Category Archives: Post Human

"WiFi," Maryland governor and (vice) presidential candidate Martin O'Malley (D) told CNN, "is a human right." He was putting those words into the mouths of the nebulous group known as "young people," but it's clear that O'Malley agrees with the sentiment.

Before we analyze O'Malley's own record on this core human right, we'll note that his claim is not without precedent. Following the Arab Spring in 2011, the United Nations declared that Internet access was a human right, demanding that countries "ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest." That's not WiFi, of course, but there has been an Internet joke going around that addresses wireless access specifically. Here's one iteration; its original creator, like that of Ozymandias's statue, is lost to time.

But back to O'Malley. If the governor believes that WiFi is a human right or, being generous in our reading of that statement, that Internet writ large is, how does his state do in providing said access?

Happily, the Census Bureau has since 1997 collected data on Internet use by state. As of 2012, the last year for which data is available, some 5.6 million Marylanders had Internet access -- meaning that nearly 300,000 people didn't. (The Census Bureau only looks at those ages 3 and up, so maybe there are just a lot of babies.)

Compared to the rest of the United States, though, Maryland is doing okay. A look at Internet growth (in terms of number of people who are connected versus 2009) shows Maryland outpacing the country on the whole, and outpacing most other states.

But that's not WiFi. EvaluatingWiFi alone is tricky, but we assume that O'Malley means publicly accessible WiFi, the sort of thing he championed even back when he was mayor of Baltimore. The Census Bureau collects data on people who have Internet in their homes and on people who have Internet access elsewhere. That latter figure would include people with access to a publicWiFi hotspot, so we pulled that number out versus the national picture.

The good news? Since 2009, the state of Maryland has continued to have broader Internet access at home than the rest of the country, though that access grew more slowly. But for Internet access outside the Maryland home, that expanded more quickly than the nation on the whole.

While there are likely still tens of thousands of Marylanders who lack even the basic human right of Internet access (and who, we will note with sarcastic suspicion, are unable to speak out during times of political unrest), the state is at least making progress in addressing the problem.Whether or not the people without the basic human right of WiFi will prove to be the "soccer moms" of 2016 only time will tell.

Philip Bump writes about politics for The Fix. He previously wrote for The Wire, the news blog of The Atlantic magazine. He has contributed to The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Daily, and the Huffington Post. Philip is based in New York City.

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The Fix: Martin OMalley and the human right to WiFi

"WiFi," Maryland governor and (vice) presidential candidate Martin O'Malley (D) told CNN, "is a human right." He was putting those words into the mouths of the nebulous group known as "young people," but it's clear that O'Malley agrees with the sentiment.

Before we analyze O'Malley's own record on this core human right, we'll note that his claim is not without precedent. Following the Arab Spring in 2011, the United Nations declared that Internet access was a human right, demanding that countries "ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest." That's not WiFi, of course, but there has been an Internet joke going around that addresses wireless access specifically. Here's one iteration; its original creator, like that of Ozymandias's statue, is lost to time.

But back to O'Malley. If the governor believes that WiFi is a human right or, being generous in our reading of that statement, that Internet writ large is, how does his state do in providing said access?

Happily, the Census Bureau has since 1997 collected data on Internet use by state. As of 2012, the last year for which data is available, some 5.6 million Marylanders had Internet access -- meaning that nearly 300,000 people didn't. (The Census Bureau only looks at those ages 3 and up, so maybe there are just a lot of babies.)

Compared to the rest of the United States, though, Maryland is doing okay. A look at Internet growth (in terms of number of people who are connected versus 2009) shows Maryland outpacing the country on the whole, and outpacing most other states.

But that's not WiFi. EvaluatingWiFi alone is tricky, but we assume that O'Malley means publicly accessible WiFi, the sort of thing he championed even back when he was mayor of Baltimore. The Census Bureau collects data on people who have Internet in their homes and on people who have Internet access elsewhere. That latter figure would include people with access to a publicWiFi hotspot, so we pulled that number out versus the national picture.

The good news? Since 2009, the state of Maryland has continued to have broader Internet access at home than the rest of the country, though that access grew more slowly. But for Internet access outside the Maryland home, that expanded more quickly than the nation on the whole.

While there are likely still tens of thousands of Marylanders who lack even the basic human right of Internet access (and who, we will note with sarcastic suspicion, are unable to speak out during times of political unrest), the state is at least making progress in addressing the problem.Whether or not the people without the basic human right of WiFi will prove to be the "soccer moms" of 2016 only time will tell.

Philip Bump writes about politics for The Fix. He previously wrote for The Wire, the news blog of The Atlantic magazine. He has contributed to The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The Daily, and the Huffington Post. Philip is based in New York City.

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Martin OMalley and the human right to WiFi

MAYOR DENNIS SOMA & INAUGURAL SESSION OF THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN 7-3-13

Santa Barbara, Iloilo Municipal Mayor Hon. Dennis S. Superficial, M.D. delivered his State of Municipality Address during the Inaugural Session of the Sanggu...

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Naghandog ng isang awitin ang Punong Lungsod Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez sa mga homeowners ng El Dorado Dulo, Brgy. Don Bosco. [admin03]

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Saksi is GMA Network's late-night newscast hosted by Arnold Clavio and Vicky Morales. It airs Mondays to Fridays at 11:30 PM (PHL Time) on GMA-7. For more vi...

Residents of Brgy. Caibaan and Brgy. Palanog welcomed Mayor Alfred S. Romuladez and showered their gratitude for his effective leadership and fatherly love. ...

Unang Balita is the news segment of GMA Network's daily morning program, Unang Hirit. It's anchored by Rhea Santos and Arnold Clavio, and airs on GMA-7 Mondays to Fridays at 5:15 AM (PHL Time). For more videos from Unang Balita, visit http://www.gmanetwork.com/unangbalita. GMA News Online: http://www.gmanews.tv Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gmanews Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gmanews

Balitanghali is the daily noontime newscast of GMA News TV anchored by Raffy Tima and Pia Arcangel. It airs Mondays to Fridays at 11:30 AM (PHL Time). For mo...

Isang programa ang isinagawa ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Zamboanga City bilang pagalala at parangal sa mga itinuturing na bayani ng Zamboanga City na nakipagla...

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Mayor orders investigation on blog post

President Obama today signed bipartisan legislation into law that will bring more frequent surveys to hospice providers as part of a broader bipartisan action designed to increase quality, transparency and accountability to the post-acute care industry.

Unlike the Affordable Care Act, which garnered no Republican support when it passed both houses of Congress four years ago, key GOP leaders were supportive of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act, or IMPACT Act.

The law builds on quality aspects woven into the ACA by increased quality, transparency and accountability by increasing the frequency of surveys to hospice providers and streamlining quality measures for post-acute providers in general. The White House also said in a statement that the IMPACT Act facilitates patients comparing outcomes across different care settings and funds a key improvement to nursing home oversight, the collection of staffing data.

The new law covers myriad providers of post-acute care including skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation centers and home health agencies that will soon have to begin reporting standardized patient assessment data and quality information to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Medicare program, like most private health insurance companies, is moving away from paying providers via the traditional fee-for-service system to more value-based care that reimburses post-acute providers on accountability and patient outcomes rather than paying these providers no matter the quality of care provided.

Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator and Chief Medical Officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said the IMPACT Act standardizes assessment data across the post-acute care setting.

The law includes a provision that requires hospice surveys at least once every three years, Conway said during a call earlier this afternoon with health reporters to discuss the new law.

The language in the IMPACT Act includes key parts of hospice legislation that had been championed by U.S. Reps. Tom Reed, a Republican from Upstate New York and a California Democrat, Mike Thompson.

Supporters of the legislation say it would weed out bad apples from the industry and shine more light on all hospice providers. The industry sees the survey process itself as important so providers would have a better idea how to make improvements and know what is expected.

In recent years, the hospice and post-acute care industries have faced mounting criticism. Last year, for example, a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that frequency of surveys of hospice were inconsistent and it was common that facilities would go years without an evaluation. Some facilities could go 8 years without a survey.

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Obama Signs Rare Bipartisan Health Bill On Hospice, Post-Acute Quality

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Eidolon is in the Bundle Stars Store for a limited time only! - Video

After World War II, there was hope that core principles of international law and human rights would become universal, but increasingly these standards have suffered from selective application and propagandistic manipulation, causing aloss of credibility in these keyprecepts, as Lawrence Davidson notes.

By Lawrence Davidson

The traditional criterion for state legitimacy was very simple. If a state and its government could hold and govern territory, it was legitimate, at least in the eyes of other governments. The form of government and its behavior did not matter in this definition Stalins USSR, Mussolinis Italy, Hitlers Germany these regimes held territory and ruled as surely as did the ones in Britain, France and the United States. And, in each others official eyes, one state was as legitimate as the next.

This outlook began to change in 1945. Just before and then during World War II, fascist behavior in general and Nazi behavior in particular was so shocking that many post-war governments became convinced that state legitimacy required well-defined codes of national behavior enshrined in international law.

President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush (with First Lady Michelle Obama and former First Lady Laura Bush) walk to a White House event on May 31, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Therefore, right after the war, human rights became a recognized standard by which to judge states and their governments. This new standard, which was implied in the Nuremberg trials, was soon articulated in such documents as the International Declaration of Human Rights and endorsed by the United Nations. It was simultaneously reinforced by a worldwide process of decolonization that focused the international community on issues of human rights, particularly as they touched on the practice of racism and apartheid.

Most importantly, this process led growing segments of civil society to support human rights law as a standard by which to judge state legitimacy. In one case, pressure from civil society worldwide was applied on apartheid South Africa throughout the 1970s and 1980s with sufficient force to help change not only the nature of that countrys government, but its national culture and therefore the character of the state itself. By 1994, South Africa was no longer an apartheid state.

New Attack on Human Rights

Recently things have not gone so well. There has been a tendency for the lessons learned about the importance of human rights to fade with time, particularly from the institutional memories of state bureaucracies. The proclivity of all state apparatuses to behave in a Machiavellian way has reasserted itself, particularly in the foreign policies of Western democratic states and their subsequent alliances with all manner of horrid right-wing dictatorships the world over.

This complicity with oppressive regimes produced inevitable anti-Western sentiment culminating in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Subsequently the United States declared a war on terror, and this effort seems to excuse everything that the U.S. government has done, from indefinite detention and torture to assassinations and invasions.

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Eroding Principles of Human Rights

Now that there are 4K OLED televisions, can picture quality get any better? Have we achieved perfection? If so, where do we go from here? Here's a list of next steps.

LG (Screen Image: Geoffrey Morrison)

We've been saying for a while that OLED TVs offer the best picture quality ever, with infinite contrast ratios and perfect black levels that put plasma and LCD to shame. We'd worried that 4K/Ultra HD OLED would be too expensive to bring to market, but LG did it anyway.

So now that we have 4K OLED TVs available for sale, albeit for fiv figures, what's next? If this marriage of contrast and resolution creates such a perfect image, is the race over? Has the picture quality Holy Grail been discovered?

That's a pretty good question, actually.

Reader Caleb Munyasya asked it like this: "Is 4K OLED the end of the road for improving our TV experience? Because realistically speaking, there must be a limit to TV quality. If we combine 4K and OLED will it truly ever get better than that?"

I've gotten similar emails over the years, a bunch around the launch of Blu-ray for example, unsure why we needed BD when DVD was clearly the best we'd ever need. Caleb's question is a fair one, though. We've been saying contrast was king for years, and OLED's contrast IS king.

Mix that with the excessive pixel density of 4K, which exceeds the limits of human visual acuity at standard seating distances, and it's quite an attractive combo.

So let's take a look at a few of the ways our TVs (and TV system) can improve for an even better picture. A wish list, if you will, of our picture quality dreams.

Right now we're still pretty light on the OLED front. Only LG is making a serious push. We'll hopefully see more at CES 2015, but for right now, LG is it. We want more companies, and bigger, cheaper, better TVs... you know, the usual.

Excerpt from:
Post-4K OLED TV: Where does picture quality go from here?

Can you point to Center City? neuroscientist Russell Epstein likes to ask visitors to his office at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Sometimes they can do it. Sometimes they have a little trouble. And sometimes, Epstein says, they have no idea how theyd even begin to solve that problem.

Epsteinstudies the way people navigate through space and orient to their surroundingswhich turns out to be averychallenging problem for some people. His work builds on the research in rats that earned three scientists the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this morning.The prize-winning work identified certain types of neurons in the brain that are integral to the brains internal navigation system.

Epstein is one of several researchers trying to connect the dots between thatrodent research and individual differences in peoples ability toorient to their surroundings and find their way from one place to another. As you may have noticed, all people are not equally good at this.

In a study published last year, hislab teamed up with psychologists from nearby Temple University to investigate what happens as people get to know a new place over the course of a few weeks. They took Temple students to a suburban campus theyd never seen beforeandshowed them two short walking routesthatpassed by four buildings that served as landmarks. To keep the students from making a connection between the two routes, they blindfolded them and pushed them in wheelchairs from one to the other.

In subsequent visits, the researchers showed the students two different paths that connected the two routes theyd learned. Then they did some tests to try to see which students had put all the pieces together into a mental map of the new campus. For example, theyd ask a student to imagine standing in front of one of the eight buildings and point to the other seven. Some people could do it well, and other people couldnt do it all that well, Epstein said. Thats not terribly surprising. What he and his colleagues really want to know is whats going on in the students brains that might account for that difference.

When theydidMRI scans of the brains of 13 of the students, theyfound a correlation between the size of the right hippocampusa region with important roles in memory and navigation, and the focus of the Nobel-winning researchand how well a person had done on the imaginary pointing task. That suggests to Epstein that people with a bigger right hippocampus, and even more specifically, the posterior or back end of the right hippocampus, may be better able to get oriented to new places.

Its just one study, and a fairly small one at that, but the findings fit with other research. The most famous of these are the cab driver studies by Eleanor Maguire and her colleagues at University College London. Since the early 2000s, Maguire and her team have studied London cabbies as they learn The Knowledge, the navigational wherewithal to get a passenger from point A to B through the citys medieval maze of streets without looking at a map or using GPS as a crutch.

London streets. Map: OpenStreetMap contributors

A few years ago, Maguires team scanned the brains of 79 cabbie wannabes just about to embark on the three to four year training program, and they scanned most of them again afterwards (only 39 had managed to pass the qualifying examLondon is confusing!). MRI scans showed that the posterior hippocampus had gotten slightly larger in those whod successfully crammed The Knowledge into their heads. Those who flunked out showed no change, the researchers reported in Current Biology.

Epstein says those findings show pretty convincingly that intensive geographical training can increase the volume of the posterior hippocampus. Its the same area Epsteins campusnavigation study implicated, but in that case he suspectsthe students performance was impacted by pre-existing differences in their brains. People came in with these differences [in the size of their posterior hippocampus] and that affected how well they learned the campus, he said.

Original post:
Beyond the Nobel: What Scientists Are Learning About How Human Brains Navigate

And still many countries across the world refuse to provide basic healthcare and amendment in prevailing laws to save lives

Credit: Amnesty International

We all know about Savita Halappanavar's death that called attention to archaic laws in Ireland over abortion laws.Savita's death at University Hospital in Galway brought focus on the Republic of Ireland's abortion laws and thereby gross violation of human rights.Post a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, known as the X case, abortion had been constitutionally available in the Republic of Ireland. But after much international outrage, the laws were amended a tad too late.

And bringing the focus to abortion laws,Amnesty International has been running several campaigns to bring focus to human rights violations an individuals rights to his/her own body. Recently, they launched#MyBodyMyRights campaign which focuses on laws and practices that prevent individuals from making personal choices that affect their health and well-being. Amnesty's tagline for the campaign reads, "Being able to make our own decisions about our health, body and sexual life is a basic human right. Yet all over the world, many of us are persecuted for making these choices or prevented from doing so at all."

Check out Amnesty's poster campaign Its real, powerful and painful!

The UNs report on Ireland has recommended that the countrys law should be revised to provide for additional exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal fetal abnormality.

Picture credit: Amnesty International

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#MyBodyMyRights: This powerful poster campaign by Amnesty International will change the way you view basic human rights

Published October 3, 2014. By Joshua Farrington

Granta Books has signed To Be a Machine: Encounters with a Post-Human Future by Mark O'Connell.

Senior editor Max Porter signed UK and Commonwealth rights at auction from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown on behalf of Amelia Atlas at ICM.

The book is described as "intellectual anatomy" of the transhumanist movement, those who believe technology can enable mankind to transcend the biological conditions of humanity, blending history, cultural criticism, in-depth profiles and essayistic reportage.

Porter said: This is an outstanding piece of work. Marks proposal could be cryogenically frozen to show the robots of the future what a perfect non-fiction pitch was in 2014. To Be a Machine will be deeply intelligent, profoundly timely and frequently hilarious. All of us at Granta believe we have found a non-fiction super star.

North American rights were sold to Doubleday and deals in other foreign territories are being negotiated. To Be a Machine will be published in 2016.

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Post-human study to Granta | The Bookseller