Some helpful notes on the Marikana report
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Good piece on capital controls in Greece and why reports of a bank run and long lines at are overstated. In brief, the bank run has already happened, and any assets that Greeks currently hold in domestic banks are probably offset by debts (which would also be redenominated if Greece exits the euro).
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"The average person on a bike is arguably no more likely to break a law then their peer in a car. However, when they do so it’s more obvious, less normalised. People notice a cyclist pedalling through a red light, whereas speeding – which 80% of drivers admit to doing regularly – is often ignored, despite the immeasurably greater human cost this causes." Guardian
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"The debt, in other words, isn't about money. It's about political control. If the debt is formally forgiven then not only do Greece's creditors need to write down some money, but they need to let Greece go on its merry way. If the debt is merely subjected to repeated rounds of extend and pretend then Greece's creditors get to keep making various demands about structural reform." Vox
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"It turns out that global “seasonality” – or the difference across the year in terms of temperature and rainfall – was extraordinarily high right around the time agriculture first popped up in the Fertile Crescent... six of the seven independent inventions of agriculture appear to have happened soon after increases in seasonality in their respective regions. This is driven by an increase in seasonality and not just an increase in rainfall or heat: agriculture appears in the cold Andes and in the hot Mideast and in the moderate Chinese heartland." A Fine Theorem
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"Governments have become “managers”, he says. They have no vision, “whereas meet the people in Google, in Facebook, they have tremendous visions about the future, about overcoming death, living for ever, merging humans with computers. I do find it worrying that the basis of the future, not only of humankind, the future of life, is now in the hands of a very small group of entrepreneurs.”" Guardian
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Posting this again, because I giggle every time I think about it :D
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Great interview with a sex worker about the daily realities of the job.
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"People have a difficult time recognizing women’s pain. Not in an abstract sense, but in an actual, practical, “Does that expression on her face mean she is in pain?” way. People are much better at reflexively decoding pain when a man’s face reflects it than when a woman’s does.
This is also true when a white person is experiencing pain versus a black person. Interestingly, when a person’s face is androgynous and displaying pain, observers identify it as male. Even if and when girls and women say, out loud, that they are experiencing pain, people, including medical professionals, are more likely to minimize or dismiss what they say. On one end of the spectrum, this problem results in real discomfort for girls and women, on the other, misdiagnoses, exacerbated pain, and higher likelihood of mortality." Role Reboot
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Hairstyle as GoT spoiler
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"Half the expenses [of poverty reduction programmes] are for supervision. What if we dropped this paternalism? If benefits fall by less than half, then the program breaks even much sooner.
We tried this in Uganda. Compared to cash and training with expensive supervision, cash and training alone had almost identical effects on consumption after a year. Some businesses were more likely to stay open, and profits were a tiny bit higher. But it’s hard to believe supervision passes a cost-benefit test." Chris Blattman
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"What brought [GMOs] to everyone's attention was, quite frankly, the sellers of many natural foods and organic products. I don’t want to say that they were stoking people’s fears, but they kind of were, at least to the extent that that helps sales of their own products. So there was some of that advertising, and the advertising that pitched products as not containing GMOs, which raised consumer awareness." Washington Post
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"Medieval portraits of children were usually commissioned by churches. And that made the range of subjects limited to Jesus and a few other biblical babies. Medieval concepts of Jesus were deeply influenced by the homunculus, which literally means little man. "There's the idea that Jesus was perfectly formed and unchanged," Averett says, "and if you combine that with Byzantine painting, it became a standard way to depict Jesus. In some of these images, it looks like he had male pattern baldness."" Vox
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The current state of practice in psychiatry is, if you think about it, very odd. Psychiatric diagnoses, based in the DSM, are almost entirely symptomatic, based in the subjective experience of the individual patient. Treatments are almost entirely pharmaceutical, designed to alter brain chemistry. And the basic *causes* of mental illness must be some combination of underlying brain physiology with the psychosocial circumstances in which the patient finds themself. Modifying brain chemistry isn't by itself necessarily a terrible idea (though it's only one half of the equation), but the diagnostic categories don't even refer to that! Jacobin
>>><<<
Good piece on capital controls in Greece and why reports of a bank run and long lines at are overstated. In brief, the bank run has already happened, and any assets that Greeks currently hold in domestic banks are probably offset by debts (which would also be redenominated if Greece exits the euro).
>>><<<
"The average person on a bike is arguably no more likely to break a law then their peer in a car. However, when they do so it’s more obvious, less normalised. People notice a cyclist pedalling through a red light, whereas speeding – which 80% of drivers admit to doing regularly – is often ignored, despite the immeasurably greater human cost this causes." Guardian
>>><<<
"The debt, in other words, isn't about money. It's about political control. If the debt is formally forgiven then not only do Greece's creditors need to write down some money, but they need to let Greece go on its merry way. If the debt is merely subjected to repeated rounds of extend and pretend then Greece's creditors get to keep making various demands about structural reform." Vox
>>><<<
"It turns out that global “seasonality” – or the difference across the year in terms of temperature and rainfall – was extraordinarily high right around the time agriculture first popped up in the Fertile Crescent... six of the seven independent inventions of agriculture appear to have happened soon after increases in seasonality in their respective regions. This is driven by an increase in seasonality and not just an increase in rainfall or heat: agriculture appears in the cold Andes and in the hot Mideast and in the moderate Chinese heartland." A Fine Theorem
>>><<<
"Governments have become “managers”, he says. They have no vision, “whereas meet the people in Google, in Facebook, they have tremendous visions about the future, about overcoming death, living for ever, merging humans with computers. I do find it worrying that the basis of the future, not only of humankind, the future of life, is now in the hands of a very small group of entrepreneurs.”" Guardian
>>><<<
Posting this again, because I giggle every time I think about it :D
>>><<<
Great interview with a sex worker about the daily realities of the job.
>>><<<
"People have a difficult time recognizing women’s pain. Not in an abstract sense, but in an actual, practical, “Does that expression on her face mean she is in pain?” way. People are much better at reflexively decoding pain when a man’s face reflects it than when a woman’s does.
This is also true when a white person is experiencing pain versus a black person. Interestingly, when a person’s face is androgynous and displaying pain, observers identify it as male. Even if and when girls and women say, out loud, that they are experiencing pain, people, including medical professionals, are more likely to minimize or dismiss what they say. On one end of the spectrum, this problem results in real discomfort for girls and women, on the other, misdiagnoses, exacerbated pain, and higher likelihood of mortality." Role Reboot
>>><<<
Hairstyle as GoT spoiler
>>><<<
"Half the expenses [of poverty reduction programmes] are for supervision. What if we dropped this paternalism? If benefits fall by less than half, then the program breaks even much sooner.
We tried this in Uganda. Compared to cash and training with expensive supervision, cash and training alone had almost identical effects on consumption after a year. Some businesses were more likely to stay open, and profits were a tiny bit higher. But it’s hard to believe supervision passes a cost-benefit test." Chris Blattman
>>><<<
"What brought [GMOs] to everyone's attention was, quite frankly, the sellers of many natural foods and organic products. I don’t want to say that they were stoking people’s fears, but they kind of were, at least to the extent that that helps sales of their own products. So there was some of that advertising, and the advertising that pitched products as not containing GMOs, which raised consumer awareness." Washington Post
>>><<<
"Medieval portraits of children were usually commissioned by churches. And that made the range of subjects limited to Jesus and a few other biblical babies. Medieval concepts of Jesus were deeply influenced by the homunculus, which literally means little man. "There's the idea that Jesus was perfectly formed and unchanged," Averett says, "and if you combine that with Byzantine painting, it became a standard way to depict Jesus. In some of these images, it looks like he had male pattern baldness."" Vox
>>><<<
The current state of practice in psychiatry is, if you think about it, very odd. Psychiatric diagnoses, based in the DSM, are almost entirely symptomatic, based in the subjective experience of the individual patient. Treatments are almost entirely pharmaceutical, designed to alter brain chemistry. And the basic *causes* of mental illness must be some combination of underlying brain physiology with the psychosocial circumstances in which the patient finds themself. Modifying brain chemistry isn't by itself necessarily a terrible idea (though it's only one half of the equation), but the diagnostic categories don't even refer to that! Jacobin
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