Friday, November 7, 2014


News Clips For the Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-officials-unveil-plan-to-test-ebola-drugs/


U.S. fast-tracks testing of Ebola treatments
CBS/AP
November 5, 2014, 5:23 PM

Photograph – A doctor holds a syringe containing an Ebola vaccine called ChAd3 during trials on November 4, 2014 at the CHUV hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

NEW ORLEANS -- The quest for an Ebola treatment is picking up speed. Federal officials have unveiled a plan to test multiple drugs at once, in an umbrella study with a single comparison group to give fast answers on what works.

"This is novel for us" and is an approach pioneered by cancer researchers, said Dr. Luciana Borio, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Ebola response. "We need to learn what helps and what hurts" and speed treatments to patients, she said.

She outlined the plan Wednesday at an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in New Orleans. Thousands of scientists have crowded into day and late-night sessions on Ebola, which has killed 5,000 West Africans this year.

There is no treatment for Ebola, but several experimental ones such as ZMapp have been tried on a few patients, and scientists are eyeing some others that were developed for different conditions but may also fight Ebola.

"There's this tremendous urge to want to give people these experimental therapies" but it's crucial to make sure they don't do harm, said the FDA's Dr. Edward Cox.

Everyone in the umbrella study would get supportive care, such as intravenous fluids, then be assigned to receive one of several drugs or be in a comparison group. That's needed because without one, there's no way to know if any problems or deaths are from the drug or the disease, Cox said.

Instead of waiting until a certain number of patients are treated to look at results, as is usually done, researchers will monitor results as they come in, pairing each person on a drug with someone from the comparison group to see if a pattern can be detected.

The National Institutes of Health developed this "learn as you go" plan "to allow a winner to be declared very early," Cox said.

He said the FDA could not name the drugs being considered, but said a meeting next week with various companies should crystallize the plans. Other developments:

VACCINES
Ten potential vaccines have been developed, and two should enter mid- to late-stage testing in December or January, Dr. Cathy Roth of the World Health Organization told the conference via Skype from Geneva.

GlaxoSmithKline's is one of them, and it's too soon to say when it could be ready for wide use or what it would cost, said the company's Dr. W. Ripley Ballou.

Poor countries "can't be expected to pay for it," so groups that have given aid in the past likely will be asked to do that, he said.

FEAR, TRAVEL BANS
At least 30 scientists were barred from the conference because Louisiana state officials told attendees to stay away if they had traveled to certain West African countries or had contact with an Ebola patient in the last 21 days, Ebola's maximum incubation period.

One was Dr. Amanda Tiffany of Doctors Without Borders, who was to have given a talk on how to limit the spread of Ebola, based on her work on some of the very first cases in Guinea.

"The stigma American and other colleagues are now facing is great," she said in a statement read by a colleague. "We need information disseminated through the media based on science and medicine and not on fear."

Dr. Daniel Bausch, a Tulane University doctor who has worked on the outbreak and advised the government on policy, said travel bans andquarantines were hurting the Ebola response.

The phrase "abundance of caution" is code for doing something based on fear rather than science, he said. "I don't think it calms people's fears, I think it enhances people's fears."

COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Ebola is setting back even the crude health care available in West Africa. In Sierra Leone, there now are no doctors willing to do Caesarean sections on pregnant women -- whether they are known to have Ebola or not -- because of the fear of exposure to so much blood, said Dr. Lina Moses, another Tulane researcher who works in that country.

"Maternal health is a serious issue right now," she said. "We're expecting maternal mortality to skyrocket."

ARE CASES PEAKING?
New cases in some parts of Liberia are falling, but doctors fear it might be that fewer people are seeking treatment or staying away out of anger over seeing loved ones' corpses burned instead of the traditional funeral practices that can spread the virus, said Dr. Armand Sprecher, another Doctors Without Borders physician.

"I would really like to believe that things are slowing down there but I'm not going to get too optimistic yet," he said.

Having a treatment or drug to offer could help tracing contacts of patients to limit the disease's spread. People "may be more willing to open the door" and answer questions if there is a drug that can help, Sprecher said.




“Federal officials have unveiled a plan to test multiple drugs at once, in an umbrella study with a single comparison group to give fast answers on what works.... She outlined the plan Wednesday at an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in New Orleans. Thousands of scientists have crowded into day and late-night sessions on Ebola, which has killed 5,000 West Africans this year.... Everyone in the umbrella study would get supportive care, such as intravenous fluids, then be assigned to receive one of several drugs or be in a comparison group. That's needed because without one, there's no way to know if any problems or deaths are from the drug or the disease, Cox said.... Instead of waiting until a certain number of patients are treated to look at results, as is usually done, researchers will monitor results as they come in, pairing each person on a drug with someone from the comparison group to see if a pattern can be detected. The National Institutes of Health developed this 'learn as you go' plan 'to allow a winner to be declared very early,' Cox said.... He said the FDA could not name the drugs being considered, but said a meeting next week with various companies should crystallize the plans. Other developments: Ten potential vaccines have been developed, and two should enter mid- to late-stage testing in December or January, Dr. Cathy Roth of the World Health Organization told the conference via Skype from Geneva.... Having a treatment or drug to offer could help tracing contacts of patients to limit the disease's spread. People 'may be more willing to open the door' and answer questions if there is a drug that can help, Sprecher said.”

While no new drugs have been named in this article, it does show a real push for results which was alarmingly absent in the beginning of the epidemic. I shouldn't have been, but I was startled when I first read that Ebola had not been researched heavily with an eye to developing new medications due to the profit based status of drug companies. There have finally been plenty of cases in this particular epidemic to make their profits soar, plus government has gotten into the research more fully. Interestingly groups like CDC and NIH were not developing vaccines. I thought that was part of their purpose in studying diseases, but apparently its just to understand them more fully and track epidemics. Even the Canadian vaccine is coming from a company and not from government.

The good news is that there are ten new drugs under development, though only two are ready for human testing. Those will be out in December or January, however, so I feel much more at ease. I don't believe there will be an uncontrolled epidemic here as there has been in Africa. Poor public health facilities are largely to blame for all the deaths there. Plus, people who apparently fear the government and flee rather than turning themselves in when they develop symptoms is a large part of the cause. Likewise, in the US, we do not use the animals that carry Ebola without getting sick from it for food sources.






A key thing doctors can do to reduce hospital errors – CBS
By STEVEN REINBERG HEALTHDAY
November 6, 2014, 5:58 AM

Changing how doctors communicate during shift changes in hospitals reduced the risk of adverse events in patients by 30 percent, a new study found.

In the study of nearly 11,000 patients, researchers also found that a better method of communication could reduce the rate of medical errors by almost 25 percent.

"We were trying to improve the way doctors were passing on patient information," said lead researcher Dr. Amy Starmer, a lecturer on pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

To improve communication between doctors caring for patients, Starmer's team instituted a "handoff" program at nine hospitals. The study authors measured how effective the program was in reducing medical errors and adverse events to patients. They also looked to see if the program interfered with workflow.

Specifically, they developed a method of communication dubbed the "I-PASS Handoff Bundle." For each patient in the doctor's charge, both oral and written data are required to describe:

I: Illness severity (the patient's condition),
P: Patient summary (what's wrong with the patient and history),
A: Action list (what needs to be done),
S: Situation awareness and contingency planning (planning for what might happen),
S: Synthesis by receiver (asking questions, showing the material was understood).

Doctors were trained to use the system, as well as how to use it in conjunction with the electronic medical record system, Starmer said.

In addition to reducing medical errors, such as prescribing the wrong medications or procedures, the program didn't take a toll on the doctors' workflow, she said.

"We are really excited about the study," Starmer said. "Not only do we see a dramatic reduction in medical errors, but we found that this method is adaptable to other hospitals and to other health care workers, such as nurses and surgeons," she said.

The report was published in the Nov. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Handoffs are a particularly vulnerable time in a patient's care, as the transmission of information from one physician to another can be imperfect," said Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chair of the department of health care policy and research at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

"Hospitals across the country should consider designing and implementing handoff improvement programs, such as the one studied," he said.

John Birkmeyer, chief academic officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health in Hanover, N.H., said he was impressed that the program could significantly reduce medical errors.

However, it's not enough to put such a program in place to change the hospital culture, he said. It isn't a given that the findings are "generalizable or durable," Birkmeyer said.

The results one gets when a program is pushed by those who are excited about it aren't always the same as the results when people are forced to adopt a program, he said.


"Sometimes the results you achieve among the enthusiasts are not the same as when a program is mandated across a whole bunch of hospitals that are much more apathetic," Birkmeyer said




“Specifically, they developed a method of communication dubbed the "I-PASS Handoff Bundle." For each patient in the doctor's charge, both oral and written data are required to describe.” IPASS is a mnemonic for a basic, but forgettable, list of information to be reported from one doctor or nurse to the next in a patient's care plan. 'Sometimes the results you achieve among the enthusiasts are not the same as when a program is mandated across a whole bunch of hospitals that are much more apathetic,' Birkmeyer said” So, apparently, there exists a problem in some hospitals where care givers are “apathetic” and therefore just don't do what they should. That's sad. It may account for the case ten or so years ago when a male nurse put the tag on the wrong big toe and when the patient got into surgery the wrong foot was amputated. Neither the nurse or the surgeon looked to see which foot had gangrene. Doctors are very well paid and they should not only be very intelligent, they should also be basically careful. No wonder they fear law suits so highly.





Army Drops Use Of Term 'Negro' In Document – NPR
BY EYDER PERALTA
November 07, 2014 8:12 AM ET

The Army is dropping the use of the term "negro" in an official document that listed it as an acceptable way to refer to African Americans.

CNN first pointed out the document on Thursday and just hours later the Army responded by revising the document.

The AP reports:

"The term appeared in a lengthy document called Army Command Policy, covering personnel standards and policies. A section on equal opportunity policy defined 'Black' or 'African American' as 'a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa," adding that 'terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used' also.

"The Army issued a statement saying it removed the term 'Negro' Thursday as soon as it realized it was in the document. It did not say when the term first appeared in the document, but it apparently was many years ago."

At first blush, this sounds controversial, but a bit of context is in order: Remember, the Census just dropped the term last year. As we reported, the Census received lots of complaints about the word in 2010.

That's when they sought public feedback and decided to remove the word from the 2014 American Community Survey. It was included to begin with, because the Census said a large number of older black folks identified as "negro" and in the 2000 Census, 56,000 of them checked off the "some other race" category to write in "negro."




“The Army is dropping the use of the term 'negro' in an official document that listed it as an acceptable way to refer to African Americans. CNN first pointed out the document on Thursday and just hours later the Army responded by revising the document.... 'The Army issued a statement saying it removed the term 'Negro' Thursday as soon as it realized it was in the document. It did not say when the term first appeared in the document, but it apparently was many years ago.'”

Societal norms have changed drastically since I was young, and they are changing still. I adopted the term black in the 1970's when that was preferred by many of the younger black people, but the elderly ones apparently still think of themselves as negroes. It is a tricky word, though, because the hated mispronunciation of it is still being used as a slur. In the 70's the term “black power” came into being, and so I use it. I'm glad to see the military wasted no time in amending their Army Command Policy once the presence of the word was discovered by CNN.

I'm glad this has been corrected. Every little bit helps. Now if whites and blacks would just smile and speak to each other in a friendly fashion whenever they meet, maybe some of these group hatreds would slowly disappear. Racism is something that, in the words of the wonderful old play South Pacific, “has to be carefully taught.” Very young children will get along quite well together until their mothers stop them from playing on the same Jungle Jim. I am patiently waiting for these things to stop.






Brooklyn Prosecutor Could Be Nominated Attorney General In Coming Days -- NPR
By Carrie Johnson
November 06, 2014

Photograph – Loretta Lynch has handled or supervised a wide range of cases including New York police brutality against a Haitian immigrant, a $45 million cybertheft involving ATMs and the ongoing fraud prosecution of Republican Rep. Michael Grimm of New York.

Two sources familiar with the process tell NPR that Loretta Lynch, the top prosecutor in Brooklyn, could be nominated by President Obama as attorney general in the coming days.

Lynch is the lead federal prosecutor in a district that serves 8 million people. But outside of law enforcement circles, this daughter of a preacher is not widely known. Friends say that's because Lynch prefers to let her cases speak for themselves.

And let's start with this one: a violent sexual assault against Haitian immigrant Abner Louima back in 1997. Prosecutors called that case one of the worst acts of police brutality in New York City history, and a central figure in the attack, Justin Volpe, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Lynch, a graduate of Harvard Law School, worked her way up the ladder in Brooklyn, a huge office that handles everything from old-school Mafia busts to new forms of cybercrime.

Here's Lynch talking last year about a $45 million ATM robbery. "This was a 21st century bank heist. But instead of guns and masks this cybercrime organization used laptops and malware," she said.

More recently, Lynch made a splash for indicting a Republican congressman from Staten Island on fraud charges. That lawmaker, Rep. Michael Grimm, once worked as an undercover FBI agent — an irony Lynch pointed out at a news conference.

"Michael Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it," she said.
Grimm, who was re-elected Tuesday, has pleaded not guilty.

That's not the only politically sensitive case on her docket. Brooklyn prosecutors are also investigating money-laundering allegations against an ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Wall Street Journal reported.

If she's selected by President Obama to lead the Justice Department, Lynch would become the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. She was born in Greensboro, N.C., in 1959, a year before black students there sat down at a whites-only lunch counter and helped catalyze protests around the country.

Students like Ezell Blair Jr., who remembered that era with NPR.

"But I was prepared that if I was going to die, then I'm going to die here taking my stand for what I believe to be right and true," Blair told NPR's Tell Me More.

In a speech two years ago, Lynch said her father opened his church to students as they planned their boycotts. He carried her, a toddler, to those meetings "riding on his shoulders."

One of Lynch's brothers is a minister, carrying on a sort of family tradition. Another, she told the audience in New York in 2012, is a Navy SEAL "like no other."

The U.S. Senate has twice confirmed Lynch to be the top prosecutor in Brooklyn, once in the Clinton years and again in 2010, by voice vote, for Obama.

In between, she worked for a law firm, but she never fully walked away from public service.

One of her assignments: investigating crimes for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In the 2012 speech, Lynch described hearing the story of a woman who survived an attack by hiding in a churchyard "under a pile of dead bodies." That work was an opportunity, Lynch said, to serve people and repay the gift of their trust.




“Lynch is the lead federal prosecutor in a district that serves 8 million people. But outside of law enforcement circles, this daughter of a preacher is not widely known. Friends say that's because Lynch prefers to let her cases speak for themselves. And let's start with this one: a violent sexual assault against Haitian immigrant Abner Louima back in 1997. Prosecutors called that case one of the worst acts of police brutality in New York City history, and a central figure in the attack, Justin Volpe, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.... She was born in Greensboro, N.C., in 1959, a year before black students there sat down at a whites-only lunch counter and helped catalyze protests around the country.... In a speech two years ago, Lynch said her father opened his church to students as they planned their boycotts. He carried her, a toddler, to those meetings 'riding on his shoulders.' One of Lynch's brothers is a minister, carrying on a sort of family tradition. Another, she told the audience in New York in 2012, is a Navy SEAL 'like no other.'”

Lynch sounds like a good choice. I remember the Abner Louima case very well. It was horrifying to me. Those police officers weren't even trying to carry on law enforcement. They were torturing a man because he was black, and possibly had a foreign accent. Thank goodness they got extended prison time for the crime. Lynch's other cases show that she can enforce the law even when elected officials are involved. In the “bad old days” of the 1950's and before, a locally powerful and wealthy man could commit murders, or hire them done, without being indicted. There is less of that type of corruption going on nowadays, I think, or at least so I hope. I would like to see her get involved in the Ferguson MO case. The local community isn't making progress as I thought they were going to at first.

To see a sampling of small town police corruption, see the movie or the tv show called “In the Heat of the Night.” The movie starred the powerful actor Rod Steiger, and in the TV show the role was very creditably perfomed by Carrol O'Connor. I talk as muchn as I do about bad cops because I am so interested in police work, and I see it as being a very good thing when the officers enforce the law without bias. Nobody wants the really bad guys in prison any more than I do. The problem is that until a case comes to court the police officer has the potential of abusing people without his employers even being aware of it, and sometimes even then the officer may not be charged with a crime. The “top cop” needs to be fully aware at all times of the possibility of officer overreach and a full range of other crimes, from stealing drug evidence to sell it themselves on the street to what amounts to murders under the guise of law enforcement.






Weekly Innovation: Harness Could Allow Dogs, Humans To Communicate – NPR
By SAMANTHA RAPHELSON
November 06, 2014

Photograph – David Roberts says the Cyber-Enhanced Working Dog harness will allow humans to monitor dogs' physical and emotional states remotely, such as in search and rescue operations.

The relationship between man and dog is unlike any other.

Many people dream of understanding what their dogs are thinking and feeling. Technology even lets us strap a camera on a dog's head to see what it sees.

Soon, we may be able to talk to our dogs — but not exactly with our voices.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a high-tech dog harness that they say allows dogs and humans to communicate using a computer. The prototype harness, called the Cyber-Enhanced Working Dog, has sensors that collect and interpret dogs' behavioral signals, and humans are able to send them appropriate commands.

"It's a communication platform that is designed specifically to provide two-way remote computer-mediated communication between handlers and their dogs," says David Roberts, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and a co-author of a paper on the work.

"It's never going to replace the human interaction with our dogs, but what it can do is help us interact with them in new ways," he says.

The harness could be used for a variety of functions including search and rescue operations and basic training.

A small computer on the harness called BeagleBone Blackmonitors the dog's movement, emotional state and outside environment. Information is wirelessly transmitted back to the handler, who can interpret it from a distance.

Sensors read the dog's heart rate and body temperature to determine its emotional state, such as if the dog is stressed.

"We can start to characterize things like stress or distraction or excitement and help handlers become more aware of what their dogs are doing and why," Roberts says.

Human commands are translated for the dog through speakers and vibrating motors on the harness. Roberts says dogs would be trained to respond to nearly 100 different signals in the same way they respond to voice and hand commands.

"We have integrated [sensors] into the harness in eight different locations," he says. "This just feels like your cellphone going off in your pocket on vibrate."

Roberts says the prototype is quite bulky at 4 pounds, and the researchers hope to make a smaller version to fit smaller dogs.

Additional devices, such as cameras and environmental sensors, can be added to the harness in order to customize it for various uses. The harness has a battery life of about eight hours.

Beyond police and military use, this device can be used on Seeing Eye dogs and to help average people more consistently and effectively train their dogs.

"One of the things dogs struggle with is humans are very inconsistent with how they reward dogs," Roberts says. "So dogs can struggle to learn the boundaries and the rules when there aren't consistent communications about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable."

The device can also help handlers identify and reduce common stressors, Roberts says. Stress is one of the main reasons why service dogs are retired early.

Shortly after developing the harness, the NC State researchers teamed up with the Smart Emergency Response System project, which aims to integrate high-tech systems with search and rescue efforts.

"You're never going to replace the human element of search and rescue," he says. "What we're really trying to do is help these dogs be safer and more efficient in doing their jobs. We are not enabling dogs to go into situations that are more dangerous than they were going into before."

Roberts and his team hope to integrate the harness with drones and other robotic technologies. They plan to present a proposal to the National Science Foundation sometime next year.

In our "Weekly Innovation" blog series, we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form.




“David Roberts says the Cyber-Enhanced Working Dog harness will allow humans to monitor dogs' physical and emotional states remotely, such as in search and rescue operations.... 'It's a communication platform that is designed specifically to provide two-way remote computer-mediated communication between handlers and their dogs,' says David Roberts, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and a co-author of a paper on the work. … Information is wirelessly transmitted back to the handler, who can interpret it from a distance. Sensors read the dog's heart rate and body temperature to determine its emotional state, such as if the dog is stressed.... Human commands are translated for the dog through speakers and vibrating motors on the harness. Roberts says dogs would be trained to respond to nearly 100 different signals in the same way they respond to voice and hand commands.... Beyond police and military use, this device can be used on Seeing Eye dogs and to help average people more consistently and effectively train their dogs.... The device can also help handlers identify and reduce common stressors, Roberts says. Stress is one of the main reasons why service dogs are retired early.”

“Roberts and his team hope to integrate the harness with drones and other robotic technologies.” Could we be seeing a new kind of warfare in which dogs are the foot soldiers and drones guide their operations? I wish this article had gone into specific uses more fully. However they are used, it's an interesting new idea, though. Already there are electronic collars that zap the dog with a little electricity when he goes out of the yard. As training devices for the average person to control an unruly pet, it will probably become profitable. I think many people might buy it for that.

According to how it works, the device could be used to test the reasoning ability of dogs and the communication of emotions or even “thoughts.” My favorite gorilla, Koko, who has been extensively trained in ASL. A few years ago told her owner/mom Penny Patterson that she had a bad pain in her mouth. She was taken to a human dentist and he fixed her tooth. That was done under anesthesia, of course. In that case there was no question that she had done something based on her own reasoning. I have seen dogs do things that involved reasoning, too, and even cats have been known several times to save their owner when the house caught on fire or a snake had come into the house. This device has lots of potential, and I would like to see more news on the subject when it develops.






Catalonia's President Makes His Case For Independence From Spain – NPR
By LAUREN FRAYER
November 06, 2014

Photograph – Catalonia's President Artur Mas is presiding over the region's nonbinding independence vote on Sunday. Spain opposes the ballot and insists that the Catalonia will remain part of Spain

When the international press corps descend on the Catalan capital Barcelona, as they are this weekend to cover the region's symbolic independence vote, Catalan President Artur Mas often holds a news conference. Here's how he usually begins: 

"I'll try to answer your questions in whatever language you ask them," Mas says. "Catalan, Spanish, French, English — I'll try my best in Italian too," he says, and settles in for up to two hours, until all questions are exhausted. 

Reporters are often stunned. There are few Spanish politicians who speak any second language, let alone four. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy prefers to address the media in pre-recorded video statements, and rarely answers questions live, face-to-face. 
"Rajoy's style is quiet and dull. He doesn't say anything if he can help it," says Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, a historian at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Mas, on the other hand, is "slicker, smoother, less provincial — while paradoxically defending localism," Ucelay says. "He has a kind of square-jawed, simple, personable good looks." 

The Catalan leader's TV-friendly charisma has made him accessible, and catapulted him as a new figure in European politics. Mas' Catalan regional government has satellite offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Brussels. He's working to win hearts and minds — and possibly, international recognition — for an independent Catalonia.

This Sunday's independence vote will be unofficial and non-binding. Catalans acknowledge its results won't be recognized by Spain.

But they hope the exercise is a step toward determining their own future. After Spain's Constitutional Court ordered an official referendum halted, Mas devised a plan to recruit volunteers to staff polling stations, to prevent civil servants from being in violation of Spanish law. But Madrid still considers the whole affair to be illegal. 

Artur Mas has nevertheless emerged as a statesman lobbying for Catalan freedom. But that wasn't always the case.

His center-right political party, Convergéncia i Unió, wasn't explicitly pro-independence until a few years ago. Then Spain's economy tanked, and Catalans began thinking they might be better on their own. In the past three years, millions have taken to the streets of Barcelona in pro-independence rallies annually on Sept. 11, Catalonia's national day. 

Mas has deftly ridden that independence wave, even if his ultimate goal may not be Catalan independence, but rather to pull back and negotiate more fiscal autonomy for Catalonia within the Spanish state structure, says Antonio Roldan, a political analyst at the Eurasia group in London. 

"He's a long-term player. I think he decided to use this wave and play hardball," Roldan says. "He's pushing Madrid and establishing somehow a new status of relationship." 
The persona that Mas tries to convey — that of a sophisticated statesman, connected to Europe — is exactly how Catalans want to see themselves, like a Scandinavian country in southern Europe, Roldan says. 

"Mas is more dynamic, more international. He's been exposed to the world," Roldan says. "He's in favor of the free market, and he's more cosmopolitan — as Catalans in comparison to Spain are."

Born in 1956 to a wealthy industrialist family in the Catalan heartland, Mas attended an elite private school in Barcelona. It was founded by Catalan speakers who'd worked at the local French Lycee high school, and wanted to create a highly competitive academic environment. 

"It's quite elitist and extremely demanding. It's kind of a sink or swim thing. But it also emphasized developing language skills — four languages from Day One," says John Stone, a literature professor at the University of Barcelona who sends his daughter to the school.

Stone is Canadian, and he says that perhaps as result of his linguistic training, Artur Mas "is more like what I would expect of a Canadian politician than a Madrid politician."

But in Madrid, it's a different story. Mas is cast as a rebel trying to break apart the proud, historic Spanish nation. 

"We've spent 500 years together. Spain is one of the oldest nations in Europe. And here comes someone trying to take that away, thinking he's above the law," María Dolores de Cospedal, a top figure in Spain's ruling conservative party, said recently. "In Catalonia, in Barcelona, there's a politician who's irresponsible and suicidal," she said, referring to Mas.

At a Madrid sidewalk cafe, Manuel Lizarte and his daughter say the same.

"We see him as a poser. Why does a local politician need to have offices in other countries? He's taking advantage of taxpayers money," Manuel says.
"Taking advantage of the economy," his daughter Barbara chimes in. "He's playing with Catalans' emotions. We can't let Spain be destroyed by one man or his politics."

This weekend, Mas will preside over a Catalan independence vote that Spain considers illegal. For Mas, it's risky. He's breaking Spanish law. But it could bring him one step closer to founding a new European country called Catalonia.



Catalonia
Wikipedia

“An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popular Latin before and during the collapse of the Roman Empire....

The Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century and would rule the area until 718 when Muslim Arabs and Berbers conquered the region and held it for close to a century. The Franksheld back small Muslim raiding parties, which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France; Frankishsuzerainty extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began with the Spanish March which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista (Reconquest) by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. Barcelona became an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula.

Catalonia emerged from the conflicts in Muslim Spain as a regional power, as Christian rulers entrenched themselves in the region during the Carolingian period. Rulers such as Wilfred the Hairy became masters of a larger territory encompassing Catalonia. The Crown of Aragón included Catalonia, Aragón, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. The marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragón and the conquest of the last Muslim kingdom of Granada in 1492 tied Catalonia politically to the fate of the new Spanish kingdom, while a regional culture continued to survive and thrive.

During the Napoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire region briefly until Napoleon's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Franco's nationalist forces retook Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Since this period, a balance between a sense of local identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominant political force in Catalonia.... As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity.”




“Catalonia's President Artur Mas is presiding over the region's nonbinding independence vote on Sunday. Spain opposes the ballot and insists that the Catalonia will remain part of Spain.... Mas, on the other hand, is 'slicker, smoother, less provincial — while paradoxically defending localism,' Ucelay says. 'He has a kind of square-jawed, simple, personable good looks.' The Catalan leader's TV-friendly charisma has made him accessible, and catapulted him as a new figure in European politics. Mas' Catalan regional government has satellite offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Brussels. He's working to win hearts and minds — and possibly, international recognition — for an independent Catalonia.... After Spain's Constitutional Court ordered an official referendum halted, Mas devised a plan to recruit volunteers to staff polling stations, to prevent civil servants from being in violation of Spanish law. But Madrid still considers the whole affair to be illegal.... His center-right political party, Convergéncia i Unió, wasn't explicitly pro-independence until a few years ago. Then Spain's economy tanked, and Catalans began thinking they might be better on their own. In the past three years, millions have taken to the streets of Barcelona in pro-independence rallies annually on Sept. 11, Catalonia's national day. … his ultimate goal may not be Catalan independence, but rather to pull back and negotiate more fiscal autonomy for Catalonia within the Spanish state structure, says Antonio Roldan,... The persona that Mas tries to convey — that of a sophisticated statesman, connected to Europe — is exactly how Catalans want to see themselves, like a Scandinavian country in southern Europe, Roldan says. 'Mas is more dynamic, more international. He's been exposed to the world,' Roldan says. 'He's in favor of the free market, and he's more cosmopolitan — as Catalans in comparison to Spain are.'... 'We've spent 500 years together. Spain is one of the oldest nations in Europe. And here comes someone trying to take that away, thinking he's above the law,' María Dolores de Cospedal, a top figure in Spain's ruling conservative party, said recently.”

There are movements toward nationalism going on in a number of European countries now, not the least of which is Ukraine. In this case a depressed Spanish economy is said to be perhaps the reason. The Catalans think they can do a better job on their own. The article states that Mas' real goal may not be independence, but just a bit more autonomy for Catalonia. I think his own fame and fortune is probably part of it, too. He is very well educated from an elitist school, in favor of the free market, and he's more cosmopolitan' than Spanish leaders are. It sounds like he may be the kind of person I would like to see as heads of state. His politics is described as “center right,” while the Spanish government is called “conservative.” Does either of those terms indicate neo-Nazi as so many places in Europe are trending today? I hope not. Even in a small place like Catalonia it can't be good.






Amazon Wants To Put A Listening Speaker In Your Home – NPR
By Avie Schneider
November 06, 2014

What's in your home, always on, ready to listen to you and constantly adapting to the way you talk? Why, it's Amazon's Echo speaker. Think a less portable Siri or Google Now, but hands-free.

Are you ready to bring an eavesdropping device that's connected to the cloud into the privacy of your abode?

Here's how Amazon describes Echo on its site:

"Amazon Echo is designed around your voice. It's always on—just ask for information, music, news, weather, and more. Echo begins working as soon as it hears you say the wake word, 'Alexa.' It's also an expertly-tuned speaker that can fill any room with immersive sound."

According to the demo video, Echo answers trivia questions (Alexa, how tall is Mount Everest?), it tells jokes, helps the kids with homework and plays music on demand. You can ask it for a "flash news briefing" with the latest headlines. (The demo video features news from NPR.) And it keeps a running shopping list for you — it is from Amazon, after all.

You can put the 9 1/4-inch-tall device anywhere in the room (as long as it's near an electric plug), and something called "far-field recognition" — seven microphones using "beam-forming technology" — can hear you from any direction, Amazon says.

In a post titled "Amazon's new Echo device marries Sonos with Siri," Gigaom notes that Echo isn't the first device of its kind:

"There have been efforts to build these kinds of smart assistants for your home before. The Ubi aims to be a kind of intercom for the smart home, and the Aether speaker aims to combine cloud music streaming with voice input. However, Amazon's strength is that it could combine Echo with its other devices and services to make it a lot more valuable out of the box."

There's a button to turn off Echo's microphone, but as you can imagine, some people might be uneasy with a listening device planted squarely in their living room or bedroom.
As a commenter named Hicham Bouabdallah wrote on TechChrunch:

"NSA, CIA and FBI would like to personally thank Amazon for installing spy mics in every home. Having said that, love the idea of an always on personal assistant."

Echo also works away from home using a free app on Amazon's Fire OS and Android as well as desktop and iOS browsers. It's selling for $199, invitation only, though Amazon Prime members are eligible to get it for $99.
One last question: What if your name is Alexa?




“Are you ready to bring an eavesdropping device that's connected to the cloud into the privacy of your abode?” Most definitely not. When I discovered that some new television sets have cameras built in I was horrified. I'm supposed to listen to it, not it to me! I don't want a device to carry on a conversation with me or tell me jokes, and particularly not to take video or photos of me. That information has to be going somewhere where it will be recorded and used. See the following 2012 article on the subject – http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/your-tv-watching-you-latest-models-raise-concerns-f483619. The potential of this being used by unscrupulous politicians or government bodies to spy on Americans is too great. The article doesn't indicate exactly where in “the cloud” the data would be sent to and why.

Hicham Bouabdallah described it as an “always on personal assistant” similar to the Ubi. “The Ubi is a WiFi connected, voice operated computer that allows for handsfree voice interaction in the home.... You can send messages to contacts, look up information, play music, control devices, and can be used to get information relayed to you without you needing to go to your phone or computer.” Such devices are meant to be part of a “smart home.” I can see the elderly who live alone wanting something like this to contact emergency services or speak to their dear daughter without having to pick up a phone. As in the highly annoying commercial that goes “I've fallen and I can't get up,” having one of these would be good and might even save a life. Of course, like Google Glass it is probably fun to have such a device. I'm way too paranoid to want one, though. I don't trust any anonymous person with that much information about my daily interactions with the world. Besides, as with most modern gadgets I read about, I don't see myself actually needing one, and they will undoubtedly cost a good bit of money. I'll definitely leave this one to young people with nothing else to do with their hard-earned cash.





NATO's New Secretary General Makes First Visit To Kabul – NPR
By eyder peralta
November 06, 2014

The new secretary general of NATO and Pakistan's Army chief were in Kabul on Thursday to meet with newly-sworn-in President Ashraf Ghani.

As NPR's Sean Carberry reports the visits mark a continued honeymoon between the international community and Afghanistan's new government. Sean sent this report to our Newscast unit:

"Neither visit resulted in any new policies or initiatives. Rather, they appeared to be about marking a new chapter in Afghanistan's relations with NATO and Pakistan.

"Over the years, former President Hamid Karzai's relationship with many in the international community soured – something Ghani is trying to turn around."In his first visit to Afghanistan, NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said he's known Ghani for some time and that NATO is committed to a long-term partnership with Afghanistan. After the current combat mission ends in December, some 12,000 U.S. and NATO troops will conduct a training and support mission here for the next two years."

Stoltenberg visited the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command at Camp Morehead in Kabul, where he praised the progress of Afghan commando units.

"I have seen a highly trained, experienced and professional force," Stoltenberg said. "For over a year, Afghan soldiers and police have led security operations across the country, and at the end of this year, you will take full charge of security. But you will not stand alone. NATO and our partners will continue to support you."

Meanwhile, the AP reports that the day also brought a bloody reminder that the Taliban remain a formidable force. The wire service reports:

"On Thursday police in the eastern Paktia province received the bodies of 10 civilians who had been shot dead, according to provincial police chief Gen. Zalmai Huryakhil. He said police did not know when or why the people were killed.

"The bodies were brought to the police by local village elders because the security forces cannot operate in the area where the bodies were found."





“The new secretary general of NATO and Pakistan's Army chief were in Kabul on Thursday to meet with newly-sworn-in President Ashraf Ghani. As NPR's Sean Carberry reports the visits mark a continued honeymoon between the international community and Afghanistan's new government.... 'Over the years, former President Hamid Karzai's relationship with many in the international community soured – something Ghani is trying to turn around. In his first visit to Afghanistan, NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said he's known Ghani for some time and that NATO is committed to a long-term partnership with Afghanistan. After the current combat mission ends in December, some 12,000 U.S. and NATO troops will conduct a training and support mission here for the next two years.'... Meanwhile, the AP reports that the day also brought a bloody reminder that the Taliban remain a formidable force. The wire service reports: 'On Thursday police in the eastern Paktia province received the bodies of 10 civilians who had been shot dead, according to provincial police chief Gen. Zalmai Huryakhil. He said police did not know when or why the people were killed. 'The bodies were brought to the police by local village elders because the security forces cannot operate in the area where the bodies were found.'"

The Afghan Security Forces still can't control the Taliban. The Taliban is using tactics much like ISIS, of course, or like some of those gangs of drug lords in Mexico. The sheer evil and ferocity of their assault is intimidating. Besides, the Taliban is a part of the culture in Afghanistan and Pakistan, ever generating new and more bloodthirsty fighters to their cause. The West keeps trying to pacify them by force, but they are linked by strong tribal and familial ties, and their Fundamentalist brand of Islam excites them to fanatical acts. I don't have much hope that NATO can control the Taliban any more than their government can. All I know is that if I were born into that culture and discovered that there were a place anywhere that I could go to escape it, I would do my best to go there and and live. Of course there are numerous Islamic people moving to the US for that reason. I'm sure the CIA, FBI, etc. watch them closely for signs of fanatical propensities, and so they should. Islamic immigrants need to blend into American culture to the degree that they can, however, as a desire to establish an Islamic state in the West will be very unwelcome here.