Obama Romney Town Hall Debate...Cheetos Eatin' Americans Probably Missed Their Points

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Last night, I didn't watch the Presidential Town Hall style debate live.  Well, not on TV anyway.  I never watch debates live on TV any longer.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_9mDs5vE0j34Qrvrux6nxDUeOaxo5x_RIcllfKij4BgCriRs5hoeE9Lhn_kO9Va6kt3xMPSqcAQ7CH5XAygMZ_DCcBNURdLndfZAQDEmI0kKOwsUBqm1iaSBai7as_eUDg9QXZm7loc/s1600/Romney+Obama+Town+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_9mDs5vE0j34Qrvrux6nxDUeOaxo5x_RIcllfKij4BgCriRs5hoeE9Lhn_kO9Va6kt3xMPSqcAQ7CH5XAygMZ_DCcBNURdLndfZAQDEmI0kKOwsUBqm1iaSBai7as_eUDg9QXZm7loc/s400/Romney+Obama+Town+Hall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Sure, I go back and watch the replay on TV, sometimes more than once, but the only way to most enjoyably and in real time, “watch” a Presidential debate, is on Twitter and Facebook.<br /><br />I tell ya, people.  It’s more exciting than it would be to watch a strap-on wearing Scarlett Johansson doing Eva Longoria doggie style in my living room.<br /><br />Okay, okay…that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Lordy, Lordy…<br /><br />Folks on Twitter and Facebook, be they celebrity or average American, certainly know how to oscillate statements made by their candidate of choice and turn a boring diatribe of duality into an overly-frothed milkshake of cyber stupidity and uber-rollicking entertainment.<br /><br />I swear people.  Americans are some of the stupidest, most intellectually rigid, non-thinking for themselves motherfuckers in the world.<br /><br />Yeah I said, that, and I am even throwing Americans in with stupid, fanatical Muslims who blow people up because they might get laid because of it.<br /><br />I know, I know…You’re saying:<br /><br /><i>“Matt-Man, you really believe that overly excitable Americans who are blinded to a political party are just as bad as over-zealous, misinterpreting Muslims who bastardize the Quran?”</i><br /><br />Well, minus the killing and murderous tendencies that some of the aforementioned Muslims do, yes, as far as intellect and self-determination goes, yes I am saying just that.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKi4QfRH0xTp8J5gOlGjVRhYeLPfPZl1aZxdpen45n8KfAuZMV9qH1bRCYBPSz53wL9rVy1HElHJ9zibZ8-8C2dLFYI26qADkavStMLuBIpxY0RqVZ63yrxOjhx-9VxnZfvNwbOkHTakU/s1600/facebook-twitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKi4QfRH0xTp8J5gOlGjVRhYeLPfPZl1aZxdpen45n8KfAuZMV9qH1bRCYBPSz53wL9rVy1HElHJ9zibZ8-8C2dLFYI26qADkavStMLuBIpxY0RqVZ63yrxOjhx-9VxnZfvNwbOkHTakU/s320/facebook-twitter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />After watching the past two Presidential debates through the virtual eyes of Twitter and Facebook I have but one thing to say…<br /><br />America?  As a people we in general, are fucking stupid, short-sighted, myopic, incurious, and most of all, intellectually lazy.<br /><br />I was avidly reading all the tweets and Facebook entries during the debate last night, and well…As I was laughing, I was also getting a dry mouth and sore throat due to me sitting here with mouth agape being stupefied by the comments from people over the debate performances.<br /><br />Sean Hannity was tweeting that this was the greatest debate performance ever by Romney…Ha, Romney got his ass kicked.<br /><br />Ed Schultz was excitedly jacking off over Obama’s performance during this debate, yet never acknowledged that during the first debate, Obama got his ass kicked by Romney.<br /><br />Both guys have their heads up their asses, and well, I wish their heads would stay there, so they’d shut the fuck up.<br /><br />Gregt Gutfeld was adoringly screaming like a schoolgirl on Twitter in hopes that Romney would notice his no-talent ass, and Michael Moore was cheering on Obama while being to the world of journalism what Bartolo Colon is to the world of professional athletes.<br /><br />And you?  The simple, every day voter, tweeter, and Facebook poster?<br /><br />Oy…<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEefBqK47OzMJWetzpJd4OsMfYWeVXzIIEta564fl9w8ytZhovjGoGmg1-WP42law7q7uOLXbx5zpAE90VqFHhyHRB5SnlJL57c2J_c5EYRkGtu5tWshkozwSeS-BAX5MSdHNB9doFxFg/s1600/Stupid+Voter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEefBqK47OzMJWetzpJd4OsMfYWeVXzIIEta564fl9w8ytZhovjGoGmg1-WP42law7q7uOLXbx5zpAE90VqFHhyHRB5SnlJL57c2J_c5EYRkGtu5tWshkozwSeS-BAX5MSdHNB9doFxFg/s320/Stupid+Voter.jpg" width="309" /></a>Forty to Fifty percent of you are no different than the vapid, talking heads that I mentioned.<br /><br />You, like them…You have preconceived notions, a head full of what others have told you, and no concept of personal thought, of personal reasoning as to who or what is best for this country.<br /><br />This election like all elections in recent memory, has become merely a sport…a game…a chance to be on the winning side.<br /><br />I think President Obama, summed this up well, and has caught hell for saying it, but he was right…<br /><br /><i>“You can’t change Washington from the inside.”</i><br /><br />No, no you can’t.  Not when the citizens of this country keep electing representatives based upon party rather than the ability to govern.<br /><br />It’s sad, and knowing how bad it has gotten, we should change the motto on our coins.<br /><br />We should change the motto from E Pulribus Unum to E Pluribus Stupid.<br /><br />And Jayman and I will discuss that, and many other things today LIVE at 11 AM ET on IWS Radio which you can catch by clicking<i><span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/10/17/listen-or-not-were-number-one" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">HERE</span></a></span></i><span style="color: blue;">.</span><br /><br />Cheers!!<br />Matt-Man<br /><i><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a></i><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><i>@MattMan_IWS</i></span></a></div>

Obama Romney Town Hall Debate...Cheetos Eatin' Americans Probably Missed Their Points

Last night, I didn't watch the Presidential Town Hall style debate live.  Well, not on TV anyway.  I never watch debates live on TV any ...

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The Doctor Can See You Now. Really, Right Now. - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Often the worst part of a visit to the doctor isn't the awkward hospital gown, needle sticks or embarrassing physical exams — it's the drawn-out wait, camped out in the reception room in the company of sick patients and old magazines.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">During a particularly long wait to see his dermatologist, Parker Oks, 18, thought there had to be a better way.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"They know approximately how long an appointment will take," said Mr. Oks, a freshman at Boston University. "But the problem is that they don't know how long it will actually take."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">That realization led Mr. Oks to create <a title="Web site" href="https://www.appointmentstatus.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Appointment Status</a>, a Web site devoted to improving appointment efficiency and providing patients with information to avoid long waits. Working with three teenagers from Staten Island Technical High School, where he had gone, Mr. Oks aims to make it easier for patients to schedule appointments — and to find out how far behind the doctor may be before settling into a waiting room chair.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">It's one of several innovations meant to help patients. While many digital developments — electronic medical records and mobile medical encyclopedias — have streamlined doctors' work, new tools for patients are starting to hit cellphones and the Internet offering help in keeping track of medications, recording <a title="In-depth reference and news articles about Pulse." href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/test/pulse/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">heart rate</a> and glucose levels and managing personal and family medical history, among other tasks.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Appointment Status is designed to assist patients before they even take a seat in a waiting room — a sore point for many patients, as doctors well know. In a survey conducted by the doctor-review Web site <a href="http://www.vitals.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Vitals</a>, patients reported an average wait time of 21 minutes to see a doctor. Mississippi had the longest reported wait time, at just over 25 minutes.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Some patients say that's about as long a wait as they will tolerate.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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'm willing to wait to see a doctor for about 20 minutes before I go talk to the receptionist, and after a 45-minute wait, I always leave and reschedule," said Maureen Green, a journalist from Syracuse. "Everybody's time is valuable, not just the doctor's time."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Developers and entrepreneurs are starting to tap into this frustration, as well as other rifts in doctor-patient relations. Mr. Oks said his next step is a mobile app to inform patients about delays.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Another service, <a title="Web site" href="http://www.zocdoc.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">ZocDoc</a>, is also meant to help patients save time with doctor visits. Created by Cyrus Massoumi, Dr. Oliver Kharraz and Nick Ganju, ZocDoc allows patients to peer into a doctor's appointment book and schedule a visit through the Web.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">ZocDoc has already been expanded with a new tool, ZocDoc Check-In, made available last month to help eliminate another cause of waiting room tedium: filling out a clipboard of forms.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"You're always handed a stack of forms to fill out when you enter a doctor's office," said Mr. Massoumi, the chief executive of ZocDoc. "And all the information is 80 percent the same as the last time you filled it out."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">ZocDoc Check-In also enters patient's personal information in other doctors' forms, so there is no need to fill out a name and date of birth multiple times.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">While these kinds of tools are becoming more common — ZocDoc is now being used in more than a thousand cities by doctors in more than 40 specialties — Mr. Oks is facing some resistance to his Appointment Status app.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"A lot of the doctors I've approached are set in their ways and skeptical," Mr. Oks said. "We've found some offices don't even have an Internet connection for their receptionists."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">ZocDoc may have caught on because it helps doctors as well as patients.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"It's a win-win," Mr. Massoumi said. "Patients need convenience in scheduling a doctor's appointment, and from a doctor's standpoint, ZocDoc brings them patients and helps office staff manage their time."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Nevertheless, Mr. Massoumi said it took him a while to reach the point that doctors contact him about obtaining the technology.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Dr. Kamal Ramani, a general practitioner in Manhattan, said he adopted ZocDoc three years ago, when he moved his office and was looking for a way to save time and money.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"My staff doesn't have to be on the phone with patients suggesting time slots," Dr. Ramani said. "It streamlines the appointment-making process on both ends."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">At the same time, some new technology that was developed for more efficient medical care delivery has some benefits for patients as well. For instance, despite widespread concerns about security and the potential for errors, electronic medical records can save patients time and improve communication.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Dr. Steven K. Magid, a rheumatologist whose office is at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, said that initially he was worried about the time commitment needed to enter all of a patient's information digitally, but now he sees the benefits.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">"It's faster for me to write a list of medications on a piece of paper than to do it on the computer," Dr. Magid said. "But on the back end I save time because everything is legible and everyone is working off the same list."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Patients' treatment instructions are clearly typed out, generating fewer calls to his office — and to him. And when patients still are confused or a new matter arises, his staff can address the problem without him by looking up the information in the digital record.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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); ">Eventually, say some, patients will expect their doctors to adopt these kinds of timesaving tools.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; 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; ">"There's a tipping point," Dr. Magid said. "There is going to be a shift."</p></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLG6Sni5MjsbC7KYvOrP4n59p2LKU0WXr1WD41iiPXIjZEcD6QQS7pfv8kiO6SDcRjVNY6SlZMwoOMGc7iTtcGhg9R3LR_mcdDfjA9m47lsZehWQ4ZEqy7MENAZCgKABE_89I1mlPRqw/s1600/16APPO-articleInline-745596.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5800089821569849378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLG6Sni5MjsbC7KYvOrP4n59p2LKU0WXr1WD41iiPXIjZEcD6QQS7pfv8kiO6SDcRjVNY6SlZMwoOMGc7iTtcGhg9R3LR_mcdDfjA9m47lsZehWQ4ZEqy7MENAZCgKABE_89I1mlPRqw/s320/16APPO-articleInline-745596.jpg" /></a></font></div></div><div><br></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/the-doctor-can-see-you-now-really-right-now/?">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/the-doctor-can-see-you-now-really-right-now/?</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Doctor Can See You Now. Really, Right Now. - NYTimes.com

Often the worst part of a visit to the doctor isn't the awkward hospital gown, needle sticks or embarrassing physical exams — it's t...

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BATTERED

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Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, I was at one of our Neon City hospitals attempting to visit a hospitalized deacon. I failed. She had already been discharged. But there may yet have been a reason for me to be there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I left through the ER doors, a woman outside the ER called me. “Sir, are you a priest? Could you help me? The hospital says the police should take me home but the police said the hospital would do it and left me here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a jumbled way, she told me her story. She had been raped, beaten, and robbed by her ex-husband in a parking lot. Now here she was. The word “battered” is so apt for battered women. Bruises, swollen face, scrapes on her face, arms, and knee. She needed a ride. She stood as if her back was in spasm. She needed help just stepping down from the sidewalk to the asphalt. Yes, “battered” was a good word. “Broken” would have worked as well. Her mind seemed dazed. She couldn’t focus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I took her to the pharmacy to get her muscle relaxants and anxiety medication, then helped her find her car. The doors had been kicked in on both sides, the side view mirrors were smashed and dangled like broken wings, one window was broken out. But she drove it away.</span> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She had no family in Nevada other than her 7-year-old daughter. Most of her income from working as a cosmetologist was gone. No she did not ask me for money. She just wanted a ride. I wondered whether, if she had been more of a princess, the police would have had time to take her back to her home or her car at least. But she wasn’t. So she was stranded.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am glad I was there. It didn’t cost me much to do her a little good after others had done her so much harm. But what if I hadn’t been there by the providential grace of God? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is the level of care we provide to battered women while the Violence Against Women Act is still in force. But its survival beyond the current fiscal year is a tough battle in Washington, See, <a href="http://www.peoplesworld.org/gop-stalls-violence-against-women-act-renewal/">http://www.peoplesworld.org/gop-stalls-violence-against-women-act-renewal/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevada leads the nation in per capital cases of women killed in domestic violence. How that issue has failed to make headlines in the current political season is a wonder and an amazement to me. Protecting women from brutal assaults, prosecuting the perpetrators, and providing some modicum of support to the victims – at least a ride home from the hospital – strikes me as the bottom line for civil society.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--EndFragment-->

BATTERED

Today, I was at one of our Neon City hospitals attempting to visit a hospitalized deacon. I failed. She had already been discha...

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Hospitals Ditch Formula Samples to Promote Breast-Feeding - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For years, virtually every new mother has been sent home from the hospital with a gift bag full of free product samples, including infant formula.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Now health authorities and <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/breast-feeding-mothers-self-care/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Breast-feeding mothers - self-care." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">breast-feeding</a> advocates are leading a nationwide effort to ban formula samples, which often come in stylish bags with formula company logos. Health experts say they can sway women away from breast-feeding.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">As of 2011, nearly half of about 2,600 hospitals in a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had stopped giving formula samples to breast-feeding mothers, up from a quarter in 2007. The survey did not ask about distributing samples to non-nursing mothers.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Recently, 24 hospitals in Oklahoma agreed to a ban, and Massachusetts became the second state, after Rhode Island, in which all hospitals halted free samples. In New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg started the "<a title="Web site" href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/ms/latchonnyc.shtml" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Latch On NYC</a>" campaign, urging hospitals to stop giveaways and monitor formula like other medical supplies, stored in locked cabinets and accounted for when mothers have medical needs or request it; 28 of 40 hospitals have agreed.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The debate over formula samples isn't about whether breast-feeding is healthier. Even formula companies acknowledge that "<a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/breast-milk/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Breast milk." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">breast milk</a> is the gold standard; it's the best for babies," said Christopher Perille, a spokesman for Mead Johnson, which makes Enfamil formula.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Breast-feeding decreases babies' risk of ear infections, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/diarrhea/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Diarrhea." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">diarrhea</a>, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/asthma/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Asthma." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">asthma</a> and other diseases, and may reduce risk of <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/morbid-obesity/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Obesity." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">obesity</a> and slightly improve I.Q., experts say. The question is whether samples tempt mothers who could breast-feed exclusively for the recommended six months to use formula when they're exhausted or discouraged if nursing proves difficult. The C.D.C., the World Health Organization and breast-feeding advocates say samples turn hospitals into formula sales agents and imply that hospitals think formula is as healthy as breast-feeding. Health experts warn that even small amounts of formula dilute breast-feeding's benefits by altering intestinal micro-organisms and decreasing breast milk supply, since women produce less when babies nurse less. They say that while some women face serious breast-feeding challenges, more could nurse longer with greater support, and that formula samples can weaken that support system.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"We're not anti-formula," said Dr. Melissa Bartick, a founder of <a title="Web site" href="http://banthebags.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Ban the Bags</a>, a breast-feeding advocacy group, which reports that one-fifth of the country's nearly 3,300 birthing programs have taken more comprehensive steps of banning samples and logo-emblazoned bags for all mothers. "If a woman makes an informed choice to formula-feed, the hospital should provide that formula. But hospitals shouldn't be marketing it."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The industry and some mothers say samples provide a healthy alternative and offer relief if nursing causes pain, fatigue or frustration. They disagree that samples can shake the resolve to breast-feed exclusively.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Babies grow fine on it," said Mardi Mountford, executive vice president of the <a title="Web site" href="http://www.infantformula.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">International Formula Council</a>, who breast-fed her baby exclusively. "And moms tell us they like getting the samples."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ann Roberts, 32, a book buyer in Atlanta, said she had wanted to breast-feed exclusively, but found it painful and her daughter was underweight. The sample "gave me peace of mind," she said. "It would have added stress to have to send my husband to the grocery store to buy formula." She continued supplementing with formula, and like many women who formula-feed, bought the brand the hospital gave out. "We are using that brand because we got the sample," she said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Do samples sway women to use formula in the first place? Some studies have found that women who receive samples do not breast-feed as long as those who don't; others found no significant connection. People on either side of the sample issue agree that hospitals should support breast-feeding in many ways.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The campaign to ban samples stirs strong feelings among mothers, including those who are health care providers.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Megan Caron, 27, a nurse in Massachusetts, felt a sample coaxed her to capitulate when breast-feeding her daughter became challenging. "If it wasn't there, I think I would have tried a little bit more to get breast-feeding down," she said. "And once they get formula, it's hard to get them back."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Rachel Freedman, 34, an oncologist, had a different experience after giving birth this year at her hospital, Brigham and Women's in Boston. It long ago banned formula samples. But Dr. Freedman, who said she intended to breast-feed but had difficulty, concluded that samples could be "nice when you're a mother and you get into a pinch in the middle of the night and you're exhausted." When her milk did not come in, nurses encouraged her not to give up. But after hours of trying, "we broke down" and gave formula, she said. Her milk came in two weeks later, but not enough to nurse exclusively. "Maybe I wasn't patient enough, but at the time I thought he was starving," Dr. Freedman said of her son.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Nicole Leopardi, 30, a pediatrician, said the sample she got after giving birth at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, N.J., in 2006, helped influence her to supplement with formula when she became worried she wasn't producing enough milk. "Since it was available, I think I probably kept doing it those early days," she said. "I was under the misconception that that would help the baby be more satisfied." This year, Dr. Leopardi gave birth at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where she is affiliated. Cooper recently banned formula samples, and she said its unequivocal breast-feeding support helped her keep nursing.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At Cooper, where 70 percent of mothers were formula-feeding, the ban improved breast-feeding rates significantly. In a study, Dr. Lori Winter, a <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/pediatrics/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about pediatrics." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">pediatrics</a> professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, introduced hospital bags without formula logos or samples. At first, she was stunned to find that mothers were receiving formula samples anyway. Nurses were slipping them in, she said, because "they didn't believe these babies weren't going to starve. Cooper began storing formula in locked cabinets and having nurses document when mothers had medical needs or requested it. Now, 70 percent breast-feed in the hospital.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Other hospitals say they do not believe samples discourage breast-feeding. At Virtua, which runs two maternity hospitals in suburban New Jersey, Dr. Alka Kohli, vice president of medical affairs, said officials would re-evaluate formula giveaways. But she said that because of Virtua's breast-feeding programs, "despite the fact that formula sits around, our breast-feeding rates climb every year."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Ban the Bags" campaigns have seeped into politics. Mayor Bloomberg's critics call "Latch On NYC" another nanny-state initiative. Breast-feeding advocates are criticizing Mitt Romney's 2006 decisions as Massachusetts governor to pressure the state's Public Health Council to reverse a ban on formula giveaways, and replace three council members who objected.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">When UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester eliminated samples in 2005, people complained, said Dr. Ellen Delpapa, chief of maternal-fetal medicine. UMass partly retrenched, giving coupons for free formula to women not exclusively breast-feeding. Only when more Massachusetts hospitals stopped samples did UMass reimpose its ban.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Some hospitals say manufacturers make banning giveaways harder. Dr. Winter called it "a big production to disengage companies from flooding us with these bags," adding, "I was reported to the chief of neonatology because the companies said I refused to meet with them."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At Beverly Hospital, the last Massachusetts hospital to ban samples, companies "were very infiltrated," said Rebecca Gadon, director of maternal, newborn and <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">cancer</a> care. She arrived in 2008 to find formula companies giving the staff gifts and paying for continuing education classes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Hospitals often also receive all formula supplies free from manufacturers, providing incentives to cooperate. Many hospitals continue to accept supplies after banning samples, although the C.D.C. and other agencies discourage this. UMass Memorial still accepts Similac and Enfamil, and while it is considering buying formula, "when they tell us how much we're getting for free, that's worth a lot," Dr. Delpapa said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The chief of the C.D.C.'s <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/food-guide-pyramid/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Diet and Nutrition." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">nutrition</a> branch, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, said he was concerned enough that he had "spoken to people at formula companies suggesting they change their marketing practices."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">He also tells hospitals to buy formula, with competitive bidding like for other supplies. "We shouldn't be receiving free giveaways from pharmaceutical companies, we shouldn't be receiving free giveaways from formula companies," Dr. Grummer-Strawn said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Neither the Formula Council nor Mead Johnson would discuss marketing specifically. Abbott Nutrition, which makes Similac, deferred questions to the Formula Council. Mr. Perille of Mead Johnson said factors like birthrate and efficiency were more important to business success than sending samples to hospitals or pediatricians' offices.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Still, hospitals are "the ideal setting for new mothers to get information about feeding options," Mr. Perille said. And "if they're going to formula-feed, we would like them to choose our brand."</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/health/hospitals-ditch-formula-samples-to-promote-breast-feeding.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/health/hospitals-ditch-formula-samples-to-promote-breast-feeding.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Hospitals Ditch Formula Samples to Promote Breast-Feeding - NYTimes.com

For years, virtually every new mother has been sent home from the hospital with a gift bag full of free product samples, including infant fo...

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Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library

<strong>Bookkeeper - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">New Britain Public Library</span></strong>. Part-time position – morning hours. Coordinates accounts payable and receivable, including internal accounts, material budget, monthly reports, etc. Requires accuracy, dependability, and good communication skills. Prefer an AA Degree in accounting studies or a high school graduate with considerable bookkeeping experience. Send letter of interest, resume, and 3 work references to Business Manager, New Britain Public Library, 20 High Street, New Britain, CT 06051 or <a href="mailto:limberger@nbpl.info">limberger@nbpl.info</a>. Applications will be reviewed as received. EOE. No telephone calls.

Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library

Bookkeeper - New Britain Public Library . Part-time position – morning hours. Coordinates accounts payable and receivable, including in...

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ADFF NY 2012

Thursday is the opening night of the 2012 New York <a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/ny2012"><b>Architecture and Design Film Festival</b></a> at Tribeca Cinemas Theater, with a special screening at Time Warner Center.<br /><br /><img alt="archtober2012-adff.jpg" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/archtober2012-adff.jpg" title="Architecture and Design Film Festival" /><br /><br />For a schedule of films being screened in the four-day festival, <a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/view_by_title">visit the ADFF website</a>. Some of the highlights include <a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=347"><i>16 Acres</i></a> (opening night at Time Warner), <a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=594"><i>Coast Modern</i></a>, <a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=267"><i>Design Is One: Lella and Massimo Vignelli</i></a> (opening night at Tribeca Cinemas), <i><a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=283">Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line</a></i>, <i><a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=426">Mendelsohn’s Incessant Visions</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://adfilmfest.com/portal/index.php?mid=films_ny2012&document_srl=314">Modern Tide: Midcentury Architecture on Long Island</a></i>.

ADFF NY 2012

Thursday is the opening night of the 2012 New York Architecture and Design Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas Theater, with a special screeni...

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Book Brief #11: A Bunch of Journals

<i>"Book Briefs" are an ongoing series of posts with two- or three-sentence first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that make their way into my library. These briefs are not full-blown reviews, but they are a way to share more books worthy of attention than can find their way into reviews on my <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/search/label/book-review">daily</a> or <a href="http://www.archidose.org/books/books.html">weekly</a> pages.</i><br /><br /><img alt="BB11-1.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/BB11-1.jpg" title="Covers" /><br /><br /><b>1: <a href="http://www.mascontext.com/14-communication-summer-2012/"><span style="font-style: italic;">MAS Context 14: Communication</span></a> | MAS Studio | Summer 2012 </b><br />MAS Context is a quarterly journal created by Chicago's MAS Studio, led by Editor in Chief Iker Gil. The main idea driving the journal is the multidisciplinary responses to a particular topic for each issue. Those responding to issue 14's theme of communication include the <a href="http://welcometocup.org/">Center for Urban Pedagogy</a>, <a href="http://klaustoon.wordpress.com/">Klaus</a>, <a href="http://www.fashionarchitecturetaste.com/">Sam Jacob</a>, <a href="http://www.craightonberman.com/">Craighton Berman</a>, Oriol Tarragó, and a bunch of international curators. Respectively they are coming at communication from civic policy, architectural criticism/cartooning, architectural practice, illustration, sound design, and exhibitions; and that's about half of the issue. <i>Communication</i> is a good balance of text (essays, interviews) and images (illustrations, visual essays) that are well-dispersed throughout the issue to make it a good browse and read. The theme is open-ended enough to invite varied responses from the contributors, but it's also a topic that is timely, what with more (and faster) means of communication at our disposal than ever before. Consensus is hardly to be expected, but the issue illustrates that what we communicate is as important (if not more so) than how. <br /><br /><b>2: <a href="http://www.candidejournal.net/current-issue/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Candide — Journal for Architectural Knowledge — 5</span></a> | Department of Architecture Theory RWTH Aachen | 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8415391056?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=8415391056&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a></b><br /><i>Candide</i> is a bilingual (German, English) journal that is published twice a year. Unlike <i>MAS Context</i> no theme is given, but within the pages of each issue are five sections: Essay, Analysis, Project, Encounters, Fiction; this has been consistent since the <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2010/04/candide-round-table.html">first issue</a>. In the fifth issue, Essay and Fiction feature short texts by a number of contributors. For Encounters, Ian Pepper examines <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usbdevice/916037659/">Richard Serra's sculpture</a> appended to the end of Robert Maillart's viaduct in Grandfey, an installation I was not familiar with but wish I knew of before my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/archidose/sets/72157631222068264/">recent trip to Switzerland</a>. Claire Zimmerman traces "architectural knowledge from Rudolf Wittkower to Reyner Banham," or from "legibility of form" to "memorability as an image." But the highlight for me is Project: Marcus Garvey Park Village, the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies' only realized building. The thorough and multi-faceted history and oral history by Kim Förster reveals not only the commendable architectural design but also the greater intentions of the Institute and other parties (MoMA, UDC). Elsewhere the project might not be deserving of such attention, but it's a fascinating story that also captures New York City and the broader architectural culture in the 1970s.<br /><br /><b>3: <a href="http://www.oasejournal.nl/en/Issues/87"><span style="font-style: italic;">OASE #87: Alan Colquhoun</span></a> | OASE Foundation and nai010 Publishers | 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9056628550?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=9056628550&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a></b><br />It's been many years since I've picked up my copy of Alan Colquhoun's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UNU59O?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B004UNU59O"><i>Essays in Architectural Criticism</i></a> (Opposition Books, 1981) to read his takes on modern architecture, Le Corbusier, typology, or Robert Venturi. While those topics rise to the fore among his writings, what I never realized until #87 of OASE was the quality of Colquhoun's architectural output. At the beginning of this journal looking at three sides of the man—architecture, history, criticism—is a short section documenting some of his projects, most with Colquhoun, Miller and Partners. What follows are essays by Kenneth Frampton (who introduced the collection of essays from 1981), Owen Hatherley, Michiel Riedijk, Sanislas von Moos, and others on Le Corbusier, typology, and so forth. The issue ends with the editors interviewing Colquhoun about his career and his views on how criticism, history, and theory have evolved in the last five decades.<br /><br /><img alt="BB11-2.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/BB11-2.jpg" title="Covers" /><br /><br /><b>4: <a href="http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/future-city"><span style="font-style: italic;">Journal of International Affairs: The Future of the City</span></a> | Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs | Spring/Summer 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007WF1T7Y?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B007WF1T7Y&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a></b><br />The year 2012 marks the 65th anniversary of Columbia's <i>Journal of International Affairs</i>, which started after World War II as "a forum for exploring topics of global concern." Based on the longstanding belief that "innovative solutions to contemporary problems of international affairs demand interdisciplinary solutions," this issued devoted to the city pulls together architects, sociologists, economists, politicians, and academics of various stripes. Not surprisingly, the writing is quite academic, but a number of interviews (with Rem Koolhaas, Ricky Burdett, Rahul Mehrota, and others) are a plain-spoken alternative to some of the density. The essays and interviews appropriately cover a global context of cities: China, New York, Paris, and Singapore, to name a few. People interested in the future of cities will find much of interest and value in what can ultimately be seen collectively as a positive outlook on urbanism this century. <br /><br /><b>5: <a href="http://www.kerbjournal.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kerb 16: Future Cities</span></a> | RMIT University School of Architecture + Design | 2008 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AP3YCK?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B001AP3YCK&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a></b><i> </i><br /><i>Kerb</i>, "a progressive design journal focused on contemporary landscape architecture issues from an international and national perspective," is celebrating its 20th issue this year. Issue 16, which I picked up recently in a remainder bin, is focused on "future cities," a broad topic that is surveyed by some familiar names (Alan Berger, Michael Van Valkenburgh, Arakawa + Gins, Arup) among others not as well known. While four years old, the issue's essays are still timely, looking at sustainable urbanism, sprawl, density, and other bits of urbanism. Flipping through it takes me back to Urban Design grad school the year before the issue came out. It's a solid collection of contributions that's very on-topic and ambitious in breadth.

Book Brief #11: A Bunch of Journals

"Book Briefs" are an ongoing series of posts with two- or three-sentence first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books t...

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I Love Conspiracy Theorists

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Hola conspiracy theorists! I’m a magnet for weirdos  freaks, creeps, punks, geeks, sportos, motorheads, dweebs, dorks, sluts, butt-heads and mentally unstable. I’m not complaining because that’s what makes life interesting. Also, I often times have very serious concerns about my own mental well-being until I meet one of these people and I feel better about myself. Anyway, people feel free to share their conspiracy theories with me all the time. I thought I would share a few of them with you guys.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KDVuXLTiumNtYUqGgwU55nz42eh6kn-ilfjZzOaUzcfCr2NtoLVlPgt9Aeux8K0IiKJ-5Vgxm6_i6-qZ7y0Jz_dpvtNVgGdlPhmuBItnmVS91v2k0bix3dARJW82D027SFVfg9EDovg/s1600/Tin+Foil+Hat+Conspiracy+Jay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KDVuXLTiumNtYUqGgwU55nz42eh6kn-ilfjZzOaUzcfCr2NtoLVlPgt9Aeux8K0IiKJ-5Vgxm6_i6-qZ7y0Jz_dpvtNVgGdlPhmuBItnmVS91v2k0bix3dARJW82D027SFVfg9EDovg/s320/Tin+Foil+Hat+Conspiracy+Jay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Space Junkie:</b> I was walking into Walmart one very hot summer day and there was a truck driver right next to me. I gave him the bro-nod and said “hi” to him and he then asked me “hot enough for ya?” I answered in the affirmative and he then said “I tell you what! If they don’t stop shootin’ stuff off into outer space, they’re gonna make it too damn hot to live here on this planet.”<br /><br />I told him I always thought it had something to do with the positioning of the Earth and Sun during the summer months here in the Northern Hemisphere. “Well, that’s what they tell us, isn’t it?” was his response as he shook his head in bitter disappointment that I had fallen victim to the government weather propaganda machine.<br /><br /><b>Miss Independent:</b> I met a coworker’s mother once who spent every single day of her life defending American Independence from the threat posed by the United Nations. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that the U.N. was working to take over America first and then the rest of the world would fall into line under a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT! In fact, for a while in early 1992 she was sure that the great U.N. Coup was underway right under our noses.<br /><br />“If you drive past the National Guard building near the airport, coming from Highway 65, really slow” she told me in hushed tones “and look behind the building … *looks around to see if anyone is listening* … you will see two white Jeeps with blue ‘U.N.’ lettering on them.”<br /><br />I stared at her slack-jawed with wide eyes and loudly whispered “NO SHIT?!?” She nodded knowingly so that I knew that she understood how much fear I was in and she then shushed me in case anyone was listening in. <br /><br /><b>Sovereign Citizen:</b> This guy was my neighbor for a while back in the day. He had a new cell phone and was talking about how he could sign up for alerts from the Power Company and Cable Company when there are outages and stuff. I told him he could also get emergency messages in case of bad weather or even terrorists attacks. Before I could even finish talking he was shaking his head.<br /><br />“I’m not giving the government my phone number dude. No damn way that’s happening!” He fired back. “Hell, I refuse to even give them my social security number when they ask for it on different forms. They just don’t need to have any kind of access to me and my life like that.”  I asked him how giving them his phone number would hurt he replied “If they get my phone number, they can track me pretty easily.”<br /><br />And there are lots and lots more. Most of them pushing some variation of the U.N. takeover of America and even a few who told me about Mexico taking Texas back after the Latino Power Structure takes over the Texas and federal governments. And, there was the barber who explained that all of our problems can be traced to “bad Americans” buying all these foreign cars. Like I said, I love each and every one of these people and thank them for entertaining me so much over the years.<br /><br />Jayman<br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><br /><br /></div>

I Love Conspiracy Theorists

Hola conspiracy theorists! I’m a magnet for weirdos  freaks, creeps, punks, geeks, sportos, motorheads, dweebs, dorks, sluts, butt-heads and...

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A National Mystery

Amidst the media crisis that is the Yankees, there only seems to be three markets that remember that there is <i>another</i> Championship Series going on in baseball right now: San Fransisco, St. Louis, and the MLB Network.<br /><br />I have been prone to dismissing the National League Championship Series, simply because my Tigers aren't in that league, and barely plays any of the teams in that league. Such dismissal happened back in 2006, when I was wrapped up completely in the Tigers' improbable World Series run. That was a big mistake - the St. Louis Cardinals kept cruising after a 7-game series with the New York Mets and beat Detroit in five games. I forgot that not <i>every </i>team was going to roll over for the Tigers in that postseason.<br /><br />I barely heard much of anything about the NLCS this morning as I prepared for work. Actually, I barely heard anything about the ALCS, either. Any baseball news was all about instant replay and how Joe Girardi - who three years ago was insistent that it <i>not</i> be used (I'm not even kidding - <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/10/14/new-york-yankees-manager-joe-girardi-instant-replay-baseball-playoffs/1633563/" target="_blank">USA Today dug up a good quote from the ALDS in 2009</a>) - was adamant that it be instituted as soon as possible.<br /><br />Unfortunately, there was more instant replay controversy in the NLCS tonight, when Jon Jay made a spectacular catch in right field and Allen Craig caught Gregor Blanco at first base on a tag...and none of the umps saw the tag. It wouldn't have ended the inning, but it did allow the Giants to score two more runs in that inning. This isn't going away. <br /><br />I am making an effort to watch more of this NLCS because whoever the NL champion plays in the World Series (please let it be Tigers...), I want to be prepared and have a good idea what kind of Series I'm going to watch.<br /><br />Initially, I had a feeling that St. Louis was the more dangerous team. The Cardinals, going back to last year, have a team where you never know from where the runs are going to come. Between David Freese and Daniel Descalso, who have the ability to fly under the radar till the postseason, their entire lineup is dangerous (I did get the opportunity to see this team in person in June, when they were in Detroit). Meanwhile, San Fransisco lost Melky Cabrera in the summertime due to his doping suspension, but that didn't deter the Giants from crushing a formidable division with pitching that was both outstanding (Matt Cain's perfect game) to middling (Tim Lincecum's below-average season), and surrounding them with reliable offensive juggernauts like Buster Posey, Angel Pagan, and Pablo Sandoval. Game 1 didn't deter my opinion at all.<br /><br />Game 2 was a different story. After a questionable slide into second base by Matt Holliday into Marco Scutaro, the Giants were energized and pounded Cardinals' pitcher Chris Carpenter, while Giants' pitcher Ryan Vogelsong continued his solid pitching in the playoffs, only allowing one run.<br /><br />But if there's any team that would easily halt a momentum swing, it's the Cardinals. Washington tried so hard to drive the Cards away in each game, trying to put a streak together, and the Cardinals would not let it happen. A lot of times a game is decided on streaks. And when a team has the ability to stop a streak, it is admirable...and scary.<br /><br />Make sure to pay attention on the <i>other</i> Championship series, which can display just as much drama and momentum shifts than the ALCS...and with far less media overload.

A National Mystery

Amidst the media crisis that is the Yankees, there only seems to be three markets that remember that there is another Championship Series g...

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fMRI in court: Neuroscience may change the legal system. - Slate Magazine

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">his article arises from Future Tense, a partnership of <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; ">Slate</strong>, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University that explores emerging technologies and their implications for public policy and for society. On Monday, Oct. 22, Future Tense will host "My Brain Made Me Do It," an event in Washington, D.C., on how the legal system will adapt to changes in neuroscience. For more information and to RSVP, or to watch the live stream, </em><a href="http://futuretense.newamerica.net/events/2012/my_brain_made_me_do_it" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; "><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">visit the New America Foundation's website</em></a><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">.</em></div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Although academic fields will often enjoy more than Andy Warhol's famous 15 minutes of fame, they too are subject to today's ever-hungry machinery of hype. Like people, bands, diets, and everything else, a field gets discovered, plucked from obscurity, thrown into the spotlight, and quickly replaced as it becomes yesterday's news.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Neuroscience is now the popular <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">plat de jour</em>, or, perhaps better, the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">prefix</em> <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">de jour</em>, and neurolaw is one of the main beneficiaries—and victims. Neuroscience will have important and even dramatic effects on our society and, as a result, on our laws. But not yet, and not as dramatically as some envision.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">First, consider timing. Many of the most interesting neuroscience results come from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This technique allows us to see what parts of the brain are working and when, and thus to begin to correlate subjective mental states with physical brain states. The use of fMRI on humans goes back about 15 years, and although about 5,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles involving fMRI will be published this year, we are still trying to figure out how it works—or doesn't. The fMRI results showing apparently purposeful brain activity in dead salmon are a wonderfully funny example of some of the limits of this technology, and fMRI is one of the oldest of the "new" neuroscience technologies. Half of what neuroscience is teaching us about human brain function will be shown, in the next 20 years, to be wrong—and we will need each of those 20 years to figure out which half.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">But, second, we need a sense of proportion. Neuroscience will provide tools that will change the law in some important ways, but those tools will be neither perfect nor used in isolation, and those changes are not likely to strike at the law's roots.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">For example, neuroimaging will be able to read minds—to some extent. A scanner may be able to tell whether I am hungry and even whether I want a burger. Without my cooperation, it will not know that I want a bacon cheeseburger, hold the mayo and mustard, extra ketchup. Similarly, it can never know what I was thinking three months ago or, with certainty, what I will be thinking three months from now.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Plus, neuroscience is likely to be used in conjunction with behavioral evidence. Typically, the best way to know what someone wants to do is to see what she does. Neuroscience will rarely make usable findings about, say, competence to stand trial or insanity, without evidence about the person's actual behavior. Normally, it will provide just one piece of the puzzle and not a magic key.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Finally, law is not going to disappear because of neuroscience. Getting a better handle on what brain machinery causes certain behaviors will change the criminal justice system, but it will not make it dry up and blow away. Neuroscience evidence of mental state may ultimately be admitted in trials, but it will not restrict the roles of judges and juries to reading brain scans. The most extreme outcomes are the most interesting—as science fiction and in the popular media —but they are not the most likely.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">After all this talk about what neuroscience will <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">not</em> do, what is left? Quite a lot, I think, in five different categories: prediction, mind-reading, responsibility, "treatment," and enhancement.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Neuroscience will help us predict future mental states or behaviors, usually not alone and not perfectly, but usefully. And these will lead to legal issues. When we can accurately predict which 60-year-olds are going to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the next 15 years, those predictions will affect, among other things, employment, insurance, guardianships, financial planning, and Medicaid. If we could tell which roughly one 15-year-old in 100 will be diagnosed with schizophrenia, to what ends would we want, or allow, those predictions to be used? Or what about good predictions of who is going to commit violent crimes, either after conviction or before? We already use psychology, demographics, and personal history to make such predictions—what will we do if neuroscience can greatly improve those predictions?</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Neuroscience will help us read minds better. We all read minds constantly, but we aren't very good at it. The subjective feeling of pain depends on the brain; hundreds of thousands of legal claims each year turn on whether a person is feeling pain and, if so, how much. When neuroscience can "see" that pain, the law will change, both in individual cases and in some broad policies. Similarly, if we can ever use neuroscience to help determine whether someone is lying—a use for which substantial controlled experimental evidence already exists—how would we use such a lie detector? At least three courts have already rejected <a href="http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/high-tech-mind-readers-are-latest-effort-detect-lies" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">fMRI-based lie detection evidence</a> (properly, I think), but I make no bets about the situation in 2022.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">As to responsibility, neuroscience will not turn all criminal law into psychiatry, but there will be cases in which neuroscientific evidence plays a role in deciding whether someone is competent to be tried or to represent himself, really is experiencing aural or visual hallucinations, or, in a few cases, really does seem to <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">deserve</em> a particular verdict or punishment. The case of <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2943-brain-tumour-causes-uncontrollable-paedophilia.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">the child molester whose pedophile impulses were triggered by a tumor</a> is a nice example. One may question whether he should be found guilty of child molestation or, at least, sentenced to prison rather than to surgery. On the other hand, almost no child molesters will be able (credibly) to show a similarly powerful tumor. Neuroscience's effects on responsibility will mainly be retail, not wholesale.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Surgery raises the issue of "treatment." No scare quotes are needed when willing patients seek treatment for schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, or obsessive-compulsive disorders. But what about the unwilling? Should a judge be able to order a defendant to get brain surgery, even if it is proven safe and effective at preventing his future crimes? Or, perhaps, not "order" surgery but give the defendant a "free choice"—life in prison or the knife? Of course, prison also changes your brain—<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">everything</em>, even this article, changes your brain. We know prison is neither safe nor effective. Is it morally different from surgery?</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Finally, what about enhancement? We are spending billions of dollars to find treatments to improve the memories of people who have dementia or, perhaps, just age-appropriate memory impairment (afflicting those of us whose memories aren't as good as we remember our memories having been). What if it works—and what if it works for young people, premeds studying for an organic chemistry exam or law grads cramming for the bar? Is that like using performance-enhancing drugs in sports? Or not? Inevitably, the law must at least draw the borders of the broad social uses of brain-enhancing technologies, as well as decide how it will use those technologies in its own workings.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">I have written far more questions than answers because we are just beginning to define the questions, let alone crafting the answers. I am confident that neuroscience, fueled by biomedical research funding and impelled by the moral desire to relieve human suffering, will learn things about the workings of our brains that will spill over from medicine to society, and to law. I am not confident, but I am hopeful, that thinking about some of those dual uses ahead of time will help us manage them wisely—or, at least, less catastrophically. The time to begin—with a proper sense of both timing and proportion—is now.</div></div></div><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/10/fmri_in_court_neuroscience_may_change_the_legal_system.single.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/10/fmri_in_court_neuroscience_may_change_the_legal_system.single.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

fMRI in court: Neuroscience may change the legal system. - Slate Magazine

his article arises from Future Tense, a partnership of  Slate , the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University that explores emerg...

Read more »