*
Just after midnight on the 6th, his birthday, he fell out of bed right on his head and Daddy ended up on the couch. Just before I gathered my pillows to leave, as he was settling in on my side of the bed, he tells me...
"Momma's gonna sleep for me...there's no spot for you."
Three years y'all...three years.
*The length of everything he measured with his new measuring tape came out to twenty pounds.
Is this CCTV footage from the London riots?
ReplyDeleteLittle less obvious than London's Burning
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/EfK-WX2pa8c
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8687177/London-riots-live.html
Minus the social implications...I think our living room was a bigger mess than Tottenham after the festivities this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThings must be gettin' pretty bad over there. We have had exactly one visitor from the UK since Sunday...usually y'all make up the vast majority of our non-Dino Dan visits.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Adam abandoned us before the riots so he has no excuse.
Y'all be safe.
There's an intriguing "Fight Club" element emerging from the profile of preliminary arrestees - a graphic artist; a primary school assistant - that smacks of a "how much do you know about yourself till you've been looting and rioting?" which is crumbling the edges of the initial "feral rat" theory, that being that the causes are related to a permanent underclass created by a benefit culture who have been disenfranchised and further victimised by the so-called "public spending cuts" - which, BTW, haven't really cut in yet. But then explaining investor behaviour in the stock market in rational terms has thus far eluded the behavioural economists.
ReplyDeleteIf Adam returns with a new set hoodies ... we'll know. We'll know.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the Oedipal stuff; completely developmentally normal for a three-year old. He'll only hate you for another year or so, then latency kicks in and he'll want to hang out with you while calling poor Mummy 'boring'.
ReplyDeleteAnd meanwhile, over here...we're knackered.
There's an amusing irony to all this - if one's sense of humour has a sort of sick, twisted bent (which mine does) - in that the looting and general criminal malfeasance at the so-called "top end" of society is far more reckless and out of control than that enacted by the youth at the bottom. Their ability to wreck lives and destroy livelihoods, by their grip on the till of wealth creation, is unparalleled in history. They can hold entire populations and governments to ransom. At the bottom, one has the failed youth and, at the top, the "too big to fail".
ReplyDeleteBut you can't beat a bit of The Specials:
http://youtu.be/1WhhSBgd3KI
It's also interesting to note that the urge toward conspicuous wealth display, in all it gaudy glory, is prevalent among the the top and bottom of society: the "bling" factor, if you will. Just check out the obscene displays visible in the magazine supplements that come with the weekend editions of the Financial Times - oddly enough, I often read them while waiting for my order at local Chinese takeaway - items on display include such "must buys" as diamond encrusted mobile phones, properties that even the big lottery winners could only dream about affording and so on.
ReplyDeleteOedipus Schmoedipus - as Woody Allen said to the nanny.
ReplyDelete"explaining investor behaviour in the stock market in rational terms has thus far eluded the behavioural economists."
ReplyDeletePoor Martha has to deal with these people every day...she's had an interesting week.
You know Adam's all up in the b***...trying to bully the fine people of Lancaster into nudity on the streets. Wearing nothing hisself but a new pair of tennis shoes and duffle bag for loot.
ISBW...there are a few activities that are reserved for Daddy. Our drives out to the Kansas City Southern rail yard to see the "really loud choo choo trains" and trips to the golf course...when Momma is told she's not allowed to participate but, for the most part he's still a Momma's boy.
That was an interesting point you made about the rubber bullets...(go read her excellent blog if your curious...then go read Nat's). The idea of rubber bullets and knee knockers flying down English streets is a weird one. I'd never thought about it.
We had our share of "unrest" around here 30-40 years ago and one of the most iconic images of that time is the firehoses in Birmingham. That sight got people in a real tizzy...it was shocking.
Thing is those hoses had been turned on Alabama football fans (white students) for years. It was just a blunt form of crowd control for a people that can be very rowdy. Evidently it was not used in more quiet parts of the country and people were outraged.
I can't say anything about what's goin' on over there...except that I hate to see it.
We love The Specials in this house but maybe it's time for something a little more celestial...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHDBn7TL4JM
The Boys favorite ska tune..."Boots on Your Feet Daddy."
Here's a story I don't tell much; let me preface it by quoting (from memory, so it may not be word-for-word), the philosopher Saul Kripke, "communication is, at any moment, in danger of breaking down". Now, a few of us from work went to a bar to have a couple of drinks with a guy that was leaving. We'd drunk a few beers, certainly nothing excessive, when the guy leaving started verbally laying into another member of staff, which was odd, since they usually got on well togther. The person at the other end of the abuse just took it, but the instigator just kept "upping the ante" so-to-speak. I felt compelled to intervene and the "abuse hose" turned on me. The weird thing is, I just could not connect with where this was coming from - he was behaving so out of character. The more I tried to rationalise with him, the more disconnected the whole situation seemed to get. It really was as if communication had somehow become totally broken. At that point I got the fear - realising talking wasn't doing anything - and the adrenaline was pumping through me to the point that I was shaking all over. Why I recount this is that, even though no physical threat was made to me, my natural - biological - response to this senseless, irrational, situation was preparedness for pre-emptive physical aggression; in the end, I had to talk myself back to calm and just walk away. The guy had broke mentally and not even a good hook to the jaw was going to turn that around. It's senseless behaviour which I fear the most - when reason, no matter how warped by ideology and prejudice, cannot even be tacitly engaged with.
ReplyDeleteLoved the ska tune.
ReplyDeleteThey say the "pen is mightier than the sword", but that's not the case if you're cornered alone with a sword waving illiterate.
ReplyDeleteI had this really thoughtful...if not brilliant...response halfway finished when I was thwarted by the back button.
ReplyDeleteI had skillfully blamed all this...including an inability on the part of many to articulate exactly what they're up to...on Adam.
Now it's gone.
Later...later later.
There's a lot thought given the lurking savage tendencies of people..
ReplyDeleteEvolution and animal instinct...people that thrived on adversity and uncertainty were better equipped to survive.
Our Rector talks more about how human beings were created with a desire for adventure than any preacher I've ever had. Christ calls people to a life of Earthly uncertainty and adventure..and nothings more dangerous to the soul than material comfort and security.
The most seductive aspect of Fascism was indictment against softness and stupor brought on by material comfort...it was a call to arms against comfort...far more seductive than anything Socialism or Communism had to offer with their promises of material certainties.
Occidentalism by Buruma and Margalit looks at anti-western views from Marxists and Anarchists, Kamakazi Pilots to today's Islamists...there's a pretty clear theme...hatred of Bougie Softness and live devoid of meaning and belief.
Poverty and need can't be dismissed...nor can the desire for a certain amount of security but, I think there's a part of the human soul that hates all this...stuff. Just despises it. Even the Left...with it's focus trying to achieve a less uncertain life for everyone...hates nothing so much as comfortable suburbs and gentrified city blocks.
I think it's fair to say that there's been a push against beliefs in the West...belief means certainty...certainty means judgment...etc. So, I don't think it should be any surprise that a lot people can't exactly articulate their outrage. Not to excuse it or give it some purpose it doesn't have...I just think the circumstances are ripe for this kind of ineffable rage. And like your friend...there's no reasoning with it.
I don't know....
I do know that I need an editor.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to squeeze this in before heading off to Memphis...after having just gotten back from Baton Rouge.
I preface these comments by pointing out that they're a reconstruction of my initial post, which, like you, I managed to delete accidentally by “back-paging” - two hours' worth of ramblings gone. So, half a bottle of wine later, I've tried to reconstruct my thoughts, but it's never quite as the same as when you're on a roll. I apologise if this seems a bit mechanical and disengaged from what you actually wrote - frustration dulls it, but I hope I caught the spirit, if not essence, of what I originally wrote.
ReplyDelete“[H]uman beings were created with a desire for adventure[.]”
Though I disagree with the theological implications behind the notion of “creation” - a very human concept that becomes - unintelligible when applied to an abstract deity (absent of a back-history which would provide the necessary context to frame circumstances that would inform the imperative to create), I feel there is some truth in this idea, except I would replace “Adventure” with “imagination”. What differentiates us from the animals, is an ability to make long-term plans; to “imagine” various scenarios and the consequences that would follow on from them. Imagination is closely allied to to our primary modal sense, vision, the ability to see - the ability to see, imagine, beyond the immediate environment in terms of immediate place and time. Dreaming is not just a mode of sleep, but a waking, imaginative experience: “I have a dream ...”: Imagination is the melding of the inner and outer to create a whole new future landscape of possibilities.
“Christ calls people to a life of Earthly uncertainty and adventure and nothings more dangerous to the soul than material comfort and security.”
I don't think Jesus is against “material comfort and security”, rather, the complacency and hypocrisy they can engender: “The things you own, end up owning you”. Of course, they don't literally “own” you, it is your perception of them; what you attach to the them in terms of an emotion and intellectual investment, that grips hold of you. Jesus talks about, somewhere, making sure the cup is both clean on the “outside” as well as on “the inside”; that you don't cultivate the form of an exterior life in contradiction to that of your inner life. Moral and ethical consistency. - “do unto others”, etc. To reject “material comfort and security” is absurd, to worship it is also absurd.
There's the story of Jesus visiting with Mary and her anointing Jesus' feet with expensive oil. Judas objects, pointing out that the oil could be sold and the proceeds used to help the poor; Jesus responds with something to the affect that - can't remember off-hand exactly - “the poor will always be with you, I will not always be around”. Which seems strange and oddly unsympathetic on the surface of it. But Jesus uses the term “I” in the most unselfish manner of anyone I have encountered in the historical cannons, for example, when he states, “I am the way”, he's not saying he is the only way, but all “I”s are the way. You - your “I” - is the way; “I” is the only way. “I” will not always be around but poverty and suffering of “I”s will; they make us what we are and, without them, we have no capacity for compassion, empathy and sympathy. That is not say we should encourage such objectionable states of wretchedness, rather they can be a blessing in disguise, because they are humanising. Such experience make us what we are; make us capable of going beyond ourselves to encounter the other – the other “you” that for the other is their “I” and “I” only exists in that is shared. Judas goes on to betray Jesus and, no doubt, this is a contributing factor to the crucifixion, but Judas misunderstands Jesus' words as selfishness, instead of a statement of humility – to think of one's self is not not selfish, but it is can be if it come at the exclusion of everyone else.
Man, so close finish that bottle of wine now.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/YDw-hTuwcvA
Thankfully, I booked tomorrow off.
ReplyDeleteWhy some of these computers have their backspace and back page functions tied together is beyond me...infuriating.
ReplyDeleteThe focus for me is on certainty.
A rejection of certainty in material comforts and security is not a rejection of material comforts...which is not much different than what you have said. Jesus called the disciples to a life of Earthly uncertainties...the only certain thing, for the Christian, is him.
There's nothing more absurd than the figure of someone who worships material things.
This isn't the first time the story of Mary has come up. In fact the story referenced on this blog almost constantly...Martha's real name is not Martha. :)
Also, my point wasn't really a theological one...though I'm in the created camp and I think all these issues are worth lengthy discussion....but, to point out that various belief systems acknowledge a restlessness in human beings.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Also...the Pixies are untouchable....un-Touchable.
The problem with creation is that it has to be created.
ReplyDeleteIt's a serious point of contention; not just for theologians, but also astrophysicists and their Big Bang. How do you get something out of nothing - "creatio ex nihilo" as the Romans like to say.
I have no answers. Could be because there's something wrong with the question. Personally, I tend to believe the universe is always - how can there be less than everything?
http://youtu.be/3R_-3w_Iwk0
^^what Nat said, though I am somwhat of an agnostic about the big bangs stuff, I just don't think we have the mind to comprehend some of this stuff.
ReplyDeletesooo... Hello! I'm not dead, nor a bang and olufsen stereo or iphone in profit, so thus far you speculations have gone awry!
We have been touring the country seeing various friends at wedding and such- market harborough, norwich, sutton hoo, ely, york and newcastle now for a few days before back to sunny lancaster. Being such a detester of the media, I only found out about our more feral brethren the other day, so sadly missed the shopping opportunities. On the plus side I do seem also to have missed the predictably mindless calls of 'send in the army' ... 'they can't help it they are from deprived backgrounds' which always get flung around in earnest by the ignorant every time more primal urges rise to the surface.
Ho hum, we are off to digger land tommorow, and sea world and bamburg castle the day after, but I do promise to pop back in sooner!
Happy belated birthday to the little dude, man that doesn't seem three years ago! Hope you and the family are keeping well!
Adam
He lives...and all we have to go on about where he's been is his word...we can't see his footware.
ReplyDeleteThree years indeed. We are well...although, I have two baskets full of toys in my truck today because I had to take 'em from The Boy last night. He dumped 'em out and wouldn't pick 'em up.
His attitude in these situations is not petulant but, jedi in nature...I'm sternly telling him to pick up his toys. He say's "Daddy look at this red race car." I ask him if he wants a spanking..."Daddy this flashlight's batteries are dead." I spank him..."Hey Daddy listen to my guitar." It's impenetrable.
But this morning as I came out of the shower he was in my spot in the bed again...and the first thing he says to me is..."I'll listen Daddy. I'll listen." I think we finally got through to him when he realized his charm wasn't having any effect on our irritation with him.
Sounds like y'all have been in good form. Good to hear...because when the news first talked about London, then England, then London, and so on interchangeably...I didn't know if you were in trouble or not.
_________________________________________
I think you're both on to something...something is eternal. Something always is... and yet there seems to be some good evidence that time is real...that the Universe operates inside time. That the Universe was "created with time." I have no problem with the idea that God exists outside of time...that he never came into being. He always is....but genuinely comprehending it? That's a different matter.
None of that demands a belief in Jesus Christ or Judaism or any other particular religion.
For me it's when you start piling on things like imagination, Morality, Love, empathy, creativity, the fact that we have a concept of perfection, etc...there's nothing about any of that is an obvious and unavoidable consequence of existence...that the mind, or at least my mind, turns toward speculation on the nature of God...and so on from there. Just my line of thought anyway.
I tell you something that strikes me as extremely fishy...something that almost demands and explanation outside of the universe..yet we can comprehend and even pass judgement on it from start to finish...that is time + consciousness. In other words obliteration.
__________________________________________
Adam you can come clean with us. As can be gleaned from above...I am the only person that has any basis for passing genuine judgement on your shopping habits (or your forcing people to undress on the street)...and unless this things becomes about the exportation of Coleman's Mustard to the U.S. I don't feel it's my place to get into it.
One must hate the player...not the game and if you snagged a 58" Plasma Screen to watch your Georgia Bulldogs (I'm assigning them to you) on satellite tv...I can't knock you for that.
Adam can speak with some intimacy about that day, or general time, three years ago. I spent the afternoon before leaving for the hospital talking with him on line...almost right up to the time of our leaving for the hospital.
ReplyDeleteMe and Martha stopped that evening at Newk's to eat our last meal...I had no appetite and my face was turning a greenish white shade and Martha say's...
"Isn't this exciting?"
Yeah...about as exciting as being on the 20th floor ledge of burning building preparing to jump into a firemen's net.
doh!
ReplyDeleteYou're supposed to hate the game not the player.
I'm delirious this afternoon...after a week that included two nights in Baton Rouge, followed by a trip to Memphis, followed by getting up at 4:30am to cook and feed people breakfast...I'm on the verge of blacking out.
There was a science programme recently re-evaluating The Big Bang Theory, where various astrophysicists, cosmologists, physicists, etc., offered their take and, to-a-man (including one woman), they almost all agreed it wasn't now giving enough theoretical bang for your research buck. The other noticeable theme to arise was, that each of them had their own alternative explanation which, in a lot of cases, were wildly different.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the earlier discussion regarding the riots, there was an excellent piece in The Telegraph by Peter Oborne:
"The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom"
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100100708/the-moral-decay-of-our-society-is-as-bad-at-the-top-as-the-bottom/
I sorta stumbled backwards into a course on British Philanthropy in 19th and early 20th century with Frank Prochaska as a graduate student. It turned out to be a great accident.
ReplyDeleteOne of the points that Oborne makes is particularly interesting to me..and that's the loss of responsibility toward society, and especially the poor, on the part of the wealthy.
It seems to me they have no direct responsibility anymore. I'm not excusing any behavior or attitude in bringing this up. Just pointing out that when the direct connection between the care of the poor and the wealthy was intercepted by the State...the relationship was fundamentally changed.
That relationship had been a paternalistic one...which can have it's own obnoxious results but it was direct. Now having given at the office (or not...doesn't really matter the system will take care)...they're free to carry one without giving it a second thought.
I don't know...just a small observation.
What about dimensions Nat?
I think you're spot on. Here's a post I wrote a while ago on how money works for our benefit and how that system can be abused.
ReplyDeletehttp://tasteoftheson.blogspot.com/2010/06/magic-of-money.html
Regarding dimensions, I think it was Bertrand Russell who pointed that, if the universe doubled in size every five minutes, what would be the observational difference? His point being, there is no absolute measure of size; so it is an irrelevant speculation. Imagine there are only two objects in space. How far apart are they? Impossible to say, because you would need other objects by which to judge relative change. They say the universe is expanding, but it is not expanding into anything, rather our observation of the relative distance between the stars and galaxies seems to be increasing. Unfortunately, with the concept of wealth, which is another relative concept, the question of measure is even more perplexing. I earn below the national average wage, but I certainly don't feel poor or disadvantaged. I have enough to meet the minimal requirements of survival and I have surplus to pursue my interests. I don't have a fortune, but I am definitely fortunate.
Disclaimer: With some horror, I realise my comments might appear to support a moral relativism - which I believe is an inconsistent position, since, given its internal logic, relativism, as an intellectual position, would also have to be relative and, hence, is inconsistent. I merely meant to emphasis how things are related and cannot be considered in a vacuum, which is Peter Oborne's point.
ReplyDeleteMan, keep digging myself into a hole, now it might appear to some that it is perfectly consistent for moral relativism to be - itself - relative, but that is to ignore the fact that comparisons, relating one thing to another, requires fixed points of reference, i.e., agreed standards of comparison; if these are not available, then it makes no sense to compare one thing with another. Now one may object that these "standard of compassion" are themselves relative, but to do so would be to undermine the notion of "standard" - a measure acceptable to more than one party.
ReplyDeleteWe do have this other set of ideas though that can tell us consistently for practical purposes how far apart things are...like two inches is always going to be two inches. Whether or not it fits the criteria for Cosmic Truth about distance is another matter.
ReplyDeleteMay be simple minded but the idea that the Universe is creating space (something in this regard) as it expands. In other words there isn't nothing beyond the Univers...it just isn't...there's no such thing as nothing. :)
But what I meant to ask about multiple dimensions...what you thought about those ideas. Some of my favorite Coast to Coast episodes...that.
I meant to say "standards of comparison"; not compassion - but it is a worthy Malaprop. One final point: it may be argued that there may be "apparent" agreement between "standards of comparison" even though they, themselves, are relative, but to concede as much would be to obliterate any meaning to the difference between appearing to agree and actual agreeing. Now we all have the experience of agreeing with someone, only to find, on deeper examination, that this was only superficial; we may have arrived at the same conclusion, but our paths to it were very different. The relativist cannot allow for such a possibility since that very difference itself would be relative, that is to say, there is no satisfactory way of settling that difference, so it cannot exist. But then how are we even able to talk - dispute this - Mr Relativist?
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure where my last comment fits in now...in comparison to the others.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to stop you though...ignore me and carry on arguing with yourself.
I suspect when you talk about "multiple dimensions" you may be referencing the idea of a multiverse. Modern string theory claims that there are hidden dimensions within our own universe, both of space and time. I couldn't really comment, since my understanding of advanced mathematics and topology is very limited.
ReplyDeleteHowever, may be this is what you are getting at. One recent version of the creation argument - in particular the "argument from design" - is that, when we look at cosmological constants, universal measures such as the speed of light, the electromagnetic forces in atoms, if these were in only a fraction - to multiple decimal places - out, we would not be here. In short, the balance of the universes is so fine tuned that even a incredibly small difference in the initial conditions of the universe would mean we wouldn't be here to speculate about its existence (this is also known as the "anthropic principle"). Some have taken this to indicate evidence of divine intervention, at least in setting the initial conditions of the universe, AKA "intelligent design". Others resist this conclusion by pointing out that, although it seems remarkable that the universe happened to evolve such that humans would come to be and speculate on it, really, it's not that surprising if we consider that this universe is just one of may and we, as fortune would have it, appear to find ourselves in one that has the right conditions for our existence, and there may be other such universes; however, there are also universes where the conditions were not "right" for our existence; so there is no need to reach for explanations that posit a designer - we are but one instance among all the possibilities.
One objection to this latter view, and I don't think it's merely semantic, is to point out that "universe" means "everything", therefore there can't be a "multiverse" since there can't be multiples of everything. However, I have some sympathy with the idea that "this" universe "contains" all the possibilities. I won't expand on that, because I inevitable end up reaching into areas far beyond my intellectual competence - not that I haven't already crossed them here :)
You are right, the person I argue with the most, is me. Force of habit. Philosophy is sometimes being like a lawyer, you take a case, you may even be ambivalent about what you are representing, but you also know that your best chance of success is knowing your opposition, so you make the best case for your opposition to minimise surprises. And then you remember that success does not equal right.
ReplyDeleteI fell asleep after my last post...and just woke up. D***! I was watching golf...reading Nat's destruction of moral relativism. Then the void.
ReplyDeleteCan't sleep - it's the "wee hours" of the morning here and I've been reading the online papers, when I came across this video of a prominent historian blaming the riots on the importation of a certain kind of sub-culture - predominantly a strand related to black Caribbeans, among the urban white. His remarks have caused a good deal of controversy and he has been accused of racism - I don't think he is. The "racism" label is often bandied about as a lazy way of demonising "uncomfortable" realities of living in the "global Village" - a clash of culture; not colours. Racism, strict speaking, is a position based on the idea that certain races of people are biological inferior; it is often confused with bigotry, which has no theoretical basis, but is merely an "irrational" prejudice, though the confusion is understandable, since there really is no biological basis for claiming one set of people are superior to another. So, may be I just argued myself into suggesting racism is just bigotry dressed in superficial "theoretic" wrapping - like Nazism. No matter, pointing out that there are tensions between groups of peoples' moral values is not necessarily an act of hate. I don't think the historian in question is guilty of "hate speech" - though I do not agree with - or care for - his tone or manner.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/bAGTE_RGN4c
There's a grain of truth in what he says: however, once again, I think there is a similar culture at the so-called "top" of society, a belief that one can act without impunity because of one's "success" which gives one a right to - an authority borne of privilege and of wealth - to transcend ordinary standards of decency. The example of the lies we were told to get us into the Iraq war is telling of this attitude. Nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction or 9/11 (the alleged hijackers were predominantly Saudi), but these excuses were cynically promoted to get the rest of us behind decisions that were already made behind closed doors. It wasn't just about the oil lobby, but also about a certain neo-conservative agenda - these two factions of the elite joined together - coming from radically different motivations - to hoodwink the public into signing up for war - such is their cynicism that they agreed to temporarily bury differences in order to jointly promote their agendas against the general public. I know this because I make a habit of reading the papers produced by the Think Tanks; the so-called "independent" research groups and institutes that advise businesses and politicians and are, themselves, made up of politicians and business men - the two increasingly interchangeable due to the "revolving door" between them.
*__0/*
ReplyDelete|
/ \ Go Vanders!
“We’re ready to turn it around,” quarterback Jordan Rodgers said. “We’re ready to win games. Anybody that comes in, has confidence, enthusiasm and charisma that coach Franklin has, it rubs off, and it makes us more confident.”
I have to say I thoroughly endorse this strategy of winning games; it can only lead to success.
Google blog - how did you manage to ruin my stick cheerleader? That's not how it looked when I checked in preview. Are you Vanders haters - do you fear us? Well, bring it on nerdherd!
ReplyDeleteGood timing. We are getting back on track today. There's been some distracting news concerning God's Gift to Sports this week...expansion talk...potentially the worst kind of talk but, we won't concern ourselves with it here.
ReplyDeleteVanderbilt needs you Nat..they do have their share of rabid fans that would fit in anywhere else in The Conference but, they don't have enough of 'em.
Nat...you're rollin' with the nerdherd. Y'all are the nerdherd.
ReplyDelete