From OZY -
THE BIOENGINEER TRYING TO PREDICT AND PREVENT CONCUSSIONS
By Melissa Pandika
The good news: Advances in brain imaging and other technology have yielded a slew of metrics for measuring head impacts. The Holy Grail is to translate these data into biomarkers for diagnosing and preventing concussions, says Gerald Grant, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Stanford. To that end, researchers are racing to develop sensor systems that measure the forces the head sustains during an impact — with Camarillo among those in the lead. “He’s definitely a rising star,” Smith says. “Something like his mouth guard sensor will have really, really broad applications.”
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-bioengineer-trying-to-predict-and-prevent-concussions/76239
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Athletes & Politics
From the New Yorker -
THE POLITICAL ATHLETE: THEN AND NOW
By Hua Hsu
In January, Haymarket Books published “Long Shot,” the autobiography of the former N.B.A. player and “freedom fighter” Craig Hodges. Hodges was one of the finest three-point shooters of his era, playing in the N.B.A. for ten years and winning two titles with the Chicago Bulls. He was also one of the most politically outspoken players the league’s ever seen, a locker-room agitator, proselytizing to teammates and staff on behalf of grassroots political movements. And, at a time when off-court grievances were rarely aired in public, Hodges was unrelenting in his criticisms of millionaire athletes who didn’t give back to their communities. “How much money did we make here last night?” he wondered aloud to a reporter during the 1992 N.B.A. Finals. “How many lives will it change?” He went on to accuse his teammate, Michael Jordan, of “bailing out” when the superstar was asked his thoughts on the recent Los Angeles riots.
~~~~~~~~~~
Athletes have always been political. But until recently they rarely possessed the means to explain themselves. Where Hodges’s generation worked hard to ingratiate themselves with the American mainstream, today’s athletes possess a relative freedom when it comes to speaking their minds, taking risky political stands, or acting with a kind of blunt directness. It’s what makes today’s players seem so different: their capacity to share more in a late-night Instagram post than a decade of carefully stage-managed, Nike-approved Jordan documentaries. Maybe the difference between then and now is just an instinctive awareness that everything is political. The game resists our desire for it to be an escape from the rest of life, where the rules can seem arbitrary and unpredictable, and there can be one winner to every ninety-nine who have lost.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-political-athlete-then-and-now
THE POLITICAL ATHLETE: THEN AND NOW
By Hua Hsu
In January, Haymarket Books published “Long Shot,” the autobiography of the former N.B.A. player and “freedom fighter” Craig Hodges. Hodges was one of the finest three-point shooters of his era, playing in the N.B.A. for ten years and winning two titles with the Chicago Bulls. He was also one of the most politically outspoken players the league’s ever seen, a locker-room agitator, proselytizing to teammates and staff on behalf of grassroots political movements. And, at a time when off-court grievances were rarely aired in public, Hodges was unrelenting in his criticisms of millionaire athletes who didn’t give back to their communities. “How much money did we make here last night?” he wondered aloud to a reporter during the 1992 N.B.A. Finals. “How many lives will it change?” He went on to accuse his teammate, Michael Jordan, of “bailing out” when the superstar was asked his thoughts on the recent Los Angeles riots.
~~~~~~~~~~
Athletes have always been political. But until recently they rarely possessed the means to explain themselves. Where Hodges’s generation worked hard to ingratiate themselves with the American mainstream, today’s athletes possess a relative freedom when it comes to speaking their minds, taking risky political stands, or acting with a kind of blunt directness. It’s what makes today’s players seem so different: their capacity to share more in a late-night Instagram post than a decade of carefully stage-managed, Nike-approved Jordan documentaries. Maybe the difference between then and now is just an instinctive awareness that everything is political. The game resists our desire for it to be an escape from the rest of life, where the rules can seem arbitrary and unpredictable, and there can be one winner to every ninety-nine who have lost.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-political-athlete-then-and-now
Football Player, Rhodes Scholar, Neurosurgeon
From the Washington Post -
Myron Rolle had two dreams: play football and become a doctor. He’s almost there.
By Rick Maese
Rolle, 30, was the only prospective neurosurgeon in Florida State’s graduating class — and also the only former NFL player and the only Rhodes Scholar.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/with-neurosurgery-every-day-feels-like-a-football-game-for-myron-rolle/2017/03/21/40c4e1cc-0da1-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.16066a317d35
Myron Rolle had two dreams: play football and become a doctor. He’s almost there.
By Rick Maese
 |
| Myron Rolle opens his "Match Day" letter that shows where he will continue his medical education and residency. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post) |
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/with-neurosurgery-every-day-feels-like-a-football-game-for-myron-rolle/2017/03/21/40c4e1cc-0da1-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.16066a317d35
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Grounds to Sue
From the New Yorker -
HOW THE FIRST AMENDMENT APPLIES TO TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY
By Lincoln Caplan
While it is unlikely that former President Barack Obama would sue Trump for libel, he very likely has a strong case. The First Amendment scholar Geoffrey Stone wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that “there seems no doubt that Trump’s statement was false, defamatory, and at the very least made with reckless disregard for the truth.” That is the test for damaging the reputation of a public figure or official: Trump either made his assertions with knowledge of their falsity or with disregard of a high degree of probability that they were false. Obama, Stone is confident, could prove that Trump made his false charge, as the Supreme Court defined the standard, with “actual malice.”
But his charge of McCarthyism against Obama points in a different direction. In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was censured by the Senate, 67–22, for bringing it “into dishonor and disrepute” and obstructing the constitutional process. The scale of the damage that McCarthy did during his four-year witch hunt for communists in the federal government dwarfs what Trump has done so far, in less than two months in office. The nature of what Trump did, however, by accusing his predecessor of an illegal act without providing any support for the charge, amounts to the same offense that the Senate condemned McCarthy for: abuse of power.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-first-amendment-applies-to-trumps-presidency
HOW THE FIRST AMENDMENT APPLIES TO TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY
By Lincoln Caplan
While it is unlikely that former President Barack Obama would sue Trump for libel, he very likely has a strong case. The First Amendment scholar Geoffrey Stone wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that “there seems no doubt that Trump’s statement was false, defamatory, and at the very least made with reckless disregard for the truth.” That is the test for damaging the reputation of a public figure or official: Trump either made his assertions with knowledge of their falsity or with disregard of a high degree of probability that they were false. Obama, Stone is confident, could prove that Trump made his false charge, as the Supreme Court defined the standard, with “actual malice.”
But his charge of McCarthyism against Obama points in a different direction. In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was censured by the Senate, 67–22, for bringing it “into dishonor and disrepute” and obstructing the constitutional process. The scale of the damage that McCarthy did during his four-year witch hunt for communists in the federal government dwarfs what Trump has done so far, in less than two months in office. The nature of what Trump did, however, by accusing his predecessor of an illegal act without providing any support for the charge, amounts to the same offense that the Senate condemned McCarthy for: abuse of power.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-first-amendment-applies-to-trumps-presidency
Electronic Devices Ban
From the National.ae -
ABU DHABI // Businessmen, parents and frequent travellers from the UAE to the US spoke of their frustration about travelling on long-haul flights without their electronic devices.
~~~~~~~~~~
A Jordanian businessman said he cancelled his US travel plans after the ban was announced.
"This issue is very annoying for me because I am a businessman and when I travel the trip could last for about 16 hours. I use my laptop on board the flight to finish my work or contact my clients through Skype," said Amjad Mohammed, 28.
"It is pointless. I do not know what is the significance of this ban. On the contrary, it stimulates stealing the luggage of passengers.
"If they will feel that I am a danger to them, I do not want to go there and do not need it because I will be humiliated by this approach."
Parents will also have to look at alternative ways to keep young children occupied throughout the flight, travellers said.
Canadian Samarra Abu Samra, 30, a ballet studio director, is flying to the US with her children on Sunday, a day after the ban is due to come into force. She has four-month-old twins, a four-year-old and an eight-year-old.
"I need to start prepping my children for 16 hours of colouring book sessions," she said.
"My kids are allowed to use their iPads on vacation only and on the flights. I have no other option to keep them occupied for the entire flight next week and, unfortunately, it is a day flight so they will not sleep either."
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/frequent-flyers-to-us-frustrated-by-electronics-ban
ABU DHABI // Businessmen, parents and frequent travellers from the UAE to the US spoke of their frustration about travelling on long-haul flights without their electronic devices.
~~~~~~~~~~
A Jordanian businessman said he cancelled his US travel plans after the ban was announced.
"This issue is very annoying for me because I am a businessman and when I travel the trip could last for about 16 hours. I use my laptop on board the flight to finish my work or contact my clients through Skype," said Amjad Mohammed, 28.
"It is pointless. I do not know what is the significance of this ban. On the contrary, it stimulates stealing the luggage of passengers.
"If they will feel that I am a danger to them, I do not want to go there and do not need it because I will be humiliated by this approach."
Parents will also have to look at alternative ways to keep young children occupied throughout the flight, travellers said.
Canadian Samarra Abu Samra, 30, a ballet studio director, is flying to the US with her children on Sunday, a day after the ban is due to come into force. She has four-month-old twins, a four-year-old and an eight-year-old.
"I need to start prepping my children for 16 hours of colouring book sessions," she said.
"My kids are allowed to use their iPads on vacation only and on the flights. I have no other option to keep them occupied for the entire flight next week and, unfortunately, it is a day flight so they will not sleep either."
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/frequent-flyers-to-us-frustrated-by-electronics-ban
Quote
From Slate -
“A giant middle finger”: The Trump administration’s new laptop ban—restricting large electronics on direct flights to the U.S. out of 10 countries on eight airlines—is more than just an inconvenience, Daniel Gross writes. It’s the latest in Trump’s “business class warfare,” and insults the very people you would think he would want to keep happy.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/03/21/trump_s_laptop_ban_is_a_giant_middle_finger_to_business_travelers.html?wpsrc=newsletter_tis&sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d
“A giant middle finger”: The Trump administration’s new laptop ban—restricting large electronics on direct flights to the U.S. out of 10 countries on eight airlines—is more than just an inconvenience, Daniel Gross writes. It’s the latest in Trump’s “business class warfare,” and insults the very people you would think he would want to keep happy.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/03/21/trump_s_laptop_ban_is_a_giant_middle_finger_to_business_travelers.html?wpsrc=newsletter_tis&sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d
Responding With His Money
From the Huffington Post -
While Trump Attacks Colin Kaepernick, The Quarterback Is Donating To Meals On Wheels
When the president goes low, Colin Kaepernick goes high.
By Maxwell Strachan
On Monday at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky, President Donald Trump took aim at NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who decided last season not to stand for the national anthem in protest of the mistreatment of people of color in the U.S.
“There was an article today … that NFL owners don’t want to pick [Kaepernick] up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump,” Trump said. “Do you believe that?”
He added, “I said, ‘If I remember that one, I’m gonna report it to the people of Kentucky because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.’”
Kaepernick responded Tuesday not with his mouth, but with his money. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier today that the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was donating $50,000 to Meals on Wheels America, which could face reduced federal funding if Trump’s budget were to be approved. (Worth noting: Meals on Wheels only gets a small percentage of its funding from the Community Development Block Grant and other federal programs that Trump has proposed cutting.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump_us_58d185f0e4b0ec9d29e022ed?gml7qghd7xwhwu3di&
While Trump Attacks Colin Kaepernick, The Quarterback Is Donating To Meals On Wheels
When the president goes low, Colin Kaepernick goes high.
By Maxwell Strachan
On Monday at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky, President Donald Trump took aim at NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who decided last season not to stand for the national anthem in protest of the mistreatment of people of color in the U.S.
“There was an article today … that NFL owners don’t want to pick [Kaepernick] up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump,” Trump said. “Do you believe that?”
He added, “I said, ‘If I remember that one, I’m gonna report it to the people of Kentucky because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.’”
Kaepernick responded Tuesday not with his mouth, but with his money. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier today that the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was donating $50,000 to Meals on Wheels America, which could face reduced federal funding if Trump’s budget were to be approved. (Worth noting: Meals on Wheels only gets a small percentage of its funding from the Community Development Block Grant and other federal programs that Trump has proposed cutting.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump_us_58d185f0e4b0ec9d29e022ed?gml7qghd7xwhwu3di&
Loving Your Brain
From the Good -
A Former Olympic Snowboarder On His Journey From Tragedy To Mindfulness
After a brain injury derailed his career, Kevin Pearce dedicated his life to teaching others to love their brain
by Sheila Mulrooney Eldred
In 2009, Kevin Pearce was considered to be one of the best snowboarders in the world. Then, while training to compete against rival Shaun White in the 2010 Olympics, Pearce collided with the half-pipe wall, shattering his left eye socket and causing bleeding to his brain. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury that almost killed him, and after a six-day coma and years of recovery, his competitive snowboarding career was over. The day of the accident, Pearce was riding with symptoms of a recent concussion; he wasn’t aware that training after a concussion amplifies the risk for the often-fatal Second Impact Syndrome. (He was wearing a helmet in each incident.) Now, Pearce and his brother, Adam, have founded the LoveYourBrain Foundation, a nonprofit which aims to educate people about brain injury and the healing powers of yoga and meditation.
“We’re hoping we can help athletes and young people see the long-term effects that TBI can have and help people understand how fragile our brains are,” Adam says. “The more we can show people what we have been through with this really difficult experience, we can help people make smart decisions to reduce their risks.”
https://sports.good.is/features/kevin-pearce-snowboard
A Former Olympic Snowboarder On His Journey From Tragedy To Mindfulness
After a brain injury derailed his career, Kevin Pearce dedicated his life to teaching others to love their brain
by Sheila Mulrooney Eldred
In 2009, Kevin Pearce was considered to be one of the best snowboarders in the world. Then, while training to compete against rival Shaun White in the 2010 Olympics, Pearce collided with the half-pipe wall, shattering his left eye socket and causing bleeding to his brain. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury that almost killed him, and after a six-day coma and years of recovery, his competitive snowboarding career was over. The day of the accident, Pearce was riding with symptoms of a recent concussion; he wasn’t aware that training after a concussion amplifies the risk for the often-fatal Second Impact Syndrome. (He was wearing a helmet in each incident.) Now, Pearce and his brother, Adam, have founded the LoveYourBrain Foundation, a nonprofit which aims to educate people about brain injury and the healing powers of yoga and meditation.
“We’re hoping we can help athletes and young people see the long-term effects that TBI can have and help people understand how fragile our brains are,” Adam says. “The more we can show people what we have been through with this really difficult experience, we can help people make smart decisions to reduce their risks.”
https://sports.good.is/features/kevin-pearce-snowboard
Dope Grannies
http://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/dope-grannies-can-cannabis-help-senior-citizens-survive/65957
She Escaped!
From BlackWebAmerica -
An Alabama woman is lucky to be alive – thanks to a Facebook video. A week ago, nursing student Brittany Diggs was forced into the trunk of her own car by a man demanding money. Diggs was terrified, until she remembered watching a Facebook video that explained how to get out of a car trunk via a latch newer cars have inside their trunks.
Essence.com reports:
Brittany Diggs appeared on the Today show Monday, describing the terrifying ordeal she experienced on Tuesday when a man approached her with a gun and demanded money while she was walking to her apartment in Birmingham.
https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/03/21/facebook-and-insulin-pump-help-abducted-woman-free-herself-from-car-trunk/
Nasty Tweets Lead to Donations
From Kotaku -
Game Developers Respond To Nasty Tweets By Donating Thousands To 'Girls Make Games'
By Jason Schreier
Over the weekend, Naughty Dog artist Alex Neonakis started getting nasty Twitter messages from GamerGaters and other internet cretins. Exasperated, she tweeted some screencaps, along with a message: “I just donated to @GirlsMakeGames in honor of these lovely boys. Thanks guys!” Other developers followed her lead.
By Tuesday, hundreds of game developers had donated thousands of dollars to Girls Make Games, an organization that provides workshops and summer camps to young women who are interested in developing video games. (Before you start asking “why isn’t there a ‘Boys Make Games’?”, consider that, by the ESA’s account, just 22% of game industry employees are women. That’s why.)
http://kotaku.com/game-developers-respond-to-nasty-tweets-by-donating-tho-1793483940
Game Developers Respond To Nasty Tweets By Donating Thousands To 'Girls Make Games'
By Jason Schreier
Over the weekend, Naughty Dog artist Alex Neonakis started getting nasty Twitter messages from GamerGaters and other internet cretins. Exasperated, she tweeted some screencaps, along with a message: “I just donated to @GirlsMakeGames in honor of these lovely boys. Thanks guys!” Other developers followed her lead.
By Tuesday, hundreds of game developers had donated thousands of dollars to Girls Make Games, an organization that provides workshops and summer camps to young women who are interested in developing video games. (Before you start asking “why isn’t there a ‘Boys Make Games’?”, consider that, by the ESA’s account, just 22% of game industry employees are women. That’s why.)
http://kotaku.com/game-developers-respond-to-nasty-tweets-by-donating-tho-1793483940
Unclaimed Property
From the NY Times California Today -
There is more than $8 billion just sitting in the unclaimed property fund run by California.
Some of it could be yours.
The state controller requires that banks, insurers and other companies turn over customers’ property after three years of account inactivity.
It comes in the form of stock dividends, tax refunds, wages — even the contents of safe deposit boxes.
The controller’s office says more than 32 million individuals and businesses in its database have unclaimed property. (I plugged in my name and found an old $20 bank balance.)
To find out if you’re owed money, it’s as easy a Google search. Give it a go here.
There is more than $8 billion just sitting in the unclaimed property fund run by California.
Some of it could be yours.
The state controller requires that banks, insurers and other companies turn over customers’ property after three years of account inactivity.
It comes in the form of stock dividends, tax refunds, wages — even the contents of safe deposit boxes.
The controller’s office says more than 32 million individuals and businesses in its database have unclaimed property. (I plugged in my name and found an old $20 bank balance.)
To find out if you’re owed money, it’s as easy a Google search. Give it a go here.
https://ucpi.sco.ca.gov/UCP/Default.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/2017/03/21/california-today?nlid=38867499
Accessible Coding School
From KQED - Please share this.
Oakland Coding School’s New Pay Model: No Tuition Until You Land a Job
By Alyssa Jeong Perry
Then Vashti clicked on an online ad for Learners Guild, a 10-month developer program located in downtown Oakland. The program is one of a handful of coding schools that offer “income-share agreements,” which means students don’t have to pay until they get a job making more than $50,000 a year. And depending on their salary, graduates will fork over 12 to 20 percent of it for three years.
The coding school also offers a monthly stipend. For Vashti and the other students at Learners Guild, the stipend and income-share agreement allowed them to pursue a career change.
~~~~~~~~~~
Learners Guild president Ian Inaba believes that by using this income-share agreement model, the school removes barriers that can keep women and people of color out of tech. He said that the school is more diverse than the tech industry at large — 50 percent of students in the program are African-American and Latino, and 35 percent are female.
“There’s no reason why there aren’t women or African-American, Latino programmers,” Inaba said.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/03/18/oakland-coding-schools-new-pay-model-no-tuition-until-you-land-a-job/
Oakland Coding School’s New Pay Model: No Tuition Until You Land a Job
By Alyssa Jeong Perry
Then Vashti clicked on an online ad for Learners Guild, a 10-month developer program located in downtown Oakland. The program is one of a handful of coding schools that offer “income-share agreements,” which means students don’t have to pay until they get a job making more than $50,000 a year. And depending on their salary, graduates will fork over 12 to 20 percent of it for three years.
The coding school also offers a monthly stipend. For Vashti and the other students at Learners Guild, the stipend and income-share agreement allowed them to pursue a career change.
~~~~~~~~~~
Learners Guild president Ian Inaba believes that by using this income-share agreement model, the school removes barriers that can keep women and people of color out of tech. He said that the school is more diverse than the tech industry at large — 50 percent of students in the program are African-American and Latino, and 35 percent are female.
“There’s no reason why there aren’t women or African-American, Latino programmers,” Inaba said.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/03/18/oakland-coding-schools-new-pay-model-no-tuition-until-you-land-a-job/
What Toxic Looked Like
From Upworthy -
These old photos reveal why we needed (and still need) the EPA.
MATTHEW GAULT
http://www.upworthy.com/these-old-photos-reveal-why-we-needed-and-still-need-the-epa?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
These old photos reveal why we needed (and still need) the EPA.
MATTHEW GAULT
http://www.upworthy.com/these-old-photos-reveal-why-we-needed-and-still-need-the-epa?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
Highest & Lowest Paying Jobs
From Thrillist -
THESE MAPS SHOW THE HIGHEST AND LOWEST PAYING JOBS IN ALL 50 STATES
By SAM BLUM
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/zippia-maps-show-the-highest-and-lowest-paying-jobs-in-each-state
THESE MAPS SHOW THE HIGHEST AND LOWEST PAYING JOBS IN ALL 50 STATES
By SAM BLUM
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/zippia-maps-show-the-highest-and-lowest-paying-jobs-in-each-state
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