admin – Page 505 – AssociatedNews.info

Business September 25, 2015

The Shaky Future Of Diesel Fuel In America

3:54

Volkswagen’s cheating on emission tests for its diesel vehicles has not only stirred a controversy; it has also raised a question: Is there life left for diesel in the U.S.?

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The epic scope of the Volkswagen scandal brings this question into focus. Is there a viable future for diesel cars in the United States? NPR’s Sonari Glinton took that question to some experts.

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: For this story about diesel cars, we have to talk as much about science as business. But don’t worry. You don’t have to be an engineer. We got plenty.

MARGARET WOOLDRIDGE: Hi. I’m Margaret Wooldridge, and I’m a professor at the University of Michigan in mechanical engineering.

GLINTON: To be more specific, Wooldridge studies and tests engines. So first, she’s going to help us understand some of the basics about diesel engines.

WOOLDRIDGE: The primary advantage of a diesel engine versus a gasoline engine is the efficiency. So it’s fundamentally higher efficiency than your gasoline engine.

GLINTON: It also has greater low-end torque, which means you have more power at low speeds, but that higher efficiency comes at a cost. The higher efficiency means higher pressure, and the higher pressure results in higher temperatures. So the hotter the burn, the more byproducts you get – things like soot or nitrogen oxide or NOx which are bad for air quality. So the fundamental challenge is…

WOOLDRIDGE: The things that we do to increase the efficiency intrinsically make more air toxic emissions.

GLINTON: Wooldridge says while some of the science to make diesel clean and perform well is difficult, it is still doable.

WOOLDRIDGE: It’s a good technology. It really is a good technology from a fundamental, thermodynamic standpoint. The diesel image is what we have to overcome.

RICH JOSWICK: They’re not the diesel cars that I remember from 1980 that were these sputtering, black-smoke-spilling things. They really are efficient and powerful.

GLINTON: Rich Joswick is with the PIRA Energy Group. They consult car companies, oil companies, governments – you name it – about energy, especially oil and diesel. He says the extra cost of diesel cars puts it at a disadvantage. And with low gas prices that look to be staying low for a while, that’s an extra hit. He says there are just fewer and fewer compelling reasons today to buy a diesel.

JOSWICK: It doesn’t look like it’s saving you money. Or you want to do it for green reasons, in which case, you might want to buy an electric car instead. An electric car is cleaner than a diesel. Or you are just, you know – you like the lure of some of these powerful European cars.

GLINTON: Joswick says demand for diesel is already very, very low, and growth – if there’s any – will be slow. He says he expects diesel to remain niche.

So much of the problem with Volkswagen’s diesels is that they were sold as environmentally friendly. Roland Hwang is in charge of transportation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmentalist group.

ROLAND HWANG: When people ask me personally, should I buy that diesel vehicle, I’ve told them that you should go ahead and buy that vehicle; drive that vehicle because those vehicles meet our standards. I’ve told that to acquaintances of mine, given that advice to acquaintances of mine in the past.

GLINTON: Hwang says it’s clear VW wasn’t meeting standards. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it will revamp the way they test for emissions and fuel economy across the board – gas and diesel, a move Hwang applauds. But…

HWANG: I think we do have to question whether diesel engines or any other internal combustion engine vehicle really can get us to where we need to be in meeting our air quality and energy goals.

GLINTON: Hwang says gasoline engines are getting more efficient, and there are plenty of other clean and efficient options.

HWANG: We don’t care if – whatever that technology is – whether its diesel, whether it’s running on gasoline or peanut butter – we don’t care what it’s running on as long as it’s clean.

GLINTON: Hwang says the real challenge is not just to make sure diesel is clean but that all cars are clean and that we can rely on the manufacturers. Sonari Glinton, NPR News.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Health September 25, 2015

Parents Can Learn How To Prevent Anxiety In Their Children

Letting children try something that provokes anxiety can help them learn coping skills, researchers say. iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption iStockphoto

Children of anxious parents are more at risk of developing an anxiety disorder. But there’s welcome news for those anxious parents: that trajectory toward anxiety isn’t set in stone.

Therapy and a change in parenting styles might be able to prevent kids from developing anxiety disorders, according to research published in The American Journal of Psychiatry Friday.

The researchers, led by psychiatry professor Golda Ginsburg, a professor of psychiatry at UConn Health in Farmington, Conn., looked at 136 families. Each family had at least one parent who had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and at least one child in the 6-to-13 age range who had not yet been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Roughly half the families received eight weekly sessions of family therapy, while the other half received only a 30-page handout describing anxiety disorders, without specific strategies for reducing anxiety.

After one year, only 5 percent of children from the families who received the family-based therapy had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Among families who received just the handout, that number jumped to 31 percent.

“The basic question was, because we know that anxiety runs in families, could we prevent children from developing an anxiety disorder whose parents had the illness?” says Ginsburg, who conducted the study with colleagues from Johns Hopkins University. The answer was yes, at least over a year.

The researchers will now continue to study these same families, thanks to funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. They will look at whether the children of the families who received the therapeutic intervention go on to develop an anxiety disorder later on in adolescence or early adulthood.

The message from the study’s findings so far, Ginsburg says, is that the focus needs to shift from reaction to prevention. “In the medical system there are other prevention models, like dental care, where we go every six months for a cleaning. I think adopting that kind of model — a mental health checkup, a prevention model for folks who are at risk — is I think where we need to go next.”

All humans feel anxiety. It’s normal, and in many cases, it’s a good thing — it makes us run when we see that bear coming toward us or study for that tough exam that’s coming up tomorrow.

But in people with an anxiety disorder, that dose of healthy anxiety goes awry. People might feel levels of anxiety that are out of proportion to the situation or feel anxiety in a situation where there is simply no threat. Ginsburg likens it to an “alarm clock going off at the wrong time.”

In children, excessive anxiety can come in a variety of ways. Some might struggle with separation anxiety, where they’re afraid to go anywhere without their parents.

Others might struggle with social anxiety, afraid of anything from raising their hand in class to eating in front of others in the school cafeteria. Still others struggle with overwhelming worry. They might think, “If I fail this test, I’ll fail this grade, fail out of high school, never go to college, never get a job and become homeless.”

Whatever the form that the anxiety takes, it’s a combination of overestimating the risk of danger — whether that danger is in the form of embarrassment, a dog or a test — and underestimating one’s ability to cope, says Lynne Siqueland, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety disorders in children and adolescents and was not involved in the study.

There is no single cause for anxiety disorders, Ginsburg says. They’re the product of an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. But the disorders do run in families, she says, and there are certain parenting behaviors that can promote anxiety — like modeling anxiety in front of your kids. Modeling might be direct, like jumping up on the kitchen table when you see a mouse, or indirect, like overcautioning your kids to be careful when there’s no danger.

Ginsburg has recruited participants for many clinical trials; she says it was easiest to recruit families for this one. “The parents who suffered with anxiety themselves had it since they were children, and they did not want their children to suffer in the same way that they did.”

The first two therapy sessions were with the parents alone, where they discussed the impact of the parents’ anxiety disorder on the family and how often they do things that could inadvertently raise levels of anxiety in their children.

In the remaining six sessions with the entire family, the therapist worked with the family on how each person could recognize anxiety and use coping strategies to deal with it.

One key strategy is helping parents understand that kids have to face their fears, Ginsburg says. Sometimes parents help their children avoid anxiety-provoking situations because they’re worried it’s too much for the child, “when in fact they need to help them face their fears in order to reduce their anxiety,” she says.

Siqueland, who provides workshops for parents on how to help their kids cope with anxiety, agrees. Armed with the right information, Siqueland says, parents can help their children prevent anxiety or coach their kids through it when it happens. If your child is scared to walk into that first soccer practice alone because he doesn’t know anyone, don’t throw the car in reverse and speed back home, she says. Sit calmly with him as he musters the courage to walk in.

The biggest message Siqueland tries to impart to parents she works with is not to try to prevent anxiety, but instead promote their child’s competence in handling it. If your child doesn’t like to go play at friends’ houses, they need to go play at more friends’ houses, she says.

“That is kind of an ‘aha’ moment in the parent workshops,” Siqueland says, “that kids who worry about these things need more practice, not less.”

Another message Siqueland gives parents: Anxiety is very treatable. “Kids are not doomed to distress.”

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Entertainment September 24, 2015

The Last Sci-Fi Blog: 6 Fantastic Fest Sci-fi Movies You Can Watch Right Now

Fantastic Fest, that annual celebration of genre cinema from all over the world, is upon us once again (check out a list of our most anticipated movies here). This Austin, Texas-based film festival is nirvana for movie fans and a Mecca for horror, action, and science fiction buffs. It’s something else. It’s the most fun week of the year, even for those of us who go there to work.

And next week, we will bring you a report about the latest and greatest science fiction films to play the fest. We won’t leave you hanging, though. Because we want you to experience a little bit of Fantastic Fest this week, here are some of the best and most interesting science fiction movies that have played there in recent years.

More importantly, each of these is available to stream online. Enjoy!

Automata

Antonio Banderas plays an insurance agent. In the future. Who works for a robot company. And investigates rogue robots who are going beyond their programming and altering themselves. Naturally, his investigation takes him to some pretty dark places. Although his film features shades of Blade Runner and I, Robot (the book and the movie), director Gabe Ibáñez’s vision of the future is uniquely bleak. This isn’t just a stylish action movie about a robot uprising — it’s a stylish action movie about a robot uprising that takes place in the kind of future world that couldn’t look less appealing. We mean that in a good way. Why romanticize the post-apocalypse?

Currently streaming on Netflix.

[embedded content]

Coherence

The less you know about Coherence going in, the better. Trust us when we say that this is a movie that defies categorization. We’ll just say that it’s about a dinner party that just so happens to coincide with a… uh, cosmic event. Things don’t go well.

Although he’s working on a shoestring budget, writer/director James Ward Byrkit never reaches beyond his means, instead crafting a whip-smart science fiction tale jammed full of huge ideas that maintain their power even when they’re shot on the cheap. The resulting film doesn’t just feel like an episode of The Twilight Zone — it feels like one of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone. And that’s high praise.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

[embedded content]

The Congress

This is a film bursting at the seams with big ideas, some of which fall completely flat. But who cares? For every concept that goes nowhere, The Congress has three that tickle and torture the imagination. Ari Folman’s messy but brilliant film casts Robin Wright as herself in the near future. With her career at a dead end, she sells out in the craziest way possible — she lets herself be “scanned,” selling the rights to her onscreen image to a movie studio so she can be recreated and reused in movies forever.

This wild idea opens the door to more wild ideas, and soon the movie jumps forward into a dystopian future, where drugs allow people to live in an animated world. It’s in this second, gorgeously animated half that The Congress evolves from an interesting movie into an astonishing one.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

[embedded content]

Escape From Tomorrow

Everyone knows that Escape From Tomorrow is the movie that was shot guerilla-style at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and it’s fascinating for that aspect alone. Watching entire dramatic (and frequently pitch-dark) scenes take place at the “Happiest Place On Earth” is incredible.

However, Randy Moore’s genre-bending experiment in surrealism has more going for it than its insane behind-the-scenes story. It also features mad scientists and robots. It also features lurid sex and nightmarish imagery and scenes of such stark, Lynch-ian weirdness that they lodge themselves in your brain and don’t leave. It’s something else and every adventurous movie lover should give it a chance.

Currently streaming on Netflix

[embedded content]

The History of Future Folk

There are very few Fantastic Fest movies that can be described as “sweet” and “lovable” and “appropriate for the entire family,” but The History of Future Folk is all of those things. And it’s wonderful. The supposed origin story of the titular folk music duo (who have been performing in New York City for the past decade), the film tells the tale of an alien who arrives on Earth to kill the entire population to make room for his own people, who are searching for a new home.

Fortunately for us, he hears music for the first time and decides that the human race is worth saving. Naturally, the arrival of an assassin intended to finish the job complicates things, but not too much. This movie is less about world-ending alien antics and more about clever jokes and terrific musical numbers. It is very hard to not like this movie.

Currently streaming on Netflix

[embedded content]

Timecrimes

One of the best movies to ever play Fantastic Fest, Timecrimes is a gloriously weird time travel thriller that manages to feel epic and intimate in equal measure. The feature debut of director Nacho Vigalondo, the film follows one hapless man as he encounters a masked killer, flees into the woods, and literally stumbles into a time machine that sends him back in time one hour. From there, things start to get weird. And it’s funny and scary and totally unique, a mind-bender that plays like a darkly comic companion piece to Primer. You should make this one a priority.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

[embedded content]

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Sports September 24, 2015

Assistant Coach, Accused Of Telling Players To Hit Ref, Resigns

John Jay High School head football coach Gary Gutierrez testifies before the University Interscholastic League State Executive Committee Thursday in Round Rock, Texas. The school’s principal and Gutierrez told the UIL that they believe assistant coach Mack Breed told players to retaliate against an official in the closing minutes of a game earlier this month. Eric Gay/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Eric Gay/AP

In an incident caught on video, two John Jay High School football players blindsided a ref during a football game earlier this month in Texas. The footage went viral, the players were suspended, the referee was accused of using racial slurs against players and then two players said that assistant football coach Mack Breed told them to hit the ref.

Now, the fallout from the incident continues. Breed, who was placed on leave on Sept. 8, tendered his resignation today in a statement from his attorney, James Reeves.

According to the statement emailed to NPR, Reeves said Breed regrets how the situation unfolded.

“In hindsight, Mack feels he could have handled the situation better. For that reason, Mack has submitted his resignation and will move forward, taking responsibility for his role in the events that occurred. Mack never intended for the kids to hit or hurt the referee, but the result was the same.”

But according to the statement, Reeves says the accountability should not rest solely with Breed.

“Some people are unfairly blaming one man, Mack Breed, for everything that happened at that game. Mack Breed has spent three agonizing weeks contemplating his future since the fateful football game in which two players struck a referee. It has been a difficult road for Mack as he has stood silently watching the spectacle. He has replayed that game in his mind many times wondering how it all went wrong.”

Last week the two players, sophomore Victor Rojas, 15, and Michael Moreno, 17, said on Good Morning America that Breed had told them to take retaliatory action against the referee, Robert Watts, for using racial slurs. This is corroborated by a statement from John Jay’s principal, Robert Harris, first reported by ESPN’s Outside The Lines:

“I later met with Coach Breed at John Jay High School … in my office in the presence of Coach Gutierrez,” Harris wrote. “Coach Breed told me that he directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls. He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself.”

But in today’s statement, Breed’s attorney seems to put the blame on Moreno.

“During his media tour, Michael Moreno resorted to the historical defense of ‘I was just following orders.’ However, we are all responsible for our own actions, and his defense will fail in this situation as it has failed in the past,” Reeves said in the statement. “Moreno paints himself as a saint on television while withholding the truth that shows how out of control he was in that game. Moreno fails to mention that he was not ejected after striking the referee. He stood by while an innocent black player, Trenton Hobdy, was wrongfully ejected for Moreno’s hit on the referee. … His behavior is exactly what one would expect from a rogue player blaming a coach for the player’s actions.”

Watts has denied using any racial slurs and has called for criminal charges against the players and coach. Rojas and Moreno were suspended and sent to another school as the investigation continues. They are eligible to return to John Jay High School in the spring.

At a hearing today in front of the University Interscholastic League State Executive Committee, Thursday in Round Rock, Texas, it was announced that John Jay football head coach, Gary Gutierrez could also face punishment for the incident, according to the Associated Press.

Calls to Northside Independent School District for comment were not returned.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Business September 24, 2015

The Next Phase In Migrant Crisis: Helping The Newly Settled Land Jobs

3:06

Download

Once European countries get Syrian refugees settled, they will need to help them get jobs. But that process might be easier than you think.

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Syrian refugees who’ve made it to Europe want to work. Yet even with impressive credentials, this is not easy. Stacey Vanek Smith from our PLANET MONEY podcast reports.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE: One month ago, Omran Kassar (ph) was taking his last final exam at Damascus University in Syria in macroeconomics.

OMRAN KASSAR: It was pretty difficult. Sometimes I had to just memorize the words without even understanding them (laughter). I just wanted to pass.

SMITH: He did pass and got his degree. But finishing college meant Kassar could no longer put off his mandatory military service in the Syrian Army, which meant fighting his fellow Syrians and ISIS. So the next day, Kassar’s parents and sister put him on a plane. He says the airport was full of young men who had just passed their last college exam.

KASSAR: It was obvious. It was obvious. Everybody who passed his last exam – the next day, the next week, you’ll find him out of Syria.

SMITH: So there are two ways you could look at Kassar. You could see him as one of those people you see on TV walking over country borders, taking a harrowing late-night boat trip, someone who needs food and shelter and help. And all of that is true, but there is another way to look at Kassar. He is an incredibly smart man with a college degree in economics who is ready to work. Ian Goldin is economist at Oxford. He says refugees like Kassar are an economic gift.

IAN GOLDIN: They’ve come across incredibly hazardous journeys to make it into Europe, so one should assume that these people are not lazy. They are certainly not scared of seizing opportunities, and those are exactly the sort of people you want in societies.

SMITH: Goldin says historically, the countries where refugees settle end up benefiting.

So why aren’t European countries, like, fighting each other over the refugees?

GOLDIN: Well, I think there’s a problem of short-term and long-term.

SMITH: Short-term, it costs a lot to get refugees settled – around $14,000 per person. But long-term, refugees contribute a lot more than they cost, often within just a few years. Dozens of companies in Europe have already figured this out.

RAINER HUNDSDORFER: My name is Rainer Hundsdorfer, and I’m the CEO of ebm-papst.

SMITH: Not Pabst the beer. Ebm-papst makes cooling systems in Germany, and it’s pushed itself to the front of the line and launched a program to hire Syrian refugees.

HUNDSDORFER: We intended to help those people but also help us finding good, qualified people amongst those refugees.

SMITH: Do you have a hard time finding workers to fill your jobs?

HUNDSDORFER: Yes.

SMITH: Hundsdorfer hopes to hire hundreds of Syrians in the next couple of years. For Omran Kassar, the economist refugee, things are looking up. The day he arrived in France, he was greeted by the president, Francois Hollande. It was a photo op, but Kassar says it made him optimistic. Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Health September 24, 2015

Carly Fiorina Doubles Down On Opposition To Abortion In South Carolina

2:54

Download

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina campaigned at a Christian pregnancy care center in South Carolina Thursday. Opposition to abortion has become a prominent message in her campaign recently.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

When a pregnant woman is getting an ultrasound, a partner might be in the room along with a medical technician. In an exam room in South Carolina today, there were also reporters and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. The Republican presidential candidate has doubled down on her opposition to abortion and went to a place that’s becoming a popular campaign stop. NPR’s Sarah McCammon takes us there.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: The Carolina Pregnancy Center is a Christian-run organization in Spartanburg, S.C., whose leaders oppose abortion. Thirty-one-year-old Lacey Thomas is expecting a baby boy next February. She was there today for an ultrasound, and Carly Fiorina stood by her side.

CARLY FIORINA: Look at that. Is this your first one?

LACEY THOMAS: This is my second. I had the girl the first time. This is the boy.

MCCAMMON: Thomas has agreed to let Dr. Mary Haddad demonstrate the procedure for Fiorina.

MARY HADDAD: So her baby looks great. Would anyone like to hear the heartbeat?

FIORINA: I would love to hear the heartbeat.

(HEART BEATING)

MCCAMMON: Around the corner, Fiorina praises the center’s work and tells a crowd it’s hypocritical for liberals to support environmental protections for wildlife while also supporting abortion rights.

FIORINA: They are perfectly prepared to destroy other people’s jobs and livelihoods and communities in order to protect fish and frogs and flies, but they do not think a 17-week-old, a 20-week-old, a 24-week-old is worth saving.

MCCAMMON: For Lacey Thomas, the expectant mom who let Fiorina watch her ultrasound, the campaign is mostly a lot of noise right now.

THOMAS: I don’t know much about her except that she’s a Republican candidate, and I looked that up yesterday.

MCCAMMON: Thomas meets monthly with her mentor here, volunteer Linda Earnhardt. The stay-at-home mother of five is following the campaign. Earnhardt was impressed by Fiorina’s recent debate performance where she had harsh words for Planned Parenthood, but Earnhardt has one misgiving.

LINDA EARNHARDT: I do think a man should be a leader – that’s me – but I see the men not standing up. And if she’s going to be the one that’s going to stand up and stand up and stick to her morals then by far I will give her my vote.

MCCAMMON: Gender is also a consideration for Carlotta Jackson, who came to see Fiorina today.

CARLOTTA JACKSON: As long as it’s not someone who’s trying to emasculate men and that it’s not just a power trip for them.

MCCAMMON: But others, like Pam Dean, are eager to see a woman front and center in the Republican Party.

PAM DEAN: I like it that she’s a strong woman, and that she held her own with all of those men and that women can lead.

MCCAMMON: And Fiorina has been working hard to earn the support of women. She’s at least the fifth GOP candidate to visit the Carolina Pregnancy Center this year. It’s a place to showcase a message that could play well in the Republican primaries, though in a general election, that message would be a harder sell with female voters. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Spartanburg, S.C.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Entertainment September 23, 2015

Today in Movie Culture: Homemade 'Deadpoool' Trailer, Slow Motion Martin Scorsese and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Trailer Remake of the Day:

CineFix has sweded the Deadpool trailer, and thanks to homemade Colossus it might be even funnier this way:

[embedded content]

Fan Art of the Day:

Here’s what artist Mitch O’Connell thinks Donald Trump looks like when you wear those sunglasses from They Live (via Priscilla Page):

Movie Trope of the Day:

This video illustrates how movie kids have the best friends, including aliens, robots, genies and Totoros:

[embedded content]

Vintage Image of the Day:

Men working on the model ships for the underrated Pearl Harbor movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, which opened 45 years ago today:

Filmmaker in Focus:

See Martin Scorsese‘s best slow-motion moments in three minutes, as compiled by supercut master Jacob T. Swinney for Press Play:

Video Art of the Day:

See symmetry in motion with the Matrix trilogy put through a mirror effect (via Geek Tyrant):

[embedded content]

Lego Creation of the Day:

This one is far from being an officially available set, but here’s a custom Lego tribute to Pixar‘s early short Tin Toy (via /Film):

Video Essay of the Day:

For Fandor, Kevin B. Lee delivers another great video essay, this one on John Cassavetes and his first feature, Shadows:

[embedded content]

Cosplay of the Day:

There is a dog inside this Toothless costume from How to Train Your Dragon, and you can build your own for your poor pup (via Fashionably Geek):

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 10th anniversary of the initial limited release of David Cronenberg‘s A History of Violence. Watch the original trailer for the movie, which went on to receive two Oscar nominations, below.

[embedded content]

Send tips or follow us via Twitter:

and

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Sports September 23, 2015

Remembering 'Yogi-isms': The Yankee Catcher's Many Nuggets Of Wisdom

0:52

Download

Yankees Hall of Fame catcher, Yogi Berra, died Tuesday at the age of 90. In case you haven’t heard enough Yogi-isms, we have more for you.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

We have been saying Yogi-isms around the office all day.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: It’s deja vu all over again.

MCEVERS: And at some point, it hit us. Yogi really did have nuggets of wisdom for, like, every situation. About learning…

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: You can observe a lot by watching.

MCEVERS: About time…

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It gets late early out here.

MCEVERS: Fan mail…

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Never answer an anonymous letter.

MCEVERS: Oh, and sleeping…

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I usually take a 2-hour nap from 1 to 4.

MCEVERS: And of course, traveling…

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.

MCEVERS: Now, some question if Yogi Berra actually said all of the Yogi-isms he’s credited with. Even Yogi himself did…

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: I didn’t really say everything I said.

MCEVERS: So if you think…

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: We made too many wrong mistakes.

MCEVERS: Just remember…

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.

MCEVERS: …Some of the ALL THINGS CONSIDERED staff with their tribute to Yogi Berra. Thanks guys.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Business September 23, 2015

Turing Pharmaceuticals Retreats From Plan To Raise Price Of Daraprim

3:31

Download

Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli has backed down on his plan for an astronomical price increase on a drug used to treat a deadly parasitic infection. The company did not say what the new price would be, but presumably less than the $750 a pill it had planned to charge. The move illustrates how Shkreli is more Wall Street speculator than pharmaceutical entrepreneur.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

We’re going to learn more now about the CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical. The company came into focus after a New York Times story this week detailed how it raised the price of a drug that’s been on the market for more than 60 years – and not a small increase, a 5,000 percent increase. The company has now backed down, but as NPR’s Jim Zarroli reports, the controversy hasn’t.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Turing didn’t develop Daraprim. It simple bought the drug and then raised its price from $13 a pill to $750. Since then, the backlash against the company has been fierce. Its 32-year-old Martin Shkreli has been mocked and criticized by doctors, other biotech companies and even Hillary Clinton.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HILLARY CLINTON: That’s price gouging, pure and simple. And pharmaceutical companies that acquire an existing affordable drug that people rely on it and then turn around and charge a fortune for it just bet on the fact that desperate people will find some way to pay for it.

ZARROLI: This isn’t the first time that Shkreli has been on the hot seat. A few years ago, he started his own biotech company, but he was kicked out after a financial dispute with the board. Shkreli also sold some biotech stocks short. That is, he bet the stocks would lose value, then he would try to persuade federal regulators not to approve the drugs they had in development. Noah Bookbinder is with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

NOAH BOOKBINDER: Then he would go publicly and put out these statements saying these companies are going to lose value because the FDA is going to take an adverse action. And that actually did have the effect of knocking down the stock value, which made a whole lot of money for Shkreli.

ZARROLI: Regulators have never taken any action against Shkreli, and he has stopped giving interviews. So he wasn’t available for comment. But earlier this week, as the controversy over Daraprim mushroomed, he defended his decision to raise the price on CBS News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARTIN SHKRELI: The drug was unprofitable at the former price. So any company selling it would be losing money, and at this price, it’s a reasonable profit – not excessive at all.

ZARROLI: Shkreli said raising the price would allow his company to research new drugs. It’s an argument that doesn’t sit well with Steve Schondelmeyer of the University of Minnesota. He says drug companies typically recoup their research costs after a drug is released. They don’t raise their prices to pay for research they might do down the road. Because Turing has a lock on Daraprim, customers have to pay whatever it charges. Daraprim is a generic, and other companies can try to compete by bringing out their own version of it. But Schondelmeyer says doing so isn’t easy.

STEVE SCHONDELMEYER: You can’t just start marketing a new genetic tomorrow. You have to get it approved by FDA and have them inspect your plan and your processes.

ZARROLI: Schondelmeyer says the FDA is so backed up it could take six years to bring another drug to market. He says something is broken in the drug industry that needs to be fixed.

SCHONDELMEYER: And I think companies certainly need their reward for innovation, but this isn’t innovation in a clinical sense. It might be in a financial market sense, but it’s not in a clinical, therapeutic sense.

ZARROLI: Meanwhile, the controversy over Daraprim has thrust the issue of drug prices into the spotlight, just as the presidential campaign is heating up. Senator Bernie Sanders has called for an investigation into Turing’s actions, and Hillary Clinton yesterday unveiled a new plan she says will hold down the cost of prescription drugs. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Health September 23, 2015