Eugene Jarecki and the campaign to end America's war on drugs

The US war on drugs has cost one trillion dollars and resulted in 45m arrests. And yet nothing has changed, argues film-maker Eugene Jarecki, a polemical campaigner to reform America's drugs laws. So what did the prisoners in a New York jail think when he showed them his documentary?


http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/30/eugene-jarecki-war-on-drugs

Titans of tech raise millions to enter the political arena: but what is it they want?

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is to launch a lobby group. But critics warn their values differ from those of most Americans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/30/facebook-google-twitter-political-lobbying

Is Cyprus a country? | Searching questions | News | guardian.co.uk

Is Cyprus a country? | Searching questions | News | guardian.co.uk

Germany’s rethink on just where the blame lies for the Irish bank bailout - Political News | Irish & International Politics | The Irish Times - Wed, Mar 27, 2013

Germany’s rethink on just where the blame lies for the Irish bank bailout - Political News | Irish & International Politics | The Irish Times - Wed, Mar 27, 2013

Facebook and Google spread 'their' net across the mobile world | Technology | The Observer

Facebook and Google spread 'their' net across the mobile world | Technology | The Observer

Sugar, not fat, exposed as deadly villain in obesity epidemic | Society | The Guardian

Sugar, not fat, exposed as deadly villain in obesity epidemic | Society | The Guardian

Lustig's food advice

? Oranges. Eat the fruit, don't drink the juice. Fruit juice in cartons has had all the fibre squeezed out of it, making its sugars more dangerous.

? Beef. Beef from grass-fed cattle as in Argentina is fine, but not from corn-fed cattle as in the US.

? Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other sweetened beverages. These deliver sugar but with no nutritional added value. Water and milk are the best drinks, especially for children.

? Bread. Watch out for added sugar in foods where you would not expect it.

? Alcohol. Just like sugar, it pushes up the body's insulin levels, which tells the liver to store energy in fat cells. Alcohol is a recognised cause of fatty liver disease.

? Home-baked cookies and cakes. If you must eat them, bake them yourself with one third less sugar than the recipe says. Lustig says they even taste better that way.

Ed vulliamy on Syria

I've seen the horrific result of western paralysis. It mustn't happen in Syria | Ed Vulliamy | Comment is free | The Observer

Neither [ side ] has the answer in Syria. Indeed, why should there be an "answer" in Syria? Whatever happens, it will be a mess. But what kind of mess do we opt for, what is the least worst mess?

If Britain and France get their way, they will have to accept that the opposition in Syria contains a jihadist current; it includes warlords and people who are not trying to emulate our supposedly model democracy and capitalist enlightenment. And it is also driven by genuine freedom fighters and militias that – whatever their political programme – defend a civilian population under apparently limitless attack.

We know that, post-Iraq, intervention can only have calamitous results, and that its motives are as disingenuous as they are dangerous. We know how toxic the heady rhetoric is from those who have never heard a shot fired or a shell crash, but who from the liberal and conservative salons of London, Paris and New York urge others to war.

But we also know from recollection of the rape camps, Srebrenica, Gorazde and Sarajevo that those who advocate doing nothing can never look the desperate or the dead in the eye. And we know their inactivity is part of what sends hundreds of thousands into the refugee camps along Syria's borders and fills the mass graves, that their dry calculations are in themselves murderous.

Having spent all those nights in trenches, forests and cellars and along treacherous mountain roads with the resistance fighters of betrayed Bosnia and the people they sought in vain to protect, I'd find it hard to look a young Syrian militiaman, or his murdered

Samsung unveils new Galaxy S4 smartphone: Guardian live blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/14/samsung-galaxy-s4-launch-live

Some specs (from Guardian) :

• It's a 4G LTE device : It'll download at 100mps and upload at 50 megabits/sec. (alas not with my chip :-( )
• Smart Pause will automatically pause any video when you look away from the Galaxy S4 display, while the Smart Scroll feature will be able to automatically adjust scrolling by simply tracking the area that you?re looking at. You will be impressed only after getting your hands on the device as these features cannot simply be explained that well until you personally experience them
• The Air Gesture and Air View features will allow uses to simply hover their finger to pop up previews and move through screens easier than ever. You can simply wave over the display and you will answer a phone call. These features will be great for those who aren?t fans of physically interacting with their phone?s display that much
• It has an infrared LED, which can function as a TV remote.
• 13 megapixel camera on front, 2 megapix camera on back.
• Equipped with standard memory options and room for an SD card.
• The camera has a feature whereby, if something unexpected happens in a shot, you can rapid-fire a ton of photos, and then as long as the obstruction at some point moves out of the frame, the phone edits together the best shot, omitting the unwanted party. There's a dual camera that allows the shooter to appear in a small window in the video he/she is shooting. The phone tracks your eye movements for pausing films you stop watching midway. It scrolls by tilting. The phone reads texts to you.
• The Galaxy S4 has a translation feature. You can type a question in English, for example, and the phone can speak it in Chinese. Or the phone can listen to Chinese and then type it out in English.The phone understands 9 languages.
• Group Play: It can turn any group of S4 phones into a group sound system.
  Each phone acts as a speaker. You touch the phones to each other and the sound spreads out. A big group of them creates surround sound.
• The phone can tell you how many calories you've burned by walking throughout the day.

All of these are nice,  but some do show true progression in what a phone can do, not just making faster, smaller (or bigger). Eye control and touch control mark a new way of interacting with the device, which is perhaps the most significant (after all, think what changes touchscreens and accelerometers ushered in to the world of smartphones). One area that it sounds particularly useful for is cooking from a menu on the phone - no more gingerly touching phone with food caked fingers, just scroll with the eye or wave to the next page. I am a sceptical about voice control and translator software until have tried, but if it works, as is indicated, then would be incredibly useful. Finally i like the infra red LED which can interface with a TV - one less device!

What is the optimum temperature for productivity?

Facebook staff feel the chill in cold offices

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg likes to keep the office at just 15C, reveals CEO Sheryl Sandberg in her new book Lean In. So is this really the best temperature for productivity?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/shortcuts/2013/mar/11/facebook-staff-chill-cold-offices

n 2006, a study by the Helsinki University of Technology found performance peaked in an office heated to around 22C, while a month-long 2004 study by Cornell University in New York put the ideal level even higher, at 25C. The Cornell study found that when an office was heated to that temperature, workers typed 100% of the time and had a 10% error rate; at 20C, they typed 54% of the time, and had a 25% error rate.
Higher than 25C, the benefits apparently drop off, with the Helsinki study showing that when temperatures reach more than 31C we become even less productive than in a 15C chill. The fact is, unusual heat or cold is distracting, forcing us to expend energy on regulating body temperature. It can also make us fractious – a 2009 survey of US workers found 10% had fought with a colleague about office temperature. All in all, it seems, Zuckerberg should fire up those radiators tout de suite.

Facebook users unwittingly revealing intimate secrets, study finds

 ersonal information including sexuality and drug use can be correctly inferred from public 'like' updates, according to study

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/11/facebook-users-reveal-intimate-secrets

The researchers used computer software to predict personality traits, but said the same information could be collected by anyone with training in data analysis. They were able to draw "surprisingly accurate" findings about people by aggregating swaths of seemingly innocuous "likes", such as TV shows and movies.

Processed meat scare: a bacon sandwich won't kill you … will it?

As a new scare over salami and sausages emerges, is it time to ditch processed meat products from our diet?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/07/processed-meat-scare-bacon-sandwich-health

New research linking consumption of large amounts of processed meat to an increased risk of early death, heart disease and cancer confirms the emerging evidence surrounding health risks posed by various forms of processed food, not just meat products such as bacon, salami and sausages.

Most People Who Take Blood Pressure Medication Possibly Shouldn’t

A new study is turning decades of medical dogma on its head. A panel of independent experts reports this week that drugs used to treat mild cases of high blood pressure have not been shown to reduce heart attacks, strokes, or overall deaths.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/08/blood_pressure_drugs_for_mild_hypertension_not_proven_to_prevent_heart_attacks_strokes_or_early_death.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2

Evgeny Morozov: 'We are abandoning all the checks and balances'

Evgeny Morozov: 'We are abandoning all the checks and balances'

How Facebook could get you arrested

Smart technology and the sort of big data available to social networking sites are helping police target crime before it happens. But is this ethical?
How Facebook could get you arrested | Technology | The Observer

10 amazing scientific facts about lists | Dean Burnett | Science | guardian.co.uk

10 amazing scientific facts about lists | Dean Burnett | Science | guardian.co.uk