The Capstone: February 2007

Extra Credit Viewing Tuesday Morning...

FYI...

"The Life in a Jar/Irena Sendler segment will air on the Today show this Tuesday, February 27th, during the 8:30 AM segment... This time is dependent on other news stories and could change."

Same drill as last time if you're interested...

Extra-Credit Viewing Sunday Night on "60 Minutes"

Sorry for the short notification. I just received this.

Hi. I wanted to let you know about a story we’re going to be running on “60 MINUTES” this coming Sunday, Feb. 25 (7PM ET/PT on CBS) that I thought you’d be interested in. It’s about the Theresienstadt concentration camp which, as you know, the Nazi’s briefly turned into a model town to try and convince the world that stories that they were exterminating Jews were untrue. Central to the deception was the performance of a children’s opera called “Brundibar” that actually mocked the Nazis. The opera survived the war, as did a few members of its cast, and CBS News’ Bob Simon recently met with the group at their yearly reunion in the Czech Republic.

It’s an amazing tale of both hardship and survival, and as with our December piece on the Bad Arolsen archive, we’re trying to get word out to people who have a special interest in this subject. The response to the Bad Arolsen piece was incredible (we are still getting calls and emails), and though this is a much different type of story, we hope you would again consider sending out something to your listserve and/or posting something on your website. As before, further information will also be available on our website which you’re welcome to link to from yours.

If you're interested, watch this story and post an analytical comment about your reactions here.

Vs. Corruption: Global Integrity

Global Integrity: "Many of the world’s national governments have been plagued by charges ofcorruption and pervasive malfeasance over the past few decades. As a result,a number of international organizations have been created to provideinformation on corruption and governance trends for the policy community andthe general public. With funding from the World Bank, the Global Integrityorganization produces the Global Integrity Report, which features a numberof “integrity indicators”, which analyze openness, governance, and anti-corruption mechanisms for a wide range of countries. Visitors to their sitecan read the Report in its entirety here, and also browse through a numberof media resources designed for journalists. Additionally, visitors can alsolearn more about the organization’s staff members and their variousmethodologies for compiling reports." (from the Internet Scout Report)

Plus, Factors Regarding Corruption in Italy

UPDATED: Newspapers in Trouble? Optimus Prime to the Rescue!

"So the NAA -- that's the Newspaper Association of America... decides it needs a literacy campaign. And what's a literacy campaign without a celebrity spokesman? Nothing! So who[m] do they pick? Optimus Prime. No, seriously. I officially declare this the end of media irony. [via]"

Talk about demographics... As far as I can tell, this ad campaign is aimed at just one age group: Tim Ryley! ;-)

Plus, Is U.S. near a tipping point on global warming?

UPDATED: After our discussion last night, I can't help but think that this is the one last, desperate stand of a team made up of two formerly-beloved icons of American culture, now has-beens (newspapers & transformers, that is!)

Re: "Sticky Power," plus other miscellaneous class links

Re: Global Urbanization - "The Sound of the City"

"This year, for the first time in human history, more people will live in urban areas than rural areas. Some of the quantitative statistics are staggering. Every day in the world, 200,000 people migrate to cities. Half the new buildings in the world in the next 10 years will be built in China. Mexico City has gone from three million to 20 million. In 1950 50 million people a year crossed national borders mainly from cities - last year it was 840 million." (via Linkfilter)

Re: Global Warming - Cool the Globe!
Re: Bottled Water's Global "Footprint" - "The True Cost of Bottled Water"

"In summary, the manufacture and transport of that one kilogram bottle of Fiji water consumed... 849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and emitted 562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds). [Plus. uses] nearly seven times as much water used to make it than you actually drink! Staggering is an understatement..."

Re: World Poverty (about recently released global poverty map)

Re: World population - KQED You Decide: Overpopulation & Chinese one-child laws produce scary results

Hungry Planet

Yahoo! Link of the Day

Re: Garrett - "Convince Me" Debate online, all the time!

:-)

Tonight's Links, plus Syllabus, Version "Vista"!

Firstly, quote of the day:

"We don't know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows?"

-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher R-CA, on the cause of previous warming cycles

Next, here are the links that Mariya cited tonight...

Then, here's that news from today about oil prices...

Oil Jumps Above $59 Per Barrel - Houston Chronicle

And then, here's the schedule for the remainder of this week and next... (If we have a mega-snow-holiday and are also off Thursday, I'll adjust it accordingly!)

Thursday, Feb. 15:

Allison-with-2-Ls & Devon: "America's Sticky Power"
Sarah H.: "The Big Crunch"

Tuesday, Feb. 20: NO CLASS!

Thursday, Feb. 22:

Harrison & Joanna: "Political Graft"
Kate & Garrett: "Chile"

At that point, the syllabus is back to normal, whatever "normal" may be! :-)

Remember that I'll collect the NYC deposit of $50 on March 1st! (Go ahead and RSVP as soon as you can with a comment on this email, so I can check hostel-availability!!)

And don't forget to order your Pooh!

Lastly but not leastly, Happy V-Day to some of my favorite "funny valentines"!! :-)

Fun with Other Media Empires!

Another media "empire"

Support "micro-loans" with just 2 clicks a day!

"If you knew you could fight poverty and hunger, conserve the environment, empower women, and combat AIDS - all with just two clicks a day - would you do it?

The Oxfam America Collegiate Click Drive is a national online competition to generate funds for micro-credit programs worldwide.

Participation is quick and easy - each click generates a $.25 donation. To compete, go to www.PovertyFighters.com. The Click Drive runs February 12th through March 30th, 2007.

The funding provides loans to help start small businesses which help lift families and communities out of poverty.Help make a difference today! Go to http://www.povertyfighters.com/ today to compete!

Thank you for your support!
Tim Fullerton, Oxfam America

The Oxfam America Click Drive is an annual effort organized by students at Brandeis University."

Plus, microloans American-style @ Prosper.com...?

News! The Problems with New Technology!! (Plus Obama on TV tonight!!!)

"A couple years ago, a Carnegie Corporation study reported that the average age of newspaper (print edition) readers was 55. I'm not aware of more recent estimates, but they're not likely to have gotten any lower. Nor will they in the future. The printed newspaper now seems akin to TV network broadcast news (at least here in the U.S.), where you can tell the advanced age of its average viewers because most of the commercials are for pharmaceuticals and other products aimed at an over-50 demographic. That's not good news for either medium..." (more at Where News Consumption Is Heading)

World's oldest newspaper ends print version for Internet format - Yahoo! News

In related Scandanavian news...

And for Harrison, Barack Obama will be on 60 Minutes tonight! :-)

FYI: "Don't Let FEMA Turn Them Out Again"!

Take Action: Don't Let FEMA Turn Katrina Victims Out Again

"Yahoo! News" of the Day!

First of all... 3 million Muslims join mass prayer in Bangladesh seeking peace - USATODAY.com

Can't wait to see 3 million Christians do the same! :-)

Next, yesterday was a big newsday for global warming!

And, last but not least,

U.S. companies prepare for bird flu pandemic
Poll shows Arabs dislike Bush (surprise, eh?)
and (horrors!) Students use chat lingo in class

For Jackie... finally, the end of civilization as we know it? :-)

Tao of Pooh

Well, I hunted around for a couple of hours tonight because I'd hoped I could find a place online where I could purchase 15 economical copies of The Tao of Pooh in one fell swoop to save everybody on shipping. No such luck...

So go ahead and order your own copy. (Just make sure it'll arrive relatively soon!) The cheapest place online seemed to be Amazon, from 10 cents!

FYI: If you have a Gameboy Advanced or a "Gameboy Advanced Emulator," you can apparently download a free eBook of The Tao of Pooh! (Lemme know how it is...)

News of the Day!

China says global warming in hands of wealthy nations

And, regarding "brain drain," Germany Agonizes Over a Brain Drain !

46 nations back body to protect planet - Yahoo! News

Extra-Credit Opportunity!

Coming up on the Discovery Channel...

"Futurecar - This four-part series offers a glimpse of what tomorrow's automobiles may be like, and what alternative fuels they may run on."

See the series and post an analytical comment here about what you think regarding the feasibility of these projects, and why.

TV LISTINGS:

FEB 07 2007@ 08:00 PM
FEB 08 2007@ 12:00 AM
FEB 10 2007@ 11:00 AM
FutureCar --> The Extremes

FEB 14 2007@ 08:00 PM
FEB 15 2007@ 12:00 AM
FEB 17 2007@ 11:00 AM
FutureCar --> The Body

FEB 21 2007@ 08:00 PM
FEB 22 2007@ 12:00 AM
FEB 24 2007@ 11:00 AM
FutureCar --> The Fuel

FEB 28 2007@ 02:00 PM
FEB 28 2007@ 08:00 PM
MAR 01 2007@ 12:00 AM
FutureCar --> The Brain

Support your favorite charity JUST BY SEARCHING THE WEB!

A penny goes to your favorite charity every time you use this Yahoo-powered search engine!!

UPDATED: Lots of Global Warming in Today's "Yahoo! News" (and More Language Fun!)

And more "English Police" fun: 100 Most Often Mispronounced Words & Phrases!

UPDATED: New Book? Plus, Tonight's Presentation...

Dear Class,

Well, you're likely not going to believe this, but I was actually pretty pleased tonight with the discussion of Emergence! (You don't have to like the book, but at least you're not even vaguely apathetic about it!!)

However, my offer still stands... You guys present Johnson & me with an alternative on which we can all reach a consensus by next Thursday, and I'll drop making you read Emergence and we'll read your choice instead! (Otherwise, we pick up reading Emergence again the following week!!)

You may post as a comment here your suggested nominations that I hope might be every bit as good fodder for thoughtful, imaginative (and hopefully impassioned) discussion as Emergence seems to be turning out to be. :-)

Leaping out from a quick glance of the lists of "the best books of 2006": Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change; The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream; The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals; The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million; Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed; and the Pulizer-Prize-Winning Polio: An American Story. Then, of course, there were my personal picks of Ishmael & The Ghost Map. Johnson may not like 'em, but I don't exactly hear him making any suggestions! :-)

Last but not least, props to Joanna & Sarah B. for their wonderful presentation today... Nice balance of article analysis synthesized with supplemental concepts, not to mention deft moderation of the subsequent discussion! Does anybody have anything further they'd like to add to the discussion here?

In the meantime, keep up the good work, ya'll!

Have a good weekend!!

Dr. Laughran

P.S. I don't think Johnson ever checks in here himself... So we could plan on doing something fun but harmless and he'd never know, like each person in the class bringing a camera on Tuesday and then everybody insisting on getting up and taking his picture, for example!

;-)

P.P.S. What are we fighting for? Check out these statistics (which, if true, are sad!)

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. (more at "Some startling book statistics")

The Capstone