There is no post today due to unforeseen circumstances. A Better Tomorrow posts will be back up on Monday, October 16.
Enjoy your weekend.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Ideas, Actions, and Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow - October 12 Edition
Disaster
Assistance, California Fires
“California’s Wine
Country is in a state of emergency as more than a dozen wildfires burn through
large swaths of land in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Yuba counties. The
fires have destroyed at least 1,500 structures, caused at least 10 fatalities,
and forced an estimated 20,000 North Bay residents to evacuate, with that
number expected to rise.
If you’re local, the
Sonoma Valley Visitor’s Bureau has a list of
hotels offering special rates for evacuees and the Sacramento
Bee has a list of ways for local people to help.
If you’re far away from
the fires and want to help, here are a few options:”
Child
Marriage, Girls, India
"India's Supreme Court has struck
down a legal clause that allowed men to engage in non-consensual marital sex
with girls as young as 15.
Wednesday's landmark decision, which
coincided with International Day of the Girl Child, also raised the age of
consent for all women to 18.
"In our opinion sexual intercourse
with a girl below 18 years of age is rape regardless of whether she is married
or not," read the ruling.
"The exception carved out in
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) creates an unnecessary and artificial distinction
between a married girl child and an unmarried girl child and has no rational
nexus with any unclear objective sought to be achieved."
Jayna Kothari, who argued for Child
Rights Group, an NGO that works to prevent child marriage, told CNN the ruling
will create a "uniformity of laws"."
Innovators,
Artists, Researchers, Inspiration
“It's not often you'll find these 24 names in the same place.
They are historians and musicians, computer scientists and social activists,
writers and architects. But whatever it may read on their business cards (if
they've even got business cards), they now all have a single title in common:
2017 MacArthur Fellow.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced
the winners of this year's fellowship — often better known as the "genius" grant —
and the list includes a characteristically wide array of disciplines: There's
painter Njideka Akunyili Crosby, for instance, and mathematician Emmanuel
Candès and immunologist Gabriel Victora, among many others.
(Note: The foundation is among NPR's financial supporters.)
Each of the recipients has been selected for having "shown
extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a
marked capacity for self-direction" — and each will receive a $625,000
award from the foundation "as an investment in their potential," paid
out over five years with no strings attached.
You can find the full list of winners below (by clicking on the title above) — paired
with the foundation's description of their work and, where possible, links to
NPR's previous coverage to get to know them better.”
Climate
Change, Photography
“The UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015 was hailed as a
historic landmark in the battle against climate change, but, says British
environmental photographer Ashley Cooper, is it enough?
“I obviously applaud this momentous agreement,” he said, “but, having
witnessed the scale of the destruction currently being wreaked around the
world, this is too little too late.”
In his book, Images from a Warming Planet, Cooper hopes his
photography will ‘wake people up’ to the reality of climate change as well as
showcasing efforts to tackle the huge challenge. Photographs range from shots
showing increasing rates of desertification, to images capturing the huge range
of renewable energy projects across the globe.
The project began in 2004 with a trip to Alaska, which Cooper took after
reading scientific journals and becoming increasingly aware of the potentially
devastating consequences of climate change.
“I spent a week on Shishmaref, a tiny island in the Chukchi
Sea,” he said. “It is home to a community of around 600 Inuit people, whose
homes were being washed into the sea. It was here I first witnessed something I
have seen many times since: that is, those least responsible for climate change
are most impacted by it.”
Exercise, Heart Health
From the America Heart Association:
“After a heart attack, more than 60 percent of patients
decline participation in cardiac rehabilitation. Although the reasons include
financial concerns and distance to a rehab center, many patients stay away
because they perceive physical exercise as unpleasant, painful or impossible
given their current physical condition.
This is the first study suggesting that Tai
Chi may improve exercise behaviors in this high-risk population.
"We thought that Tai Chi might be a good
option for these people because you can start very slowly and simply and, as
their confidence increases, the pace and movements can be modified to increase
intensity," said Elena Salmoirago-Blotcher, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of
the study and assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert School of
Medicine at Brown University. "Tai Chi exercise can reach low-to-moderate
intensity levels. The emphasis on breathing and relaxation can also help with
stress reduction and psychological distress."”
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Ideas, Actions, and Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow - October 11 Edition
Inspiration, Life Well-Lived
Video:
U.S.-Mexico Relations, Economic
Opportunity
“The US-Mexico border is one of the
most vibrant yet misunderstood regions in the world. Often portrayed as
troubled territory characterized by negative attributes such as violence and
disordered migration, the reality of this extensive geography is that it is
also a place of unparalleled cultural richness and business opportunities
created by the convergence of two nations, two languages, two cultures, and two
economies.
In mid-September, the Institute of
the Americas partnered with the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program to
convene a ground-breaking conversation called Innovation and Culture at the Border. This convening examined the creative dynamism of US-Mexico
border, with a focus on the impact of American Latinos in border economies, and
the opportunities that border regions represent for them. Along the border,
American Latinos — who are often bicultural, bilingual, and frequently binational
— are uniquely positioned to contribute to new approaches that create economic
opportunity and advance prosperity.
Examples of creativity and
entrepreneurial success are abundant in border cities along the nearly
2,000-mile US-Mexico border. However, such models are many times invisible,
actively ignored, or unacknowledged. To counter such invisibility and enrich
the narrative, Innovation and Culture at the Border brought together
individuals who work and live along the US–Mexico border (with a special focus
on CaliBaja) and who have intimate, practical knowledge of the challenges and
opportunities for innovation and creativity.”
Theatre, Social Justice
Dominique Morisseau
Humanizing the
struggles of the school-to-prison pipeline
Dominique Morisseau,
an award-winning playwright from Detroit, describes herself as an
artist-activist. She recently developed a three-play cycle called The Detroit
Projects, in which she highlights issues that have affected the city for
decades, such as racism, urban renewal, and economic inequality.
Morisseau’s newest
project, Pipeline, tackles the mass incarceration of Black men with
the story of a devoted inner-city public high school teacher who tries to save
her teenage son from the school-to-prison pipeline.
New research shows
that kids can start going down that path as early as preschool, where Black
children are 3.6 times more likely than White children to be suspended.
Morisseau, the
daughter of a teacher and a former teacher herself, developed a deep
understanding of the pipeline from her time living in urban cities like
Detroit, New York, and Chicago.
“This concerns me,”
Morisseau says. “And playwrights have the power to humanize social issues by
making people visualize human beings at the forefront of those issues. We can
spark emotions and make people feel these issues in their guts rather than
simply make them think about it in their brains.”
Read MORE
Islam,
Community
Huff Post "Listen
to America" series:
“The Crescent Peace
Society’s “Meet a Muslim” events are one of a handful of similar initiatives
that have sprung up across the country since the election. One Muslim couple
started a “dinner with your
Muslim neighbor” project in Seattle, for instance, and a Muslim
veteran has been traveling the country with a sign reading “I’m Muslim and a
U.S. Marine, ask anything.”
When asked whether such
projects place undue responsibility on Muslims to have to humanize themselves
to non-Muslims, particularly in an environment of increased fear among the Muslim community, Latif
demurred.
“There’s a lot of
discussion in progressive circles on whose job it is to humanize people, and I
understand it’s off-putting to explain, ‘I’m just a human being just like you
are,’” he said. “But we’ve found in our work that waiting for other people to
do the work doesn’t get anything done. You have to take that first step and
hope that other people will join you.”
“If we don’t speak, then
other people write the narratives for us,” he added.
Amid a recent rise in
anti-Muslim hate groups nationwide ― and spate of hate
crimes in recent years in the Kansas City area ― Latif
recognizes the effect and reach of the group’s events are small. But even if
they touch only a few hundred people, he believes they still have value.
“There are so few Muslims
and so much said about them,” Latif said. “Even just meeting people who
[already] support us, they can say to their extended families: ‘I’ve met a
Muslim person and this is what I found out,’ so it’s a ripple that hopefully
reverberates further out.””
Women, Running for
Office, Campaigning
This advice, while geared toward women, can help men as well.
"Whether you're happy with
the political climate or hell-bent on change, one thing is clear: You are
underrepresented in government — and that void has far-reaching consequences,
no matter what side of the aisle you're on. Currently, 70 percent of our elected
officials are men, even though females make up more than half of the
population. What's holding us back? The crazy (and statistically unfounded)
notion that women can't win. Well, it's time to step up. Follow this ultimate
guide to running for office to get started."
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Ideas, Actions, and Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow - October 10 Edition
Las
Vegas, Remembrance
“In 11 minutes of rapid gunfire into a Las
Vegas concert crowd last Sunday night [October 1], a mass shooter killed 58
people attending a concert. As the NewsHour has done all week, tonight we
remember the final 10 of those victims.”
Health
Care, Underserved Communities
Listen
and read:
“The first teaching health centers began training
residents in 2011. They operate primarily out of clinics in rural communities
and other areas where primary care physicians are in short supply.
The ideal ratio of primary care physicians to patients is
about 1 for every 2,000, Stewart said. The ratio in east Bakersfield “is more
like 1 to 6,000, so we have a lot of catching up to do.”
Though teaching health centers remain relatively new,
experts say they’re already succeeding: Their residents generally stay in the
regions where they trained, putting down roots in communities with a big demand
for health care.
In June, the Rio Bravo program graduated its first class
of six doctors. Two joined the staff at a Clinica Sierra Vista clinic in east
Bakersfield. The other four are practicing in clinics serving low-income
communities in Sacramento, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.”
Business,
Startups, Women
“…Julia
Hartz, the co-founder and CEO
of Eventbrite, summed up the sentiment for everyone. “It’s
table stakes for building a great company,” she says. “If you want to build a
once in a lifetime company that really matters, and really changes the space,”
then social impact, philanthropy, and economic uplift need to be part of your
thinking. “Legacies are built on the practices of your company,” she says.
Renfrew agreed. “You can do well by doing good, and you should.”
While
all four founders had stories to share about the nuts and bolts of building
businesses. From working with investors, getting to profitability, and
surveying existing customers for new product ideas—the idea of an expanded
bottom line was essential. And, in many cases, unusual.
One
example: Equity. When is the right time to share equity with employees? The
Silicon Valley model, it was agreed, was old school. “Men hoard all the equity
and give it out in snippets,” said Renfrew. “If you’re going to ask people to
be committed to your mission, they should be included.””
Conservation, Environment
Interview:
“People regularly approach Jane Goodall
in airports, tears in their eyes, and tell her she’s their idol. She travels
300 days a year, and at 83, she speaks dreamily about her home in England, the
house she grew up in, where her sister still lives with her own family. Goodall
will be there soon for a rare five-day vacation, sleeping in the same room with
her childhood books—Dr. Dolittle and Tarzan were among her favorites—and looking out
the window at the trees she once climbed.
In the 1960s Goodall, perhaps the world’s most
famous primatologist, taught us that humans and chimpanzees weren’t as
different from each other as people then believed. Our closest relatives have
individual personalities, eat meat, and even make and use their own tools. A
1965 documentary about that work, Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees, turned Goodall
into a global celebrity, and she has been in the public eye ever since. She has
used that attention to fund ongoing research in Gombe Stream National Park, in Tanzania, where she did her initial
conservation work. But she has also gone beyond her role as a scientist to
encourage children to become environmental and social advocates, to develop
antipoverty programs in the areas around African nature preserves, and to
promote environmental stewardship.
Goodall is on the road again now to
publicize a new documentary, entitled simply JANE, which highlights her early-career insights.
The film debuts Monday at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, with Goodall in
attendance.
Although immensely practical about the
hard work it takes to keep up her social justice mission, Goodall retains the
idealism that has propelled her for decades. “Every single individual makes a
difference every single day,” she says in her quiet but determined British
accent. “We get to choose what sort of difference we’re going to make.”
Goodall spoke to Scientific American about her past work, recent
discoveries and plans and hopes for the future.”
Family Leave Policy, Work Place
“… the most
revolutionary aspect of the plan is Amazon’s leave share program. Leave Share
is more commonly seen in unionized workplaces, where employees can share their
sick leave with one another, giving those who need it more time but ensuring
work continues smoothly while they’re out. At Amazon, which isn’t unionized,
instead of sharing paid leave with a co-worker, you can share it with your
spouse, even if they don’t work at Amazon. Yes, really. If an Amazon employee
is ready to return to work but has a spouse who hasn’t been able to take a
full, paid parental leave, Amazon will allow the Amazon employee to share up to
six weeks of their paid leave at the employee’s salary. That way, the spouse
can take unpaid leave from their own jobs without creating extreme financial
stress the Amazon employee would end up feeling too.
The reasoning behind
Amazon’s leave share is sound: Parents succeed in the workplace when they have
a supportive partner at home. When both parents spend time as the primary
caregivers for an infant, studies show,
they’ll continue to share caregiving responsibilities as the child ages. Since
most workplaces today offer only maternity leave if they offer paid leave at
all, it is difficult for fathers to take time away to take part in caregiving.
In essence, Amazon is pioneering a new way to help its female employees by
financially encouraging their partners to be more involved at home.
Studies show that
women take on a majority of child care and household responsibilities, even
when both parents work, which leads women to drop out of the workforce at a higher rate after having
children. By promoting a shared environment at home, Amazon is
likely to have higher long-term retention rates for women at the company.
Winter described the leave share program as a
“game changer.” “Amazon has employees everywhere,” he said. “Not everyone has a
spouse who has a luxury of taking paid leave. We decided it’s not just our
employee that needs this, it’s choice and flexibility for our families.””
Monday, October 09, 2017
Ideas, Actions, and Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow - October 9 Edition
Las
Vegas, Remembrances
“…we return to our remembrances of the 58 people murdered
in Las Vegas last Sunday when a gunman fired into the crowd at a country music
concert.
As
more stories of heroism emerge, so do clearer pictures of the victims’ lives.
Here now, 10 more.”
Addiction,
Education
Read or watch:
“…now to our America Addicted series.
Drug use has been down among teenagers, but mortality is
rising. And that is leading many to seek out new options for their children.
The “NewsHour”’s Pamela Kirkland went to look at how one
so-called recovery school in Indianapolis is giving new hope to students
battling addiction.
It’s part of our weekly Making the Grade look at
education.”
Sex Trafficking
To many,
Emmy Myers appeared to be a model student during high school. She was involved
in gymnastics, track and the agricultural club.
But her life took a dark turn
into drugs and, eventually, sex trafficking.
Today,
the 28-year-old Wisconsin native wants people to know that sex trafficking can
happen to anyone ― and that the people buying women and girls can come from
every income level and from every community.
Artificial
Intelligence
“If we get it right, the upside is huge:
Since everything we love about civilization is the product of intelligence,
amplifying our own intelligence with AI has the potential to solve tomorrow's
thorniest problems. For example, why risk our loved ones dying in traffic
accidents that self-driving cars could prevent or succumbing to cancers that AI
might help us find cures for? Why not grow productivity and prosperity through
automation and use AI to accelerate our research and development of affordable
sustainable energy?
So what can we do to keep future AI beneficial? Here are are four steps that have broad support from AI researchers:”
Nobel
Prize, Economics
“Richard Thaler, one of
the fathers of behavioral economics and a professor at the Booth School of
Business at the University of Chicago, has won the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in
Economic Science.
Renowned for his use of
data to observe and predict how people behave in the real world,
Thaler’s career has been a lifelong war on Homo economicus, that mythical species
of purely rational hominids who dwell exclusively in the models of classical
economic theory. In studies that borrowed from psychology, sociology, and
plain-old curiosity, Thaler demonstrated that mankind was afflicted by emotion
and irrationality, which influences their decision making on everything from
retirement savings, to health-care policy, to professional sports.
But Thaler didn’t
contend that humans were randomly irrational. More importantly, he observed
that people are predictably irrational (to borrow a term from
the economist Dan Ariely). Some of Thaler’s most
interesting work studied the predictably irrational effects of ownership,
confidence, and a sense of fairness.”
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