2013-02-08 Spike activity « Mind Hacks

<base href="data:"><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><i>The New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/sunday-review/raging-again-against-the-robots.html?smid=tw-share" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">covers</a> the recent upsurge of robots-taking-over-the-world anxiety. To the bunkers!</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The dodgy practice of psychologists trying to <a href="http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/still-profiteering-from-anxiety.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">patent</a>therapeutic techniques is covered by <i>Neuroskeptic</i>.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><i>The Humanist</i> discusses the explosion of the unhelpful concept of <a href="http://thehumanist.org/july-august-2012/you%E2%80%99re-addicted-to-what/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">sex addition</a>.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Forensic psychology nerds: <i>In The News</i> covers the latest in the debate on the<a href="http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/showdown-looming-over-predictive.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">accuracy</a> of violence risk assessments.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i>The Bangkok Post</i> on the <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/health/334826/technology-damages-brain" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">bizarre</a> Thai government announcement that calculators, phones "and even karaoke machines" could damage memory, lead to Alzheimer's disease. Bryan Adams covers, screaming fits. 80s hair metal, unfortunately lycra incidents.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">People without an amygdala can experience <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2013/feb/03/neuroscience-health" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">fear</a>. <i>Neurophilosophy</i> covers an intriguing new study.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i>Wired Danger Room</i> on the cost of war to the US: currently, <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/cost-of-war/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">at least</a> 253,330 brain injuries, 129,731 cases of PTSD – and counting.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i>Missouri Public Radio</i> on how <a href="http://kbia.org/post/former-army-psychologist-larry-james-speaks-mu-audience-about-potential-hire" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">ex- Abu Ghraib</a> chief psychologist Larry James wants to launch a national gun violence prevention center. Presumably, by waterboarding assault rifle owners.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Short-term exercise boosts <a href="http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/short-term-exercise-boosts-body-image.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">body image</a> without making any physical difference. The <i>BPS Research Digest</i> on the short-term psychological effects of exercise.</p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i>Scientific American</i> has an important piece on the science of what life events can trigger <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=triggers-of-depression" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">depression</a>.</p><div style="font-family: Helvetica; color: black; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; ">After a nonsense article on 'girls and the science gap' two neuroscientists write a stirling <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/feb/08/pseudoscience-stereotyping-gender-inequality-science" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-width: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 212, 57); ">reply</a> on why pseudoscience and stereotyping won't solve the problem in<i>Notes and Queries.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; color: black; text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; color: black; text-align: left; "><a href="http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/09/2013-02-08-spike-activity/">http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/09/2013-02-08-spike-activity/</a></div>

2013-02-08 Spike activity « Mind Hacks

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: The New York Times   covers  the recent upsurge of robots-taking-over-the-world anxie...

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News - Beware of neuro-bunk

<base href="data:"></base><br /><div style="color: black; text-align: left;"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: static; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; z-index: auto;"><strong style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Can a cheese sandwich or chocolate help you make better decisions? Can a brain scan cure mental illness?  Or are these just two examples of neuro-bunk, where neuroscience is being overly simplified and distorted to sell products and newspapers?</strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In a recent <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/molly_crockett_beware_neuro_bunk.html" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">TED talk</a>, neuroscientist and Gates Cambridge Alumna <a href="http://www.gatescambridge.org/our-scholars/Profile.aspx?ScholarID=4831&keywords=molly&search=Search" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Molly Crockett</a> [2006] talks about how to spot when neuroscience has been simplified to support unrealistic claims.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">She talks about an experiment she conducted which involved people drinking a horrible-tasting concoction which depleted the amino acid tryptophan. She found that depleting tryptophan made people more likely to take revenge when they were treated unfairly.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The headlines that emerged from the study suggested cheese sandwiches and chocolate, which contain tryptophan, could help people make better decisions.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Does this oversimplification matter, asks Molly. After the reports were published, she was approached by marketeers and others interested in getting her to endorse their products. She says neuroscience is being increasingly used to sell products without any evidence to back up the claims made on their packaging.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In the TED talk, she shows how putting a picture of a brain on something makes people more likely to believe in the product. "Brains sell," she says.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Molly, who did a PhD in Experimental Psychology, says there is some very exciting neuroscience taking place, but a lot of the deductions made by non-scientists about neuroscientific research are neuro-bunk.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">One report, for instance, claimed that brain scans show that people love their iPhones because they show that a part of the brain linked to love is active when people look at pictures of iphones. However, that part of the brain - the insula - is also involved in other emotions, such as pain and anger, says Molly.  Another study claims the hormone oxytocin is the 'moral molecule' because it is involved in trust and empathy, but other studies suggest it is also linked to envy and bias towards one's own group. Boosting it could therefore lead to a decrease in co-operation. It could just as easily be called the 'immoral molecule', says Molly.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">She adds that clinics in the US are making millions by offering brain scans to people, including children, claiming they can identify and prevent mental illness and help overcome marital conflicts.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"The broad consensus in neuroscience is that you cannot yet diagnose mental illness from a single brain scan," says Molly, who is currently working with support from the four-year Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship studying human altruism in laboratories worldwide.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">She says there is tremendous potential for neuroscience, but it is too early to make overblown claims about its abilities.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"Real science is playing a much longer game," she says. In the meantime, people should question any claims on products which say they are backed by neuroscience and they should expect the answers not to be simple, because the science is not simple.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #192126; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: static; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; z-index: auto;">She states: "[Neuroscientists] haven't found a 'buy' button inside the brain, we can't tell whether someone is lying or in love just by looking at their brain scans, and we can't turn sinners into saints with hormones."</div></div><a href="http://www.gatescambridge.org/news/detail.asp?ItemID=13676">http://www.gatescambridge.org/news/detail.asp?ItemID=13676</a><br /><div><br /></div><div>TED Talk:</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Brains are ubiquitous in modern marketing: Headlines proclaim cheese sandwiches help with decision-making, while a "neuro" drink claims to reduce stress. There's just one problem, says neuroscientist Molly Crockett: The benefits of these "neuro-enhancements" are not proven scientifically. In this to-the-point talk, Crockett explains the limits of interpreting neuroscientific data, and why we should all be aware of them.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/molly_crockett_beware_neuro_bunk.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/molly_crockett_beware_neuro_bunk.html</a></div><div><br /></div>

News - Beware of neuro-bunk

Can a cheese sandwich or chocolate help you make better decisions? Can a brain scan cure mental illness?  Or are these just two examples of ...

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Babe of the Week...Ladies of the Write

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Last night Jay and Matt talked about writing and writers on the IWS Radio Show, so in keeping with that, here's a few Writing Babes of the Week:<br /><br /><b>Sylvia Plath</b>...A hot and tortured writer of the past.  Mysterious, dark, but I hear she was a hoot at parties....<br /><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpciMLneF2aOwVwkXhUTq4etScBhjEh7P8PEX_IiVxk3YDOoopN16Apyfp_N7Otfnu3JjDdOpZwn6o5uEzOsWpufv9Y83c9KyWX1MQrQ497BBzPLYV0T2XjMv2GP3S5Qv1Xv7oPVYuSM/s1600/Sylvia+Plath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpciMLneF2aOwVwkXhUTq4etScBhjEh7P8PEX_IiVxk3YDOoopN16Apyfp_N7Otfnu3JjDdOpZwn6o5uEzOsWpufv9Y83c9KyWX1MQrQ497BBzPLYV0T2XjMv2GP3S5Qv1Xv7oPVYuSM/s400/Sylvia+Plath.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><br /><b>Nora Roberts</b>...Prolific author of romance novels who looks like a less attractive Pat Benatar...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIT4pAC73XBMZegpbSYO4PET4v8vdDoreF6x4hPoBTexfy_9wJOUqevMtkkg1ALOc03dioTN9fINI0wNJdK0PrnPFF87H1ADGpySxUCXtKmWxiJcS4w6SqQbQGLXLheqfvm1aUdocJw4k/s1600/Nora+Roberts.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIT4pAC73XBMZegpbSYO4PET4v8vdDoreF6x4hPoBTexfy_9wJOUqevMtkkg1ALOc03dioTN9fINI0wNJdK0PrnPFF87H1ADGpySxUCXtKmWxiJcS4w6SqQbQGLXLheqfvm1aUdocJw4k/s400/Nora+Roberts.jpeg" width="322" /></a></div><br /><b>J.D. Robb</b>...Prolific author of thriller/mystery books who looks like a less attractive Nora Roberts...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxzEZBp-dPq9S3aKXMY0fiP1dDOiwFGhirAQuFuws9YBDkQtMXo8IdGNR78FDYroM-zRzyAHdpBQFrVJatOO5QlZA2pE9rVde_LKrhqNVFhtXZmYMOBKlfyYYU11GdNDm5lEo7o22b_s/s1600/J.D.+Robb.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxzEZBp-dPq9S3aKXMY0fiP1dDOiwFGhirAQuFuws9YBDkQtMXo8IdGNR78FDYroM-zRzyAHdpBQFrVJatOO5QlZA2pE9rVde_LKrhqNVFhtXZmYMOBKlfyYYU11GdNDm5lEo7o22b_s/s400/J.D.+Robb.jpeg" width="322" /></a></div><br /><b>J.K. Rowling</b>...The creator of Harry Potter and ruler of a vast empire consisting of fame, wealth, and a legion of geeky followers...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwKCMO8otvO9SqivQ-7HwYkm0NPzQbsNmGjPYhUfIA1xZKFlg2J4tnI7JhYaIipRluzr-r-znxWd-y_MV2RYruRdMl7Ch3xJm-jV_v0TewJOszrZ0hQZHuy55XO9izFH5h1SaS1LvVd8/s1600/JK+Rowling+Sexy+Harry+Potter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwKCMO8otvO9SqivQ-7HwYkm0NPzQbsNmGjPYhUfIA1xZKFlg2J4tnI7JhYaIipRluzr-r-znxWd-y_MV2RYruRdMl7Ch3xJm-jV_v0TewJOszrZ0hQZHuy55XO9izFH5h1SaS1LvVd8/s400/JK+Rowling+Sexy+Harry+Potter.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br />And there you have it...If you missed Jay and Matt live as they talked about writers and writing, you can catch the show right here:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4387595&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4387595&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;"><br /></div></div></div>

Babe of the Week...Ladies of the Write

Last night Jay and Matt talked about writing and writers on the IWS Radio Show, so in keeping with that, here's a few Writing Babes of t...

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28 in 28 #9: Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights

<a href="http://www.010.nl/catalogue/book.php?id=817"><b><i>Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights</i></b></a> edited by Netherlands Architecture Institute<br />nai010 Publishers, 2012<br />Hardcover, 304 pages<br /><br /><img alt="28-28_dutch.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/28-28_dutch.jpg" title="Book cover" /><br /><br />The 250 Dutch highlights of the book's title are culled from the archives of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (<a href="http://www.thenewinstitute.nl/">The New Institute</a> as of the first of this year) in Rotterdam. The drawings, models, and photographs that date from the early 1600s to the recent past are split into six chapters: Experimental, Restrained, Curious, Together, Makeable, and Open. Not all are self-explanatory, like the chapter on experiments in form and technique. Restrained refers to rational and business-like design; Curious documents overseas travels and inspiration; Together is about the creation of community at various scales; Makeable deals with grand urban plans; and Open focuses on public buildings. Yes, these chapters provide themes for the various archival objects to fit into, but they also help structure the book—each chapter, sub-chapter, and piece gives a combined number that then keys each one of the 250 highlights to its place in the much larger NAi archive. A helpful index and timeline, both illustrated with thumbnails of the works, provide numerous ways of looking through the book, as well as realizing, for example, how the highlights cluster in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1960s.<br /><br />While the book is focused on revealing how the 250 works express Dutch architecture, culture, and history, it also places a strong emphasis on drawings (by hand), and this is refreshing. I'd say 3/4 of the book is made up of drawings, with the rest comprised of models and photographs. Of course the drawings are varied in terms of media, format (orthographic, perspective, sketch, etc.), and other variables, but they illustrate how the primary Dutch ideas come across through a media that is rarely found in the presentations of architects today. The book can be seen merely as a history of times when architects articulated ideas through hand drawing, but it can also be seen as an embrace of ideas in their fruition. Hand drawing has the ability to convey what ideas are important, leaving out lots of things that can be left to the imagination, unlike the renderings and other drawings created with the help of computers. Sure, there are presentation drawings that make up part of the 250 highlights (what would now be computer generated renderings), but they are accompanied by looser formats that are more rich and rewarding. In this approach to looking at the book, I can't help but wonder what an archive that starts at the beginning of the 21st century will look like in a couple hundred years.<br /><br /><b>US: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan.gif" /></a> CA: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.ca" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-ca.gif" width="90" /></a> UK: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/9462080097/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=9462080097" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.co.uk" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-uk.gif" width="90" /></a></b>

28 in 28 #9: Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights

Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights edited by Netherlands Architecture Institute nai010 Publishers, 2012 Hardcover, 304 pages The 250 Dutc...

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ARGENTINA and ITALY

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mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ARGENTINE LEADERS’ ‘CREATIVE LIES’ ACCORDING TO A LEADING ITALIAN NEWSPAPER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Via Mercopress</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A leading ITALIAN newspaper has published a very critical piece on ARGENTINA, its honesty and what it describes as the succession of ‘creative lies’ in the country’s recent history going back to the myth about Evita Peron, the blood thirsty generals, Maradona, Carlos Menem one peso/one dollar, Cristina Kirchner and the latest clash with the IMF over manipulation of official inflation and GDP stats.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span><span class="watch-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" title="Chronicle of a debt foretold: IMF & Argentina">Chronicle of a debt foretold: IMF & ARGENTINA </span></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rpkGhy7BxXw?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Under the heading of “Creative lies from ARGENTINE friends Maradona, Kirchner and false stats”, the <i>Corriere della Sera</i> begins the article in the front page with the IMF ‘declaration of censure’ and enumerates a succession of events including the famous ‘1 dollar equals 1 Peso’ from President Carlos Menem time that led to the massive default of 2001 and heavy losses, among others, to 300.000 Italian pensioners holders of ARGENTINE sovereign bonds: the so called in ITALY, ‘tango-bonds’.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“ARGENTINE candidates lie to the people, and they know it. They also lie if elected during and after leaving office, and the long tradition of exaggerations, omissions, conspiration and hearsays which always crop up are considered matters of State”, writes Rocco Cotroneo who works for the Italian daily from BRAZIL.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/argentina-country-without-visible.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/04/argentina-country-without-visible.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrHSvY0WOscMgvm8GWCsbHzIxhioWtgiAd9Zxfsl-kthhxJXHy4Ce2TcC6ascgQWNs07IrHiQaotitAIyBa0zE1KjzGxGTzbVnEgvuHWI2uTwRc3Q0fYVVg3HqryeQ5R-loGxFAK-rvvK/s1600/cfk-italy-newspaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrHSvY0WOscMgvm8GWCsbHzIxhioWtgiAd9Zxfsl-kthhxJXHy4Ce2TcC6ascgQWNs07IrHiQaotitAIyBa0zE1KjzGxGTzbVnEgvuHWI2uTwRc3Q0fYVVg3HqryeQ5R-loGxFAK-rvvK/s400/cfk-italy-newspaper.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Cristina Kirchner as her husband Nestor, have been cheating with the inflation stats for years, plus the refusal to publish some stats that are key to the economy, ‘unconceivable for a democracy’ “.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The article then quotes the great ARGENTINE writer Jorge Luis Borges who referring to the Peronists (the largest (<b>only!!!</b>) political movement in ARGENTINA) See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism</a>and the spiritual mentors of Cristina Fernandez said: “they are not good or bad, they are simply incorrigible”.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rocco points out to the current history revisionism, involving Evita Peron, “Cristina Fernandez maximum myth”, full of white lies beginning with her age: “she was not born in 1922, but in 1919 and the Broadway musical exaggerated her background, she was not of a miserable origin but rather belonged to a middle class solid family; however official propaganda did the job”.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As to the military dictatorships they lied to the country most of the time and to the world: the blood-thirsty generals denied torturing and massacring their own people, declared victory over the UK during the Falklands’ war…and Carlos Menem did not lose the habit. He made the ARGENTINE believe during ten years that One Peso was the same as One Dollar until the tragic end with the ‘tango-bonds’</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/82enAuv9gX8?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">And let’s not forget the famous hand of God of Maradona during the match with ENGLAND at the World Cup in 1986, who denied having scored with his fist but rather that it had been ‘the hand of God’.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However in an honest admission Rocco says that in all these lies and cheatings, ITALIANS have a share of blame: “over 70% of the blood circulating in the River Plate comes from our backyard”. See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See: <b><span style="color: blue;">ARGENTINA’S MAIN IMMIGRANT BACKGROUND WAS MOSTLY ITALIAN</span> at: </b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/argentine-evolution.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/argentine-evolution.html</a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read more articles related to ARGENTINA:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/argentina-and-bitcoin.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/argentina-and-bitcoin.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/share-of-cake.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/share-of-cake.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

ARGENTINA and ITALY

ARGENTINE LEADERS’ ‘CREATIVE LIES’ ACCORDING TO A LEADING ITALIAN NEWSPAPER Via Mercopress A leading ITALIAN newspaper has published a very...

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ISRAEL AND CYPRUS: A COMPARISON

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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQiRosJfhK8sv2kIh0BDK46-RZwAt3whe6EEx1ecY_OnEF0bMSfnSYOhclnlLgn84qqpTflAoKtTG1vVvWhOtFdkwPCfUM8lPDgWabYMRlfSvmt9YVTQiN4MDQfN3T9H4DPLCvpDQOLK/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHY ISRAEL SUCCEEDS AND CYPRUS FAILS </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A COMPARISON THAT APPLIES FOR MANY SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES</span></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Theodore Panayotou via Cyprus Mail</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE TWINS of innovation and entrepreneurship, expressed in innovative enterprise are the only tools that could sustainably get us out of the economic recession and set us on the road to recovery and growth. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Technological and business innovation is the ultimate source of productivity growth and competitiveness. ISRAEL has a fraction of the resources per capita we have and fewer than almost any other country in the world and yet it has managed to become the start-up nation of the world. It thrives in the midst of economic crisis, while we wander about aimlessly unable to even pay people’s wages.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL with its technological sophistication and business acumen has managed not only to survive in an area surrounded by enemies that threatened its very existence, but also to become the envy of even the developed countries of EUROPE and AMERICA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL’S LACK OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSISTENT THREATS FROM EXTERNAL FORCES. – A STIMULANT TO INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP?</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In per capita terms, ISRAEL has more start-ups than any other country in the world and attracts 30 times more venture capital than the whole of EUROPE, in addition to the number of companies it has listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the second largest in the world.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The ISRAELIS attribute their tremendous technological, business and economic success to the lack of natural resources and to the outside threat.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CYPRUS is facing similar threats to its national survival but we do not see similar dedication and effort to raise our international competitiveness through research, innovation and entrepreneurship.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Now that we have discovered natural gas, we celebrate madly, while the ISRAELIS are worried that the discovery might undermine what they have achieved through hard work, research, innovation and entrepreneurship.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They fear that it may lead them to new adventures. Could it kill the incentive for continued progress and distort the economy? Could it bring easy riches, complacency and corruption as happened with their ARAB neighbours. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They are debating ways to handle this double-edged sword in order to make it more of a blessing than a curse. They are not prepared to sacrifice even 10 per cent of their research, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship at the altar of the natural gas. If anything, they plan to invest much of their gas revenues in redoubling their research and technological innovation efforts.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thus, in ISRAEL necessity and adversity gave birth to creativity and entrepreneurial culture, but not so in CYPRUS, despite the proximity and similarities of the two countries. Why did ISRAEL do it while we did not?</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“ISRAEL VERSUS CYPRUS”</span></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMUasLhAvJCWirD3IozBf1LOLuG5jgDbYJU7QLqLlt-3J7CPIAvHNEHTNyJjPHdfE4lTdmC6H36mO6Ho7Fv0UM1cwL7UZ8VjRuCNP8F6k0QZ4JGrlU8VPC5LssHx1GsJPcqcPLnzCbtYk/s1600/Innovation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMUasLhAvJCWirD3IozBf1LOLuG5jgDbYJU7QLqLlt-3J7CPIAvHNEHTNyJjPHdfE4lTdmC6H36mO6Ho7Fv0UM1cwL7UZ8VjRuCNP8F6k0QZ4JGrlU8VPC5LssHx1GsJPcqcPLnzCbtYk/s320/Innovation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The reasons are many but almost all have to do with the different mentality and culture which has developed in the two nations since gaining their statehood, basically the past half century.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, an insatiable questioning of authority and an anti-hierarchical ethos dominates political and economic life. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS the 'deification' of power and hierarchy dominates all aspects of life. In ISRAEL, a man is defined by what he can do and how well he does it. In CYPRUS a man is defined by title or position, and based on who you know rather than what you know. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, the teacher acquires appreciation for the student and the manager for the employee. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, it’s the opposite: the student owes respect and allegiance to the teacher, the employee to the manager, and the soldier to the officer regardless of ability, competence and performance.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The ISRAELIS from infancy are trained to challenge the obvious, to ask questions, and to debate and criticise everything, to think creatively and to innovate. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, children are trained to accept what the grownups (parents and teachers) say and not to question it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL 80 per cent of the students ask questions; they challenge everything. In CYPRUS, if you're lucky 20 per cent rarely asks questions and hardly anyone challenges the teacher. Our centralised education system is investing in routine, extrinsic incentives, standardisation and conformity, while in ISRAEL it promotes diversity, intrinsic motivation and spontaneous creativity and imagination, just those skills required by the connected and globalized international economy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, if you're the manager, your authority will be constantly challenged: why should you be the manager of me and not me the manager of you? Therefore, you must constantly prove by your decisions and actions that you deserve the position you hold. Even army officers are challenged by their soldiers. Blind obedience is not required; actually it is frowned upon.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS the opposite happens. Many of the officers in the security forces, and the managers of the wider public sector and  even the private sector, have obtained their position by political favor and connection or based on the number of years of service and not through their own merit. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is then not surprising that they impose their authority by discipline rather than earn it with their performance. Their subordinates know that the only way to climb the ladder is to follow their example, buttering up their superiors and investing in personal and party connections and not in performance and creativity.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WILLINGNESS TO TAKE RISKS</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In contrast to the usual practice in CYPRUS, in ISRAEL subordinates do not run to their superiors to solve problems, but they assume the risk and the responsibility to invent imaginative solutions in real time and on the go. Textbook answers are discouraged and imaginative solutions are sought.  Thus, most innovations are bottom-up, not top-down.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In ISRAEL, military service has become an incubator of innovative companies (startups). Those who haven’t served in the army have a hard time finding work in government and business because they are considered to be "problematic"  and immature, having lost the opportunity of technological training and operational experience offered by military service.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In CYPRUS, military service is considered a necessary evil and a waste of time since neither technological training nor professional development of soldiers takes place, while exemption from service can be achieved with the right connections.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Another important factor in creating innovative enterprises in ISRAEL is the willingness to take risks and an accepting attitude towards failure which entices failed entrepreneurs to use their experience and try again instead of stigmatising and marginalising them. Without tolerating a large number of failures it is impossible to achieve real innovation.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But the failures should be "smart failures". We must distinguish between a well-planned experiment and RUSSIAN roulette. Risks undertaken intelligently and not recklessly result in useful lessons even if the enterprise fails.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Studies have shown that entrepreneurs who failed in their previous company are twice as likely to succeed the next time around compared to those who are starting their first business, and almost the same chance with those who succeeded the first time. Whether they succeed or fail, entrepreneurs make their contribution to the economy. If they succeed, they create new valuable products and services; if they fail, they keep the established entrepreneurs under constant pressure to innovate. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Unfortunately, in CYPRUS failure is stigmatised and the unsuccessful businessman is marginalised. The bankruptcy law is unforgiving and works proactively as a deterrent against any attempt at innovation and entrepreneurship. When profit from success is demonised and failure stigmatised, it is not surprising that high-risk, high-return innovative entrepreneurship is rare in CYPRUS while in ISRAEL it is commonplace and produces miracles.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div>

ISRAEL AND CYPRUS: A COMPARISON

WHY ISRAEL SUCCEEDS AND CYPRUS FAILS  A COMPARISON THAT APPLIES FOR MANY SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES By Theodore Panayotou via Cyprus Mail T...

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Matt Said, Jay Said, Helen Hunt Naked

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Matt speaks, Jay speaks, You listen (kinda).<br /><br />Matt: Helloooooooooooooooooo<br />Jay: *sings* “I wanna sex you up”<br />Matt: Uh<br />Jay: *sings* “You make me feel good”<br />Matt: I do? … Ummm …<br />Jay: *sings* “I wanna rub you down …”<br />Matt: OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH!<br />Jay: Am I making you uncomfortable?<br />Matt: Eve more than usual.<br />Jay: Aww yeah!<br />Matt: STOP! JESUS DUDE!<br />Jay: You know you’re turned on.<br />Matt: I hate you.<br />Jay: That really hurts.<br />Matt: I know, but it was necessary.<br />Jay: I don’t think it was.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQHJ-vWUuF8ndPJTZqqGILE26yMdngBoFsfUwS_FRbPFeXW6M3ao9gUCh1mQyv_kRBHUcwoaXxRboRjFAib1m6CyOr5YqDEOv6OZKaiK2VNXEvQcgIXdADk_8IFuURXpK6x053ExsLAA/s1600/helen-hunt-full-frontal-nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQHJ-vWUuF8ndPJTZqqGILE26yMdngBoFsfUwS_FRbPFeXW6M3ao9gUCh1mQyv_kRBHUcwoaXxRboRjFAib1m6CyOr5YqDEOv6OZKaiK2VNXEvQcgIXdADk_8IFuURXpK6x053ExsLAA/s400/helen-hunt-full-frontal-nude.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>Matt: Hey. Whatever happened to Helen Hunt?<br />Jay: Random question is random!<br />Matt: Well, for some reason I thought of her this morning.<br />Jay: She was great in “As Good as it Gets”<br />Matt: One of my favorite movies.<br />Jay: Anyway, Helen Hunt?<br />Matt: I love her and she just disappeared.<br />Jay: She just had a movie come out this year.<br />Matt: Really? What was it about.<br />Jay: She plays some kind of sex therapist.<br />Matt: Really?<br />Jay: Wait … Actually a sex SURROGATE.<br />Matt: REAAAAAAAALLLLLLY?<br />Jay: And ... She gets all kinds of nekkid in that movie!<br />Matt: Nice! Totally nude?<br />Jay: Full-Frontal dude! And she looks amazing for her age.<br />Matt: Her age?<br />Jay: Yeah, she’s like late 50’s near 60 right?<br />Matt: No way!<br />Jay: *checks Google* She’s 49.<br />Matt: Yeah, see? Not nearly that old.<br />Jay: She doesn’t look that great for her age then.<br />Matt: Now that was hurtful!<br />Jay: Ha! I’m kidding! She’s gorgeous.<br />Matt: Damn right!<br /><br />Jay: Got any ideas for the show?<br />Matt: Nope. You?<br />Jay: We could talk about writing again.<br />Matt: That’s not bad.<br />Jay: Actually last time we talked more about books and authors and not writing.<br />Matt: Right. We can talk about OUR writing.<br />Jay: Things that inspire us.<br />Matt: Different styles.<br />Jay: Our hopes<br />Matt: And dreams!<br />Jay: The whole writing process.<br />Matt: It fits with my post on <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-are-words-for.html" target="_blank">Friday</a>.<br />Jay: And all our “Favorite and Least Favorite Words” stuff.<br />Matt: Oh God it’s brilliant!<br />Jay: So good it hurts.<br />Matt: Don’t get weird on me again.<br />Jay: I gotta be me.<br />Matt: Well … I guess.<br />Jay: Thanks.<br />Matt: Whatever.<br />Jay: Okay, we’re all set!<br />Matt: Monster show coming up!<br />Jay: Should I sing on the show?<br />Matt: Never.<br />Jay: So, Sooooo hurtful.<br />Matt: It’s for your own good.<br />Jay: I guess.<br />Matt: Okay, let’s do it!<br />Jay: AWESOME!<br /><br />Okay kids. More brilliance in action. Or something like that. Anyway, listen to “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/02/10/on-writing-deux" target="_blank">On Writing Deux</a>” Saturday night at 11 PM ET on I’m With Stupid!!!<br /><br /></div>

Matt Said, Jay Said, Helen Hunt Naked

Matt speaks, Jay speaks, You listen (kinda). Matt: Helloooooooooooooooooo Jay: *sings* “I wanna sex you up” Matt: Uh Jay: *sings* “You make ...

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