Friday, November 21, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Delinquent Mine Fines: 'Clearly Troubling ... More Can Be Done' – NPR
Howard Berkes
November 19, 2014

A key House Republican called today for federal regulators to crack down on mine owners who don't pay fines for safety violations, saying, "Clearly more can be done."

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, was reacting to an investigation by NPR and Mine Safety and Health News, which documented nearly 4,000 injuries and 131,000 violations at more than 4,600 mines — all as they failed to pay nearly $70 million in safety fines.

"The findings of the NPR report are deeply troubling," Kline said in a written statement. "We have tools in place to crack down on these scofflaws, but what's missing is a stronger commitment to use those tools."

NPR/MSHN found that these delinquent mines collectively had an average injury rate 50 percent higher than that of mines that paid their fines.

"I intend to reach out to Assistant Secretary [of Labor Joe] Main and others within the administration to discuss how we can do better [at] ensuring [that] federal mine safety laws and the consequences for breaking those laws are both vigorously enforced," Kline said.

As chairman of the Workforce Committee, Kline is the House gatekeeper for any mine safety reform legislation. A sweeping bill that would, among many other things, force the shutdown of mines six months after they become delinquent has languished in Congress. Opponents say it brings unnecessary regulation to an industry already reeling from declining demand for coal, competition from cheaper natural gas, tougher emission restrictions on coal-fired power plants, and diminishing coal seams, especially in Appalachia.

Kline's statement emphasizes existing enforcement tools and not any new regulatory authority.

According to Brian Newell, Kline's spokesman, the tools he's referring to involve the Labor Department's partnership with the Justice Department to force debt collection with federal court orders and settlements.

Our investigation found that this approach has limited success. The agencies sought settlements or filed federal court complaints in 34 cases since 2007. The mining companies involved agreed to pay or were ordered to pay $5.9 million in delinquent fines. Less than $800,000, or roughly 13 percent, was actually collected.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration, which regulates mine safety, has not responded to NPR's requests for comment about our findings or to questions about what the agency is doing, if anything, as a result.




“NPR/MSHN found that these delinquent mines collectively had an average injury rate 50 percent higher than that of mines that paid their fines. 'I intend to reach out to Assistant Secretary [of Labor Joe] Main and others within the administration to discuss how we can do better [at] ensuring [that] federal mine safety laws and the consequences for breaking those laws are both vigorously enforced,' Kline said.... Kline's statement emphasizes existing enforcement tools and not any new regulatory authority. According to Brian Newell, Kline's spokesman, the tools he's referring to involve the Labor Department's partnership with the Justice Department to force debt collection with federal court orders and settlements.... The Mine Safety and Health Administration, which regulates mine safety, has not responded to NPR's requests for comment about our findings or to questions about what the agency is doing, if anything, as a result.”

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce calls the NPR report 'deeply troubling,' and promises to work with Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main to enforce laws that already exist. He blames a lack of “commitment” to use those tools for their failure to produce the unpaid fine money. I'm sure that's true. The mining companies pressurize the Republicans and even some Democrats to block the use of laws already in existence. Those “scofflaws” have been ordered to pay $5.9 million in delinquent fines, but have paid under $800,000. So are there no teeth in the laws that exist, or are the companies stalling by going to court about the fines?

Congress is now sitting on a bill that would force the delinquent mines to close their doors. That would be effective. Republicans in Congress call the bill “unnecessary.” As with everything the Republicans do, this is about the protection of big money over the average citizen ,who unfortunately goes into those mines daily either to be injured or to die of falling rocks or black lung. I do hope Kline will be able to produce payments from mines and, more importantly, structural improvements in the mines to prevent further accidents.





Parents not on common ground for Common Core in schools
By HEBA KANSO CBS NEWS November 20, 2014, 5:39 AM

New York -- Christopher Boney is a parent who believes in education equity.

"I believe that all children should have an opportunity to learn on an even playing field, so that's why I support the common core," said Boney.

That even playing field is a key characteristic of Common Core. The Common Core State Standards Initiative has been adopted by more than 40 states, setting minimum standards in mathematics and English language arts and literacy. Its website points out that previous state education standards "varied widely from state to state," and Common Core is intended to foster collaboration among states on policies and standards. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade are tested at the end of each year.

But not all parents are on board. "Personally I think it isn't fun for him. Because he comes home and looks exhausted," said Mary Holder whose six-year-old son Jaden is in second grade at a public school in Brooklyn. Like many parents, she is concerned about the pressures Common Core is putting on her children at such a young age.

"Sometimes I feel like tearing up because I'm like 'you're not even in college yet,''' said Holder of her son when she sees the look of frustration on his face while he is doing homework.

Boney's 10-year-old son, Jeremiah, however, has had a completely different reaction to Common Core.

"When I am studying I think it's fun, and while it's fun we are learning things," said the fifth grader who goes to the same school as Jaden.

Jeremiah says his teacher's lessons in class prepared him well for the tests, and his father believes it would be beneficial to look beyond the standards toward the end result.

"The children are learning how to be prepared for the workforce, the new technology age. So I think it's going to help them a lot in that area," Boney said.

International companies like IBM are throwing their full support behind Common Core, in hopes that the standard will better prepare students to be a part of their workforce.

Stan Litow, President of IBM International Foundation says a lot of companies--not just IBM-- recognize the fact that too few young people who come out of school have the math, writing, and communications skills to thrive in modern companies.

"The skill levels are always going to change so if you've got somebody with a foundation of skill that will allow them to improve and increase their skills, then they are going to be able to meet whatever the needs are in the workplace," said Litow.

Boney feels that Common Core will enable the classroom to give his son both an academic and a professional education, though he grants that it can't do everything. He said, "I don't expect any kind of Common Core curriculum on how to be a young man, and grow up to be a strong, productive, grown man, that's my job as a father."



http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/K/

Phonics and Word Recognition:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my,is, are, do, does).

Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.




“Christopher Boney is a parent who believes in education equity. 'I believe that all children should have an opportunity to learn on an even playing field, so that's why I support the common core,' said Boney. That even playing field is a key characteristic of Common Core. The Common Core State Standards Initiative has been adopted by more than 40 states, setting minimum standards in mathematics and English language arts and literacy. Its website points out that previous state education standards 'varied widely from state to state,' and Common Core is intended to foster collaboration among states on policies and standards. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade are tested at the end of each year.... Like many parents, she is concerned about the pressures Common Core is putting on her children at such a young age. 'Sometimes I feel like tearing up because I'm like 'you're not even in college yet,' said Holder of her son when she sees the look of frustration on his face while he is doing homework.... 'When I am studying I think it's fun, and while it's fun we are learning things,' said the fifth grader who goes to the same school as Jaden. Jeremiah says his teacher's lessons in class prepared him well for the tests, and his father believes it would be beneficial to look beyond the standards toward the end result. 'The children are learning how to be prepared for the workforce, the new technology age. So I think it's going to help them a lot in that area,' Boney said.... Stan Litow, President of IBM International Foundation says a lot of companies--not just IBM-- recognize the fact that too few young people who come out of school have the math, writing, and communications skills to thrive in modern companies....

“.... a foundation of skill that will allow them to improve and increase their skills....” will be enough to enable students to compete in the workplace, or go to college for a professional degree. By the time I was in the 5th grade I was able to read most words in a daily newspaper or in our set of encyclopedias, and what I didn't recognize I looked up in our dictionary. All homes with children should have a good adult level dictionary, a set of encyclopedias (or nowadays, a computer which is not primarily used for those darned video games) and something fun to read – we had the Nancy Drew mysteries and some assorted adult fiction books like Zane Grey and Rumer Godden. In addition, they should have access to the public library to check out other items. Our school system needs to provide tutoring or other special help for students like Ms. Holder's son who is really struggling to keep up. “I feel like tearing up,” she says when she sees his frustration. She should realize that not all kids learn with the same ease and on all subjects. If your kid is one of those who is having trouble, see that he gets help early so he can be competitive later in school. I had no trouble with reading, but I did basically memorize math.

About phonics, I can only say that though some educators have preferred “see -say” reading, in which the reader learns words whole rather than in parts and memorizes each word individually, it is a self-limiting reading method, and though they may sight read faster, they don't understand what they read as well as someone who learns the root words and their definitions. They also can learn spelling with phonics better because it makes sense, while spelling is often really terrible among kids who have been taught only sight reading.

The Common Core teaches phonics, so that the student can tackle and figure out a word he has never seen before by analyzing the spelling. If he knows his alphabet in order and has a dictionary he can then look up the meaning of unfamiliar and difficult words. Foreign spellings will need to be memorized, but once they are, along with their pronunciation, the reader can surge forward in his reading to more difficult material. Parents and teachers should emphasize foreign root words to be learned individually. I think a second grader who is having trouble with reading should go back to his phonics training until he learns it cold, and then his reading will almost certainly improve. There are kids with dyslexia or other unusual problems, but most students don't have a disability. They really need to look at the word carefully and analyze them.

“He said, 'I don't expect any kind of Common Core curriculum on how to be a young man, and grow up to be a strong, productive, grown man, that's my job as a father.'” Some conservatives have complained that they think Common Core is teaching liberal philosophy. I, personally, certainly hope it does, because the only path we have to an inclusive society is to teach tolerance and respect for everyone, and I think that should be taught from the earliest years. Some kids will only get that from school, because their parents don't discipline them when they hit their little brother or sister, or gang up on a black child. Ethics should be taught in school, I am convinced.





Blind From Birth, But Able To Use Sound To 'See' Faces – NPR
Jon Hamilton
November 21, 2014

In sighted people, the part of the brain that recognizes faces is linked to the brain's visual system. But in blind people it seems wired to circuits that process sound.

Seeing With Sound – Blind volunteers used a headset fitted with a small camera to scan various shapes, and listened to a mix of corresponding sounds. Gradually, they learned to associate a specific pattern of sound interplay with a specific contour. The square in the center represents the camera's field of view. So, what you are seeing and hearing is a line moving across the camera's field of view, first from bottom to top and then from left to right.

A brain area that recognizes faces remains functional even in people who have been blind since birth, researchers say. The finding, presented at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting this week, suggests that facial recognition is so important that evolution has hardwired it into the human brain.

"It's all inborn," says Josef Rauschecker, a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center. "The structures are all there because nature has put them there."

Rauschecker was part of a team that studied the brains of six blind people, including Jeannette Gerrard, a retired government worker who lives in Washington D.C. Gerrard has always relied on voices to identify people, and says that faces were never that important to her.

"I knew what my face looked like by touch," she says, "and I figured a face was a face."

So she was intrigued when researchers from Georgetown asked her to take part in an experiment that would eventually allow her to see faces using sound.

First, the scientists had Gerrard learn to use a special headset fitted with a small camera. By moving her head, Gerrard could make the camera scan across a drawing. The device produced sounds. And as lines or curves came into the camera's view, those sounds would change. The concept is a bit like tapping your way along a wall to find a stud behind the plaster.

With practice, Gerrard was able to interpret more complex sound patterns that revealed more complicated shapes. Eventually, "I could identify a face by listening to those sounds," Gerrard says.

To find out how Gerrard was doing this, the Georgetown scientists put her in a brain scanner. The idea was to watch Gerrard's brain while she was using sounds to recognize a simplified drawing of a face, says Paula Plaza, who was in charge of the experiment. "Our interest was looking into the brain," she says. "What part of the brain is responsible for this perception?"

The team compared brain scans from the six blind people with the scans from 10 sighted people who were looking at the face drawings with their own eyes. The results were almost identical. In both groups, the image caused lots of activity in the left fusiform face area, a region of the brain "that always lights up when you see a face," Rauschecker says.

In sighted people, the fusiform face area is connected to the brain's visual system, he says. But in blind people it appears to be wired to circuits that process sounds. "So there is substantial reorganization in the brain of the blind," Rauschecker says.

What's remarkable is that despite this reorganization, the brain of a blind person retains the module devoted to facial recognition, Rauschecker says. That strongly suggests that the ability to recognize faces comes more from nature than nurture, he says.




“The device produced sounds. And as lines or curves came into the camera's view, those sounds would change. The concept is a bit like tapping your way along a wall to find a stud behind the plaster. With practice, Gerrard was able to interpret more complex sound patterns that revealed more complicated shapes. Eventually, 'I could identify a face by listening to those sounds,' Gerrard says.... 'Our interest was looking into the brain,' she says. 'What part of the brain is responsible for this perception?' The team compared brain scans from the six blind people with the scans from 10 sighted people who were looking at the face drawings with their own eyes. The results were almost identical. In both groups, the image caused lots of activity in the left fusiform face area, a region of the brain 'that always lights up when you see a face,' Rauschecker says.”

This brain structure which remains able to conceptualize a face, though by using sound only among the blind, is thought to be a basic part of the human mind. The one blind woman Jeannette Gerrard did say that she had long since figured out what her face was like by touching her features. I would like to add this interesting piece of information about the human mind using evidence from 3,000,000 BP. See below.


Makapansgat pebble
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Makapansgat pebble, or the pebble of many faces, (ca. 3,000,000 BP) is a 260-gram reddish-brown jasperite cobble with natural chipping and wear patterns that make it look like a crude rendition of a human face. The pebble is interesting in that it was found some distance from any possible natural source, associated with the bones of Australopithecus africanus in a cave in Makapansgat, South Africa.[1] Though it is definitely not a manufactured object, it has been suggested that some australopithecine, might have recognized it as a symbolic face, in possibly the earliest example of symbolic thinking or aesthetic sense in the human heritage, and brought the pebble back to the cave. This would make it a candidate for the oldest known manuport.[2]

Archeological History[edit]

The teacher Wilfred I. Eizman found it in the Makapansgat, a dolerite cave in the Makapan Valley north of Mokopane,Limpopo, South Africa in 1925. Almost 50 years later, Raymond Dart was the first to describe it in 1974.[3]

Significance[edit]

It is difficult to class the Makapansgat pebble as art if a rigorous definition of the term is used, as the object was found rather than made. Nevertheless that an Australopithecus recognized a face in it reveals that the early hominid had some sort of capacity for symbolic thinking, necessary for the development of art and language.[1]





Six Words: 'With Kids, I'm Dad. Alone, Thug' – NPR
NPR STAFF
November 17, 2014

NPR continues a series of conversations from The Race Card Project, where thousands of people have submitted their thoughts on race and cultural identity in six words.

Marc Quarles is African-American, with a German wife and two biracial children — a son, 15, and daughter, 13. The family lives in Pacific Grove, a predominantly white, affluent area on California's Monterey Peninsula.

Every summer, Quarles' wife and children go to Germany to visit family. Consequently, Quarles spends the summers alone. And without his family around, he says, he's treated very differently.

Most of the time, "I've noticed my white counterparts almost avoid me. They seem afraid," Quarles tells NPR Special Correspondent Michele Norris. "They don't know what to think of me because I'm in their neighborhood. I oftentimes wonder if they think I'm a thug."

"The same does not happen when I have the security blanket and shield of my children," Quarles says. "When my children are with me, I'm just a dad. I love being a dad."

Those experiences prompted him to share his six words with The Race Card Project: "With kids, I'm Dad; Alone, thug."

'Where Are You From?'

"There aren't a whole lot of African-American males in Pacific Grove," Quarles says. "So I think most people do wonder, 'What is this ... black guy up to? ... Why is he here, and what is he doing? And why is he in my nice, affluent neighborhood?' "

That "stings and bites," says Quarles, an ultrasound technician. "I have a very decent job. I would take care of most of these people if they came to my hospital. And to assume that I'm anything less than a productive member of the community, that does hurt."

'I'm Just A Regular Old Hospital Worker'

Quarles recalls an incident when his family first moved into their second home in Pacific Grove. "We had been in the home for maybe two days," he says, when the police knocked on the door, looking for a missing purse.

The officer asked Quarles if he had noticed anything suspicious in the neighborhood. "And I said, 'Like what?' And he said, 'Well, the woman across the street is missing her purse.'

"And I looked at him, and I said, 'So, you can come in and look for it if you'd like. But no, I didn't take the purse.' "

Quarles was surprised when his neighbor approached him a few days later. He walked over to tell Quarles that he was "really sorry about the other day."

"And I said, 'What do you mean?' And he said, 'Well, the police went over to your house.' And I'm like, 'You sent the police to my house?' "

The neighbor explained that he did ask the police to check them out, but his family eventually found the missing purse — in their own home. He then went on, Quarles recalls, to ask Quarles where he was from.

"And I said, 'I'm from here, Pacific Grove.' And he said, 'No, really — where did you move from before you moved here to this house?' "

When Quarles explained that his family had moved from their first home, nearby, "he looked at me again and he said, 'You have two houses?' " Quarles says the neighbor then looked at him from head to toe and asked, "What do you do?"

"And part of me — sometimes I mess with these people. I'll tell them, 'Well, I sell drugs and I'm a pimp. I can get you anything I want.' ... I say it deadpan serious."

They finally realize he's joking, Quarles says, when he starts laughing. "And once they see the crazy hours that I work and they see me in my hospital scrubs, then they clearly know I'm not a pimp and a drug dealer," he says. "I'm just a regular old hospital worker."

Living With A Double Standard

Quarles' experiences weigh on his mind when he thinks about his children. His son, Joshua, has brown skin, while he described his daughter, Danielle, as "very, very light. She could almost pass for white."

Quarles knows the community and the world might treat his kids differently as they grow older, particularly with one child being lighter and the other darker-skinned. "I think the world will have a certain idea of what they are, and what they can become, just by looking at them," he says.

That difference also comes into play with how his kids see themselves, Quarles says. Several years ago, he says, his daughter's teacher asked the class to write essays about what the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday meant to them.

In her essay, Quarles' daughter wrote "that if it were not for Dr. Martin Luther King, she and her brother, Joshua, would have to go to different schools," Quarles says.

"She meant that she would go to one school, and that her brother, Joshua, because of his browner skin, would have to go to a school other than the school that she attended."
Quarles and his wife wrestled with if, and how, the family should discuss the issue of skin color together.

In the end, he says, "we decided to ... let her grow and potentially approach that conversation a little bit later. Because I think eventually, and unfortunately, someone who's a little lighter than she is with a little straighter hair, with a little blonder hair, is going to call her out and get her to understand that she does have some brown in her."

Even so, Quarles says, "I don't know if my wife and I are doing the right things by not talking about race that much with them."

But as their children get older, they're the ones who are bringing it up — like this summer, after a white police officer shot black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Quarles says his son "brought it up many times, and continues to bring it up. Because he identifies with being more black than white, although he's split right down the middle. And things like that do concern him.

"As he's getting older, he's getting bigger and stronger and folks are starting to wonder about him," Quarles adds. "You know, 'What is he? Why is he here?' "

Quarles responds by telling his son "that there are simply things that he cannot do," he says. "Just because of his appearance and his brown skin, there are things that he can't do that the other kids can do."

And if that sounds like a double-standard, Quarles says, that's because it is. "That's my answer: 'It is a double standard, Son. And trust me, one day, you'll understand.' "

Not that Quarles accepts double standards based on skin color. But he's had to figure out how to rise above them, he says — how to succeed by letting certain slights go. And that's the path to success for his son, too, he says.

"You can live in this world with that double standard and be successful and have a wonderful life."




“Most of the time, 'I've noticed my white counterparts almost avoid me. They seem afraid,' Quarles tells NPR Special Correspondent Michele Norris. 'They don't know what to think of me because I'm in their neighborhood. I oftentimes wonder if they think I'm a thug.'... That 'stings and bites," says Quarles, an ultrasound technician. "I have a very decent job. I would take care of most of these people if they came to my hospital. And to assume that I'm anything less than a productive member of the community, that does hurt.' Quarles recalls an incident when his family first moved into their second home in Pacific Grove. 'We had been in the home for maybe two days,' he says, when the police knocked on the door, looking for a missing purse.... When Quarles explained that his family had moved from their first home, nearby, 'he looked at me again and he said, 'You have two houses?' Quarles says the neighbor then looked at him from head to toe and asked, 'What do you do?'.... Quarles knows the community and the world might treat his kids differently as they grow older, particularly with one child being lighter and the other darker-skinned. 'I think the world will have a certain idea of what they are, and what they can become, just by looking at them,' he says.... 'She meant that she would go to one school, and that her brother, Joshua, because of his browner skin, would have to go to a school other than the school that she attended.' Quarles and his wife wrestled with if, and how, the family should discuss the issue of skin color together.... But as their children get older, they're the ones who are bringing it up — like this summer, after a white police officer shot black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Quarles says his son "brought it up many times, and continues to bring it up. Because he identifies with being more black than white, although he's split right down the middle. And things like that do concern him. 'As he's getting older, he's getting bigger and stronger and folks are starting to wonder about him,' Quarles adds. 'You know, 'What is he? Why is he here?'”

“Not that Quarles accepts double standards based on skin color. But he's had to figure out how to rise above them, he says — how to succeed by letting certain slights go. And that's the path to success for his son, too, he says. 'You can live in this world with that double standard and be successful and have a wonderful life.'” This makes me sad. I accept skin color as a blameless factor in the whole makeup of who and what a person is. I, unfortunately, have straight brown hair and I would like to be taller and more athletic. I'm a reader and not very interested in football, gossip, or the lives of the Hollywood set, except for a few actors I particularly like. I don't want expensive possessions, which is very lucky since I can't afford many of those. I do my best to speak and smile at everybody I meet when I go out and about, and as a result most of them smile back at me. I intend to do my part in mending the racial divide by being open to individuals rather than judging people on a group basis, and treating them about the same way they treat me. If they are hostile to me they may get a sharp reply back. Most slights aren't really intentional, and there will always be a few who don't like me because of my skin color. That's okay. I don't need them in my life. I walk right on. Most of the black people in my building are very friendly to me, and I always am to them in return.





http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/141117/india-public-kissing-national-protest-kiss-of-love

In India, Public Kissing Is Becoming A National Movement
Maddy Crowell
November 19, 2014 00:30

NEW DELHI, India — In India, to kiss openly is considered a public disgrace that can mean jail time.

This appeared to be the message conveyed on Oct. 23 by Jai Hind News, a popular local news channel in India’s southern state of Kerala, when it broadcast footage of a couple kissing in an upscale terrace cafe in Calicut.

Within an hour of the broadcast, a group of right-wing Hindu fundamentalists entered the cafe with iron rods, smashing windows and upturning furniture. They claimed the cafe endorsed “un-Indian” behavior.

Less than a day later, the incident ignited a nationwide movement, city-hopping from Kochi to Hyderabad to Calcutta to Mumbai to Delhi. Known popularly as the “Kiss of Love” campaign, the movement’s message is straightforward: Let’s kiss in public.

“We wanted to show how humans express their love. A kiss is a short and sweet expression,” explained Rahul Pasupalar, co-creator of the movement’s Facebook page along with Farmis Hashim. “We didn’t think the page would get more than 200 likes.” By the time Pasupalar woke up the next morning, the Kiss of Love Facebook page had over 1,000 likes. Within two days, that number had increased ten-fold.

In early November, more than 10,000 people gathered on Marine Drive in Kochi, but according to Pasupalar, about 80 percent of the crowd was there to watch. “Kissing and protesting has never happened in India. People had big imaginations; they were climbing up on trees to snap photos.”

Still, the Kerala protests gained enough clout to raise national eyebrows. A photo of Pasupalan and his wife Resmi Nair, kissing in the back of a police van after being detained, went viral. Following the protests, 52 Kiss of Love protestors were detained, and roughly 25 hospitalized for minor injuries inflicted by right-wing opposition protesters, who’d arrived equipped with tear gas and iron rods.

The Indian Penal Code states that anyone who “does any obscene act in any public place” may be subject to arrest. Police are granted moral authority to intervene. Kissing in public violates this act.

According to Kiss of Love activists, the rule is “completely arbitrary.”

But according to an official statement released by Kiss of Love’s counter-group Ban Kiss of Love, “There is no ambiguity in IPC/Constitution regarding the public indecency. It’s like, ‘When you are in Rome dress like Romans.’”

The debate has morphed into a philosophical one over how to define Indian culture. Hindu nationalists claim kissing in public is a thing exclusively for “Western culture.” (Or as one Facebook commenter wrote: “Filthy western people, where shame exists only in the dictionary.”)

Other critics of the movement believe the message is right, but the medium wrong: “It turns full-on PDA into some kind of lodestone of liberation,” wrote journalist Sandip Roy. According to Pankhuri Zaheer, a co-organizer of Kiss of Love’s Delhi chapter, “Indian culture is so many things; making it a monolith is a ridiculous thing in itself.”

In its brief existence, the movement made national headlines. Protests in Calcutta, Hyderabad and Mumbai, though weaker in numbers than Kochi, were met with strong, often hostile aggression from right-wing activists.

In Hyderabad, 21-year-old Arundhati Naluketi, a Kiss of Life organizer, received so many threatening calls she had to change her phone number. Photos of her kissing at the protest were Photoshopped onto nude bodies and spread on WhatsApp.

Others have faced similar threats.

“The death threats began before the movement,” explains Pankhuri Zaheer, a co-founder of Kiss of Love’s Delhi chapter. “My phone has not stopped ringing. They say abusive things about my mother, my father, about what they’re going to do to me, how they’re going to fuck me, rape me in the streets.”

When the movement reached New Delhi on Nov. 7, it came to a (perhaps inevitable) political head. A handful of Kiss of Love activists, primarily University students, shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and directly targeted the right-wing headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as their intended grounds for protest. RSS protesters charged at Kiss of Love protesters, chanting, “Western culture is degrading Indian culture, Western civilization shall not work!” The crowd moved from outside the Metro station to the streets, blocking traffic for hours as nighttime crept in, and police struggled to contain the movement, detaining 70 Kiss of Love protesters. 

The number of likes on the Kiss of Love Facebook page is now exceeding 138,000. There are plans to protest in Calicut Dec. 7. India’s right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to comment, but an affiliate of Modi’s party gave a statement on its behalf: “Our Indian culture does not permit us displaying such kinds of affection in public spaces.”

The kiss is becoming part of a growing trend for activists in conservative countries itching to liberate the public sphere. In 2013, a kiss protest was staged inside a Turkish metro station where Islamist extremists stabbed a protestor. In Morocco, a “kiss-in” was held in Rabat; in Tunisia, activists called for a “national kissing day,” and in Saudi Arabia a “free hug” campaign was immediately shut down.

“When I saw photographs from Turkey I thought, okay something like this could happen in Delhi. And I’m hoping that the Delhi photographs will give strength to others,” Zaheer said, adding, “We’re trying to enlarge the vocabulary of protests.”

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/141117/india-public-kissing-national-protest-kiss-of-love




“This appeared to be the message conveyed on Oct. 23 by Jai Hind News, a popular local news channel in India’s southern state of Kerala, when it broadcast footage of a couple kissing in an upscale terrace cafe in Calicut. Within an hour of the broadcast, a group of right-wing Hindu fundamentalists entered the cafe with iron rods, smashing windows and upturning furniture. They claimed the cafe endorsed 'un-Indian' behavior. Less than a day later, the incident ignited a nationwide movement, city-hopping from Kochi to Hyderabad to Calcutta to Mumbai to Delhi. Known popularly as the 'Kiss of Love' campaign, the movement’s message is straightforward: Let’s kiss in public.... In early November, more than 10,000 people gathered on Marine Drive in Kochi, but according to Pasupalar, about 80 percent of the crowd was there to watch. 'Kissing and protesting has never happened in India. People had big imaginations; they were climbing up on trees to snap photos.'... A photo of Pasupalan and his wife Resmi Nair, kissing in the back of a police van after being detained, went viral. Following the protests, 52 Kiss of Love protestors were detained, and roughly 25 hospitalized for minor injuries inflicted by right-wing opposition protesters, who’d arrived equipped with tear gas and iron rods.... The debate has morphed into a philosophical one over how to define Indian culture. Hindu nationalists claim kissing in public is a thing exclusively for 'Western culture.' (Or as one Facebook commenter wrote: 'Filthy western people, where shame exists only in the dictionary.')... 'The death threats began before the movement,” explains Pankhuri Zaheer, a co-founder of Kiss of Love’s Delhi chapter. “My phone has not stopped ringing. They say abusive things about my mother, my father, about what they’re going to do to me, how they’re going to fuck me, rape me in the streets.'... The number of likes on the Kiss of Love Facebook page is now exceeding 138,000. There are plans to protest in Calicut Dec. 7. India’s right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to comment, but an affiliate of Modi’s party gave a statement on its behalf: 'Our Indian culture does not permit us displaying such kinds of affection in public spaces.'”

Freedom really means a lot to many people worldwide even when they haven't been brought up with it. “In 2013, a kiss protest was staged inside a Turkish metro station where Islamist extremists stabbed a protestor. In Morocco, a “kiss-in” was held in Rabat; in Tunisia, activists called for a 'national kissing day,' and in Saudi Arabia a 'free hug' campaign was immediately shut down.” The warmth of physical touching is a basic part of mammalian pleasure in their relationships. Cats rub their heads against one another and dogs lick the mouth area in greeting. Chimpanzees hug among themselves and there are pictures of chimps hugging humans who are their caretakers. Koko the Gorilla hugs Penny. Among Americans, when I was young, men would shake hands, but you rarely saw them hug each other. Now everybody in the US hugs to say hello or goodby. Lots of people, especially young lovers, kiss in public. Sometimes the way they are doing it embarrasses me and I feel like shouting “Get a room” at them. I don't, of course. I don't actually think of it as “shameful” or obscene unless they do more than kiss. Doing that will get them arrested in a heartbeat, of course. I guess the Supreme Court justice was right when he said about obscenity, “I know it when I see it.” About these highly conservative Eastern cultures, I really do think that they need to “loosen up” a bit. That level of scrutiny and control by a society is very damaging to people. The freedom to be different is very basic to me, and one of the things I will always fight for.





Sleep's Link To Learning And Memory Traced To Brain Chemistry – NPR
Jon Hamilton
November 20, 2014

Almost a century after the discovery that sleep helps us remember things, scientists are beginning to understand why.

During sleep, the brain produces chemicals that are important to memory and relives events we want to remember, scientists reported this week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C.

"One of the most profound effects of a night of sleep is the improvement in our ability to remember things," says Ravi Allada, a sleep researcher at Northwestern University. Yet this connection hasn't been well understood, he says.

That's changing, though, thanks to recent research from scientists including Jennifer Choi Tudor from the University of Pennsylvania. At the meeting, Tudor presented a study involving a brain chemical (known as 4EBP2) that is produced during sleep and is thought to play a role in remembering new information.

Previous experiments have shown that sleep-deprived mice have memory problems and lower levels of this chemical. So the team tried injecting the chemical into the brains of mice, then deprived them of sleep. "With the injection, their memory is normal," Tudor says.

To Sleep, Perchance To Learn

Sleep is also a time when old memories can be modified and new memories can be formed, says Karim Benchenane from the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. Benchenane was part of a team that studied the brains of rats while the rats were awake, as well as during sleep.

When the animals were awake and traveling around their cages, the scientists identified brain cells that became active only when the rats were in a specific location. During sleep, these same cells became active in the same order, indicating that the rats were reliving their travels and presumably strengthening their memories of places they'd been.

Then Benchenane's team set out to change each rat's memory during sleep. They did this by stimulating the pleasure center in the animal's brain each time the brain cell associated with a specific location became active. The idea was to form, in the brain, a positive association with one place in the cage. And sure enough, when the animals woke up they went straight to that location, looking for a pleasurable reward.

The finding not only shows that new memories can be formed during sleep, Benchenane says, it suggests a new way to treat people who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and often have a negative association with a particular experience. It might be possible to eliminate that negative association during sleep by providing a pleasurable feeling every time they dream about that experience.

The Food-Sleep-Memory Connection

One surprising bit of research at the meeting was a study that suggests a midnight snack can undo the memory benefits usually conferred by getting enough sleep. A team from UCLA found that mice that ate during their normal sleep time scored worse on memory tests than mice that ate during their normal waking hours.

"Those animals show severe deficits in their recall," says Christopher Colwell. And the deficit occurred even if the animals were getting a normal amount of sleep, he says. The finding suggests that people who wake up during the night and want to snack should probably abstain, Colwell says, if they want their memory to work normally the next day.




“During sleep, the brain produces chemicals that are important to memory and relives events we want to remember, scientists reported this week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C. 'One of the most profound effects of a night of sleep is the improvement in our ability to remember things,' says Ravi Allada, a sleep researcher at Northwestern University. Yet this connection hasn't been well understood, he says.... Tudor presented a study involving a brain chemical (known as 4EBP2) that is produced during sleep and is thought to play a role in remembering new information. Previous experiments have shown that sleep-deprived mice have memory problems and lower levels of this chemical. So the team tried injecting the chemical into the brains of mice, then deprived them of sleep. 'With the injection, their memory is normal,' Tudor says.... When the animals were awake and traveling around their cages, the scientists identified brain cells that became active only when the rats were in a specific location. During sleep, these same cells became active in the same order, indicating that the rats were reliving their travels and presumably strengthening their memories of places they'd been.... The finding suggests that people who wake up during the night and want to snack should probably abstain, Colwell says, if they want their memory to work normally the next day.”

“The finding not only shows that new memories can be formed during sleep, Benchenane says, it suggests a new way to treat people who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and often have a negative association with a particular experience. It might be possible to eliminate that negative association during sleep by providing a pleasurable feeling every time they dream about that experience.”

This certainly is an interesting article, and very surprising. Eating during the sleeping hours causes memory problems. I will remember that, because if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep it usually helps if I eat some peanut butter and saltines with a glass of milk. I avoid sugar because that is stimulating. I have never noticed any problems from doing that, but I will stop it in the future. The likelihood that stimulation of the pleasure center of the brain in a PTSD patient can be a cure for the problem is wonderful. When I was a teenager and experiencing some depression, it was considered to be a philosophical or religious problem. It is now shown to be a matter of brain chemistry. I am so glad to have lived through the 1950's and into the '70s and beyond. My personal philosophy is much more free and positive, and for the depression I take a couple of good medications.