Losing Science
TORONTO, ONTARIO - I often cite Russia as the potential future of the United States if corporatist policies are allowed to dominate by both conservatives and liberals. The economic problems in Russia are not so much socialist policies--though the government has a close hand in many companies--as they are problems of lack of competition. Because large companies--usually backed by the government--so dominate market segments, there's really no chance at innovation by small companies; they would be crushed by the dominant companies.
Whether one believes that as a possible future in the United States or not, there's a new cautionary tale out of Russia. The Christian Science Monitor noted in a recent article that scientific research in Russia has slowed significantly. The amount of peer-reviewed papers being published by Russian authors is now not much more than one-tenth of that of the United States, less than one-third of that of China.
While lack of government funding has driven the decline in scientific output, with Russia allocating about 2% as much money as the US (on that basis, their output actually looks quite good!) for scientific research. However, the article points out that the problem is much deeper. Andre Ionin is quoted in the article as saying "the profession of scientist is not prestigious anymore, and the government does not define scientific tasks that would attract talented people." Only 1.6% of Russian students viewed science as a worthwhile career in a 2006 survey.
The money has not dried up in the United States yet, but it seems to me that the social standing of scientists and engineers has fallen. I won't rehash my own experience of watching my peers decide to pursue other professions after getting an advanced degree. Some--though certainly not all--TEA party activists have included scientists as part of the government workforce that "wastes their tax dollars," usually in the context of climate change research, the most common thing they call "junk science." Mainstream media have laid off their science reporters as they have slashed spending in general.
The Obama administration has been increasing science funding. However, as of yet there is no race-to-the-moon-style reason for the general public to get excited by science. Until we have reason to believe, like Bill Nye the Science Guy, that "science is cool," there is always the danger that the United States is just one unsympathetic administration away from heading down the road that Russia has gone in science.
Whether one believes that as a possible future in the United States or not, there's a new cautionary tale out of Russia. The Christian Science Monitor noted in a recent article that scientific research in Russia has slowed significantly. The amount of peer-reviewed papers being published by Russian authors is now not much more than one-tenth of that of the United States, less than one-third of that of China.
While lack of government funding has driven the decline in scientific output, with Russia allocating about 2% as much money as the US (on that basis, their output actually looks quite good!) for scientific research. However, the article points out that the problem is much deeper. Andre Ionin is quoted in the article as saying "the profession of scientist is not prestigious anymore, and the government does not define scientific tasks that would attract talented people." Only 1.6% of Russian students viewed science as a worthwhile career in a 2006 survey.
The money has not dried up in the United States yet, but it seems to me that the social standing of scientists and engineers has fallen. I won't rehash my own experience of watching my peers decide to pursue other professions after getting an advanced degree. Some--though certainly not all--TEA party activists have included scientists as part of the government workforce that "wastes their tax dollars," usually in the context of climate change research, the most common thing they call "junk science." Mainstream media have laid off their science reporters as they have slashed spending in general.
The Obama administration has been increasing science funding. However, as of yet there is no race-to-the-moon-style reason for the general public to get excited by science. Until we have reason to believe, like Bill Nye the Science Guy, that "science is cool," there is always the danger that the United States is just one unsympathetic administration away from heading down the road that Russia has gone in science.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Media: Patterns that Follow
TORONTO, ONTARIO - I've spent a surprisingly large proportion of my life getting up at twenty-four minutes after the hour. That's right, not at half past, but twenty-four minutes past the hour. Why? CBS Radio distributes "The Osgood File," a two-minute feature from Charles Osgood, at twenty-five minutes after the hour, four times a day (actually, seven times if the four times zones are accounted for, but there are only four new Osgood Files each day). So, I would set my clock radio to come on just before Osgood would start.
Once upon a time, most radio stations ran the features right off the network feed, so pretty much everywhere I went in the Pacific Northwest, I could listen to Osgood at the same time (on KIRO from Seattle, KXL from Portland, KREW-Sunnyside in much of central Washington, and KXLY from Spokane). By the time I went away to college, that had started to change, with stations delaying the feature up to fifteen minutes. KCBS in San Francisco (which originally delayed Osgood to half past) was running it about thirty-six minutes after the hour, so during college I could sleep in another six minutes and just wake up at half past to the headlines. Yet, when I moved to Boston, WBZ was still running the feed live, so I was back to my old routine. I'm obviously listening to the CBC (and getting up at standard times) in Canada, and commercial radio has so degraded that if I ever move back, I probably won't be listening, so getting up at twenty-four after the hour is probably an artifact of my past now.
Yet, other media traditions are still following me around. My parents purchased a gift subscription to the Christian Science Monitor for me in high school, and it might have been the best gift they ever gave me. The problem with the Monitor is that it was and is not hand-delivered, but comes by the postal service. That wasn't so bad when I lived in suburban Seattle or even eastern Washington state, where service was pretty predictable (if slow), but it was terrible on-campus at Stanford University. On occasion, an issue would come two weeks after the issue date, and I would regularly receive the Monday and Tuesday papers on Thursday (if I was lucky, Wednesday would also arrive the same day). I got to know my local postmaster exceptionally well in this era, as we had a near-constant "publication watch" in progress to track what was happening which never really solved the problem.
The United States Postal Service largely cleaned up its act in the late 1990's in terms of service reliability, but it was lost on me as about the same time I decided the Boston Globe was the correct paper to receive while I lived in that metropolitan area. Yet, I did miss the forward-looking, in-depth world news of the Monitor, so when I moved to the world city of Toronto, I decided that the weekly "International" edition of the Monitor should be back on my reading list.
The only problem is that Canada Post hasn't gone through a phase of becoming more reliable. In fact, it seems to be getting steadily worse. Today, on March 25th, I finally received the March 15th Christian Science Monitor--along with the one dated the 22nd. If I thought it would do any good, I'd request a publication watch. However, if it didn't do accomplish anything down south, it's even less likely to do so here. Some life patterns just won't go away.
Of course, I still listen to Charles Osgood--off a podcast. Maybe it's time to get a iPad and finally receive the Monitor when it is released.
Once upon a time, most radio stations ran the features right off the network feed, so pretty much everywhere I went in the Pacific Northwest, I could listen to Osgood at the same time (on KIRO from Seattle, KXL from Portland, KREW-Sunnyside in much of central Washington, and KXLY from Spokane). By the time I went away to college, that had started to change, with stations delaying the feature up to fifteen minutes. KCBS in San Francisco (which originally delayed Osgood to half past) was running it about thirty-six minutes after the hour, so during college I could sleep in another six minutes and just wake up at half past to the headlines. Yet, when I moved to Boston, WBZ was still running the feed live, so I was back to my old routine. I'm obviously listening to the CBC (and getting up at standard times) in Canada, and commercial radio has so degraded that if I ever move back, I probably won't be listening, so getting up at twenty-four after the hour is probably an artifact of my past now.
Yet, other media traditions are still following me around. My parents purchased a gift subscription to the Christian Science Monitor for me in high school, and it might have been the best gift they ever gave me. The problem with the Monitor is that it was and is not hand-delivered, but comes by the postal service. That wasn't so bad when I lived in suburban Seattle or even eastern Washington state, where service was pretty predictable (if slow), but it was terrible on-campus at Stanford University. On occasion, an issue would come two weeks after the issue date, and I would regularly receive the Monday and Tuesday papers on Thursday (if I was lucky, Wednesday would also arrive the same day). I got to know my local postmaster exceptionally well in this era, as we had a near-constant "publication watch" in progress to track what was happening which never really solved the problem.
The United States Postal Service largely cleaned up its act in the late 1990's in terms of service reliability, but it was lost on me as about the same time I decided the Boston Globe was the correct paper to receive while I lived in that metropolitan area. Yet, I did miss the forward-looking, in-depth world news of the Monitor, so when I moved to the world city of Toronto, I decided that the weekly "International" edition of the Monitor should be back on my reading list.
The only problem is that Canada Post hasn't gone through a phase of becoming more reliable. In fact, it seems to be getting steadily worse. Today, on March 25th, I finally received the March 15th Christian Science Monitor--along with the one dated the 22nd. If I thought it would do any good, I'd request a publication watch. However, if it didn't do accomplish anything down south, it's even less likely to do so here. Some life patterns just won't go away.
Of course, I still listen to Charles Osgood--off a podcast. Maybe it's time to get a iPad and finally receive the Monitor when it is released.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Margin Notes: Go Canada, God Talk, PC, CSM
A TTC Orion VII hybrid bus working the 35 Jane route was displaying "Go Canada Go" on 21-February-2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Toronto may be 3,200 kilometers away from Vancouver (that's 2,000 miles), but even here those games starting with an "o" there are an unmistakable presence. If one's routine involves interaction with TTC buses, it isn't possible to forget, as their route signs display "Go Canada Go" in tandem with their normal information, as shown above.
* * * * * *
My Sunday routine includes listening to KGO's God Talk hosted for almost two years now by San Jose State professor Brent Walters. While it airs from 6-9 am Pacific, I usually listen later using the Internet archive. It's almost like attending a college-level class on religion (after all, it is hosted by a professor), and now there are resource materials to go along with the program. The God Talk web site is now on-line, which contains a tremendous amount of interesting information related to the show's weekly topics. For those interested in a historical take on religion, it's worth perusing.
* * * * * *
My Sunday routine of late also involves a stop at the grocery store. Especially with my current limited budget, I almost exclusively purchase generic and store brands. A prominent store brand in Canada is President's Choice, available at Loblaw's and affiliated stores like No Frills. I had been familiar with this brand while living in New England, as it had been carried by Star Market until it was acquired by Shaw's. In any event, as a cheaper brand, I had been a regular customer, but now it seems to be going through a process of "up-scaling" the brand out of my range without noticeable improvement. Toasted O's have increased in price by $0.70 per 575 g box locally, so now I'm only buying Corn Flakes, which only increased by $0.10 and don't seem to have been modified. The Swiss chocolate I used to buy for $4.49 (on sale for as low as $2.99) was off my list anyway lately, but I may never buy it again as the regular price is now $6.99. So far, the salsa hasn't increased in price, but it was clearly reformulated so now I'm worried about that and all their other products... I sure hope they don't touch the generic No Name brand!
* * * * * *
I have a more positive opinion of recent changes at the weekly Christian Science Monitor. They didn't ask me, but apparently they asked readers what they thought of the paper, and more international news was demanded. Instead of being approximately half the 48-page weekly, it's now about 32 pages. There is a possibility of positive change in the world!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Blog: Origin of the Title
TORONTO, ONTARIO - The title of this blog originates from the commentaries I did for KZSU, Stanford University's student radio station, in 1994 while in the news department. They were entitled "In the Margin," and often included the phrase "way out there" after the title. Of course, many of the subjects of those commentaries, while regarded as marginal at the time, would later move mainstream. I believe I had only read about Ratko Mladic and Arkan in the Christian Science Monitor at the time of airing a commentary about them, but ultimately the world would recognize them as war criminals.
An author can always hope that comments made "in the margin" may prove of greater value down the road...
An author can always hope that comments made "in the margin" may prove of greater value down the road...
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