Wednesday, April 9, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Secret Service Reassigns Staff, Eyes Alcohol Rules – NBC
Peter Alexander and Becky Bratu
First published April 8 2014

The U.S. Secret Service is reassigning nearly two dozen members of its staff and exploring stricter rules on alcohol consumption after agents in charge of protecting President Obama on a recent trip to Europe were sent home after a night of drinking, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

"Personnel are being reassigned as a result of staffing rotations and as a result of assessments made after two recent incidents of misconduct," Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said in a statement. "Director [Julia] Pierson maintains a zero-tolerance policy regarding incidents of misconduct and continues to evaluate the best human-capital practices and policies for the workforce."

The latest incident involved three Secret Service agents assigned to President Obama's detail in Amsterdam last month.

One of the agents was found intoxicated on the morning before the president's arrival in a hotel hallway.

A second recent incident of misconduct took place in Florida early last month, when two officers believed to have been drinking had a car accident shortly before the Obama family arrived in the area.

Secret Service personnel are prohibited from drinking alcohol within 12 hours of reporting for duty and 24 hours before the president arrives at any trip location.




"Personnel are being reassigned” – nobody has been fired. Rather than merely requiring no drinking within a 12 hour period of reporting for duty and 24 hours of the president's arrival, the Secret Service personnel should be more closely watched at all times and put on probation, fired, or sent to rehab for a mandatory 30 days after a serious drinking incident, along with loss of rank within the Secret Service. That would be a “zero tolerance policy.”

It would also deal with the real situation which alcohol abuse or addiction actually involves. It is a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off again and again with yet another uncontrolled drinking episode. A drinking problem is generally a day in, day out situation with some severe events such as passing out in public, “lost” time periods, violence, or driving drunk.

Note the following sentence – “A second recent incident of misconduct took place in Florida early last month, when two officers believed to have been drinking had a car accident shortly before the Obama family arrived in the area.” I live in Florida and I don't remember seeing this in the news last month. Was it covered up?

Some occupations require a “squeaky clean” personal life on the issue of drug or alcohol abuse because the threat to security is so high. Can you imagine if the astronauts were drunk or hung over when they were due to go into space? Not only would it be a scandal, it would not be allowed to continue; they wouldn't be considered to have “the right stuff” anymore.

The military, on the other hand, tends to have a great deal of heavy drinking in the soldiers' off hours, possibly due to the pressure involved in their work, but its also I feel sure because of the “macho” image of soldiers, whether or not they are at war at the time. Being able to “drink like a man” is a basic part of the macho mystique. The article does say that “nearly two dozen” men have been reassigned. That sounds like they may have focused on their agents with a microscope to see who else in the group might have a alcohol abuse problem. I hope that is the case.




Video Gamers' Aggression Born From Frustration, Not Violence: Study – NBC
By Devin Coldewey
First published April 8 2014

If you've ever screamed in rage or thrown down a controller after missing a jump in a video game or getting shot from across the level, new research exonerates your behavior. It's not violent games that make people angry and aggressive — it's difficult ones.

The research, from the University of Rochester in New York and Oxford University in the U.K., tested aggressive behavior in almost 600 participants after they played played a variety of games both violent and nonviolent. It found the level of violence didn't really matter.

In one case, the subjects first had to hold their hand in ice-cold water for 25 seconds, then after playing a game were asked to determine how long the next person would have to put their hand in. In reality, everyone got 25 seconds — but the researchers found that subjects who had played difficult versions of games assigned the next player 10 seconds more on average than people who had played an easy game.
Players of violent games, on the other hand, didn't seem to exhibit this aggressive tendency at all. Lead researcher Andrew Przybylski of Oxford summed it up in a release describing the research: "When people feel they have no control over the outcome of a game, that leads to aggression."

"Our effects held up whether the games were violent or not," he continued.
Surveys of gamers and other experiments conducted by Przybylski and co-author Richard Ryan, of Rochester, further bore out this effect, as people self-reported that "their inability to master a game or its controls" was what frustrated them.

That the violent aspect of games contributed so little may baffle critics who argue that is what causes aggression. But this research had little to do with the idea that violent media desensitize people to violence — a question that is still up for discussion.




Andrew Przybylski and Richard Ryan of Oxford University in the U.K. and University of Rochester in New York, respectively, tested 600 students on the aggression or lack of it after asking them to play video games of varying difficulty. Those whose games were more difficult showed a greater degree of aggressiveness toward the other players after their gaming experience. This evidence leads Przybylski and Ryan to conclude that the relative amount of aggression which was in the game itself was not the cause of their increased aggressiveness, but the greater difficulty of manipulating the game. The players themselves voiced the fact that frustration was what made them feel angry.

I have never been very much drawn to those interactive video games, but I have watched the daughter of a friend of mine as she became tense, excited and competitive. Her favorite was one involving controlling a car in a racing game. It requires quick reflexes and close manual control while at the same time pushing her car faster and faster. She would get very frustrated when she didn't win. She was very good, though, and continued to play even if she lost. The frustration factor and the addictiveness of the game were the only things I thought might be harmful. Of course, I would have approved her activity more if she were reading a book and hopefully learning something, but luckily she also does that in her personal time.




Hillary Clinton Psychoanalyzes Vladimir Putin – ABC
By Liz Kreutz
Apr 8, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have a buff physique, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sees right through it.

During a Q&A at a marketing summit in California today, Clinton gave a deep read on Putin’s personality, and compared the encounters she’s had with him to those she’s experienced on an elementary school playground.

“I have had my personal experiences with him,” she said, when answering a question about Putin and the recent situation in Crimea. “He’s a fascinating guy. Obviously he is determined.”

Clinton then proceeded to dissect his psyche.

“He is very difficult to read personally,” she said. “He is always looking for advantage. So he will try to put you ill at ease. He will even throw an insult your way. He will look bored and dismissive. He’ll do all of that.”

But Clinton said she was never fazed.

“I have a lot of experience with people acting like that,” she quipped. “Go back to elementary school. I’ve seen all of that, so I’m not impressed by it.”

Clinton made the comments during her first leg of a jam-packed, four-day long speaking tour through the West Coast at Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit in San Francisco.

During her speech and the following Q&A, with Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez, Clinton spoke on issues including technology, immigration, income inequality, and advancement for women in the workplace.

The event wrapped up with the inevitable question about 2016. But when asked if she plans to run for president, Clinton gave no more of an indication that she had made a decision either way. She said that she is still thinking about it, and that she is “going to continue to think about it for a while.”

Even Clinton, however, admitted she’s become an expert at dodging the question.
“I danced around that pretty well, don’t you think?” she remarked with a smile.



“He is always looking for advantage. So he will try to put you ill at ease. He will even throw an insult your way. He will look bored and dismissive. He’ll do all of that.” Clinton compares his behavior to things she has seen on an elementary school playground. Her other remarks also included many of our issues in American culture today, which the average wage earner struggles to overcome. She declined to say yea or nay as to whether or not she will run in 2016.




How Minnie Driver Gets Away With Never Going to the Gym – ABC
April 9, 2014
By MICHAEL ROTHMAN

Minnie Driver has the most adorable bodyguard in history - her 5-year-old son Henry.
"The paparazzi thing bothers him a lot," Driver, 44, told ABC News. "Henry said, 'Back off you bad guys!' to the paparazzi the other day ... it was very funny and it made people laugh a lot."

When he's not around "those bad guys," Driver said her son is "funny, cool and sweet" and already active in social awareness.

The "About a Boy" star spoke to ABC as part of a partnership between Claritin and the "Be a Claritin Trailblazer" program in support of Rails-To-Trails, a non-profit organization that converts old railroad lines into public trails.

It's environmental campaigns and causes that Driver said she is trying to instill in her son at an early age. In fact, he's got his own event coming up for charity at just 5!

"He is just about to do a little sponsored swim," she said. "He gets to choose where that money will go to ... I think you can't start early enough with social awareness for your kids."

The actress added that Henry loves coming to the set and "only thinks I'm famous because I'm his mother."

"He likes seeing the thing that keeps me from being with him at home all the time," she said.

Driver has another passion that happily takes up a lot of her time - Twitter.
"I'm mad about it!" she said. "It's where I get my news from these days ... As a celebrity, it's having a forum where you can answer the nonsensical rubbish that is written about you or not engage with that. It's given a little bit of control back, I love it."

She said she likes engaging with fans and that Twitter is like reading social media postcards from one person to another.

When she's not teaching her son to give back or tweeting up a storm, Driver is staying in shape the natural way.

"I surf and I do ballet," she said. "I don't really do the gym at all."



I expected an article about exercising, but found a thumbnail sketch of an actress' day. She sounds sensible and balanced in her lifestyle, getting her exercise from the surfboard and ballet. I have only seen two of her movies, “Circle of Friends” and “Good Will Hunting,” both of which I enjoyed very much. The following is from Wikipedia.

Minnie Driver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amelia Fiona "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English[1][2] actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Good Will Hunting, and an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.

Driver was born in London,[3] the daughter of Gaynor F. (née Millington), a designer and former couture model, and Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Driver, a businessman and financial adviser.[1][4][5] Her father, who was born in Swansea, Wales, to parents from England, was acknowledged as a war hero and awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for bravery shown as a gunner in an RAF Wellington bomber during the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1939, when his aircraft was shot down.[6][7] Driver was brought up in Barbados and was educated at Bedales and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.[8]

Driver first came to broad public attention when she played the lead role in Circle of Friends in 1995. She followed this with a string of supporting roles in big studio films like the 17th James Bond installment GoldenEye (1995), Sleepers (1996), and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). She achieved greater recognition playing opposite Matt Damon in Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting (1997), a role for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award, among others.



4 Students Seriously Hurt in Pa. School Stabbings – ABC
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. April 9, 2014 (AP)
By KEVIN BEGOS Associated Press

A student armed with a knife went on a stabbing and slashing spree at a high school near Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning, leaving as many as 20 people injured, including four students who suffered serious wounds, authorities said.

The suspect, a male student, was taken into custody and being questioned by police.
All of the victims were expected to survive, though a trauma surgeon at a hospital where the most seriously wounded was taken said some suffered potentially life-threatening injuries.

Not all of the 20 injured at Franklin Regional High School were cut by the knife, though most were, Westmoreland County emergency management spokesman Dan Stevens said. Some suffered scrapes and cuts in the mayhem that erupted at about 7:15 a.m. at the school in Murrysville, about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh.

One victim was an adult, authorities said, but none of the names of the victims was being released.

Dr. Chris Kaufman, the trauma director at Forbes Regional Medical Center, the closest hospital, said two victims were in surgery and one was awaiting surgery. All three were all stabbed in the torso, abdomen, chest or back, which he called "significant injuries."

Seven teens and one adult were listed in serious condition at Forbes Hospital, West Penn Allegheny Health System spokeswoman Jennifer Davis said. They ranged in age from 15 to 60, and some were in surgery, she said. A ninth victim, a 15-year-old girl, was in good condition at Allegheny Hospital, Davis said.

Twelve of the victims were sent to four hospitals in the UPMC system, a spokeswoman said. She said hospital officials were still gathering information on their conditions and identities, including the patients' ages.

The suspect was being questioned by county detectives and police at the Murrysville police station. Stevens said the suspect used a knife, though he didn't say what kind and said it wasn't immediately clear why the student attacked the others.

One student told WTAE he saw "students holding their stomachs, bleeding." That student wasn't sure how the assailant was stopped, but said at some point, a fire alarm was activated and said, "As soon as we heard the fire alarm was pulled we went outside."

Speaking outside the school, Morris Hundley said his 14-year-old daughter, Morriah, called him Wednesday morning in tears. Hundley came to the school still wearing his slippers, hoping for more information.

"My first thoughts were I think we need to home school now that this has happened," Hundley said. "The words can't describe how I feel. I'm just thinking of the victims."
Gov. Tom Corbett ordered state police to assist local investigators.

"I was shocked and saddened upon learning of the events that occurred this morning as students arrived at Franklin Regional High School. As a parent and grandparent, I can think of nothing more distressing than senseless violence against children. My heart and prayers go out to all the victims and their families," Corbett said in a statement.

School officials and Murrysville police didn't immediately return calls seeking further details, but the school issued a bulletin on its website saying: "A critical incident has occurred at the high school. All elementary schools are canceled, the middle school and high school students are secure."

The district later announced that the high school students were being moved to another school in the district, where their parents could pick them up.




Neither name nor age of the student who wielded the knife were given, and they either know nothing about the fight and its possible motive or chose to withhold the information. Usually you hear of a gun being used. Somehow this knifing incident seems more violent. It sounds like the boy went totally berserk, so many were wounded. I notice this is described as a “regional school,” which implies to me that it probably has a very large student population. I think some students “get lost” in those large, impersonal environments, allowing mental disturbances to go undetected by the authorities. Just as large cities usually have an increase in violence over small towns, so do large schools. This is another one of those sad events that sometimes happen, usually without any logical motive being found. Often, however, when the authorities look into the matter they will find that the student wasn't doing well in school and was often bullied. Maybe there will be more news about it later.




Food Scraps To Fuel Vertical Farming's Rise In Chicago – NPR
by April Fulton
April 09, 2014

From plant factories fueled by the magenta glow of blue and red LED lights, to the 30-foot tall Ferris wheel for plants in Singapore, we've shown you the design possibilities for growing vegetables up instead of out.

But critics ask, what kind of stresses does that put on the plant? And how do you feed this kind of intensive cultivation without spending more than what you get back in the harvest?

They say one of the signs of reaching maturity is your ability to answer your critics. Well, vertical farming may be about at that stage.

Our colleagues over at Harvest Public Media report that in Chicago, entrepreneur John Edel is "working hard to show skeptics that garbage itself can fuel vertical farming." With a grant from the State of Illinois, Edel is "installing a giant anaerobic digester that will convert truckloads of food waste into biogas, burned onsite to keep the lights on," HPM reports.

Edel's baby is The Plant, a 93,500 square-foot former meatpacking facility in Chicago's downtrodden Back of the Yards neighborhood. He's helped transform it into an energy self-sufficient food production operation that will house food non-profits, for-profits and educational enterprises. Here's how the website says it works:
"Once completed, the completely enclosed, odorless anaerobic digester will consume 27 tons of food waste a day (nearly 11,000 tons annually), including all of the waste produced in the facility and by food producing businesses all over Chicago. The digester will capture all of the methane from that waste, and the methane will be burned in a combined heat and power system to produce electricity, plus all the process heat needed for an future onsite craft beer brewery. Excess heat will be used to regulate the building's temperature."

Talk about going off the grid. Among the producers that will benefit from the energy at The Plant are a mushroom farm, an outdoor fruit and vegetable farm and aquaponics system raising fish.

Chicago, it seems, is emerging as a hotbed of urban agriculture innovation in the U.S. As we've reported, it's also the home of one of the country's biggest rooftop farms.

While the digester is still being built, Edel is not shy about his expectations for The Plant. "I think by the end of this year everything will be operational and we'll be well beyond net-zero," he says.

And with a brewery coming, too, we could drink to that.




“Vertical farming” is a promising new way to handle some of the environmental problems that we may face increasingly as a society. “Harvest Public Media” is a branch of National Public Radio which reports on food production issues. From this website, http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-Benefits-Of-Vertical-Farming-92435.html, comes a definition of vertical farming and some facts about it.

“With the growing need for land and the growing population scientists have come up with the idea of vertical farming. The idea of vertical farming is continually growing. According to Wikipedia online, the encyclopedic definition of vertical farming is a form of farming done in urban area high rises that utilize greenhouse growing methods and recycled resources year-round to grow crops. Using these Vertical Farms will allow the populations of the future to rely more on themselves and not depend on others so much. …. One indoor acre is equal to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, that is depending on the crop that is being grown. For instance, to grow a crop of strawberries indoors, one acre inside is equivalent to 30 acres.”

John Edel an entrepreneur is “installing a giant anaerobic digester that will convert truckloads of food waste into biogas, burned onsite to keep the lights on," HPM reports. He runs “The Plant,” a production unit of methane gas which is housed in a 93,500 square-foot Chicago building to produce the energy for a “self-sufficient food production operation that will house food non-profits, for-profits and educational enterprises.” Such creative thinking as Edel's is what we will need as the population consumes more and more land for housing, leaving less and less for growing food. Indoor spaces can also be kept warm and wet when the outdoor weather is not conducive to growing plants, especially if we have droughts as a result of Climate Change. Large plants for the desalination of ocean water have already been begun in California to help reduce the results of drought and that water can be pumped into the building. This article didn't explore what the costs of these operations would be, and how that would be reflected in the family's food budget. That's a subject for another story.