Teen killer's 'affluenza' defense is a lot of baloney - latimes.com: The affluenza claim rightfully strikes the most absurd note since Dan White’s infamous 1979 “Twinkie defense.” Psychologists have loosely used the term for years to describe the emotional pitfalls unique to children raised in affluent settings.
In this case, it's being used tautologically, and non-sensically: A rich kid whose divorced, dysfunctional parents set no rules and imposed no consequences will not strictly be held accountable for taking four lives and ruining two others because his rich, divorced, dysfunctional parents set no rules and imposed no consequences.
14 December, 2013
Dave Eggers, Tom Scocca, and Why It's Not Awful to Be Nice : The New Yorker
Dave Eggers, Tom Scocca, and Why It's Not Awful to Be Nice : The New Yorker: Now that is an argument worthy of a manifesto. What defines our era, after all, is not really the insistence of those in authority that we all behave properly and politely. It is defined, instead, by the institutionalization of satire. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and “Saturday Night Live” and, yes, Gawker have emerged, all proceeding on the assumption that the sardonic, comic tone permits a kind of honesty in public discourse that would not be possible otherwise. This is the orthodoxy Scocca is so anxious to defend. He needn’t worry. For the moment, we are all quite happy to sink giggling into the sea.
REPORT: Cable News Focuses On Handshake, Selfie In Coverage Of Mandela Memorial | Research | Media Matters for America
REPORT: Cable News Focuses On Handshake, Selfie In Coverage Of Mandela Memorial | Research | Media Matters for America: All Three Networks Focused Memorial Coverage On Handshake And Selfie. According to a Media Matters analysis, CNN covered Mandela in nine evening news segments, with 67 percent focused on the handshake or selfie. 65 percent of Fox News' 14 segments focused on the handshake or selfie, as did 55 percent of MSNBC's nine segments. Only 33 percent of CNN's coverage focused on the memorial service or Mandela's legacy, the smallest percentage of all three networks.
13 December, 2013
Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013
Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013:
56. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.
56. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.
12 December, 2013
Apologists Without Remorse
Apologists Without Remorse: Indeed, like the leftists who praised the Soviet Union, conservatives did not just defend South Africa, they often sympathized with it. In their admiration of the Soviet Union, leftists who were entranced by notions of equality refused to recognize the horrors of the Gulag. That was bad enough. And yet, the South African regime was even more morally odious, more akin in spirit to the Nazi dictatorship than the Bolshevik one. Apartheid was the first cousin of Nazism. In both the South African and Nazi regimes, an entire class of people was singled out for persecution and degradation solely on the basis of arbitrary racial categories. Remarkably, almost no attention has been devoted to the history of the conservative defense of South Africa. The silence must end. Now that apartheid has crumbled, American conservatives have an obligation to confront their shameful complicity with white-ruled South Africa.
How Music Makes Us Feel Better : The New Yorker
How Music Makes Us Feel Better : The New Yorker: In a review of over eighty studies on the use of music in therapeutic settings, the pediatrician Kathi Kemper and the psychologist Suzanne Danhauer concluded that music had multiple direct physiological effects: steady rhythms helped regulate breathing and elicited increased activity in the lateral temporal lobe, an area of the brain that helps integrate sensory inputs. In particular, classical music helped improve heart-rate variability, a measure of stress and resilience, while relaxing music led to decreased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in a group of students who were engaged in stressful activities. Music had, as well, more indirect effects on both emotion and behavior, making people happier, more relaxed, less anxious, and less overwhelmed. As a result of both the physiology and the psychology, the authors concluded, music was an effective way of improving outcomes for patients who had undergone surgery, or, indeed, any medical procedure.
What it’s like to take and withdraw from morphine | Addiction Blog
What it’s like to take and withdraw from morphine | Addiction Blog:
I slip off the tourniquet and slowly press the plunger fully in; the drug goes in easily, no sense of resistance that might suggest the vein wasn’t patent.
I need to act quickly now to prepare for the rush, to experience it fully; I don’t want any outside stimuli which might interfere with the consummation. My movements are practiced; I whip out the needle, and throw the syringe away, I’ll pick it up later, I’ve no time to set it aside carefully. I press my left hand firmly on the site with a dark red paper tissue. A white tissue would show up the blood too obviously and might turn up somewhere inconvenient and hard to explain away. The firm pressure will restrict localized bruising and make the injection site less easy to spot, if someone was looking for it. There will inevitably be a mark of some sort, but I hope nothing too obvious, and as everything has gone smoothly it should clear up in a few days. Firm pressure will also help keep the vein patent for future use, so I’ll keep the pressure on even during the rush.
I take off my glasses, switch off the light, lie back and close my eyes. Alone in the dark, in my own little bubble, no light, no noise, I wait.
Within seconds, I feel the rush coming on, firstly a tingle coming up my right arm, then a wonderful warm tidal wave stroking my whole skin, my whole body; it seems to find a centre deep within my chest. I try to savour each moment, each instant, but just as quickly as it comes it is gone; that’s it, done, all over, it lasted a few breaths at most.
I slip off the tourniquet and slowly press the plunger fully in; the drug goes in easily, no sense of resistance that might suggest the vein wasn’t patent.
I need to act quickly now to prepare for the rush, to experience it fully; I don’t want any outside stimuli which might interfere with the consummation. My movements are practiced; I whip out the needle, and throw the syringe away, I’ll pick it up later, I’ve no time to set it aside carefully. I press my left hand firmly on the site with a dark red paper tissue. A white tissue would show up the blood too obviously and might turn up somewhere inconvenient and hard to explain away. The firm pressure will restrict localized bruising and make the injection site less easy to spot, if someone was looking for it. There will inevitably be a mark of some sort, but I hope nothing too obvious, and as everything has gone smoothly it should clear up in a few days. Firm pressure will also help keep the vein patent for future use, so I’ll keep the pressure on even during the rush.
I take off my glasses, switch off the light, lie back and close my eyes. Alone in the dark, in my own little bubble, no light, no noise, I wait.
Within seconds, I feel the rush coming on, firstly a tingle coming up my right arm, then a wonderful warm tidal wave stroking my whole skin, my whole body; it seems to find a centre deep within my chest. I try to savour each moment, each instant, but just as quickly as it comes it is gone; that’s it, done, all over, it lasted a few breaths at most.
Nelson Mandela Dead at 95 | TIME.com
Nelson Mandela Dead at 95 | TIME.com:
Prison was the crucible that formed the Mandela we know. The man who went into prison in 1962 was hotheaded and easily stung. The man who walked out into the sunshine of the mall in Cape Town 27 years later was measured, even serene. It was a hard-won moderation. In prison, he learned to control his anger. He had no choice. And he came to understand that if he was ever to achieve that free and nonracial South Africa of his dreams, he would have to come to terms with his oppressors. He would have to forgive them. After I asked him many times during our weeks and months of conversation what was different about the man who came out of prison compared with the man who went in, he finally sighed and then said simply, “I came out mature.”
His greatest achievement is surely the creation of a democratic, nonracial South Africa and preventing that beautiful country from falling into a terrible, bloody civil war. Several years after I finished working with him on Long Walk to Freedom, he told me that he wanted to write another book, about how close South Africa had been to a race war. I was with him when he got the news that black South African leader Chris Hani was assassinated, probably the closest the country came to going to war. He was preternaturally calm, and after making plans to go to Johannesburg to speak to the nation, he methodically finished eating his breakfast. To prevent that civil war, he had to use all the skills in his head and his heart: he had to demonstrate rocklike strength to the Afrikaner leaders with whom he was negotiating but also show that he was not out for revenge. And he had to show his people that he was not compromising with the enemy. This was an incredibly delicate line to walk — and from the outside, he seemed to do it with grace. But it took its toll.
Prison was the crucible that formed the Mandela we know. The man who went into prison in 1962 was hotheaded and easily stung. The man who walked out into the sunshine of the mall in Cape Town 27 years later was measured, even serene. It was a hard-won moderation. In prison, he learned to control his anger. He had no choice. And he came to understand that if he was ever to achieve that free and nonracial South Africa of his dreams, he would have to come to terms with his oppressors. He would have to forgive them. After I asked him many times during our weeks and months of conversation what was different about the man who came out of prison compared with the man who went in, he finally sighed and then said simply, “I came out mature.”
His greatest achievement is surely the creation of a democratic, nonracial South Africa and preventing that beautiful country from falling into a terrible, bloody civil war. Several years after I finished working with him on Long Walk to Freedom, he told me that he wanted to write another book, about how close South Africa had been to a race war. I was with him when he got the news that black South African leader Chris Hani was assassinated, probably the closest the country came to going to war. He was preternaturally calm, and after making plans to go to Johannesburg to speak to the nation, he methodically finished eating his breakfast. To prevent that civil war, he had to use all the skills in his head and his heart: he had to demonstrate rocklike strength to the Afrikaner leaders with whom he was negotiating but also show that he was not out for revenge. And he had to show his people that he was not compromising with the enemy. This was an incredibly delicate line to walk — and from the outside, he seemed to do it with grace. But it took its toll.
Nelson Mandela, the Father of South Africa : The New Yorker
Nelson Mandela, the Father of South Africa : The New Yorker: I interviewed Mandela in 1994, a few days before he was to be sworn in as President of the Republic of South Africa. I apologized to him for not being able to be at the inauguration itself, explaining that there was hardly anything on earth that would make me miss that historic occasion, but that my son Chuma was graduating from Emory University, in Atlanta, on the same day. And I needed to fly back for it. At that, Mandela relaxed his stiff, about-to-be-interviewed posture, leaned forward slightly in his chair, and smiled, with an enveloping warmth.
“Of course you have to be there. You can always interview me,” he said.
I found myself responding, “Thank you, Tata”—just what a child of Mandela would have called him.
“Of course you have to be there. You can always interview me,” he said.
I found myself responding, “Thank you, Tata”—just what a child of Mandela would have called him.
The Exploited Laborers of the Liberal Media | VICE United States
The Exploited Laborers of the Liberal Media | VICE United States: Experience is great and can open doors, but unpaid and low-paid internships can also slam doors shut. Failing to pay young journalists a decent wage is effectively a way of saying that those too poor to work for nothing need not apply. That socio-economic filter leads to a pool of journalists—even at good, upstanding progressive publications—that is wealthier and whiter than the public as a whole. And that hurts the final product.
“Any time you have a more diverse workforce, you get better coverage,” said Tofel. “Any time you have a less diverse workforce, you get worse coverage.”
Liberals should know all about the virtues of diversity and providing ways for poorer people to climb into positions of influence. Yet maddeningly, they continue to exploit the idealistic people who are willing to give their labor away for free, which isn't just wrong, it hurts the mission of a liberal news organization.
“Any time you have a more diverse workforce, you get better coverage,” said Tofel. “Any time you have a less diverse workforce, you get worse coverage.”
Liberals should know all about the virtues of diversity and providing ways for poorer people to climb into positions of influence. Yet maddeningly, they continue to exploit the idealistic people who are willing to give their labor away for free, which isn't just wrong, it hurts the mission of a liberal news organization.
Conservatives and Poverty � Commentary Magazine
Conservatives and Poverty � Commentary Magazine: Helping those most in need should be considered more than a peripheral virtue; and like Jews and Christians of old, we should all make more room in our moral imaginations for the care of the poor. Certainly if we’re told that God identifies with the least of these, so should we.
George F. Will: Better a contained Iran than an all-out war - The Washington Post
George F. Will: Better a contained Iran than an all-out war - The Washington Post: The agreement will not stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; only a highly unlikely Iranian choice can do that. The agreement may, however, prevent a war to prevent Iran from acquiring such weapons. If Pollack is right, and he certainly is persuasive, we have two choices, war or containment. Those who prefer the former have an obligation to clearly say why its consequences would be more predictable and less dire than those in the disastrous war with Iraq.
The Nike Fuel of cycling: Copenhagen Wheel turns your bike into a smart hybrid (Wired UK)
The Nike Fuel of cycling: Copenhagen Wheel turns your bike into a smart hybrid (Wired UK):
A "smart" wheel unit that can be attached to almost any bike, transforming it into an electric hybrid that powers up seamlessly when you need it most, is now available for pre-order. The Copenhagen Wheel is being positioned as the Nike Fuel band for cycling, with an integrated app keeping you and your friends up to date with your urban cycling progress.
Unlike other similar products coming to market -- including the FlyKly, which recently smashed its Kickstarter target by $600,000 -- Superpedestrian's unit (which slots on to your back wheel) is not about powering up continually to save your lazy legs. A series of sensors are embedded in the red casing, which track your speed, incline, pedal-pushing prowess and other factors, in order to calculate when you need the power most. As such, the battery-powered 5.5kg pack will save energy, while also recharging every time you brake, powering up to speeds of 32km/h with a range of 48km.
11 December, 2013
Interpreter for deaf at Mandela memorial service was a fake, advocates for deaf say - The Washington Post
Interpreter for deaf at Mandela memorial service was a fake, advocates for deaf say - The Washington Post: JOHANNESBURG — He made waves with his arms, touched his forehead and reached out with an embracing motion. And as the official interpreter for the deaf watching the Nelson Mandela memorial event Tuesday, he stood right behind the world’s most powerful leaders, including President Obama.
And he was a fake, advocates for the deaf say.
And he was a fake, advocates for the deaf say.
Those rich kids, never learning right from wrong...
Texas rich kid who killed 4 in drunken car crash spared jail - NY Daily News: Wealthy brat Ethan Couch killed four people, including a mother and daughter, while blacked-out drunk and driving 70 mph on a rural road in June. Defense attorneys said the boy suffered from 'affluenza' and blamed the boy's parents, saying they gave him everything he wanted and didn't teach him about consequences.
10 December, 2013
The Sing-Off Season Four Premiere Recap: All In -- Vulture
The Sing-Off Season Four Premiere Recap: All In -- Vulture: Element are the Barden Belles of The Sing-Off, except they’re all Anna Camp. Their version of Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” is super sterile and immediately forgettable. But Jewel tells us that women only have two octaves in their chest voice, so female singers are forced to do more with less. This is information that is actually good to know.
‘The Sing-Off’ is Back! And It’s More Pitch-Perfect Than Ever | Yahoo TV - Yahoo TV
‘The Sing-Off’ is Back! And It’s More Pitch-Perfect Than Ever | Yahoo TV - Yahoo TV: Sure, "The Sing-Off" is cheesy enough to be jointly sponsored by Kraft and Velveeta. But beneath that gooey layer of TV cheese, it's probably the most intelligent, highbrow talent show this side of "So You Think You Can Dance." Much of this has to do with the judges, who never talk down to contestants or viewers. Ben Folds phrases his critiques like he's a music theory professor giving a lecture at Berklee. Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman and new judge Jewel (stepping in for recent Album of the Year Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles) dole out actual advice about actual singing techniques, instead of just tossing off pre-scripted one-liners (like "Idol's" Steven Tyler), telling everyone they're "amazing" and "fabulous" ("The X Factor's" Britney Spears, "Idol's" Mariah Carey, every single "Voice" judge), or being cruel for cruelty's sake (I'm looking at you, Simon Cowell). "The Sing-Off" is genuinely educational! It's edutainment! When people describe this as "family viewing," it's because kids could actually learn a thing or two about music from this show.
'The Sing-Off' Season 4 Premiere Recap: 10 Groups Hit All the Right Notes
'The Sing-Off' Season 4 Premiere Recap: 10 Groups Hit All the Right Notes: The only a capella competition on television makes a return.
The Voice has some wonderful judges, but no one compares with the professor, Ben Folds. I'm super excited for him to school us with his knowledge of music. I wasn't sure what to expect with Jewel, but she makes fun of her snaggletooth, and I'm in love.
The Voice has some wonderful judges, but no one compares with the professor, Ben Folds. I'm super excited for him to school us with his knowledge of music. I wasn't sure what to expect with Jewel, but she makes fun of her snaggletooth, and I'm in love.
React: 'The Sing-Off' Season 4 premiere | PopWatch | EW.com
React: 'The Sing-Off' Season 4 premiere | PopWatch | EW.com: The Sing-Off exists in this bubble of a world where it’s not important to be cool. In fact, it’s better not to be. It’s full of questionable matching outfits, silly song choices and more music puns than you could have possibly believed existed. Its host is a former second-tier boy bander, its judges are acclaimed, but not exactly charting anymore, and its productions consists solely of the bodies on the stage and the voices they produce. But those judges are more charming and musically educated than just about any other, that host literally has nowhere else he’d rather be, and those voices can, at times, take your breath away. Who needs cool when you can just have fun? In its earnestness and specificity, The Sing-Off presents a few weeks of television that don’t attempt to change the world, just give you some good and interesting music from some quirky and modest dreamers.
Ryan Lizza: Why Won’t Obama Rein in the N.S.A.? : The New Yorker
Ryan Lizza: Why Won’t Obama Rein in the N.S.A.? : The New Yorker: On December 16, 2005, the Times broke the news about some aspects of the President’s four-pronged surveillance program. After the story appeared, Bush addressed the country to defend the P.S.P., calling it the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” He claimed that it had been “thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and N.S.A.’s top legal officials,” and that N.S.A. analysts “receive extensive training to insure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.” Wyden didn’t know whether to be more shocked by the details of the N.S.A. program or by the way he learned about it. “I read about it in the New York Times,” he told me.
The Times had uncovered many details about the two programs that collected the content of e-mails and phone calls, and won a Pulitzer for its investigation, but the two metadata programs run by the N.S.A. were still largely unknown, even to most members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Some details of the metadata programs soon appeared in the Times, in USA Today, and in a story by Seymour Hersh in this magazine. But the Bush Administration never officially confirmed the existence of the programs, which remained secret until this year.
The Times had uncovered many details about the two programs that collected the content of e-mails and phone calls, and won a Pulitzer for its investigation, but the two metadata programs run by the N.S.A. were still largely unknown, even to most members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Some details of the metadata programs soon appeared in the Times, in USA Today, and in a story by Seymour Hersh in this magazine. But the Bush Administration never officially confirmed the existence of the programs, which remained secret until this year.
09 December, 2013
Why The Sing-Off Is the Most Important Show on Television | TIME.com
Why The Sing-Off Is the Most Important Show on Television | TIME.com: Regular readers of this blog might be familiar with NBC‘s The Sing-Off, which returns tonight for a holiday run, by my preferred name for it: The Most Important Show on Television. That’s a joke, sort of, and it’s sort of not. It’s a joke because an a cappella singing competition airing for a couple of weeks during the slow Christmas season is the opposite of momentous, bombastic, event TV. And it’s dead serious because that’s precisely what’s great about The Sing-Off: it lays no claims to world-blowing spectacle or to creating the next international music celebrity. (Though previous winners Pentatonix are doing just fine for themselves.)
Rumsfeld’s War and Its Consequences Now by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books
Rumsfeld’s War and Its Consequences Now by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books:
Nearly a quarter-century would pass before George W. would bring him back as the oldest, proving by his willingness to hire his father’s famous rival that, as Rumsfeld tells Morris, the younger Bush “was his own man, made his own decisions”—and proving it again, not long after, by ordering him during that tearful private chat in the Oval Office to “develop a plan to invade Ir” and to “do it creatively.” As for Rumsfeld, the calm, “aw shucks” demeanor was still there, and barely concealed beneath it the driving force of his ambition, which, during a quarter-century mostly spent outside the White House looking in, had only grown.
Nearly a quarter-century would pass before George W. would bring him back as the oldest, proving by his willingness to hire his father’s famous rival that, as Rumsfeld tells Morris, the younger Bush “was his own man, made his own decisions”—and proving it again, not long after, by ordering him during that tearful private chat in the Oval Office to “develop a plan to invade Ir” and to “do it creatively.” As for Rumsfeld, the calm, “aw shucks” demeanor was still there, and barely concealed beneath it the driving force of his ambition, which, during a quarter-century mostly spent outside the White House looking in, had only grown.
07 December, 2013
What Would You Have Done? Nelson Mandela and American Conservatives | Gingrich Productions
What Would You Have Done? Nelson Mandela and American Conservatives | Gingrich Productions:
Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.
What would you have done faced with that crushing government?
What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?
Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.
After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.
As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.
Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?
Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.
What would you have done faced with that crushing government?
What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?
Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.
After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.
As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.
Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?
Harvard Gazette: Academic turns city into a social experiment
Harvard Gazette: Academic turns city into a social experiment: The fact that he was seen as an unusual leader gave the new mayor the opportunity to try extraordinary things, such as hiring 420 mimes to control traffic in Bogot�s chaotic and dangerous streets. He launched a "Night for Women" and asked the city's men to stay home in the evening and care for the children; 700,000 women went out on the first of three nights that Mockus dedicated to them.
Artist Turns Her Small Studio Room Into Surreal Dreamscapes Without Using Photoshop | Bored Panda
Artist Turns Her Small Studio Room Into Surreal Dreamscapes Without Using Photoshop | Bored Panda: Young Korean artist Jee Young Lee recently presented her beautiful, surrealistic and Photoshop-free photography exhibition named “Stage of Mind”. The magic happens in the artist’s small 3,6 x 4,1 x 2,4-meter studio in Seoul. The artist builds these highly dramatic, psychedelic and visually intense scenes herself, ensuring that every teeny tiny detail is hauntingly perfect and leaves the viewer in awe.
Jee Young Lee works with such precision that the creation of a set often takes weeks or even months of work. As soon as the otherworldly sets are done, the artist incorporates herself in them in various different ways and takes these stunning self-portraits.
Jee Young Lee works with such precision that the creation of a set often takes weeks or even months of work. As soon as the otherworldly sets are done, the artist incorporates herself in them in various different ways and takes these stunning self-portraits.
06 December, 2013
Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won't Talk About | ThinkProgress
Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won't Talk About | ThinkProgress: 2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”
Sexual Assault: A Co-Complaint | The Amherst Student
Sexual Assault: A Co-Complaint | The Amherst Student: While my counselor urged me to go on antidepressants, I had suspicions, so she suggested that I talk to the psychiatrist, framing the meeting as a chance to learn more and make my own, proactive choice. Instead, I was interrogated as if I had to prove the veracity of my depression. I felt like I was being made to beg for help. After answering many leading questions and being pressured to address how I would go about killing myself “if my depression grew worse” — which felt like a possibility as I was receiving no constructive help — I was abruptly notified that Amherst had sent for an ambulance to take me to Cooley Dickinson. I told the counseling center team that surrounded me that I had zero intention of killing myself and pleaded with them to change this manipulative and extreme course of action, but they would not reverse their decision. I was told that if I did not cooperate that they would call the police to track me down.
05 December, 2013
Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square - NYTimes.com
Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square - NYTimes.com: An unarmed, emotionally disturbed man shot at by the police as he was lurching around traffic near Times Square in September has been charged with assault, on the theory that he was responsible for bullet wounds suffered by two bystanders, according to an indictment unsealed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Wednesday.
04 December, 2013
Machiavelli Was Right - Michael Ignatieff - The Atlantic
Machiavelli Was Right - Michael Ignatieff - The Atlantic: All of this looks like cynicism only if we fail to see its deep realism. In his book, Alan Ryan captures Machiavelli’s hold on the modern moral imagination when he says, “The staying power of The Prince comes from … its insistence on the need for a clear-sighted appreciation of how men really are as distinct from the moralizing claptrap about how they ought to be.”
This moral clarity remains bracing in an era like our own, when politicians hide the necessary ruthlessness of political life behind the rhetoric of family values and Christian principles and call on citizens to feel their pain when they make difficult decisions. We are still drawn to Machiavelli because we sense how impatient he was with the equivalent flummery in his own day, and how determined he was to confront a problem that preoccupies us too: when and how much ruthlessness is necessary in the world of politics.
This moral clarity remains bracing in an era like our own, when politicians hide the necessary ruthlessness of political life behind the rhetoric of family values and Christian principles and call on citizens to feel their pain when they make difficult decisions. We are still drawn to Machiavelli because we sense how impatient he was with the equivalent flummery in his own day, and how determined he was to confront a problem that preoccupies us too: when and how much ruthlessness is necessary in the world of politics.
Congressman Says U.S. Should Use Nuclear Weapons If It Attacks Iran | ThinkProgress
Congressman Says U.S. Should Use Nuclear Weapons If It Attacks Iran | ThinkProgress: HUNTER: I think a ground war in Iran with American boots on the ground would be a horrible thing and I think people like to toss around the fact that we have to stop them in some way from gaining this nuclear capability. I don’t think it’s inevitable but I think if you have to hit Iran, you don’t put boots on the ground, you do it with tactical nuclear devices and you set them back a decade or two or three. I think that’s the way to do it with a massive aerial bombardment campaign.
Politico Stonewalls Mike Allen Payola Scandal -- Daily Intelligencer
Politico Stonewalls Mike Allen Payola Scandal -- Daily Intelligencer: Now, one possible defense of Allen is that what appears to be simple payola is actually a more sociologically complex phenomenon. Allen, as Wemple reports, has personal friendships with many of his sponsors, uses them as sources, and generally shares their point of view on most issues even while failing to acknowledge he has a point of view at all. This is less a defense than a concession that Allen is so hopelessly embedded within the Establishment that he can't cover it in a remotely fair way. (This is exactly the argument I made.)
Why Elan Gale Made Up an Epic 'Note War' on a Thanksgiving Flight - ABC News
Why Elan Gale Made Up an Epic 'Note War' on a Thanksgiving Flight - ABC News:
When did you realize that it had gone viral?
I didn't realize it had gone viral until late that night [Thursday]. Once I woke up the next morning on Friday and realized people were reporting this as news, I thought it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.
I didn't realize it had gone viral until late that night [Thursday]. Once I woke up the next morning on Friday and realized people were reporting this as news, I thought it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.
Anyone who would scroll back [through my tweets] would see what I am all about as a tweeter. My thought was I can't believe anyone is taking this seriously. I thought "Why isn't anyone doing any fact checking?" Then I saw it was on the evening news in Sacramento and it became this totally absurd thing.
Why didn't you reveal that it was a fictional story then?
I didn't see how this was news. I was telling a story, I didn't feel a particular responsibility to address what other people were making of it. I never claimed it to be true. I never said, "this is news, please read it." And I honestly I liked the message.
I didn't see how this was news. I was telling a story, I didn't feel a particular responsibility to address what other people were making of it. I never claimed it to be true. I never said, "this is news, please read it." And I honestly I liked the message.
I wasn't trying to paint myself as a hero. I said horrible things in those notes that I would never say to a human being. That nobody would ever say. In fact, in all of my live tweets, I try and portray my character as an anti-hero -- as kind of a jerk with good intentions.
BuzzFeed and Elan Gale's Internet hoax: Too good to check.
BuzzFeed and Elan Gale's Internet hoax: Too good to check.: This is fairly messed up. Yes, people on the Internet want to believe salacious stories. Reporters want to publish stories that people read. If there’s a great reward, and little downside, to be had in publishing B.S., the Internet’s going to get more B.S. As one of my colleagues put it, "'Too good to check' used to be a warning to newspaper editors not to jump on bullshit stories. Now it’s a business model."
Part of the price of trying to get Bin Laden's DNA via a doctor going door to door
The Surge - Wired Science:
The border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are wracked by violence, and their rural hinterlands are largely under the control of a diverse array of militant groups. The Taliban in Afghanistan have been mostly cooperative with the polio campaign—in the south of the country, where their writ is strongest, they even help point out areas missed by vaccine teams—but in 2012 Taliban leaders in Pakistan began banning vaccinations in their areas, condemning the campaign as an American plot. They also started targeting campaign workers for assassination: Since the ban started, 22 people have been killed in attacks on vaccine teams.
Here in eastern Afghanistan, the influence of the Pakistani Taliban is strong. In Lal Pura, six villages—representing 200 of the district’s 1,100 households—have been off-limits to polio campaign vaccinators for the past two years. Pakistani militants have been living nearby, and they refuse to let the vaccine teams in. The result is a pocket of unvaccinated children and a reservoir for the virus—one that threatens to spread to the entire region if unchecked. Indeed, seven months earlier, one of the few cases of polio paralysis in the country was reported here.
The border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are wracked by violence, and their rural hinterlands are largely under the control of a diverse array of militant groups. The Taliban in Afghanistan have been mostly cooperative with the polio campaign—in the south of the country, where their writ is strongest, they even help point out areas missed by vaccine teams—but in 2012 Taliban leaders in Pakistan began banning vaccinations in their areas, condemning the campaign as an American plot. They also started targeting campaign workers for assassination: Since the ban started, 22 people have been killed in attacks on vaccine teams.
Here in eastern Afghanistan, the influence of the Pakistani Taliban is strong. In Lal Pura, six villages—representing 200 of the district’s 1,100 households—have been off-limits to polio campaign vaccinators for the past two years. Pakistani militants have been living nearby, and they refuse to let the vaccine teams in. The result is a pocket of unvaccinated children and a reservoir for the virus—one that threatens to spread to the entire region if unchecked. Indeed, seven months earlier, one of the few cases of polio paralysis in the country was reported here.
A conservative Critique on Obama
Low-Information Leadership - Peggy Noonan's Blog - WSJ:
Mr. Obama’s problem now is that people think he is smart.
They think, as they look at his health-care vows, that either he didn’t know how bad his program was, what dislocations it would cause, what a disturbance it would be to the vast middle class of America . . .
Or he knew, and deliberately misled everyone.
If they thought he wasn’t very bright, they might give him some leeway on that question. But they think he’s really smart.
So they think he knew.
And deliberately misled.
They think he knowingly quelled people’s fears when he knew they had every reason to be afraid.
Which makes him just another dishonest pol, just another guy hiding in the deliberately obscure paragraph on page 1,037 of the omnibus comprehensive reform bill.
He has taken himself down, lowered his own stature.
Commentators like to decry low-information voters—the stupid are picking our leaders. I think the real problem is low-information leaders. They have so little experience of life and have so much faith in magic—in media, in words—that they don’t understand people will get angry at you when you mislead them, and never see you the same way again.
Mr. Obama’s problem now is that people think he is smart.
They think, as they look at his health-care vows, that either he didn’t know how bad his program was, what dislocations it would cause, what a disturbance it would be to the vast middle class of America . . .
Or he knew, and deliberately misled everyone.
If they thought he wasn’t very bright, they might give him some leeway on that question. But they think he’s really smart.
So they think he knew.
And deliberately misled.
They think he knowingly quelled people’s fears when he knew they had every reason to be afraid.
Which makes him just another dishonest pol, just another guy hiding in the deliberately obscure paragraph on page 1,037 of the omnibus comprehensive reform bill.
He has taken himself down, lowered his own stature.
Commentators like to decry low-information voters—the stupid are picking our leaders. I think the real problem is low-information leaders. They have so little experience of life and have so much faith in magic—in media, in words—that they don’t understand people will get angry at you when you mislead them, and never see you the same way again.
03 December, 2013
Neat info on police investigations
thatsnotminesir comments on Most common
The myth I see the most of reddit is that when officers get in trouble, they just get "paid vacation."
When an accusation of misconduct comes up, especially criminal misconduct, the officer is placed on Administrative Leave with pay. This is NOT the punishment. This is to get them off the streets while the investigation is being conducted, while at the same time, not punishing them (financially at least) until the accusations are investigated and proven.
When an accusation of Police Misconduct is investigated, there are TWO separate investigations. One is an Administrative Investigation, the other is a Criminal Investigation. They have to be separate because of Garrity
Garrity is like the evil twin of Miranda for government employees, mostly police. After the Garrity admonitions are read to us, we MUST answer all questions, and MUST answer them truthfully. If we refuse to answer, or lie, we can be fired just for lying or refusing to answer.
That completely violates our 5th Amendment Right against self incrimination. Because of that, nothing said after Garrity can be used against us in criminal court. It can only be used in administrative actions against our employment.
Therefore, two separate investigations are conducted. An Administrative Investigation where they read us Garrity, and a Criminal Investigation where they read us Miranda. Nothing found in the administrative investigation can be used against us in the criminal, but things found in the criminal CAN be used against us in the administrative. So the criminal is usually done first, then the administrative afterwards.
The myth I see the most of reddit is that when officers get in trouble, they just get "paid vacation."
When an accusation of misconduct comes up, especially criminal misconduct, the officer is placed on Administrative Leave with pay. This is NOT the punishment. This is to get them off the streets while the investigation is being conducted, while at the same time, not punishing them (financially at least) until the accusations are investigated and proven.
When an accusation of Police Misconduct is investigated, there are TWO separate investigations. One is an Administrative Investigation, the other is a Criminal Investigation. They have to be separate because of Garrity
Garrity is like the evil twin of Miranda for government employees, mostly police. After the Garrity admonitions are read to us, we MUST answer all questions, and MUST answer them truthfully. If we refuse to answer, or lie, we can be fired just for lying or refusing to answer.
That completely violates our 5th Amendment Right against self incrimination. Because of that, nothing said after Garrity can be used against us in criminal court. It can only be used in administrative actions against our employment.
Therefore, two separate investigations are conducted. An Administrative Investigation where they read us Garrity, and a Criminal Investigation where they read us Miranda. Nothing found in the administrative investigation can be used against us in the criminal, but things found in the criminal CAN be used against us in the administrative. So the criminal is usually done first, then the administrative afterwards.
02 December, 2013
The Challenge Of Being Poor At America's Richest Colleges - Forbes
The Challenge Of Being Poor At America's Richest Colleges - Forbes:
Not surprisingly, while poor kids are underrepresented on elite campuses, the wealthiest kids are overrepresented. At Harvard, 45.6% of undergraduates come from families with incomes above $200,000 — in other words, incomes in the top 3.8% of all American households.
Yet for all the studies and attention paid to how to get more low income students onto America’s top campuses, there’s little discussion (on or off campus) about what life is like for those students after they win admission.
Not surprisingly, while poor kids are underrepresented on elite campuses, the wealthiest kids are overrepresented. At Harvard, 45.6% of undergraduates come from families with incomes above $200,000 — in other words, incomes in the top 3.8% of all American households.
Yet for all the studies and attention paid to how to get more low income students onto America’s top campuses, there’s little discussion (on or off campus) about what life is like for those students after they win admission.
REAGAN AND AIDS � The Dish
REAGAN AND AIDS � The Dish:
Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What’s AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It’s known as “gay plague.” (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don’t.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn’t answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President …
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don’t know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anyone in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s been any …
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping …
MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he’s had no – (laughter) – no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn’t have gay plague, is that what you’re saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn’t say that.
Q: Didn’t say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn’t you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you Larry, that’s why (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh I see. Just don’t put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It’s too late.
Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What’s AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It’s known as “gay plague.” (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don’t.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn’t answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President …
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don’t know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anyone in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s been any …
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping …
MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he’s had no – (laughter) – no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn’t have gay plague, is that what you’re saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn’t say that.
Q: Didn’t say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn’t you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you Larry, that’s why (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh I see. Just don’t put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It’s too late.
The Period, Our Simplest Punctuation Mark, Has Become a Sign of Anger | New Republic
The Period, Our Simplest Punctuation Mark, Has Become a Sign of Anger | New Republic: And as problems of tone kept arising on text and instant message, people turned to other punctuation marks on their keyboards rather than inventing new ones.2 The question mark has similarly outgrown its traditional purpose. I notice it more and more as a way to temper straightforward statements that might otherwise seem cocky, as in “I’m pretty sure he likes me?” The ellipsis, as Slate noted, has come to serve a whole range of purposes. I often see people using it as a passive-aggressive alternative to the period’s outright hostility—an invitation to the offender to guess at his mistake and remedy it. (“No.” shuts down the conversation; “No…” allows it to continue.)
Yeah, Alec Baldwin Really Is a Bigot - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
Yeah, Alec Baldwin Really Is a Bigot - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic: The most telling—and bizarre—portion of Alwan's essay is the idea that "homophobic feelings are no more of a choice than homosexuality itself." This is a really terrible thing to write, but more importantly it's false. And I know it's false because I was once a homophobic bigot. When I was a teenager, my anger almost certainly manifested itself in the same way as Baldwin's. Calling someone towards whom you meant violence a "faggot" was what you did. The fact that it was what "you did" doesn't make it any less bigoted. It means that bigotry was that much more pervasive. "Faggot" littered our understanding of English. Crews who were worthy of beat-downs were "faggot-ass niggas"; when our friends were behaving in weird ways they were "acting like fags"; when a boy shook a man's hand and it was weak, he was told to not "shake hands like a faggot."
The worst argument in favor of the draft ever � Hot Air
The worst argument in favor of the draft ever � Hot Air:
Personally, I find military service to be a significant plus on the resume of any candidate for elected office, but it won’t be my only consideration. The willingness to actually serve your nation, even at the cost of placing your own life in peril, speaks volumes about the person’s character when they come along later asking to serve in a different, less physically dangerous capacity. But I’m equally positive that prior service not only doesn’t need to be a requirement, but that it shouldn’t be. We keep the leadership of the civilian and military worlds separate for a reason, and we keep a very close eye on the one place where they overlap. (That being the dual nature of the President of the United States also being the Commander in Chief of the armed forces.)
Instituting the draft would still only affect a tiny portion of the civilian population under the most optimistic of Milbank’s envisioned circumstances. The odds that any significantly larger portion of the electoral candidate pool would wind up being veterans are too low to calculate. The only way that formula would change is if military service became mandatory for every adult in the nation, and I don’t think anyone is seriously discussing that. This is a foolish premise and shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone.
Personally, I find military service to be a significant plus on the resume of any candidate for elected office, but it won’t be my only consideration. The willingness to actually serve your nation, even at the cost of placing your own life in peril, speaks volumes about the person’s character when they come along later asking to serve in a different, less physically dangerous capacity. But I’m equally positive that prior service not only doesn’t need to be a requirement, but that it shouldn’t be. We keep the leadership of the civilian and military worlds separate for a reason, and we keep a very close eye on the one place where they overlap. (That being the dual nature of the President of the United States also being the Commander in Chief of the armed forces.)
Instituting the draft would still only affect a tiny portion of the civilian population under the most optimistic of Milbank’s envisioned circumstances. The odds that any significantly larger portion of the electoral candidate pool would wind up being veterans are too low to calculate. The only way that formula would change is if military service became mandatory for every adult in the nation, and I don’t think anyone is seriously discussing that. This is a foolish premise and shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone.
The history of the left-right divide: A centuries-old argument defines our politics, and offers a way forward - Salon.com
The history of the left-right divide: A centuries-old argument defines our politics, and offers a way forward - Salon.com: The tension between those two dispositions comes down to some very basic questions: Should our society be made to answer to the demands of stark and abstract commitments to ideals like social equality or to the patterns of its own concrete political traditions and foundations? Should the citizen’s relationship to his society be defined above all by the individual right of free choice or by a web of obligations and conventions not entirely of our own choosing? Are great public problems best addressed through institutions designed to apply the explicit technical knowledge of experts or by those designed to channel the implicit social knowledge of the community?
Barack Obama's Videographer Remembers His First Meeting with Bush | New Republic
Barack Obama's Videographer Remembers His First Meeting with Bush | New Republic: Our leaders need to keep up an authentic core. This is not something Lee Strasberg can teach you. Our very best actors, to say nothing of politicians, would be unable to sustain that much false emotion. Americans seem to, again and again, send individuals to the White House who are capable of projecting authentic personalities.
This encounter, five years ago this month, has forced me to re-evaluate the way I’ve judged past presidents. I now think I was too harsh with the last administration. Though I disagree with both the general thrust and specifics of almost the entire W. catalog, and I’m unsympathetic to most of the means they used to accomplish their so-called missions, I regret some of the unkind thoughts I had about President Bush’s priorities and use of time. Maybe if I’d seen more candid video of him, I might’ve perceived him differently.
This encounter, five years ago this month, has forced me to re-evaluate the way I’ve judged past presidents. I now think I was too harsh with the last administration. Though I disagree with both the general thrust and specifics of almost the entire W. catalog, and I’m unsympathetic to most of the means they used to accomplish their so-called missions, I regret some of the unkind thoughts I had about President Bush’s priorities and use of time. Maybe if I’d seen more candid video of him, I might’ve perceived him differently.
A smart Dish reader on the web and privacy
A Dark Cloud Over Our Heads? � The Dish:
When the first wave of industrialization hit, it created really bad environmental and labor problems. We lived with them for a long time, then we started to push back through government regulations. Those problems have been mitigated in rich countries, but not everywhere.
This current wave of industrialization has bad side effects as well. It’s eating everyone’s privacy. Right now, we’re all blissed out on the benefits of the tech. I have a device in my pocket that lets me search through most of the world’s information. That’s pretty cool. And the screw hasn’t really turned yet on the problems – we haven’t had the inevitable wave of scandals that will come when some political party uses the security infrastructure to punish their opponents yet, we haven’t had corporations smearing their competitors by leaking personal info, etc. All of that will come.
When it does come, we’ll have big fights about taming the new industrial concerns like Google, certain business practices will be heavily regulated or banned, new tech will be deployed to solve these problems, etc. Eventually, the average voters will win out over the big money. But it’s way too much work, way too costly, and way too threatening to important business models to put any fixes in place until average people have begun to feel genuinely threatened. We’re still some distance from that point.
When the first wave of industrialization hit, it created really bad environmental and labor problems. We lived with them for a long time, then we started to push back through government regulations. Those problems have been mitigated in rich countries, but not everywhere.
This current wave of industrialization has bad side effects as well. It’s eating everyone’s privacy. Right now, we’re all blissed out on the benefits of the tech. I have a device in my pocket that lets me search through most of the world’s information. That’s pretty cool. And the screw hasn’t really turned yet on the problems – we haven’t had the inevitable wave of scandals that will come when some political party uses the security infrastructure to punish their opponents yet, we haven’t had corporations smearing their competitors by leaking personal info, etc. All of that will come.
When it does come, we’ll have big fights about taming the new industrial concerns like Google, certain business practices will be heavily regulated or banned, new tech will be deployed to solve these problems, etc. Eventually, the average voters will win out over the big money. But it’s way too much work, way too costly, and way too threatening to important business models to put any fixes in place until average people have begun to feel genuinely threatened. We’re still some distance from that point.
Why the world’s most talented dreamers may hold the secret to a new state of consciousness — Matter — Medium
Why the world’s most talented dreamers may hold the secret to a new state of consciousness — Matter — Medium:
Voss herself is more circumspect. Lucid dreaming is unusual and unstable, she insists, perhaps only “an exception, an accident.” She grants that regular dreaming may serve some critical biological function—nightly information processing, say, or bodily temperature control. But lucid dreaming “is not meant to be.”
In a more ruminative moment, Voss confessed that lucid dreams might offer a privileged view into the evolution of consciousness in the brain: progressing from the primitive activity of “a cold-blooded animal” during non-REM sleep, to the sparks of real cognition of “a rabbit or cat” during regular dreaming, to the peak of self-awareness, reasoning, and memory during lucid dreaming, in which the dreamer at last possesses “a human brain, a higher-order conscious brain.”
01 December, 2013
Racism isn’t over. But policymakers from both parties like to pretend it is.
Racism isn’t over. But policymakers from both parties like to pretend it is.:
6. The idea that racism is over -- or even just that policy should be colorblind -- has a clear winner: the group that benefited from the years of racism and that now doesn't have to pay any compensatory costs.
And, yes, people alive today benefit from much that happened in their great-grandparents' time. Wealth is passed down through generations, and quite a lot of racist policy in the United States was designed to help white Americans amass wealth by stopping African Americans from doing so, or, in some cases, by directly taking the wealth of African Americans. Today's wealth gap is, in part, the legacy of the country's past, and it has winners as well as losers.
6. The idea that racism is over -- or even just that policy should be colorblind -- has a clear winner: the group that benefited from the years of racism and that now doesn't have to pay any compensatory costs.
And, yes, people alive today benefit from much that happened in their great-grandparents' time. Wealth is passed down through generations, and quite a lot of racist policy in the United States was designed to help white Americans amass wealth by stopping African Americans from doing so, or, in some cases, by directly taking the wealth of African Americans. Today's wealth gap is, in part, the legacy of the country's past, and it has winners as well as losers.
Sentient code: An inside look at Stephen Wolfram's utterly new, insanely ambitious computational paradigm | VentureBeat | Dev | by John Koetsier
Sentient code: An inside look at Stephen Wolfram's utterly new, insanely ambitious computational paradigm | VentureBeat | Dev | by John Koetsier: “Today, there are probably 10-50 billion computers in the world today, depending on how you define them, and lots of devices have computers in them,” he told me. “In the near future, almost everything will be made of computers — even small objects. At that point, computation becomes even more important that it is today, and things are adaptable and modifiable at all levels.”
Then he started to slow down, thinking as he spoke. Wolfram is talking, perhaps, about the singularity, the point at which intelligence is the single defining factor of everything, and development accelerates at a pace we can’t currently begin to comprehend, and the world changes much more rapidly and much more profoundly than we can imagine.
Then he started to slow down, thinking as he spoke. Wolfram is talking, perhaps, about the singularity, the point at which intelligence is the single defining factor of everything, and development accelerates at a pace we can’t currently begin to comprehend, and the world changes much more rapidly and much more profoundly than we can imagine.
Air Force informant program
Air Force informant program: Facing pressure to combat drug use and sexual assault at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force has created a secret system of cadet informants to hunt for misconduct among students.
Cadets who attend the publicly-funded academy near Colorado Springs must pledge never to lie. But the program pushes some to do just that: Informants are told to deceive classmates, professors and commanders while snapping photos, wearing recording devices and filing secret reports.
For one former academy student, becoming a covert government operative meant not only betraying the values he vowed to uphold, it meant being thrown out of the academy as punishment for doing the things the Air Force secretly told him to do.
Cadets who attend the publicly-funded academy near Colorado Springs must pledge never to lie. But the program pushes some to do just that: Informants are told to deceive classmates, professors and commanders while snapping photos, wearing recording devices and filing secret reports.
For one former academy student, becoming a covert government operative meant not only betraying the values he vowed to uphold, it meant being thrown out of the academy as punishment for doing the things the Air Force secretly told him to do.
It’s Social Ties—Not Religion—That Makes the Faithful Give to Charity | TIME.com
It’s Social Ties—Not Religion—That Makes the Faithful Give to Charity | TIME.com: However, we could find no evidence linking people’s theological beliefs and their rate of giving—which also helps to explain why the “religion effect” varies little across different religions. The rates for charitable giving according to the Jumpstart survey are: 61 percent of Black Protestants; 64 % of Evangelical Protestants; 67 % of Mainline Protestants, 68 % of Roman Catholics, and 76 % of Jews. By contrast, only 46 % of the not religiously affiliated made any charitable giving.
Rather than religious beliefs, we found that the “secret ingredient” for charitable giving among religious Americans is the social networks formed within religious congregations. The more friends someone has within a religious congregation, the more likely that person is to give time, money, or both, to charitable causes. In fact, even non-religious people who have friends within a religious congregation (typically, because their spouse is a believer) are highly charitable—more so than strong believers who have few social ties within a congregation.
Rather than religious beliefs, we found that the “secret ingredient” for charitable giving among religious Americans is the social networks formed within religious congregations. The more friends someone has within a religious congregation, the more likely that person is to give time, money, or both, to charitable causes. In fact, even non-religious people who have friends within a religious congregation (typically, because their spouse is a believer) are highly charitable—more so than strong believers who have few social ties within a congregation.
Women in Catholicism
Torn Bread < Killing the Buddha:
My vocation is putting my ass in a pew, week after week. My vocation is the vocation of billions of people, in nearly every religion. It is the vocation of showing up.
That’s not the case for quite a few women I know. Either they leave Catholicism and pursue vocation in another church, or they stick it out with rage simmering under their skin, week after week. “Can you believe…” “Denied…” They cannot do what they feel called to do, so they go, or they rage, or they simmer. Or they give up: on their vocation, on religion, on God. Or they stay, and they push and they push in increments.
When I took the bread from the female priest, I wondered about the ontological difference. What difference did it make that her hands were female? That the breath she used to push out the sacred words was female? That her female soul had brought God into being in the yeast and wheat? Did she look into my eyes and see a Catholic woman who hears Catholic women suffering because women don’t hand them transformed bread?
My vocation is putting my ass in a pew, week after week. My vocation is the vocation of billions of people, in nearly every religion. It is the vocation of showing up.
That’s not the case for quite a few women I know. Either they leave Catholicism and pursue vocation in another church, or they stick it out with rage simmering under their skin, week after week. “Can you believe…” “Denied…” They cannot do what they feel called to do, so they go, or they rage, or they simmer. Or they give up: on their vocation, on religion, on God. Or they stay, and they push and they push in increments.
When I took the bread from the female priest, I wondered about the ontological difference. What difference did it make that her hands were female? That the breath she used to push out the sacred words was female? That her female soul had brought God into being in the yeast and wheat? Did she look into my eyes and see a Catholic woman who hears Catholic women suffering because women don’t hand them transformed bread?
30 November, 2013
No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A. - NYTimes.com
No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A. - NYTimes.com:
The agency, using a combination of jawboning, stealth and legal force, has turned the nation’s Internet and telecommunications companies into collection partners, installing filters in their facilities, serving them with court orders, building back doors into their software and acquiring keys to break their encryption.
But even that vast American-run web is only part of the story. For decades, the N.S.A. has shared eavesdropping duties with the rest of the so-called Five Eyes, the Sigint agencies of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More limited cooperation occurs with many more countries, including formal arrangements called Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes and Nacsi, an alliance of the agencies of 26 NATO countries.
Inside the World of the Double-Crossing Fake Hitman
Inside the World of the Double-Crossing Fake Hitman: Say you want someone, you know, eliminated —a lover, a business partner, a mother-in-law. There are guys out there who will do that. For a price. Then there's another kind of guy. A guy who looks and acts just like a regular hit man. Prison tats, do-rag. But instead of doing the job, he turns sides and then you realize that you were his target all along
One day in the life of Mikhail Khodorkovsky - FT.com
One day in the life of Mikhail Khodorkovsky - FT.com: “Tradition, and the state of people’s minds, and the lack of forces that could support any movement towards the rule of law – everything’s against him,” said Khodorkovsky, his reedy voice sometimes faltering. “So, may God grant him strength. All we can do is hope.”
Khodorkovsky was right. Today, Putin is back as president, pro-democracy protests that flared in winter 2011 have waned; Medvedev is yesterday’s man. Khodorkovsky is still in jail, found guilty of the new charges in 2010. Aleksanyan died in 2011, two years after being released from jail. The rule of law in Russia seems in many ways weaker than ever.
Has ever a businessman experienced such a dizzying ascent to fortune, then such a headlong plunge from grace?
Khodorkovsky was right. Today, Putin is back as president, pro-democracy protests that flared in winter 2011 have waned; Medvedev is yesterday’s man. Khodorkovsky is still in jail, found guilty of the new charges in 2010. Aleksanyan died in 2011, two years after being released from jail. The rule of law in Russia seems in many ways weaker than ever.
Has ever a businessman experienced such a dizzying ascent to fortune, then such a headlong plunge from grace?
A Yellow Card, Then Unfathomable Violence, in Brazil - NYTimes.com
A Yellow Card, Then Unfathomable Violence, in Brazil - NYTimes.com: The truth seemed far more complicated. It involved two murder victims — a distressed teenager and an older friend with a temper — and interior Brazil’s wider culture of knives and revenge. It touched on hopelessness and rage born of poverty and inequality, and mistrust that seethed from inadequate policing and uneven access to justice. When formal justice seemed weak and unresponsive to one killing, another score was settled as scores have long been settled in this region of Brazil — with private justice, bloodshed trumped by bloodshed.
Entrapment by the FBI, possibly.
To Catch a Terrorist | Harper's Magazine: What made the deal illegal, according to prosecutors, occurred four months into the operation during a meeting in the informant’s office. Pulling back a tarp in his stockroom to reveal a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile, the informant told Hossain, “I also do this business for my Muslim brothers.” Prosecutors claimed that Hossain should have been able to deduce that the loan he was receiving might be drawn from proceeds of an illegal weapons sale, and that by accepting the loan he had opened himself to charges of money laundering. Aref himself never saw the weapon. During one of the exchanges of cash—all of which were documented on grainy black-and-white surveillance footage—the missile’s trigger system, which looked not unlike a staple gun, was visible on a table. Prosecutors alleged Aref had seen the trigger and thereby had entered the conspiracy to “assist in money-laundering.”
I Tried to See Where My T-Shirt Was Made, and the Factory Sent Thugs After Me | Mother Jones
I Tried to See Where My T-Shirt Was Made, and the Factory Sent Thugs After Me | Mother Jones: I interviewed her in her room, which was filled with embroidered blankets. It was night, and the stars were as numerous as they are in the big sky of Montana, where I grew up. Through the open windows we could hear a chorus of insects. We took a photograph together, sitting on her cot, and she put her arm around me and grinned. A calico cat jumped from the dirt floor onto the bed. For that second, we were just two young women—unmarried, drinking tea, tired from a long day. But after we stood up, I knew that I would soon get on a plane to Washington, DC, where stores selling cheap leopard-print pumps and skinny jeans line the streets and no one expects me to give my entire salary to my parents for a dowry. And Lakshmi would still be here in this room, knowing—as she told me right after the photo was taken—that "no man is going to marry me now."
Freakonomics � How to Game a Grading Curve
Freakonomics � How to Game a Grading Curve: Students in three of Professor Peter Fr�hlich‘s computer programming classes at Johns Hopkins University recently devised a method to game their final grades. Frolich grades exams on a curve — the highest grade in the class, whatever it may be, becomes 100 percent, and “everybody else gets a percentage relative to it.” So students collectively planned a boycott:
Sex Change for Prison Inmate Michelle Kosilek: Should We Pay? | New Republic
Sex Change for Prison Inmate Michelle Kosilek: Should We Pay? | New Republic: At the age of four, Kosilek announced to his mother, a waitress at greasy spoons, that he was really a little girl. (Kosilek’s father was serving a long sentence in federal prison for mail fraud.) Not long afterward, she abandoned him at an orphanage, only to come back for him six years later, while on an alcoholic bender with another boyfriend. Home was no more welcoming than before: He was frequently punished for dressing as a girl, and his mother’s father began raping him. Gradually, he realized he could earn more with his body than the dollar his grandfather gave him every week, and at the age of twelve, he became a child prostitute on the streets of Chicago.
4 Hypotheses on Why China Suddenly Declared this New Air Defense Zone | Robert Kelly — Asian Security Blog
4 Hypotheses on Why China Suddenly Declared this New Air Defense Zone | Robert Kelly — Asian Security Blog:
SK/BB: Why are the Chinese doing this?
Me:
SK/BB: Why are the Chinese doing this?
Me:
- 1. Belligerence: the Chinese really are picking a fight with Japan.
- 2. Blowback: the CCP is doing this for domestic legitimacy purposes.
- 3. Incompetence: the CCP and PLA didn’t really realize just how sharply locals and the US would react.
- 4. The Transition: Xi Jinping wants to make a splash as the new boss.
29 November, 2013
Disney's 'Frozen' Proves Failure Of PG Rating
Disney's 'Frozen' Proves Failure Of PG Rating: To quote that great, and justifiably PG-rated animated classic The Incredibles, “when everyone’s special, no one is.” When the PG rating is doled out like candy for animated and family features, it becomes the proverbial “G” rating and thus is useless in terms of its stated goal, which is to tell parents, paying moviegoers and the like, whether or not a given family film may be a bit much for their youngest kid. I’ve seen Frozen and if you have any sense you’ll see Frozen when it opens wide over Thanksgiving weekend. Unless your print contains gore or nudity that wasn’t in my cut, it’s as “G” as “G” can be. Yet it still bears the once-scarlet tag of PG. It’s great that PG is no longer than kiss of death for animated features. But how about we reserve that rating for films that actually deserve it.
All NewCos are TechCos & the Implications are Huge | Seth's Blog
All NewCos are TechCos & the Implications are Huge | Seth's Blog: 3. There will be an ever stronger polarization between the haves and have nots in the economy at large. Technology companies are, almost by definition, labor efficient. Those able to work and be productive in technology companies (engineers, product managers, designers, etc) will thrive. Those who are not will find themselves in increasingly commoditized (and therefore lower wage) positions.
The Philippines: One Week After Typhoon Haiyan - In Focus - The Atlantic
The Philippines: One Week After Typhoon Haiyan - In Focus - The Atlantic: It's now one week after Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall, wreaking unprecedented damage and killing thousands. The islands of Leyte and Samar were hardest hit, with entire cities and towns reduced to rubble and debris. The past week was a desperate one for survivors as they struggled to find food, clean water, shelter, and security. Widespread destruction left roads impassable, electricity cut, government services in a shambles, and 600,0000 homeless. International aid is only now starting to arrive in significant amounts, and bodies are still being discovered among the debris. See also this earlier post on In Focus. [41 photos]
Hidden demographics of youth sports - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN
Hidden demographics of youth sports - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN: The ubiquity of competitive sports is clearly not a panacea, nor does it last. By 18, the youth-sports pipeline has reached a destination or sorts -- by then Serena Williams had won her first major, Bryce Harper and Kobe Bryant had been drafted and Tiger Woods had teed it up for his first PGA tourney. The players largely have been sorted into their categories: future pros; college athletes; club and rec competitors; and those who give up.
Yet after all is said and done, one fact sticks out: Of all the kids in America, very few have not played sports. In the survey done by Sabo for the WSF, only 13 percent of boys and 18 percent of girls between 8 and 17 had never joined a team or club, had never shared the experience of getting a uniform, practicing with teammates and running onto the field or court to compete.
That's American childhood for you.
Yet after all is said and done, one fact sticks out: Of all the kids in America, very few have not played sports. In the survey done by Sabo for the WSF, only 13 percent of boys and 18 percent of girls between 8 and 17 had never joined a team or club, had never shared the experience of getting a uniform, practicing with teammates and running onto the field or court to compete.
That's American childhood for you.
Who Becomes a Surrogate? - Leslie Morgan Steiner - The Atlantic
Who Becomes a Surrogate? - Leslie Morgan Steiner - The Atlantic:
CSP is not alone in its strict criterion for surrogates. Ethical surrogacy agencies and lawyers don’t accept two specific categories of potential surrogates. First, they reject women below the poverty level who may be at greater risk for health concerns and coercion, and who probably do not have medical insurance. Second, they reject women who don’t have children. Women who are already mothers have proven they are fertile, and have a more comprehensive grasp of what it will mean to surrender a baby to its legal parents.
Although the money makes a difference, no surrogate signs up just for the money.
“It would be easier to get a job at McDonald’s,” Sherrie insists. “The money doesn't begin to compensate them for what they do. A surrogate pregnancy means working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without a break, for nine months. Pregnancy is risky; pregnancy taxes your body tremendously. Our surrogates come to us because they love children, they want to help people who cannot have them, and they like the feeling of creating a family for other people.”
Women live in a profoundly different, more dangerous world | The Elders
Women live in a profoundly different, more dangerous world | The Elders: One of the most powerful truths in my Christian faith is that I and all other people are equal in the eyes of God. Many believers of all religions – Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists – violate this basic premise by claiming that men are exalted at the expense of women.
Several years ago my wife Rosalynn and I decided to sever our ties to the Baptist denomination to which I had given allegiance for seventy years because its leaders decided to depart from this principle and to deprive women of equal rights to serve as ministers, deacons, chaplains, or in other positions of leadership. We continue to worship in our local Baptist church that is served by both a male and female minister, where I teach Bible lessons and Rosalynn is a deacon.
Several years ago my wife Rosalynn and I decided to sever our ties to the Baptist denomination to which I had given allegiance for seventy years because its leaders decided to depart from this principle and to deprive women of equal rights to serve as ministers, deacons, chaplains, or in other positions of leadership. We continue to worship in our local Baptist church that is served by both a male and female minister, where I teach Bible lessons and Rosalynn is a deacon.
Everything You Know About Black Friday Is Wrong : The New Yorker
Everything You Know About Black Friday Is Wrong : The New Yorker: Black Friday doesn’t even necessarily offer the best discounts, contrary to what retailers want their customers to believe. Rather than selling most merchandise at full price and marking down what doesn’t sell, stores now engineer their prices, so that the “discounted” prices are actually at the level they had wanted all along. Some “door-buster” items, in limited quantities, lure people into stores. Many gifts, though, have lower price tags at other times. The consumer-price research firm Decide Inc. analyzed data for the Wall Street Journal last year and found that Elmo dolls, Ugg boots, Samsung TVs, and KitchenAid stand mixers were less expensive on other days. (Decide closed its services in September, after being purchased by eBay.) Consumer Reports indicates that many home appliances and small consumer electronics are cheapest in December.
Dad hacks wheelchair to let 2-year-old explore the world | Crave - CNET
Dad hacks wheelchair to let 2-year-old explore the world | Crave - CNET: The resulting foot pedal design is uniquely suited to Alejandro's abilities, and he has quickly learned how to operate the wheelchair. "His motivation is amazing. For a kid like Alejandro there is nothing quite like finally being able to explore your environment all by yourself," Shea writes.
J.C. Penney Marking Up Prices Because Customers 'Prefer' Sales and Coupons - ABC News
J.C. Penney Marking Up Prices Because Customers 'Prefer' Sales and Coupons - ABC News: "Last year we created an everyday pricing structure that did not resonate with our core customer," J.C. Penney's statement to ABC News read. "While our prices continue to represent a tremendous value, we now understand that customers are motivated by promotions and prefer to receive discounts through sales and coupons applied at checkout. So we are returning to a promotional pricing model that is commonly used in the industry to give customers the value they are looking for when they shop with us."
28 November, 2013
Pope Francis has a few thoughts about the global economy. We added these 13 charts.
Pope Francis has a few thoughts about the global economy. We added these 13 charts.: "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?"
Thank an air traffic controller today
Thank an air traffic controller today: Two-and-a-half million people are going to try to fly someplace Wednesday. If you're one of those poor souls, you may be itching to strangle someone by the time you collapse into your shoe box of a seat. But, realistically? Our headaches as passengers — flight delays, long lines at security — mostly get sorted out before we board the plane.
Not so for air traffic controllers, many of whom are preparing for a high-stress day that's even worse this year due to a wintry storm that's battering the East Coast. Even as the rest of us sit down to a big turkey dinner on Thursday, many of the nation's 27,000 air traffic controllers will still be on duty.
Once a plane leaves the airport, responsibility for tracking it gets handed off to a local departure controller — a TRACON facility, for short — that monitors a wider area. There are dozens of these. Then, as the plane leaves the region, another facility, called an area control center (ACC), takes over. The process has to take place in reverse when the aircraft reaches its destination.
Not so for air traffic controllers, many of whom are preparing for a high-stress day that's even worse this year due to a wintry storm that's battering the East Coast. Even as the rest of us sit down to a big turkey dinner on Thursday, many of the nation's 27,000 air traffic controllers will still be on duty.
Once a plane leaves the airport, responsibility for tracking it gets handed off to a local departure controller — a TRACON facility, for short — that monitors a wider area. There are dozens of these. Then, as the plane leaves the region, another facility, called an area control center (ACC), takes over. The process has to take place in reverse when the aircraft reaches its destination.
23 charts to be thankful for this Thanksgiving
23 charts to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: I sincerely hope all of you have had at least one thing in the past year in your actual life to be thankful for. But in the bleak case that you haven't, fret not. There is a world outside your misery, and stuff here is pretty boss, all things considered.
E Pluribus Turkey - In These Times
E Pluribus Turkey - In These Times: The problem at the heart of the disagreement is that neither the Pilgrims nor the Puritans were celebrating Thanksgiving. They were just giving thanks. The historical facts of their giving thanks have since been rearranged and elaborated to create the story of Thanksgiving. To merely rely on “the facts,” then, won’t help us understand the significance of this story within our national mythology.
One of the most powerful features of the Thanksgiving story is its emphasis on unity—between different cultures, and between humans and God. Significantly, the Thanksgiving story was advanced when it was far from certain that a (re)union of North and South was possible. When Lincoln invited the nation to collectively “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” he not only wanted to bind the nation together, but to bind the nation with the transcendent and eternal God of Christianity— a powerful seal indeed.
One of the most powerful features of the Thanksgiving story is its emphasis on unity—between different cultures, and between humans and God. Significantly, the Thanksgiving story was advanced when it was far from certain that a (re)union of North and South was possible. When Lincoln invited the nation to collectively “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” he not only wanted to bind the nation together, but to bind the nation with the transcendent and eternal God of Christianity— a powerful seal indeed.
What’s wrong with China’s Air Defence Identification Zone (and what’s not)
What’s wrong with China’s Air Defence Identification Zone (and what’s not):
Instead, there are several things wrong with China's declared position:
Instead, there are several things wrong with China's declared position:
- It is a unilateral step, announced suddenly and apparently without consultation with two countries whose civilian and military aircraft will be most affected, the US and Japan.
- It includes a contested maritime area, notably the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and thus can be seen as a deliberate effort to change the status quo, even a provocation.
- Its ‘rules’ demanding that aircraft identify themselves and obey Chinese direction on flight paths seem to apply to all aircraft in the zone and not only aircraft en route to China. This conflicts with the basic early warning and air-traffic control purposes of an ADIZ, and with longstanding Pentagon regulations advising US military aircraft to comply with a foreign ADIZ only when they flying on a course into that country’s airspace, not when they are simply in transit or on patrol.
- It looks like a pretext for one of two undesirable security outcomes. If foreign aircraft now regularly obey the new Chinese rules, we will see precedents set for the unilateral expansion of Chinese authority over contested maritime territory. Alternately, if foreign aircraft contest or ignore the Chinese zone and a dangerous or deadly incident occurs (such as a collision or a forceful encounter), then China will have prepared the way to absolve itself of legal or moral blame, making it easier to use the incident as a justification to escalate the crisis if China so chooses.
Working on Thanksgiving: It could be good!
Working on Thanksgiving: It could be good!: Which is just to say that in a diverse nation with more than 300 million citizens, opinions are going to vary on the pros and cons of extended business hours. How strapped for cash are you? Where does your family live? What's your relationship with them like? How sentimental are you about specific holiday rituals? People will differ. This Thanksgiving there are going to be people with jobs at the Gap who wish they weren't working Thanksgiving but feel that they'd lose their jobs if they weren't willing to take an extra shift. There are also going to be people with jobs at Radio Shack who wish they could earn some extra cash and get out from under that credit card debt. I'm not persuaded that there's a first-order question of social justice here one way or the other.
27 November, 2013
26 November, 2013
End the N.S.A. Dragnet, Now - NYTimes.com
End the N.S.A. Dragnet, Now - NYTimes.com: The usefulness of the bulk collection program has been greatly exaggerated. We have yet to see any proof that it provides real, unique value in protecting national security. In spite of our repeated requests, the N.S.A. has not provided evidence of any instance when the agency used this program to review phone records that could not have been obtained using a regular court order or emergency authorization.
Despite this, the surveillance reform bill recently ratified by the Senate Intelligence Committee would explicitly permit the government to engage in dragnet collection as long as there were rules about when officials could look at these phone records. It would also give intelligence agencies wide latitude to conduct warrantless searches for Americans’ phone calls and emails.
This is not the true reform that poll after poll has shown the American people want
Despite this, the surveillance reform bill recently ratified by the Senate Intelligence Committee would explicitly permit the government to engage in dragnet collection as long as there were rules about when officials could look at these phone records. It would also give intelligence agencies wide latitude to conduct warrantless searches for Americans’ phone calls and emails.
This is not the true reform that poll after poll has shown the American people want
Pope Francis: No more business as usual – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs
Pope Francis: No more business as usual – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: (CNN) - Pope Francis on Tuesday called for big changes in the Roman Catholic Church – including at the very top – saying the church needs to rethink old rules and customs that are no longer understood or effective for evangelization.
"I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security," the Pope said in a major new statement.
"I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures," Francis added.
"I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security," the Pope said in a major new statement.
"I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures," Francis added.
Dana Milbank: Republicans mindlessly oppose Iran nuclear deal - The Washington Post
Dana Milbank: Republicans mindlessly oppose Iran nuclear deal - The Washington Post: The opposition in this case is particularly mindless. Certainly there are reasons to be skeptical that Iran will act in good faith. But the deal is temporary — six months — and easily reversible. In the (likely) event that Iran doesn’t agree to a permanent accord to end its nuclear program, the tougher sanctions contemplated in Congress could be applied. Would it be better to go to war now without exhausting diplomatic options? We’ve been there and done that — when Ari Fleischer stood on the White House podium.
Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com
Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British and U.S. intelligence officials say they are worried about a "doomsday" cache of highly classified, heavily encrypted material they believe former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has stored on a data cloud.
The cache contains documents generated by the NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said.
The data is protected with sophisticated encryption, and multiple passwords are needed to open it, said two of the sources, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
The passwords are in the possession of at least three different people and are valid for only a brief time window each day, they said. The identities of persons who might have the passwords are unknown.
The cache contains documents generated by the NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said.
The data is protected with sophisticated encryption, and multiple passwords are needed to open it, said two of the sources, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
The passwords are in the possession of at least three different people and are valid for only a brief time window each day, they said. The identities of persons who might have the passwords are unknown.
25 November, 2013
An Emmy-Caliber Performance From 'Homeland's' Dana Brody And No, That's Not A Joke - Forbes
An Emmy-Caliber Performance From 'Homeland's' Dana Brody And No, That's Not A Joke - Forbes: In an episode that laid the groundwork for Lewis’s upcoming Emmy campaign, Homeland’s showrunners may have stumbled upon a second Emmy-worthy performance from a most unlikely source. And it probably won’t be enough to silence her critics. Haters gonna hate, Morgan Saylor. Haters gonna hate.
Stories we don't tell
The Misery Of Miscarriage, Ctd � The Dish: This thread took me back to a dark day nearly 30 years ago. I remember so clearly sitting on my living room sofa with an extra-big maxi pad on, while the remains of what would have been my first child lumpily left my body. Then I went on to have two children and, while I grieved the one I lost, I can’t imagine having any other children than the ones I have. I know intellectually that I would have loved that one as much as I love these two adults who have been a part of my life all these years, but my emotions won’t follow my brain there. I just feel as though these particular people were the ones given to me to love. This sounds ridiculous, I know, but I feel as though I would have grieved not knowing them.
When We Lose Antibiotics, Here's Everything Else We'll Lose Too - Wired Science
When We Lose Antibiotics, Here's Everything Else We'll Lose Too - Wired Science: And we’d lose, as well, a good portion of our cheap modern food supply. Most of the meat we eat in the industrialized world is raised with the routine use of antibiotics, to fatten livestock and protect them from the conditions in which the animals are raised. Without the drugs that keep livestock healthy in concentrated agriculture, we’d lose the ability to raise them that way. Either animals would sicken, or farmers would have to change their raising practices, spending more money when their margins are thin. Either way, meat — and fish and seafood, also raised with abundant antibiotics in the fish farms of Asia — would become much more expensive.
The death of the filibuster is bad for centrists and moderates.
The death of the filibuster is bad for centrists and moderates.: Indeed, consensus and unanimity are very attractive voting rules because they ensure that decisions must make everyone better off—otherwise, voters will block them. That is why consensus is the norm for small bodies like the law school faculty I belong to. It’s true that for larger groups, as the scholars James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock pointed out long ago, this rule leads to gridlock. The closer to a simple majority, the easier decision-making becomes. But there is a cost: It also becomes easier for people who manage to form a majority to make decisions that cause significant harm to the minority.
A Gamble in Iran Talks - Easing of the Sanctions - NYTimes.com
A Gamble in Iran Talks - Easing of the Sanctions - NYTimes.com: There are arguments about what all the initial sanctions relief would add up to. The Obama administration has estimated that relief at $7 billion to $10 billion. That is far less than the $30 billion or so Iran will lose over the same period in forgone oil exports, prohibited by sanctions that will remain in place until a broader deal is struck.
24 November, 2013
Stung By Iranian Nuclear Deal, Netanyahu Prepares For Fallout At Home
Stung By Iranian Nuclear Deal, Netanyahu Prepares For Fallout At Home: “There is no doubt that Netanyahu is a big loser in the Iran deal,” said Gil Hoffman, political editor at the Jerusalem Post. “His whole political career is built on two things: number one is that he persuaded Israelis that only he could protect them from Iran, and number two is his image as someone who could speak to the world in his perfect English in a persuasive way better than any other Israelis. And here he failed.”
While Netanyahu could have stressed that the deal reached in Geneva was a six-month interim deal, and that efforts were still being made to secure more of Israel’s demands on the permanent deal, he instead lambasted the entire effort as a “disaster.”
While Netanyahu could have stressed that the deal reached in Geneva was a six-month interim deal, and that efforts were still being made to secure more of Israel’s demands on the permanent deal, he instead lambasted the entire effort as a “disaster.”
The Problem with Unapologetic and the HPtFTU - PEG 2.0
The Problem with Unapologetic and the HPtFTU - PEG 2.0: One of the central elements of Unapologetic is its discussion of original sin and, in particular, its description of it as the “HPtFTU”, or the “human propensity to [foul] things up.” Spufford’s whole argument for Christianity rests on the HPtFTU. I’ve said that it is genius and I stand by it. It is genius not only because it presents an old, and much-maligned, idea in a fresh new light, and not only because proclaiming God with curse words is sometimes called for.
I think it is genius because it gets at important truths about original sin. Casting original sin as HPtFTU shows how it is something fundamental to who we are. Psychologists will tell you that the most popular way to do wrong is by rationalizing it, and rationalizing it as “I am a good person who happens to have done evil thing X”, but it is the evil thing/circumstances/whatever that is evil, not me. HPtFTU says, no, it is you, or rather it is part of you. And, as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
I think it is genius because it gets at important truths about original sin. Casting original sin as HPtFTU shows how it is something fundamental to who we are. Psychologists will tell you that the most popular way to do wrong is by rationalizing it, and rationalizing it as “I am a good person who happens to have done evil thing X”, but it is the evil thing/circumstances/whatever that is evil, not me. HPtFTU says, no, it is you, or rather it is part of you. And, as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
Cord Cutters And The Death Of TV - Business Insider
Cord Cutters And The Death Of TV - Business Insider: This is the macro problem: Ratings are falling across the board. They have been for years.
It's not too surprising that broadcast TV ratings are down. The major networks have faced increasing competition for years from niche-interest cable channels and the better-quality programming on places like AMC and HBO.
But ratings for both cable and the broadcast networks are down.
It's not too surprising that broadcast TV ratings are down. The major networks have faced increasing competition for years from niche-interest cable channels and the better-quality programming on places like AMC and HBO.
But ratings for both cable and the broadcast networks are down.
Mallory Weggeman Speaks About Her Story of Hope "Against All Odds" | Last Word On Sports
Mallory Weggeman Speaks About Her Story of Hope "Against All Odds" | Last Word On Sports:
You know, I think on that day, in all honesty, it was so hard to believe that something like that could happen, and it didn’t seem real. For the first 24 hours or so, we were just waiting; I was told that the medicine would wear off and no one really knew what was going on right away. My family and I knew it was bigger than medicine just waiting to wear off because my mom’s a nurse, and so she understands the medical profession. She knew that it wasn’t right, and that it wasn’t normal. I think it really hit me the morning after, on January 22nd when I woke up, and I still couldn’t move my legs and still had no feeling. I think at that point, it hit me that it was actually happening, that this is real and this isn’t just, you know, it isn’t some crazy nightmare that I just was going to wake up and go home walking. It was real life, and it just started to go from there and it was a big struggle going back and forth for a few months of figuring this out, and why me, and just not understanding how something like that could happen. Also going through the ups and downs of the fears and uncertainties of what this now meant to my life, because I didn’t understand this. Growing up, I didn’t know anybody with a physical disability. So it was a world that not only had I never been exposed to in any degree, but now I was living, and it was a challenge to myself and my family to figure it out, and when it first happened, I didn’t have the core strength to sit up in bed and get in and out of wheelchair on my own. I was being lifted up by machines and devices and nurses, and I was completely dependent on everyone around me, and I didn’t know what that meant for my life moving forward. I think that was the biggest fear for me when this first happened. It was just, “What’s my life going to be like now?”
You know, I think on that day, in all honesty, it was so hard to believe that something like that could happen, and it didn’t seem real. For the first 24 hours or so, we were just waiting; I was told that the medicine would wear off and no one really knew what was going on right away. My family and I knew it was bigger than medicine just waiting to wear off because my mom’s a nurse, and so she understands the medical profession. She knew that it wasn’t right, and that it wasn’t normal. I think it really hit me the morning after, on January 22nd when I woke up, and I still couldn’t move my legs and still had no feeling. I think at that point, it hit me that it was actually happening, that this is real and this isn’t just, you know, it isn’t some crazy nightmare that I just was going to wake up and go home walking. It was real life, and it just started to go from there and it was a big struggle going back and forth for a few months of figuring this out, and why me, and just not understanding how something like that could happen. Also going through the ups and downs of the fears and uncertainties of what this now meant to my life, because I didn’t understand this. Growing up, I didn’t know anybody with a physical disability. So it was a world that not only had I never been exposed to in any degree, but now I was living, and it was a challenge to myself and my family to figure it out, and when it first happened, I didn’t have the core strength to sit up in bed and get in and out of wheelchair on my own. I was being lifted up by machines and devices and nurses, and I was completely dependent on everyone around me, and I didn’t know what that meant for my life moving forward. I think that was the biggest fear for me when this first happened. It was just, “What’s my life going to be like now?”
Heritage Foundation's Michael Needham Tears Apart Right Wing | New Republic
Heritage Foundation's Michael Needham Tears Apart Right Wing | New Republic:
But the elders were wrong to dismiss Needham and Chapman. Between throws of the football, they designed a brutally effective way to activate Heritage’s base of almost 700,000 donors, as well as to harness the diffuse Tea Party fervor across the country. In nearly every congressional district, they recruited Heritage Action “sentinels,” usually ordinary citizens with a surplus of time and enthusiasm, who were trained, outfitted with information kits, and asked to recruit and organize the local faithful. When Needham sounded the alarm, the sentinels and their infantries flooded the offices of their representatives with vitriol.
23 November, 2013
Restless America: state-to-state migration in 2012 | vizynary
Restless America: state-to-state migration in 2012 | vizynary: Approximately 7.1 million Americans moved to another state in 2012. That’s over 2.2% of the U.S. population. The United States has a long history of people picking up and moving their families to other parts of the country, in search of better livelihoods. That same spirit of mobility, a willingness to uproot oneself, seems alive and well today based on the visualization of migration patterns above.
22 November, 2013
I Gave Lee Harvey Oswald’s Mother A Ride to Dallas | TIME.com
I Gave Lee Harvey Oswald’s Mother A Ride to Dallas | TIME.com: I answered one and a woman said, “Is there anyone who can give me a ride to Dallas?”
I couldn’t believe it. “Lady,” I replied, “We’re not running a taxi service here. And besides, the President has been shot!”
And she said, “Yes, I heard it on the radio. I think my son is the one they’ve arrested.”
It was Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother.
I couldn’t believe it. “Lady,” I replied, “We’re not running a taxi service here. And besides, the President has been shot!”
And she said, “Yes, I heard it on the radio. I think my son is the one they’ve arrested.”
It was Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother.
Kennedy The Conservative? � The Dish
Kennedy The Conservative? � The Dish: I think your correspondent who said Kennedy was undeserving of his spot on the half-dollar coin was right if one looks at Kennedy’s actual achievements, but that’s not why he’s on there. Kennedy made Americans dream. Apollo, Civil Rights, the Peace Corps … those were huge, arguably insane dreams at the time. If he’d lived, I’m not sure either Apollo or the Civil Rights Act would have succeeded when they did. In death, though, he somehow inspired the entire polity to see through what he probably couldn’t have. He reminds me a bit of Thomas Jefferson: a deeply flawed man whose redeeming grace was that he sold a nation on dreams far greater than himself.
Eclipsed in death: We remember JFK, but what about Aldous Huxley, or CS Lewis? - Comment - Voices - The Independent
Eclipsed in death: We remember JFK, but what about Aldous Huxley, or CS Lewis? - Comment - Voices - The Independent: Huxley died at 5:20pm, London time, on 22 November 1963. About ten minutes later, CS Lewis died. Just under an hour after that, of course, JFK was shot and killed in Dallas. There may never have been a deadlier 70 minutes for celebrity, but others have been tied similarly by fatal coincidence (see below).
Of course, this is all trivial on the face of it - as meaningful as coincidental birthdays - but, aside from challenging obituarists, coincidental deaths can also raise awkward questions. Who is more important? Who deserves top billing in the press - and why? And what does it mean for their families?
Of course, this is all trivial on the face of it - as meaningful as coincidental birthdays - but, aside from challenging obituarists, coincidental deaths can also raise awkward questions. Who is more important? Who deserves top billing in the press - and why? And what does it mean for their families?
Kiribati: Climate Change Destroys Pacific Island Nation - Businessweek
Kiribati: Climate Change Destroys Pacific Island Nation - Businessweek: Kiribati is a flyspeck of a United Nations member state, a collection of 33 islands necklaced across the central Pacific. Thirty-two of the islands are low-lying atolls; the 33rd, called Banaba, is a raised coral island that long ago was strip-mined for its seabird-guano-derived phosphates. If scientists are correct, the ocean will swallow most of Kiribati before the end of the century, and perhaps much sooner than that. Water expands as it warms, and the oceans have lately received colossal quantities of melted ice. A recent study found that the oceans are absorbing heat 15 times faster than they have at any point during the past 10,000 years. Before the rising Pacific drowns these atolls, though, it will infiltrate, and irreversibly poison, their already inadequate supply of fresh water. The apocalypse could come even sooner for Kiribati if violent storms, of the sort that recently destroyed parts of the Philippines, strike its islands.
For all of these reasons, the 103,000 citizens of Kiribati may soon become refugees, perhaps the first mass movement of people fleeing the consequences of global warming rather than war or famine.
For all of these reasons, the 103,000 citizens of Kiribati may soon become refugees, perhaps the first mass movement of people fleeing the consequences of global warming rather than war or famine.
Media protest White House photo ban - POLITICO.com
Media protest White House photo ban - POLITICO.com: The apparent reason for closing certain events to photographers is that these events have been deemed “private.” That rationale, however, is undermined when the White House contemporaneously releases its own photograph of a so-called private event through social media. The restrictions imposed by the White House on photographers covering these events, followed by the routine release by the White House of photographs made by government employees of these same events, is an arbitrary restraint and unwarranted interference on legitimate newsgathering activities. You are, in effect, replacing independent photojournalism with visual press releases.
Why Do I Always Wake Up 5 Minutes Before My Alarm Goes Off? | Mental Floss
Why Do I Always Wake Up 5 Minutes Before My Alarm Goes Off? | Mental Floss: Because your body’s internal clock is just as good, if not better, than the contraption shrieking atop your nightstand.
At the center of your brain, a clump of nerves—called the suprachiasmatic nucleus—oversees your body’s clock: the circadian rhythm. It determines when you feel sleepy and when you feel bright-eyed. It controls your blood pressure, your body temperature, and your sense of time. It turns your body into a finely tuned machine.
That machine happens to love predictability. Your body is most efficient when there’s a routine to follow. So if you hit the hay the same time each night and awake the same time each morning, your body locks that behavior in. And that’s where things get sciency.
At the center of your brain, a clump of nerves—called the suprachiasmatic nucleus—oversees your body’s clock: the circadian rhythm. It determines when you feel sleepy and when you feel bright-eyed. It controls your blood pressure, your body temperature, and your sense of time. It turns your body into a finely tuned machine.
That machine happens to love predictability. Your body is most efficient when there’s a routine to follow. So if you hit the hay the same time each night and awake the same time each morning, your body locks that behavior in. And that’s where things get sciency.
The Other Assassination | The Weekly Standard
The Other Assassination | The Weekly Standard: Kennedy supported the alliance with Diem because he saw no popular alternative. Vice President Lyndon Johnson, though reluctant to join the debate, was also in this camp. Diem had been something of a hero to the nationalist cause in South Vietnam because of his role in opposing the French and establishing an independent national government. Though corrupt and authoritarian in his methods and a Catholic in a country with a majority Buddhist population, Diem had standing that no other potential leader could claim. For this reason, Kennedy was reluctant to throw him over for an untested alternative.
Hear What Happened At Boston's Symphony Hall After JFK's Assassination : Deceptive Cadence : NPR
Hear What Happened At Boston's Symphony Hall After JFK's Assassination : Deceptive Cadence : NPR: But what is most remarkable to me as as listener, hearing the Boston broadcast from Symphony Hall on that Friday afternoon, is the sense of how those people in that time and place — performer and audience member alike — process this shocking event collectively, in a way that is totally unimaginable to us 50 years later, as we learn each minute's news within the weirdly solitary glow of our screens. First, we hear the gasps and shushes after BSO music director Erich Leinsdorf utters the words: "The president of the United States has been the victim of an assassination." Second, a wave of groans and sighs after Leinsdorf continues, "We will play the funeral march from 's Third Symphony" — as if the crowd's shared response is that they couldn't possibly have heard the first part right, but that then the orchestra's change in repertoire confirms the awful, unimaginable truth. And then, for the next 14 minutes ... utter silence, save for the incomparably somber music.
Sex in the Senate - Todd S. Purdum - POLITICO Magazine
Sex in the Senate - Todd S. Purdum - POLITICO Magazine: Russell was the most revered—and feared—senator of his day. But his staunch segregationist views and implacable opposition to civil rights legislation made him anathema to the national Democratic Party…
“Being from Georgia and being much more conservative than the Democratic Party, there was no chance that he would take any position. Had he conceded that the South lost the Civil War, and after the Brown v. Board of Education had he stated that our customs in the South are totally different, but if you’ll go with me, we’ll start in kindergarten and we’ll integrate, he would have been president. He actually could have been president and he wanted to be president. But civil rights killed him, and that’s all he knew, Rule 22 [the filibuster rule.]”
“Being from Georgia and being much more conservative than the Democratic Party, there was no chance that he would take any position. Had he conceded that the South lost the Civil War, and after the Brown v. Board of Education had he stated that our customs in the South are totally different, but if you’ll go with me, we’ll start in kindergarten and we’ll integrate, he would have been president. He actually could have been president and he wanted to be president. But civil rights killed him, and that’s all he knew, Rule 22 [the filibuster rule.]”
Why Harry Reid Went Nuclear - Molly Ball - The Atlantic
Why Harry Reid Went Nuclear - Molly Ball - The Atlantic: .
Why did Reid pull the trigger? He was tired of making deals with McConnell, only to see their spirit violated by yet more obstruction, allies say. The two reached an informal agreement in January that was supposed to lead to fewer filibuster threats, and another deal in July that paved the way for several executive-branch nominations, including Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Thomas Perez to head the Department of Labor. But none of these bargains affected the overall trend of blockage, and Reid finally had enough.
Why did Reid pull the trigger? He was tired of making deals with McConnell, only to see their spirit violated by yet more obstruction, allies say. The two reached an informal agreement in January that was supposed to lead to fewer filibuster threats, and another deal in July that paved the way for several executive-branch nominations, including Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Thomas Perez to head the Department of Labor. But none of these bargains affected the overall trend of blockage, and Reid finally had enough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)