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Doritos

2009-01-11T19:23:29Z

Mattsort: expand

'''Doritos''', produced by the American company [[Frito-Lay]], are the most popular snack chip in the United States.<ref>http://www.pepsico.com/PEP_Company/History/ — 1966 Milestones</ref> Doritos are similar to [[potato chips]], but are made with [[corn]] and a variety of [[spice]]s and [[season]]ings. The brand is known for its tangy taste and spicy, zesty kick. Some flavors, such as Cool [[Ranch]] Doritos, are also available in low-fat varieties.

==History==
The brand was launched in 1966, the year after H.W. Lay's "Frito-Lay Company" (the maker of [[Fritos]]) merged with the [[Pepsi-Cola]] Company to form PepsiCo, Inc.<ref>http://www.fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/comp_hist.htm</ref> Pepsi-Cola had hoped to use the merger to its advantage, since salty snacks and cold carbonated drinks fit naturally together; however, an [[Federal Trade Commission]] [[anti-trust]] lawsuit brought against Frito-Lay in 1963 stifled many of Pepsi's aspirations. For example, the FTC barred PepsiCo from creating [[cross-promotion]]s between Frito products and Pepsi-brand beverages.<ref name="fundinguniverse">http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/FritoLay-Company-Company-History.html</ref>

Nevertheless, Frito-Lay's new product — the triangular tortilla chips known as ''Doritos'' — took off, thanks to their being "more flavorful and crunchier" than any competing brand.<ref name="fundinguniverse"/> In 1968, Doritos' star rose higher with the introduction of [[taco]]-flavored Doritos; and in 1972 came [[nacho]] [[cheese]]–flavored Doritos. (Cool Ranch Doritos would not be introduced until Frito-Lay's exuberant expansion in the late 1980s.<ref name="fundinguniverse"/>)

As the triangular snack with the tangy crunch penetrated national markets, it gradually lost its ethnic, "Mexican" character,<ref name="fundinguniverse"/><ref>http://michaelianblack.typepad.com/blog/2008/06/hey-doritos-get.html</ref> much as Frito-Lay's flagship Fritos had lost theirs over the preceding 40 years. (Around the same time, in 1971, Frito-Lay retired its cartoon mascot, the Tex Avery–animated "[[Frito Bandito]]".<ref name="toonopedia">http://www.toonopedia.com/frito.htm</ref>) This "blandishment" of the snack's image may have helped it gain traction outside the [[Southwest]], where Frito-Lay had always been strongest. (Frito-Lay's headquarters were<ref name="fundinguniverse"/> and still are<ref>http://www.fritolay.com/our-company/contact-us.htm</ref> located in [[Texas]].) By 1985, Doritos were raking in sales of $500 million annually; by the end of the decade, they were being sold in 20 countries worldwide.<ref name="fundinguniverse"/>

By 1993, Doritos were the #1 snack food in America, with annual sales of roughly $1.3 billion.<ref name="collins">Glenn Collins, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E2DE173EF930A35752C1A962958260 "Pepsico Pushes a Star Performer"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 3, 1994.</ref> Actress [[Ali Landry]] made a name for herself as the "Doritos Girl" in an acclaimed series of advertisements which debuted during the 1998, 1999, and 2000 [[Superbowl]]s. More recently, Nacho Cheese Doritos sponsored satirist [[Stephen Colbert]]'s abortive mock run for the Presidency.<ref>[http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20071109_hasen.html "Stephen Colbert's 'Hail to the Cheese' Presidential Candidacy: Why the Comedian's Campaign Raises Serious Questions about the Role of Corporate Money In Elections"]. Richard L. Hasen, ''FindLaw.com''. November 9, 2007.</ref> (According to Frito-Lay spokesman Jared Dougherty, Frito-Lay "has an ongoing relationship" with [[Viacom]], the parent company of [[Comedy Central]].<ref>[http://www.insidebrandedentertainment.com/bep/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003728560 "Colbert snacking with Doritos again"]. Gail Schiller, ''The Hollywood Reporter''. March 21, 2008.</ref>) In April 2008, the Doritos brand sponsored a [[reality television]] series on [[MTV]] to promote its launch of Spicy Sweet Chili–flavored chips.<ref>[http://www.commercialalert.org/news/Archive/2008/03/mtv-doritos-partner-for-reality-series "MTV, Doritos Partner for Reality Series"]. Press release.</ref>

On June 12, 2008, Doritos launched the world's first "[[extraterrestrial]]" advertising campaign, broadcasting a 30-second spot via "high-powered [[radar]]s"<ref>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080612122817.htm</ref> located at the Arctic Circle and operated by the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association ([[EISCAT]]).<ref>https://e7.eiscat.se/Members/tony/MyNews/20080307_1stAD</ref>

==Criticisms==
One prominent criticism of the original Doritos formula was that the chips were "too heavy, too thick, and too crunchy",<ref name="fundinguniverse"/> a criticism which the Frito-Lay Company initially addressed by creating [[Tostitos]], a thinner, lighter, crispier snack chip. In 1994, the Doritos formula itself was changed to make the chips "20 percent larger, 15 percent thinner, and stronger tasting",<ref name="collins"/> and to give the chips rounded corners that would not break off and leave wasted scraps in the bottom of the bag.

It has also been pointed out that Doritos' many new flavors and varieties (22 varieties as of 2008<ref>http://www.fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/products_doritos.htm</ref>) are typically only slight variations on two themes: "spicy cheese" and "cool".<ref>[http://the-trifecta.com/2007/09/16/the-biggest-scam-in-the-history-of-the-flavored-corn-tortilla-chips-industry/ "The Biggest Scam in the History of the Flavored Corn Tortilla Chips Industry"]. "The Trifecta", September 16, 2007.</ref> Exceptions to this general rule include the "plain"-flavored Doritos "Toasted Corn" Tortilla Chips<ref>[http://www.fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/Nutrition_ProdID_3043.htm "Nutritional Information: DORITOS Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips"]</ref> and several generally short-lived or promotional flavors, such as Doritos [[Guacamole]].<ref>[http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=1871 "Doritos Guacamole!"], ''taquitos.net''</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgMyrXGmDhI — Doritos Guacamole TV commercial</ref>

==Quotes==
*"[Doritos are] uninhibited and irreverent ... If you think of [the] Doritos brand as a person, it would be a likable wise guy." —Roger Berdusco, Frito-Lay VP of marketing<ref name="collins"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Snack Foods]]

User:Mattsort

2009-01-11T19:19:07Z

Mattsort: New page: Hello world!

Hello world!

James Ussher

2009-01-11T19:16:12Z

Mattsort: /* Life and Career */ other works, wikify

[[Image:James_Ussher.jpg|right|thumb]]
[[James Ussher]] (b. 4 January 1581, fl. 1625, d. 21 March 1656) was [[Archbishop]] of [[Armagh]] and [[bishop|Primate]] of All [[Ireland]]. He is best known for his massive compendium of ancient history, ''[[The Annals of the World]],'' in which he attempted to calculate the number of years that had elapsed since [[date of creation|creation]].

== Life and Career ==
Ussher was born in [[Dublin]], [[Ireland]]. He determined early to pursue a career with the [[Church of England]], a resolve quite similar to that of the [[Bible|Biblical]] Judge, [[Samuel]].

He entered Dublin University at the age of 18, and at 20 achieved ordination as a deacon and priest. At 26, he became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Divinity at Dublin University, and held his professorship from 1609 to 1621. In 1625, he became Archbishop of Armagh, an office he apparently held until his death. In 1628, King James made him a Privy Councillor.

He was considered well-read and well-versed in history, a subject that soon became his primary focus. He wrote several histories of the doings of the Irish and [[England|English]] churches dating back to [[Rome|Roman]] times. He also made himself an expert in [[Semitic]] languages, an expertise that informed his argument in favor of the [[Masoretic Text]] of the [[Bible]] in preference to the [[Septuagint]].

Ussher's ''Confessions'' appeared in 1643, followed in 1646 by his fifth work, ''Here I Stand''. His most famous work, the dating of the creation as calculated from the Biblical record, appeared in writing in the 1650s.

He died in 1656. [[Lord Protector]] [[Oliver Cromwell]] honored him with a [[state funeral]] and a burial in [[Westminster Abbey]]. His extensive library of manuscripts, many of them Middle Eastern originals, became part of the collection at Dublin University.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074527/James-Ussher James Ussher in the Encylopedia Britannica online]</ref>

== Arguments for Biblical Chronology ==
As mentioned, Ussher is best known for his [[chronology]] of events in the Bible and other events recorded outside it. Ussher assumed, first of all, that the Bible was the most reliable, if not the only reliable, source for the events that it records. This included the lengths of the lives of [[Abraham]] and his ancestors, and of [[Isaac]], [[Jacob]], and the line of [[Judah]], including especially the [[House of David|Davidic]] dynasty of the [[Southern Kingdom]] of [[Israel]].

In deciding how to synchronize the [[Christian]] or ''[[Anno Domini]]'' era with an era using [[Creation]] itself as its [[epoch]], Ussher chose the death of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] as the anchor point and worked backward from that date through the Bible. Thus he calculated the date of Creation as 23 October, 4004 BC. So influential was Ussher that for centuries his chronology was included in every printed edition of the [[King James Version]] of the Bible.

Regardless, Ussher's calculations were somewhat accurate, and the roughly 6000 year age of the world has been built upon by more recent scholarship and backed up by recent scientific research in [[creation science]].

=== Objections ===
The obvious objections that secular historians have against Ussher's chronology (or any similar chronology) follow from their notion that the earth is 4.6 billion years old and not merely six thousand or so years old. That, however, is a [[circular reasoning|circular argument]], as the notion of a 4.6-billion-year-old Earth is based on a prior rejection of the Biblical account.

The Biblical objections to Ussher's particular chronology are more serious, however.
They turn on Ussher's interpretation of certain passages, such as {{Bible ref|book=Galatians|chap=3|verses=17|version=NASB}} and {{Bible ref|book=Ezekiel|chap=4|verses=5|version=NASB}}, that separate certain key events in Hebrew history. Happily, Ussher left copious notes detailing his methods and his arguments. Today [[Larry Pierce]],<ref>[[Larry Pierce|Pierce, Larry]], "The Forgotten Archbishop," Appendix B of James Ussher, ''[[The Annals of the World]],'' Larry and Marion Pierce, eds., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003, pp. 891-2, ISBN 0890513600</ref> who undertook to translate the ''Annals'' into English from their original [[Latin]], has prepared vigorous defenses of Ussher and his work. While not all of Ussher's calculations might be able to stand (see [[Biblical chronology dispute]] for details), his notes at least inform modern readers of the basis of his calculations and enable them to construct a Biblical corrective.

==== The Divided Kingdoms: How Long Was Their History? ====
Centuries after Ussher died, [[Edwin R. Thiele]]<ref>[[Edwin R. Thiele|Thiele, Edwin R.]], ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings''</ref> attempted a revision of the chronology of the Divided Kingdoms [[Northern Kingdom|Northern]] and [[Southern Kingdom|Southern]] to make them comport to generally accepted dates from [[Assyrian chronology]]. The effect of Thiele's proposed corrective is to shorten the history of the Divided Kingdoms by forty-five years--but that figure is actually closer than at least two other disputed figures in Ussher's calculations. Moreover, it suggests that the [[Exodus]] from [[Egypt]] took place in 1446 BC--the "Early Date"--and not 1290 BC, the "Late Date" in current widespread [[Archaeology|archaeological]] favor. Ussher calculates the Exodus as occurring in 1491 BC.

Pierce, since 2003, has led a counterattack against Thiele and has argued for the primacy of Scripture over any archaeological find, no matter how allegedly strong the evidence might appear to be. His primary--indeed only--quarrel with Thiele concerns the history of the Northern Kingdom and alleged synchronies between Kings [[Ahab]] and [[Jehu]] of that kingdom and King [[Sennacherib III]] of [[Assyria]]--synchronies that Ussher did not mention, because the Bible did not mention them.

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Religious People|Ussher, James]]