ATC: Neighborly Lending In The Digital Age : NPR

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In these difficult economic times, many Americans are wary of buying items they'll use just once or twice and then store in the garage.

But for those times you really need a hedge clipper, bread maker or camping stove, there's a social networking site called NeighborGoods.net.

The site is an inventory of items users are willing to lend.

And it helped Web developer Jory Felice of Los Angeles find a mouse to borrow so he could test out a 20-year-old Apple computer he'd found at a garage sale.

"I thought, 'You know what, I could probably go to eBay and find one, but I don't want to pay, like, weird computer collector prices for something that I may not decide that I really want," Felice says.

Felice logged in to NeighborGoods.net and searched for the old-school mouse. Sure enough, a fellow user in nearby Hollywood had just what he was looking for and was willing, via NeighborGoods, to lend it out for free. So Felice drove over to his apartment to pick it up.

"And he had a bunch of friends sitting out on the front porch kind of watching him do this weird deal in the driveway in front of his apartment. But it's a great mouse, and it looks beautiful," Felice says.

Helping A Neighbor Out

Google Maps indicates where users near you have everything you might need: from steam cleaners and sewing machines to tiki torches and tents.

And then, says NeighborGoods founder Micki Krimmel, there's the goofy stuff. One guy is lending out egg-laying chickens.

The site started locally in Los Angeles, but now has users nationwide sharing $1 million worth of goods."His thinking was maybe someone would like to try it out, see how it goes for a weekend before making the commitment, so he put his chickens up on the website," Krimmel says.

Though users can charge deposit or rental fees, Krimmel says most people are happy to lend for free, just to take pleasure in helping a neighbor out.

She adds that the site promotes sustainability by reducing waste — and it saves people money.

"Whenever you add an item to the site, we ask you: 'How much did you pay for it?' And then whenever you lend that out, it tracks how much money you've saved for yourself, and also how much money you saved for your neighbors," Krimmel says.

When you borrow something, NeighborGoods will send an e-mail congratulating you on saving, for example, $200 on that electric lawnmower. They'll also ask you to contribute 5 percent of that amount back to the site to help keep it running.

A Sense Of Community

So far, it's worked.

Zsolt Katona, who specializes in e-commerce at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, says the site operates on a sound principle — that people don't want to buy things they don't have to. But he adds that users may be reluctant to lend their items to a complete stranger.

"Like eBay, a lot of people were very concerned about the sellers at the beginning. But with the rating system, it's kind of a reliable way of telling if the seller is reliable or not," Katona says.

NeighborGoods does have a rating system much like the one on eBay. And even better than eBay, users meet each other in person to exchange and return goods.

User Felice says meeting online and then in person not only provides confidence in the transaction, it also promotes a sense of community — something almost unheard of in the car culture of Los Angeles.

"We all have this notion that neighbors should be able to knock on your next-door neighbor's door and ask for a cup of sugar, right? But I've never done that, and I would feel completely like a freak asking someone for sugar," Felice says.

To date, Felice has proudly saved fellow Angelenos more than $200 through NeighborGoods. He's also been able to get to know people who live in his community — and that, he says, is priceless.

Vocabulary: Write some definitions of what you think these words might mean. Also note some other words you were unsure of and write your guess about what they mean.

Store


Old school


Fellow


Deposit


Contribute


Community


Reluctant


Freak

Discussion

1. Do you have a good relationship with your neighbour? Why/why not? Tell us about your relationship with your neighbour.
2. What kinds of things do you do with your neighbour?
3. Do you have a sense of community where you live?
4. What does community mean to you? How and when do you get that feeling?
5. Do you think this kind of website would be popular in Korea? Is there one already?

ATC Class For Kids Of Cartographers, Digital Mapping Class Is In : NPR

Transcript

Listen here.

You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

Thirteen thousand cartographers, geographers, social scientists and city planners descended on San Diego last week for a conference on digital mapping. They create and use sophisticated mapping technology for all manner of things these days to respond to emergencies, improve mass transit services, chart rates of disease in communities.

The children of the conference attendees were also in on the learning experience, as Lisa Napoli reports.

LISA NAPOLI: Ballroom D looks like any other windowless ballroom in any other convention hotel...

(Soundbite of laughter)

NAPOLI: ...except for the fact that it's tricked out with giant, cardboard cutouts of cartoon forests and animals, and flat-panel computer screens. Welcome to high-tech geography camp.

Ms. ROSEMARY NORHEIM: We're making a map to show where there's suitable pastures for cattle and sheep...

Unidentified Child: For cattle and sheep.

Ms. NORHEIM: ...to go and graze and live when there's an emergency.

NAPOLI: Eleven-year-old Rosemary Norheim of Seattle is working with her partner through the first assignment: drawing a digital map to show which parts of the San Juan National Forest in Colorado are safe for grazing animals. This software is a version of what her father, an environmental research scientist, uses in his work.

Making a digital map, the class leaders say, is like making a sandwich -a layering of pictures and data. Instructor Colin Childs says while children grow up today with GPS in the car, they need to learn how those maps get made.

Mr. COLIN CHILDS (Instructor, Digital Mapping Class): It's our job to try and build the connection between what they use these days, together with what they should know about map reading and about the - the kind of doing analysis and stuff, and asking questions.

NAPOLI: This is fifth grader Kovid Tallum's second year at camp. His favorite aspect of this map-making process is personalizing it.

Mr. KOVID TALLUM: For me, most of all what I like is the legend. You get to change everything on the map with - just one color can change the whole map.

NAPOLI: After a snack break, Kovid and the other kids are clicking through the prompts on their screens for their next assignment: to reconstruct Mount St. Helens before its eruption.

Using 3-D mapping technology and a worksheet, they build out the layers of the volcano. Soon, all the computer screens are lighting up bright orange and yellow and green, and everyone's virtually navigating the digital mountain landscape with their mouse.

Mr. TALLUM: Oh, so that would be the - this would be the forest and that would be the (unintelligible) river.

Unidentified Woman: Mm-hmm.

Mr. TALLUM: Okay. Now, we can see the actual elevations here. Oh, so that would be the lowest of what they're seeing. This little strip of yellow over here is the second lowest.

NAPOLI: Waiting in the wings for his sons is Jason Duke. He's a geographer with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Tennessee. Here at the conference, he's presented maps he's made using this kind of technology, to chart the fate of birds affected by the spill in the Gulf.

He said the disaster is the perfect reason for his kids to learn what he does and why maps are so important.

Mr. JASON DUKE (Geographer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service): Everything now is so visual. Everything has a map - from MapQuest to Google Maps to all the maps we're producing with this software for the oil spill. And of course, you can show your children a lot, but they always believe you more when it comes from someone else.

NAPOLI: And maybe they respect you more, too. Here's Duke's 9-year-old son, Carter.

CARTER: Now I know why he's so tired when he gets home.

(Soundbite of laughter)

NAPOLI: For NPR News, I'm Lisa Napoli.

Vocabulary: Match the vocabulary word with it’s correct defenition

Cartographer Sophisticated Attendee Tricked out Suitable Graze Reconstruct Waiting in the wings

1.     Equipped with (usually something fancy/expensive) 2.     To eat low vegetation such as grass 3.     To make again 4.     Ready to come in as soon as it is one’s turn 5.     A person who studies maps 6.     Very complicated and possibly sensitive 7.     A person who is a present at an event 8.     Matching the requirements

Discusssion

1.     When was the last time you used a map?

2.     What did you use it for? Was it digital or paper?

3.     When was the last time you used a paper map?

4.     Are a good navigator?

5.     What are some ways you think GPS has changed your life?

6.     Are there positives to using a paper map over GPS?

Cruel Logic: Ideas Have Consequences

ATC Class: China's Censors Reign in 'Vulgar' Reality TV Show

BEIJING — When viewers tuned into China’s most popular dating show this spring, they saw beautiful women, brutal rejections and plenty of money worshiping, as when a female contestant was asked by a possible date whether she would like to go for a bicycle ride.

“I’d rather sit and cry in the back of a BMW,” she said.

Or when another woman, asked for a handshake, responded: “Only my boyfriend gets to hold my hand. Everyone else, 200,000 renminbi per shake,” or about $29,475.

Such witticisms made “If You Are the One,” produced by Jiangsu TV, the most watched reality television program in the country. Then the censors started watching.

Late last May, central government propaganda officials issued a directive calling the shows “vulgar” and faulting them for promoting materialism, openly discussing sexual matters and “making up false stories, thus hurting the credibility of the media.”

So the dating show, and others like it, got a makeover. Gone are fast cars, luxury apartments and boasts of flush bank accounts. Now the contestants entice each other with tales of civic service and promises of good relations with future mothers-in-law. One show now uses a professor from the local Communist Party school as a judge.

China’s television programmers are not far behind their Western counterparts in tapping demand for salacious entertainment. But that tends to conflict, sooner or later, with official notions of propriety and taste in China, which are a lot further behind.

“Traditionally for the government, there are several functions of the television industry,” said Ouyang Hongsheng, a media professor at Sichuan University. “Entertainment is last.”

Although all television stations are still state-owned, stations owned by provincial governments now compete with one another for ratings, national cable distribution and advertising revenue. The profits from these stations go back to local agencies, so provincial-level officials often think more about padding their budgets than enforcing decorum in the public media.

Still, central government propaganda officials reserve the right to intervene. And the minders in Beijing have no financial stake in the shows.

Since its debut in January, “If You Are the One” has been at the center of the storm. Each episode is like a game, as 24 women are presented with a parade of eligible bachelors. The men are subjected to abrasive questioning and ego-deflating sound effects of rejection. The entire process, 30 minutes in taping, is edited down to about 10 minutes on screen. The result is what might happen if the “The Bachelor” and “The Gong Show” produced an offspring with attention-deficit disorder.

Before the changes, the courtship tended to focus on financial matters, and the decisions were swift and ruthless. Personal introduction videos were stamped with “owns car, house” (or the unfortunate opposite) on the bottom half of the screen.

During one precensorship episode, a woman said to a potential 33-year-old suitor, “You say you’re good at what you do, but then how can you still just be a salesman?”

Another contestant, the 20-year-old son of a wealthy businessman, showed off his multicolored sports cars and bank statements that indicated a balance of six million renminbi (about $884,000).

Ma Nuo, 22, the woman who professed to prefer crying in a BMW over riding a bike, denied in an interview that she thought too much about money. She said the producers played up her comment for publicity. “I only wanted to reject him, but in a creative way,” she said.

China Curbs ‘Vulgar’ Reality TV Show - NYTimes.com

China Curbs ‘Vulgar’ Reality TV Show - NYTimes.com

ATC: Fresh Air Interview: Psychiatrist Daniel Carlat - 'A Psychiatrist's Prescription For His Profession' : NPR

Listen and read the full article here.

Two years ago, psychiatrist Daniel Carlat wrote a piece in the New York Times Magazine called Dr. Drug Rep, in which he told his story of being paid to push the anti-depressant Effexor to his colleagues.

Carlat joins Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies today to talk about his new book, called Unhinged: The Trouble With Psychiatry. But the book isn't just concerned with the influence of drug companies in the profession.

Carlat believes in prescribing medication, but he says too many psychiatrists have all but abandoned talk therapy — leaving in-depth interaction with patients to others — while they pursue medical fixes for mood problems and mental disorders.

"Based on a survey of psychiatrists throughout the United States [conducted by Columbia University], it turns out only 11 percent of all psychiatrists now offer therapy to all of their patients," he explains. "So essentially, 1 out of 10 psychiatrists are really doing psychotherapy on a regular basis."

He says time and billing constraints have also made it difficult for psychiatrists to integrate in-depth sessions back into their practices.

"I have hundreds of patients. And if I start to do one-hour therapy sessions with most of my patients, I am going to have to kick patients out of my practice because I won't have time to see them," he says. "So it's been difficult and I've had to do creative things where I don't do one-hour therapy sessions, I might do 45-minute therapy sessions or half-hour therapy sessions so I can still fit a fair number of people into my practice while performing what I would consider a better quality of psychiatry."

Daniel Carlat was trained at Harvard and is on the faculty of the Tufts Medical School. He edits a monthly newsletter called the Carlat Psychiatry Report.

How a diagnosis is made

"It's very hard to make a psychiatric diagnosis and we're not talking about a diagnosis where we can get a blood scan or a brain scan or an X-ray. At this point, all of those types of things are research tools although we certainly hear a lot about them in the media. We do our diagnoses based on the kind of interaction that you and I are having right now. We have a conversation and I ask my patients questions about how they're feeling, what they're thinking, how they're sleeping, what their concentration level is, what their energy level is, and I put all of those pieces of information together and then I come up with a diagnosis based on the DSM guidebook that we have. And then once we have a diagnosis, I match those symptoms up with a medication. So modern psychiatry is really a conversation, a series of symptoms and then a matching process of medication to these symptoms."

On communication between a patient's psychiatrist and therapist

"Often we don't really get that much information. Presumably the psychiatrist and the therapist would be communicating frequently on an ongoing basis but ... these situations come up with alarming frequency when you split the treatment up between a psychopharmacologist and a psychotherapist.

On conclusive evidence in psychiatry vs. other fields

"We don't have any direct evidence that depression or anxiety or any psychiatric disorder is due to a deficiency in serotonin because it's very hard to actually measure serotonin from a living brain. Any efforts that have been made to measure serotonin indirectly — such as measuring it in the spinal fluid or doing post-mortem studies — have been inconclusive. They have not shown conclusively that there is either too little or too much serotonin in the fluids. So that's where we are with psychiatry. ... In cardiology, we have a good understanding of how the heart pumps, what electrical signals generate electricity in the heart. And due to that understanding, we can then target specific cardiac medications to treat problems like heart failure or heart attacks. Again, based on a pretty well worked out knowledge of the pathophysiology — again not perfect, but pretty well worked out."

Vocabulary: Match the appropriate word with the meaning

To push Unhinged Prescribing Disorders Constraints Diagnosis Psychopharmacologist Anxiety Post-mortem Cardiology Pathophysiology

1.        The study of drugs affecting the brain 2.        To promote or sell something 3.        A feeling of unease/stress 4.        A method of finding out what medical problem a person has 5.        To become crazy 6.        Giving a specific course of treatment or medicine 7.        Some things which are wrong with someone 8.        Something preventing something from moving/happening 9.        The study of the heart 10.    The study of the physical/chemical processes of diseases 11.    Something after death, usually an examination

Questions:

1.      What is the most surprising thing you found after reading this article?

2.      Do you trust psychotherapists and/or psychiatrists?

3.      What do you think about the drug industry in Korea?

4.      Do you believe in psycho-pharmaceuticals? Why or why not?

5.      Are you worried about this trend in treating mental problems with drugs?

ATC Class: Disaster 101: Preparing Students For A Scary Future : NPR

Disaster 101: Preparing Students For A Scary Future : NPR

When classes resume in the fall, the University of Maryland University College will be offering several courses in understanding terrorism, including "Counterterrorism" and "Terrorism, Antiterrorism and Homeland Security." Utah Valley University in Orem is looking for an assistant professor of emergency services. Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., advertises that its environmental engineering majors will be equipped to tackle such frightening issues as global warming, acid rain and pollution.

More American colleges are offering classes that teach students to deal with a shrinking and increasingly dangerous world. Whole programs — anti-terrorism, emergency management, cybersecurity, environmental pollution control — are designed to prepare students for lucrative careers battling the things that scare us.

"Traditionally," says Gregory L. Shaw, co-director of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management at George Washington University in Washington, "emergency management has been primarily a second or later career for professionals from the first-responder community — fire, police and emergency medical services — and military personnel."

In 1994, there were four university-level emergency management programs in the U.S., according to Shaw. Today there are more than 150 and another 30 currently in development or approved. And, Shaw adds, his graduating students seem to be finding jobs.But, he says, "more and more, careers in emergency management ... are becoming a first career for younger people entering the job market."

Attackademics

There is a raft of reasons for the proliferation of security-related courses. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 established a dozen Centers of Excellence at universities and research laboratories around the nation. The centers were asked by the feds to increase the nation's understanding of various aspects of dangerous threats, including explosives, chemical and biological attacks, the behavioral side of evil and other alarm-bell issues.

The centers receive millions of dollars from the federal government each year to sustain and enhance their programs. According to a July 2010 report from the Heritage Foundation, "Academic institutions have become a core member of the national homeland security enterprise."

The Heritage Foundation report points out that emergency management and homeland security education programs teach students the key skills needed in emergency situations. The programs promote tried-and-true techniques that are useful for dealing with — and even avoiding — domestic emergencies. They encourage academics to develop applicable research in security-related areas. And, according to the report, "besides educating students, training current professionals, and fostering research, academia assists in homeland security planning and exercises and the sharing of best practices.”

When life gives you lemons, secure the lemonade stand.Other factors feed into the increased number of programs. Continued unrest and hostilities around the globe create a sense of instability and danger that call for expanded roles of security corporations and emergency management organizations. Economies are faltering; the environment is threatened; technologies make waging war from long distances more possible. The media microscope focuses our attention on one cataclysm after another — the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the earthquake in Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher in 2010. As natural and human-made disasters abound, we look for fast-responders and problem-solvers.

At Purdue University, courses in homeland security are woven in among various disciplines. "Our goal is to ensure the engineer, political scientist or management graduate can consider homeland security issues and make appropriate decisions in their fields to improve overall public safety," says James Eric Dietz, director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute."All of our students have secured jobs in their fields of study using the homeland security training as differentiators from other students."

Will brain fitness games help me stay mentally sharp? - The Globe and Mail

Find the full article here.


It is the quintessential middle-aged worker’s bugbear – you start to notice subtle changes in your memory, concentration and other cognitive abilities and become anxious about your work performance and job security, and maybe even about early signs of dementia.

Scientific evidence in the past 20 years has shown that our ability to focus and filter out irrelevant information starts to diminish gradually in our 40s to 60s. Staying focused on a task to make sure it is done properly requires progressively more mental effort. These changes are simply a part of normal, healthy aging.

When it comes to memory though, declines aren’t across the board. There are different types of memory and some hold up better than others. First, the good news: Primary memory (such as dialling a telephone number you have just looked up), semantic memory (general facts about the world) and procedural memory (skilled learning, such as playing an instrument or mental arithmetic) typically hold up well. Adults in their 50s and 60s generally have a better vocabulary and word knowledge than younger adults.

The types of memory that will tend to decline: working memory (manipulating different pieces of information in our mind to solve a problem), autobiographical memory (unaided recall of events that happen to us day-to-day) and prospective memory (remembering to phone a friend in 20 minutes or to buy a birthday card in a week’s time).

If a quick-fix gaming remedy to boost your brain power and work performance is what you’re after, we still have a ways to go. Repeatedly playing simple games that require you to make visual judgments, solve anagrams or react quickly to targets will likely improve your ability on that specific skill. If you find the games fun to do, then by all means play them. You just need to be an informed consumer, check the scientific evidence behind the product regarding lasting benefits and temper your expectations about the cognitive gains derived from these exercises.

The ultimate goal for all of us is loftier – a general boost in intelligence (for memory, concentration and problem-solving ability). But there is little evidence to date that the brain fitness games currently on the market counteract normal age-related decline. Most games don’t have strong scientific evidence behind them to prove there are lasting cognitive benefits.

Can we teach middle-aged and older brains to learn memory and other cognitive strategies that support strategic, flexible and focused thinking in the workplace? The answer is a resounding yes! There is very promising data showing that brain plasticity (the brain’s ability to reorganize and build new network connections) and neurogenesis (the brain’s ability to grow new cells) continues throughout life. This opens the door to cognitive training interventions for older adults.

But let’s not deceive ourselves. A cognitive training program with strong science behind it – whether delivered online, in a game box or by trained professionals – is only one component of your cognitive tune-up. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits and engaging in activities that are interesting, complex and novel for the brain are essential for staying mentally sharp and agile. Regular cardiovascular exercise and a low fat diet are as important for brain health as they are for heart health. High blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, chronic stress, alcohol and drug addictions, social isolation and late-life depression are all risk factors for cognitive decline.

The bottom line: Don’t look for an off-the-shelf “magic bullet” to maximize your cognitive abilities so you can be high performing and productive at work. Take charge of your life, map out a lifestyle plan for maintaining your physical and cognitive health, and stick to it.

Vocabulary: Match the word with its definition

Quintessential Bugbear Cognitive Hold up Dementia Autobiography Anagram Loftier Resounding Cardiovascular Off the shelf Magic Bullet

A scary monster A perfect solution Higher Having to do with the heart and blood vessels Related to thinking A mix of letters than can make a message when unscrambled The most important, or uniting thing To last while remaining useful Loud, clear, obvious, strong A writing about one’s own life A premade solution A mental condition where one’s understanding of reality is impaired

Discussion:

How do you feel about your mental health?

Do you feel your brain is aging? If so how?

Have you ever tried brain exercises to help keep your brain fit? If so which ones? If not why not?

What do you think about the risk factors for increased risks of dementia and other mental health problems?

ATC Topic Class: What Would You Say To Your 20-Year-Old Self?

Say you're in your 30s or 40s and you could write a letter to your 20-year-old self. What would you say?


That's the request Cassie Boorn, a 22-year-old college student and single mom in Davenport, Iowa, made on her blog. She needed advice, so she asked some of her older fellow bloggers to write letters to their younger selves.


Women like Sarah Brown wrote in with this piece of advice: "First of all, let's get this out of the way: no, you are not crazy. Yes, you should probably talk to someone. There's no shame in that. You should also go outside more."


And Jessica Gottlieb wrote: "You're going to meet a really nice guy who is going to take you helicopter skiing, and send you mountains of flowers. He is bad news. Trust your instincts."


Boorn says she decided to do this post because as a blogger she has traveled to a lot of conferences and met "a lot of really great women." She would pick their brains for advice — and she wanted to give other people her age access to advice. She says a lot of the responses are "very honest."

And she's learned some valuable things from those who have written in.

"I have learned to appreciate myself more — both my body and the kind of person that I am," she tells NPR's Michele Norris. "I've learned to take myself less seriously, not worry about where I'm going and what I'm going to accomplish — and focusing on the fact that ... you have to enjoy this time because it's only here so long.


"I've learned a lot about how quickly things change, and just realizing that where you are right now it's not going to be there forever. That was the biggest lesson. It's so easy to get caught up in what's happening today and what's happening this week. In five years you're probably not going to remember today, or this week, so just do the best you can and enjoy the moments that you have."


Boorn says the letters weren't only for her — she says the people who offered the advice said the process was very therapeutic. And she sees a desire for women to support each other.


"I was almost like a closure — 'I know you made mistakes, I know your 20s were hard, but things are good now and I'm going to let these things go,' " she says.

Vocabulary: Match the word with the meaning

Get ____ out of the way Instincts Caught up in Appreciate Therapeutic

Something that makes one feel better To be distracted by or blinded by a situation To know the value of something Feelings that come from one’s nature To finish because one has to but not necessarily wants to

Discussion

Do you ask for, or give advice more often?

What kinds of advice are you often looking for? And what kinds of advice do you most often give?

What's some of the best advice you've heard from someone older than you?

Where do you get most of your advice from?

If you give advice who do you give most of your advice to?

Are there any books, magazines, or internet sites you look to for advice?

Some Fun Improvisation Games We Might Play In Class Sometime

ATC Topic Class: From Page To Screen: Borders Launches Electronic Book Store : NPR

See the original here.

Borders Group Inc. has launched its e-bookstore as it tries to catch up to competitors who have a head-start in a small but growing market that's seen as the future of the book industry.


The company said Wednesday its goal with the new store and e-reader is to take 17 percent of the electronic book market by next July. Amazon has the Kindle e-reader and Barnes & Noble Inc. has the Nook, and all the players are cutting prices to woo buyers.

Borders was later to market than its rivals but said it took time to craft its strategy, which rests on selling books that can be used across multiple platforms rather than just one device.

The store has more than 1.5 million titles and thousands of free ones. The books are in formats such as mobile, PDF and ePub. The Kobo eReader and Aluratek Libre eReader are both for sale on the site and priced under $150. The company said both have sold past expectations, though it didn't give figures.

The readers will also be available in stores in an area called "Area E" in all stores by early September.

The displays in stores will help draw in customers because they'll be able to try out the devices, said Michael Norris, a senior analyst at the trade books group for Simba Information.


The company may be later to the electronic book market than its rivals, but the market is young enough that there's still plenty of room to grow, he said. He estimates some 90 percent of U.S. adults haven't yet bought an electronic book, so there's lots of opportunity yet to capture customers.

"You can leave an e-book store with one keystroke, so Borders just needs to focus on making the shopping experience work as conveniently as they say they will," he said.

Borders will extend its loyalty program to the digital store. That will include benefits such as special gift cards, exclusive offers and other incentives.

"The race to emerge as a retail leader within the digital category is just starting," CEO Mike Edwards said.

Borders also announced Wednesday it is making electronic reading applications powered by Kobo available for certain Blackberry devices and Android phones.

Newest Additions to "Nathan Speak"

"Meh"

This is a sound of indifference used in casual conversation. "Dude that bruise looks painful!" "Meh. It's fine." Try to use this expression or any of the other's I've posted in Nathan speak during class. It will be fun.

The New Poll

Vote what you think about interacting online. Is it useful or not? Or comment here to say what you think about online interaction.

ATC Class: Twidows, it’s not cheating … exactly - The Globe and Mail

See the full story here.
By Lisan Jutras
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Our partners may not understand, but tweeters get a lot of, um, satisfaction connecting with others


Twidows.

I guess it was bound to happen. My relationship with Facebook had taken a back seat to my relationship with Twitter. I'd wake up in the morning and tweet first thing, maybe while I was making my guy a cup of coffee - which I often do, because I am generally good girlfriend material.

I kept my tweeting in check. I was not a person who tweeted while in conversation, or during movies and the like. But I understood the lure, the itch to tweet. I was pretty sure it released little vapour puffs of good-feeling into my brain. As good as cuddling with my boyfriend? Not quite, but, as it turns out, not far off.

Fast Company writer Adam L. Penenberg recently took part in an experiment in which the levels of oxytocin in his blood were measured before he tweeted and while he tweeted. (Oxytocin is the sexy brain chemical, the honeymoon chemical that doses happy couples and breastfeeding mothers.) The researcher, Paul Zak, measured a jump of 31 per cent, or as much as experienced by a groom on his wedding day.

...




There's a chance the oxytocin might even be responsible for charitable online natures. (While one study revealed that students are measurably less empathetic than they were 30 years ago - which researchers tied into the Internet's culture of narcissism - they are also big givers. Fundraising for the Haiti earthquake broke records, with many donations coming by text message, which as a demographic that is typically young and social-media savvy.) Dr. Zak's initial findings indicate that folks infused with oxytocin donated an average of 48 per cent more to charity than those administered the placebo.

So I'm making a case for polyamory. It's never easy, but with a modicum of finesse, it can be sustained. "Love the one you're with," as the song goes - just don't bring one on a date with the other...


Vocabulary

honeymoon charitable nature narcissism demographic savvy infused placebo polyamory modicum

a way of thinking that only focuses on one’s self 2.      specific category of people made based on some factor, e.g. age 3.      smart/aware/knowledgeable 4.      a drug substitute use to trick a test subject into thinking they have taken a drug 5.      a small amount 6.      having more than one serious relationship partner 7.      an inherent quality of being giving 8.      cause to be full of something, or to have something added 9.      a time after a wedding where the married couple spend time together alone often in a resort or far away place.

Discussion

1. What is the point the author is trying to make about social networking and micro-blogging sites like Twitter.
2. Why do you think the author compares her use of Twitter to a romantic relationship?
3. Do you use any social networking sites, or interact online with others?
4. Do think that virtual interaction is as useful or beneficial to society as real conversation?
5. Imagine your significant other was going away on some trip for an extended period let's say one year.  Would you still feel close to them even if you only communicated through twitter?

ATC Topic Class: Secret Stations And Boyhood Love On The Paris Metro : NPR

Tomorrow's article will be a selection from this article here

Few cities in the world are more identified with their subway systems than Paris. One of the busiest metro systems in the world, it carries more than 4 million riders a day on some 16 lines to 300 stations. To ride it is a visual carnival, a living history, an urban love story about the chemin de fer, or "path of iron."


Standing inside the station, author Mark Ovenden says the style was the creation of "an amazingly young architect" named Hector Guimard. "He had the idea of building things out of this wonderfully laced wrought iron that looks like it’s kind of grown there, almost organically — the way that trees grow or that plants grow. It's a very organic-looking form and quite advanced for its time."It's a story that starts at the Chatelet stop in Place St. Opportune, in the heart of Paris. It was one of the very first stops built for the very first line in 1900. It's also the world's largest metro station, with five metro lines and three commuter lines running through it. One of the original archways keeps the art nouveau metropolitan style that's the hallmark of the Paris Metro.


In the late 1800s, Paris was well behind London and New York in building a metro system. Visitors to the 1889 Grand Exhibition that featured the Eiffel Tower had to ride a horse and buggy to get there — an embarrassment that spurred the completion of the Line 1 in time for the World's Fair in 1900. Built in 20 months, this first line of the Metro connected all the major Paris attractions.Ovenden is co-author of the book Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations and Design of the Metro. He believes the contrast between the Metro's ornate entrances and the formality of the surrounding boulevard gave the city some sense of nature. That might be one reason that Parisians grew fond of their Metro so quickly, he says. "They were also so totally unique."

Today it's a living, breathing, big-city system — and rife with fare jumpers. Ovenden sees one and calls out, "Fancy not paying today?" He suspects there are more fare jumpers in Paris than anywhere in the world — about one in 20, he says.



The Phantom Station

If there is one thing that captures the imagination of Paris Metro aficionados, it's the dozens of abandoned stations — many closed to be used for bomb shelters during World War II. The trains still hurtle past these empty stations without stopping, like the rail equivalent of the Flying Dutchman.

Julian Pepinster, who co-authored the book Paris Underground with Ovenden, leads tours of the Metro. As a member of the Regione Autonome de Transports Parisian's safety department, he also has the keys to one of these "phantom stations" — St. Martin, closed for 60 years.

It's well lit, but the sight of an enormous empty Metro station is still eerie. Graffiti taggers have done their worst here, but some unusual advertising art has survived. Pepinster points out amazing bas-relief enamel posters. They're semi-permanent advertisements dating back to a time when products didn't change very often.

One advertisement is both arresting and disquieting. It's for a product called Eau De Javel, bleach. The image shows the silhouette of a black woman through a white sheet she's holding up. "At this time, France still had its colonies in Africa," Pepinster explains. Ovenden translates the advertisement's message: "Here is a black woman, you can see her hand, but she uses bleach and becomes white." It's an ad that wouldn't happen now, they agree.

"What's really weird about walking down here," Ovenden says, is "when you look around you — apart from the graffiti — you realize that you’re on a normal Paris Metro station platform. Just the other side of this wall, which has been built since the station was closed, the train’s running. And if you look out the window when you’re on a train that comes from Republique to Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, you can see you're going through an old station."

Vocabulary

Wrought Organically Metropolitan Hallmark Phantom Eerie Laced

a ghost or something not real, difficult to see slightly strange and slightly scary the typical and defining style of a place twisted by hand the urban area of a large city, the middle of all the people delicately placed like thin strings like nature might do something

Rife with – full of

Arresting – capturing one’s attention

Disquieting – making one feel uncomfortable mentally

Capture the imagination – causing one to imagine something interesting or amazing

Grew fond of – to have grown to like over a period of time

Art nouveau – a style that feels organic and light

Discussion
How do you feel about Seoul’s subway system?
Have you ever visited another country’s metro system?
Have you ever visited a place that captures your imagination?
What about an old place evoked some strange feelings?
What are some eerie places you know, and do you like to visit them?

That's Your Horoscope For Today By Weird Al

Here's a funny Video, and lyrics below





Aquarius
There's travel in your future when your tongue freezes to the back of a speeding bus
Fill that void in your pathetic life by playing Whack-A-Mole seventeen hours a day

Pisces
Try to avoid any Virgos or Leos with the Ebola virus
You are the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say

Aries
The look on your face will be priceless when you find that forty pound watermelon in your colon
Trade toothbrushes with an albino dwarf, then give a hickey to Meryl Streep

Taurus
You will never find true happiness - what you gonna do, cry about it?
The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep

That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today
That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today

Gemini
Your birthday party will be ruined once again by your explosive flatulence
Your love life will run into trouble when your fiance hurls a javelin through your chest

Cancer
The position of Jupiter says you should spend the rest of the week face down in the mud
Try not to shove a roll of duct tape up your nose while taking your driver's test

Leo
Now is not a good time to photocopy your butt and staple it to your boss's face, oh no
Eat a bucket of tuna-flavored pudding, then wash it down with a gallon of strawberry Quik

Virgo
All Virgos are extremely friendly and intelligent - except for you
Expect a big surprise today when you wind up with your head impaled upon a stick

That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today
That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today

Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely
that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have
a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you,
but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions
are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have
to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true.

Where was I?

Libra
A big promotion is just around the corner for someone much more talented that you
Laughter is the very best medicine, remember that when your appendix bursts next week

Scorpio
Get ready for an unexpected trip when you fall screaming from an open window
Work a little harder on improving your low self-esteem, you stupid freak

Sagittarius
All your friends are laughing behind your back (kill them)
Take down all those naked pictures of Ernest Borgnine you've got hanging in your den

Capricorn
The stars say that you're an exciting and wonderful person, but you know they're lying
If I were you, I'd lock my doors and windows and never never never never never leave my house again

That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today
That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today

That's your horoscope for today (that's your horoscope for today)
That's your horoscope for today
That's your horoscope for today (yay yay yay yay yay)
That's your horoscope for today