Mallard ducks have taken refuge on the grounds of the National Geographic Society in the District, where the staff has constructed a ramp for the chicks to enter and exit the fountain in the courtyard.
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A National Geographic production
The Alzheimer’s Society says the NHS should offer dementia checks when people reach 75, to ensure early diagnosis leads to the proper care and support.
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Dementia checks at age 75 urged
Consortium News Editor’s Note: The leadership of the Republican Party has now almost fully embraced the extreme theories of “free-market” economics — the desirability of shrinking taxes on the rich, shrinking regulations on corporations and shrinking government social programs that improve the lot of the average citizen and the health of the society. read more
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At War with Community Responsibility
Pop star turned academic Professor Brian Cox and comic actor Miranda Hart are double winners at the Royal Television Society Awards.
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Double RTS wins for Cox and Hart
Found portraits turn darkly humorous with explicit additions In his latest show, frequent Cool Hunting contributor, emerging artist and medical doctor Jonah Samson delves even deeper into his sardonic figurative work. Known for his dark sensibility and cryptic sense of humor, Jonah’s work ranges from constructed photographic dioramas to intimate Polaroids, all hinting at underlying explicit sexuality and violence. ” Paintings from the Archives of the Pleasantville Historical Society ” sees the the artist adding his own twist to vintage photographs found on eBay. A skilled painter as well as a photographer, Jonah infuses the classic portraits with fatalistic comic elements, creating completely new stories for characters who have long passed on with humorous subtitles for the works. For example, Samson’s description for the painting below reads “Blake’s renewed fondness for cocaine was to be the ruin of yet another Mahoney family portrait.” Truly striking and at times hilarious, the work can be seen at the Gibson Gallery from now until 16 April 2010.
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Paintings from the Archives of the Pleasantville Historical Society
The Cathedral Choral Society performed Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” with awkward stops and starts.
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Music review: ‘Missa Solemnis’ with missteps from Cathedral Choral Society
Daniel Engber pushes back on the absurd notion that the problem with fat kids is that as a society, we haven’t made it clear how disgusting we find them: This idea–that we’ve gone soft in more ways than one–has come up again and again in Slate’s effort to crowdsource a remedy for overweight children. “Schools should actively stigmatize being fat,” writes one member of the Hive; “few things are more terrifying to a kid than being an outcast.” Another declares, “We need to stop telling children to ‘love themselves the way they are.’” A third suggests that the government take custody of any child with obese parents, as a way to “get both parents and children motivated to exercise and eat healthy.” These proposals are so plainly ill-advised, so thoroughly at odds with the available evidence on the causes of obesity, and so utterly detrimental to the welfare of our children, that I can only indulge in the fantasy that they’re meant as satire. Let’s be realistic, though: They’re not. And their presence in the Hive–among many other suggestions, to be sure–reflects the danger of equating a child’s health with the shape of his body. Obviously, these suggestions are quite extreme, and absurd–as Engber points out, it’s not as if kids started getting fatter because our society became so much more welcoming of body fat. But some variant of it is very common when we discuss “education” as a way to combat obesity (childhood or otherwise). The problem is not that overweight people are unaware that society would be nicer to them if they would eat less and get thinner. And even quite young children know which foods are fattening–which is how they know to torment fat kids they catch eating them. When you emphasize that “obesity” is a huge social problem, what you are saying, whether you want to or not, is that fat people are a huge social problem. I’m not sure that’s a message you want to make extra-sure to send to kids who are already getting quite a lot of negative messages from their peers. And I’ve seen little compelling evidence that you can make people substantially thinner by telling them how awful it is to be fat. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be striving for much healthier school lunches and more exercise in the day. But it seems to me that we frequently mix “healthy” up with “thin”. Most people who switch to eating an actual healthy diet–little processed food, a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, less salt and sugar–won’t end up thin. Most people who exercise won’t lose much, if any weight without calorie restriction. And most people who try to restrict their calories below what their body wants fail over the long term –eventually, their appetite wins. Maybe it’s true that it really is different if you can get to kids before they get fat. But the best evidence so far seems to show at best small improvement . If you tie up being thin with health–or with having good self-control–I think you’re actually hurting your chances of persuading kids to adopt healthier lifestyles. If the real goal is to be thin, as I’d say it mostly is when people talk about getting “healthy”, then people who don’t achieve the weight they want are going to give up on the healthy part.
The Presbyterian Church is seeking a High Court ruling to allow it to donate to the Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS) bail-out.
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Church in court over PMS bail-out
Actors David Tennant and Jim Broadbent are nominated for best actor at this year’s Royal Television Society Programme Awards.
Tory chairman Baroness Warsi accuses Labour MP Stella Creasy of a “cheap” smear after she says the Big Society is so vague it could include the KU Klux Klan.
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Big Society Klan claim ‘shameful’
Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby is given a lifetime achievement prize at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) journalism awards.
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Lifetime award for David Dimbleby
Note from your host, James Fallows: The Atlantic is a big-tent operation, with writers and editors here disagreeing over the years on issues large and small. To illustrate the large questions: before the invasion of Iraq, some members of our staff strongly advocated the need for war; others of us argued that it would be a mistake. These days opinions obviously vary about the Administration’s health-care plan, the right way to think about the budget problem, many aspects of policy in the Middle East, and so on. On a less cosmic level, while my colleague Jeff Goldberg and I see eye-to-eye on most matters involving airport security and the TSA — as shown here in our joint interview with John Pistole of the TSA — we disagree affably but fundamentally about the “menace” posed by small airplanes. He made his “they’re a big threat!” case in the magazine here . I explained why I thought he was wrong here , and Lane Wallace, in a guest-blogger stint, did so here . Alan Klapmeier, who has flown airplanes since he was a teenager and was a guiding force in creating what is now the world’s most popular small propeller plane, begins his guest stint with a similar argument below. Jeff Goldberg is a tough guy and can take disagreement, but I’m sorry for the unintended appearance of piling on. Jeff would no doubt say that the three of us are biased, since we enjoy the freedom of the small-plane aviation system that he considers threatening. Biased we no doubt are. But this “bias” could also be called “familiarity,” and in different ways we have been saying that if you know how the small-plane system actually works, you realize it has many safeguards not apparent at first glance. That is, its defenses are “security stealth,” rather than “security theater.” With that prelude, I give you Alan Klapmeier. Happy to hear responses from Jeff Goldberg at any point. I appreciate Jim giving me a chance to participate in his multiple author blogging sessions. I’ve enjoyed reading many of the other blogs and hope that people will enjoy reading these as well. Of course we should all recognize that a blog is simply a collection of opinions, some more informed than others. As I talk about general aviation you can assume that after working in this industry and being a pilot for over 35 years, I have some basis for what I think. As I stray away from General Aviation it becomes “just” my opinion. Having said that I think that well thought out opinions have tremendous value in this discussion of the world around us. (More about opinions vs facts later.) Since I work in the aviation field, it’s seems natural that I would begin these blogs by discussing Mr. Jeffery Goldberg’s article “Private Plane, Public Menace” in last month’s Atlantic. It also won’t surprise anyone that I take great exception the piece. I don’t have my copy of the magazine with me (yes, I am a subscriber) to refer to, but I don’t remember it being labeled as satirical entertainment. Instead, I recall an unfortunate hatchet job on an entire industry with hints of jealousy and class warfare thrown in to add flavor. “Public Menace” — Really? Does Mr. Goldberg actually mean that General Aviation is a “Public Menace” as in recklessly endangering the public. I hope not. The definition of General Aviation is everything that is not military, scheduled airline service or regular air cargo flights. Thus the word “General”. It includes the Goodyear Blimp, medical flights, law enforcement, sailplanes, forest fire control, flying to see your grandparents, banner towing, parachuting and power parachutes, bush flights, sightseeing flights, traffic watch for your local media, flight training, personal transportation and, of course, business aircraft. It does not include private cars, private seats on the train (you know, the one you paid for), private bicycles, private skateboards, private shoes, etc. Personal transportation aircraft and business jets are two of the more common types of general aviation aircraft. They both provide a level of flexible, time efficient transportation that many more people should experience. They provide value. Yes, business jets are more expensive than most airline travel. Yes, personal transportation aircraft (think propeller) are more expensive than most automobiles. Yes, automobiles are more expensive than bicycles… you get the idea. Value is not just about cost. It is the relationship between cost and benefit. Mr. Goldberg’s style to describe “general” aviation as a “euphemism” for private is his first attempt to play class warfare to get the reader emotionally ready for the “menace” that is general aviation. It is a purely pejorative use of the word “private” that is meant to indict an entire industry as an unesessary perk. (More on General Aviation later as well.) But of course buried behind the style is Mr. Goldberg’s assumption that what General Aviation is a potential threat (Really?) that needs TSA guards and metal detectors at every GA airport. Would this be practical? Would it be effective? As unfortunate as any accident is, we have been able to see the results of several General Aviation aircraft crashes into buildings through the years and the lesson is that little damage can be done and while nearly always fatal to the occupants of the airplane, few lives are lost on the ground. Bigger, faster, GA aircraft exist, but they are few, and the security is progressively tighter with size. Yes, I have seen screening at GA airports as the local university football team awkwardly lines up through a small office lobby before being allowed out to the charter flight for the big game. The opposite approach, where “one size fits all” for transportation security would destroy our economy and our freedom. One could make the argument that to be truly secure from the threat of terrorism we must remove all potential threats (where “potential” means hypothetical). The result would be no trucks on the road, guards and electronic controls on all trains, check points every few blocks for automobiles, and random searches of anyone seen walking. And of course, anyone means everyone since the security forces would not be allowed to use any judgment… I mean profiling. Yes, I know this is all ridiculous, but I thought one good hatchet job deserves another. Since I have never met Mr. Goldberg, and generally don’t follow his writing, it is just as likely that he is smart guy who cares a lot about his chosen profession and the world around us, and just missed on this one. The news media has tremendous power in our society. They should show tremendous responsibility as well. Alan Klapmeier is founder of Cirrus Design Corp co-founder and CEO of Kestrel Aircraft.
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Blogs and Public Menace
It is apparent that in order to put more than 2.3 million people behind bars and keep them there, while simultaneously building a prison guard/police arm of the state that numbers in the millions, courts must make credible findings that an enormous number of American citizens are violent, dangerous, and worthy of extended imprisonment. Such a goal requires creativity in redefining what is “dangerous” to our society and why the incarceration of so many people is in the national interest. read more
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How Courts Avoid Doing Justice
David Cameron will say it his “mission in politics” to make the Big Society succeed – amid claims the policy is being wrecked by spending cuts.
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PM launches Big Society fightback
The UK prime minister David Cameron has defended his Big Society policy, denying that it is a “cover” for government spending cuts.
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VIDEO: Cameron defends his vision of Big Society
Paintings from the Archives of the Pleasantville Historical Society
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011Music review: ‘Missa Solemnis’ with missteps from Cathedral Choral Society
Monday, March 14th, 2011
