January 22, 2015

Sigh. One less reason to watch PBS.........

http://vimeo.com/116010119


Bill Moyers's Final Sign-Off From Public Television

January 22, 2015

Bill Belichick just said he was "shocked" to find out about the deflated footballs .......

January 22, 2015

Why the modern world is bad for your brain

Why the modern world is bad for your brain
In an era of email, text messages, Facebook and Twitter, we’re all required to do several things at once. But this constant multitasking is taking its toll. Here neuroscientist Daniel J Levitin explains how our addiction to technology is making us less efficient


(Guardian UK) Our brains are busier than ever before. We’re assaulted with facts, pseudo facts, jibber-jabber, and rumour, all posing as information. Trying to figure out what you need to know and what you can ignore is exhausting. At the same time, we are all doing more. Thirty years ago, travel agents made our airline and rail reservations, salespeople helped us find what we were looking for in shops, and professional typists or secretaries helped busy people with their correspondence. Now we do most of those things ourselves. We are doing the jobs of 10 different people while still trying to keep up with our lives, our children and parents, our friends, our careers, our hobbies, and our favourite TV shows.

Our smartphones have become Swiss army knife–like appliances that include a dictionary, calculator, web browser, email, Game Boy, appointment calendar, voice recorder, guitar tuner, weather forecaster, GPS, texter, tweeter, Facebook updater, and flashlight. They’re more powerful and do more things than the most advanced computer at IBM corporate headquarters 30 years ago. And we use them all the time, part of a 21st-century mania for cramming everything we do into every single spare moment of downtime. We text while we’re walking across the street, catch up on email while standing in a queue – and while having lunch with friends, we surreptitiously check to see what our other friends are doing. At the kitchen counter, cosy and secure in our domicile, we write our shopping lists on smartphones while we are listening to that wonderfully informative podcast on urban beekeeping.

But there’s a fly in the ointment. Although we think we’re doing several things at once, multitasking, this is a powerful and diabolical illusion. Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at MIT and one of the world experts on divided attention, says that our brains are “not wired to multitask well… When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost in doing so.” So we’re not actually keeping a lot of balls in the air like an expert juggler; we’re more like a bad amateur plate spinner, frantically switching from one task to another, ignoring the one that is not right in front of us but worried it will come crashing down any minute. Even though we think we’re getting a lot done, ironically, multitasking makes us demonstrably less efficient.

Multitasking has been found to increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline, which can overstimulate your brain and cause mental fog or scrambled thinking. Multitasking creates a dopamine-addiction feedback loop, effectively rewarding the brain for losing focus and for constantly searching for external stimulation. To make matters worse, the prefrontal cortex has a novelty bias, meaning that its attention can be easily hijacked by something new – the proverbial shiny objects we use to entice infants, puppies, and kittens. The irony here for those of us who are trying to focus amid competing activities is clear: the very brain region we need to rely on for staying on task is easily distracted. We answer the phone, look up something on the internet, check our email, send an SMS, and each of these things tweaks the novelty- seeking, reward-seeking centres of the brain, causing a burst of endogenous opioids (no wonder it feels so good!), all to the detriment of our staying on task. It is the ultimate empty-caloried brain candy. Instead of reaping the big rewards that come from sustained, focused effort, we instead reap empty rewards from completing a thousand little sugar-coated tasks. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/18/modern-world-bad-for-brain-daniel-j-levitin-organized-mind-information-overload?CMP=fb_us

January 22, 2015

State of the Union: Bright Ideas, Dim Future

from truthdig:


State of the Union: Bright Ideas, Dim Future

Posted on Jan 20, 2015
By Bill Boyarsky


In his State of the Union speech Tuesday evening, President Barack Obama said “we turn the page.” But he didn’t say how we are supposed to proceed to the next page or the ones following it.

You can’t fault his ideas: The capital gains tax benefiting the rich should be trimmed, and the wealthy should be denied a chance to squirrel away all their gains for their heirs. He said: “... let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top 1 percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth. We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college.”

But the Democratic Party and the president as its leader lost at the polls last November. The Republicans now control both houses of Congress as well as a majority of state governments. They favor reducing taxes for the rich. They want to get rid of Obamacare. Their state legislators are working feverishly to restrict and practically eliminate abortion. They want to weaken Social Security.

.......(snip).......

It’s easy to be cynical about a speech like this. I certainly was cynical when I heard Obama say, “As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties,” after having seen him conduct fierce warfare against the news media. And it was hard to take him seriously when he said “our intelligence agencies have worked hard, with the recommendations of privacy advocates, to increase transparency and build more safeguards against potential abuse.”

But there was good in this speech. I liked the way he didn’t back down in the face of anti-immigration Republicans, pointing out: “surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student and agree that no one benefits when a hard-working mom is taken from her child.” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/state_of_the_union_bright_ideas_dim_future_20150120

January 21, 2015

Cuomo to Call for an AirTrain to LaGuardia

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has unveiled his plans to modernize New York's infrastructure and transportation system.

In a speech Tuesday before the business group Association for a Better New York in Manhattan, Cuomo offered a preview of his annual State of the State address scheduled for Wednesday.

The biggest proposal was a rail link to LaGuardia Airport in Queens.

.....(snip).....

Cuomo proposed building an AirTrain link like the one that serves John F. Kennedy Airport.

The new 1.5-mile rail line would run along Grand Central Parkway, and connect the airport to the current Willets Point station that serves Long Island Rail Road commuters and the No. 7 subway line. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.wnyc.org/story/cuomo-outlines-transportation-and-infrastructure-plan/

January 21, 2015

Toronto Mayor John Tory’s welcome reverse on transit exposes his flank

(Toronto Star) TTC boss Andy Byford says Monday was “an historic day for the TTC.” And he’s not the only one ecstatic over Mayor John Tory’s bold and unexpected transit announcement at a public school in the city’s west end.

Students at Joyce Public School were heard chanting “John Tory, John Tory” as they moved from the main building to a portable, even as Tory held a news conference in the school’s parking lot.

They may be kids, but they know a good thing. Tory had just told them that starting March 1 all Toronto kids aged 12 and under will ride transit free. The TTC bus in the parking lot flashed the sign, KIDS RIDE FREE. And the future voters greeted the news with glee.

.....(snip).....

* Add two subway trains to morning and afternoon rush-hour service on the Yonge-University and the Bloor-Danforth lines. This is in addition to a similar boost last fall.

* Expand (to 34 from 22) the network of routes that provide overnight service for four million riders.

* Increase the express bus network, adding four new routes to a network serving 34 million rides a year. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/01/19/john-torys-welcome-reverse-on-transit-exposes-his-flank-james.html

January 19, 2015

Your Home Is Your Prison: How to Lock Down Your Neighborhood, Your Country, and You

from TomDispatch:


Your Home Is Your Prison
How to Lock Down Your Neighborhood, Your Country, and You

By Maya Schenwar


On January 27th, domestic violence survivor Marissa Alexander will walk out of Florida's Duval County jail -- but she won't be free.

Alexander, whose case has gained some notoriety, endured three years of jail time and a year of house arrest while fighting off a prison sentence that would have seen her incarcerated for the rest of her life -- all for firing a warning shot that injured no one to fend off her abusive husband. Like many black women before her, Alexander was framed as a perpetrator in a clear case of self-defense. In November, as her trial date drew close, Alexander accepted a plea deal that will likely give her credit for time served, requiring her to spend "just" 65 more days in jail. Media coverage of the development suggested that Alexander would soon have her "freedom," that she would be "coming home."

Many accounts of the plea deal, however, missed what Alexander will be coming home to: she'll return to "home detention" -- house arrest -- for two years.

In other words, an electronic monitor, secured around her ankle at all times, will track her every movement. Alexander will also be paying $105 per week to the state in monitoring fees, as is the custom in Florida and more than a dozen other states.

Such a situation is certainly preferable to being caged in a prison cell. However, does Alexander's release -- and that of others in her shoes -- mean freedom? In reality, an ever-growing number of cages are proliferating around us, even if they assume forms that look nothing like our standard idea of a cage. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175944/tomgram%3A_maya_schenwar%2C_prison_by_any_other_name/#more

January 19, 2015

British Man Convicted After Having Sex With A Mailbox

A man in Wigan, England, has been stamped as a sex offender after being found guilty of having sex with a mailbox.

Paul Bennett, 45, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of indecent exposure and using threatening and abusive words with abusive behavior, the Mirror reports.

The plea stemmed from a Sept. 9 incident where he attempted to have sex with a mailbox in a public area.

Witnesses told the court they saw Bennett pull down his pants in a shopping arcade and start to publicly perform a sexual act on himself in public. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/16/paul-bennett-sex-postbox_n_6487290.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

January 19, 2015

Real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero?

from the Guardian UK:


The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero?
Lindy West

Clint Eastwood’s film about Navy Seal Chris Kyle has hit a raw nerve in America, with right wingers calling for the rape or death of anyone ungrateful enough to criticise his actions

I have to confess: I was suckered by the trailer for American Sniper. It’s a masterpiece of short-form tension – a confluence of sound and image so viscerally evocative it feels almost domineering. You cannot resist. You will be stressed out. You will feel. Or, as I believe I put it in a blog about the trailer, “Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper trailer will ruin your pants.”

But however effective it is as a piece of cinema, even a cursory look into the film’s backstory – and particularly the public reaction to its release – raises disturbing questions about which stories we choose to codify into truth, and whose, and why, and the messy social costs of transmogrifying real life into entertainment.

Chris Kyle, a US navy Seal from Texas, was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and claimed to have killed more than 255 people during his six-year military career. In his memoir, Kyle reportedly described killing as “fun”, something he “loved”; he was unwavering in his belief that everyone he shot was a “bad guy”. “I hate the damn savages,” he wrote. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Iraqis.” He bragged about murdering looters during Hurricane Katrina, though that was never substantiated.

.....(snip).....

Eastwood, on the other hand, Foundas says, “sees only shades of gray”, and American Sniper is a morally ambiguous, emotionally complex film. But there are a lot of Chris Kyles in the world, and the chasm between Eastwood’s intent and his audience’s reception touches on the old Chappelle’s Show conundrum: a lot of white people laughed at Dave Chappelle’s rapier racial satire for the wrong reasons, in ways that may have actually exacerbated stereotypes about black people in the minds of intellectual underachievers. Is that Chappelle’s fault? Should he care?

Likewise, much of the US right wing appears to have seized upon American Sniper with similarly shallow comprehension – treating it with the same unconsidered, rah-rah reverence that they would the national anthem or the flag itself. Only a few weeks into its release, the film has been flattened into a symbol to serve the interests of an ideology that, arguably, runs counter to the ethos of the film itself. How much, if at all, should Eastwood concern himself with fans who misunderstand and misuse his work? If he, intentionally or not, makes a hero out of Kyle – who, bare minimum, was a racist who took pleasure in dehumanising and killing brown people – is he responsible for validating racism, murder, and dehumanisation? Is he a propagandist if people use his work as propaganda? .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle

January 19, 2015

Paris is a warning: there is no insulation from our wars

from the Guardian UK:



Paris is a warning: there is no insulation from our wars
Seumas Milne

The attacks in France are a blowback from intervention in the Arab and Muslim world. What happens there happens here too

The official response to every jihadist-inspired terrorist attack in the west since 2001 has been to pour petrol on the flames. That was true after 9/11 when George Bush launched his war on terror, laying waste to countries and spreading terror on a global scale. It was true in Britain after the 2005 London bombings, when Tony Blair ripped up civil liberties and sent thousands of British troops on a disastrous mission to Afghanistan. And it’s been true in the aftermath of last week’s horrific killings at Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

In an echo of Bush’s rhetoric, the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy declared a “war of civilisations” in response to attacks on “our freedoms”. Instead of simply standing with the victims – and, say, the vastly larger numbers killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria – the satirical magazine and its depictions of the prophet Muhammad have been elevated into a sacred principle of western liberty. The production on Wednesday of a state-sponsored edition of Charlie Hebdo became the latest test of a “with us or against us” commitment to “our values”, as French MPs voted by 488 votes to one to press on with the military campaign in Iraq. To judge by the record of the past 13 years, it will prove a poisonous combination, and not just for France.

Nothing remotely justifies the murderous assault on Charlie Hebdo’s journalists, still less on the Jewish victims singled out only for their religious and ethnic identity. What has become brutally obvious in the past week, however, is the gulf that separates the official view of French state policy at home and abroad and how it is seen by many of the country’s Muslim citizens. That’s true in Britain too, of course. But what is hailed by white France as a colour-blind secularism that ensures equality for all is experienced by many Muslims as discrimination and denial of basic liberties.

In a country where women are bundled into police vans because of the way they dress, freedom of speech can also look like a one-way street. Charlie Hebdo claims to be an “equal opportunities offender”, abusing all religions alike. The reality, as one of its former journalists put it, has been an “Islamophobic neurosis” that focused its racialised baiting on the most marginalised section of the population. This wasn’t just “depictions” of the prophet, but repeated pornographic humiliation. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/15/paris-warning-no-insulation-wars-arab-muslim-world