Flesh and Stone

JSTOR drops charges against Swartz; US government will pursue

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:40:00 -0600

In July, Aaron Swartz, an internet freedom activist and former Harvard Ethics fellow, was arrested and charged with data theft for downloading millions of academic journal articles from MIT’s computer network that were behind a paywall belonging to JSTOR. JSTOR, short for Journal Storage, digitizes academic journals and sells subscriptions to libraries and other institutions.

JSTOR has dropped its data theft charges against Swartz but the U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing wire and computer fraud charges against him. If convicted, he could face up to 35 years and prison and $1 million in fines.

JSTOR announced September 7 that it was giving the public free access to some of its earliest journals, and that it plans to do more to make content accessible or affordable to individuals.

Related article: Selling Secrets

JSTOR also stated that the content taken by Swartz was returned and that it received “confirmation that the content was not and would not be used, copied, transferred, or distributed.”

Swartz is the founder of Demand Progress, an internet freedom advocacy group, which he currently serves as an advisory board director. He also co-founded Reddit.com, watchdog.net, Open Library, Jottit, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification and helped launch Creative Commons.

Demand Progress is raising support for Swartz. The organization states on its website, “We stand with Aaron Swartz and his lifetime of work on ethics in government and academics.”

Swartz isn't the only one critical of intellectual property laws that prevent or severely curtail access to published journal articles, patents and metadata that are necessary to analyze and advance ideas.

His supporters include Greg Maxwell who, in protest of Swartz' prosecution, uploaded (on The Pirate Bay) 18,592 historical academic papers he’d legally obtained from JSTOR's Royal Society collection.

Reaction to Osama bin Laden's death runs deeper than celebration videos

Thu, 05 May 2011 18:07:00 -0600

Video of Americans' first reaction to the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, depict young men and women celebrating with joy at Ground Zero in New York and in front of the White House in Washington. Some of the footage looked out of context, like fans reacting to their team winning the Super Bowl instead of a sobering closure to a very bad chapter in history.

This is the image shown to the world. But it isn't the whole picture. Below are some thoughtful responses to the death of America's "Enemy Number 1" as well as American response from a psychiatrist, a Christian ethics scholar and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In his short essay, "Celebrating Death," James Knolls, a forensic psychiatrist and editor of Psychiatric Times quotes the 6th Century Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, then asks:

Can this be something to celebrate? Should it be something to celebrate? What can this tell us about ourselves? What is the "proper" reaction?"

His May 4 article includes a photo of little girls with hand-scrawled signs celebrating the death of bin Laden. One can't help drawing a parallel between these images and those we've seen of young children in the Middle East shouting "death to America!" or little girls painting "love from Israel" on bombs that would be dropped on Lebanon.

David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, asked in a May 2 essay that Americans reflect on their ideas on war and peace.

“Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemies Fall”

“Do not rejoice when your enemies fall,
and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble.”
—Proverbs 24:17

We feel compelled to respond today to the killing of Osama bin Laden by the United States and to the jubilant response across the nation.

A nation has a right to defend itself. From the perspective of the fundamental national security of the United States, this action is legitimately viewed as an expression of self-defense.

But as Christians, we believe that there can no celebrating, no dancing in the streets, no joy, in relation to the death of Osama bin Laden. In obedience to scripture, there can be no rejoicing when our enemies fall.

In that sense, President Obama’s sober announcement was far preferable to the happy celebrations outside the White House, in New York, and around the country, however predictable and even cathartic they may be.

NPR’s On Being program published the essay in its entirety.

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IAVW) issued a public statement on May 3 urging Americans to respond with restraint and think of all the victims of 911.

"While it is right to remember those who died on 9/11, we should also be equally mindful of all those who have died as a result of our misguided wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The number of U.S. troops killed has topped 6,000 and estimates of civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan range in the hundreds of thousands.” -- Jose Vasquez, Executive Director, IVAW

Osama Bin Laden is Dead, What Next?

"Sunday night IVAW learned with the rest of the nation that Osama Bin Laden was killed and his body captured by a team of U.S. Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In light of our resolution condemning the occupation of Afghanistan adopted in 2009, we have followed this important news closely and want to share our perspective with supporters, elected officials, policymakers, the press, and the public at large.

Like many other Americans, IVAW welcomes the news of this weakening blow to Al-Qaeda and its threat to our nation and the world. Our hearts go out to the thousands of survivors and family members of victims of the 9/11 attacks as they search for closure in this event.

As service members and veterans who have experienced the Global War on Terror firsthand, we respectfully encourage the American people to consider the killing of Bin Laden with a measure of restraint. His death is only a symbolic victory. Although there is no doubt Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians, the path chosen by the Bush administration following 9/11 and continued under President Obama’s watch has cost us more than any one terrorist mastermind ever could. While it is right to remember those who died on 9/11, we should also be equally mindful of all those who have died as a result of our misguided wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The number of U.S. troops killed has topped 6,000 and estimates of civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan range in the hundreds of thousands.

The elimination of Bin Laden proves that our nation’s security issues are managed more effectively through political diplomacy and small, targeted attacks than costly mass military action. Our government has spared no expense in carrying out operations with no clear objectives or an end in sight, squandering trillions of dollars in spite of our nation’s economic crisis. Any citizen who is serious about the consequences of our foreign policy, the rule of law, or a true sense of justice needs to ask, has it been worth it? Whether you measure the tremendous costs of these wars in human lives or dollars, our position is that it has not been worth it.

The president claims that, “we can say that justice has been done.’’ But achieving real justice will not happen until the U.S. has removed all occupying forces and returned the right of self-determination to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. The Obama administration now has an opportunity to bring our troops home and scale back our military commitments overseas. Americans must reflect on the injustice of our own actions through violating international law, committing torture, suspending habeas corpus, and not holding our own leaders accountable.

Clearly our attempts to solve all our problems militarily have not worked. It is our sincere hope that President Obama will not conduct business as usual. While the president and his advisors will seek to capitalize politically on Bin Laden’s killing, it remains to be seen whether our foreign policy will change to reflect these new developments. Having removed Bin Laden from the equation, President Obama has lost a major source of rationalization for our continued occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. We reject any plans to extend our commitments elsewhere and want to see a hastening of the time line for withdrawal."

Researchers continue to demonstrate that fish "feel" pain

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 12:54:00 -0600

When a fish is hooked and it fights being hauled into your boat, it’s not just playing with you. It’s more likely reacting to pain and trying to escape it, according to a stream of published research on fish physiology.

Several studies by researchers in Europe and the United States have found that when fish were exposed to pain in their mouth, gills and heads, pain signals are sent to the same region of the brain where birds and mammals process pain.

The study of animal neurobiology, cognition and behavior is still a relatively new field, but some of the research being published by animal biologists and neuroanatomists is of concern to animal rights activists interested in the humane treatment of other mammals, fish and birds.

In an article published last month in Spiegel International, author Günther Stockinger wrote:

“Researchers from Queen's University, in Belfast, have proven that when fish are subjected to pain stimuli, the signals by no means simply ebb away in the spinal cord. Scientists have discovered sensitive skin areas directly behind the gill covers of goldfish and trout. Using implanted electrodes, they have been able to show that the nerve cells located there send signals directly to the fish's brain.

“When researchers poked the animals with needles, a flurry of neuron messages were transmitted to the endbrain -- the very region of the brain where pain signals are also processed by birds and mammals.”

Sport fishermen and other researchers, including zoologist James Rose, have dismissed the fish and pain research as anthropomorphism. While fish might react to pain, they don’t have the neurological ability to mentally process pain like humans do, say detractors. In other words, while fish react to pain, they don’t experience it the same way.

In a paper published in Reviews in Fisheries Science, Rose wrote:

“The literature on the neural basis of consciousness and of pain is reviewed, showing that: 1) behavioral responses to noxious stimuli are separate from the psychological experience of pain, (2) awareness of pain in humans depends on functions of specific regions of cerebral cortex, and (3) fishes lack these essential brain regions or any functional equivalent, making it untenable that they can experience pain.”

Free From Harm -- an international organization focused on helping people understand how global food choices impact climate change, environmental degradation, poverty and animal suffering -- believes the studies are important. "We shouldn't be surprised that the scientific study of animals is proving more and more that animals have far greater cognitive ability than we ever understood,” according to the group. “Since animals suffer mostly in silence and even hide their pain, this is not a surprising discovery."

So far, the research into fish and pain has included only goldfish, trout, carp and zebra fish. That’s too limited to conclude that all fish species feel or react to pain the same way, according to an EU panel that is reviewing the research.

For the obvious reason, (we're not fish!) we’ll never know exactly how fish process pain. It’s precisely because we can’t know that gentle and respectful handling of a caught fish, part of our circle of life, is always in order.

Japan awaits word on possible nuclear reactor leak

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:44:00 -0700

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has issued an emergency decree regarding the possibility of leaking radiation from the damaged Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCo) multi-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. The 3,000 residents near the Fukushima No. 1 plant were told to evacuate, according to the Kyoto News Service.

TEPCo officials said rising pressure inside one of its reactors had elevated the risk of a radiation leak. The U.S. Air Force in Japan flew coolant to a nuclear power plant that suffered severe damage from the quake, according to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, but it wasn't immediately clear if it was the Fukushima plant. Nuclear fuel must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours even after being shut down, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Kan told citizens there were no confirmed reports of leaked nuclear radiation. "I ask the public to continue to stay fully vigilant and to keep abreast of TV and radio reports, and I ask everyone to act calmly," Kan said in a released statement.

''We have a situation where one of the reactors cannot be cooled down," said Yukio Edano, a government spokesman, at a late Friday press briefing. ''No radiation has leaked outside the reactor. The incident poses no danger to the environment at the moment.''

Eleven of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors shut down automatically following the quake.

The Tohoku district was the epicenter for the 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan beginning at at 2:46 pm. One of three Onagawa nuclear power plants near Sengai, less thn 50 miles from the epicenter, broke out in a fire, but was later extinguished.

Kyodo News said at least 200 bodies had been found near the epicenter and that 88,000 people are reported as missing. The massive tsunami that followed the quake washed away numerous homes, autos and planes and submerged entire towns.

Egypt’s interim government accepts “Desert Development Corridor” plan

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:32:00 -0700

Egypt’s interim government has adopted a plan for developing a 1,200 kilometer stretch of desert along the Nile River Valley and delta developed by Boston University geologist Dr. Farouk El-Baz.

The “Desert Development Corridor” plan includes the construction of an eight-lane superhighway, a railway, a water pipeline, and a power line. The goal of the infrastructure plan, estimated to cost about $24 billion, is to improve the water supply and open new land for agriculture, urban development, and tourism, said El-Baz.

Details of the project are in El-Baz’s book, Development Corridor: Securing a Better Future for Egypt, published in Cairo in 2007.

El-Baz, a native Egyptian, is a prominent research scientist and director of Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing. He also served NASA’s Apollo lunar exploration program.

The university said El-Baz originally proposed the plan to Egypt’s former government in 1985. After Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in early February, El-Baz traveled to Egypt to meet with government leaders and the general public to explain the plan and how it would “reinvigorate the country” and open up new living space near the Nile River.

“This project includes opening up a vast strip of Egypt just west of the narrow living area along the Nile that can be utilized in establishing housing communities, expanding agriculture, initiating industrial compounds, and enhancing the potential of tourism,” said El-Baz. “Most importantly, the activity opens up the possibility of a bright future for the young generation. One that is full of new opportunities where they may innovate and excel.”

El-Baz suggested that the government name an international board of trustees to run the program and seek initial funding from bonds to be offered to the Egyptian people who would own the project, according to El-Baz.

Wiley launches new open access journal: Brain and Behavior

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:05:00 -0700

Wiley & Sons will begin publishing Brain and Behavior, an open access journal, this spring. Brain and Behavior is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal, providing rapid publication of high-quality research across neurology, neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry. The open access format is intended to offer authors more choice, according to a Wiley press release.

“With the launch of Brain and Behavior, the Editorial Board and I, along with the support of many international societies, will offer the research community a high quality peer-reviewed journal that meets the needs of those authors who wish to publish their work in an open access environment. I am delighted to be working with Wiley to deliver this important new service,” according to editor-in-chief Andrei V. Alexandrov, professor of neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The open access journals will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. Authors will be paid a publication fee upon acceptance of their articles.

Wiley publishes more than 500 journals. Its open access titles are being launched in collaboration with international professional and scholarly societies.

The Directory of Open Access Journals currently lists 6,214 journals.

5 reasons Mubarak can’t silence Egyptian democracy demonstrations

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:29:00 -0700

1. An army captain joins the protesters in Cairo on Saturday, Jan. 29:

Robert Fisk: Egypt: Death throes of a dictatorship

2. YouTube:

“We will not be silenced. Whether you’re a Christian, whether you’re a Muslim, whether you’re an atheist, you’ll demand your goddam rights, and we will have our rights, one way or the other! We will not be silenced!” – Protester on YouTube video

3. Twitter - @moftasa Mostafa Hussein

"when the internet is back in egypt, youtube will collapse from the number of videos people will upload."

4. Facebook

Women of Egypt

5. Political cartoons:

IAVA calls SOTU statements on VA electronic medical records system ‘misleading’

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 12:34:00 -0700

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) says a statement made by President Obama during his second State of the Union address on January 25 concerning electronic medical records needs to be corrected so the public, service members and veterans don’t assume the system, the so-called “Blue Button” initiative is fully operational.

IAVA disagrees with the president’s comment that “Veterans can now download their electronic medical records with a click of the mouse.”

“Contrary to the President’s comment, the only thing a veteran can download from the VA’s system are pharmaceutical records and personal health information that he or she has self-entered. This is a critical distinction,” IAVA said in a statement.

IAVA also urged the president to launch an aggressive national suicide prevention campaign involving the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs and community-based nonprofits. “He must also issue a national call for more military mental health providers, who can support service members, veterans and their families throughout deployment and beyond,” said IAVA founder and executive director Paul Rieckhoff.

Experts say that about 20 percent of veterans that served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide rates continue to climb.

Growing more frustrated with government policies and the lingering economic problems, IAVA also called on the president, Congress and the business sector to address growing unemployment among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Despite hiring incentives, the jobless rate among these veterans is higher than the national average, estimated at 11.5 percent versus 9.4 percent for non-veterans, according to the Department of Labor’s most recent report. Unemployment in some states and among the youngest veterans is even higher. Unemployment among the youngest veterans, ages 18 to 24 is at 21 percent, according to the labor department.

Oxfam Report: Pakistan flooding crisis could worsen

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:51:00 -0700

Malnutrition and homelessness are a continuing threat to victims of the July 2010 floods that stuck Pakistan. The flooding covered one-fifth of the country and put 14 million in urgent need of assistance.

In a report released today, six months after the floods, Oxfam said the disaster exposed the vulnerability of Pakistan’s poor and that reconstruction and comprehensive reform could be a “transformative moment” for the country. However, current government policies, relief organization coordination, and level of international financial help are not heading in that direction and more health emergencies loom. Oxfam is urging the government of Pakistan to reconsider its plan to end emergency relief operations in most areas as of January 31, 2011.

“Pakistan could salvage a new beginning from the debris of this disaster. If the country invests in disaster risk reduction then the devastation wrought by this disaster could be consigned to history. With bold steps - like redistributing land - a fairer and stronger country could emerge. We must seize this chance to address the causes of inequality and poverty to build back a better and more resilient Pakistan.” -- Neva Khan, head of Oxfam in PakistanAchievements of the relief effort

The relief effort was substantial according to Oxfam. More than 1.5 million people were rescued by military and civilian personnel, and aid -- in the form of money, food, tents, water, hygiene items, and other essentials -- was distributed to more than 1.4 million households by aid workers, troops, government staff, and Pakistani volunteers as of November 2010.

International donations did not keep pace with other disasters

Oxfam called the international donor response “patchy” and “disappointing.” According to the report, the United Nations appeal for emergency assistance garnered aid equal to about $3.20 for each flood survivor. In contrast, about $495 was donated per capita for the victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake.

The UN appeal for $2 billion to rebuild Pakistan remains only 56 percent funded.

Continuing threats

Many homes and agricultural lands in the south are still under water
High malnutrition rates
Widespread lack of adequate shelter and many in the north are displaced with nowhere to go due to the violent conflicts
Food crisis looms due to severely damaged farmlands

Oxfam briefing paper: Six months into the floods: Resetting Pakistan's priorities through reconstruction, January 26, 2011

Happy New Year!

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:55:00 -0700

Sending our best wishes for the coming year. Thank you for stopping by Flesh & Stone to read and comment.

Glad to have you and hope to see you often in 2011!

Peace Prosperity Courage