Month: May 2012

 A novel idea:

Dr. Kim Dong of Houston’s Memorial Hermann hospital system performed a brain tumor resection surgery on a 21-year-old patient Wednesday morning. But the routine operation came with a catch — outside the surgery room, his every move was relayed on Twitter by hospital staff, and graphic photos and video were posted to Pinterest, YouTube and other platforms. A brain tumor specialist on hand helped answer questions.

It was a smashing success: "14.5 million people came through the hospital’s website, broadcast partners ABC.com and The Houston Chronicle, Storify, other social media platforms and viral word-of-tweet chatter." Pictures and video here.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen, the 22-year-old granddaughter of far-right Front National (FN) former President Jean-Marie Le Pen and the niece of current FN President Marine Le Pen, takes part in a press conference on May 11, 2012 to present the FN's candidates for the French parliamentary election in the Vaucluse department. Marion Marechal-Le Pen is a candidate in the 3rd electoral district of Vaucluse. By Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images.

Time's current cover story takes on attachment parenting. A video synopsis here. Why Hanna Rosin objects to the movement:

Attachment parenting demands not just certain actions you take with your baby but also certain emotional states to accompany those actions. So, it’s not just enough to breast-feed but one has to experience "breast-feeding induced maternal nirvana." And it’s not enough to snuggle—you have to snuggle enough to achieve a spiritual high. As Badinter has said, once women were just expected to tolerate their babies, Betty Draper style, but now they are expected to experience "jouissance" loosely translated as "orgasm." And this is what makes the movement truly oppressive.

Susanna Schrobsdorff reflects on her own experiences:

As it turns out, public breast-feeding is the gateway drug to attachment parenting. If your child happens to take to breast-feeding, you do end up pretty attached, and keeping that newborn fed isn’t just a 20-minute refueling every two or three hours. It’s a nonstop buffet.

Naturally, after a while, dragging yourself out of bed to slump in a rocker for half the night seems ridiculous. I think you know where I’m going here. Yes, the family bed. It’s like moving from pot to cocaine. You are so tired, and it’s so easy. Of course, if you’re an accidental attachment parent like me, you kept the crib for daytime napping and as a fig leaf in case someone from out of state visited. So many of these so-called choices are nothing more than a slow stumble into a habit that doesn’t seem like such a big deal if you run with a certain crowd.

A Terminator survival guide:

Recent Dish on other fears over smart machines here.

After watching a lawyer abuse some stats, Kevin Carey argues that everyone should learn the basics:

Math education is still largely interpreted as a progression through Algebra and Geometry to Calculus. And I’m not against working harder to improve math education. But in terms of things you really need in order to make your way in modern society, statistics is way, way up there, above a lot of things that are currently lodged in the curriculum.

Yglesias wants to make it easier:

The increased scrutiny given to people seeking tourist visas is hidden from most Americans but very annoying for potential tourists. The 36 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program that lets people make short-term visits without applying for special permission account for 65 percent of visits to the United States. But major Latin American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, aren’t on the list. 

Even where it’s not viable to expand the Waiver Program, we should try to make the process more convenient. A January Obama administration executive order has succeeded in drastically reducing wait times from Brazil and China. But there are logistical issues beyond wait time. China, a nation of 1.2 billion people, has just five locations where visas can be obtained. Harbin, a metro area about the size of Philadelphia’s, is an almost eight-hour drive from the nearest spot where you can interview. America is a great place to visit, and rapid growth in historically poor countries means more people than ever can come to see it. We need to do what we can to roll out the welcome mat.

Jonathan Bernstein wonders about it:

Will the LGBT community wind up like African Americans, Jews, and Mormons? Each of those groups, it seems to me, has remained politically identified through their ethnicity (in the first and perhaps second case) or their religion (in the third and perhaps second case), and therefore has stayed bound to one party.  Or will they be like, I don't know, the Irish — moving away from their current political identity to other identities, and therefore identifying with parties for other reasons?

(Photo: A poster hanging at Obama campaign HQ via Matt Stopera)

Pareene tackles Jonah Goldberg:

Goldberg is always careful never to actually stake out a controversial position on anything. He’ll never buck the movement, but he sees himself as above the right-wing populists. His position on any number of issues is impossible to discern. On gay marriage: "I have always felt that gay marriage was an inevitability, for good or ill (most likely both)." Jonah defended waterboarding while also claiming to find it a "tough question" and complaining that supporters of waterboarding were unfairly tarred as "pro-torture."

Everything he writes for publication is littered with "to be sure" ass-covering and declarations that he’s not actually seriously arguing what it seems very much like he’s arguing. (The Supreme Court’s Fred Phelps ruling was deplorable but also probably correct but maybe not. Julian Assange should be assassinated not that I’m saying for real that he should be assassinated.) He’s too cowardly and insecure to allow himself to be pinned down on most divisive political issues, much preferring to devote pixels and ink to making fun of mythical sandal-wearing Prius-driving (formerly Volvo-driving) liberals who supposedly think things he finds silly. Or Barbra Streisand, a recurring figure in his oeuvre.

A somewhat twisted find from Neetzan Zimmerman:

Undoubtedly owing much of its look and feel to the seminal work of stop-motion artist Adam "PES" Pesapane — particular his short films "Western Spaghetti" and its 2012 follow-up "Fresh Guacamole" — UK-based director/animator/writer Ian Robertson's sufficiently demented music video for Delta Heavy's "Get By" is equal parts inspiration, perspiration, and decapitated Hungry, Hungry Hippos. More behind-the-scenes data can be found here.

A reader writes:

I'm SO excited that you can let your readership know about this! I started Paleo last August, and I've lost 25 pounds and NEVER felt better. The best part is that I have so much more energy – so much so that I now enjoy working out. I was tested for celiac but came back negative. I just decided to go wheat- and sugar-free anyway so I would have better control of my appetite. Little did I expect so much more energy and feeling of control over what I put in my mouth. My favorite "Paleo" blogs are here, here and here. I'm making a post-workout steak and sweet potatoes right now.

Another writes:

I won't pretend to speak for the whole paleosphere, but in those circles, Taubes is both revered and reviled.   Many, many people discover the Paleo diet via his recommending a low-carb diet.   And he is entirely correct in saying that most grains are unhealthy for us (but not for the reasons he usually lists). But the thing is, Paleo diets are not necessarily low-carb.  

One's Paleo diet could be low-carb, but "low-carb" and "Paleo" shouldn't be conflated.   One's Paleo diet could be just as easily high-carb.   For a modern-day hunter-gatherer example,  one need only look to the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea, for whom carbohydrates make up nearly 70% of their energy intake, yet exhibit no sign of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, or any other disease of modernity. As for Taubes' central argument – the Carbohydrate-Insulin Hypothesis of obesity – it has been thoroughly debunked.

Another:

At this point it seems to be a truism that refined sugars and starches – the highly processed foods – are bad for us. On the other hand, there seems to be considerable confusion about what a "hunter-gatherer" diet is and whether one is really on one. The evidence suggests that humans evolved on a largely plant-based diet, with some animal products mixed in. Our anatomy supports this belief – our long digestive tracks, our low level of HDL ("good") cholesterol, our retinas geared more to detect color than movement, and many other characteristics.

The big problem is that the type of meat available to us today has very little in common with the wild meat that made up a minority of our ancient ancestors' diets. Experts have called factory-farmed meat "fat disguised as meat." Selective breeding, very unnatural diets, hormones, antibiotics, and limited ability to move have led to a meat that is very unhealthy. Further, 99% of the meat available today is from factory farms, even the meat that is marketed to suggest otherwise (don't believe the labels and sales materials; do your own research). For almost all Americans, it is close to impossible to obtain more than a trivial amount of non-factory-farmed meat.

Another:

I understand that you probably do not want to start a vegan vs. omnivore threat (again), but when you publish something like this, we really don't have much of a choice: "Ethical arguments against meat-eating are always valid; health arguments against it can no longer be defended." Let's look at just one disease, cancer.

1) The American Institute for Cancer Research last year released a meta-study in which it found that there is a "definite" link between consumption of red meat and processed meta and colorectal cancer, the nation's third-biggest cancer killer. Their recommendation? Limit red meat (beef, lamb, and pork) to less than 4 ounces a day, and give up processed meat (including bacon, some cold cuts, and, of course, hot dogs) altogether.

2) Red meat consumption has also been linked to kidney cancer. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition earlier this year, researchers found that those who eat the most meat, around 4.5 ounces of red meat per day (the size of an average burger, had a higher risk of kidney cancer.

3) In October 2011, a National Institutes of Health-funded study found that men who consumed just 2.5 eggs per week increased their risk for a deadly form of prostate cancer by 81 percent – compared with men who ate less than half an egg per week.

These are just a few examples of the negative health impact of meat consumption – to say nothing of the effect of meat production on the health of Americans in the form of bacteria like E Coli and Salmonella, which always originate with farmed animals. As a fan of your work, I urge you to ditch this diet and try something with less meat. Vegetables have all the antioxidants, and beans can give you enough protein. Do it for your fans. We want you to be here for a long time.