Season 2, Episode 7 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Happiness in Black America

A new poll released Tuesday by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that the overwhelming majority of black Americans (86 percent) said they were satisfied with their lives. Nearly 60 percent said they would eventually achieve the American dream of financial security and homeownership. A little more than half of those polled (53 percent) said they felt their lives had gotten better in recent years.

A surprising finding was the desire for a long-term relationship. Only about one-third of respondents in the "prime marrying cohort" (18-49 years old, and either never married, divorced, or widowed) said they were looking for a long-term relationship. Of those, significantly more men than women wanted a relationship - 43% of men and 25% of women.

I think this survey helps dispel some of the myths and negative stereotypes about black Americans. It also shows that are very optimistic. I wish I had that kind of optimism! I would be very interested to see how some of these statistics compare to various subsets of the American population - by race, by age, by gender, by economic status. I wonder how many other subgroups of Americans have an 86% satisfaction rate with their lives?

Sources: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/06/04/188301149/new-survey-takes-a-snapshot-of-the-view-from-black-america
http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/surveys_and_polls/2013/rwjf406076

Words No Longer Allowed in My Presence #2: boots on the ground

Admittedly, this is a phrase, not a word. But it's my blog and I make the rules, so phrases are allowed.

I get it - we don't want to send troops to Syria. Just say that. I don't understand why you won't. Is this a euphemism that is supposed to somehow ease the minds of constituents?

Oh, I understand now. You're incapable of thinking independently. So when one person uses a phrase that you think is innovative, you parrot it ad nauseum. Got it. This is why I have such great faith in our politicians and the future of our country.

Suggested alternatives:

• troops
• ground troops
• soldiers
• soldiers in country
• military ground invasion

Season 2, Episode 6 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Travel Warning for Those Traveling to Turkey from......Syria?

The Syrian government has issued a traveled warning to its citizens, cautioning them against traveling to Turkey because of the unrest there.

In the words of Marco Wehrman, "Pot calling the kettle black, much?"


Source: PRI's The World with Marco Wehrman, 6/3/2013

Season 2, Episode 5 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Mel Brooks Doesn't Care for Dubya

Mel Brooks was offered Kennedy Center honors in early-mid 2000s. However, feeling that he had enough awards already (he's an EGOT - winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony) and not being a particular fan of then-president George W. Bush, he demurred. He told the Kennedy Center that he'd really prefer to receive their honors from another president, and asked if they could hold off a few years. They obliged. He was honored by the Kennedy Center on December 5, 2009.

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/20/182609040/mel-brooks-i-m-an-egot-so-i-don-t-need-any-more

Source: David Bianculli's interview with Mel Brooks on 5/20/2013, Fresh Air with Terry Gross; interview taken from the PBS American Masters documentary "Make A Noise"

Season 2, Episode 4 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Anti-Rape Bra

Three Indian engineering students have created an "Anti-Rape Bra." When pressure on the bra exceeds a set threshold, the bra delivers a strong electric shock (3,800 kw) - not enough to kill a person, but enough to cause serious burns and intense pain. The bra also contains GPS and GSM - when triggered, it will send a text message to the girl's parents and the police, and the GPS will give them the woman's location. The wearer can control whether those features are turned on or off to prevent unintended injury in crowded areas (awkward....).

The three students - Manisha Mohan, Niladhri Basu Bal, and Rimpi Tripathi - received the 2013 Gandhian Young Technological Award for their invention. While they have been approached by investors interested in buying the Anti-Rape Bra, they have so far refused to sell. They want the device to be accessible to the masses, not just rich women.

See a picture of the Anti-Rape Bra on the Facebook page for the BBC World Service's program "Outlook."

Source: Interview with Manisha Mohan, Outlook, BBC World Service, 5/7/2013 (episode named for primary story, "Ahmed Errachidi: My Five Years at Guantanamo") (relevant interview begins at 17:17)

Season 2, Episode 3 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Crazy Anarchist Makes Undetectable Guns Accessible to All

Cody Wilson and his organization, Defense Distributed, have used an $8,000 three-dimensional printer to create a plastic gun which has been successfully fired. He plans to release the blueprints, which would allow anyone to print their own, on the internet this week. The gun, called The Liberator, contains a useless 6 oz piece of metal (easily left out) in order to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act.

Mr. Wilson is a radical libertarian and anarchist. “This is about enabling individuals to create their own sovereign space…The government will increasingly be on the sidelines, saying ‘hey, wait'. It’s about creating the new order in the crumbling shell of the old order.” His organization has already released 3D blueprints for 30-round magazines to be used with AR-15 and AK-47 rifles. They've also released a video of a 3D-printed "lower receiver" for an AR-15 (the lower receiver is the regulated part of the gun - all the other pieces can be easily ordered by mail, avoiding any applicable gun laws) that can fire hundreds of rounds without failing. "I recognize that this tool might be used to harm people. But I don’t think that’s a reason to not put it out there. I think that liberty in the end is a better interest."

Warning: Opinion Explosion follows

Not many people can afford an $8,000 3D printer - at this point, it's easier to go to a gun show, since any criminal or domestic abuser or violent schizophrenic can buy a gun there, no problem (thanks, NRA! Don't worry about the 90% of us who supported extending background checks to gun shows - we never thought you were fighting for anyone except gun manufacturers and extremists anyway). But it's Defense Distributed's goal to make this weapon manufacturable on the $2200 3D printer. So eventually, this will be economically feasible for many people.

My first thought when I heard about this was gangs. Many gangs would have the money from drug sales to buy their own 3D printers. While the weapon created by Defense Distributed is not particularly accurate, that does not seem to have historically been a priority for gangs. The barrel can be swapped out in seconds, so 3D printing a few hundred may be an economically advantageous option for gangs.

When anarchy reigns, I hope Mr. Wilson is alive to see all of the death, destruction, starvation, violence, and pain that he helped bring about. I hope he is alive to see his friends and family suffer because he had a crush on a few dead philosophers who thought destroying society would provide the most benefit to humankind. Let me remind you, Mr. Wilson, of a few of the things that we will no longer have when "the crumbling shell of the old order" caves under pressure from people like you:

- the law school you attend

- the library where you found the works of Camus, Foucault, and Milton

- the border patrols that keep Mexican drug gangs from taking over your home in Austin

- the laws and police force that keep your 3D printer from being stolen

- the standards for medical schools and doctors that prevent you from being treated by someone who doesn't know what they're doing when you accidentally shoot yourself in the foot with your 3D-printed gun

- the roads you drive on to get to your mom's house, your law classes, your "workshop", and the test grounds where you fired your weapon

- the courts in which you will practice when you graduate

This is just a handful of the many, many things you will lose should your goals be achieved. Along with the lives of thousands of people. I hope that when you're sixty, or forty, or twenty-eight, you're proud of what you've achieved at the ripe old age of 25.

Season 2, Episode 2 of What I Learned on NPR Today: Holocaust Revenge Squad

During and after the Holocaust, Jews formed Nakam groups, or revenge squads. These groups attacked Germans to avenge their families and friends in concentration camps and mass graves. During the war, they would blow up supply trains, burn bridges, sabotage rail lines, and attack German soldiers. 

Paradoxically, after the war ended, their need for revenge got even stronger as they learned the true scope of the Holocaust. A plot to poison the water supply in major German cities (to kill Germans on the same scale on which Jews had been killed) was foiled, but the groups succeeded in poisoning the bread at an American prison for German POWs - Stalag 13. Nearly 2,000 prisoners fell ill, and while there are no official numbers on how many died, estimates range from a few hundred to a thousand.


Source: "Member of a Jewish Holocaust ‘Revenge Squad’ Tells Story," PRI's The World, May 3, 2013  http://www.theworld.org/2013/05/member-of-a-jewish-holocaust-revenge-squad-tells-story/