The folks at Radio Lab investigated whether time really does slow down during a near death experience. The results, via Dr. David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine:
"Turns out, when you're falling you don't actually see in slow motion. It's not equivalent to the way a slow-motion camera would work," David says. "It's something more interesting than that."
According to David, it's all about memory, not turbo perception. "Normally, our memories are like sieves," he says. "We're not writing down most of what's passing through our system." Think about walking down a crowded street: You see a lot of faces, street signs, all kinds of stimuli. Most of this, though, never becomes a part of your memory. But if a car suddenly swerves and heads straight for you, your memory shifts gears. Now it's writing down everything — every cloud, every piece of dirt, every little fleeting thought, anything that might be useful.
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. Country first, then city and/or state. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@theatlantic.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book, courtesy of Blurb. Have at it.
The new Atlantic features a fascinating profile of a true Hollywood news type, complete with whitened teeth, network payoffs, and a vanity license plate reading "MOVIE TV." Sheelah Kolhatkar reports:
There is no single term that fully captures what [Larry] Garrison does for a living, although it involves a lot of time spent cajoling people over the phone. He’s sometimes called a fixer, a story broker, or—his preference—an independent television producer and consultant, but all the titles mean the same thing: Garrison gets paid to bring tabloid stories to TV news programs. Missing toddlers, murdered coeds, septuplets, serial killers—an endless parade of freaks and victims is marched through the studio sets of Dateline NBC, 20/20, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, and countless other shows, all to satisfy viewers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for real-life tears and melodrama.
Today's poem comes from the Atlantic's expansive archive of poetry. We hope to dig through it regularly and feature a couple of gems every week. Here is an excerpt of 'The Bear Hunt' by Abraham Lincoln:
And round, and round the chase now goes, The world ’s alive with fun; Nick Carter’s horse his rider throws, And Mose Hill drops his gun.
Now, sorely pressed, bear glances back, And lolls his tired tongue, When as, to force him from his track An ambush on him sprung.
Across the glade he sweeps for flight, And fully is in view— The dogs, new fired by the sight Their cry and speed renew.
The foremost ones now reach his rear; He turns, they dash away, And circling now the wrathful bear They have him full at bay.
The history of the president's verse-writing and the full poem can be found here.
I want to respond to this reader. It may be true that torture and subjugation existed in Somalia before religion, but it is religion (often protected by demands of "respect") that is now consistently the warrant for, and incitement to, genital mutilation. In other words, yes, female circumcision predated Islam in Somalia, but a widely-held interpretation of Islam buttresses its continued existence into the 21st century.
And I'm sorry if your reader thinks that the Islam Hirsi Ali speaks of is "NOTHING like I know and that is practiced in Iran". That doesn't change the fact that a religious-based government uses the Koran to justify everything from dress codes and censorship to hanging gays and stoning adulterous women. It's the height of solipsism to accuse someone of painting Islam with too broad a brush, then claim that the only type of Islamic religion practiced in Iran is a peaceful one.
This pooch reminds me of Hobbes, ready to pounce. (Michael Yingling recently created a search engine of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, but tragically it appears the site is down because of a cease-and-desist letter. Something to keep an eye on though.)
With the precision of chemists, they mix batches with slightly different amounts of each component, adding compounds like aldehydes for a fresh green flavor, or esters for a fruity note. Sometimes the effects are not what they expect. "In the flavor industry, we sometimes say one plus one equals three," reflects Lee: mix pear with orange, for example, and what you get is peach. In addition, special compounds must be deployed to make flavors meld with the properties of their "vehicle," as the vessel for the flavor is known. Jelly Belly even has a secret ingredient that suppresses the sweetness of the bean so that savory flavors, like buttered popcorn, can show through.
Azziz Poonawalla over at Belief Net has his final word on the Park 51 mosque, after conceding that "part of the problem is how few Muslim American voices there are in the debate:"
American Muslims are mostly an optimistic bunch. We can concede there are prejudices at work against us here, but that's part of the mix I described above. We have to be pragmatic and remember that every group before us, the Jews, the Catholics, etc had to face pretty much the same gauntlet prior to acceptance. I think the danger is that American Muslims will perceive unequal treatment and withdraw from civic engagement. The question isn't why we are facing this hostility but rather whether that hostility makes our attempts at assimilation moot. That's a debate we don't want to be having, but is being forced upon us. I hope that as a community of communities, Muslim Americans don't become disheartened and lose that essential optimism that really makes us American. Unfortunately, with precisely half of the American political landscape opposed to us, it's going to be a tough fight ahead to stay optimistic.
Today on the Dish, new polling on the misperceptions of Obama's religion dominated the slow news cycle. More evidence of widespread bigotry against Muslims here and here. Malkin award here and a reader's thoughts here. Conor engaged Reihan and Ross on broadening the Cordoba debate to issues of assimilation and discourse. Laura Freschi, Daniyual Mueenuddin, and Dreher drew attention to the devastating floods in Pakistan.
In assorted coverage, Howard Gleckman looked at the latest deficit numbers, Felix Salmon worried about 401(k)s, James Downie laid out Obama's record on marriage equality, Reihan ruminated over low-skilled labor, Peter Neufeld warned us about the dangers of witness testimony, TNC reported on an innovative new teaching program in NYC, Bernstein jumped into the Gary Johnson debate, and Graeme Wood reviewed a new book on the Green Revolution.
A reader sliced into Ross' position on marriage equality, another countered Kaminer on the nature of coercion, and another defended Islam against Hirsi Ali. A wrap of the week-long tenure thread here. Conor's discussion of talk radio received feedback from readers here and here, while host/ibex Mark Levin sneered at him again.
Thursday on the Dish, Palin had chutzpah (or something else entirely) on the First Amendment, and then got schooled by Linda Holmes. Ross responded to Andrew, and Patrick parried with the heart of a Sullivan response until his return.
On the Mosque, Conor accounted for both sides of Imam Rauf while Goldblog continued to bat for him. Conor tallied up post-9/11 Muslim backlashes; Dreher acknowledged we have trouble talking about controversial issues and Bush evaded comment entirely. Steinglass responded to Ezra; Wendy Kaminer warned liberals about criticizing Dr. Laura and the critics of the Mosque; and this reader flipped the 9/11 porn hawkers merch on them.
Conor countered McCain on combat operations ending, again, in Iraq; Patrick argued Dems dominate domestic issues while the GOP focuses on foreign policy. NASA showed us Pakistan, before and after the floods, and some parts of Mexico weren't racked by violence. Conor reflected on the nature of political leanings (towards libertarianism) and he wished Dr. Laura well in the future, while pointing out her mistakes. David Post questioned copyright; and Matt Lewis rounded up the right's responses to Coulter at Homocon.
The Internet may be dead but Reihan glimpsed a future of coordinated clothing and devices. Buses got a boost, and another wordy wonder here. Tracy Clark-Flory asked if sex is a fundamental right (for a disabled man on the taxpayers' dime) and Jonah taught us popularity leads to power and then power leads to some unpopular tendencies. A cop threatened rape, unemployment ticked up; librarians fought back over tenure and made this reader's day. Quotes for the day here and here, charts of the day here and here, cool ad watch here, MHB here, Yglesias award here, VFYW here,and FOTD here.
Readers let the dogs out over Cesar Millan; we guessed over dog or sex toys; and this butterfly was very, very lucky.
Wednesday on the Dish, on the Mosque front, Conor weighed in on assimilation and intolerance, Balko tracked the success of Muslims in America, Will Wilkinson disagreed about the intentions of the GOP, and Imam Rauf engaged with the other side. We grappled with Holocaust analogies, disparaged hawkers of 9/11 porn, remembered the Dubai Ports controversy, and Peter Feaver begged us all to focus on the floods in Pakistan.
Pat Tillman's story kept an R rating because of his last words, China developed a "Spider Man complex," and Yglesias debated amateur barbers. Patrick rallied with a reader over the dissent of the day; Conor countered the cult of the presidency, and we got your read on middle class privileges. Conor defended talk radio listeners here and here and Sugrue, in for TNC, reinvigorated the race and education thread. Your Yglesias award nominee here, Malkin award nominees here and here, quote for the day here, VFYW here, MHB here,and FOTD here.
Pirates ate turtles, commuting killed (kinda), North Korea twittered, and librarians were tenured. We argued about burger prices across the country, health care jobs were growing, and even Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck were punished for getting too close to marriage equality, while the economic equalities of divorce remained crystal clear.
We featured the last batch of first kisses, and this reader put Cesar Millan in the doghouse.
We looked deeper into the middle class milieu, argued about affirmative action, and the race debate kept reeling. Conor responded to Thomas Sowell on Obama overstepping his bounds by pointing out it has everything to do with war and nothing to do with illegal immigrants, and Eliot Abrams got the Atlantic pile-on for his comments on bombing Iran.
Conor appealed to Republican voters for substance instead of culture wars, Patrick asked who we trust, and Chris railed against CNN for giving airtime to Bryan "Ban All Mosques" Fischer. Kiera Butler responded to Dish readers about emails polluting the earth, hard times were harder for those susceptible to suicide, and convicts could walk the streets like Canadians, according to Graeme Wood. Palin's custody clause may be par for the course, circumcisions in the U.S. were on the decline, Matt Stopera compiled Maggie Gallagher's dumbest quotes, and the Great Zucchini was the subject of today's entry into the long form journalism Hall of Fame.
Ray Bradbury had enough of the Internets, there was more blowback on tenure from Beam, and the government gained license to steal. We collected the pot or profits debate, and this reader boiled 44 months of heavy use down to a likely cause: college. We marveled at the Depression in color, and awed at stories of your first kisses here and here. Cool ad watch here, FOTD here, VFYW here, MHB here, app of the day here, and the sailor who nailed the VFYW contest #11 here.
Ta-Nehisi went to the woods, dogs made us better workers, and one reader informed us that TED can't be Harvard until it can get too drunk to undress itself.
By Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Monday on the Dish, Andrew was away, so we got to assess the fray. On the mosque, Halperin urged Republicans to avoid hubris; Reid crumpled; and Douthat, Bouie and Bernstein butted heads. Conor hit upon an apt analogy by imagining a Catholic prayer group scenario instead. There's a history of the entire controversyhere; and Reihan on Ross and his own Muslim parents here.
Debbie Riddle pulled a Palin on Anderson Cooper; Palin pulled a Palin on Levi's custody agreement; and Levi talked to Kimmel. Conor got excited over a Salon profile of the could-be-perfect 2012 Republican candidate who no Tea Partier has ever heard of, and Palin came in 4th in an early Iowa poll. Goldblog was asked to clarify "going nuclear;" Conor invited examples of when analysts have been wrong about their predictions before and Mexico's narco-censorship was on the rise.
Patrick responded to Bazelon on Prop 8; he picked at an America where even the rich claim to be middle class, and he pushed against Kleiman's 'grow your own' cannabis policy. Obama was grouped under the same TARP as Bush, and readers responsed to race, poverty, gangs and education in America here, here, here, and here.
Chris catalogued the current cultural imperialism of Facebook on the web, via French rap; and song lyric riddles went the way of Google maps. Creepy ad watch here, MHB mash-up here, FOTD here, and VFYW here. Hewitt award here, Moore award here, and Yglesias award here.
Conor was curious about your first kiss, goaded Obama on his global war on terror, and had his mind blown by this piece of long form journalism.
The Dish 