Can a physical feature reveal psychological information about a person? It reminds me of the early studies in criminology, when phrenologists used to study skull shapes and the bumps on one’s head to determine if they were a criminal or not. Of course phrenology was dismissed hundreds of years ago, because it was clearly an inaccurate way to determine the legality of one’s nature. But a similar psychological technique may have made a comeback.

It is called “Lipsology”. Determining psychological characteristics through lip shapes. To practice lipsology, you apply lipstick to your lips, kiss a peice of paper, and look at the shape of the lip print. No, I am not making this up.

“The resulting imprints, given names such as “gerbil balls” “angel wings” “mother nature’s lines” “peppers” and “zingers” are supposed to indicate a wide variety of information, health, psychological predispositions, even some spiritual interventions”

The author of this post on Psychology Today was equally appalled that people are actually taking this seriously. I feel like psychology may have just taken a step in the wrong direction.

I found an interesting post on Psychology Today. A recent study was done with children to examine the effects of inadequate sleep (which is said to be 7.7 hours for children 7-8 years old). A link has been found between short sleeping durations and an increased risk of ADHD.

I remember hearing about studies done concerning high school kids and sleep duration. When school was started later, the kids had better academic performance.. Perhaps these two studies are somehow linked. We all know that growing and developing bodies and minds need adequate rest, but maybe it makes more of a difference than we may have predicted.

I am definitely an advocate for later starting times for schools. My high school years were incredibly sleep deprived. First period in high school was basically a complete waste, since no one is fully awake to do anything. If school is started later for kids/adolescents, it could increase academic performance on two levels: decreasing ADHD for younger children (which also helps with academics later in life), and increasing academic performance for high school students.

A post on Mind Hacks was discussing psychoanalysis of clergy members. The author found a 1969 article about several monks who underwent psychoanalysis, only to discover about themselves that they felt that they desired a married life to a life of God.

The incident that inspired the ‘69 article occurred in 1961. It was decided that psychoanalysis would be beneficial to clergy in training, so 60 monks participated in psychoanalysis therapy. After the therapy, only 20 decided to remain clergy. The other 40 felt a calling to married life.

Similar results occurred when a group of nuns attended psychotherapy. A large percentage left the covenant, with a few converting to lesbians.

In retaliation, the pope banned clergy from participating in psychoanalysis.

The 1969 article was titled “Psychiatric Illness in the Clergy”. I may be wrong, but I don’t feel that the desire to marry and have a family should be considered a psychiatric illness. Nor do I believe that recognizing your sexual orientation to be a psychiatric illness. And, I feel like it is doing the potential-clergy and the rest of society a disservice by banning psychoanalysis of clergy. How can one successfully serve God if they aren’t happy with their life? A life of religious celibacy isn’t for everyone, and I think that people have the right to know if they are right for the job.

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about the embargo lifting between the United States and Cuba. There was a summit meeting, and we got a picture of something that we never thought possible. Hugo Chavez and the President of the United States shaking hands with smiles. Granted this was not President Bush, but rather President Obama, it was still a great moment. Everybody knew the Venezuelan presidents feelings towards Mr. Bush. He had publicly called him the devil, and when he stepped up to the podium after him, he said that he had smelled sulfur, which is a reference to the Devil. In the article that I found on Fox news, Hugo Chavez is going back to his old self. It is clear that he does not understand that the relations with the United States and Cuba cannot be mended overnight, but he already has public outcries.

“If Obama doesn’t knock down the savage blockade against the Cuban people, it’s all a lie. Everything would be a big farce,” Chavez said.

Whether it be Bush or Obama in charge it does not matter. It could be Santa Claus in charge and Hugo Chavez would still have beef with the United States. Whether it be Bush who damaged relations with Venezuela or it could be Chavez himself having issues with us, it will never change. Relations with Venezuela will always be strained until Chavez is no longer president, because he will always have issues with the United States.

As I was reading the article about one of Conneticutt’s middle school’s banning touch, I found this video clip of a principal who allegedly held a Buddhist hate chant inside his school.

A principal with a hate list? The department of education is investigating a Riverdale principal amid accusations he held a religious ritual aimed at teachers he considered his enemies.

Here’s what gets my goat: Christianity has dominated our schools since the beginning of Christianity. Is it only that these parents felt threatened by an alternative Eastern religion? Most people who know anything about Buddhism know its non-violent. Look at Christianity! I just don’t get people. The parent’s of the children from the school say the principal was trying to recruit them. How many times has a churchlady or friend asked you to go to some event, whether it be worship, or a basketball game, or a easter egg hunt or a picnic/bbq? The parents also said as the principal had hired some Buddhists! Holy Mother of God! I thought religious freedom was in our constitution and if you had the qualifications for the job, religion should not matter. But, I guess that’s only ok as long as you don’t tell anyone, and you go with the flow of the flock.

We won’t know for sure what happened in this instance until the investigation is over. It does bring up some alarming thoughts and questions however.

I was looking online to find articles about the negative effects of blogging and using Facebook and other such internet communities.  I wasn’t surprised to find quite a few blogs on the subject, but I was surprised to find this article. 

Lynch, a steroid addict, imprisoned the woman for hours before beating and raping her two weeks after meeting her on social networking site Facebook.

Following the attack he bombarded her with text messages and phone calls for several days.

Three days after Lynch raped the woman, he arranged that she be burned with sulfuric acid. Both Lynch and the acid-thrower were convicted and are going to be going to jail for a number (if smaller than I woud like) years.  It worries me that anyone who has an internet connection has access to these networks; they can learn about you and read your private thoughts and feelings. Anyone who has this sort of account should be very careful of what they share and with whom they talk, because there is no knowing what kind of crazys are out there.

As I am finishing up with my psychology class in Persuasion, I keep thinking about attitudes and behavior. Behavior shapes attitudes through justification of effort and cognitive dissonance, but how do we judge our own attitude. At times, we tell ourselves we feel and act differently than we really do. For the psychology class, we were told to take an  Implicit Association Test, to see what our attitudes were ranging from people of color and the election to the elderly.

Here you will have the opportunity to assess your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topings ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers to styles of music. At the same time, you will be assisting psychological research on thoughts and feelings.

I took the political quiz that was focused on Obama and McCain. The test looked at political party associations as well as race. I was some what surprised by the results, not because I didn’t know the attitudes, but because I had never had someone or thing come out and tell me it was so. It really made me look at other issues that I tell myself I feel X about when really it could be Y.  I like this sight and the information it is collecting, but I think some people who take the test might become angry about the results.

I found the following article interesting: First Lady Michelle Obama steps out in Lanvin sneakers and they’re only $540! While many of us are barely holding on during this recession there is always a few that remind us how poor we really are. Apparently the First Lady was volunteering at a food bank the other day sporting $540 sneakers. Don’t get me wrong its good she is volunteering her time, not that she has anything else to do. Plus we all know she is rich so of course she will have the finer things in life. However, I believe it to be a poor choice of character flaunty luxury items in front of people that can’t even afford to feed themselves. Seriously $540 sneakers? She would have won me over if she showed up in a pair of $75 Nikes and donated the rest of the $465 to someone who truly needs it. Sure I might be a little jealous but im not the one the country is looking up to right now during this financial crisis. Any thoughts?

I stumbled across an article just a couple of hours into may thinking that this crisis indeed has extended everywhere. I dont know if it as bad as the world economic crisis after World War I, but its definetely big. When you have protests in France, Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, and several Asian countries all demonstrating against the same thing, then you have a hell of a problem. Nobody can figure out how to stimulate the economy (besides Lewis Black.) The protests are about the loss of jobs and people getting laid off. We have that problem here in the United States as well as those other countries. We have it in this town even. I am also threatened by this crisis. I could lose my job tomorrow because the company I work for could not have enough money to pay me. The one thing that somebody needs to figure out is how do we rebuild the world economy without starting another World War. Nobody has if figured out yet, but keep the faith. Theyll get it one of these days. Things have to go up at some point.

So if you haven’t heard of the latest pandemic, it’s swine flu! While I’ve heard everyone talking about it, I haven’t heard anyone really describe what it is, how it’s different from other kinds of flu, etc. Has anyone heard of why it’s “swine” flu? I know they said that the genetic material of the virus is of a Eurasian swine background (not a North American one, apparently) but I don’t remember hearing about a pandemic virus killing off great numbers of pigs any time recently. Are they just carriers who are actually immune to the virus? I’m not sure. However, every time there is a new possible pandemic that emerges, it is interesting to sit back and watch the panic and posturing that goes on. I’m not trying to sound callus, it’s just that as news media latches on to each new story, with blazing headlines and colorful graphics with daunting music for segment titles on programs, people tend to whip themselves into a huge frenzy before anything concrete starts to emerge that might actually be newsworthy. Obviously in our modern world a pandemic has the opportunity to spread much, much more quickly that it would have even one hundred years ago. Travel is available in a variety of different mediums, nearly all of which are significantly faster than anything that used to be available. Because of the population explosion that has occurred even over the last fifty years, there are a greater number of people living together in the same area of land, meaning that the disease or virus has a much better chance of finding a new host very quickly, even long before it would damage or kill the first one.

The ATA has been all up in arms over Vice President Biden’s comments about not using air travel or traveling in other confined spaces, but the CDC isn’t as worried as the VP. Though the pandemic level has been bumped up to “5″ today and the WHO is instructing countries to mobilize (or at least dust off) their pandemic preparedness plans, there are still few things known about the pandemic and so it is really too hard to say what is and is not a proper precautionary measure. Though it is not necessary to cease air travel, stop taking public transportation, or stop shopping at the grocery store, it is important to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze and cough, to wash your hands regularly or use an alcohol-based sanitizer if you’re not near a bathroom, and to rest up if you start to feel symptomatic. These are normal, basic measures that people should be taking on a daily basis no matter what the time of year, simply because it’s proper hygiene – not to mention courteous to those around you. It seems like standard operating procedures like these are revived every time there is a “new” pandemic (which is never really seems to come to fruition as an actual pandemic) and then quickly forgotten once the excitement has worn off. Hopefully someday people will begin to pay more attention to taking care of themselves and those around them all of the time, not just when some fancy new virus pops up.

On Earth Day, as I was coming home for the evening, I tripped on a box in my entry way. It was a very large, tall box and very much in my way. I fell forward onto the box and as my arms went out and up to protect my head and face, my elbow landed on the box resulting in a very pretty black eye with a gash in my cheek from my grandmother’s ring. This happened very quickly, and I didn’t think much of it…so I had a black eye with a hilarious story. Well- that soon changed as I went to work 2 days later and my eye had progressed. I have never received so many stares and jeers, so many laced questions, where my answers were perceived as lies. It made me pissed off that people were thinking, and some saying, that I was a victim of domestic violence. The thing is that they were trying to figure out the truth of the matter in a totally negative approach. I was offended. I think part of the reason I am so outright disgusted with being asked if I feel safe at home is because of my childhood. I grew up in a household with its very own intimate terror.  I am thankfully no where near that situation and hope never to be again. So there are two sides to this stigma. 1- People don’t recognize the signs of domestic violence and if they do, they don’t know how to act or help, or 2-People mistake unintentional injuries for domestic violence and are insulting.  Even though I was insulted, I’d rather have people questioning and treading the waters of speaking out against domestic violence.

I found some press releases about the stigma of domestic violence. They showed some interesting facts:

In interviews with nearly 25,000 women at 15 sites in 10 countries, researchers from the World Health Organization found that rates of partner violence ranged from a low of 15 percent in Yokohama, Japan, to a high of 71 percent in rural Ethiopia.

At six of the sites, at least 50 percent of women said that they had been subjected to moderate or severe violence in the home at some point. At 13 sites, more than a quarter of all women said they had suffered such violence in the past year.

 NEW YORK, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ — A surprising survey on domestic violence released today reveals an information gap that may very well prevent Americans from taking action when they witness domestic violence.  Approximately two-thirds of Americans say it is hard to determine whether someone has been a victim of domestic abuse (64%) and want more information about what to do when confronted with domestic violence (65%). Poll results clearly indicate that education about this topic is not only needed but can help save lives since 7 in 10 Americans (69%) will take some action when they are able to recognize domestic violence.
      When asked to define what actions comprise domestic violence and abuse, 2 in 5 Americans (40%) did not even mention hitting, slapping and punching. Over 90% of Americans failed to define repeated emotional, verbal, sexual abuse and controlling behaviors as patterns of domestic violence and abuse.

It is clear that every person needs to be educated about domestic violence and also know the ways to get help and intervene. It is important to remember however that women are not the only victims. Elderly abuse is on the rise, and there is also child abuse and men abuse. Everyone is a possible victim but everyone is also a potential advocate to Stop Domestic Violence and its stigma.

I personally do not use twitter, and here is why. I think that it is a stupid technology that we really dont need. We dont need to know what you are doing every five minutes, and if you are desperate for people to know what you are doing on a regular basis, then you need some friends. Now we have all become the slaves to the use of facebook, but at least facebook has alot of other features to it as well, whereas twitter is just twitter. But in the article that I discovered, apparantly someone hacked the fox news twitter page and made some innapropriate comments. I only have two words to say to that. HA HA! Normally you hear people that got fired from somewhere they come back and burn the place down, or go into a hostage situation, but this is ridiculous. There was no element of revenge here and the mess can be cleaned up in a matter of seconds. The people that did it dont even deserve a punishment for this. I mean sure, Bill O’reilly and Britney Spears wont be too thrilled, but they are used to being made fun of as it is. Is Twitter still pointless, YES!

Over and over again, I keep hearing about how airlines are taking such a hit right now. I just read the article: Half Empty Plane: Is it Swine Flu or Slump? and it really got me thinking. Would something like the swine flu affect your travel plans if you had a vacation or business trip ahead? Or do you think the economy is more or less what is causing this lull in air travel? The author said:

My flight to London was half-full – perhaps from last-minute cancellations over swine flu fears, but more likely the result of the global economic recession, which has drastically reduced tourism and business travel, or maybe it was just due to the ungodly departure hour of 7:45 a.m.

I honestly don’t think I’m letting the swine flu or the economy affect how I’m living my day to day life. If I want to go on a trip, and I have the money to do it, I’m not going to let the fear of catching this flu stop me from going.
My wonder is how much the airlines are going to have to continue to increase their rates because of the people who are choosing not to travel right now. I’m already really disappointed with Alaska Air’s choice to start charging for even your first checked bag. How many people can really fly without checking one piece of luggage unless it is for a quick trip? One thing I noticed after they started charging for bag number two is that the over head compartments are just getting more and more crowded. I really don’t think the extra charges are going to help much in the long run.
Anyway….rant over. Swine flu, bad economy, high airline prices…it is all life. I’m not going to let it stop me from enjoying life and doing the things I love to do.

An article on msnbc.com illustrates the grim situation in Mexico.  Add a virus capable of pandemic proportions to an economic ression and drug violence, and you have a place that is not very appealing to very many people.  The beaches are vacant, the flights are such that a person could stretch out in any number of empty rows, and the streets are void of travelers and locals alike. “Mexico City’s Chamber of Commerce said the closures and cancellations are costing 777 million pesos ($57 million) a day in the capital city alone — more than a third of the local economy.” Schools are closing, government offices are closed, attractions are closed…the entire country is shutting down.  And they should be commended for it.  Placing public and global safety before monetary gain is responsible and courageous.  On top of the horrors of drug violence, Mexico has maintained its composure and is taking every precaution possible to contain this vagabond virus.  Countries around the world are taking extensive measures to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread. “Cuba banned flights to Mexico. Argentina banned flights out of Mexico. France said Wednesday it would ask the European Union to suspend all flights to Mexico.” Lets just hope this global cooperation brings some amount of solidarity to this tiny crowded planet.

It is unbelievable that there are still pirates in this world. You would think that since the days of the “Pirates of the Caribbean,” that these barbaric acts would be banned by any government, but they are still very much alive. These particular pirates that BBC talks about were captured after a rather unsuccesful attack on a Russian ship. Granted these guys deserved to be captured because the things that they do are not only illegal, and cruel, but they are just immoral and plain wrong. If this were happening off the coast of Florida, guess what, it would have ended rather fast, but since this is happening in Somalia, not much is done. Somalia is a godforsaken place, so naturally, there isnt much security there when it comes to maritime safety. There needs to be a bigger message sent to the pirates of Somalia, rather than just this simple capture of a few trouble makers. Either the United States, Russia, or Great Britian, the biggest naval powers in the world, need to unite against them. They need to know that this sort of thing can not be tolerated, and that if it does not stop, it will result in massive arrests and possibly death if they show any resistance. Since these pirate groups are not backed up by the Somali government (if any), it should not cause an international stir, and maybe even put a temporarary end to piracy. The reason I say temporary, is because chances are someone will start it up again.

It has become the ultimate act of frustration:  whip off your sneaker and fling it at the offending leader’s gourd.  This article talks about the new fad ‘o frustration in India that has become commonplace.

“In India, flying footwear is the new hunger strike, overtaking even the trendy Facebook protest as an expression of civil disobedience.”

The article notes that it is considered an insult in India to show the sole of one’s shoe, as footwear is relagated to shuffling about the dirty streets outside.  Thus this phenomenon comes with cultural influences.

“Shoe-throwing is a real expression of the frustration of the people,” said Anil Bairwal of National Election Watch, a watchdog group. “But you have to consider that citizens are at a loss for what to do. For too long, they have hoped that the parties would improve themselves, be progressive, put the right people in the seats and work for the betterment of the people. But none of that has happened.”

It was, of course, the Iraqi journalist who flung his shoe at the ever-eloquent former U.S. president that started the shoe tossing.  He, unlike the Indians, has to spend time in prison, probably for forcing the president to do something he is not used to: Think fast, Mr. Prez!

I found the following article interesting; Survey: Americans switch faiths often. In an age in which science is stealing most of our miracles it appears that people are still keeping their faith. However, people are often switching religions based on various reasons such as “changed life circumstances.” Again I was under the impression that people are losing their faith but the survey has proved me wrong. I wish the article dug a little deeper to see if these individuals actually practice the beliefs of their religions or do they simply just say they are religious? This is a touchy subject but im just burnt out on hypocrites that claim they are religious but do anything and everything possible to go against what their religion practices. Any thoughts?

A study done with children from kindergarten through 5th grade studied how taking certain medication for ADHA has increased their scores on reading and math compared to those not on medication. Their scores were still significantly lower than those without ADHD, but this study was done to show if the medication would help with bettering their grades because kids with ADHD have high dropout rates in school and get poorer grades than, that of their average classmates. I had ADD when I was in kindergarten and I took medication for this, which made me gain weight and just become a lot more tired and less active. Even though I was not diagnosed with ADHD, this still has the same type of effects that I experienced. It allows them to slow their hyperactivity down and allows them to concentrate more on their work in school. Some parents do not like having their kids take medication because of these side effects.

Teachers often advocate medication because it can calm disruptive behavior. But it’s a contentious issue for many parents, worried about putting their kids on drugs that can have side-effects including decreased appetite, weight loss and insomnia.

A psychiatry professor from the University of Illinois-Chicago said that not every kid should be put on certain medications to control this disorder. He also said that there has been research done that most kids with ADHD can benefit from taking these meds. I would agree that in some sense in certain situations like school, it may help, but it depends on the kid that is taking the medication, how the family feels, etc. I know that I could not tell if the meds I was taking for my ADD were helpling, but they certainly made me lazier and fatter starting in kindergarten. Who knows what could happen with many other kids. There was one 19 year old that was diagnosed with ADHD since he was 5 and burns off some extra excess energy by working out. So there can be many alternatives to it, but for kids who knows, can it be the only way?

We have declared a Public Emergency over this Swine Flu which apparently can kill in less than two weeks.  In Mexico, it has already killed 81 people with over 1300 being thought to have it.  And check this out, President Obama was just in Mexico hanging out… well here, read this:

The newspaper Reforma reported that President Obama, who recently visited Mexico, was escorted around Mexico City’s national anthropology museum on April 16 by Felipe Solis, an archaeologist who died the next day from flu-like symptoms. But Dr. Córdova said that it does not appear that Mr. Solis died of influenza.

Dude totally died the next day!  So yeah, wouldn’t it be gnarly if Obama kicked the bucket?  Who the hell is the vice president anyway?  It isn’t Hillary is it?

I found the following article interesting; Children tracked by sat nav to stop bad behaviour. The UK is combating rude behavior by children on school buses by developing a monitoring system which allows parents to track their children via GPS. The monitoring system works by children first swiping an identification card as they enter the bus which then allows parents via a satellite and the internet to track their children. The plan also includes “Bus Angels” which are children that “covertly” tattletale on inappropriate behavior while on the bus. Again this an elaborate scheme designed to improve bus behavior and as a safety precaution incase the bus would get in an accident or breakdown. My opinion on this matter is wtf? Are kids so out of control that we need to treat them like little criminals or little terrorists with “Bus Angles” tracking their every movement and prepared to take them out if necessary? I miss the good old days when parents were actually parents and children out of respect for their parents maintained a certain amount of good discipline. Don’t get me wrong children are expected to be a little rowdy and get into minor trouble, but that is no excuse to tighten the leash and suppress the children even more. After all the children have a lifetime of laws, rules, and regulations that they must follow as adults to keep them in line. So why not let the children have a little fun while they still can because let’s face reality growing up and getting old suck! Any thoughts?

I briefly caught this story this morning on the news when I was getting ready for work. I forgot about it until I saw this headline on yahoo: Med Student Targeted Women on Craigslist. Basically, the guy is a second year medical student, engaged, comes from what sounds like a good family. He supposedly targeted some women on Craigslist, murdered one and robbed another. Guilty or not, this really got me thinking about people who can live two totally separate lives. How can your family, friends and colleagues know one person, but there is really someone else lurking in the shadows? The grandfather, who is a lawyer, gave this comment:

“This is not my grandson. I know my grandson,” he told The Boston Globe. “I hate to see a rush to judgment … He’s a wonderful boy, just absolutely wonderful, and couldn’t be better. I’m proud of him and proud of his abilities as a medical student. He always wanted to be a doctor.”

Maybe grandpa didn’t know the real grandson? The article also suggests that he had a gambling problem. His MO could have been acquiring money to pay off some gambling debt. What drives a somewhat successful medical student to do this sort of thing? It is cases like this that make me love Psychology. On the surface, you never can tell what people are actually thinking.

Reading this article about the Obama administration’s decision not to pursue the Bush administration’s government lawyers who wrote the CIA “torture memos” or those officials who participated in carrying out those acts is, in my mind, a terrible failure for the new president. While I can appreciate that the man has his hands more than a little full – a massive global recession, climbing rates of unemployment, the near-collapse of our financial system, America’s auto industry teetering on the brink, a health care system that is corrupt and broken, and a very angry Mother Nature…well, that’s a lot for a new politician to address before he’s even up to his first 100 days in office. However, I don’t believe that the egregious measures taken in these “CIA prisons” like Bagram in Afghanistan are any less worthy of outrage, revulsion, or proper justice than those acts committed by military personnel at Abu Ghraib.

The example given in the article, Lynndie England, was dishonorably discharged after her part in the humiliation practices at Abu Ghraib was confirmed and served a year and a half in a military prison and the same amount of time on probation; of course, she was not the only individual in those involved to serve time, others did as well. It is not that I don’t believe that they should have their dishonorable discharges reversed, or that I think it is unfair they had to serve time in prison, what I believe is not only unfair and unjust is to only punish those who were lowest on the military food chain. Sure, these acts were not explicitly ordered nor was she ‘forced’ to commit them; however, the implied notion was that these practices were not just allowed or condoned, but encouraged. To punish the “underlings” but not to insist that the actions of those higher up, or those who were instructing, ordering, or actively encouraging these actions be held responsible for their grossly reprehensible behavior. No one should be above the law, national or international law – if certain persons can get off with not even a slap on the wrist just because of their privileged positions, then what point is there in making laws to abide?

It saddens and angers me that we have not reached a point where we are willing to prosecute and sentence those who commit horrible crimes just because they are in an elite and privileged position of power.

I just finishd a book for my Health Psychology class called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. Inside I was introduced to Paul Farmer, a doctor and a medical anthropologist. He had a very interesting childhood, including living in a bus that was a converted TB clinic and then a boat; he had a very transient lifestyle. He got a full scholarship to Duke and then attended Harvard where he earned a M.D. and a Ph.D. He found his passion and ‘home’ in Haiti. There he treats patients and works on world health care. 

The desperate need Paul Farmer saw in central Haiti as a young man inspired him and four friends to create Partners in Health. They raised money and built what’s become the largest hospital in central Haiti.
What began as a small, understaffed and ill-equipped clinic in 1985, today has 100 inpatient beds, an array of specialists, and three operating rooms. They have nearly two million patient visits a year. And the medical care at the clinic is free. For Farmer, healthcare is a human right. He wants to show the world that children for example don’t have to die of treatable illnesses like tuberculosis or malaria, diseases which they treat every day.

It is pretty amazing and inspiring to hear Paul’s story.  Hopefully there will be more people like Paul Farmer.

Of course there has to be a post on the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. I was trying to watch the news all day, especially for this, on what different updates there were about if there were going to be any news on the gun laws from the shooting that happened at Columbine. Obviously there was not, especially in the 2007 attack of Virgina Tech, which I believe is the Columbine of the new millennium, sadly. I even read a news report that a kid even brought a gun to his own school on the 10th anniversary of the shooting and went to jail for it. Also the fact that it was loaded made it even worse. I am not surprised whatsoever that gun laws will be put to rest just because there are so many people with so many guns already that I find it hard to believe that not every single person will get searched for it. On the brighter side, the Columbine shooting gave students a new found lease on life and have successful careers becuse of this incident. This shooting was a reminder that people should not take life for granted.

this article suggests way to cut back time spent watching tv.

The average American watches over 35 hours of TV a week^[1] and the average Brit over 25.^[2] If you find yourself addicted to the “boob tube” and want to break the habit, or if you’re just celebrating TV Turnoff Week^[3] the key is to wean yourself off using the steps below, watching TV less and less until you stop watching it altogether.

Happy 420! In the Gobi Desert, archaeologists unearthed the grave of a 2,700 year old man who had 2 pounds of still-green marijuana buried with him.

2,700 year old marijuana found in grave in Gobi Desert

The researchers believe the individual was a shaman from the Gushi people, who spoke a now-extinct language called Tocharian that was similar to Celtic.

Scientists originally thought the plant material in the grave was coriander, but microscopic botanical analysis of the bowl contents, along with genetic testing, revealed that it was cannabis.

The analysis of the cannabis from 2.700 years ago showed that it was psychoactive, not only used as hemp for making clothes and ropes. There is still a lot of debate today about the legalization of marijuana. Federally, it is still against the law, but many states have legalized posession of a small personal amount or the growing of a certain number of plants for personal use.  Comparitively, if a shaman 2,700 years ago smoked marijuana, and died with riches, why is there still such a debate about marijuana. There are many cultures who don’t think it should be illegal, and some, the Rastafarian, use it as a part of their religious ideology.

I just learned that Phish reunited! Happy day for Phish-goers, but after I read this, I wasn’t so sure:

Nearly 200 Phish [ tickets ]-heads were arrested on drug-related charges during the band’s three-night reunion concert in Hampton, VA, according to an Associated Press report. Police said they confiscated about $1.2 million in illegal drugs and more than $68,000 in cash from concertgoers, who were on hand to see Phish perform following a nearly five-year hiatus.

Most of the arrests were for drug possession, use and distribution.

This makes me consider the Alaska Folk Fest, held in Juneau, where a bunch of musicians and followers take the stage and dance floor and have a good time. I was talking to one of my friends who preformed for the Folk Fest. He didn’t like that it was this mass conglomeration of ‘hippie-like people coming together to get wasted and stoned.’  He didn’t have anything against hippies, as he knows me, but he didn’t like that the scene allowed such behavior. It wasn’t about the music as much the “parking-lot scenes” in many jam band shows. For some of the concerts I have been to, the parking lot is a lot more happening then the concert itself. This is what makes up the foundation of the group’s followers, but at the same time sheds negative light as well. There are many followers of music who don’t get intoxicated and drugged; there are those that do, but keep it under control and don’t get arrested. I am surprised we haven’t heard about a drug bust from this Folk Fest!

When I opened up my computer this morning to check my email, MSN Today popped up and there was a heading about the 9 Most Polluted Places in the United States and what actions were being taken to clean  them up.  There are 3 places for each air, water and land. Some of these places have received a lot of publicity, and most likely if you’ve taken an introductory environmental science class, you have heard about them. They’re nearly as famous as The Love Canal. There is the Gulf of Mexico that receives massive amounts of pollution from the drainage of the Mississippi River leading to algae blooms which leave the area void of oxygen and life.  And there is also The Nelson Tunnel, in Creede, Co. This particular story reminded me of our home, here in Alaska.

The Nelson Tunnel

The Nelson Tunnel sits on five acres in the Historic Creede Mining District, about one mile North of Creede, Colo. In 2008, the Nelson Tunnel became a Superfund site, the name given to the environmental program run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that deals with cleaning abandoned hazardous waste sites.

The creek eventually feeds into the Rio Grande River, a gold medal fishery four miles below the Nelson Tunnel. Creede is known as a beautiful recreation area and many fishermen come there to enjoy the fishing. But pollution spilling into the creek has affected the fish population in West Willow Creek. There are no fish for a two-mile stretch below the site, and fish are sparse farther downstream in West Willow Creek. It’s thought that the metal contamination has affected their reproduction.

Hmmm…Does that sound like something that could, possible already has happened in Alaska? I am reminded of Mufasa from the Lion King. He tells Simba about the circle of life. He eats gazelles, then he dies and fertilizes the ground. The gazelles eat the grass, therefore eating him. Ahhh! We live in an ecosystem!

The story is evidently in lieu of Earth Day…Happy Earth Day? Why is there just one day a year that we give thanks to our Mother? If we lived every day as earth day, we might not have to go all out one day a year and try to convince ourselves that we are doing our part. We also might not have near as many superfunds or spoiled watersheds, or rotten air. Just a thought.

I donno, maybe I just want to talk about weezy.

So I guess the movement to legalize pot is alive and kicking and this year a bunch of them think that they are getting closer and closer to achieving their goals.  You can check out this article, it talks about what is happening but honestly, I don’t see anything revolutionary in it.

Pot is a weird thing in America… So like, it is illegal, right?  Yet, it is not really frowned upon to smoke it, and it is legal for medical use, and with the exception of some folks, it seems like everyone agrees that weezy is a hell-of-a-lot better than alcohol in terms of adverse effects on society, and there is a national holiday for people to rejoice in the fact that they use the plant.  And, and, and…

There is nothing new to report here, I just figured we gotta have a blog on 420.  And…

  I love these goofy-looking guys.

I found the following article interesting: Psychologists aided harsh CIA interrogations, memos show . When the CIA stepped up efforts to interrogate terrorist suspects, on their payroll were psychologists. According to the article it was the psychologists that provided the “critical role” of devising extreme interrogations techniques like using sleep deprivation, insects, and waterboarding. The psychologists also provided the “legal justification for interrogation methods.” I was under the impression that social scientists understood any and all ethical obligation to the individuals they work with or study? Now correct me if im wrong but waterboarding and using insects to invoke fear seems to cross all ethical boundaries? The psychologists should have known better but it also appears that the CIA used the psychologists as an easy scapegoat to justify their extreme actions. I have no issues with certain interrogation techniques but call it as it is and don’t use social scientists to justify your dirty work.

Lately, there is so much going on, politically, in Juneau that I have found myself mentally “checking out.” As in, I am no longer properly absorbing what is going on with any great interest- it’s just too weird. And continuous. And weird.

Without having a large body of experience behind me, I am unsure of whether this is business as usual, whether this is just the nature of the game and whether we will always be overstimulated by the politicking, manuevering, blog bombardment, and press releases. Or maybe this is truly a crazier moment in time than most? The jaded observer probably sees it as the same stuff, different day. I think that when I “check back in” I will probably agree.

A partial recap (in no particular order…):
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Feature article in April edition of Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine blames Palin for standing in the way of the pipeline being built. Palin’s office responds via press release.

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Palin is a no show for a scheduled meeting with legislators to discuss the stimulus. Press release warring between Governor/Legislators ensues.

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Levi Johnston goes on Tyra and The Early Show. Among other things, he claims to have lived/stayed in Governor Palin’s house with Bristol. “Over my dead body,” replied the Governor. Someone is lying.

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Wayne Anthony Ross’ Red Hummer (license plate: WAR)

Governor Palin’s Attorney General appointment (of Wayne Anthony Ross) is full of twists and results in an historic rejection of the Governor’s appointment (first time in our history). The broken relationship between the executive and the legislative branches in Alaska is apparent.

Points of contention during Ross’ confirmation hearings:
-GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered) community comments
-Women
-Alaska Natives
-Recent legal opinion addressing the Governor’s Senate appointment
-Assorted other “incidents“

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Juneau’s Senate appointment follows an uncharted course (taking as looong as possible) with two rejections by the Senate Dems and a strange “list” sent as the Governor’s third attempt at a suitable (DEMOCRAT) candidate. The list was found to be against the law. There is little budging on either side and Juneau is without representation still.

Tim Grussendorf (pictured below), first appointee. Until recently was a registered Republican.

Joe Nelson (pictured below), second appointee. Made a statement that he would consider running against Kerttula as a Republican in the next Senate election.

Alan Wilson (pictured below), third on the “list” submitted most recently (with Grussendorf, Nelson, Wilson being the Governor’s order of preference) by the Governor. Irrelevant but interesting sidenote: Wilson is married to the owner of Shoefly (where Palin’s infamous Naughty Monkey’s came from).

I came across this article on BBC, that was talking about the cigar capital of the world. This tiny speck of land was the reason that the United States and the Soviet Union nearly launched a nuclear war between each other that would have killed everyone and everything 48 years ago. Since that time, the United States have closed off all relations with Cuba. Nobody can go in, and we will not accept any exports from Cuba. This has been the case until now.
In his first couple of months in office, Barack Obama has already toured Europe, and Latin America is next on his list. Obama has opened up relations with Russia, and him along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, have decided to lift the visa requirements for Russia-US travel. Obama has already shown himself as a “world friendly” president. Right now he is trying to open relations with Cuba. He has lifted the travel restrictions, and we are just waiting for the first shipment of Cuban cigars. However, Obama told Cuban president Raul Castro that he has to make the next move. In this twist world of political drama, we dont really know what will happen next. Meahwhile, we have Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who continues to bash the United States as if Bush was still in office. He claims that the United States has always mistreated Cuba and will always mistreat them. Even after Obama made this friendly gesture towards the Cubans.

“We don’t expect them to change overnight… but we do expect that Cuba will send signals that they’re interested in liberalising”
US President Barack Obama

I am personally all for opening relations with Cuba. After fifty years of secluding them and keeping them out, it is time to call a truce. Enough is enough, and I think that Obamas next move should involve taking Mr. Chavez out for lunch, and hopefully bury the hatchet with him as well. It would be better for the world.

A post on Mind Hacks was discussing a new controversial issue- drug monitoring by microchip. A small microchip is swallowed, and internally measures drug levels in the body, and physical issues such as respiratory rates, and heart rate.

The microchip can be used to ensure compliance to prescribed meds (like anti-psychotic drugs), or to monitor illegal drug/alcohol use. So potentially, it could ensure compliance for people on probation/parole, or patients needing medication for some condition.

The post discusses how this could be helpful, but also an invasion of privacy by making your personal ingestion choices public to your doctor.

Great for patients who volunteer for this, it would be medically beneficial to make sure medication is working properly, and to avoid any harmful reactions. But what if it is involuntarily forced on an individual. Is this a great idea? Or violation of personal privacy?

Whether good or bad, I am constantly amazed at modern technological advances.

I read this article on Everyday Sociology today about Michelle Obama. It discussed how much focus is placed on her fashion choices, as opposed to relevant issues. She was criticized for wearing a sleeveless dress to her husband’s inauguration, that it wasn’t designed by an African American, or manufactured by an African American. Really? Who cares?

The attention isn’t all bad though. She wore a dress from White House/Black Market on the View, and it sold out by the next day. Trainers are getting requests to achieve “Michelle’s arms” after her incredibly toned arms were shown off in the previously mentioned sleeveless gown.

Aren’t there more important issues though? For example:

This is a woman who graduated cum laude from Princeton with a degree is in Sociology! Michelle Obama is also a graduate of the prestigious Harvard Law School. She served as adviser to her husband, our new President, when he joined her at the law firm of Sidley & Austin. She gave up corporate law for public service, working for Chicago Mayor Daley and then in the city office of planning and development. She was founding Executive Director for an AmeriCorps national service program. Later, Mrs. Obama served as Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago. In 2005 she became Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals.

With such impressive accomplishments, you would think that people wouldn’t just be focused on her outfits, hairstyle, or muscle tone.

In an article available on NPR’s (National Public Radio) website, they discuss a pretty ingenious sort of home-grown environmentalism going on in New York. Small groups of people are getting together and making seed balls, which are comprised of seeds native to an area, mulch, and red terracotta clay all mixed together and formed into a small ball shape. Participants then distribute the seed balls around town in areas that have been “developed” (or were going to be, before the economic crisis slowed or strangled projects) or abandoned and left to deteriorate. With both public and private projects either on hold or down the tubes, landscape that was in beginning to mid-development stages (which tend to be an eyesore at best) is now left in a stagnant shambles. In an effort to make a cheap, easy, and proactive difference, these groups make these seed balls and distribute them across a wide area, usually where soil is turned and where there is little actual construction activity is taking place.

I really think that an idea like this is pretty fantastic, so long as you’re using a seed that is native to the area and isn’t a particularly aggressive sort of plant that would take over the habitat. As several people point out near the end of the article, it’s a way for people to make a difference in their community and do something to make it a more beautiful and pleasant place to live, without a large expenditure of money or effort. Not that such expenditures aren’t a worthwhile investment, because they certainly are, but even in the best of economic times it can be hard to garner funding for public works projects, especially those specifically meant to make a community “prettier” so that citizens feel more at home and take more pride in the area they live in. But an idea such as this, with it’s great simplicity, is really wonderful.

The question as to whether we should have a death penalty or not has been around for a long time. In this article, a woman wants her daughters killer to be executed. Is the this the case where the death penalty is necessary? The answer is simple, not really. Should we have a death penalty, yes we should. However, the way that it is done in our country right now is not the right way to do it. They pick one out of 1000 criminals to give the death penalty to, then they put him on death row for another ten years, and then when he is about to get executed, if he gets sick, or “hurts himself,” the death is delayed for another five years. There should be a simple rule, if you kill a certain amount of people, and in certain different ways, you will receive the death penalty. Someone like the man in the article doesnt deserve the death penalty, but someone like Ted Bundy, of Jeffry Dahmer would be the first on my list. The more severe your crime is, the worse your death should be. It should range from injection, to firing squad, to electric chair. In alot of countries they do that. You may think that its inhuman, but sometimes its the only way to prevent murder.

I came across this article that was talking about an 89 year old Nazi war criminal getting still awaiting trial back in Germany. Of course it still amazes me that after all these years people are still getting arrested for something that happnened 54 years ago. Im not trying to be insensitive here, but sometimes things do have to be let go. The Germans have apologized on several occasions, and they have given reparations. As to what this man did when he was a teenager, and not to mention there is no proof of him even commiting any crimes, it is time to put it to bed. If you did not capture him back when you had the chance, he might as well die on his own terms. The man is 89 years old, and has anemia, kidney problems, Arthritis and who knows what else.
What the Nazis did was a horrible thing. Never in the world history has there been a more violent slaughter of a certain group of people as there were in the death camps. My grandfather (who is still alive) lived through the horror of WWII on the Russian side, and he has long forgiven the Germans for what they did. Its like the rule about rapists, and the rule is that if you dont catch them in five years, the case is closed. There is the accusation that he killed 29000 people in the death camps, but the only way I think that they should arrest him is if one of the people that he actually tortured and survived saw him, and identified him, then they can arrest him. But to arrest a dying man on a possibility that he commited these cirmes when he was young and stupid is not the right way to do it.

Aryn Karpinski, an education researcher at Ohio State University, did a survey of college students and found that college students who actively use facebook, have a lower GPA than those student who do not actively use facebook. Although the study does not say that facebook has a direct effect on student’s grades, there is a correlation between extra curricular activities and poor grades. The study did a comparison between students who studied x amount of hours and/or had jobs vs. those who did more Internet-type activities. It also stated that those who engaged in more extracurricular activities were more likely to use facebook vs. students who had jobs.

This article came from yahoo! news. The article did not mention twitter.  

Helping Psychology explains how people need to come together to solve any kind of problem. It also tells that some people do not want to be involved in coming together to help solve a problem and conform to groups because they may not trust everybody in the group.  They also tell why if everyone was to come together and solve a problem, we wouldn’t be in a downward sloping economy and society and the people would run the world in a much better state. Republican fundamentalist even is quoted on this issue of how people wouldn’t ever be able to come together as one to solve problems

according to Republican fundamentalist Mike Huckabee, who promotes the theory, “if we all did [the right thing] we wouldn’t need any other laws.” This theory will always be common nonsense, not common sense, because everyone doing the right thing all the time won’t ever be common, so we need to adapt our behavior to reflect what will happen when some people don’t follow the rules, not what happens when everyone does.

To some people, this is why they choose not to help out. They get that mentality of “If 1 or 2 people do not help out, why should I?”. This turns into a domino effect and this is part of the reason people choose not to conform and choose to help the world or some other reason. People nowadays have started to go “green”, by using less energy producing products. Slowly people are banding together to make a difference, which even though everybody will not help to solve this problem, it will be good enough, but never 100%.

I found the following article interesting; Ethical questions over harvesting dead son’s sperm. Nikolas Colton Evans died tragically before he could fulfill one of his wishes in life which was to have children. His mother however will not let his dream die with him and has received permission from the judicial system to harvest his sperm in order to have a surrogate mother birth a child in her sons honor. Nikolas mother will then raise her dead son’s child in order for his legacy to live on. This situation obviously raises numerous ethical questions such as to what about the fate of the child being born without a biological father and by a mother with no real ties to the child? I understand that families fall apart all the time and children are raised by single parents or by other family members. But this goes a step further with the child being born into an unusual situation where there is no possibility of a normal family structure for the child to be nurtured. I’m only wondering if this is a coping mechanism for a grieving mother that tragically lost her son. No doubt the grandmother will love this child but it is still not fair to the child never knowing his or her parents especially under these disturbing circumstances.  

If you’ve been listening to NPR over the past week, you may have heard this interview with former New York Attorney General and governor, the disgraced Eliot Spitzer. No, they weren’t interviewing him to hound him about his time in the doghouse after the scandal of his patronage of a high-end prostitution ring (I believe you refer to it as a “house of ill repute”, when the girls cost you a grand or more per hour…) – they sought his opinion on the current global financial crisis and, at least here in the U.S., it’s roots in the subprime lending crisis. In case you didn’t know, before Eliot Spitzer was the governor of New York (but probably not before he was an adulterer) he was the state’s Attorney General. Early last year before his popular demise, Spitzer contributed http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html>this article. Telling though it was, especially as the subprime lending crisis grew, the article was largely ignored by many media outlets – even those not in the mainstream. Though I would estimate we’d still be in rough waters had anyone bothered to take Spitzer’s article to heart, I think many would agree that a lesser version of the current crisis would be better.

While it seems obvious that the global financial crisis is not solely the product of predatory lending practices and “a lack of will, not power” by federal regulators to investigate and prosecute the illegal dealings in the financial sector, Spitzer does make a valid case for these two variables being of particular significance. Whether or not you think Spitzer is a smutbucket or just another philandering politician, he does have the experience as a former Attorney General who, along with his colleagues in other states, tried to fight back against the irresponsible and downright illegal lending practices of banks but was cut off by the Bush administration. Spitzer concludes his article with the prediction that “the Bush administration will not be judged favorably” once the history of this crisis is investigated, revealed, and written. One can only hope, it seems, that though it is unlikely (nigh, impossible) that anyone directly responsible in that administration will be held accountable, that future generations can be far more wary.

India’s ubiquitous flatulent cows are heating up the globe.  This may seem like a problem for the biologists, but nay! (or moo), it is a sociocultural issue!  It is illegal to kill the sacred cow in India, even when its milk has run dry, its owner has run out of money, or perhaps the beast simply ran away.  This article http://news.yahoo.com/s/time illustrates the problem of the 283 million methane-producing cud-chewers that populate the country.  It seems as though scientists are so concerned about this methane pollution that they are vigorously trying to come up with a diet or dietary supplement that can curb the flatus.  Ahh, but lets throw a monkey wrench in that scheme.  Most rural farmers are clueless to the fact that there is a problem called global warming.  Also, these rural farmers are quite poor and can’t afford the ruminant Gas-X that the West is touting.

“For starters, most Indian livestock is underfed and undernourished, unlike robust counterparts in richer countries. The typical Indian farmer is unable to buy expensive dietary supplements even for livestock of productive age, and dry milch cattle and older farm animals are invariably turned out to fend for themselves. Poor quality feed equals poor animal health as well as higher methane production. Also, even when western firms are willing to share technology or when western products are available, these are often unaffordable for the majority in India. For instance, Monensin, an antibiotic whose slow-release formula reduces methane emission by cows, proved too expensive for widespread use in India.”

To dispose of cows that are no longer productive or physically able to do work goes against religion.  India has cow shelters where homeless and decrepit bovines go to live the last days of their lives, instead of bumping brisket with buses.  Will India begin killing its cows to save the world?  It seems that a dietary supplement will come to the rescue so an ancient cultural practice can be maintained.  It is interesting that nations that have the time and can afford to get their panties in a bundle over global warming do so at the expense of the poorer nations.

According an article on Yahoo.com, men are winning the gender game of teeter-totter.  China has long struggled to rein in, or at least maintain its population of 1.6 billion people by enforcing strict birth control laws.  Unfortunately, the desire for that one child to be a boy causes the rates of female infanticide to skyrocket.  Abortion is legal, but it is not legal for parents to determine the fetus’s sex unless it is medically required.  The number of males far outweighs the number of females in China

“China has 32 million more young men than young women — a gender gap that could lead to increasing crime — because parents facing strict birth limits abort female fetuses to have a son, a study released Friday said.”

The article points to the concern that crime rates will rise because of so many testosterone-ridden young men running about.  The social imbalance created by selecting only male fetuses will form a nation of sexual frustration.  This is going to be interesting to see how this method of birth control plays out, both socially and militarily.  I’m guessing that the only thing for  these boys to do is go into the military since there’s no one to create a family with…

In this article from Scientific American, Michael D. Lemonick discusses the Top 10 Myths About Sustainability. No, this isn’t an affront to environmentalism – it’s an article that seeks to define just what sustainability is, how it can (and can’t) operate, and how it can help. The concept of sustainability, the article points out, is widely and legitimately applicable to our modern global society but can be difficult for people to understand. I found two points in this article to be especially succinct in describing the concept of sustainability in very simple and very real terms.

“The economy,” says Anthony Cortese, founder and president of the sustainability education organization Second Nature, “is a wholly owned subsidiary of the biosphere. The biosphere provides everything that makes life possible, assimilates our waste or converts it back into something we can use.”

This is immediately followed by,

If too many of us use resources inefficiently or generate waste too quickly for the environment to absorb and process, future generations obviously won’t be able to meet their needs.

As humans on this planet, everything that we rely upon to provide us an environment in which we can not only live, but flourish, is a product of the earth in at least its most basic form. Therefore, if we are wasteful and abusive towards the planet, it is likely that we will no longer be able to flourish – perhaps not even live. Sustainability may require us to use less (whether that be fossil fuels, water, etc.), and to use what we do take from the earth with greater efficiency, but it is not about returning to cave dwellings and loincloths. Sustainability requires each individual to be both responsible for themselves and conscientious of others in the way that we live our lives, manipulate and use resources, and to consider how our actions of the present will continue to resonate in the future. Regardless of personal politics, I fail to sympathize with any individual’s inability to recognize not only the merit, but the absolute necessity, of sustainable living. The future of humanity does not look to be an easy or pleasant one and will require a massive overhaul, but that is no reason to feel hopeless. At the individual level, even small changes and adjustments to your habits and lifestyle are better than no changes at all!

Who knows what Alaska would be like today if not for the events of WWII.  Seen as a stategic, as well as an extremely vunerable corordor of the North American continent durring the war, the U.S. military spent billions carving up the landscape so “people could use it,” as well as defend North American from the Japanese.  One of the many projects at this time was the Alaska-Canada Highway.

Said to be the greatest engineering feat durring WWII, the Alcan was completed in less than nine months using seven U.S. Army Corps of Engineer regiments.  Because the army was still segregated and blacks could not fight in combat, four of the seven regiments were “CLD” (colored).  The other three were white and in some cases durring construction they would work towards eachother in competition; at least one observer said that the black regiments would often win.  There is a picture in John S. Whitehead’s “Completing the Union,” that shows a black man and a white man shaking hands at the joining of their opposite stretches of road.  It is quite powerful!

Battling subzero temperatures, permafrost, frostbite, gail-force winds, horifying clouds of mosquitoes, and the occasional brown bear encounter, these regiments (mostly trained in the deep south) completed the Alcan in record time.  Using aerial surveys and local guides, the regiments cut an artery through the Northern Rockies and Yukon so that Alaska could be supplied.  Work was able to go so fast because the D-8 “dozers” they used could knock down 100-year-old spruce trees in seconds; then the troops would come in and limb the trees and lay them tightly perpendicular to the course of the road to establish a foundation called “corduroy.”  Then feet of gravel and rock would be laid on the corduroy and a you would have a road.  Bridges and culverts seemed to be the time consumer.

Just thought this might blow yer skirt up.

A friend posted a link to this article, and I was appalled when I read it. It talks about how a new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives.

One of the most controversial articles stipulates the wife “is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires.”

“As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night,” Article 132 of the law says. “Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.”

Not only does this violate women’s rights, but the article mentions that many fear that this new law may reverse the progress that Afghanistan has made in recent years. Women are now allowed to go to school, own businesses, and be in public without a male relative escorting her… but this new law is a huge step backwards.

One of the drafters of the law claims that the new legislation offers more rights to women, saying

it gives more rights to women than even Britain or the United States does. He said the law makes women safer and ensures the husband is obliged to provide for her.

He is referring to a section of the law that requires husbands to have sexual relations with his wife at least once every four months, which supposedly “protects a woman’s right to sex within marriage.”

How this law provides more rights to women is a mystery to me. I cannot imagine one woman who would benefit from her husband having the right to force non-consensual sex upon her.

One (female) lawmaker commented that she cannot remember parlaiment discussing or voting on the law, and does not know how it came to be approved.

I came across this article about the tragedy in NY.  Although this isn’t exactly like the “Strategic logic” article we read in class, it did get me thinking about why people do what they do. It’s so hard to imagine what such rage and pain feels like. Whether they’re part of some radical terrorist group or a man angry over a cheating spouse, I just can’t comprehend mass murder. There are so many events like school shootings and people losing it at work and taking a machine gun in. Has anyone seen the movie “Runaway Jury”? It was a book about the tobacco industry, but the movie was about killings and guns. It just all seems so unreasonable. I just can’t grasp it….

Okay, I don’t know how significant this post is, but I thought that it was hilarious (and sad…).

I found this post on Everyday Sociology. Three female college students wanted some extra cash, so instead of getting a job, they decided to rob a local dollar store in Ohio. They entered the store, armed with BB guns, and demanded cash from the dollar store employee. The employee refused, so the three girls left empty handed. They were later found by the police, who assumed they were amateurs (given their lack of success). But, inside the ladies car, they found a document titled “How to Commit Armed Robbery in Six Easy Steps”, which had been printed 12 hours before the attempted robbery.

So they had done their research, right? Wrong. The robbery manual was created as a joke, and posted on the internet.

“…the first step advises the reader to get appropriate gear, such as a mask or sunglasses. A ski mask “gives you a badass look as well as conceal your appearance.” The website promises good things with the mask, for wearing one will reduce “your chances of being caught… by .001%.” Next you need a big bag for carrying all the loot that you’ll get. The website recommends one with a dollar sign printed on its side, like in cartoons. After that, the website offers valuable guidance on picking partners, planning the robbery, executing it, and getting away.”

How stupid are people? This blog was appauling to me. I just lost a little more faith in mankind.

I found an interesting post on Psychology Today having to do with physical attractiveness and intelligence. It reminded me of a project that I had done. I took a Social Psychology course a few years back, in which I had done research on a similar topic. I was supposed to research physical appearances. My initial thoughts, as I like to view and treat all people equally, was that looks don’t matter. I was surprised to find that previous research showed that I, unfortunately, was quite wrong.

Studies have found that the more “beautiful” people are perceived as smarter, more competent, and more successful than the less attractive people. This was proved with not only adults, but with children also. I was shocked to find that kids, as young as preschool age, are judged by their physical appearance! One study really stood out in my mind, it dealt with preschool teachers and students. The study created fake files of preschool students. They each contained a picture, and some reports on the child’s behavior. The files contained some children who were very cute and attractive, and some more homely looking children. The teachers were supposed to create responses, or evaluations for each student. Many of the children’s files contained instances of “trouble” behavior, many of these instances being almost identical. The study found that the lesser attractive children were rated as “troublesome” or “problematic” or “bad” for minor indiscresions, and the more attractive children were rated far more favorably for the identical behavior. Basically, the prettier children were given the benefit of the doubt, saying they might have been having a bad day, or this was just an isolated incident, but overall they were very good students. These were for the exact same behavior! I find it so sad that we judge appearances so much, even as young as preschoolers!

The post on Psychology Today dealt with a similar issue. It talked about how physically attractive people are viewed as smarter, and more competent than their less attractive counterparts.  It also suggests that this is not just related to mate selection. When tested, males rate other attrative males as more intellegent, females rate attracitive females higher. Even five year old kids rate more attractive teachers as more competent.

Is there any truth to this? The article states

Sociologists and social psychologists, convinced (and politically predisposed to believe) that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and “beauty is only skin-deep,” dismiss this widespread perception as “bias,” stereotype,” or “halo effect,” with the implicit assumption that the perception is not accurate and has no factual basis.  It is a stereotype that beautiful people are more intelligent.  But, as I explain in an earlier post, virtually all stereotypes are empirically true; if they were not true, they would not be stereotypes in the first place.  And it turns out that this one is no exception.  People believe beautiful people are more intelligent, because they in fact are.

The University of North Carolina tested this by administering IQ tests, and rating the respondents by their attractiveness. The results showed that there was a positive relationship between the two. The more attractive one was, the higher they scored on an IQ test. Both males and females showed the same results.

I can’t help but think that this cannot be true…. One’s appearance shouldn’t predict their intelligence. Any thoughts?

Picture of Denali

I was invited on Facebook to join a group who wants to properly rename different land marks in our nation. Mt. McKinley or Denali is one of the places they want renamed. I never knew the history before; I only knew Denali was the native name. Mt. McKinley was named by a gold miner who was showing support for the 1896 presidential election of William McKinley, who never visited Alaska, and William Jennings Bryan. McKinley favored gold while his opponent liked silver.

The State of Alaska officially recognizes Mt McKinley as Denali, and the US government acknowledged the name when Denali National Park was created in 1980. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK, retired) introduced multiple bills to officially rename the mountain as Denali, but was constantly opposed by Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH, retired), who represented an area of Ohio that contains Canton, William McKinley’s hometown. Though Regula has retired, two other Ohio congresspeople, Betty Sutton and Tim Ryan have pledged to continue obstructing attempts to rename Denali.

Alaska State House Representative Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks) recently introduced a resolution (HJR-15) to urge the US congress to finally change the name to Denali. Denali (or Dinale) translates to “The Great One” in Athabascan dialects common to native peoples north of the mountain, and is known as Doleika to the Dena’ina people in the south. By recognizing the prominent feature by a traditional name, Denali, the US government would take a step toward reversing years of cultural genocide of Alaska Native peoples.

I have always wondered what was with the two names, but having two names myself, never got interested enough to find out the reason. I am now considering how many other national monuments or land marks are binomial. Is it right for a place that is known as one name to its native people to be changed for political reasons?

I just read the article What Does it Mean to be Irish? in the latest Newsweek.  This is a question that could be asked about any culture or race, but it struck a cord with me because there are regions of me that are Irish, and I really have no idea what that means.  It still isn’t very clear, but here you go.  Colm Toibin ponders the rather rabid differences between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (which is the rest of it).  Northern Irish identify with Britain, except when it comes to rugby.  “They feel a closer allegiance to the flags, emblems, and heritage of the neighboring island, or perhaps even to Scotland,” Toibin writes.  What seems to rescue peoples’ identity is the hyphen, he maintains.  For example, I could consider myself Irish-Welsh-Swedish-American.  Or, for fun and stereotypes, I am a drinking, fighting, singing, polo-playing, clogging, consumer.  I think I like that better.

What would drive a man (or any parent) to murder all five of his children? I just ran across this article on MSNBC and it hits rather close to home. This is the neighborhood I moved up here from this past summer. I wouldn’t doubt that the 16 year old probably went to school with my two high school aged cousins who live in the same area.
How does one’s situation end up so bad that he will kill his children and then himself? What did the kids do to deserve this? Better yet, where is the mother? There is a statement that the parents got into a fight and the mother left. Where was she to comment on the situation? Or has she even been found?
The comment from the former neighbor is also disturbing to me:

Carolyn and Raymond Bader, former neighbors of the family, told The Seattle Times they often heard the father yelling at the children. The Baders said they called the sheriff’s department and Child Protective Services several times with their concerns.

Here lies another problem with the system. If the police and CPS had been called previously, why were all five of these children still at home in harms way? Obviously, some intervention should have taken place prior to it coming to such a tragic ending. This seems to be a never ending battle. There are murders—murders of lots of people happening repeatedly these days. When will it end? What can we do to help?

We as Americans are a society of consumers. I wonder just how dependent we are on commercial goods. Working for Starbucks and now Heritage it is amazing to see how people can become so furious if they aren’t able to have their mocha or a piece of lemon loaf. It seems to be that the customers really think that we purposefully had the grinder break down or be in the middle of a power outage and that we have control of what pastries other customers order. A post in the beginning of March reported that a woman called 911 three times because McDonalds was out of chicken nuggets.

“This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one,” Goodman later told police. “This is an emergency.”

As I was thinking about this craziness I decided to check out Starbucks. In a chat room for Starbucks customers and partners there was a post about no more toffee nuts. I absolutely found this hilarious! Starbucks brings out new drinks at least every quarter. The Toffee Nut Latter, made with toffee nut syrup, whip and toffee nuts, was a promotional beverage that really didn’t go over very well. I had to throw out a few bottles of toffee nuts because we never used them and they had expired.

The horror. The outrage. I have been drinking toffee nut lattes with whip and sprinkles since it was introduced last holiday season and watched as it drifted off the big board and became a special item to order.

Apparently there will be no more sprinkles and really, it’s the sprinkles that make the damn beverage what it is. I have no idea who is handling latte strategy up at headquarters but this news it quite distressing. Am I going to be forced to bring in outside sprinkles to my local Starbuck’s.

What are we going to do if there are no more sprinkles or nuggets? Why is shortage such a crisis? Sometimes I think we have too many things available to us to really see things in perspective.

I stumbled across an article in the March 16th issue of the TIME Magazine that brought up a couple of interesting points about the current economic situation in America. The author of the article, Justin Fox, talks about the good (or, at least, the fairly good) things that come out of any recession. Consequently, he came up with a list of four positive outcomes of the crisis.

1. The stock market is no longer over-priced. Of course, as prices on stocks fall as a consequence of the general shrinking in “lung capacity” on Wall Street, the investor suddenly finds himself in a better position than, say, two years ago. Given that the promise of the recovery is realistic, the average capitalist could eventually earn a robust profit. The problem is guessing when the market is going to stop falling. Confidence is required for such dismissive action.

2. The government is on the case. Here, the author merely points to the recent activity that followed the election of a new president. Of course, the worsening of the economy drastically stimulated this stirring, but Obama is to be given credit for much of the action on the matter.

3. Consumers are adjusting to the new economic reality. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it is a reality-check for the (American) consumption machine. People begin realizing that the borrowed money will have to actually be repaid. On the dark side, this increase in savings hurts the economy (consumption being part of the Gross Domestic Product) as it drags the GDP along.

4. Reinvention and change are what the U.S. is all about. This is a good point in general, not just in the economic sense. Theoretically, when something must be rebuilt anyway, people may as well fix what needed to be fixed for a long time (which, for lack of “inspiration,” or less likely – money – never got done). Remodeling a house to suit its residents’ needs better is much easier to do if the house in question had already gone through a fire: the structural walls are still there, but the rest can be refreshed on the way.

The fifth point that I wanted to add to Fox’s list relates in a way to the first on the list. The prices on the housing market. Any time there is a recession, the housing market gets hit first (in this case, it was the housing market that was the root of all evil). This however may be beneficial to those people looking for a house. According to the Wall Street Journal, prices have been falling constantly since May of 2006. Now, when the prices are the same as they were in mid-2002, it is expected that they will continue to fall.

Is there a bullish scenario for house prices? Sure. If all the government spending to turn around the economy reignites inflation in a year or two—as some predict—house prices could begin climbing again. But if the current price deflation continues, look for house prices to keep dropping.

It is confidence that is needed get out of the crisis. From home-buyers, to investors, to consumers – all need to regain their confidence in a stable economy. This of course may only be attained in time. Meanwhile, we can continue watching the market for a better bargain.

Dana Jennings has an aggresive form of prostate cancer. In his blog With a Buzz Cut, I can Take on Anything he describes how cutting his hair helped him gain the strength to go through cancer treatments. The short buzz cut, changed his attitude, by making him feel stronger.

In a time of utter vulnerability — having already weathered three months of post-diagnosis ups-and-downs — I needed the primal ferocity that a buzz cut proclaims. I needed to look like a soccer thug or an extra from “Prison Break” to help get me through surgery, the physical indignities of post-op life, and my subsequent radiation and hormone therapy. I still do. My prostate cancer and its treatment have transformed me — in body and spirit — and the buzz cut has helped me cope with those changes.

This article at http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com about the demonstrations in Britain over the G-20 meetings illustrates the world’s frustration and curiosity about how we got into this mess and what the plans are for getting us out. Some of the demonstrators were just there for the scene.

“I think we need to share the resources, power to the people and that,” said Tommy Langton, 40, who was innocuous except for the plastic toad he wore on his head. “I’m just a normal English person who likes a demonstration.”

Others had an agenda and a concise answer to the world’s problems.

“‘What did the 12-year-old want? “The death of capitalism,” she said.’”

Some were there because of sheer boredom.

“‘I’m out of work. It was either come down here or watch ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’,” said the former banker, a Canadian, as he gazed over the crowd.  He doubted that the leaders gathered at the G-20 would come up with anything useful or substantive.’”

No matter where one goes or what a governing body does, there will be demonstrators to disagree, dissuade, and, apparently, drink beer.

Cheers to the palatable ale of discontent.

When I went to school at the University of West Florida at Pensacola, FL in the Fall of 2007, one of the classes I took there was a Shipwreck Archaeology class. My professor, a fairly young guy, had worked on some fairly significant projects, including a massive effort made in the early 1990s to excavate the La Belle in the Gulf, below the nearby mouth of the Mississippi River. We talked a lot about that particular dig in class, as well as projects pertinent to Florida – some right in Pensacola Bay (which we never left the classroom to check out; can you guess why I left?) and some further south in the Florida Keys, particularly wrecks popularized by the infamous Mel Fisher. One of the other most significant wrecks in the south is the supposed wreck of Blackbeard’s (real name: Edward Teach_last ship, The Queen Anne’s Revenge. The wreck is supposed to be near the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina, and is quite a contentious site among archaeologists. This piece from National Geographic’s website (it’s not really an article, to be honest) talks a little bit about some new artifacts that have been recently discovered and at least partially conserved/restored by the nautical archaeologists working for the NC Dept. of Cultural Resources. Because it’s such a high-profile wreck if it actually is Blackbeard’s Queen Anne, there is a lot riding on this for the state of North Carolina, especially in potential tourist and investment dollars.
Unfortunately, this National Geographic piece does not bother to mention the fact that there is not a whole lot of physical evidence that has been found thus far to support the idea that the wreck these archaeologists are working on actually is Blackbeard’s Queen Anne. While it’s true that it was his last ship (a former French ship by the name of Le Concorde he captured in 1717) and that he had ground when he was ‘caught’ by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of off NC’s coast in 1718 and killed, it is not as though Blackbeard’s Queen Anne was the only ship to meet her demise in those waters. While a ship’s bell (one of the best sources for validation of a ship’s name and age for archaeologists) was found shortly after excavation began in 1997, the bell was well worn by its time spent in the salty coastal waters and the dates on the bell are unclear. The best potential reading of the ship’s bell’s date actually puts the date of the bell years after The Queen Anne’s Revenge was long gone. Other than a few items, such as this new apothecary’s weight, that have been found that contain French markings (fleur-de-lis), there is almost no evidence to support the origin or ownership of this ship. What’s more, even French markings on items are not particularly solid evidence since trade for items such as these would have been commonplace during this period.
I chose to write about this because archaeology is particularly susceptible to sensationalism, and this (as well as Mel Fisher – can I just tell you that Mel Fisher is a bad man? He is. He’s a low-down, dirty, greedy treasure hunter) is a perfect example of how a lot of pomp and excitement are generated not over facts and honest archaeological work, but in order to raise more tourist and investment dollars.

I was looking at Psychology Today, and saw a blog about procrastination. I felt that this issue was especially appropriate for a blog post, considering that I have horribly procrastinated this blogging project.

The article suggests that there are two strategies to approach procrastination:

1.) Time Travel

2.) Tough Love

The tough love seems obvious. It is rare that anyone feels like working on a big project, going for a run in the rain, or organizing the garage… but it needs to be done. To just do it would be the obvious solution, but if everyone did this then there would be no problem with procrastination. The article states “expect that you probably won’t feel overly enthused to get started.” Of course not. That is why we procrastinate. We need a new approach.

The “time travel” strategy seems like a better approach for me. It suggests that when you think to yourself that ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’, you attempt to imagine tomorrow. You “time travel” to when you are planning to procrastinate your task till. There’s a good chance that you won’t feel like doing it tomorrow. Or the next day for that matter. In fact, if you waited until you wanted to do it, it may never get done.

The article suggests to “just get started- progress will fuel well-being and enhance goal attainment”

This approach I understand. I never feel like doing tasks today, and I’m pretty positive that I won’t want to tomorrow either. But- I completely agree that once you get started, the work isn’t as bad as you imagined. And it is always such a proud feeling when you finish. So do it today, instead of waiting for tomorrow. And then you have tomorrow to look forward to!

Once again, with this year’s G-20 Summit coming up (and the abundance of material for protesting banners) political activists, environmental groups, but also regular people, are all meeting in London to “greet” international leaders.

Protesters gathering on Saturday were calling for jobs, fair distribution of wealth, and a low-carbon future. They carried banners and posters reading “Climate Emergency,” “Gaza: End the Blockade,” “Planet Before Profit,” “We Won’t Pay for Their Crisis,” and “Jobs not Bombs.”

In a preliminary meeting of G-20 officials in Chile on Saturday, Joe Biden asked for patience, and promised to have a concrete plan of recovery out of the economic mess. Needless to say, tensions in Britain and all-over Europe are not going to get mellowed-down by this type of promises. Instead, British protesters follow the general feeling of rage among the taxpayer, from Washington to Brussels.

It is expected that the marches will continue throughout the meeting in London and the rest of Europe next week. The masses, ranging from 400 protesters in Paris, to 20,000 people demonstrating in Frankfurt, are only continuing to grow, and some are expecting the largest amount of enraged people since the huge rallies against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It is hard to say exactly what the effect of the protesters will be upon the decisions made within the G-20, but one thing is certain: this allows people to have someone to hold responsible for the crisis. Furthermore, it allows them to collectively show their anger against their governments, and get their voices heard. The only thing that keeps people from rallying the streets in America is Barack Obama, who is still extremely popular among the people, even though not all of them support him in his giant stimulus package.

I found the following article interesting Connecticut School Bans Physical Contact. Due to recent events at East Shore Middle School all physical contact has been banned between students. The physical contact includes high-fives, hugs and handshakes. An important part of any education institution is the socializing that takes place between students. While in school children develop skills and habits necessary for acting and practicing in life which includes certain types of physical contact. I understand that not all physical contact is appropriate in school like holding hands and kissing, but for a hug between two longtime girlfriends or a handshake between to athletes at the end of a game to be banned seems a little excessive to me. Any thoughts?

I was reading this post about social networking via internet sites like Facebook and Myspace and it grabbed my attention because I had recently been discussing the topic with friends. Karen Sterneihmer, the author of the blog discussed these sites break down impression management by allowing for private information to become public. I think these sites tend to help impression management though. Unlike ever before people are allowed to make an image of themselves (that might not be very accurate) and present that to a wide population. Its crazy the amount of people on these sites, and they see what you want them to see.

The Palestinian children of a West Bank refugee camp sang for a group of Holocaust survivors. I ran across this article on msn.com (as usual) just after we discussed the article in class regarding terrorism.

Both groups, Israelis and Palestinians, have suffered atrocities throughout time that have left them scarred in one form or anther. As we know, there is a lot of history between the two groups.

HOLON, Israel – The Palestinian youths from the tough West Bank refugee camp stood facing the elderly Holocaust survivors Wednesday, appearing somewhat defiant in a teenage sort of way. Then they began to sing

Yet each experienced a peaceful event with one another.

“Only people who have been through suffering understand each other,” 

(Ali Zeid, an 18-year-old keyboard player)

I though we were over this whole “being gay is all in your head” thing. According to this article one sixth of British therapists are still trying to teach how to be un-gay. It’s still taught of as a “cure”. Can you believe that?

“There is very little evidence to show that attempting to treat a person’s homosexual feelings is effective and in fact it can actually be harmful,” according to Micheal King of University College London.

I tend to agree with that. There are numerous people in my life, friends, family, classmates, co-workers, who are homosexual. Many of them have shared their heartbreaking stories of how people tried to “beat the gay out of them” or teach them how to be straight and it caused nothing but trauma and pain. No bueno, if you asked me.

Not all anniversaries are for celebrating.  Tuesday March 23, 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in which 11,000,000 gallons of crude oil bled into Prince William Sound.  National Geographic has an article describing the lasting effects of the spill.  In it Christine Dell’Amore writes:

“Twenty years of oil exposure has injured this stretch of Alaska’s coast…In its first toxic sweep, the oil spill killed about 250,000 seabirds, 4,000 sea otters, 250 bald eagles, and more than 20 orca whales…Sea otters and harlequin ducks continue to die by digging into the sand for food and releasing buried oil.”

This event is just one of those situations where one is left with no choice but to deal with the emotions that are a natural occurrence after being informed of such news.  I feel condemned to hang my head in shame for the human race and the atrocoties we commit against nature which seem always to be prompted by our lust for natrual resources.

I tend to pick up most of the articles I post on here via Archaeologica.net, since they post a few of the most interesting archaeology/anthropology related links each day, and this article about “Hush-hush Archaeology” is another winner. I’m sure most people can recall the hullabaloo over the new fence at the Mexican-American border, and perhaps even the monumental distaste for the RealID Act (everyone would be required to have a federal-issue ID, very different from something like a passport, in lieu of or in addition to a state ID). I do not personally recall that part of the RealID Act allowed the Homeland Security Secretary (at the time, Michael Chertoff) to waive both federal and state laws dealing with environmental and archaeological protections – even to waive mere surveys, much less excavations – in order to put the new border fence in place. While the article tends to focus more on the coming together of archaeologists, Native American tribes in that area, as well as some government agencies in order to not prevent the building of the fence but prevent the decimation of prehistory, the ability to waive all of these hard-fought protection laws is incredibly important and terrifying to boot. These groups worked together in order to survey, assess, excavate, and document as much of the area (which is right outside of San Diego, CA) that was scheduled to be built upon as possible.

Another important point that the article brings up was the uncertainty of legal action that the archaeologists of the Native American tribes (or even the state of California) could take against the federal government to stop the total destruction of these sites in order to expedite the building of the fence. Would they be able to sue? Even though Chertoff had expressed “keeping with the spirit” of the laws and protections that he’d been given the ability to waive, “keeping with the spirit” is undefined and not nearly good enough when the knowledge of our human history is about to be obliterated. The disrespect and outright flouting of incredibly significant laws that protect not only our environment but our material history is disgusting and also unnecessary.

The article talks a little about how the groups worked under a “gag order” of sorts in order to keep media attention and subsequent protest or potpickers (thieves) away from the site. This was not only to preserve to efforts of the excavation but also so that the government could retain its ability to sell the border fence as a sterling measure of Homeland Security – there was enough bad press as it was. In spite of it all, it is truly inspiring that these archaeologists and Native American groups came together with the (at first, reluctant) help of the Army Corps of Engineers in order to excavate, document, and save as much of the archaeological information that this area of land held.

A blogger on Newsweek’s website wrote about the early and untimely deaths of Natasha Richardson and Jade Goody.  Goody had time to prepare her two young children for her death; Richardson did not.  The blogger was prompted to think about what would happen to her children if she died or knew she was going to.  She realized that parents immediatly jump to help their kids. Of course they do!  But not many are willing to spend the time and money on their own welfare.  I am not a parent yet, but I have made frantic calls to the vet at seven o’clock in the morning to describe my dog’s vomit, or inquire about lethargy.  I have driven my car’s clunking bumper to the auto shop and dropped a thousand dollars without batting an eye.  But when it comes time to take care of myself, I think I fall into the realm of everyone else when I say I just don’t want to know.  Or can’t afford it.  Or it’s an inconvenience. Is it that we trust that our loved ones will come to our rescue when the time comes?  The blogger ends her passage with a note that she will start taking better care of herself for her children.  It is a hard thing to face one’s mortality (which is what going to the doctor forces us to do).  But if we take care  of ourselves, it is obvious that those around us will benefit.

China is getting worried about the courses of action that the US government is taking about the US economy.  China is losing faith in the dollar, and appearently has been for several years.  They view the dollar as an unstable asset, and would like to see a seperate international monetary unit replace the dollar as reserve currency.  The fulll article is printed through BBC.

There was a situation that I dealt with that involved a client I work with and his mother. The main problem is she thinks she is always right and will not listen to criticism, and will not accept others answers. She perceives herself as being right about ways to treat her son, which everybody else thinks is insane or crazy. My point is that she has been perceiving herself as being right for so many years that anybody elses who tries to defy what she wants or says, is wrong through her eyes. Helping Psychology  shows that people will use facts and events to help support their “ego”, as the Admin of the article says. There are many other ways that people can view situations as positive for themselves as the article shows:

This can be seen extended to even larger groups. People in religious groups, families and even whole communities can exhibit such self deception on a grand scale. For example, a religious group may believe in all of the sayings of their leader and be a part of a mass suicide because they believe that everything they said was true.

Communities are even capable of showing signs of self denial. Parts of the United States even have whole communities in the South that believe they won the civil war and have a separate perceived reality that even alters history for them.

This just shows that people bask in the their own reflected glory, either by their own ego about being right or in groups. People use this to help their self-esteem, but sometimes this isn’t always a good thing. It mentions that people believe these kids of so called “lies” and develops “delusional thinking”. This can seriously effect relationships with family members, friends, and spouses. From the situation that I was in, they did not want to believe they were wrong about anything and think that their own way of thinking is the only way to go. Many people don’t know that this has been happening for as long as life has lived.

Japan was already one of the top nations with a high suicide rate. Now with the economic situation, suicides have increased.  In the forest below Mt. Fuji, known as the suicide forest, there is now a prevention program in place due to the increase of suicides there. Signs are posted in the forest advertising help for credit card debt and video cameras with motion sensors are in place to detect suicide attempts. Among some of the helpers at the suicide forest are survivors of suicide attempts themself. In Japan, being in debt or not being self sufficient has a negative stigma and such people are considered a burden on society. 

Taro bought a one-way ticket to the forest, west of Tokyo, Japan. When he got there, he slashed his wrists, though the cut wasn’t enough to kill him quickly.

One year after his suicide attempt, Taro is volunteering with the credit counseling agency that helped him get back on his feet. He’s still living in a shelter and looking for a job. He’s ashamed, he said, that he still thinks about suicide.

Japan’s Aokigahara Forest is known as the “suicide forest” because people often go there to take their own lives.

I ran across this article on MSN, where I spend way too much time reading articles from the ”Weird news” or the “criminal weirdness” section. But every once in a while I find something that makes sense to me.

Throughout high school I remember some of our teachers and instructors talking about how teens need more sleep, and that their brains aren’t fully functional early in the morning. I remember teachers talking about how having to get up SO early was a problem that only effected our ability to learn and perform in school. Naturally, we all agreed.

I work in a juvenile residential behavioral treatment facility, and we have the “Why do we have to get up so early” debate all the time. Although our kids don’t attend public school, their teachers are public school teachers and they have to go to school during the same times as public school kids. Although I agree that we should start school a little later, I can’t do anything about it. I still can’t figure out why school happens so early, especially when there is data stating that it’s just not a good idea.  

It sounds as though the folks in England have it figured out.

It’s amazing in these tough economic times we still find individuals that just don’t have a clue how good they got it and have totally lost touch with reality. Marie Douglas-David couldn’t be a better example of this because according to the article Countess divorcing former CEO says $43M just isn’t enough Ms. Douglas-David is seeking additional money from her divorce settlement because she is having a hard time surviving off of her current monthly alimony allowance of $53K. Ms. Douglas-David feels she is entitled to over $100M plus a monthly alimony allowance of $130K. People like this disgust me because I know everyday thousands of hardworking people are laid off but still have families to feed and bills to pay. Just for fun I would like to see Ms. Douglas-David be required volunteer at a homeless shelter. Maybe then she will graciously accept the $43M and shut up, I know I would!

Suicide rates are rising in our armed forces.  My little brother joined the National Guard before this whole war in Iraq started, thinking he would be building levees and saving trailer parks from tornadoes.  He joined for the college money.  He wound up unprepared in Iraq for a year, teaching Iraqis to be soldiers when he had no idea how to be one.  He will tell some funny stories when insisted upon, but otherwise he DOES NOT talk about it.  I have seen some pictures of him behind ridiculously huge machine guns, his little glasses and goofy grin and prepubescent face…it makes me want to cry.  That is not where he belongs.  He came home a different person, but in a good way.  He tells us he loves us, helps out, and is less bitingly sarcastic.  He also drives in the middle of the road because it’s less likely that there is a bomb there.  He thinks helicopters fall from the sky all the time.  And he knows more about foreign policy and politics than anyone I know.  Experience gives you that.  But I’m sure he has seen people torn by bullets and burned out houses and people with their legs blown off by mines.  He has told me that he lost faith in humanity.  This war is pointless, he says.  Perhaps that is a reason people are killing themselves.  They feel that what they are doing is worthless.  Their homes and relationships are disintegrating as they throw their lives on the line for a battle that, like Vietnam, will never be won.  An article on msnbc.com gives staggering statistics of suicides:

“Last year, the Army had 140 suspected suicides among active-duty troops, an all-time high. It reported 24 suspected suicides in January, followed by 18 suspected last month. Each military branch, however, saw an increase in the number of suicides among its ranks from 2007 to 2008.”

There are people who will argue that soldiers had the choice to join the Army, that they knew what the job entailed.  I believe that it is one thing see a cool commercial advertising adventure and money.  It is another to experience the horrors and stress of war.  It is like being prepared for the death of a family member.  No matter how much you convince yourself that you can handle it, nothing prepares you for the moment it happens.

I’m sure that what my brother saw and did was mild compared to the Marines, but it is all relative.  Being gripped and on guard for years at a time will change a body’s rhythm to the point that stopping is impossible.  Returning to the relative safety of the U.S. leads to dissatisfaction and boredom that is unbearable.  Alienation from friends and family, loss of limbs, inability to find work, all these are a recipe for suicide.  What else can one do?  Plus fighting a war that one is losing faith in.  I have no idea what to do about the suicide rates in the Army.  I think support for troops when they return is the most important thing.  My brother once shied away from showing pictures of his time in Iraq because “people don’t care.”  It broke my heart to hear him say that.  The biggest thing we all can do is make sure our soldiers know that we all still care.

Capital move supporters argue that the capital is not accessible to the majority of the citizens in the state. Keeping it in the present location will “impose on future generations a capital at the extreme southeastern corner.” Capital move opponents argue that the state institutions are already fairly dispersed to promote economic growth for all the state’s regions. Taking away capital status from its current location will cripple the economy and the southeast region will suffer. Not to mention that the cost of relocating would be astronomical. So plays the debate that is all too familiar for Alaskans. Except that this particular debate occurred in 1904—in Wyoming.

So, if Alaska is not particularly unique as far as capital moves go – aside from our uniquely inaccessible capital – why have we had easily over two dozen pieces of legislation dealing with the issue since statehood and several ballot initiatives to boot?

Likely, the economic issues at play are far more important than the ideas of “access” or “representation” that are touted by capital move proponents. Predictions as to the actual outcome seem to run the gamut from “capital creep” eventually succeeding in moving all but the official title (and maybe that too) to the eventual making peace with the historical (from statehood on anyways) capital of Juneau.

So, with that non-definitive discussion on the move, I’m curious who on here is for or against the move and why? Anybody that doesn’t care?

This article from the British publication The Guardian is about the discovery of an ancient Roman “joke book” by a Classical professor, Mary Beard, that dates back to sometime between the third and fourth centuries CE (Common Era). I thought that the article about this discovery makes several points worth considering, including the fact that our general opinion (or popular representations) of Romans tends to portray them as very austere, bloodthirsty, humorless people. The jokes present in this collection, entitled Philogelos (The Laughter Lover), paint a picture of the Romans as people who were willing to laugh at themselves, caricatures of themselves, or at other “foreign” groups whose practices or culture the Romans found laughable. The jokes, or at least their gist, are not entirely different than some of the jokes that we might use today and other jokes are still easily understandable; these jokes are not a type of humor that is frozen in its original context of time and place.
Another interesting point raised by the article is how there is a recurring theme of mistaken, lost, or lack of personal identity within many of the jokes. The Roman empire had recovered somewhat from the disastrous reigns of the likes of Caligula and Nero a few centuries before, but during this time period other major paradigm shifts would have been occurring, such as the recognition and validation of the Christian Church as well as the move of the Roman capital to Constantinople (in modern-day Turkey, and now known as Istanbul). Such incredible changes would have certainly made a substantial impact on nearly every aspect of Roman culture and society, including their self-perception and self-identity.
I particularly liked this article because humor is capable of bringing people together or helping different groups relate in ways that nothing else can. To have an ancient joke book allows us not only to gain a better understanding of an ancient culture and its people, but also to find some common ground with those who came before us.

I wanted to make sure that everybody in the Social Sciences was aware of this map published by the NY Times.

I was reading a blog on Psychology Today about relationships and how they are effected by emotional and biological factors. Steven Stosny, the author of this relationship blog, talked about how when we are young we develop an emotional attachment to our primary care giver. When those people are absent from our lives Stosny asserts that we experience seperation anxiety. The author relates this childhood anxiety to our adult relationships, saying that when we experience close bonds with another person and lose them it has the same effect

While I’m sure the author’s argument has truth, there are some social issues tied up in our relationships that he did not touch on at all. For instance the fact that attachment to one primary caregiver is very much a Westernized mind set. In many parts of the world a child is the responsibility of the whole community and not just one person. Also, in our society there is a huge importance placed on being in a relationship. You get tax breaks, you always have a date for the holidays, and when bombarded with the countless images of monogamous couples in our media there is a sense of inclusion otherwise not had.

In Euro-American societies I think there has been a sort of brain washing of children to believe that in order to be happy in life we all have to achieve this cookie cutter existence, which includes a good job, a partner, and offspring. While I think there have been great social advances which now make it acceptable (in most places) to have a same sex partner and chose to have children in a non-traditional way, there is still an emphasis to “settle down” and be with one, and only one person.

Being recently married myself I have seen a whole new world open up. It’s almost as if I have automatically joined a sort of club.  For choosing to go the traditional rout and commit myself to one person, and realistically some kids one day, I received a plethora of positive social reinforcement.  My tax return was better this year, I got tons of presents, not to mention an all expense paid wedding (that is basically a glorified party), and I all the sudden have the approval of other wives. Although it’s pretty easy to see the comedy behind all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds marriage, it is still something I enjoyed, and it’s hard to think that people who chose not to go the traditional rout do not get all the same benefits.

I ran across this article on msn.com about teens being charged for sex crimes like child pornography for sending nude pics of themselves and other teens via cell phone. There are two sides to the argument:

1) if they should be charged as adults for their behaviors, or

2) if it’s “normal” teen behavior and charging them as adults is too harsh.

“Kids will be kids, but that doesn’t make them criminals. This problem needs to be solved as a social problem, not a criminal problem,” Walters said.

What do you think? I wonder what Det. Olivia Benson would think….

It is a law to report to jury duty if you are summoned. When I was summoned I had to defer it to another time because I was going to have surgery. I had to put down another time that I would be available and willing to serve. When I read this press release I could totally identify with people who fell for this scam. I was never called back, but then again…maybe I missed the notice. The basic scam is people call and tell the receiver that they missed jury duty and that a warrant was out for their arrest. The callers would then get social security number and sometimes even credit card number to cover the fine of missing jury duty and erasing the warrant. The FBI  has been investigating this clever new way to steal identities. It has been reported in more than 12 states.

The scam’s bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective. Facing the unexpected threat of arrest, victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation.

“They get you scared first,” says a special agent in the Minneapolis field office who has heard the complaints. “They get people saying, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m not a criminal. What’s going on?’” That’s when the scammer dangles a solution-a fine, payable by credit card, that will clear up the problem.

With enough information, scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts.

 It makes me wonder sometimes how much impact and influence authority or the appearance of authority has on our society. How many people know that court officers never ask for personal information over the phone? I definately did not.

According to the article “High Court Won’t Stop Execution of Cal Coburn Brown” Friday the 13th is set to be Mr. Brown’s last day alive because he is scheduled to be executed for the torture, rape, and murder of a young woman. What is interesting about Mr. Brown’s case is that he suffers from a bipolar disorder which the court appears to be fully aware of. The article also mentions that Mr. Brown has been able to control his condition since receiving the proper medication. I was under the impression that an individual with a mental illness has the advantage of pleading not guilty because they are legally insane and therefore not liable for any wrong doing. This does not appear to be the case for Mr. Brown. Maybe he needed a better lawyer or maybe being insane is no longer a get out of free jail card?

Apparently, the Republican Party of the United States has ended up in such a vacuum of leadership that the “undeclared” (but apparently very much acknowledged) chief of the GOP has become the quasi-comedic radical radio-host Rush Limbaugh. In one of his speeches on national radio, Limbaugh declared the following jaw-dropping statement:

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I’d be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he’s talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don’t want this to work. So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.

OK, first of all, the “absorption of … the private sector by the US government,” as Limbaugh so feverishly opposes, was jump-started specifically and undeniably by the Bush Administration during his last year in office. The so-called “bail-out” plan that Mr. Bush Jr. lobbied for during the most heated months of the presidential campaign last year, was perhaps his attempt of leaving office with some level of closure. In other words, the bail-out plan was Bush’s last chance to deliver some sort of responsible measure that would ameliorate the short-term punch of the housing markets’ fiasco on the middle class (plus the auto industry desperation, that proved to be more out-of-touch with reality than anyone could have guessed); the “bail-out” also was Bush’s last chance of providing some valuable foundation for long-term repairs of the economy. And he blew it! The lack of management of some $300 billion of tax dollars led to unthinkable mistakes as far as the distribution of this money to its destination. I suppose it contributed to the “golden parachutes” that some of these Presidents and Magnates of absorbed-to-be, failed institutions had set out for themselves. Obama was left with cleaning up the mess created by his predecessor. Granted, Obama’s Stimulus Package is not without risks (potentially disastrous too), but the other camp can’t come up with anything close to reasonable that must be done to fix this problem.

Returning to comedian-in-chief Limbaugh’s statement, what he is saying is beyond outrageous! He wants Obama to fail? What kind of a Republican – or, going even further – what kind of an American is he, when he says that he wishes that the president of his country will fail? The beauty of analogy will help me point out the obvious: Rush Limbaugh wants America to fail! Rush Limbaugh’s colorful statements and electrifying energy when it comes to dividing the country becomes very similar to what once was a great “unifier” in Italy’s history.

The saddest thing about this Mussolini-like figure who calls himself a Republican, is that he is not being tackled by the party that he associates with in his political views. On the contrary, he is defended by Republicans, as being the “intellectual force” behind the conservatives, and even apologized to by the ones who dared criticize his ideas.

I ran across “Dead White People’s Clothes” last night. Basically, the author is making the claim that by sending used clothing to Africa, we are destroying their textile industry and taking away thousands of jobs from their people. Who would have thought that the simple gesture of donating clothing could have such an impact on a country? I can easily see how this could cause some conflict. For one, those of us in the more modern countries see the half naked, starving children in these third world countries and want to do something to help. On the flip side, the author is saying we are not only taking away jobs but also taking away from the culture of the people wearing traditional clothing.

Part of the problem is that younger generations no longer want to wear “outdated” traditional attire; instead, they crave the sort of sophistication and modernity promised in the pages of American and European magazines. They covet the styles they see on the latest television shows—Hollywood sitcoms and celebrity gossip shows imported by a fast-paced cable market. And the controversial used-clothing trade is quick in its attempt to fill each and every one of those fashion desires.

My question is this: is the author referring to the people in her country who can afford to buy the clothing made in their homeland? Is she neglecting to acknowledge that some people would have nothing without these donated garments? Or is my Western idea of thinking getting the best of me? I’d love to hear/see more research on this topic and maybe even hear the opinion of some of the people who receive these clothing donations.

On Sunday the world (hopefully) celebrates the wonder that is Woman.  Ladies, I would like you to take a moment to pause and ponder the obstacles that we have overcome. We are in this class room right now because of the insistent women who came before us.  We are stressed out over our jobs because of our predecessors.  We can take pleasure in painting an accent wall in our very own house that we bought with our own money because of the fight of our foremothers.  We can vote and even become president of the country that once held us down, but now has given us the opportunity to break through that ubiquitous glass ceiling!  We can bag ourselves a husband, or get rid of one that just isn’t working out.  Girls, we can become priests, rabbis, soldiers, or mothers.  Society is gradually releasing its stronghold on the ideals of womanhood.  But, this is the United States.  The news reeks of other countries’ insistence of women as inferior beings.  Franz Boas touted cultural relativism and not comparing one culture to another, but it is hard not to pass harsh judgement when one hears of rape as punishment, or the horrendous female circumcision.  For the strides that the United States has taken in the direction of women’s rights, the rest of the world is tripping over itself.  So, tomorrow when we are tap-dancing on our glass ceiling, we should have a moment of silence for the women who are still trying to see through theirs.

Mark Belling is a talk show host on a Milwaukee radio station. He recently caused an uproar with his segment concerning a local breastfeeding bill in which he referred to breastfeeding mothers as “sows”. The radio website has since removed the segment in which he made the statement, but here is a quote from the radio show posted on a blog discussing the issue:

“Without regard to what you think about women who get off by behaving like sows by pulling out their you-know-what in front of everybody else in the world and letting their babies start sucking, whatever you think about that, you don’t have the express it so crudely, well why not? It’s a crude practice, given how adamant some of these sows are, that’s an appropriate term, isn’t it? It’s..it’s what a pig does and it does it in public, right? I mean, I don’t, I – hehehehe…”

I was shocked by this statement. Breastfeeding is natural, and most likely how everyone was fed at one point. But, with the patriarchal nature of our society, men don’t want to see a body part that they view as sexual being de-sexualized.

Locally, we are dealing with a similar issue- although it was not so crudely addressed. The Augustus Brown Swimming pool recently banned breastfeeding in their lobby. Juneau is now proposing a breastfeeding bill that would require local businesses to allow an unpaid break for women to breastfeed or express milk in a sanitary and non-bathroom area.

Although breastfeeding is recommended by doctors as the best form of infant nutrition, breastfeeding is fairly discouraged by society. Businesses don’t allow breaks for mothers to breastfeed, or proper areas to do so. As with our local swimming pool, businesses post signs that ban breastfeeding. But why? Is breastfeeding obscene? How could the natural and best form of infant nutrition be obscene? A group of mothers on www.facebook.com recently created a group protesting the removal of breastfeeding photos from the website. The pictures were removed because facebook deemed the content inappropriate. A quote on the page reads:

“Facebook, we expect more from you, and we expect you to realize that nursing moms everywhere have a right to show pictures of their babies eating, just like bottle-fed babies have a right to be seen. In an effort to appease the closed-minded, you are only serving to be detrimental to babies, women, and society.”

My mother is currently a lactation consultant at Bartlett Regional Hospital, and previously worked primarily in the OB department. Consequently I have grown up hearing the overwhelming benefits of breastfeeding. It is by far the most superior form of nutrition available to newborns, and it is recommended that infants are exclusively breastfed until at least the first six months. Unfortunately this recommendation is rarely followed.

Breastfeeding infants decreases the risk of chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, and allergies. It lowers the occurrence of respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, ear infections, diarrhea, and other common illnesses. It also increases cognitive functioning, boosts the immune system, and provides all the required nutrients for infants. For mothers, it helps in losing pregnancy weight, and it is free!

This article inTime Magazine discusses the backlash of an abortion performed on a 9 year old rape victim.  Abortion is illegal in Brazil and as a result the family and doctor were excommunicated by the Catholic Church.  I was surprised by many aspects of this article: Abortion in Brazil is illegal except in cases of rape or when mother’s life is in danger; so why the big deal?   However, the focus on the abortion and uproar it caused, instead of the pregnant nine year old is the most disturbing to me….

The case of the pregnant 9-year-old was shocking enough. But it was the response of the Catholic Church that infuriated many Brazilians. Archibishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the coastal city of Recife announced that the Vatican was excommunicating the family of a local girl who had been raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, because they had chosen to have the girl undergo an abortion. The Church excommunicated the doctors who performed the procedure as well. “God’s laws,” said the archbishop, dictate that abortion is a sin and that transgressors are no longer welcome in the Roman Catholic Church. “They took the life of an innocent,” Sobrinho told TIME in a telephone interview. “Abortion is much more serious than killing an adult. An adult may or may not be an innocent, but an unborn child is most definitely innocent. Taking that life cannot be ignored.”

 

In a blog on Everyday Sociology Sally Raskoff discusses from a sociological view, some reasons for the mass public outrage at Nadya Suleman. This was very interesting to me because from the moment I heard about this soap opera I have been waiting to hear some view point that made me sympathize with her. Until today everything I’ve heard about her, including the things that come out of her own mouth have led me to believe that she is insane.  Raskoff brings to light some interesting points about why the public has chosen to scrutinize this womans every move, and how that scrutiny portrays our societies views of traditional motherhood.

When social norms are broken there is always some sort of reprimanding that takes place, whether it is the formal kind that involves police and courts, or simply an informal shunning of the deviant within society. These days Nadya Suleman is no doubt experiencing the backlash of her choices. While I don’t agree with living off of disability and spending tons of money to become pregnant, which ultimately brings more financial burden onto the welfare programs in our country, I can’t help but wonder if the publics negative view of Miss Suleman actually stems from that reasoning, or if there is a more ingrained explanation.

Motherhood has its own social norms just like everything else. Some of these norms may be a little more out dated than others however. The first things we as a public wanted to know when this story broke was who is the father?, how long did she try to get pregnant?, Is she married?, Why did she try to get pregnant again after already having 6 children?, How will she support these kids?. I admit that those were the very questions that popped into my mind when first hearing this woman’s story.

After thinking about Raskoff’s blog and the way I automatically made assumptions about how Suleman’s life should look in order for her to legitimately bring children into this world, I started questioning some of that reasoning. Why was I viewing her as such an irresponsible person? Was it really because she was on disability, and because she had an unsafe multiple embryo implantation? Or was it more about the the ways in which she differed from the traditional picture of motherhood? Had my social conditioning villainized this woman for choosing to have children without the help of a man and beyond the usual number of 2.5 per household? Was my problem, and everyones else’s for that matter, really with her lack of financial stability?

I won’t lie, I played with Barbie well into my early teen years. I’ve been really intrigued by Barbies throughout the years…all the changes they’ve made to her and the different things they can come up with. No, I’m not a collector. And no, I don’t still play with them. However, I do still find entertainment in it when Barbie makes the news. In the last couple of days I’ve seen two such things. Both I find rather comical.

The first is more of a spoof on Barbie and a look at the 50-something women our culture has begun to call “cougars.” Have a look at this clip:

The next is an article about a new “Tattooed Barbie.” Seriously, what is the big deal about selling a doll with fake tattoos a child can put on it and/or themselves? Now if the doll was sold with a trampstamp and a tattoo on one or both of her breasts, then maybe I could see a problem. But get real! Let the kids have a little fun with these harmless stick on tats.

Some parents remarked that they wouldn’t buy a Barbie with tattoos, as it encourages girls to show off their bodies. To be fair, the blond bombshell doesn’t come with tattoos already applied. It’s up to the kids to attach the stickers where they see fit. The tattoos look to be the standard collection of hearts, stars, and butterflies. Sadly, there are no “Death Before Dishonor” or “Semper Fi” tattoos.

Observing the children apply these tattoos to Barbie could be a great indicator of the child’s personality. Where would you stick those cute little hearts, stars and butterflies?

Beautiful Boy, David Sheff’s vivid and detail laden account of his firstborn child Nic’s struggle with drug addiction (most often and strongly methamphetamine) does something unexpected.

It makes you love Nic Sheff.

This vivacious, funny and loving child becomes familiar to you through the words, thoughts and memories of his greatest fan, his dad. Before you know it you are plunged into the sadness of his gaunt face and lifeless stare as this sweet child disappears from home, drops out of college, lies about being clean, drops out of another college, overdoses, barely agrees to rehab, walks out of rehab, relapses, gets clean, relapses, gets clean…all the while holding your breath along with David wishing Nic would please just come back to life.

Nic’s struggle with addiction, as told by David, is internalized in such a powerful way by the reader that one is left imagining, “If only every addict out there had someone who felt this strongly about the addict’s potential, about their continued existence, about their happiness; maybe there would be some hope.”

David’s uniquely articulated (but far from uniquely experienced, as he explains) journey through his son’s addiction has made him an advocate against our broken system, our “war on drugs” that often fails to recognize the victim as exactly that—a victim. It appears that nearly losing his beautiful boy has allowed David to cling tight to the humanity in addicts.

When I lived in Humboldt County, my home was on the alley that connected a treatment home and a “crack” house. The traffic between the two became a running joke. The heartlessness of my laughter and the seeming nonchalance towards human suffering is shameful to me now. It is because I know better. I am grateful to David for sharing his son with us, so that we too may know what it is like to cling to the humanity that resides within an addict.

David’s advocacy for a new approach to addiction, similar to the approach modeled by the largely successful efforts launched against cancer is outlined here:

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=4

In what might be the most pertinent match of speaker to city Juneau has yet had, the Glacier Valley Rotary will host David and Nic Sheff at their annual Pillar’s of America Series on April 29th.

People in the world are becoming used to technology, even if it is a little cell phone that they can carry around. Excite.com reports taht 4.1 billion people in the world have subscriptions to cell phones. This is a a 4 billion person increase from 2002, when cell phones were just starting to get hot. I know that I didn’t get a cell phone until about that time, probably around 2003. People are now becoming more advanced and looking to future phones like iphones. The world has seen a big shift in using cell phones to communicate, especially in countries such as Africa, South America, Korea, etc. This countries are not that industrialized, but they do make up a portion of the population with cell phone subscriptions. The Susan Teltscher, who leads the ICT’s statistics division  says that

The so-called “digital divide” between rich and poor countries remained unchanged between 2002 and 2007…”In terms of consumer demand and uptake, there will probably be a little bit of slowdown in the growth, but we are not expecting any decline,” she said. “People who have a mobile phone are unlikely to give up on it.”

With cell phones, nobody will ever want to switch back or give up an “old school” phone that is connected into the wall. These have many benefits, especially in countries with less industrialized populations. People will continue to update and expanded in technological advances trying to speed up internet and ways to connect to people easier around the world. cell phones are a start and are still young.

I just read an article on msnbc.com about an adultery website called ashleymadison.com.  It advertises adulterous opportunities to unhappily married people.  I was thinking that the economic woes we are experiencing find their way into our love lives, either halting them altogether, or creating a twitchy dissatisfaction that is only satiated by extramarital affairs.  The proprietor of the site maintains that his site is a self-esteem booster for women.  Ladies?  I would like to think that our foremothers and their huge historical strides would cringe at the idea of women reverting to sex to feel good about themselves.  Moral values are about as grounded as a lawn chair in a hurricane in the United States.  Losing one’s job, house, retirement, savings, etc. makes infadelity seem trivial.  But, why are we passing judgement on something this private?  At this time in our lives, achieving some shred of happiness should be acceptable.  Sex is noncommittal, relatively cheap compared to a gym membership or a diet change.  It is instant gratification and I bet people who are considering committing adultery have nothing to lose because they have already lost it all.  It is just interesting how an econominc armageddon affects every fascet of our conciousness and renders our once sturdy morality flaccid.  Perhaps after this maelstrom passes we will have a different definition of marriage.

The area o fsocial science that I have focus the majority of my studies on have been anthropology, histroy and psychology.  I know enough about sociology to get in trouble.  But political science and economics are both alien to me in how they are different from other social sciences, especially economics; when I think about economics I wonder how it is a social science, all I think about are accountents with adding machines.  Anyhow, I say this because I can not really discuss economics as a social science, I will only fall back on the other scocial sciences that I know, so let that be a warning to everyone reading this.

There is an article that I would like to point out to everybodies attention, concerning the concepts of a debt heavy capitalistic society.  The current stimulus stategy is focused on bolstering the banks, which will create a trickle down effect boosting the economy of the country and of people.  However according to Jim Rogers this will not work and the banks should be allowed to go bankrupt.  The entire idea that we can recover from a credit debt like the one we are in, by creating debt in other places, is an idea that will not work.  We are trying to have a fast safe fix, and that will not work.

“Comparing today’s salmon population on the Columbia to those back in 1850 we’re lookin at an astounding 96 percent reduction,” writes Pat Hoglund in Salmon and Steelhead Journal, winter 2009.

Dove’s new campaign although inspiring and promotes a more realistic body image is still an advertisement trying to sell the  Dove product.  This article appeared in Business Week.

Remember the first ads for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, when it flaunted its defiance of the beauty and fashion industries with images of love-handled and cellulite-prone “real” women? Turns out those photos, according to the May 12, 2008 issue of The New Yorker, were as digitally manipulated as any skinny model-festooned fashion spread. It’s mentioned in a Lauren Collins profile of the toucher-upper himself, Pascal Dangin, who works regularly for Vogue, Dior, Balenciaga, and many others. Hear what Dangin has to say about the Dove project on page 100:

“Do you know how much retouching was on that?” He asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

 This article describes the events of March 1st, 1932, in regards to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. This event was quite the media circus of its time and to this day still creates a lot of questions towards the accuracy of evidence gathered and  the trial verdict.

On this day in 1932, in a crime that captured the attention of the entire nation, Charles Lindbergh III, the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, is kidnapped from the family’s new mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey. Lindbergh, who became an international celebrity when he flew the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, and his wife Anne discovered a ransom note demanding $50,000 in their son’s empty room. The kidnapper used a ladder to climb up to the open second-floor window and left muddy footprints in the room.

Psychology Today reports on diet and health in people and how they try to maintain their weight, but still are not able to do it properly with all the fast foods and cravings people have. I know some people who have struggled with this and I am sure that other people do as well. I know I have been working out for 3 years. It is really hard to maintain the proper weight, especially with all the different kinds of foods you are around everyday. Ice cream, chips, man made foods, and especially McDonald’s are what people make them not want to keep their diet continuing. I know people are different and some still have to maintain will power in order to do this. It takes a lot to lose what you have gained over the years and it is hard to do. 

People who struggle with their weight report that the main reasons they give up on a diet are because they miss eating foods they love, they are hungry all or most of the time, and then hit a plateau and can’t get any further.

If anybody has ever seen Fast Food Nation or Supersize Me, then you know that people in this country are getting fatter and fatter with publicity like McDonald’s puts out. Some people also find the fact that vegetables are tasteless, boring, and do not fill them up. I know how those people feel, I did not like eating fruits and veggies until 3 years ago, believe it or not. I found them to be really really good and beneficial in everyway. I even have motivated a couple of friends to eat healthier and they both lost around 50lbs, but they did not keep it off. It feels better to know that all the hard work that somebody does to loose weight, pays off. You give them a better sense about themselves, give them more motivation to do better in life, and helps them look good. Many people have felt this experience and know what I am talking about. I just feel that some people should at least give it a try to naturally loose weight instead of doing surgery to get it down, which costs thousands and is more painful. Personally, it is worth is.

I ran across a video this afternoon about Barbie. She’s turning 50. According to Brian Stockton of Mattel, when interviewed in Neuremburg during Barbie’s 50th birthday celebration and debut of their latest Barbie edition, she’s ”always been a reflection of American culture”.

When I watched the video and heard the statement about American Culture, I thought to myself, “Well, that’s not MY culture, and I’m American.” I remember when I was growing up most of my dolls were “black” because there was no Eskimo-colored Barbie (or any other doll for that matter). There was no light brown colored dolls then. Today there is an Eskimo Barbie but she doesn’t look like an Eskimo to me. I never understood why she looked the way she did. The package showed her with a fur ruff around the hood of her parka. The box said Eskimo, and the clothes looked similar, but I felt no connection. She didn’t look like me or anyone I knew. Although, I also don’t remember feeling like I had to look like her, either. So, although some think that Barbie is part of American culture, I can’t say I feel the same way. I mean, what is “American Culture” anyway?

There is some controversy about Barbie and the role she plays in our society for younger girls. Jeannie Thomas, (you can read an article about her here) an associate professor of English at Utah State University, states

We tend to say it’s just play, but there’s often serious cultural issues in play.

So, when our young girls are playing with this doll who looks the way she does, there are bound to be some controversies over her appearance and what kind of influence it is having on our children. According to the article on Jeannie Thomas, “if Barbie were human sized, she would stand 5 foot 6, weight 110 pounds and have a 39 inch bustline”.

The messages about sex and gender roles Barbie may send her young audience may be tamer now than they first were. According to the book Forever Barbie by M.G. Lord, Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, based Barbie’s body on the shape of a different doll, a German doll named Lilli. Lilli was marketed as a 3-D pin-up bombshell for German men following World War II, and Thomas said Lilli’s messages of sexual availability were no secret. “The ads were all semi-risque,” she said, and “if you look at the old Lilli dolls-whoa!”

Messages about sexuality and gender roles are only the beginning when it comes to Barbie controversy. The real problems most anti-Barbie people have are with her messages about body image.

This is just one of the many issues brought up in the fight against (or for) Barbie.

Thought I might bring up Tibet this time around.  Been a while since I had heard anything on the current situation-looks like things are just as messy as ever.

In The Economist this week they ran an article called, “Another Year of the Iron Fist.”  It is nothing too in depth, just a reminder of the atrocities that China has inflicted on the Tibetan people since is seizure in the 1950’s.  The author writes:

The fact that so many troops are still needed, merely to prevent commemorative protests, suggests that China’s Tibet policy is in need of an overhaul.

The author also wrote that China was concerned that their Tibet relations may negatively affect the Beijing Olympics.  Luckily for them, things went off pretty smooth.

Upon doing a little research on Chinese-Tibetan relations I found that the U.S. Department of State’s 2008 Human Rights Report on China reported that Chinese have been performing shock torture on insolent Tibetans (pic of woman), along with other unthinkable acts.  Alas, my contempt for China has been renewed!  How bout yours?

Folks apparently are still getting their bloomers in a bundle over the use of embryonic stem cells. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7914976.stm)  Although these cells are perfect and are capable of taking the form of the 200-plus different types of cells present in the human body, scientist find themselves backed into the corner of morality by frothing-at-the-mouth conservatives who argue (big surprise) “that it is unethical to destroy embryos in the name of science.”  It seems that using embryos that would have ended up in the bio-hazard bin for the greater good of humanity is mild compared to the atrocities we humans have committed against each other during our rein on this planet.  Now scientists have discovered a way to develop stem cells from skin cells by implanting them with specific genes.  They are “reprogrammed” genes.  I suppose if scientists were not lynched for using embryonic stem cells, science would be easy.  But since the objection has insisted they find alternative methods, science continues to be resourceful.  Perhaps some day a shred of my elbow dander will cure someone’s cancer.  But first we must determine “whether stem cells reprogrammed from adult cells are truly useful or not.”  Until then, lets give those embryos a job.

After our discussion in class on the death penalty, I happened upon an AlaskaDispatch.com opinion piece on the issue in Alaska and the complexities that this author identifies, “Alaska death penalty debate far more complex than meets the eye.” The first portion of Wev Shea’s article outlines an horrendous case where he tried and attempted (but failed) to get the death sentence here in Alaska.

The second bit is much more interesting to me. He outlines the systemic factors that we should take into account when considering the death penalty for Alaska. These include factors such as:

• an underfunded criminal justice system and law enforcement system
• inexperienced practitioners in the legal system
• overly politicized Attorney General and opinionated District Attorneys

Basically, Shea points to these systemic and structural failings as “reason” to reconsider. Similarly to our discussion in class, the morality of the issue is pushed to side in favor of debating the pragmatic battle of costs and equity. I found a great resource that discusses the flaws in this approach hosted at the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center site.

The answer, I think, lies not in that we are discussing capital punishment, but in how we are discussing it. We have, in our country, an obsession with efficiency, one that easily transcends our concern with less-pragmatic values. Different people have come up with different names and reasons for this phenomenon, but almost all agree that it exists, and it is fair to say that this obsession has successfully constricted the parameters of our discussion on capital punishment. The debate that rages today is an appeal to our practical sense, with supporters arguing that the death penalty works and opponents rushing to prove them wrong. The opponents are right, of course, but they are winning the argument on the wrong terms. They have won in the language of the death penalty, and legitimized it in the process. They have said we’re spending too much money, possibly killing the wrong people, and not deterring crime. Underlying this is a tacit acceptance: if we can spend less money, deter crime, make sure we kill the right people, this thing might just be okay. Such is the culture of efficiency: so concerned have we become about whether it works that we have forgotten to ask whether it should exist at all.

Made perfect sense to me. Ruffle anyone’s feathers?

In a post on Everyday Sociology Sally Raskoff discusses our countries newfound relationship with the word sustainability. She makes it clear that we have not always been the first to jump on environmentally friendly policies and our sheer consumption of the world’s resources is a clear depiction of how we view them…never ending. More recently though we have turned being “green” into a new fad. From electric cars to celebrity hosted shows on how to make you home more eco-friendly, pop-culture has adopted environmentalism as its new pet.

However, when discussing a capitalistic society that lives and plans from quarter to quarter the meaning of sustainability reaches beyond the scope of natural resources, it can be applied to the basic existence of our country. Basic capitalism states that constant growth must always be present for the economy to survive. How is it possible to keep growing and using more amounts of resources than we are today? Eventually sources of trees, fresh water, and soil will all be depleted and the waste from our cars and factories will increase to levels we are not prepared as a nation to deal with. How is it possible for our economy to survive after consumer levels drop drastically? Once people don’t have anything left to consume and production levels cannot be maintained there wont be capitalism. This issue raises the point that our country eventually will have to face the facts about itself and not mask them with a celebrity campaign band-aid.

I have been learning about the power of fear and how its used by the media and government to control people in a Psychology class. Why is it that the things we really need to be afraid of are rarely mentioned in the news?  And yet the headlines are constantly littered with stories about the octuplet mom and dramatized accounts of rare violent acts.  When I make the mistake of stumbling onto the Fox News channel I hear so much propaganda about how America is going to become a Socialist nation and how the economy is doing so poorly due to President Obama’s stimulus package, etc. I know Fox News is a bad example of good journalism (how much merit does anything Rupert Murdoch owns have?) however, I cant help but see the lack of attention every news network (and the majority of the public for that matter) pays to the declining reality of our nation’s sustainability.