Month: May 2012

Exum plays down Mead's concerns that the Syrian conflict could ignite a broader regional war:

For civil war to resume in Lebanon, factional leaders would have to calculate that wider clashes would carry benefits that outweigh the costs of a broader conflict, but there is no evidence that even one of Lebanon’s major sectarian leaders believes this. In fact, none of Lebanon’s sectarian leaders have an interest in this kind of fighting growing into something larger. …

In Iraq, meanwhile, it is also possible that Sunni militants might infiltrate across the border from Syria and wreak havoc. Again, the concern will not so much be that extremist acts will actually challenge the balance of power or start a larger conflict in Iraq, but rather that such actions might cause Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government to adopt even more heavy-handed policies toward its political enemies. 

Sushi, according to Jonathan Haidt:

For centuries Americans thought it was disgusting to eat raw fish. But once some people started doing it more visibly, and people habituated to it, the disgust factor decreased and sushi became OK. 

"That an imbecile, a sub-human like [Giuseppe Cardinal] Pizzardo should be in charge of the department for universities and seminaries is scandalous and extremely serious. . . . This wretched freak, this sub-mediocrity with no culture, no horizon, no humanity. . . . This Pizzardo, who has red pajamas and underpants. . . who haggles over the purchase of a newspaper . . . What a frightful comedy!" – Father Yves Congar, keeping it real, in his personal diary of the Second Vatican Council.

New research suggests that "staying interested" in life through old age can mitigate symptoms of Alzheimer's disease: 

[A] strong sense of purpose in life evidently strengthens or provides a higher level of what's known as "neural reserve" in the brain. "Reserve" is the quality that allows many physiological systems in the human body to sustain what the Rush [University] researchers call "extensive organ damage" before showing clinical deficits.

Neurobiologists specializing in aging have already determined that this concept also applies to the human brain, because most of us — regardless of whether we develop clinical symptoms of "Alzheimer's disease" or not – will accumulate harmful amounts of plaque and tangles in our brains as we age. Autopsies show that. What the Rush researchers' results indicate is that having a strong sense of purpose in life, especially beyond the age of 80, can give a person's brain the ability to sustain that damage and continue to function at a much higher level.

Polarization is real, and mostly on the GOP side:

The authors caption:

[W]e should be careful not to equate the two parties’ roles in contemporary political polarization: the data are clear that this is a Republican-led phenomenon where very conservative Republicans have replaced moderate Republicans and Southern Democrats. 

Law school debt is a major problem:

[O]ne out of every two law graduates will not have a legal career, and most of the rest will never make enough money to pay back their educational loans. This means they will either have to rely on other sources of income (spouses, extended family) to service their debts, or they will have to go into the federal government’s new Income-Based Repayment program.

This program will keep people in debt servitude for 25 (soon to be reduced to 20) years, during which time the balance on their loans will grow, making it almost impossible for them to qualify for mortgages and many other forms of consumer debt. Finally, the debt – which for many law graduates will have grown to more than $1 million – will be discharged, meaning, of course, that taxpayers will be left to pick up the tab.

It's been a while since we've seen a good light-painting video – this one's from Cologne:

Is fraught with ethical dilemmas:

On the horizon is the expanding field of brain-digital interface. Devices have already been built that use brain activity to control basic machinery, such as a prosthetic limb.  This can be achieved either through implantable devices that directly interface with the brain, or external neuro-modulation, perhaps integrated into a helmet. As this technology improves, military commanders, or even smart computer algorithms, may one day be able to digitally monitor soldiers’ cognitive function. Such algorithms could potentially even intervene under certain circumstances, for example, by down regulating stress pathways for operatives in tense and isolated settings. With soldiers’ very minds being controlled to some extent by a digital device, the question of where we draw the line between man and machine becomes blurred.

Campaign staff and volunteers trying to physically prevent reporters from approaching the rope line to ask questions of Romney.

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) May 16, 2012

Joe Klein is miffed: 

Mitt Romney is clearly a candidate terrified by his own mouth. What other explanation for his campaign’s extreme efforts to prevent reporters from asking him questions? … I don’t know how to improve this situation, but I suspect that reporters shouting questions at Romney when he’s trying to shake hands with citizens on a rope-line isn’t helping any. You do have to wonder, though, how much skill and confidence Romney will bring to meetings with foreign and Congressional leaders if he can’t figure out how to talk to the press.

Naturally, Jonah Goldberg wants Romney to "get very angry" at the MSM.