Thursday, April 28, 2011

Christ, A Rose.

Here are two dandy ways to say it. I liked the second in my yewt, but prefer the first now.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Tell me it's not so...

Just read in the May issue of Sojourners that of 33 industrialized nations, the U.S. is last in reading; is 27th in math and 22nd in science. Someone explain this to me....how can it be?!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Root of the Politics of Fear?

“Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently. Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.         ‘We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala,’ the study said. Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions. ‘Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation,’ said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place. ‘Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure.’ The study was based on 90 ‘healthy young adults’ who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned. People with a large amygdala are ‘more sensitive to disgust’ and tend to ‘respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions,’ the study said. Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that ‘monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts,’ it said. ‘Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views.’ It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them. But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person. ‘Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty,’ the study said.” Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study,  By Agence France-Presse in The Raw Story.
Thanks to the Big Fisherman.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Greg Karber November 21, 1952 - March 15, 2011

Greg T. Karber, 58, of Fort Smith, died March 15, 2011, in Fort Smith. Greg practiced law for three decades and was known for taking cases other lawyers did not want or understand and that judges did not like to hear. He was a 1974 graduate of the University of Arkansas, received his master's in public administration in 1975 from the University of Arkansas, attended Oxford University Law School and was also a 1978 graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Little Rock, where he received seven Top Paper awards, graduated second in his class and went on to score the "Top Paper" on the Arkansas Bar Exam. He was a member of the Sebastian County Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was the city attorney and prosecutor for the city of Barling. He was a member of the ACLU and received the ACLU Lawyer of Year Award and Boss of the Year from the Sebastian County Legal Secretaries Association. In addition to being a world class fly fisherman, Greg was soon to be the best-selling author of "Bobby Joe Burns, Gigsy and God: Stories from Earth."
He is survived by his mother, Joyce and husband Ralph Wilson of Oklahoma City; son, Greg Karber Jr. of Los Angeles; Sherri Karber and Norman Wilkinson of Fort Smith; Jennifer Karber and her son, Shaw Wilson of Fort Smith; three brothers, Stan Karber of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Phil Karber and wife Joellen Lambiotte of Cambridge, Mass., and Kent Karber and wife Jenny of Colorado Springs, Colo.
He was preceded in death by his father, John M. Karber Jr.; and brother, John M. Karber III.
Memorial service will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at Roebuck Chapel of First United Methodist Church. Services and cremation are under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.
Honorary pallbearers will be Mark Rumsey, Reece Jaber, Bill Higgins, Kemp Skokos, Leon Marks, Greg Smith, Brad Jesson, Mike Williams, Bill Pierce, Robert Moxley and Norman Wilkinson, the Sebastian County Bar Association and the Barling Police Department.
The family will greet friends at Edwards Funeral Home on Friday from 5-7 p.m.
Memorials may be made to the Arkansas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, 904 W. 2nd St., Little Rock, AR 72201.

Friday, April 01, 2011

A Conundrum

Harry Belafonte & Odetta Holmes aren't Jim Pickens & Joe Pelphrey, but do a pretty fair job with this.