- Behold the universal appeal of governments allowing
themselves to pry into the private lives of their citizens with impunity. The
Man loves snooping into the daily existence of its constituents and Turkey is
no exception. That’s why a Turkish parliamentary committee is debating a government proposal to
increase the powers and immunities of the nation's spy agency. If approved, the
proposal would be merely the latest in a long line of moves aimed at
undermining and diminishing democracy in the EU-membership aspiring country.
This particular proposal is currently before the internal affairs committee on
the heels of a massive wave of contentious measures introduced by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, including legislation that
increases government controls over the Internet and the judiciary. In short,
Erdogan is going full-on dictator and seeking to stamp out the free speech,
privacy and basic rights of his people and make sure that they have no
retribution against such invasions. Amidst the growing list of offensive
actions by the government, this latest piece of proposed legislation might be
the most egregious. It would grant Turkey's National Intelligence Agency
greater eavesdropping and operational rights and access to personal data without
court orders, essentially creating an independent and autonomous entity that
can spy on citizens without any checks or balances. To ensure that this happens
with no monitoring, the proposal would allow for jail terms for journalists
publishing leaked documents. Also, the spy agency would not be prosecuted for
its actions without the prime minister's permission. This far-reaching proposal
is expected to reach the floor next week and for anyone hoping to keep even a
shred of freedom and privacy in their lives, that is a terrifying thought……..
- This one hurts. The Dutch are normally super-cool people
and the sort of folks with whom you’d like to find a coffee shop in Amsterdam,
buy a couple of fatties and smoke it out while talking about windmills, tulips and
the music of Peter, Bjorn and John. They are generally chill and kind, not at
all like the loudmouthed ignoramus who coaches their national speedskating
team. Meet Dutch
speedskating coach Jillert Anema, who clearly has the most narrow and oblivious
view of sports possible. Anema’s team won 21 of the country's first 22 medals
on the speedskating ovals at the Winter Olympics in Sochi and with the United
States claiming exactly zero medals in the sport while lamenting a possible
design flaw with the team’s new uniforms, Anema seized the occasion to light up
the entire American sports culture. "You have a lot of attention for
foolish sport, like American football," Anema said. "You waste a lot
of talent, athletic talent, in a sport where it's meant to kill each other, to
injure each other. (The U.S.) is so narrow-minded, and you waste a lot of good
talent in a sport that sucks.” Nice try, Jill. Your misguided rant might even
make an impact…if you weren't talking junk on behalf of speedskating.
Suggesting that American football isn’t a great sport might make sense if
someone was trying to claim that soccer was better, given that virtually every
country not named the United States loves soccer more than anything else, but
making the same argument in support of speed skating is just pathetic. If this
really is Anema’s argument, then he’s the one who sucks. He also made the point
that the best American athletes compete in sports such as basketball, where
they can only win one medal isntead of 22. That may be true, but one gold medal
in a sport people actually give a damn about beyond the three weeks of the
Olympics every four years matters a hell of a lot more than 22 medals in a
sport where the majority of the world’s sports fans can't name a single
competitor………
- Why do some people remember their dreams vividly while
others can't recall what happened in their subconscious while they slept?
Researchers at the French National Institute of Health and
Medical Research (INSERM) sought and answer to this question and examined brain activity
in the two types of dreamers to determine the cause for the distinction between
the groups. The researchers identified more activity in the
temporo-parietal junction (the "information-processing hub" of
the brain) in people who tended to remember their dreams. "Increased
activity in this brain region might facilitate attention orienting toward
external stimuli and promote intrasleep wakefulness, thereby facilitating the
encoding of dreams in memory," the team wrote in its findings. In the
study, so-called "high dream recallers" woke up twice as often as
"low dream recallers" during the night and had brains that were more
reactive to auditory stimuli. It is possible that this higher sensitivity is
linked to the higher level of wakefulness, thereby allowing individuals to memorize
their dreams periodically throughout the night. To monitor brain activity, the
researchers used Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Participants were divided
into two groups; the "high dream recallers" who remembered their
dreams 5.2 mornings of the week, and "low dream recallers" who only
remembered their dreams twice a month. Those in the high-recall group also
showed a higher spontaneous activity rate in both their medial prefrontal
cortex (mPFC) and in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), which is responsible
for directing a person’s attention toward external stimuli"High dream
recallers are more reactive to environmental stimuli, awaken more during
sleep, and thus better encode dreams in memory than low dream recallers. Indeed
the sleeping brain is not capable of memorizing new information; it needs to
awaken to be able to do that," said researcher Perrine Ruby. Ruby
also noted that there is a chance high-volume recallers dream more than their
low-volume peers, but at least those in the low-volume group have less chance
of creeping someone out by uttering the words, “I had a dream about you last
night”…….
- Life is all about seizing opportunities. A 13-year-old
Girl Scout in San Francisco understands this truth at a young age and should be
getting credit, not hate, for cashing in on an opportunity presented by the
love of ganja in her area. Danielle Lei may be young, but she’s old enough to
understand that when stoners get baked, they come down with a bad case of the
munchies. Based on that understanding, Lei and her mother set up shop outside a
local medicinal marijuana clinic this week, armed with boxes of Thin Mints,
Do-Si-Do’s and various other varieties of the baked treats the Girl Scouts are
known for. Mother and daughter sold their cookies outside The Green Cross and
in a matter of two hours, they racked up a whopping 117 boxes sold. Carol Lei,
Danielle’s mother, explained that she typically has her daughter and fellow
scouts sell cookies at various points around San Francisco so they can learn
about different environments while earning money for their troop. The Green
Cross gave its permission for the Leis to sell cookies outside their business
and the decision was beneficial for both sides, as Danielle Lei sold 37 more
boxes there than she did the next day when she appeared at a local grocery
store. Carol Lei claimed the occasion was more than a chance to gouge stoners
for cookies they were virtually powerless to resist, labeling it a chance to
educate her daughter on why some people use pot as medicine while others use it
to get baked. “You put it in terms that they may understand,” Carol Lei said.
“I'm not condoning it, I'm not saying go out in the streets and take marijuana
[...] It also adds a little bit of cool factor. I can be a cool parent for a
little bit.” Sadly, other members of Danielle's Girl Scout troop haven't done
business outside medical marijuana clinics, but that should change soon and not
just for this particular group of girls. With 20 states having legalized
medicinal marijuana and two having legalized it for recreational use, this is a
golden chance for Girl Scouts across America to send their profit margins
soaring………
- Wow…no one could have seen this one coming. CBS has made
the wholly unexpected decision to create ANOTHER spin-off from the “CSI”
franchise. It’s something the network has never done before and this shocking
news came seemingly out of nowhere. The new show, which does not have a title
yet, will be produced by “CSI” masterminds Jerry Bruckheimer and Anthony
Zuiker. Unlike existing spin-offs “CSI: New York,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: Boise,”
“CSI: Topeka,” “CSI Omaha” and “CSI: Fargo,” the new show won't be about the
analysis of blood, hair, fingernails and other physical evidence from crime
scenes. It will feature Avery Ryan, a special agent at the Cyber Crime Division
of the FBI who tracks faceless criminals who are committing crimes with the
touch of a button. In the world of this new show, technology has allowed
criminals to plan their crimes digitally and then carry them out in the real
world. To provide as much of a boost for the show as possible, CBS will plant
the seeds for it in an upcoming episode of “CSI.” In addition to the big names
of Bruckheimer and Zuiker, the show will also bring along familiar faces Carol
Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue, who will executive produce. Part of the inspiration
for the series comes from the woman who will produce the pilot, Mary Aiken.
Aiken’s own work as a cyberpsychologist will serve as the basis from which the
series builds. With the first two “CSI” spin-offs already off the air
and the shelf life of the franchise’s main cog dwindling rapidly, this is a way
of keeping one of the longest-running and most successful dramas in recent
television history alive for a while longer………
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