aphar

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090309/pollitt

Happy Twentieth Anniversary, Salman Rushdie fatwa! ... Many book burnings, riots, firebombings and deaths later ... it would be nice to say that the world has learned what happens when freedom of speech and thought is subordinated to religious authority.
In fact, the lesson seems to be the opposite: careful, you might hurt the feelings of the faithful. Oh, and they might kill you.
... left-wing British journalist Johann Hari ... provoked the wrath of the believers when a column he wrote for the Independent, "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?" was reprinted in the Indian newspaper the Statesman on February 5. Hari chronicled the decade-long campaign of Islamist theocrats (with the support of the Vatican and Christian fundamentalists) to insulate religion from criticism at the United Nations. This campaign has borne fruit: the UN Council on Human Rights has directed its rapporteur to busy himself not with attacks on freedom of speech but with "abuses of free expression," including "defamation of religions and prophets." Hari pulled no punches: "All people deserve respect, but not all ideas do. I don't respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead. I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year-old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him." Hari's column caused--surprise!--violent riots; what is more shocking, and more unusual, is that Indian authorities arrested the editor and the publisher of the paper for "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims.
Appeals to the hurt feelings of religious people are just a dodge to protect the antidemocratic and retrograde policies of religious states and organizations. We're all adults; we have to live with unwelcome expression every day. What's so special about religion that it should be uniquely cocooned? After all, nobody at the UN is suggesting that atheists should be protected from offense--let alone women, gays, leftists or other targets popular with the faithful. What about our feelings? How can it be logical to say that women can't point out sexism in the Bible or the Koran but clerics can use those texts to declare women inferior, unclean and in need of male control? And what about all the abuses religions heap on one another as an integral part of their "faith"?

The clerics fight so hard to control speech because they know they are losing minds and hearts. Twenty years after the Satanic Verses fatwa, it's more than ever Rushdie's world--globalized, fluid, culturally impure. The fanatics just live there.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
(also misattributed to Jefferson)

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=the-body-politic-candidates-compete-2009-02-26

Swiss adults unfamiliar with French politics were shown 57 pairs of photos of opponents from an old French parliamentary election and asked to pick which ones looked most competent. In a separate experiment, Swiss kids ages 5 to 13 played a computer game that enacted Odysseus' trip from Troy to Ithaca. Then, using the same pairs of photos, researchers asked the kids which candidate they'd choose to captain their ship. In both experiments, the adults and children tended to pick the winners of the election.

"Adults and children infer competence in precisely the same way, whether that [person] is six or seven — or 67. That is the shocking finding here," study co-author John Antonakis, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Lausanne, tells ScientificAmerican.com. "This stereotype is already formed in young childhood, which leads us to suggest this mechanism is innate or develops very, very rapidly at a young age."

Kids' publisher Scholastic, which has held student presidential votes since 1940, says that their results have been the same as the general election outcome all but twice, in 1948 and 1960. In 2000, the kids voted the same as the Electoral College – and so, for George W. Bush — but not the popular vote, which went to Al Gore.

None of this is to say that the truism "don't judge a book by its cover" is obsolete. While our judgments about competence tend to translate into election results, they're not so great at predicting true leadership. What does correlate with a president's performance is his estimated IQ — not his face.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=placebo-effect-a-cure-in-the-mind&print=true

Belief is powerful medicine, even if the treatment itself is a sham. New research shows placebos can also benefit patients who do not have faith in them

The latest research has shown that the placebo effect does not always arise from a conscious belief in a drug. Alternatively, it may grow out of subconscious associations between recovery and the experience of being treated, from the pinch of a shot to a doctor’s white coat. Such subliminal conditioning can control bodily processes, including immune responses and the release of hormones. Meanwhile researchers have decoded some of the biology of placebo responses, demonstrating that they stem from active processes in the brain.

( Read more... )

Placebo Performance

Despite the proved power of suggestion, investigators have been unable to identify personality traits that increase susceptibility to placebos. Personality, after all, has little effect on subconscious conditioning. For such subliminal responses, presentation matters more than personality does. Giving a medication a popular brand name or prescribing more frequent doses can boost the efficacy of a placebo. Similarly, a physician can maximize a placebo effect by radiating confidence or spending more time with the patient. Such tactics may subconsciously build a patient’s trust in a therapy.

A high price tag on the drug can apparently help, too. In one study, placebos reported to cost $0.10 worked considerably less well in relieving pain than did those priced at $2.50 per pill. Test subjects evidently distrusted the less expensive medication. Patients are also liable to benefit more from placebos that involve elaborate medical procedures than from those requiring simple measures. Thus, the most effective sham treatments may extend beyond dispensing inactive pills to a simulation of a multistep therapeutic regimen.

As evidence of this idea, counseling psychologist Cynthia McRae of the University of Denver and her colleagues reported in 2004 the surprising success of a sham brain surgery in improving the quality of life of patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. Surgeons performed the sham operation to compare its efficacy with that of implanting human embryonic dopamine neurons into the brains of Parkinson’s patients, who suffer from a lack of dopamine. In McRae’s follow-up study, which assessed the patients’ quality of life up to a year later, the researchers found that the patients who received the sham surgery were doing just as well physically, socially and emotionally as were the patients who had received the new cells. What mattered was not the transplant itself but whether a patient thought he or she had received it.

In recent years extensive research revealing the many medical applications, types and mechanisms of placebo effects has given credence to this once orphaned phenomenon. Doctors are now considering placebo pills and procedures as a way of enhancing the effectiveness of drugs and surgery. Such uses may elicit new controversies and questions such as the use of placebos to boost athletic performance. In the meantime, sophisticated doctors might decide to manipulate the conscious and subconscious mind in ways that could cure—or at least, do no harm.

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=peanut-allergic-kids-helped-by-dese-2009-02-20

Kids with severe peanut allergies were able to eat the food after building up their tolerance with a daily dose of peanut flour, British doctors report today.
By the end of a small, six-month study of four boys, the children were able to eat up to five peanuts a day — not so many that they could safely sit down to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but enough that they didn’t need to worry about accidentally swallowing peanut ingredients hidden in other foods.
More research is needed on larger numbers of kids to tease out who can tolerate the treatment and who can't. And once it was clear who could tolerate the treatment, studies would still need to test it on kids eating real peanut products, instead of just those who were accidentally exposed to peanuts.
Some 40 children are being treated with the technique at Duke and Arkansas Children's Hospital. Of the 10 kids who have been followed for more than 30 months, half have been able to stop the therapy and are able to eat peanut products, deliberately or as ingredients in other foods (not yet published).

потушил индюшачьи ноги с картошкой.
жена ест и приговаивает: "мне так хорошо, как будто я читаю великую русскую литературу".

The founder of a television station which aims to counteract negative stereotypes of Muslims in America has been charged with beheading his wife.

Mrs Hassan's lawyer said that she had recently filed for divorce from her husband after eight years of marriage, citing previous incidents of domestic violence.

Police confirmed that an order of protection was in force, barring Mr Hassan from the family home as of Friday February 6.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5753440.ece

Germany has a new minister of economic affairs. Mr. von und zu Guttenberg is descended from an old and noble lineage, so his official name is very long: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. When first there were rumors that he would be appointed to the post, someone changed his Wikipedia entry and added the name 'Wilhelm,' so Wikipedia stated his full name as: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Wilhelm Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. What resulted from this edit points up a big problem for our information society. The German and international press picked up the wrong name from Wikipedia — including well-known newspapers, Internet sites, and TV news such as spiegel.de, Bild, heute.de, TAZ, or Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the meantime, the change on Wikipedia was reverted, with a request for proof of the name. The proof was quickly found. On spiegel.de an article cites Mr. von und zu Guttenberg using his 'full name'; however, while the quote might have been real, the full name seems to have been looked up on Wikipedia while the false edit was in place. So the circle was closed: Wikipedia states a false fact, a reputable media outlet copies the false fact, and this outlet is then used as the source to prove the false fact to Wikipedia.

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/10/2211220

optimist: "we are experiencing a horrible crisis"
pessimist: "the crisis is still ahead of us"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html

In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.

These studies, along with epidemiological observations, seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.

Dr. Ruebush deplores the current fetish for the hundreds of antibacterial products that convey a false sense of security and may actually foster the development of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria. Plain soap and water are all that are needed to become clean, she noted.

“I certainly recommend washing your hands after using the bathroom, before eating, after changing a diaper, before and after handling food,” and whenever they’re visibly soiled, she wrote. When no running water is available and cleaning hands is essential, she suggests an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Dr. Weinstock goes even further. “Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” he said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases.

Also helpful, he said, is to “let kids have two dogs and a cat,” which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html

Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.

Private school: $32,000 a year per student.
Mortgage: $96,000 a year.
Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year.
Nanny: $45,000 a year.
Taxes: for a person married with two children, the weekly deductions on a $500,000 salary are: federal taxes, $2,645; Social Security, $596; Medicare, $139; state taxes, $682; and city, $372, bringing the weekly take-home to $5,180, or about $269,000 a year.
most well-to-do families take at least two vacations a year, a winter trip to the sun and a spring trip to the ski slopes. Total minimum cost: $16,000.
A modest three-bedroom apartment, she said, which was purchased for $1.5 million, not the top of the market at all, carries a monthly mortgage of about $8,000 and a co-op maintenance fee of $8,000 a month. Total cost: $192,000. A summer house in Southampton that cost $4 million, again not the top of the market, carries annual mortgage payments of $240,000.
Many top executives have cars and drivers. A chauffeur’s pay is between $75,000 and $125,000 a year, the higher end for former police officers who can double as bodyguards.
about $425 every 10 days on groceries - annual cost: about $15,000.
...As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable...

So, do you feel sorry already?

профессор геофизики из Ратгерса сперва очень интересно рассказывал про землетрясения.
потом про изменения в климате (сказав, что на любой прогноз учёных ответ должен быть один и тот же: "на тебе ещё денег и думай дальше").
потом оказалось что он ездил в Тибет по своим геофизическим делам - и он старательно повторил официальную китайскую пропаганду "Тибет всегда был частью Китая".
потом была повторена арабская пропаганда про арабов, испокон веку живших в Палестине.
а потом я разочаровался в человечестве.

http://zhurnal.lib.ru/s/shapiro_m_a/uvkultr.shtml
...рациональное уважение культурных традиций в нашем законодательстве означает, что к негражданам в случае совершения ими преступлений на нашей территории, принятое на нашей территории наказание замещает наказание традиционное для страны прибывшего при условии, что таковое прописано в законодательстве той страны, и оно не является более мягким по сравнению с установленным у нас.

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Atlanta-Woman-Uses-Taser-Gun-to-Help-Officer-in-Distress/1$45111
20-year-old mother, who received the taser as a gift from her husband, said she kept it in a diaper bag...
"...I got it and asked it if he [officer] wanted me to do it and he said, 'Yea,'" said Cross.
Cross said the officer had a hard time defending himself because the attacker had taken the officer's radio and managed to rub pepper spray in the officer's face and eyes.
Cross said she stunned the attacker to where the officer regained his composure and fought back until a security guard came to their aid.
"He's brave," she said. "He did his best to keep him from his gun. He handled the situation very well. ..."

do you feel safer now?

http://www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=8757

... если глобально правозащитники скорее правы, чем неправы, то в отношении Израиля их позиция не просто глупа. Она откровенно преступна. В этом случае (а честно говоря, думаю, что и во многих других) они являются бессознательными (а кое-кто сознательными) пособниками убийц. Не адвокатами, а именно — пособниками, пятой колонной террористов. Больше того, они ПРОВОЦИРУЮТ убийства своим хлюпаньем носами и шлепаньем языками.
Это очевидно. Террор бы как минимум выдохся, а может, и кончился, если бы не было СОЧУВСТВУЮЩИХ зрителей. Даже рядовой шахид это понимает, а уж торговцы шахидами просто чисто конкретно трудятся «под камеру». Связь между числом убийств и градусом «общественного сочувствия» наглядная и прямая. Горючие слезы право-лево-защитников — чистый бензин в пожар террора.

Израиль получил признание Европы: палестинцев она судит не только снисходительно, а не судит вообще («вы во всем неповинны как дети»), а Израиль судит даже не своей, европейской, а еще куда более строгой меркой, как судят только нелюбимого провинциального родственника.
А Израилю от Европы (т.е. от себя!) бежать — некуда.
Они вынуждены играть с террористами по европейским (т.е. по своим собственным) правилам.
И спор в Газе не территориальный.
Спор цивилизаций: что сильнее — разум и гуманизм или неукротимая злоба? Спор цивилизаций, в котором Большая западная цивилизация занимает позицию недоброжелательного нейтралитета по отношению к маленькой западной цивилизации в Израиле.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/20/1544257

six Pennsylvania high school students are facing child pornography charges after three teenage girls allegedly took nude or semi-nude photos of themselves and shared them with male classmates via their cell phones.
comments:

- We need a world-wide ban on all phones with cameras!
-- We need to ban vision. If you don't willingly poke out your own eyes, then you must be a child molester.
--- Can we just blind the lawmakers instead?
---- They're already blind.
-- Not nearly far enough. What we can now see with this epiphany is that all children are hiding their naked bodies under their clothes, and therefore can only be regarded as mobile child pornography factories. Obviously, only banning children entirely will stop this perverted scourge and allow us to finally achieve a healthy society. ... And then our children will finally be safe!

http://www.reason.com/news/show/29944.html
There is no evidence that QWERTY is worse than Dvorak.
There has been plenty of competition to QWERTY when it was being adopted.

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=24807
worse is not better, rather better depends on your goodness metric

Приходит дочь из школы, и с круглыми глазами говорит: "каждую секунду во всём мире рождаются тысяча детей! Тысяча!"
Я задумался.
6 миллиардов. 1% рождаемости в год. "pi seconds is a nanocentury".
Получается 2 рождения в секунду. Может я 3 порядка где-то посеял?
Пошёл к компу. ЦРУ - лучший друг детей и родителей:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html
Population: 6,706,993,152 (July 2008 est.)
Birth rate: 20.18 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Emacs:

(/ (* 6706993152
      (/ 20.18 1000))
   (* 365.25 24 60 60))
4.2888914812077

Ошибка всего вдвое (недооценил людскую плодовитость).

http://andrey-grafov.livejournal.com/54102.html
http://gentlemenka.livejournal.com/75853.html
http://mnenia.zahav.ru/ArticlePage.aspx?articleID=9007

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Freedom of Speech

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predicting election outcomes from the candidate's faces

Placebo Effect: A Cure in the Mind

Placebo Performance

Peanut-allergic kids helped by desensitization

что такое хорошо?

не дай Бог!

Muslim TV boss Muzzamil Hassan charged with beheading his wife

False Fact On Wikipedia Proves Itself

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Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You

Try to Live on 500K in NYC

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УВАЖЕНИЕ КУЛЬТУРНЫХ ТРАДИЦИЙ

Atlanta Woman Uses Taser Gun to Help Officer in Distress

Горючие слезы (ЛЕОНИД РАДЗИХОВСКИЙ)

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