Category: News

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Growing up in North Korea

Welcome to the world of North Korean childhood. Today’s Asia Times carries an article on the strident nationalism in state education in North Korea: “In this world, cartoons such as ‘Pencil artillery shells’, by Cha Kye-ok, call on children to study well. Unlike in South Korea, where the same imperative is justified by intellectual fun and social success of the students, the North Korean educational paradigm suggests another lucrative objective: good students are better prepared for the defence of their country against invaders.

“In the constantly emphasized potential war, North Korean children are summoned to prepare for the worst.imgres-1 Verses of their songs widely employ idioms such as kyolsaongwi (desperate readiness to die [for the leader, the country, the party]) orch’ ongp’ at ‘anadulttal, (sons and daughters of guns and bombs/living guns and bombs). See, for example, a typical children’s poem by Kim Ch’angmu, They Envy Us, They Are Afraid of Us: Continue reading “Growing up in North Korea”

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Bye-bye Blackberry

The story is simple: BlackBerry has lost nearly half its users in the past year.imgres

Research in Motion said on Thursday that it lost a million BlackBerry owners worldwide during the company’s last financial quarter. The New York Times reports that the company “has other bad news as well, a month before introducing its new BlackBerry 10 phones to the public. Revenue fell 48 percent in the company’s fiscal third quarter, ended Dec. 1, to $2.7 billion from $5.2 billion a year earlier. RIM reported net income of $9 million, down from $265 million last year. The company said that using nonstandard accounting methods to adjust for the tax gain and other pretax charges led to an adjusted net loss of $114 million for the third quarter, or 22 cents per share. Continue reading “Bye-bye Blackberry”

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The buzz in California

marijuana_plants“Marijuana is, as a practical matter, already legal in much of California,” sayd today’s New York Times. “No matter that its recreational use remains technically against the law. Marijuana has, in many parts of this state, become the equivalent of a beer in a paper bag on the streets of Greenwich Village. It is losing whatever stigma it ever had and still has in many parts of the country, including New York City, where the kind of open marijuana use that is common here would attract the attention of any passing law officer.

“’It’s shocking, from my perspective, the number of people that we all know who are recreational marijuana users,’ said Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor. ‘These are incredibly upstanding citizens Continue reading “The buzz in California”

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Homeless to get free cell phones

You may not know this, but programs exist in 36 states, which provide free mobile phone service to the poor.

For the homeless and indigent, cell phones can make the difference in getting help, work, housing, or access to other needed services. According to income statistics, as many of 28-million Americans qualify for the program, which experts say could enable recipients to earn as much as $3.7-billion in new income for the poor and near-poor.A mobile phone in back pocket

That’s right, $3.7-billion in money not-paid by government assistance programs. The cell phone Continue reading “Homeless to get free cell phones”

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A Grimm legacy considered

Grimm's Fairy Tale illustartion for Fitcher's Bird“Once upon a time, two German brothers began collecting the best fairytales of their age,” reads a story in The Guardian today about  the enduring legacy of a certain set of children’s stories. “They gathered an array of stories involving princes and princesses, forests, castles and magic, but also darker sagas of cannibalism, dismemberment, murder and evil stepmothers.

“The 200th anniversary on Thursday of the first publication of the Grimm brothers’ Die Kinder und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales), a collection of 86 stories that became worldwide classics, is triggering a year of feverish celebrations in Germany to mark the birth of one of the most frequently read books in the world. Continue reading “A Grimm legacy considered”

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Sandy Hook, Jihad, and The World

“Jihadi atrocities and mass murders in the West do not occur in different worlds,” writes Spengler in today’s Asia Times in a thoughtful consideration of murder-suicides around the globe. The author continues:

“Consider two situations. First, a madman kills 20 schoolchildren in America for unexplained reasons. Second, Muslim terrorists kill 22 children in Israel (at Ma’alot in 1974), or 186 children at Beslan in the Russian Caucusus in 2004, for clearly stated reasons. What do they have in common?London Terrorist Bombings

“The suicidal jihadi is the Doppelganger of the angst-ridden Westerner. The jihadi attempts to reconstruct a faux version of a Continue reading “Sandy Hook, Jihad, and The World”

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Mental illness creates disability around the globe

Mental illness is the largest contributor to worldwide disability, according to a report card on the health across the globe. The seven papers comprising storyimages_braininheadbwlthe report and two commentaries will be published in a collection entitled “The Global Burden of Disease” (GBD) in The Lancet. As reported in Bioscience Technology:

“GBD 2010 is a collaborative project led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (UW) in the US and involves 302 institutions across 50 countries. This is the first report since the inaugural study was published in the early 1990s. Continue reading “Mental illness creates disability around the globe”

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America’s culture of violence examined

“On an international scale, America exports its culture of under-regulated violence.” Today’s edition of Le Monde carries an article by Heidi Morrison that puts recent events at U.S. elementary school in the context of broader patterns of American violence in recent years and the nation’s history. Reminiscent of Richard Slotkin’s classic Regeneration through Violence, Morrison examines this tragic tradition, as excerpted below:images-3

“Seeking an explanation for tragic violence, we often turn to history and ask ourselves how we got to this point.  Writing the historical narrative for the forces that led to the horrific elementary school massacre of 28 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook has already Continue reading “America’s culture of violence examined”

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UN resolution condemns LGBT executions

Legacy

In recent weeks the United Nations passed a sweeping resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, with specific reference to vulnerable groups, those targeted due to sexual orientation or gender identity. As Huffington Post reports today,

“This week the U.N. opened its doors to the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community with a panel entitled Leadership in the Fight against Homophobia, headlined by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, human rights defenders Blas Radi (Argentina), Olena Schevchenko (Ukraine), and Gift Trapence (Malawi) and celebrity guests Yvonne Chaka Chaka Continue reading “UN resolution condemns LGBT executions”

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Seniors in debt over kids’ school loans

“The early-morning calls from debt collectors continued even after her massive stroke, waking Bella Logan to daily reminders that she owed $75,000 in student loans. Logan is 94.” This is from today’s Columbus Dispatch, and the story is a grim recessionary tale:

Light at the End of the Road

“The federal government garnisheed $200 a month from Robert Austin’s Social Security checks for years for student-loan debt, leaving Austin without money he needed for medications. He is 83. After Ray Stockman’s wife died, he wanted to move but was turned down three times Continue reading “Seniors in debt over kids’ school loans”

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University of California’s troubled new look

What ever were they thinking at the University of California?  After a hailstorm of negative responses to its new “modern” look

new-university-of-california-uc-identity-thumb-560x406-107907

the prestigious university has dropped the new monogram many said looked like a badly done corporate makeover. As university officials wrote in their press release today about its “visual identity system:”

“A controversy has developed over an element of an integrated visual identity designed for use by the University of California’s systemwide office. This controversy has created a major distraction for the UCOP External Relations Division as it pursues its broader mission: communicating to all Californians the vital contributions UC makes to the quality of their lives and the prosperity of the state. Continue reading “University of California’s troubled new look”

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Mississippi river is drying up

The worst drought in half a century has brought water levels in the Mississippi close to historic lows and could shut down all shipping in a matter of weeks — unless Barack Obama takes extraordinary measures.

Wired Science reports today, “It’s the second extreme event on the river in 18 months, after flooding in the spring of 2011 forced thousands to flee their homes. Without rain, water levels on the Mississippi are projected to reach historic lows this month, the national weather service said in its latest four-week forecast.

“’All the ingredients for us getting to an all-time record low are certainly in place,” said Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in St. Louis. “I would be very surprised if we didn’t set a record this winter.’ Continue reading “Mississippi river is drying up”

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Autism is not linked to violence

“Among the details to emerge in the aftermath of the Connecticut elementary school massacre was the possibility that the gunman had some form of autism,” reports todays Los Angeles Times

“Adam Lanza, 20, had a personality disorder or autism, his brother reportedly told police. Former classmates described him as socially awkward, friendless and painfully shy.

“While those are all traits of autism, a propensity for premeditated violence is not. Several experts said that at most, autism would have played a tangential role in the mass shooting — if Lanza had it at all. ’Many significant psychiatric disorders involve social isolation,’ said Catherine Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Autism, she said, has become a catch-all term to describe anybody who is awkward. Some type of schizophrenia, delusional disorder or psychotic break would more clearly fit the crime, experts said. Continue reading “Autism is not linked to violence”

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The Trans-trender debate

“The Internet and media have revolutionized coming out and accessing resources for young transgender youth,” reports today’s Huffington Post.

“There are YouTube channels dedicated to FTM testosterone change diaries(keeping track of voice changes, facial hair, body structure, etc.) and others that simply weigh in on issues facing the FTM community today. However, some transgender youth are being called out by members of the same community for not being “trans enough” or are

labeled “trans-trenders,” which is taken to refer to women who take steps to begin to transition to male simply because they do not fit a stereotypical mold of womanhood (“I don’t like my body/situation/how people treat me as a female, so I think I want to be a guy!”) Continue reading “The Trans-trender debate”

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Gabrielle Ludwig takes the court

Gabrielle Ludwig takes the courtAs the buzzer sounds to announce the substitution, a handful of Mission College basketball supporters chant: “Gabbi! Gabbi! Gabbi!”

The Contra Costa Times reports that “’ost of the 50 or so onlookers in the dingy, yellow-tinted gym briefly look up from their chili-cheese nachos and smartphones, and then back down. A few whisper and point at No. 42, marveling at her size.

‘It was the debut of Gabrielle Ludwig, and at 6 feet 8, 220 pounds, with tattoos on her arms and legs, she stands out in the Contra Costa College gym. At 50, the Fremont resident is about three decades older than her Santa Clara community college teammates and opponents — and much taller.

‘What many at the 19th annual Comet Classic did not know was Ludwig had only been a woman since July, when she had a sex change operation. Continue reading “Gabrielle Ludwig takes the court”

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Nate Silver points to shifting gun discourse

Opponents of stricter regulation on gun ownership have accused their adversaries of politicizing a tragedy.

Poll analyst Nate Silver looks at the statistical aspects of gun discourse much with the same care and scrutiny he gave the recent presidential race. On his FiveThirtyEight site he states:

“Advocates of more sweeping gun control measures have argued that the Connecticut shootings are a
demonstration that laxer gun laws can have dire consequences. Let me sidestep the debate to pose a different question: How often are Americans talking about public policy toward guns? And what language are they using to frame their arguments? Continue reading “Nate Silver points to shifting gun discourse”

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This time, the right kind of moral panic

At last we may be entering what sociologists call a “moral panic” over guns. While the term may sound ominous, moral panics historically have been behind may progressive (and conservative) social changes.

According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) and credited as creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when ” condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”.Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values are known by researchers as moral entrepreneurs, while people who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as “folk devils.” Continue reading “This time, the right kind of moral panic”

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Accuracy, sensationalism, and new media

“When something momentous is unfolding—the Arab Spring, Hurricane Sandy, Friday’s horrific elementary school shooting in Connecticut—Twitter is the world’s fastest, most comprehensive, and least reliable source of breaking news.” Says Slate.com in a step-back piece on net-coverage of the recent tragedy. “

“If you were on the microblogging site Friday afternoon, you were among the first to hear the death toll, watch the devastated reactions, and delve into the personal details of the man the media initially identified as a killer. But there’s also a good chance you were taken in by some of the many falsehoods that were flying, like a letter one of the young victims purportedly wrote to his mother Continue reading “Accuracy, sensationalism, and new media”

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The future of race in America

By the end of this decade no single racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of children under 18–And in about three decades, no single group will constitute a majority of the country as a whole. Today’s New York Times says that:

“’The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority,’ the bureau’s acting director, Thomas L. Mesenbourg, said in a statement.

“The new projections — the first set based on the 2010 Census — paint a Continue reading “The future of race in America”

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Private colleges offer deep discounts

“In recent years, tuition has significantly increased at public universities, driven by state budget cuts and prompting student protests around the country,” reports Huffington Post: “ Yet almost the opposite has happened at private colleges.”

Private college tuition grew at its lowest rate in decades this year and at a slower pace than public university tuition.“Tony Pals, director of communications at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said he can’t remember another time in which so many private schools have held down tuition as he’s seen in the past two years. By the association’s Continue reading “Private colleges offer deep discounts”