45 Matching Annotations
  1. Last 7 days
  2. Jun 2023
    1. la carica di Pikolo, vale a dire di fattorino-scritturale, addetto alla pulizia della baracca, alle consegne degli attrezzi, alla lavatura delle gamelle, alla contabilità delle ore di lavoro del Kommando

      The character of Pikolo is introduced by listing his roles as part of the workforce and hierarchy in the camp.

      EB

    2. «perciò»

      The causative connector in inverted commas aims at highlighting the perverted logic regulating life in the Lager. Levi repeatedly noticed this disturbing lack of consequentiality, which prevented the prisoners from deducing from observation what the expected behaviour was, which in turn translated into a constant state of insecurity and danger: ‘ogni congettura è arbitraria ed esattamente priva di ogni fondamento reale’. Pikolo’s privileged condition follows another ‘fierce law’ of the Lager: ‘a chi ha, sarà dato; a chi non ha, a quello sarà tolto’.

      EL

    3. un allarme aereo

      Air raid sirens were a common occurrence in Monowitz from the summer of 1944. Air raids gave prisoners a chance to escape, to meet and speak to fellow prisoners, to steal food, to gain some respite from their labours and the torment of the Kapos. Some prisoners welcomed the air raids as a sign that the Third Reich was obviously nearing its end. The air raids also frightened their tormentors, the SS guards.

      There were large scale air attacks by the US Air Force against the I. G. Farben synthetic oil plant in Monowitz on 20 August, 3 September, 18 December and 26 December 1944, and on 19 January 1945, the day after the beginning of the evacuation of the camp. During the raid of 20 August, seventy-five prisoners were killed and a hundred and fifty injured; on 3 September, three hundred people, including SS and prisoners, were killed or injured. The high number of prisoner casualties was in part due to I. G. Farben employees forbidding prisoners to take cover in makeshift shelters.

      CM

      Subcamps of Auschwitz project

    4. rancio

      The system of rationing reached its extreme in the Nazi Lager. Nonetheless, Levi and many of his companions had already experienced the dilemmas of provisioning in the context of war and the violent repression enacted by the Salò Republic. This situation of scarcity and black market profiteering proved acute in the Valle d’Aosta to which Levi and his family had fled, along with many draft evaders and foreign Jews from the Balkans. When Levi joined his partisan comrades in the Col de Joux, they likewise experienced the challenges all partisans faced: how to safely secure supplies without alienating the local population or risking capture.

      PB

    5. la carica di Pikolo

      With the chapter ‘I sommersi e i salvati’, Levi introduces the theme of Prominenz into his reconstruction of life in the Lager. From here on, Levi highlights the web of political relations structuring the concentration camp, wherein power circulates despite and as a function of the persecutors’ will to domination (Forti 2014). A web of relations following the gregarious dynamics of the human--animal as ‘social animal’ (see the conviction ‘every stranger is an enemy’ in the Preface) tends to establish hierarchical forms of cohabitation.

      However, Levi also inspects such a ‘hierarchy of Prominenz’ from an ethical perspective: the ‘saved’ enter the circuit of Prominenz by assuming a certain ethical posture, that is, by calibrating their privilege either with solidarity towards their fellow inmates (such as Alberto or Lorenzo) or with a will to power and prestige that becomes blind towards his fellows’ oppression (such as Alfred L, Elias, Alex or Frenkel).

      Pikolo is no exception: like any other human figure of salvation in SQ, he is initially presented to readers for his ethical value. The first part of ‘Il canto di Ulisse’ describes Pikolo’s story of salvation: he obtained his privilege shrewdly as he understood the voids of power that could be filled with his collaboration. However, he does not use his privilege to increase the oppression of those located in the lower ranks, such as Levi, but works instead to share the advantages his higher position affords him. It is not by chance that Pikolo’s decision to ask Levi to help him to carry out a convenient job that day also, and unconsciously, creates the condition for one of the most intense and memorable dialogues of our literary tradition. If Dante’s verses could resound in Auschwitz and, with them, a moment of hope and mental wellbeing (‘it is doing me good’), it is because of a simple and small act of solidarity that we can never take for granted wherever privilege rules.

      SG

    6. il Pikolo

      In this same paragraph, the ‘Pikolo’ is said to be a ‘fattorino-scritturale, addetto alla pulizia della baracca, alle consegne degli attrezzi, alla lavatura delle gamelle, alla contabilità delle ore di lavoro del Kommando’, and three paragraphs later Levi adds that ‘la carica di Pikolo costituisce un gradino già assai elevato nella gerarchia delle Prominenze’.

      Whereas the other titles mentioned in this chapter - Vorarbeiter; Kapo - identify recognised positions within the hierarchy of the Lager, Pikolo, according to the testimony of Jean Samuel, was the invention of Primo Levi: ‘Pikolo was not a camp job. The term was coined for me by Primo Levi. I was the only Pikolo. Of course, all the Kapos had helpers, often very young people, sometimes as young as twelve, who served as their assistants, doing everything they asked, including prostitution. The Kapos’ lovers, their sexual victims, were called “Pipel”. I escaped all that’ (Samuel, Dreyfus 2015, 37; my translation).

      Jean’s testimony also raises questions about the spelling of this term. In a letter he sent to Levi on 13 March 1946, Jean signed his name with his title and identification number from Auschwitz, ‘Picolo ex 176.397’, amending the spelling to ‘Piccolo’ in subsequent correspondence (Franceschini 2017, 268). Moreover, Levi replied to Jean’s letter with a note dated 24 May 1946, attached to which was an early draft of ‘Il canto di Ulisse’, which differs in some ways from what would become the published version, including identifying Levi’s conversation partner as ‘Jean detto Piccolo', a spelling that corresponds to that adopted in the draft of the chapter that Levi sent to Anna Foa on 14 February 1946 (269). Beginning with the first edition of SQ, however, the spelling of Jean’s title was changed to ‘Pikolo’. Fabrizio Franceschini argues that Levi adopted this term, with its new spelling, from its common usage in northern Italian (and possibly also in Vienna in German usage) to refer to shop boys and other minor functionaries (272-79).

      CLL

    7. Vorarbeiter

      The Vorarbeiter, or foreman, was responsible for supervising the prisoners’ labour. This was a privileged position within the Lager, for which extra food rations were provided (Megargee 2009-2012, 200). A study of another camp reports that those ‘employed as foremen (Vorarbeiter) represented the most hateful attitudes towards Jews’ (4), a finding that might inform our understanding of Levi’s account of Auschwitz. In SQ, Levi discusses the Vorarbeiter in the chapter ‘Il lavoro’, where he explains the discriminatory power that the role affords: ‘Il Vorarbeiter ha distribuito le leve di ferro a noi e i martinetti ai suoi amici’ (OC I, 44).

      For confirmation of the violence with which this power was enforced, we can consult the archives of the United States Holocaust Museum, which contain the contents of a talk given to members of the French Army in October November 1945 in which the deportee Henry Cogenson testified that: ‘As for Kapos and Vorarbeiter, mostly German, Russian or Polish “common criminals”, they, like the SS, never knew when to stop; after having been hit by others when they were simple inmates, they returned the favor on their peers now that they were given a smidgen of power. It was rather common to bring back to camp in the evening a comrade who had been struck during the day and was unable to withstand the blows’. The Auschwitz Museum online hosts images of the armbands worn by the Vorarbeiter, and of the whips they used to beat prisoners. We might also compare Levi’s account with that contained in the Auschwitz survivor Tadeusz Borowski’s 1946 collection of short stories Pożegnanie z Marią (This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1967), wherein the Vorarbeiter Tadeusz is a frequent protagonist.

      CLL

    8. Passa Frenkel, la spia

      In developing the concentration camp system in the 1930s, amongst other methods, the SS used prisoner spies to undermine prisoner solidarity, and to uncover resistance and escape plans and other perceived prisoner infringements. The spies would be given increased food rations and other “luxuries” in return for supplying information on prisoners to Kapos or SS guards.

      Being a prisoner spy was not without risk. If the occasion arose, prisoners sometimes took the opportunity to rid themselves of a spy.

      CM

      Subcamps of Auschwitz project

    9. gamella

      Levi’s reference to the bowl is significant. The bowl was the most important possession of the concentration camp prisoner. No bowl, no food. If you lost your bowl or had it stolen, you either starved or stole somebody else’s bowl. At night in the barracks, you slept with your bowl safe in your hand or under your body.

      The bowl is life.

      CM

      Subcamps of Auschwitz project

    10. Passò una SS in bicicletta

      This sentence suggests Sunday afternoon bicycle rides and walks with family in bourgeois pre-war Germany. Levi’s subsequent use of the SS man’s first name in the next sentence (‘È Rudi’) also suggests a relatively relaxed atmosphere, as if Levi sees a friend on that Sunday afternoon ride or walk.

      The picture painted of a quant Sunday afternoon bicycle ride is highly ironic. By 1943, Germany was struggling to keep its armed forces and economy operating. There was a serious lack of fuel for the vehicles of the Wehrmacht and the factories of the Third Reich. Resort was made to the use of the horse and bicycle for transport, wood gas for powering automobiles, and, above all, there was rationing. Synthetic oil production was seen as an alternative to overcome the lack of access to natural resources, including oil. I. G. Farben, the giant German chemical conglomerate, took the decision in 1941 to build a synthetic oil plant at the village of Monowitz, near Auschwitz, utilising the slave labour from the Auschwitz camps and the local abundance of coal and water. As the war progressed and the fuel shortage worsened, the importance of the synthetic oil plant at Auschwitz surged. This was visible in the increasing number of Auschwitz prisoners assigned to work at the I. G. Farben plant, and the creation of a Monowitz sub camp of Auschwitz in 1942 and, subsequently, an independent camp, Auschwitz III–Monowitz in 1943. By 1944, ten thousand Auschwitz prisoners were housed at the concentration camp Auschwitz III–Monowitz, working solely for I. G. Farben.

      ‘Rudi’ is riding his bike as there is little petrol for vehicles, even for the SS and the concentration camps, and even at the plant supposedly producing synthetic oil.

      CM

      Subcamps of Auschwitz project

    11. Alex, il Kapo

      For Levi, Alex, the Kapo, was one of the most fearsome individuals in the Monowitz camp, even more so than the SS men. The SS had developed and honed the concentration camp system, starting in 1933 in Dachau. They developed the system to control and eventually break the prisoners. One of the methods used was to introduce camp prisoner functionaries who would have total powers over other prisoners. This had the benefits of reducing SS manpower needed to administer the camps but also of breeding division in the prisoner community.

      The Kapo was the most feared of all prisoner camp functionaries. He was responsible for prisoner roll calls, overseeing the prisoner barracks, and supervising the prisoners at work. He literally had power of life and death over the prisoners. The Kapos were originally chosen from the German criminals (‘green triangles’) incarcerated in the concentration camps from the 1930s. They were chosen for their brutality and because they were German, and therefore separate from Jews, gypsies, and foreign political prisoners increasingly incarcerated in the concentration camps from 1941. Later in the war, Kapos were also chosen from the other prisoner communities including Jews, who could be equally as brutal as the German criminal Kapos.

      Levi was correct to be afraid of ‘Alex, il Kapo’.

      CM

      Subcamps of Auschwitz project

    12. sigaretta

      Levi explores the economy of cigarettes and smoking in the chapter of SQ entitled ‘Al di qua del bene e del male', where he explains that ‘Mahorca’, a low-quality tobacco, is officially distributed in the canteen in exchange for the coupons provided to the best worker, but because those coupons are distributed infrequently and inequitably, the tobacco is also sold unofficially in the Market, ‘in stretta obbedienza alle leggi dell’economia classica’, with the resulting booms and busts in price (OC I, 200-01). Because it can be exchanged for more food rations, newer clothing, and other vital necessities, ‘[f]ra i comuni Häftlinge, non sono molti quelli che ricercano di Mahorca per fumarlo personalmente; per lo più, esce dal campo, e finisce ai lavoratori civili della Buna’. That Deutsch is smoking during this work detail is thus a sign of his status and position within the camp.

      CLL

    13. Häftling

      Levi introduces the term ‘Häftling’ (pl. Häftlinge), German for ‘detainee’ or ‘prisoner,’ in the chapter of SQ entitled ‘Sul fondo,’ wherein he recounts his arrival in Auschwitz, a camp designed to produce ‘un uomo vuoto, ridotto a sofferenza e bisogno, dimentico di dignità e discernimento’, so that ‘Si comprenderà allora il duplice significato del termine «Campo di annientamento»’ (OC I, 152). It is immediately after offering this reflection that Levi provides the term used to denote this ‘uomo vuoto’: ‘Häftling: ho imparato che io sono uno Häftling. Il mio nome è 174 517; siamo stati battezzati, porteremo finché vivremo il marchio tatuato sul braccio sinistro’ (ibid.). Later in the same chapter, Levi explains the distinction between ‘Häftlinge privilegiati’ and ‘comuni Häftlinge’ and describes how the various groups of prisoners are distinguished: ‘Tutti sono vestiti a righe, sono tutti Häftlinge, ma i criminali portano accanto al numero, cucito sulla giacca, un triangolo verde; i politici un triangolo rosso; gli ebrei, che costituiscono la grande maggioranza, portano la stella ebraica, rossa e gialla’ (OC I, 158).

      CLL

  3. Apr 2023
    1. Review coordinated by Life Science Editors Foundation

      Reviewed by: Dr. Angela Andersen, Life Science Editors Foundation

      Potential Conflicts of Interest: None

      Punch line: Rare risk variants associated with schizophrenia converge on the cAMP/PKA pathway.

      Why is this interesting? The cAMP/PKA pathway could be a mechanism & therapeutic target for neuropsychiatric disorders arising from different mutations.

      Background: * About 1-4% of people will develop psychosis or schizophrenia. * Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disease. * Genetic loci associated with schizophrenia can be common variants, which typically have small effects on risk, or rare variants, which can have large effects. * Rare, protein-truncating variants substantially increase the risk for mental illnesses like schizophrenia. * Disease-associated genes have diverse functions (e.g.): 1. RNA binding (RBM12) 2. transcriptional regulation (SP4, RB1CC1, SETD1A) 3. splicing (SRRM2) 4. signaling (AKAP11) 5. ion transport (CACNA1G, GRIN2A, GRIA3) 6. neuronal migration and growth (TRIO) 7. nuclear transport (XPO7) 8. ubiquitin ligation (CUL1, HERC1) ** What are the pathological mechanisms?* * A genetic screen identified the risk gene RBM12 as a novel repressor of GPCR/cAMP signaling (Semesta et al., PLOS Genetics, 2020). * Dysregulation of GPCR activity in the brain contributes to the pathophysiology of several neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. * cAMP is a critical second messenger that mediates all important aspects of neuronal function, including development, excitability, and plasticity.

      Results: * Use knockout HEK293 cells to verify that RBM12 is novel repressor of the GPCR/cAMP pathway that extends to multiple GPCRs coupled to the stimulatory G protein (e.g. dopamine 1 receptor, beta-2 adrenergic receptor). * Show RBM12 also represses this pathway in iPSC-derived neurons. RBM12 knockdown yielded hyperactive upregulation of NR4A1 and FOS mRNAs, two known CREB-dependent immediate early genes induced by neuronal activity. * RBM12 loss leads to increased PKA activity and supraphysiological CREB-dependent transcriptional responses. * RBM12 loss increased expression of the endogenous β2-AR transcriptional target mRNAs, PCK1 and FOS. * RBM12 loss increased CREB transcriptional reporter expression in response to a panel of endogenous or synthetic β2-AR agonists.<br /> * Transcriptional responses are orchestrated from endosomal β2-ARs in wild-type cells but from both plasma membrane and endosomal β2-ARs in RBM12 knockout cells. * Their results suggest that cAMP production and transcriptional signaling are independently subject to RBM12 regulation. * The neuropsychiatric disease-linked mutations fail to rescue GPCR-dependent hyperactivation in cells depleted of RBM12. * Defined β2-AR-dependent transcriptional targets in “wild-type” and RBM12 knockdown neurons by differential expression analysis between each respective basal and isoproterenol conditions. 669 unique β2-AR-dependent transcriptional targets across the two cell lines. * Discerned β2-AR-dependent targets that were exclusive to wild-type or RBM12 knockdown only (qualitatively distinct targets) versus targets that are in wt and RBM12 kd but upregulated to different extents (quantitatively distinct targets). * 21 wild-type- and 115 RBM12 knockdown-specific target genes. Factors involved in synaptic plasticity and schizophrenia such as JUN, ARC (encoding the activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein), BDNF, and NRXN3 (encoding the cell adhesion molecule neurexin-3-alpha) were induced by GPCR signaling only in RBM12 knockdown neurons, while GRIA2 (encoding the AMPA receptor) and CBLN2 (encoding cerebellin 2 precursor) were upregulated upon GPCR signaling only in wt neurons. * the remaining 533 genes were induced in both wt & RBM12-depeleted, with a trend toward RBM12-dependent hyperactivation. * loss of RBM12 leads to aberrant expression of ADCY, PDE, and PRKACA, suggesting this mechanism underlies the hyperactive GPCR/cAMP/PKA signaling phenotypes.

      Discussion: * Dysregulation of GPCR signaling could contribute to the neuronal pathologies stemming from loss of RBM12. * RBM12 function is required for normal cAMP production downstream of many Gαs-coupled receptors with established roles in the nervous system consistent with dysregulation of cAMP/PKA pathway. Specifically, the entire repertoire of targets, many of which orchestrate processes essential for neuronal differentiation, gene reprogramming, and memory and learning, shows a trend towards hyperactivation in RBM12 depleted neurons. * Over 100 genes are induced in response to receptor stimulation only in the knockdown (e.g. ARC and BDNF, with crucial roles in synaptic function, plasticity, and learning. * RBM12 could act through other mechanisms, given that RBM12 knockdown neurons also affects the expression of genes involved in neuron differentiation, synapse organization, and neurogenesis. * A study on post-mortem brains of patients with bipolar affective disorder demonstrated elevated levels of the PKAcat subunit Cα in temporal and frontal cortices compared to matched normal brains. * A different report on patient-derived platelet cells found that the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase was significantly upregulated in untreated depressed and manic patients with bipolar disorder compared with untreated euthymic patients with bipolar disorder and healthy subjects. * Mutations in the schizophrenia risk gene histone methyltransferase SET domain-containing protein 1 A (SETD1A) also led to transcriptional and signaling signatures supporting hyperactivation of the cAMP pathway through upregulation of adenylyl cyclases and downregulation of PDEs. This in turn resulted in increased dendritic branching and length and altered network activity in human iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons.

      Beautiful follow up to their PLOS Genetics paper, and compelling pathological mechanism in combination with the recent SETD1A Cell Reports paper.

      Future work: * Does loss of RBM12 increase dendritic branching and length and alter network activity in human iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons (e.g. does it phenocopy loss of SETD1A). * Does pharmacologically targeting the cAMP pathway rescue the phenotypes caused by loss of RBM12? * If RBM12 is ubiquitously expressed, why is the disease neuronal? What is the relevant GPCR/neuronal mechanism? * How does RBM12 affect the abundance of the transcripts encoding the GPCR/cAMP effectors? * Do mutations in any of these other rare risk genes converge on GPCR? (transcriptional regulation (SP4, RB1CC1), splicing (SRRM2). signaling (AKAP11). ion transport (CACNA1G, GRIN2A, GRIA3), neuronal migration and growth (TRIO), nuclear transport (XPO7). ubiquitin ligation (CUL1, HERC1))

  4. May 2022
    1. One of its main features is “local only posting,” which gives users the option of not federating their posts.

      One of the main features of Darius Kazemi's Hometown, a fork of Mastodon from 2019, is that it allows "local only posting". This gives the users an option to post their content only with a small, limited group of people instead of spreading it widely outside of their social group. In addition to helping to tummel a smaller conversation this also prevents those who are more likely to suffer from context collapse of the groups social norms from engaging and potentially souring the conversation.

      This feature could also be well leveraged for small private classroom conversations between teachers and students without leaking their personal/private data or conversations that ought to be small as they learn.

      Could also be fun to limit the level of federation to the level of an academic department, academic discipline, or even a university. How might one define a group or groups of publics within Mastodon so that one could choose a level at which to share their content?

  5. Mar 2022
  6. Oct 2021
    1. Regenerative Ventures

      Out of the Trimtab Space Camp course with the Buckminster Fuller Institute in which we were exploring world building with Tony Patrick, Langdon Roberts, Jeremy Lubman, Elsie Iwase, and I gathered to think about how we could become involved in regenerative ventures. This was our initiative, in which we met weekly to think about how we manifest who we are as a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. The thought was that architecture grows out of values, principles, and intention.

    1. Shiva exposes the 1%’s model of philanthrocapitalism, which is about deploying unaccountable money to bypass democratic structures, derail diversity, and impose totalitarian ideas based on One Science, One Agriculture, and One History.

      The same topic is covered by Anand Giridharadas in Winners Take All and by Amy Westervelt in her podcast Drilled exploring the history of public relations.

      We had the privilege of interacting with Vandana Shiva in the Trimtab Space Camp course, focused on regenerative agriculture, offered by the Buckminster Fuller Institute.

      Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer, and science policy advocate, is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International.

      The recipient of many awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) and the Sydney Peace Prize, she has been named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek.

      She is a prolific writer and author of numerous books and serves on the board of the International Forum on Globalization, and a member of the executive committee of the World Future Council.

    1. Sallie McFague

      The World as God’s Body

      I was watching a video in a Trimtab Space Camp on regenerative agriculture featuring Vandana Shiva. She said, “It all begins with food, because food is the currency of life.”

      I connected this thought to Sallie McFague, who writes in The World as God’s Body about embodiment and incarnation.

      Jesus’ eating stories and practices suggest that physical needs are basic and must be met — food is not a metaphor here but should be taken literally. All creatures deserve what is basic to bodily health. But food also serves as a metaphor of fulfillment at the deepest level of our longings and desires. The Church picked up and developed the second metaphorical emphasis, making eating imagery the ground of its vision of spiritual fulfillment, especially in the eucharist. But just as the tradition focused on the second birth (redemption), often neglecting the first (creation), so also it spiritualized hunger as the longing of the soul for God, conveniently forgetting the source of the metaphor in basic bodily needs. But the aspects of Jesus’ ministry on which we have focused — the parables, healings, and eating stories — do not forget this dimension; in fact, Jesus’ activities and message, according to this interpretation, are embarrassingly bodily. The parables focus on oppression that people feel due to their concrete, cultural setting, as servants rather than masters, poor rather than rich, Gentile rather than Jew; the healing stories are concerned with the bodily pain that some endure; the eating stories have to do with physical hunger and the humiliation of exclusion. None of these is primarily spiritual, though each assumes the psychosomatic unity of human nature and can serve as a symbol of eschatological fulfillment — the overcoming of all hierarchies, the health and harmony of the cosmos and all its creatures, the satiety of the deepest groaning and longings of creation.

      (The Meaning of Life in the World Religions, page 296)

  7. Sep 2021
  8. Aug 2021
    1. Want to Write a Book? You Probably Already Have!

      Patrick Rhone

      video

      Paper is the best solution for the long term. If it's not on paper it can be important, if it's not it won't be.

      Our writing is important. It is durable.

      All we know about the past is what survived.

      Analogy: coke:champaign glass::blogger:book

      Converting one's blog into a book.

      "The funny thing about minimalism is that there's only so much you can say."

      Change the frame and suddenly you've changed the experience.

    2. Sketchnotes by Chad Moore and Chris Wilson

      https://vi.to/hubs/microcamp/pages/chad-moore-and-chris-wilson?v=chad-moore-and-chris-wilson&discussion=hidden&sidebar=hidden

      Sketchnotes are ideas not art.

      Squiggle birds - take squiggles and give them beaks, eyes, and bird feet. (Idea apparently from Austin Kleon.)

      How you might take notes if you'd never been told how to.

      • There is no particular app or platform that is the "right" one.

      Common elements:

      • Headlines and sub headlines are common
        • Elegant text / fancy text
      • Icons
      • containers - ways of holding information together
        • this can be explicit or via white space
      • flow of information (arrows)
      • arrangements or layouts of how information is displayed
        • top to bottom, circles, columns, stream of flow of ideas
      • people
        • emotions, perhaps using emoji-like faces
      • shadows, highlights

      Icons

      Simple can be better. Complexity may make understanding more difficult.

      Examples

      A few they pulled off of the web

      Sketchnote Selfie

      Goal: Create an info rich portrait with character. Portrait, name, info, location, passions, hobbies, interests, social usernames, now section, etc.

  9. Apr 2021
    1. These results suggest that the elevation of the cyclic AMP levels is involved in the development of morphine withdrawal syndrome and that blockade of the morphine-induced reduction of cyclic AMP levels by chronic rolipram inhibits the development of dependence and the behavioural and biochemical changes induced by naloxone. Furthermore, rolipram may be a useful drug for attenuating the development of morphine dependence.

      Excellent. This implies that theobromine may help prevent opioid tolerance.

  10. Mar 2021
  11. Aug 2020
    1. Szablewski, C. M., Chang, K. T., Brown, M. M., Chu, V. T., Yousaf, A. R., Anyalechi, N., Aryee, P. A., Kirking, H. L., Lumsden, M., Mayweather, E., McDaniel, C. J., Montierth, R., Mohammed, A., Schwartz, N. G., Shah, J. A., Tate, J. E., Dirlikov, E., Drenzek, C., Lanzieri, T. M., & Stewart, R. J. (2020). SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and Infection Among Attendees of an Overnight Camp—Georgia, June 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(31). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6931e1

  12. May 2020
  13. Oct 2019
    1. “I saw Eto.” “That jerk. What'd he do? Spit on you?” “Yeah, how did you know?” “We got troubles, but that crud's got more and ain't got sense enough to know it. Six months he was in the army. You know that? Six lousy months and he wangled himself a medical discharge. I been hearin' about him. He ever try that on me, I'll stick a knife in him.”

      the tension between the Japanese culture grows after the war

    2. Ichiro regarded the bottle skeptically: “You drink all this?” “Yes, tonight.” “That's quite a bit.” “Ya, but I finish.” “What are you celebrating?” “Life.”

      the change in Japanese mannerisms after the interment lead to thins like abuse of drugs

    1. Meanwhile at Microsoft's GitHub, employees at both companies have objected to GitHub's business with ICE, not to mention Microsoft's government contracts. Employees at Amazon have also urged the company not to sell its facial recognition technology to police and the military.
  14. Aug 2019
    1. Portfolios, for example, can be constructive if they replace grades rather than being used to yield them. 

      The problem is, in our current educational system, schools and universities try to have their educationally progressive cake and eat it too. Portfolios are used to show how much a school values the process, but then they continue to play the traditional game by grading the product.

    2. It’s not enough to replace letters or numbers with labels (“exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” and so on).

      Report cards are simply not a progressive tool - using labels rather than numbers attempts to mask the authority of the report card with progressively-themed measurements.

    3. To address one common fear, the graduates of grade-free high schools are indeed accepted by selective private colleges and large public universities — on the basis of narrative reports and detailed descriptions of the curriculum (as well as recommendations, essays, and interviews), which collectively offer a fuller picture of the applicant than does a grade-point average.

      And good old SAT scores too, I imagine. I do think it's important to question the level of privilege and understanding of how to self-advocate within a system that is necessary in order to break rank from the traditional gate-keepers. That's why I mention the SAT scores above - students can go to a gradeless school - which makes them look progressive, innovative and motivated - and still get all the private tutoring to pass SATs and have the traditional cache needed for elite institutions.

    4. Even a well-meaning teacher may produce a roomful of children who are so busy monitoring their own reading skills that they’re no longer excited by the stories they’re reading.

      I am concerned by the use of "monitoring" in this sentence - the author seems to be suggesting that "well-meaning teachers" are training students to compare themselves and wonder "how good they are" as they read. In fact, monitoring as a reading skill is a strategic element of metacognitive regulation. (Flavell, 1979, 1987; Schraw & Dennison, 1994, in TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 4, Metacognitive Processes, Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education) Readers are taught to occasionally monitor their understanding of a text as they read (Do I still understand what's going on?) to ensure overall comprehension. Kohn worries that students will monitor themselves out of their reading enjoyment - but students can't enjoy what they are reading if they can't understand the text.

  15. Jan 2017
    1. The area, comprising about one square mile, is enclosed by a concrete wall seven feet high and covered with barbed wire.

      This camp seems very small and it's not a good place to be kept when its cramped with a lot of people.

    2. The German press has repeatedly announced that great numbers of prisoners have been released and that several of the concentration camps have been closed.

      After a period of time the German press announced that numbers of prisoners were released and some of thr camps had been closed.

  16. Feb 2015
    1. the original link has disappeared

      Actually it turns out we've had some kind of backup which brought at least the foundations back online.

      Happy to link back to it again!