An excerpt from the New Yorker -
THE VOICES IN OUR HEADS
Why do people talk to themselves, and when does it become a problem?
By Jerome Groopman
I often have discussions with myself—tilting my head, raising my eyebrows, pursing my lips—and not only about my work. I converse with friends and family members, tell myself jokes, replay dialogue from the past. I’ve never considered why I talk to myself, and I’ve never mentioned it to anyone, except Pam. She very rarely has inner conversations; the one instance is when she reminds herself to do something, like change her e-mail password. She deliberately translates the thought into an external command, saying out loud, “Remember, change your password today.”
Verbal rehearsal of material—the shopping list you recite as you walk the aisles of a supermarket—is part of our working memory system. But for some of us talking to ourselves goes much further: it’s an essential part of the way we think. Others experience auditory hallucinations, verbal promptings from voices that are not theirs but those of loved ones, long-departed mentors, unidentified influencers, their conscience, or even God.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/09/the-voices-in-our-heads
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
A Deep Dive Into Football Safety
An excerpt from the New Yorker -
CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE FOOTBALL SAFER?
A high school in Fort Lauderdale is using everything from state-of-the-art helmets to robots to prevent head injuries.
By Nicholas Schmidle
But Kivon went to St. Thomas primarily to play football. The school has produced more pro players than any other high school in the country. By the time Kivon enrolled, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders had won eight state championships and two national titles. Moreover, the school had embarked on a potentially radical experiment. The head football coach, Roger Harriott, had been instituting changes to make the game safer. He limited practices to ninety minutes, and got the school to acquire a pair of motorized human-size robots, wrapped in foam, which players could tackle, saving their teammates from unnecessary hits. Harriott hoped to put St. Thomas at the vanguard of football safety while remaining champions.
“Football is just a vehicle to make these kids better young men,” Harriott said. One day this fall, he told his team, “Ultimately, it’s for you to become a champion in life—a champion husband, a champion father, community leader, colleague.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/09/can-technology-make-football-safer
CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE FOOTBALL SAFER?
A high school in Fort Lauderdale is using everything from state-of-the-art helmets to robots to prevent head injuries.
By Nicholas Schmidle
But Kivon went to St. Thomas primarily to play football. The school has produced more pro players than any other high school in the country. By the time Kivon enrolled, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders had won eight state championships and two national titles. Moreover, the school had embarked on a potentially radical experiment. The head football coach, Roger Harriott, had been instituting changes to make the game safer. He limited practices to ninety minutes, and got the school to acquire a pair of motorized human-size robots, wrapped in foam, which players could tackle, saving their teammates from unnecessary hits. Harriott hoped to put St. Thomas at the vanguard of football safety while remaining champions.
“Football is just a vehicle to make these kids better young men,” Harriott said. One day this fall, he told his team, “Ultimately, it’s for you to become a champion in life—a champion husband, a champion father, community leader, colleague.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/09/can-technology-make-football-safer
HitchBot, the Hitchhiking Robot
From the Washington Post -
HitchBot, the robot that had hitchhiked its way across Germany, the Netherlands and across Canada without incident, survived just over two weeks and 300 miles in the United States after being vandalized beyond repair and abandoned on a street in Philadelphia. (hitchBOT)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-a-beer-cooler-rolls-up-to-your-doorstep-the-future-has-arrived/2016/12/30/c1e6ad38-cc67-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html?utm_term=.f54193fe85da&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
HitchBot, the robot that had hitchhiked its way across Germany, the Netherlands and across Canada without incident, survived just over two weeks and 300 miles in the United States after being vandalized beyond repair and abandoned on a street in Philadelphia. (hitchBOT)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/when-a-beer-cooler-rolls-up-to-your-doorstep-the-future-has-arrived/2016/12/30/c1e6ad38-cc67-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html?utm_term=.f54193fe85da&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Determined to Succeed
From the Los Angeles Times -
My father came here illegally. But in many ways he was a red-blooded American
By Hector Becerra
My father was like so many immigrants of his generation from Mexico: Coming north, without proper papers, looking for work and a better life for their families. Over the years, my father and people like him were demonized by those who felt they were ruining California and praised by others who believed their work ethic and labor were a boon to the state.
During the tough times, it was easy to feel like an outsider, alienated for not being American. That wasn’t quite my dad.
He had a sixth-grade education, thanks to a Mexico whose stamina for relentlessly poor governance and knack for driving out its citizens was impressive. So he carved out his own learning, going to night school in L.A. to get his high school degree soon after his arrival.
My father read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Steinbeck and Melville from our childhood porch in Boyle Heights. In spiral notebooks he composed verses to Mexican songs about his hometown in Jalisco state, like the one he first penned as a teenager, just a few years after his father died when he was 12 — and just a few years before he crossed into the U.S. in the trunk of a car.
By 1980, he had become a legal resident, and no longer had to worry about being caught in a work raid.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-my-father-20161229-htmlstory.html
My father came here illegally. But in many ways he was a red-blooded American
By Hector Becerra
My father was like so many immigrants of his generation from Mexico: Coming north, without proper papers, looking for work and a better life for their families. Over the years, my father and people like him were demonized by those who felt they were ruining California and praised by others who believed their work ethic and labor were a boon to the state.
During the tough times, it was easy to feel like an outsider, alienated for not being American. That wasn’t quite my dad.
He had a sixth-grade education, thanks to a Mexico whose stamina for relentlessly poor governance and knack for driving out its citizens was impressive. So he carved out his own learning, going to night school in L.A. to get his high school degree soon after his arrival.
My father read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Steinbeck and Melville from our childhood porch in Boyle Heights. In spiral notebooks he composed verses to Mexican songs about his hometown in Jalisco state, like the one he first penned as a teenager, just a few years after his father died when he was 12 — and just a few years before he crossed into the U.S. in the trunk of a car.
By 1980, he had become a legal resident, and no longer had to worry about being caught in a work raid.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-my-father-20161229-htmlstory.html
Monday, January 2, 2017
In Spite of
An excerpt from the New Yorker - (Bold is mine)
STARMAN
Neil deGrasse Tyson, the new guide to the “Cosmos.”
By Rebecca Mead
Tyson attended public schools, and was not a distinguished student. He was social, and teachers criticized him for being inattentive. When speaking to other educators, he stresses the importance of reaching not just the A students, who are already likely to succeed, but the B students, who might succeed if they were more deeply engaged by their teachers. He is on the board of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, which seeks to offer such encouragement to students in public schools. Calvin Sims, a former chairman of the fund, says, “To have someone in Neil’s position talking about these great ideas, and to do it in a humorous and animated way—and to have someone who looks like them do that—I think means the world.” Not long ago, Tyson’s elementary school, P.S. 81, invited him to give a commencement address; he declined. He recalls telling the administrators, “I am where I am not because of what happened in school but in spite of it, and that is probably not what you want me to say. Call me back, and I will address your teachers and give them a piece of my mind.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/starman
STARMAN
Neil deGrasse Tyson, the new guide to the “Cosmos.”
By Rebecca Mead
Tyson attended public schools, and was not a distinguished student. He was social, and teachers criticized him for being inattentive. When speaking to other educators, he stresses the importance of reaching not just the A students, who are already likely to succeed, but the B students, who might succeed if they were more deeply engaged by their teachers. He is on the board of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, which seeks to offer such encouragement to students in public schools. Calvin Sims, a former chairman of the fund, says, “To have someone in Neil’s position talking about these great ideas, and to do it in a humorous and animated way—and to have someone who looks like them do that—I think means the world.” Not long ago, Tyson’s elementary school, P.S. 81, invited him to give a commencement address; he declined. He recalls telling the administrators, “I am where I am not because of what happened in school but in spite of it, and that is probably not what you want me to say. Call me back, and I will address your teachers and give them a piece of my mind.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/starman
A Better Name?
From the Los Angeles Times -
Hollywood sign altered to read 'Hollyweed'
By Laura Nelson
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-hollywood-sign-hollyweed-20170101-htmlstory.html
Hollywood sign altered to read 'Hollyweed'
By Laura Nelson
 |
| Los Angeles residents awoke New Year's Day to find a prankster had altered the famed Hollywood sign to read "HOLLYWeeD." (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) |
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-hollywood-sign-hollyweed-20170101-htmlstory.html
Check Out the Prizes . . . Geez Louise!
From the Huffington Post -
Top 10 Gadgets of the Last 50 Years
By Stewart Wolpin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stewart-wolpin/top-10-gadgets-of-the-las_b_13924614.html?ir=Technology&utm_hp_ref=technology
Top 10 Gadgets of the Last 50 Years
By Stewart Wolpin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stewart-wolpin/top-10-gadgets-of-the-las_b_13924614.html?ir=Technology&utm_hp_ref=technology
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Humanitarian of the year is building futures
Apologies if this is a repeat. Worth another look even if it is.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Ingenuity on Display
An excerpt from the New Yorker -
MY PRISON CELL: LEARNING TO HEAR ON A CARDBOARD PIANO
By Demetrius Cunningham
On my bottom bunk bed, I sat in deep thought. I had an unusual problem. The prison choir that I sang in needed a piano player, and they needed one quickly. I thought to myself, How could I teach myself to play? I had no prior experience with the piano, but I can still remember running down the hallways of my grandmother’s house as a boy. Every time I ran past her old upright piano, I would slam all the keys at the same time. Sometimes in the mornings before school, as I listened to cassette tapes of my favorite R. & B. and gospel songs by Mary J. Blige and John P. Kee, I imagined myself playing the piano. I sang in the church choir from the age of seven on. In the sixth grade, I learned to play the xylophone. I had an uncle who played piano professionally at Las Vegas casinos and on cruise ships. When he came to visit, I sat in awe as he played our upright. Music has been my constant companion. It’s like my DNA has tiny quarter notes infused into it.
One day while I was watching TV in my cell, I flipped past a show on BET that highlighted famous musicians, including the gospel singer Andrae Crouch, who described his first piano. It was made out of cardboard. I had an idea that was literally out of the box.
The first moment I could, I searched for a cardboard box. I wandered by cells, examining the garbage. I rummaged through every trash bag I could find. I soon realized that it was tissue day. Every Tuesday, the institution hands out hundreds of rolls of tissue, one roll per inmate. I knew that there would be plenty of cardboard boxes around. I found a large empty box abandoned at the end of the gallery. I tore off the top flaps and quickly went back to my cell.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/my-cell-learning-to-hear-on-a-cardboard-piano
MY PRISON CELL: LEARNING TO HEAR ON A CARDBOARD PIANO
By Demetrius Cunningham
On my bottom bunk bed, I sat in deep thought. I had an unusual problem. The prison choir that I sang in needed a piano player, and they needed one quickly. I thought to myself, How could I teach myself to play? I had no prior experience with the piano, but I can still remember running down the hallways of my grandmother’s house as a boy. Every time I ran past her old upright piano, I would slam all the keys at the same time. Sometimes in the mornings before school, as I listened to cassette tapes of my favorite R. & B. and gospel songs by Mary J. Blige and John P. Kee, I imagined myself playing the piano. I sang in the church choir from the age of seven on. In the sixth grade, I learned to play the xylophone. I had an uncle who played piano professionally at Las Vegas casinos and on cruise ships. When he came to visit, I sat in awe as he played our upright. Music has been my constant companion. It’s like my DNA has tiny quarter notes infused into it.
One day while I was watching TV in my cell, I flipped past a show on BET that highlighted famous musicians, including the gospel singer Andrae Crouch, who described his first piano. It was made out of cardboard. I had an idea that was literally out of the box.
The first moment I could, I searched for a cardboard box. I wandered by cells, examining the garbage. I rummaged through every trash bag I could find. I soon realized that it was tissue day. Every Tuesday, the institution hands out hundreds of rolls of tissue, one roll per inmate. I knew that there would be plenty of cardboard boxes around. I found a large empty box abandoned at the end of the gallery. I tore off the top flaps and quickly went back to my cell.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/my-cell-learning-to-hear-on-a-cardboard-piano
2016 in Pictures
From the Washington Post -
Here are the best photos of 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/here-are-the-best-photos-of-2016/2016/12/22/b8bf6cd4-c13d-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_gallery.html?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-b-2%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.4a87616515cc
Here are the best photos of 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/here-are-the-best-photos-of-2016/2016/12/22/b8bf6cd4-c13d-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_gallery.html?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-b-2%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.4a87616515cc
The Irony of It All
An excerpt from the Mercury News -
Bay Area stalled in a wireless traffic jam
By LOUIS HANSEN
Silicon Valley, capital of high-tech and hub of innovation, is stalled in a wireless traffic jam of its own making. Increasing demand for data — driven by the products made by Bay Area tech companies – and lagging infrastructure coupled with intense local politics have helped create the dropped calls, frozen videos and blank web pages on our screens.
Industry analytics company RootMetrics ranks San Jose at 49 and San Francisco at 58 out of 125 metropolitan areas in quality of mobile network service. That puts the Bay Area ahead of Santa Rosa (122) but lagging far behind Modesto and Sacramento (7 and 8).
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/30/bay-area-stalled-in-a-wireless-traffic-jam/
Bay Area stalled in a wireless traffic jam
By LOUIS HANSEN
Silicon Valley, capital of high-tech and hub of innovation, is stalled in a wireless traffic jam of its own making. Increasing demand for data — driven by the products made by Bay Area tech companies – and lagging infrastructure coupled with intense local politics have helped create the dropped calls, frozen videos and blank web pages on our screens.
Industry analytics company RootMetrics ranks San Jose at 49 and San Francisco at 58 out of 125 metropolitan areas in quality of mobile network service. That puts the Bay Area ahead of Santa Rosa (122) but lagging far behind Modesto and Sacramento (7 and 8).
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/30/bay-area-stalled-in-a-wireless-traffic-jam/
Friday, December 30, 2016
Camel Beauty Contest Crowns a Winner
From the National -
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/winners-of-camel-beauty-contest-at-al-dhafra-festival-crowned#5
 |
| The winners of this year’s camel beauty contest at the Al Dhafra Festival in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi have been crowned. Wam |
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/winners-of-camel-beauty-contest-at-al-dhafra-festival-crowned#5
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