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Psychiatry :: Drugs :: Conflict of Interest or Bias?

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:31:14 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Ask your doctor above their fiscal relationships with the manufacturers of the drugs they prescribe.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions,” Mr. Grassley said Thursday in a letter to the association.

In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing.

“I think we need to review all arrangements between doctors and industry and be very clear about what constitutes a conflict of interest and what does not.”

But many psychiatrists supplement this income with consulting arrangements with drug makers, traveling the country to give dinner talks about drugs to other doctors for fees generally ranging from $750 to $3,500 per event, for instance.

Others say industry and academic researchers are now so deeply intertwined that exposing doctors’ private arrangements only stokes suspicion without correcting the real problem: bias.

Why Journalism Matters

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:05:25 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Bill Moyers - eloquent as ever - speaking about journalism's mission. It's TRUTH. Doh.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

In the buildup to the invasion of Iraq we were reminded of what the late great reporter A.J. Liebling meant when he said the press is "the weak slat under the bed of democracy." The slat broke after the invasion and some strange bedfellows fell to the floor: establishment journalists, neo-con polemicists, beltway pundits, right-wing warmongers flying the skull and bones of the "balanced and fair brigade," administration flacks whose classified leaks were manufactured lies - all romping on the same mattress in the foreplay to disaster.

The job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place. We journalists are, of course, obliged to cover the news, but our deeper mission is to uncover the news that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden.

The present crisis of Western democracy is a crisis of journalism.

Tags: bill moyers, 5th estate, big media, crime, democracy, free press, mainstream media, media consolidation

Childhood Abuse Related to Adult PTSD

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:28:48 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Research continues into the origins and lasting effects of childhood sexual and other violent trauma.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Groundbreaking research suggests genes help explain why some people can recover from a traumatic event while others suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.

Researchers found that specific variations in a stress-related gene appeared to be influenced by trauma at a young age — in this case child abuse. That interaction strongly increased the chances for adult survivors of abuse to develop signs of PTSD.

Almost 30 percent of participants reported having been sexually or physically abused as children. Most also had experienced trauma as adults, including rape, attacks with weapons and other violence.

Childhood abuse and adult trauma each increased risks for PTSD symptoms in adulthood.

The study is an important contribution to a growing body of research showing how severe abuse early in life can have profound, lasting effects

Tags: surviving abuse, ptsd, research

Social Networking & Depression

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:50:30 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: A new social networking site - http://www.patientslikeme.com - dedicated to collecting grassroots / crowdsourced data, statistics, charts, medical metrics. The site bucks the MSM-promoted privacy-before-all-else-for-fear-of-identity-theft or death by pervert trend.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

As diseases go, A.L.S. or M.S. or Parkinson’s or even H.I.V. are relatively rare afflictions, at least in the United States. Mental illness, on the other hand, afflicts a vast swath of the country. Nearly 60 million Americans have a diagnosable mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, a population that includes everything from depression to bipolar syndrome to anxiety. For PatientsLikeMe, that population represents a huge market, not to mention the potentially lucrative bounty of data related to antidepressants and other mood-disorder drugs. But it also presents a challenge.

Creating a PatientsLikeMe mental-health community — or as they call it, a “mood community” — requires a new strategy for measuring mental health.

The official diagnostic criteria for major depression, for example, include “feelings of worthlessness” and “indecisiveness.” So PatientsLikeMe faces an input problem: how to convert the ambiguities of mental illness into metrics?

Tags: depression, social networking, data

A2K = Access to Knowledge :: Intellectual Property

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:03:10 GMT

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clipper's remarks: Cory Doctorow opines on the state of Copyright. Didn't know there was a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Didn't know about Access to Knowledge (A2K) either. Two groups worth watching as Intellectual Property in the digital age shakes itself out.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Through most of copyright's history, we had two de facto systems: industrial regulation (governing what big companies did with each others' stuff) and folk-copyright (the rules of thumb that most of us understood to be true).

Then came the internet, which introduced two critical changes: it made it easier for folk-users of copyright to find each other and spread their creations and copies farther than ever, and it made it easier for enforcers to find them and threaten them, especially once tools like the "notice and takedown" regime in the European Union Copyright Directive and the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act came on the scene.

This is a genuinely radical idea: individuals should hire lawyers to negotiate their personal use of cultural material

Folk-copyright didn't have a lot of legal authority - it was completely backwards on any number of subjects - but it worked.

It's also a dumb idea. People aren't going to hire lawyers to bless the singalong or Timmy's comic book.

Tags: optional. separate by commas., big media, mainstream media, creativity, freedom

Buster Keaton on Film Making

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:08:49 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Lately, shooting movies has gotten very flexible, everybody's cutting their own stuff. Ideaflow is possible.

Clip Source: www.fathom.com

When a big studio today has got their schedules laid out, and those people are called and everything, you go in there and shoot, regardless. You can't improvise, as we did then. Why, we'd change every other minute. We never knew what we were running into. When we ran into something good, we stuck with it. That's the great handicap today--no flexibility. The minute you're not flexible that way, the desire to originate and ad-lib is gone. You've lost that. You're too damn mechanical.

I always cut my own pictures, from the time I started making them. I watched Arbuckle do it, and that's all there was to it. Oh, yes, he cut his own pictures. They've lost that skill today. Sound tracks have made that almost mechanical. We used to study frames of pictures, for the love of Mike!

We didn't stick to any format. We would just get an idea, and once you started on the idea it would lend itself to gags and natural trouble of any kind.

When the three writers and I had decided on a plot, we could start.

Tags: film, theory, creativity, business, big media, ip/tv, mainstream media, open source, social networks

Studs Terkel on the New McCarthy Era

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:04:40 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Even having been blacklisted in the McCarthy era, Terkel remains optimistic about the future of freedom. I do not share his optimism.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

I have observed and written about American life for some time. In truth, nothing much surprises me anymore. But I always feel uplifted by this: Given the facts and an opportunity to act, the body politic generally does the right thing. By revealing the truth in a public forum, the American people will have the facts to play their historic, heroic role in putting our nation back on the path toward freedom. That is why we deserve our day in court.

EARLIER this month, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the White House agreed to allow the executive branch to conduct dragnet interceptions of the electronic communications of people in the United States. They also agreed to “immunize” American telephone companies from lawsuits charging that after 9/11 some companies collaborated with the government to violate the Constitution and existing federal law.

I was among those blacklisted for my political beliefs. My crime? I had signed petitions.

Lots of them.

Tags: freedom, democracy

Japanese Solution to Crime: Hide in Plain Sight

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:57:05 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: These portable anti-crime vending machine hiding places are only $800. Gotta love the Japanese.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Torin Boyd/Polaris, for The New York Times

Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants.

By MARTIN FACKLER

Published: October 20, 2007

TOKYO, Oct. 19 — On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.

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Urban Camouflage

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

Tags: fashion, crime

10/31/07 Writers Guild Stike Issue :: Internet Media

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:55:30 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Yup. The revolution will be unionized.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

The current Writers Guild of America contract expires at midnight on Oct. 31, and it appears that the leaders of the guild are eager to take their 12,000 members out on strike. Thursday's vote results have given them authorization to do so.

We are in a period of extraordinary technological change. The WGA is concerned about the future and doesn't want to get left behind; neither do we.

The Internet is not just another distribution medium like the VCR or DVD before it. Digital media are changing every aspect of our business, from production to marketing to consumption. There are young people in garages and bedrooms all over the world creating new content in new ways, and we need to work through these challenges in order to adapt and survive as an industry.

It is clearly in the interests of the industry to find a sustainable economic model for the production and use of entertainment on these new platforms. That's what this negotiation is all about.

Tags: big media, nternet, ip/tv, labor, mainstream media, technology, union, video

Unionizing Internet Talent? Can't be Far Away...

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:37:29 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

talent agencies have launched new media divisions to discover and connect online talent.

While the amateur has become professional, the professionals have taken notice. Hollywood celebrities are now working online, new media personalities are crossing over into the mainstream, and the entertainment industry is bridging the two worlds. Internet video is no longer a "new media"; it's an industry standard.

Now that so many Hollywood celebrities are working online, influential unions like the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are setting up work groups and committees to determine their role in online media.

Adding union guidelines to the mix may put pressure on studios and advertisers to stay away from non-union creators

So is Hollywood really creating "new" media if they bring television to the internet?

Tags: union, labor, internet, video, big media, social networks, video podcast, videoblog, videoblogging, web 2.0

New "Shield Law" Throws Bloggers to the Sharks

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:28:37 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Those who would repress humanity have much to fear from the Interwebs. Yup. Didn't know you had to register as a blogger in some countries. The crackdown on freedom of speech has begun.

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

This week, non-profit journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders announced the “Press Freedom Index, its list of countries in which journalists are most threatened. It found that bloggers and other online media are just as threatened as traditional journalists by governments who look to stifle the information they publish. According to the organization, some 26 bloggers and online journalists have been jailed worldwide since September of 2006.

Before the web, it was relatively easy for governments to control the information their citizens consumed. A paper could be shut down, and a journalist tried and convicted for speaking his or her mind. But the reach of the Internet and the accessibility to media-creating tools is making oppressive governments nervous, as is the pervasiveness of the web.

n countries like Croatia, Nicaragua and Ghana (among others) felt their freedom of expression less compromised than that of their U.S. counterparts.

comfortable speaking your mind online?

Tags: free press, free speech, 5th estate, democracy

FCC Media Consolidation Plan = Death of Democracy

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:30:20 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Oh, for crying out loud! Big media has the FCC somehow by the balls. The only up side is that this move will open up tons of room for small, local media to fill in the gaps.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

deregulation in the media is difficult politically, because many Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned about news outlets in their districts being too tightly controlled by too few companies.

“This is a big deal because we have way too much concentration of media ownership in the United States,” Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, said at a hearing on Wednesday called to examine the digital transition of the television industry.

“If the chairman intends to do something by the end of the year,” Mr. Dorgan added, his voice rising, “then there will be a firestorm of protest and I’m going to be carrying the wood.”

Mr. Zell has said he wants to complete his $8.2 billion buyout of Tribune Company by the end of the year.

“We’ve got to have that public scrutiny. That was one of the big mistakes that Mr. Powell made, and he was taken to the woodshed by the Third Circuit. I fear it is déjà vu all over again.”

Tags: big media, media consolidation, democracy

Apple Almost Lost It, But Makes Guesture Toward Comeback

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:11:45 GMT

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clipper's remarks: Lots of folks were on the verge of quitting the cult of Apple when new iPhone software releases turned iPhones into bricks. Jobs' announcement of a 2008 SDK may or may not be too late to bring 'em back into the Apple fold.

Clip Source: arstechnica.com

Steve Jobs today announced that Apple is working on a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone and iPod touch so that third-party developers can build native applications for the devices.

"We’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc.," Jobs argued in his announcement.

Apple's current lock-down on the iPhone and iPod touch hasn't stopped hackers from breaking into the devices though.

Across three iPhone firmware updates and key announcements since the device's release on June 29, Apple has made it clear that third parties were not welcome in the iPhone. Each firmware update locked down the iPhone's file system in new ways, with the most recent 1.1.1 firmware update closing the door even tighter.

It's a welcome move for iPhone owners who have found themselves frustrated by the limitations Apple has put on the device.

Tags: technology, apple, iphone, brick, open source

ABC's Internet Presence in Video

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:33:57 GMT

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clipper's remarks: ABC's really trying to catch up with the vlogosphere and IP/TV.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

ABC is the only major broadcast network that is using the staff of its evening newscast to produce a separate and distinct daily program for a Web audience.

Over the course of 20 months, the Webcast has evolved from a basic distillation of the day’s news into an original program that incorporates video blogs, first-person essays and interviews.

ABC News’s main network competitors, CBS and NBC, are for the moment mainly using the Web to repackage their regular nightly news shows.

The “World News” Webcast does not have any commercial interruptions, though AT&T and Pfizer have run advertisements just before the podcast version starts.

“I feel less pressure to wear a tie, sit up straight, and make sure everything I say is perfectly enunciated,” Mr. Harris said. “I have an opportunity to be much closer to who I actually am, instead of the TV version of myself.”

Tags: videoblog, video podcast, mainstream media, change, ip/tv

Another Reason Videoblogging Rocks

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:23:01 GMT

clipped by: fauxpress
clipper's remarks: Actually, the tags associated with this clip say it all.

Clip Source: www.philadelphiaweekly.com

What began in January as a fascination with the El location has transformed into a series of character studies that are as powerful and compelling as anything out there in the worlds of art or journalism—not just as portals into the everyday struggles of individuals, but also as a portrait of the neighborhood in which they live.

Kessler’s decision to display his work in the form of a video blog (undertheel.blogspot.com) was deliberately populist, allowing his work to be experienced by anyone with computer access, while giving it both an immediacy rarely found in art collections and an intimacy rarely seen in journalism.

The people who live and work under the Kensington El are too often lost in the shadows that come with such dark depictions. David Kessler is bringing them into the light.

Tags: videoblogging, video podcast, geocentricity, localism, art, documentary, david kessler, philadelphia