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Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Meet the 2017 MacArthur Fellows

Helping Students Acclimate

An excerpt from the LA Times -

At UCLA, a dorm floor dedicated to first-generation students
By Teresa Watanabe

Desiree Felix didn’t make her way to UCLA with the help of helicopter parents who hired tutors, hounded teachers or edited her application essays.

Her father is a handyman with a sixth-grade education. Her mother finished high school and helps manage apartments.

At Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Felix had to figure out most of the nuts and bolts of preparing for and applying to colleges on her own. She didn’t know anything about Advanced Placement classes until her sophomore year, and she came close to missing UC’s application deadline.

In her freshman year, Felix has chosen to live on a newly created dorm floor just for students like her who are the first in their families to attend college.

“I wanted to be around people who understood and shared my experiences so I could connect with them,” she said on move-in day as she unpacked her bags and arranged her new desk.

The dedicated dorm floor is UCLA’s latest effort to support its first-generation students, who make up 32% of undergraduates — a strikingly high number for an elite university.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ucla-first-gen-students-20171002-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

In Case of Emergency

An excerpt from KQED News -

Here’s What You Should Have in Your Emergency Bag
By Erika Aguilar

We reached out to San Francisco’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) to get tips on what should be in your emergency “go bag”:

Q: What should be in my go bag?

“Things you cannot live without,” said Capt. Erica Arteseros of San Francisco’s Fire Department. She is the training coordinator for the NERT team of volunteers. Here’s a list of things to get started:

Medication
An extra set of keys
Eyeglasses or contact lenses
Hearing aids
A change of clothes
Some water and snack bars
Cash in small bills
A first-aid kit
Flashlight
A portable radio
Charging cables for your cellphone and a portable cellphone battery pack
A copy of your ID

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/10/10/heres-what-you-should-have-in-your-emergency-bag/

IQ Explained

From Vox -

IQ, explained in 9 charts
By Brian Resnick

https://www.vox.com/2016/5/24/11723182/iq-test-intelligence


Saturday, October 7, 2017

Roman J. Israel, Esq. Trailer #1 (2017) | Movieclips Trailers

Why we still need courtroom sketch artists

The Supreme Court's Ruling on the Anthem

An excerpt from Rolling Stone -

What the Supreme Court Says About Sitting Out the National Anthem
Some public schools are telling student-athletes they can't kneel during the anthem – but that's unconstitutional
By David S. Cohen

The Supreme Court very forcefully declared that punishing students for not participating in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. The decision had nothing to do with the students' religion and everything to do with their constitutional right to freedom of speech. As the Court wrote, in language that has become one of the most important principles of modern free speech law:

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/what-the-supreme-court-says-about-sitting-out-the-national-anthem-w507503?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=100617_17


Lin-Manuel Miranda - Almost Like Praying feat Artists for Puerto Rico [M...

Silicon Kidneys

An excerpt from Wired -

SILICON ISN'T JUST FOR COMPUTERS. IT CAN MAKE A PRETTY GOOD KIDNEY, TOO
By MEGAN MOLTENI

Now, after more than 20 years of work, one team of doctors and researchers is close to offering patients an implantable artificial kidney, a bionic device that uses the same technology that makes the chips that power your laptop and smartphone. Stacks of carefully designed silicon nanopore filters combine with live kidney cells grown in a bioreactor. The bundle is enclosed in a body-friendly box and connected to a patient’s circulatory system and bladder—no external tubing required.

The device would do more than detach dialysis patients—who experience much higher rates of fatigue, chronic pain, and depression than the average American—from a grueling treatment schedule. It would also address a critical shortfall of organs for transplant that continues despite a recent uptick in donations. For every person who received a kidney last year, 5 more on the waiting list didn’t. And 4,000 of them died.

There are still plenty of regulatory hurdles ahead—human testing is scheduled to begin early next year1—but this bioartificial kidney is already bringing hope to patients desperate to unhook for good.

https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-kidneys?mbid=nl_100617_daily

Apply to Work for the President

An excerpt from InStyle -

This Is Not a Drill! You Can Now Apply to Work for Former President Barack Obama
By Lara Walsh

Whether you've dreamt of a career in politics, hoping to someday make a significant difference in your community, or are just a big fan of Barack Obama, look no further, because a select group of 20 applicants will now have the opportunity to work alongside the former commander in chief.

On Thursday, the former president took to Instagram to encourage politically-minded individuals to apply to his Obama Foundation Fellowship Program. The two-year program seeks to help future leaders work through hot public issues in innovative ways, with governmental institutions and beyond traditional establishments.

http://www.instyle.com/news/obama-foundation-fellowship-program-application