December 20, 2017


News and Views


THIS IS YET ANOTHER STORY OF PRESIDENT TRUMP TAKING THE VOTE “PERSONALLY.” THAT’S WHAT HE ALWAYS DOES. THAT’S ONE OF THE MAIN PROBLEMS WITH HIM AS A PRESIDENT. ALL THOSE TWEETS DEPRESS ME, AND FRANKLY, WORRY ME. HE JUST DOESN’T SEEM PREPARED FOR THE JOB OF PRESIDENT. THE ACTIONS OF NIKKI HALEY HERE DON’T SEEM MUCH BETTER TO ME.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-haley-letter-us-donald-trump-taking-names-united-nations-jerusalem-vote/
By PAMELA FALK CBS NEWS December 20, 2017, 4:10 AM
U.S. warns allies Trump will take Jerusalem vote "personally"

UNITED NATIONS -- President Trump will be watching a vote in the United Nations General Assembly "very carefully," and has asked his ambassador to the world body, Nikki Haley, to "report back on those countries who voted against us," Haley wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to some countries. The letter has been obtained by CBS News.

Haley also sent a tweet warning the U.S. would be "taking names" in Thursday's scheduled vote, which is intended to show a United Nations unified around getting President Trump to withdraw his administration's unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

At the UN we're always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don't expect those we've helped to target us. On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names. pic.twitter.com/ZsusB8Hqt4

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) December 19, 2017

With the letter and the tweet, Haley is pressing other countries to stand by the U.S. decision, hoping for a better result than in last week's vote on a similar resolution in the Security Council which left the U.S. alone against the 14 other Council members. The U.S., as a permanent member of the Council, was able to veto that measure with a single vote.

CBS News obtained a copy of Haley's letter from three different nations -- all allies of the U.S. -- but it was sent to the delegations of more than 180 countries in total. Haley wrote that the U.S., "will take note of each and every vote on this issue."

She made the point that the Thursday vote is something to take seriously. "As you know, the General Assembly is considering a resolution about President Trump's recent decision on Jerusalem," Haley wrote. "As you consider your vote, I want you to know that the President and U.S. take this vote personally."

The letter explains the history that 22 years ago, "the U.S. Congress declared that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel, and that the U.S. Embassy should be located in Jerusalem. President Trump affirmed that declaration by officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."

The letter also explains the overall U.S. policy. "The President's announcement did not prejudge final status negotiations in any way, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. The President also made sure to support the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, and did not advocate changes to the arrangements at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif."

The Jerusalem resolution to be presented to the General Assembly on Thursday is similar, although not identical, to the one presented to the Security Council last week.

In the Security Council vote, the United States vetoed the United Nations Security Council draft resolution that was proposed by Egypt and called for the reversal of Mr. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The vote was held in response to Mr. Trump's announcement earlier this month that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

After the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.S. does not veto resolutions lightly and that this was her first veto -- that it stood for "American sovereignty" and its role in the Middle East peace process.

Haley told the Security Council that she has hope the peace process is not dead.

"Our hand remains extended to both parties ... We call on all countries that share this commitment to learn the hard lessons of the past and work to bring Israel and the Palestinian people in good faith to the peace table," she said.

The resolution to be presented on Thursday to the General Assembly is brought under a rarely used 1950 resolution called "Uniting for Peace" that has a provision that would give authority to the 193-nation body to act when the Security Council is deadlocked.

The point of both resolutions, negotiators said, is to show that the U.S. stands alone on the Jerusalem recognition.

The draft resolution expresses regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem -- without mentioning the U.S. or Mr. Trump -- and states that any decisions to change the status of Jerusalem are "null and void," that it has "no legal effect" and "must be rescinded." It also called on countries not to establish diplomatic missions in the city.

Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East said, "in the wake of the decision of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the situation has become more tense with an increase in incidents, notably rockets fired from Gaza and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces."

Following Mr. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Haley said in early December the U.S. still has credibility as a mediator with Israel and Palestinians. The Palestinians, however, have declared Mr. Trump's move a "crime," and said the U.S. no longer has any role to play in a Middle East peace process.

Peace talks in the Middle East have stalled, although the so-called "Middle East Quartet" still is in place. It includes the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

In Haley's letter to her fellow ambassadors, she explained "the U.S. announcement is an acknowledgement that peace is best advanced, not set back, when all parties are honest with each other about the basic facts. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the country's founding nearly seventy years ago."

"To be clear," she wrote, "we are not asking that other countries move their embassies to Jerusalem, though we think it would be appropriate. We are simply asking that you acknowledge the historical friendship, partnership, and support we have extended and respect our decision about our own embassy."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


BRITAIN IS SOMETIMES CALLED “A NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS.” THIS LOOKS LIKE THE SAME THING TO ME, AND IT’S TOTALLY FAIR. THE BIG BOYS WHO ARE BEGRUDGING SUCH PEOPLE THEIR JUST DUE ARE, SHAMEFULLY, COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS BILL. “LEAVE MY $10,000,000,000 ALONE. TAKE THE TAX MONEY FROM THAT BLACK MAN OR WOMAN’S LAWN CARE OR HOUSEKEEPING BUSINESSES INSTEAD. WHAT WILL THE SENATE DO ABOUT IT? I HOPE THEY WILL EXAMINE THE SYSTEM IN THE CONTEXT OF A REPUBLICAN-SPONSORED TRUE TAX REFORM. IF THEY WOULD DO MORE THINGS LIKE THIS, THEY WOULD GAIN VOTERS WITHOUT EVEN GOING THE RACE-BAITING ROUTE.

REPUBLICANS NEED TO ALLOW PEOPLE WHO MAKE UNDER $157,500 A YEAR TO USE THEIR SKILLS CREATIVELY FOR A PROFIT. THAT’S MY VIEW OF THE AMERICAN WAY, AND NOT SQUEEZING “THE LITTLE PEOPLE” (LEONA HELMSLEY) FOR THEIR LAST DOLLAR AFTER THEY ARE LAID OFF AT THEIR JOB. THIS IS THE FIRST THING I’VE HEARD FROM REPUBLICANS WHICH REALLY HELPS SMALL INDIVIDUAL PROPRIETOR BUSINESSES. IMAGINE HOW MANY UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE WITH GUMPTION, CLEVERNESS, CREATIVITY AND “STICKTOITIVENESS” COULD PAY THEIR BILLS AND, YES, SEND THEIR KIDS ON TO HIGHER EDUCATION OF SOME KIND -- LAW SCHOOL EVEN. INSTEAD OF CALLING SUCH “JOBLESS” PEOPLE “LOSERS,” WE WOULD HAVE TO CALL THEM “WINNERS” AND GIVE THEM THE HORATIO ALGER AWARD*. I HOPE THIS DOES GO THROUGH AND BECOME LAW. IT’S ONE OF THE FIRST INTELLIGENT AND FAIR IDEAS THAT I’VE SEEN IN YEARS.

DO ALL OF YOU YOUNG PEOPLE REMEMBER LEONA HELMSLEY? SHE EARNED THE SOBRIQUET “THE QUEEN OF MEAN.” SEE THIS ARTICLE: HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/LEONA_HELMSLEY.

https://mic.com/articles/186972/the-gop-tax-bill-could-create-a-nation-of-freelancers#.eL86g3Vjx
The GOP tax bill could create a nation of freelancers
Republicans in Congress just passed the biggest tax overhaul in decades, and in doing so, may have just accelerated one of the more concerning trends in the U.S. labor market — the shift toward workers becoming freelance contractors.

A set of provisions in the tax bill concerning the treatment of lower-wage independent contractor positions could create big incentives for employers and employees alike to fundamentally upend the relationship between workers and businesses.

When the tax bill was first being negotiated, Republicans agreed to prioritize lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to somewhere around 20%.

That change was good for corporations, but not necessarily good for small businesses. Many small businesses pay taxes as though they are individuals, using the federal individual tax rates that most people pay, which can go as high as 39.6%.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) noticed the discrepancy early on, and in November argued that those smaller businesses — so-called “pass-through” entities — will need some kind of tax relief so they could compete with bigger corporations.

The problem for Senate Republicans was if they lowered the rates for pass-through businesses, they could potentially incentivize workers to simply start calling themselves a pass-through business. That would open the door to a world where many could get a big tax break.

So lawmakers decided to try and fix the problem by giving certain pass-throughs a big tax deduction, but set a bunch of rules for who would qualify for that deduction, and how.

In doing so, they created a whole new set of issues.

Under the new rules, pass-through businesses* are given a big 20% tax deduction. But that deduction is limited in a number of ways. For starters, any pass-through entity that makes more than $157,500, or $315,000 for business owners filing jointly, will have their deduction capped at 50% of their total payroll.

So, if a small business makes $500,000 and has two employees each making $40,000, it couldn’t deduct the full 20% of its $500,000 business income ($100,000), but would be limited to deducting only $40,000 (which is 50% of its total payroll).

In addition, certain types of service businesses — like lawyers, accountants and essentially anyone else who trades on their professional knowledge — will not be allowed to claim the deduction if they make more than $157,500 as an individual or $315,000 filing jointly.

But both of those limits only apply to people making more than $157,500 per year. What that leaves is a huge chasm for any business earning below the $157,500 level, which is automatically entitled to the full 20% tax deduction.

Enter the gig-economy,* and America’s growing sector of freelance workers.

Under the new law, independent contractors who calls themselves a “sole proprietor,” and who make less than $157,500 individually or $315,000 filing jointly, would be eligible for the full 20% tax deduction.

So, say for example you’re a taxi driver who is thinking about joining one of the many new ride sharing apps like Uber or Lyft.

You know you could make about $40,000 a year driving. But if you were to sign up with a company like Uber and call yourself a “sole proprietor,” instead of becoming a regular employee at a taxi company, you would be eligible to take a tax deduction of about 20% and pay taxes on only $32,000 (your total pretax income, minus 20%). This could create a major incentive to become an independent contractor.

Of course, as an independent contractor, you would need to buy your own health insurance. That could get pretty pricey, especially with the Republican tax bill repealing the individual mandate for health insurance. Some estimate this could raise health care costs by as much as 10%.

But the math may still work in your favor.

Initially, the tax bill did away with a lot of the incentives that made being an independent contractor appealing. An early version of the bill did away with a provision that allows independent contractors to deduct the cost of their health insurance from their overall taxable income.

But the final version that made it out of committee has scrapped that change, allowing independent contractors to continue to deduct their health care premiums.

Another provision that limits deductions for things like home offices and personal business expenses was limited to only those who are employees of big companies. In the bill that passed through Congress, independent contractors may deduct those expenses.

The result: a huge incentive for workers to convert to independent contractor jobs — especially if they can receive benefits like health care through a partner or parent.

Ironically, Republican lawmakers crafted this complex set of rules with the intent of trying to disincentivize employers from farming out their employees to be independent contractors.

“They claim they lowered the threshold to try and discourage employers rolling their employees out to be independent contractors and, in fact, it’s the opposite,” said Anne Zimmerman, a CPA and the co-chair of Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform. “They’re thinking backwards.”

“Your Uber driver is really making out, he’s going to get the full benefit. So is your [freelance] writer. She’s in good shape.”

That might seem like a win for those workers who want to lower their tax bill. But looking at the big picture, that’s not necessarily the case, as there are many ways in which a system that encourages workers to become independent contractors could end up screwing workers in the long run.

For starters, there are big benefits to being a full-time employee that may not be immediately clear to workers looking to lower their tax bill. Benefits like workers compensation, life insurance through work, access to a work pension plan or 401(k) and the ability to join or start a union are all contingent on being a full-time staffer.

A tax system that shifts individual incentives toward expanded use of freelance and contract agreements could prove detrimental to workers in the long run, who would never see these benefits, and their ability bargain collectively or make use of federal worker protections would be limited.

Also, a large-scale shift toward freelance work could completely upend the labor market as we know it, and push both workers and employers into uncharted new territory.

The shift could also drastically reduce federal revenues. Based on 2014 figures, around 97% of all workers make below $157,000. Not all of those workers could be in a position to become independent contractors, and therefore eligible for the 20% tax break. But many are.

If even a fraction of eligible workers converts to contract workers, the federal budget could take a major hit.

In other words, the tax bill could upend the fundamental structure of the U.S. economy, incentivizing workers to change their employment status for short-term gain at the expense of long-term job protections and funding for key social programs.

A.P. Joyce
By
A.P. Joyce
I cover politics and policy.


PASS-THROUGH BUSINESSES*

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/pass-through_taxation
Pass-through taxation
Definition
Refers to how individual owners of a business pay taxes on income derived from that business on their personal income tax returns. Pass through taxation applies to sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S-Corporations. This is opposed to traditional, or C-Corporations, where the company itself pays corporate taxes on income the corporation derives.


https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horatio-Alger
Horatio Alger
AMERICAN AUTHOR
WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

Horatio Alger, also called Horatio Alger, Jr., (born Jan. 13, 1832, Chelsea, Mass., U.S.—died July 18, 1899, Natick, Mass.), one of the most popular American authors in the last 30 years of the 19th century and perhaps the most socially influential American writer of his generation.

Alger was the son of a Unitarian minister, Horatio Alger, Sr., who tutored him in reading from the age of six. The young Alger showed an interest in writing, and at Harvard University he distinguished himself in the classics and graduated in 1852 with Phi Beta Kappa honours. After leaving Harvard, Alger worked as a schoolteacher and contributed to magazines. In 1857 he enrolled in the Harvard Divinity School, from which he took his degree in 1860. He then took a seven-month tour of Europe and returned to the United States shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War. During the war he was rejected for army service.

Alger was ordained in 1864, and he accepted the pulpit of a church in Brewster, Mass., but he was forced to leave in 1866 following allegations of sexual activities with local boys. In that year he moved to New York City, and, with the publication and sensational success of Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks (serialized in 1867, published in book form in 1868), the story of a poor shoeshine boy who rises to wealth, Alger found his lifelong theme. In the more than 100 books that he would write over 30 years, Alger followed the rags-to-riches formula that he had hit upon in his first book.

The success of Ragged Dick led Alger to actively support charitable institutions for the care of foundlings and runaway boys. It was in this atmosphere that Alger wrote stories of boys who rise from poverty to wealth and fame, stories that were to make him famous and contribute the “Alger hero” to the American language. In a steady succession of books that are almost alike except for the names of their characters, he preached that by honesty, cheerful perseverance, and hard work, the poor but virtuous lad would have his just reward—though the reward is almost always precipitated by a stroke of good luck. Alger’s novels had enormous popular appeal at a time when great personal fortunes were being made and seemingly unbounded opportunities for advancement existed in the United States’ burgeoning industrial cities. Alger’s most popular books were the Ragged Dick, Luck and Pluck, and Tattered Tom series. His books sold over 20 million copies, even though their plots, characterizations, and dialogue were consistently and even outrageously bad.

By the mid-1890s his health was waning, and Alger settled in Natick, Mass., with his sister Olive and her husband. He died there a few years later.

Alger, Horatio
Horatio Alger (right), photograph by Edgar Hayes, 1889.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
LEARN MORE in these related articles:
Garfield, James A.
James A. Garfield: Road to the presidency
…campaign biography literally written by Horatio Alger, he reached back to his humble beginnings as a “canal boy” for the slogan “From the tow path to the White House.” (“No man ever started so low that accomplished so much, in all our history,” said former president Rutherford B. Hayes



I JUST FOUND THIS VERY INTERESTING POST ON A FACEBOOK FRIEND’S ACCOUNT. READ CAREFULLY. IT’S WORTH IT.

Ted A Mendenhall shared No Puppet's post.
December 17 at 4:30pm ·
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A lot of people are going to try to convince you over the next few days that Robert Mueller is a bad man trying to destroy America. Here is who Robert Mueller really is….

• Born August 7th, 1944 in Manhattan
• Grew up outside of Philly
• Graduated High School in 1962
• Won award as school’s top athlete
• Went to Princeton
• Graduated with a degree in Politics in 1966
• Went to New York University
• Graduated with Masters in International Relations in 1967
• Partially in response to a friend getting killed in Vietnam he enlisted in the Marines in 1968
• Attended officer training at Parris Island
• Also attended Army Ranger and Army Jump School
• Was sent to South Vietnam where he served as a rifle platoon Commander
• In April of 1969 he was shot in the thigh, recovered and returned to active duty
• He earned the following medals while serving in Vietnam
o Bronze Star with Combat V; Purple Heart; Navy and Marine Corp Commendation Medals; Combat Action Ribbon; National Defense Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross…and several others
• He returned to America and earned his law degree in 1973 from Virginia Law School
• Worked for 3 years as a litigator in San Francisco
• Worked 12 years in the US Attorney Office
o Rose to chief of Criminal Division
• Moved to Boston to work as Assistant US Attorney
• Prosecuted financial fraud; terrorism; public corruption; narcotics conspiracies and money laundering
• Worked in Boston at a private firm until 1989
• Joined the US Department of Justice working on national security
• Worked on the following cases…Manuel Noriega; Pan Am Flight 103 and the Gambino Crime Family
• Moved between private and public service until 1998 when he was named the US Attorney for Northern California
• Bush (W) nominated him for FBI Director in 2001 and he was confirmed 98-0
• One week after taking the office came the 9/11 attacks
• He remained in office for 12 years…the second longest term in FBI history
• This long term required Senate Approval
• He was replaced at the FBI in 2013 by James Comey
• He had been teaching, speaking and consulting since 2013 when he was asked to run this investigation into Russian collusion

As a comparison…trump’s resume looks like this during those same years
• Sent to military school because of poor behavior
• Faked bone spurs and dodged draft
• Denied African-Americans housing for his daddy’s real estate business
• Lied
• Cheated
• Grifted
• Learned to Tweet
• Lied
• Cheated
• Grifted

Your choice really, whom to believe



YEARS AGO WHEN I FIRST READ ABOUT THIS IT WAS LISTED AS ONE POSSIBLE SYMPTOM OF SCHIZOPHRENIA.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8248589.stm
Can you see time?
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News
Page last updated at 12:18 GMT, Friday, 11 September 2009 13:18 UK

Imagine if you could see time laid out in front of you, or surrounding your body. And you could physically point to specific dates in space.

Important dates might stand out - birthdays, anniversaries. And you could scan a visible timeline - to check if you were available - whenever you made plans. No actual diary necessary.

According to Julia Simner, a psychologist from the University of Edinburgh, there is a reasonable chance you can. And that you may use the experience, unconsciously, every day.

Dr Simner studies synaesthesia - a condition caused by an unusually high number of connections between two areas of the brain's sensory cortex, making two senses inseparable.

Synaesthetes, as they are known, have experiences that might seem extremely strange to any non-synaesthete.

The extra connections might be between the brain area that processes colours and the area that processes language.


"One of the most common variants is called grapheme-colour synaesthesia," says Dr Simner.

"People with this variant know the colour of letters of the alphabet. So they know that the letter 'A' may be red. But not just any red, it's a certain shade of crimson. And B is turquoise-blue."

These colours are different from person to person, but for one synaesthete they are very consistent.

"If you are a synaesthete with a red A, your A has always been red and will always be red. And it's so intrinsic, that many synaesthetes never question whether this is unusual."

But synaesthetic experiences are not only triggered by a sensory experience - hearing a sound or reading a word that starts with at coloured letter - they can also triggered simply by thinking about things.

See the future

Synaesthesia timeline
The shape of each synaesthete's year is different. (Image based on an original illustration by Carol Steen)

In the case of time-space synaesthesia, a very visual experience can be triggered by thinking about time.

"I thought everyone thought like I did, says Holly Branigan, also a scientist at Edinburgh University, and someone with time-space synaesthesia.

"I found out when I attended a talk in the department that Julia was giving. She said that some synaesthetes can see time. And I thought, 'Oh my god, that means I've got synaesthesia'."

So what exactly does she see?


Holly Branigan
When I'm making plans I can look at my mental calendar
Holly Branigan, synaesthete
"For me it's a bit like a running track," she says.

"The track is organised around the academic year. The short ends are the summer and Christmas holidays - the summer holiday is slightly longer.

"It's as if I'm in the centre and I'm turning around slowly as the year goes by. If I think ahead to the future, my perspective will shift."

There are at least 54 different variants of synaesthesia and Dr Simner thinks this might be one of the most common ones.

"If you ask all the people at your work, or in your family, you're likely to find at least one person who has it," Dr Simner says.

Personal alphabet

Synaesthesia is a strange condition that has attracted a great deal of research. But its variety and complexity mean that the time-space variant is one of three types that has only been properly described within the last few years.

Two others are much rarer and perhaps even more bizarre.

Dr Simner explains: "There is one called ordinal-linguistic personification. So letters or numbers trigger, not colour, but the impression of a personality or gender.

"So, you don't know that number seven is green, but you know that it's a maniacal husband who comes home from work and shouts at his wife.

"You might not have a colour for Thursday, but you know that it's a young girl who has spent too long kept in the house and wants to break out into the world."

Another variant recently come to light is called mirror touch synaesthesia. This causes people to experience sensations of touch when they see other people being touched.

"So if I sat in front of you and scratched my nose, you would feel a scratch on your nose," explains Dr Simner. Psychologists have linked this to a greater sense of empathy.

MRI brain scan (SPL)
Brain imaging allows scientist to see what causes synaesthesia
And this is not the only emotional aspect of synaesthesia.

Synaesthetes often report that they actually enjoy things that match their own experiences.

"So if you have a red A, and I show you a picture of the letter A in red, you really like it," explains Dr Simner.

"But if I show you a green A, you hate it. I've had to change the colours of fonts on my power point slides in the past when giving presentations to synaesthetes."

Super-connected

"If you want to define synaesthesia in a purely neurological sense, it's just the predisposition to have extra pathways between areas of the brain," says Dr Simner. "And we can see those connections."

With FMRI scans (functional magnetic resonance imaging), researchers can watch activity in the brain - for example, seeing colour- and language-processing areas "light up" at the same time in a grapheme-colour synaesthete's brain.

And with a newer imaging technique, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), Dr Simner says you can "almost count the extra pathways".

"This tracks the movement of water molecules in the brain," she explains.

"We're still inferring the pathways from the image, but it's pretty clear. Where there are lots of pathways the water molecules, which normally move randomly, stop moving quite as much."

Power of the mind

Some types of synaesthesia interfere with everyday living. As one synaesthete told me recently, if someone says a word that tastes of roast beef whilst you're eating your strawberries, it can ruin a tasty treat.

But for those who have it, time-space synaesthesia can be useful, even fundamental to everyday life.

"When I'm making plans, I can look at my mental calendar," says Holly. "I always find it odd that other people don't have that."

And one particular case study caused Dr Simner to wonder whether time-space synaesthesia might be an advantageous thing to have.

She and her team became interested in a type of savant with a condition known as hyperthymestic syndrome.

"This is a savant whose amazing ability lies in their ability to recalling dates and events in time," she explains.

Researchers in the US wrote an article about their patient - a woman who displayed the condition.

"This person can tell you exactly what they were doing on any particular day of any year of their life," says Dr Simner.

"She can tell you which of her shoelaces she tied up first in 1974 on a Tuesday afternoon, what clothes she was wearing when she first ate a hamburger."

In a very small section of the study, the American team mentioned that this savant described how she could see time in space.

The average person recalled about 39 facts; the average synaesthete doubled that
Dr Julia Simner, Edinburgh University

"That jumped to me as someone with time-space synaesthesia, and I immediately asked: is the time-synaesthesia a necessary component of the savantism?"

Dr Simner and her colleagues Neil Mayo and Mary Spiller started to investigate this by testing and comparing the memories of synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes.

They designed a series of question and answer tasks that aimed to unravel the connection between the two conditions.

One of the tasks was to recall events from a given year in your life. Each participant was presented with a series of nine years from within their lifetime. For each year, they were asked to list things that they remembered from their own lives.

"Across all nine years, the average person recalled about 39 facts," says Dr Simner. "The average synaesthete doubled that."

One of the synaesthetes recalled 123 different facts within the time period.

"So the average person might remember that they went on holiday to America when they were seven," says Dr Simner. "This person would recall the name of the guesthouse, the name of the guesthouse owner and the breed of the owner's dog."

Synaesthetes also outperformed non-synaesthetes in tasks where they were asked to recall the dates of significant cultural or political events: What year did Nixon go to China? What year was Nelson Mandela released?

This remarkable difference showed the researchers that the average person with time-space synaesthesia does have an advantage when it comes to recalling events in time.

The team's next task is to find out if all savants - those with hyperthymestic syndrome - also have time-space synaesthesia.

But they are also testing synaesthetic tendencies in the general population.

They have already established that most people associate texture and shape with shades of colour. And most people have an intrinsic sense of the shade of different pitches of sound.

Through the research team's website, you can take part in a series of tests to find out if you are in fact a synaesthete.

If you find that you can see time, you might find it gives you impressive powers of recall. You could be a big asset for a pub quiz team, but you will have no excuse for forgetting your anniversary.


THESE STORIES OF DISASTER ALWAYS MOVE ME. LIFE IS FRAGILE. THE CAUSE OF THIS WRECK WILL PROBABLY FOUND IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, BUT THE HUMAN TRAGEDY IS THE REAL STORY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-costa-maya-bus-crash-americans-killed-royal-caribbean-international/

CBS/AP December 20, 2017, 10:57 AM
Mexico: 8 Americans killed in tour bus crash

VIDEO – CBS This Morning

Mexican officials on Wednesday confirmed that eight Americans were among those killed when a bus carrying cruise ship passengers on an excursion to Mayan ruins in southeastern Mexico flipped over on a narrow highway.

Two Swedes, one Canadian and one Mexican, who was the tour guide, were also among the dead in the crash that injured about 20 others, officials said.

"We express our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by this tragedy," a State Department official told CBS News. "We are in contact with local authorities, and will continue to monitor the situation. We have staff on the scene and at local hospitals to assist victims and loved ones."

CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez reports that the victims included a 78-year-old grandmother from Miami.

Several Americans were among the injured, said Vicente Martin, spokesman for the Quintana Roo state Civil Defense agency. Authorities had not yet established the nationalities of the dead.

The bus ended up on its side in vegetation along the two-lane road. Video taken after the crash showed some survivors lying on the pavement and others walking around. One body lay on the roadside covered by a white sheet or other object, as the crash scene was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement that passengers from two of its ships, the Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas, were on the bus. The company expressed its sympathies and said it was assisting with medical care and transportation.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it was aware of reports that several American citizens had been injured and U.S. officials were working with local authorities to assess the citizenship and identity of individuals involved in the accident. It said the U.S. Consulate in Merida was ready to provide assistance.

Martin said investigators were working to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred as the bus was on its way to the ruins at Chacchoben, about 110 miles south of Tulum.

The Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office reported that the fatalities were 11 tourists, including one child, and a Mexican tour guide.

"When we went by it, it was pretty horrible. The bus, the front windshield was entirely out. Like, some people had fallen through it," said witness Carrie Vanrenterghem.

She was traveling with her daughters back from the ruins when she came across the crash site.

"They were just traveling like we were, for you know, the holidays," Vanrenterghem said. "It's just hard to imagine their lives are gone."

It said in a statement Tuesday night that seven injured tourists had returned to their boat while 13 remained hospitalized, six of them in Tulum and seven in the city of Chetumal, near the Belize border.

The dead were being transferred to the forensics service for identification and subsequent notification of consular authorities.

Chris Brawley, a passenger on the Serenade of Seas, was on a bus headed to the same Mayan ruins when they came on the scene minutes after the accident.

It was shortly after 9 a.m. and a convoy of buses from the cruise port at Mahahual was headed to Chacchoben, he said. They had been on the road for about 35 to 40 minutes before the accident.

Brawly said the sky was clear and the road was dry and he didn't see any sign of another vehicle being involved in the crash, which happened on a narrow, two-lane road with no shoulder or guardrail.

He said he did not see the crash, but "the bus clearly lost control somehow as there were swerve marks all over the road surface."

Brawley, of Haslet, Texas, said his ship departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday for a seven-day cruise. They were in Roatan, Honduras, on Monday and were scheduled to be in Cozumel on Wednesday.

Michael Schuenemeyer, a minister from Cleveland, was on another bus that passed the crash about an hour later.

Tow trucks were lifting up the bus when they passed by, he said. "It was in pretty sad shape," Schuenemeyer said.

Costa Maya Mahahual, the bus company involved, said in a statement that in addition to the tourists, a guide and driver were aboard the bus.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


SHAME ON THE WAPO ARTICLE BELOW. I CAN’T FIND THE VIDEO ON IT. THE MUCH SMALLER ARTICLE BY INSIDEEDITION.COM DOES HAVE IT, THOUGH, SO GO TO THE “INSIDEEDITION” SITE HERE AND LISTEN. THEN READ THE LONGER POST STORY. AFTER THIS CHRISTMAS RENDITION, COME OTHER SUCH ACAPELLA SONGS BY VARIOUS SURPRISINGLY TALENTED PEOPLE ON INSIDEEDITION. I’M HAPPY TO HAVE FOUND THE SITE.

http://www.insideedition.com/media/videos/grocery-store-employee-wows-shoppers-christmas-carols-39140


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/12/19/this-grocery-store-worker-stunned-his-customers-with-his-operatic-rendition-of-o-holy-night/
Inspired Life
Grocery store worker stuns customers with operatic rendition of ‘O Holy Night’
By Allison Klein December 19 at 2:07 PM

Guilherme Assunção was working in the sandwich area at family-owned market Russo’s when he noticed that singers were setting up sound equipment over by the poinsettias. Russo’s, near Boston, had hired the singers to bring some holiday spirit to the store.

Assunção wandered over as the performers were testing the setup and offered to sing a song for them to equalize the sound. Okay, the guy said, as long as you can sing.

“Yeah, I can sing,” said Assunção, who was recently promoted from dishwasher and had worked at the market for four months.

With that, his operatic rendition of “O Holy Night” filled the store, stunning customers and passersby. Some grabbed their phones to record the moment.

“People told me the whole store stopped — even the employees stopped to watch me,” said Assunção, 23. “A lot of people were filming in front of me.”

The owner’s daughter called over her father, who was impressed, and asked whether Assunção would sing with the other performers the following day, Saturday. Assunção ended up singing with the group Sunday, too, bringing soulful renditions of “Hallelujah” and Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partirò” to customers at the store in Watertown, Mass.

Videos of Assunção’s grocery store serenades quickly made their way around the Internet, turning him into a singing sensation across the country and in his native Brazil.

“I called my family. They are going crazy,” Assunção said. “They are super happy.”

Before Assunção moved to the United States two and a half years ago, he starred in a high school production of “The Phantom of the Opera.” He was already in college, but his former high school let him join the production, which was so popular it would seat an audience of about 5,000 people nightly, Assunção said.

He moved to Utah to pursue dreams of a singing career but first took English classes and enrolled in some college courses. It became too expensive, and he heard about a job at a market near Boston and moved to Massachusetts. Russo’s specializes in produce, flowers, cheese and catering.

Assunção started taking business classes at a technical school but didn’t give up on his goal of someday attending Berklee College of Music and becoming a professional singer.

“I try to keep my feet on the ground, but I dream about a career as a musician here,” he said.

Though for today, he’ll be making sandwich deliveries for Russo’s.

“They’re amazing people here,” he added. “They’ve all been really supportive.”



WHEN I WAS YOUNG, NON-REPRESENTATIONAL ART WAS SCORNED BY MANY PEOPLE OVER 40 AND FROM AREAS WITH A POPULATION UNDER FIFTY THOUSAND OR SO, BUT NOWADAYS I BELIEVE MOST PEOPLE WILL COMMENT WITH PRAISE INSTEAD. WHEN I LIVED IN WASHINGTON DC, I WORKED AT NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY AS A DATA ENTRY OPERATOR. I MET THERE AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING AND FRIENDLY WOMAN WHO BECAME MY LIFELONG FRIEND. SHE LOVED ART (FOR ART’S SAKE), AND AFTER LUNCH WE WOULD GO UP AND DOWN THE STREET ON FOOT LOOKING IN ART MUSEUMS OR SHOPS. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD SPENT SO MANY HOURS LOOKING AT ART, AND THE FIRST EXPOSURE TO A VARIETY OF MODERNISTIC ART. I LIKE ANY ART, FROM FOLK ART TO THE WORK OF RECOGNIZED MASTERS. I HAVE TO CONFESS, I LIKE ONE KIND ALMOST AS MUCH AS THE OTHER. ART AND POETRY ARE THE OUTPOURINGS OF THE HUMAN SOUL, AND THAT ALWAYS PLEASES ME.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/art-gets-a-new-audience-thanks-to-instagram-selfies/
By JAMIE YUCCAS CBS NEWS December 19, 2017, 7:20 PM
Art gets a new audience thanks to selfies

LOS ANGELES - Every morning, there is a line outside The Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles. But the people there don't come to see the art. They're there to be seen with the art.

"I almost fell off my chair when I read we were the fifth most Instagrammed museum on the planet," said Joanne Heyler, the museum's founding director.

The initial release of Yayoi Kusama's "Infinity Mirrors" exhibit sold out in minutes, and crashed the museum's website.

Facebook: We know we're bad for your mental health, here's how to fix it
You won't learn much at the nearby Museum of Ice Cream. But 2,000 patrons a day pay $30 to pose like Beyonce.

"As soon as she like, showed me the pictures on Instagram, I was like, 'Oh we got to go'. We booked the tickets as soon as they became available," said one fan.

Selfie-obsessed fans of Taylor Swift posed at a pop-up in bird cages and a "Look What You Made Me Do" throne.

America's most Instagrammed landmarks, by state
Event spaces are also being created solely to drive the selfie economy. Critics would never call rubber duckies art, but at Happy Place, tickets are sold out until January.

1219-en-instagram-yuccas.jpg
Art used as a background for Instagram selfies
But Instagram can be a new high-tech canvas for artists like 88-year-old Kusama.

"It's fantastic that her work translates so well on social media, and yet there really is no replacement for seeing the works in person," said Heyler.

With more than 500,000 posts on Instagram, the way people experience the exhibit may be different, but the way they capture it is the same.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS WITHOUT A CONTRACT GIVING THE WORKER A GUARANTEED POSITION SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I’VE SEEN ANYTHING ABOUT AN EFFORT TO FIGHT THEIR LEGALITY, ALTHOUGH I AGREE WITH THE WRITER THAT IT IS OVERDUE. IN MY EXPERIENCE MOST COMPANIES DON’T USE THEM – MAINLY THE LARGE ONES WHO HAVE A TEAM OF LAWYERS WILL VENTURE INTO A COURT BATTLE.

ESPECIALLY IN A CASE LIKE THIS WHICH IS ONE OF PHYSICAL THREAT, THE CRIMINAL LAW SHOULD TRUMP THE TERMS OF A CONTRACT. I DO THINK THERE IS A TREND OF THE PUBLIC’S REBELLION AGAINST SUCH LAWS IN MORE WAY THAN ONE, BUT ESPECIALLY IN SEXUAL ABUSE CASES BY AN EMPLOYER. TEN YEARS AGO, PEOPLE WOULD HAVE LOOKED THE OTHER WAY AND WALKED ON BY. FOR SEVERAL REASONS WOMEN AND BLACKS ARE BEING GIVEN A GREATER DISTANCE NOW FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSAULTS; THE WOMEN ARE GETTING FEISTIER, THE COURTS MORE LIKELY TO SUPPORT THE WOMAN’S SIDE THAN WHEN I WAS YOUNG, AND THE MEN MORE ATTENTIVE TO THE FACT THAT WOMEN ARE PEOPLE, TOO. A RECOGNITION OF FULL HUMANITY IS WHAT WE NEED IN ALL STATUS RANKED ABUSE SITUATIONS, AND I THINK THERE IS PROGRESS NOW.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zelda-perkins-harvey-weinstein-former-assistant-speaks-out/
CBS NEWS December 19, 2017, 5:57 PM
Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein's former assistant, speaks out

Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, spoke to BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, breaking a non-disclosure agreement that she signed two decades ago. Perkins said that she wants gagging laws in the U.K. to be changed.

In the 23-minute exchange, available online, Perkins details her time working with Weinstein at Miramax, how she was warned of his reputation before she took the job with him, and how he conducted the bulk of his business in hotel suites.

"The last 19 years have been distressing, where I've not been allowed to speak, where I've not been allowed to be myself," she told BBC Newsnight. "It's not just distressing for me, but for lots of women who have not been able to own their past, and for many of them, their trauma. Although the process I went through was legal, it was immoral."

Perkins said she left Miramax after a co-worker accused Weinstein of trying to rape her, an accusation Weinstein denies. Perkins wanted to expose Weinstein's behavior but her lawyers said it would be difficult to take on the film mogul. In 1998, she signed a confidentiality agreement and was prohibited from speaking about her time at Miramax.

"She was shaking, very distressed, and clearly in shock," Perkins said. "She didn't want anybody to know and was absolutely terrified of the consequences. I spoke with her and tried to calm her down before confronting Harvey face to face."

In response to the interview, Paul Tweed issued a statement on behalf of Weinstein denying the allegations.

"Mr. Weinstein categorically denies engaging in any non-consensual conduct or alleged threatening behavior and will seek the protection of the U.K. or Irish Courts if you proceed with the broadcast of these allegations," the statement said.

Perkins is now calling for the U.K. to reform non-disclosure agreements and dismantle a legal system that she said enables the rich and powerful to cover up sexual assault.

CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman discussed Perkins' situation after she broke her silence in October. Klieman said there are two types of non-disclosure agreements and if either of them are broken there's a possibility of damages. In one, an employee can't disclose or disparage the company. In the second, a settlement exchange for keeping specific information a secret.

Klieman said if an employee breaks the agreement, they may be forced to give the money back.

Weinstein ex-assistant speaks out - BBC Newsnight by BBC Newsnight on YouTube
© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


MADDOW VIDEOS

LOOK AT THIS CHART OF DEMOCRATIC/REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR 2018 – REMEMBER SANDERS SEVERAL TIMES ASKING PROGRESSIVES AND DEMOCRATS TO RUN FOR OFFICE – ANY OFFICE AT ALL? WE CAN’T BE SURE, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE COUNTING OUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH, BUT IT LOOKS GOOD FOR A DEMOCRATIC SWEEP IN OFFICES FROM CITY COUNCIL TO GOVERNOR TO THE US LEGISLATURE. I’M TRYING TO DO THIS BLOG WITH MY FINGERS TIGHTLY CROSSED, SO FORGIVE THE TYPOS!

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/18/17
Exceptional number of Democratic House challengers await 2018
Rachel Maddow shows a chart of the number of candidates from each party challenging incumbents for a House seat, and the exceptional number of Democrats who are in the running for the 2018 election. Duration: 2:12


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/18/17
Clash expected as Trump legal team set to meet with Mueller
Sari Horwitz, Justice Department reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about an expected meeting between Donald Trump's legal team and special counsel Robert Mueller and the likely clash over contrasting perspectives on the investigation. Duration: 5:57


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/18/17
Mueller obtains Trump transition e-mails, Trump team freaks out
Rachel Maddow relays a new report from The Washington Post that members of Robert Mueller's Trump investigation team have said they expect to work well into 2018, bad news for Trump's legal team already freaking out over Mueller obtaining transition e-mails from the GSA. Duration: 3:38


DO WATCH THIS ONE.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/18/17
Republican attack on Mueller Trump investigation falls apart
Rachel Maddow looks at how the Donald Trump campaign was already having contact with Kremlin-connected Russians as the FBI warned them about exactly such outreach, and points out that the texting scandal Republicans have tried to whip up is not actually good for Trump. Duration: 16:59