Crowd-sourced horror flick?

Click on this link to read a Slate piece (7-15-11) about a plan to use social media to direct actors in a horror flick being made by the director of Disturbia. Is this interactive approach to film directing just a marketing gimmick or is it a next step in the movement towards a more democratic and participatory form of cinema? Crowd-sourcing expands the circle of ideas and viewpoints and, potentially, the film's audience. But some have questioned whether crowd-sourcing equates to wisdom or quality. Just read the comments section on some popular YouTube videos! Will letting the masses dictate a films' direction lead to the lowest common denominator? Or has that already occurred anyway via the marketplace?

Michelle Bachmann takes a pledge for sexual purity

Click on this link to read a Slate (7-10-11) copy of the election pledge signed by Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. The entire pledge text is included. Besides the content of the pledge, the language of which is highly provocative, there is the question of why candidates are being urged (by political advocacy groups) to sign such pledges. The practice began in the 1990s with Newt Gingrich's "contract with America" but has proliferated in recent years. Are such "litmus test" documents a way to achieve clarity about candidates' positions, or do they have the effect of boxing candidates into narrow ideological positions?

Too much police power?

Click on this link to read a Cracked.com article about particularly blatant police abuses. Are these just aberrations or a symptom of a criminal justice system out of whack?

Should youths be "protected" from flavored tobacco?

Click on this link to read a guest column by Kisha Gaines in the Sarasota Herald Tribune (7/3/11) that defends a request by Sarasota leaders that vendors cease to market flavored tobacco products.  These products (like little cigars, hookah, and smokeless products) are combined with sweet fruity flavors and colorful packaging that, Gaines argues, have been demonstrated to appeal to young people.  Is a voluntary ban on selling such products the solution, or are there other less radical responses?  Or is the danger to the young so great that bold measures are called for?

Guns & mental illness: a good mix?

Many centuries ago in The Republic, Plato raised the question of whether it would be just to return a weapon to neighbor showing signs of mental illness.  An article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune raises this same question.  Courts have recently ruled in favor of the gun rights of individuals with a history of serious mental illness.  Do such decisions recklessly and needlessly endanger the public (and perhaps the ill person)?  Or do those with a history of mental illness have a right to defend themselves and/or to overcome previous difficulties and regain their rights?

Adult diaper check at the airport causes controversy

Click on this link to read a Slate article about an uproar the TSA caused at a Florida airport when it conducted a strip search of an elderly cancer patient who was wearing adult diapers. Does searching (removing?) such diapers address a reasonable security concern? Or is this an example of an overzealous policy that underestimates the potential embarrassment to citizens? Are undies to follow shoes as the next mandatory removal item?

DVRs turn out to be energy hogs

Like the traditional family hearth, home DVRs put out heat as their hard drives spin spin spin. But any appliance that generates heat also eats up electricity.

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald Tribune (6-26-11) article about the surprising energy consumption of DVRs. European countries have mandated that, in order to save energy, DVRs go into standby or deep sleep modes when not recording. But Americans are apparently too impatient to wait for their DVRs to come out of standby. Their DVRs stay on continually, even when not recording or playing back a program. The article reveals that DVRs can consume as much energy as a refrigerator. Do you believe the government should take action to reduce this needless use of electricity or it the responsibility of consumers to encourage manufacturers and cable providers to take this step?

Executive pay rise leads to income gaps in U.S.

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article (6-18-11) regarding the dramatic rise in the pay and perks of corporate executives. Do the pay inequities of corporations operate as an efficient incentive for economic growth and societal improvement, or do they indicate the failure of capitalism to justly distribute societal resources? Is there a cut-off point after which such pay scales cease to motivate beneficial change and simply become greed and plutocracy?

Are fathers essential?

Click on this link to read a Fathers Day column by Kathleen Parker (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 6-19-11) that argues that fatherless families are not an adequate alternative to the traditional nuclear family.  How credible are the studies she cites to support this view?  Does she gloss over episodes of dysfunctionality in traditional families?

Facebook slip up leads to BIG birthday party

1,500 Crash Birthday Party After Facebook Slip Up

German teenager accidently invites entire Internet to her sweet sixteen.

By Stephen Spencer Davis | Posted Monday, Jun. 6, 2011, at 11:41 AM EDT

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A teenage girl in Germany went into hiding after she forgot to set her Facebook birthday invitation to private and accidentally invited the entire Internet.

The 16-year-old girl, identified only as Thessa in news reports, posted a birthday invitation to Facebook that was viewable by anyone with an Internet connection. After 15,000 people confirmed they were coming, Thessa’s parents canceled the party. They also notified police and hired private security to guard their home.

But that wasn’t enough to stop 1,500 people from showing up and having a good time. About 100 police were dispatched to control the crowd, who chanted “Thessa, celebrating a birthday is not a crime” and held up signs reading “Where is Thessa?”

(For the record, she was celebrating her birthday with her grandparents at “an undisclosed location,” according to the Associated Press.)

When the smoke cleared ­– seriously: firefighters extinguished two small fires – police spokesman Mirko Streiber declared the party “a hit.”

Perhaps you should think twice before inviting Streiber to your next get-together, if his idea of a hit includes 11 detained party-goers, one injured police officer, and “dozens of girls wearing flip-flops cut[ting] their feet on broken glass.”

As the New York Daily News points out, Thessa isn’t the first teen to have a party spin out of control after a Facebook slip-up. In 2010, more than 21,000 people confirmed they were attending a 14-year-old British girl’s birthday. Some of the confirmed attendees included fake accounts for Justin Bieber and Stephen Hawking.

This would have never happened if she'd made the same mistake on Myspace.

How much deregulation is good?

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article (6-5-11) about moves by Florida's governor, Rick Scott, to remove consumer protections from businesses such as telemarketers, auto mechanics, movers, travel agents, and other industries.  For example, Scott questions the value of the work of the Division of Standards that regulates carnival games, taxi meters, and weight scales.  Are his moves beneficial attempts to free up businesses from the labyrinthine network of codes and rules that add paperwork and cut into profits?  Or is he naive in trusting these businesses to police themselves, despite a notorious record for fraud that led to the codes being put in place?  Is Scott like a modern day Ayn Rand, striving to restore individual liberty from the oppressive weight of government control?  Or is inviting a return to Sinclair Lewis' The Jungle?

Ban on circumcision in SF contemplated

Click on this link to read a CNN piece (4-28-11) about a movement to legally ban male circumcision in San Francisco.  Advocates of the ban regard the practice as "male genital mutilation" while others believe it has religious importance and/or health benefits.

How to beat the tollbooth police

Click on this link to read a St. Pete Times article (6-2-11) about the tricks employed by motorists to pass undetected through tollbooths (without paying).

Test-tube burgers

Click on this link to read an abstract of a New Yorker article about research to grow meat-based foods in the laboratory. Is this the solution to eliminating farm animal cruelty?  Or is it yet another ominous step away from eating "natural" foods?

U.S. military develops toy-like small weapons

Click on this link to read an L.A. Times article (5-30-11) about mini-sized weaponry being developed by the U.S. military to cut costs and increase effectiveness.  What will the proliferation and increased use of such weapons mean for future forms of warfare (and, potentially, terrorism)?

Text your order to the waiter

Click on this link to read a Parade magazine article (5-1-11) about the new practice of texting one's order to waiter while sitting at a restaurant table.  Is this an advance in obtaining speedy service, or a further step towards the dehumanizing of a traditionally interpersonal experience?

Dessert, laid back and legal

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article about the controversy surrounding melatonin-laced dessert foods such as Lazy Cakes. Consumers are chilling out on the snack foods that contain the sleep-inducing supplement. But the FDA is concerned about the mixing of an unregulated medicinal supplement with a snack food. Do you believe foods should be sold that contain mind-modifying substances (and if so, under what circumstances)?

Iran plans to blind attacker with acid on insistence of victim

By Thomas Erdbrink, Published: May 13

TEHRAN — Iranian judicial authorities plan to blind a man Saturday, after he was convicted of throwing a bucket of sulfuric acid in the face of a young woman who had refused to marry him.

International human rights organizations and the British government have asked Ameneh Bahrami, 34, to pardon Majid Movahedi, who has been in jail since his 2004 crime. But Bahrami, who was disfigured and blinded as a result of the attack, says she does not intend to do so. Instead, she hopes the punishment will be a warning to any man ever contemplating such an act.

In 2008, an Iranian court ordered that five drops of the same chemical be placed in each of the attacker’s eyes, acceding to the victim’s demand that he be punished according to a principle in Islamic jurisprudence that allows a victim to seek retribution for a crime. Only the victim can prevent the execution of the sentence by pardoning the convicted.

“I have been receiving numerous phone calls from Iranian human rights organizations based abroad,” Bahrami said in a phone interview Friday. “They are pressuring me to pardon him. But I won’t do that.”

Bahrami wrote a book on her experience, “Eye for an Eye,” which was published in Germany. In the years since the attack, she has traveled between Iran and Spain, where doctors have tried unsuccessfully to restore her vision. Blind and alone in Barcelona, she spent periods of time living on the streets, until she received assistance from the Spanish government.

She has been the driving force behind the implementation of the punishment, pressing Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the former head of Iran’s judiciary, to carry out the sentence. He had proposed that the attacker’s family pay her compensation instead.

“He explained that such a sentence [the blinding] would cause lots of bad publicity for Iran. But I refused,” she said in an interview with The Washington Post in 2008.

“I don’t want any woman to have to go through what I experienced,” she said.

From: Washington Post, 5-14-11

are food colorings dangerous?

Recent studies have linked certain food colorings with hyperactivity. This has led the Europeans to ban 6 artificial colorings and led others to wonder about why we have such a strong need (particularly in America) to alter the color of our foods. Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune (3-27-11) article about this controversy.

Thou Shalt Be Overweight: Religious Involvement Correlated to Obesity

A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine says religiousness and overeating are linked: Study participants who reported attending church weekly, or more frequently, were almost twice as likely to be obese than those who went rarely or never. Researchers aren't entirely sure why praying correlates with BMI, but say it may have to do with the church's potluck eating culture, the near extinction of church-sponsored baseball and basketball leagues, an emphasis on marriage, which can lead to weight gain, and using food as a reward for good deeds. The research, which was presented at a recent American Heart Association conference, tested a group of 2,433 people when they were age 20-32 for cardiovascular disease risk factors like diabetes, hypertension and smoking. They repeated the same tests over the next 25 years and noticed the church link when they were analyzing the data.

Read original story in CNN | Thursday, March 24, 2011

Japan's earthquake brings attention to "black swans"

The recent earthquake/tsunami/reactor crisis in Japan has brought attention to so-called "black swans"--highly improbably worst case scenarios that nonetheless happen. Click on this link to read an article from the Washington Post (3/18/11) about these phenomena.

London Parlor Offers Breast Milk Ice Cream

A London ice-cream parlor has started serving breast milk ice cream called Baby Gaga, reports theGuardian. The delicacy, which retails at $20 per scoop, is made by infusing breast milk from human donors with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest. No Ben and Jerry's-style excess here, say the shop's owners—they just want the natural flavor to shine through. "The response has been amazing," said Icecreamists owner Matt O'Connor, who notes the shop sold out of their first batch. O'Connor currently taps his supplies from 15 willing donors, who are paid $50 per pint. A further 35 have signed up to be milked, though they must go through a health screening first. One food critic described it as a "regular vanilla ice-cream" with a "goatish" aftertaste. Some people find the idea repellant, says O'Connor, though it's unclear why drinking from another species' breast is any less so. "People at first say it's disgusting because it's a bodily fluid, but so is cow's milk," he said.

Read original story in The Guardian | Monday, Feb. 28, 2011

Russia Finally Admits That Beer is Alcohol

(From Slate, 2/24/11):

The Russian government recently embarked on an alcohol crackdown. But until now, beer has eluded its grasp. That's because brewski was (perhaps appropriately) categorized as a foodstuff, allowing brewers to avoid new regulations being rolled out to curb excessive drinking in Russia. On Tuesday, the lower house of the Russian parliament endorsed a bill to classify beer as alcohol. If the Kremlin-backed measure passes, it will limit beer sales at night and bar brew from being sold near schools. Though beer is not Russia's traditional alcohol of choice, it's become quite a problem for a people accustomed to kicking back vodka. "With a historic penchant for strong spirits," writes Reuters, "many ordinary Russians regard beer as a soft drink." Beer consumption has tripled in Russia over the past 15 years, although it still lags behind the United States. With Russians downing 32 pints of pure alcohol each per year (over twice the max amount recommended by the World Health Organisation), the nation's alcohol habits are having a severe effect on its population growth. In light of these problems, officials from the ministry of health are cheering on the bill. "Normalising the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do and will boost the health of our population," said the ministry's specialist on alcohol and drug abuse.

Read original story in Reuters | Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

Want to pack heat on campus? Go to school in Texas

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article (2-21-11) about a new law in Texas that will allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus.  Supporters of the law believe it will enable students to defend themselves against Virginia Tech. style massacres.  Detractors worry about gunfights on campus over grades, relationships, etc.

Unidentified "blob" found floating in Gulf of Mexico

A large blob of strange, dead but organic material was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico off the panhandle of Florida.  Click on this link to read the article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.  Some suspect that it could be a mix of the oil and dispersants from last summer's fire.  Or perhaps other man-made chemicals from the Mississippi River chemical plants have added to the mix.  Is this the first of many such weird concoctions we may see floating our way?

Are we giving the machines too much control?

Click on this link to read a Popular Science (2-11) article that raises concerns about making military machines too autonomous.

NYU Prof Implants Camera in Head

From Slate (12-3-10):
A New York University photography professor has taken performance art to another level by having a camera embedded in his skull, reports CNN. Wafaa Bilal, who teaches at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, said he had a piercing studio install the camera last month as part of an art project ("The 3rd I") for the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. The thumb-sized camera, which is attached to a titanium plate, will take one picture every minute for a year, documenting Bilal's day-to-day "mundane" existence. "This will expose the unspoken conditions we face," Bilal said on Thursday. "A project like this is meant to establish a dialogue about surveillance." Students were not necessarily thrilled by the idea of featuring in Bilal's photos, so university officials have requested that he put a cover on the camera while teaching.

Read original story in CNN | Friday, Dec. 3, 2010

A different kind of supermodel

We've been talking in class about the Barbie doll as an ideal of "perfection".  Here is a very different kind of model.  As the video shows, Donna has many fans on the internet and regards herself as a kind of super (or super-sized) model.  She would like to reach a thousand pounds.  She believes that just as there are some who are attracted to super-thin women, so there are those who like their women large.  Is beauty, then, truly a kind of social or individual construction ("beauty in the eye of the beholder"), or has the concept been emptied of meaning by this full-figure example? [thanks, Freddie, for contributing this link]

Scientists Reverse Aging for First Time, in Mice

From Slate (11-30-10):

Researchers haven't just stopped the clock; they've reversed it in animal experiments that may give hope to humans chasing the fountain of youth. Mice exhibiting age-related degeneration such as brain disease, loss of smell, and fertility decline have been returned to youthful states of health by genetic manipulation, reports the Wall Street Journal. "These mice were equivalent to 80-year-old humans and were about to pass away," says Ronald DePinho, co-author of the paper and a scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. After the experiment, "they were the physiological equivalent of young adults." The aging mechanism in question is to do with DNA units called telomeres that stop chromosomes and genes from deteriorating. Telomeres shorten as we age, but by reactivating an enzyme called telomerase, that shortening can be forestalled, leading to a reversal of some of the effects of aging. Researchers caution that the findings are not yet directly applicable to humans.

Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Monday, Nov. 29, 2010

When I grow up I can be anything Barbie commercial

In class we talked about the role played by Barbie and considered attempts to redesign her.  Here's a link to a video of a current Barbie commercial that connects with some of the issues we raised.  Thanks, Amanda, for the link!

Indian Town Cracks Down on Elopements by Stripping Young Women of Cell Phones

From Slate (11-25-10):

Kids these days! A small town in northern India has banned all the single ladies from carrying telephones, because they keep using them in the service of illicit ends, like marriage. According to AFP, at least 23 couples in the state of Uttar Pradesh have run away and married someone outside their caste after connecting—and then coordinating the logistics of their forbidden nuptials—on their cell phones. "All parents were told to ensure their unmarried daughters do not use cell phones. The boys can do so, but only under their parents' monitoring," a spokesman for the village assembly said.

Read original story in AFP | Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010

More on full body scanning: a technological fix?

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article (and accompanying video, 11-22-10) that proposes a simple software revision might protect the privacy of travellers from being "digitally strip searched".

Full body scans and pat downs provoke controversy

Is being patted down for weapons "un-American"?  So a recent letter to the editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune claimed.  A huge controversy has erupted over plans to do full body scanning and thorough physical pat downs of travellers as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.  Some argue that such procedures are shabby substitutes for what political correctness forbids: ethnic profiling.  Others argue that such procedures are a small inconvenience compared to the dangers of terrorism.  Interesting questions of probability lurk here, such as the level of danger of repeated x-rays vs. the probability of being on a plane with an armed terrorist.  Click on this link to read one of the many recent stories about this controversy.

Killing high speed rail

As part of its economic stimulus program, the Federal government hosted a competition for proposals to build high speed mass transit rail lines.  Florida submitted one of the leading proposals.  Since the recent elections and the conservative backlash against Obama's policies, several states are now backtracking.  They are deciding to refuse the Federal funds, citing concerns about the states' financial contribution to such projects.  Some also offer arguments that such projects are a waste of money.  Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune (11-22-10) article that describes how several governors, possibly including Florida's future governer, are shutting down these projects.

FDA, FTC crack down on caffeinated alcoholic drinks

Are high caffeine and alcohol levels a bad mix?  Some states believe so, based upon students who have gotten sick and drivers who thought they were less drunk than they really were.  Now the Feds have stepped in to crack down on beverages like Four Loco.  "Blackout in a can" is how some have described them.  Yet there is little scientific evidence that these drinks are any more toxic than other high alcohol drinks.  Click on this link to read an article about the crackdown.

Were "art bombs" dropped in the Cold War?

Can art be used as a political weapon?  Allegedly the CIA thought so.  Click on this link to read a Gizmodo article + videos about how the CIA funded abstract expressionist art as a psychological weapon against the Soviets.  [thanks to Amanda for contributing this crazy story!]

Do we need a nude beach?

A local Sarasota beach, Casperson Beach, has become a place of controversy due to the tendency of some beachgoers to wear thongs, go topless, or no swimsuit whatsoever.  Some local residents have written letters to the editor complaining that they must shield their childrens' eyes when they visit this beach.  Others have questioned why this is so upsetting.  Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune column (11-14-10) that muses about how we can learn a lot about human nature from this controversy.  Are restrictions on nudity a violation of a basic human freedom (to bare one's body to the sun)?  Should every community have a place where people can go to be pubicly nude?  For a slightly different viewpoint, read Thoreau's discussion in Walden Pond about clothing...

Should Amazon be required to censor what books it sells?

An e-book that was for sale on Amazon.com that appeared to be supporting pedophillia recently caused many users to become angry and threaten to boycott the website.

Many users were outraged when they saw that amazon was selling a book called "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct". They threatened to boycott amazon untill the book was removed. The book is no longer for sale on Amazon.com.

Should Amazon have the right to sell whatever books they wish? Or should they follow specific guidelines for what books they have available?

Read the whole article here....

Amazon.com title defending pedophilia sparks boycott call

Living to 250?

An excerpt from a conference announcement posted by Slate:

"Will 250 be the new 100 in the foreseeable future? Human life expectancy has made steady gains over the last two centuries, and anti-aging scientists seeking to spare human cells and DNA from the corrosion once deemed inevitable are eager to trigger a radical extension in our life spans. How likely is such a spike? And how desirable is it to live to be a quarter of a millennium? Will life-extending scientific breakthroughs translate into an interminable twilight for many, or will they also postpone aging?" 

Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article about a Palestinian barber who was arrested after posting anti-Muslim rants on the internet.  His facebook account was used to track him down (proof that what you post on Facebook can be dangerous!).