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Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude simply defined, is the pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. Here are some expounding articles.

Live Science

CNN

Scientific American

New York Times - This one specifically focuses on schadenfreude in television.

Huffington Post : 1, 2, & 3

- Veija

You know lack of sleep can make you grumpy and foggy. You may not know what it can do to your sex life, memory, health, looks, and ability to lose weight. Here are 10 surprising -- and serious -- effects of sleep loss.

- Veija

http://www.sleeptechtutor.com/documents/focus_magazine_article_sleep_deprivation.pdf

- Veija

Even as Oakland struggles with public safety, it is granting leniency to one hardy group of lawbreakers: those who dance until they drop. The City Council last week wiped away an 82-year-old prohibition on the once-infamous public displays of endurance called "dance marathons" that was punishable by six months in jail. The height of the trend - some might say the depth - was reached with dance marathons, which were later depicted in the bleak 1969 film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"

- Veija

The immediate effects of skimping on sleep are obvious. You're groggy, unfocused, sluggish and dying for a nap (or a second cup of coffee).

- Veija

Charlie Brooker, the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world

This is a really interesting British series that "shows the dark side of life and technology."

It's very similar to The Hunger Games in how it portrays class and the exploitation of the working class. For instance, the poor have to bike to produce energy for the rest of the world, and the only chance they have at climbing the economic ladder is performing for a bunch of rich people--ignorant to their misery--who will decide if the contestants are worthy of a show of their own.

Images from Carol Martin's A History of Marathon Dancing - Carina

#shared by: carina

Hunger Games: Moments of Suffering

1:34:52-1:35:10 (approx. 18 seconds) – Katniss hears Rue calling for help, and watches her struggle in a net before freeing her.

1:35:25-1:36:18 (approx. 53 seconds) – Katniss watches Rue get hit with a spear and sings to her as she passes away in her lap. This scene causes a riot in her district immediately after.

1:43:40-1:49:13 – Interspersed throughout this section, there are scenes where Katniss helps Peeta heal from his injuries and subsequent fever.

1:51:10-1:51:33 (approx. 23 seconds) – Katniss watches Thresh kill Clove, saving her life in the process.

1:59:59-2:01:29 (approx. 1 minute 30 seconds) – After all three are fighting, Katniss and Peeta watch as Cato gets mauled by the muttations synthesized by the gamemakers. In the end, she shoots him with an arrow to put him out of his misery.

- Veija

#shared by: veija

Effects of Shrapnel In the Body

Rocky says that Henry has thirteen pieces of shrapnel still embedded in his body. Here are some articles Veija collected regarding the effects of having shrapnel in your body:

Toxic Effects Lead Inorganic Compounds

How shrapnel injuries are caused in blasts

Testing for Shrapnel Sickness

Shrapnel Dislodges from Man's Jaw After 65 Years

- Veija

#shared by: veija

Excerpt from Work: Capitalism. Economic. Resistance.

Capitalism is Headed for Catastrophe (p. 335)

"However stable things may seem in some parts of the world, we’re entering a new era of crisis and uncertainty.

Capitalism has never been as pervasive as it is now. The previous generation experienced alienation, suffering from the dissonance between their roles in production and their sense of themselves; the current generation is characterized by identification with economic roles that are diffusing into every sphere of life. Yet at the moment of its triumph, capitalism is more precarious than ever.

All the peace treaties of the 20th century have expired. The higher wages Henry Ford offered his workers have vanished with the jobs themselves; unions have been flanked out by globalization; the socialist nations of the East have transitioned to free-market capitalism while the social democracies of the West are being dismantled. But those compromises weren’t just ways to avoid confrontation – they also served to perpetuate capitalism. Ford’s wage increases enabled his employees to buy products and keep the pyramid scheme expanding; unions prevented capitalists from impoverishing their consumer base. Now that the capitalists have abandoned their former means of co-optations and self-perpetuation, the future is up for grabs. The old alternatives have been discredited, but new revolutionary ideas are bound to come to the fore.

Capitalism is predicted on the endless accumulation of profit, but this profit has come to from somewhere. Once you bleed workers dry, the rate of profit falls, causing the market to stagnate. Until recently, it was possible and populations. Now capitalism has spread across the entire world, connecting everyone and rending and crisis truly global. At the same time, industrial production is reaching its ecological limits, while technological progress has rendered much of the workforce redundant, creating an increasingly restless surplus population.

Capitalism has been on the brink of crisis for decades now. Extending credit to a broader and broader range of the exploited has been a way of keeping up consumption while the workforce gets poorer. Investors have shifted their wealth into financial markets, hoping to profit on speculation now that profits from material production have plateaued. The vast majority of innovation has centered in new immaterial markets: information, branding, social networking. All this has only succeeded in delaying the day of reckoning.

The financial downturn of 2008 wasn’t a fluke, but a sign of things to come. It’s not simply a matter of waiting until things return to normal. The next phase of the crisis might not hit the US for years or decades, but it’s on its way. Already, the capitalist economy is barely able to offer people decent jobs, let along meaningful lives; even measured by its own materialistic criteria, it isn’t working.

Likewise, it’s not coincidence that you’re reading this book right now.

Insofar as the economy is the concrete manifestation of the values and hierarchies of our society, a financial crisis heralds a crisis of faith in the system itself. A new wave of unrest is bound to arise.

In periods of turmoil, people reevaluate their assumptions and values. Of course, we can’t be sure what the outcome will be; even if capitalism collapses, what comes next could be even worse. Right now it’s extremely important to set positive examples of what it means to resist and what the alternatives to capitalism might be. During social upheavals, people’s notion of what is possible can shift very quickly, but their notion of what is desirable usually changes more slowly. This explains why grassroots uprisings often settle for demands that are much less radical than the forms adopted by the uprisings themselves: it takes a long time for our imaginations to catch up with reality.

If it’s quiet right now where you live, that doesn’t mean it always will be. Think ahead to the upheavals on the horizon: when they arrive, what will you wish you had done to prepare? How can you maximize the likelihood that they will turn out for the bed?

We don’t offer the only road out of capitalism, but we believe ours is the most inviting one. We don’t propose corporate feudalism, ethnic warfare, or nuclear war. A few decades of pitched social conflict are nothing compared to the catastrophes that will ensue if we don’t take the initiative. Make no mistake; the world is going to change. It’s up to us whether it will change for better or worse.

We’re not peddling a utopia. We simply want to learn from the practices that worked to keep our species a healthy part of the economic system for the last million years, in hopes that we might survive at least a few thousand more. This humble aspiration places us in direct conflict with current social order."

NY Letters to Wall Street

Letters From New Yorkers

Jawell Hagnes – Syracuse,NY – Page 34

Jamie Gannon – Plainview, NY – Page 42

Caroline Holley – Brooklyn, NY – Page 47

Ilene S – New York City , NY– Page 49

Betty Wilson – Manhattan, NY – Page 76

Dave – New York, NY – Page 92

Ian Gaida – Brooklyn, NY – Page 103

Judy Reichler – New Pattz, NY – Page 111

Anthony Martin Dambrosi – Middletown, NY – Page 119

Norma Goodman – Brooklyn, NY – Page 135

Rich – Brooklyn, NY – Page 147

Miriam Vieni – Westbury, NY – Page 154

Fernando – Kew Gardens, NY – Page 156

Lynn Giglio – Pavilion, NY- Page 154

Leathea Vanadore – New York, NY – Page 160

C. Mahoney – New York City, NY – Page 164

Marilyn Scattoreggio – Dix Hills, NY – Page 175

The opening number from Steel Pier, a Kander and Ebb musical about marathon dancing which ran on Broadway in 1997. You can get a visual of the host, as well as the sensationalism around the couples. The couples in the show include a celebrity, a "couple" who receives a wedding, etc.

- Carina

#shared by: carina

Floor Judges

"If the contestants did not generate enough excitement at the end of the evening's main events to guarantee a big house for the next night's show, the floor judge could up the stakes. Officially on the side of management, floor judges, always men, saw to it that contestants kept moving, following the rules of the contest to the letter. They also provided part of the entertainment by harassing the contestants. Blowing a shrill whistle in a contestant's ear, flicking wet towels at tired and swollen legs, and making the "weak ones" work harder were some stock ways that they helped to manipulate spectators' emotions. In fact, floor judges were experts at wielding power unfairly. At one show burly Jim "King Kong" Coffee, one of the best floor judges in the business, got the spectators so angry that he had to be escorted out of one show by eight policemen."

"Floor judges were colorful villains, men to be feared and respected. They instructed the emcee “tell see what you see”. What emcees did was report the strict surveillance and punitive measures of the floor judges."

"If contestants complained or agitated the dance floor by starting a fight, their behavior brought swift physical retaliation from the floor judge. Punishment could also take the form of delaying permission for medical assistance. The floor judge acted as a watch dog; he kept track of what contestants were doing. A request for a “hygiene break” requested the consent of the floor judge. Emcees who called contestants to do their specialty number reminded them to first obtain permission of the floor judge."

He treated the contestants he favored the worst to gain them the most sympathy.   

He would alert the promoter of how long contestants might last.

Was told not to joke or socialize with the contestants, as that would undermind his control and respect.

Some common nicknames for floor judges included: King Kong, Dracula, and Frankensein.

Excerpts from: Dance of the Sleepwalkers by Frank Calabria

- Carina

#shared by: carina

Possible Sponsors for the Couples (Taylor)

Koch Ind.

FEMA

Pfizer: drug.pharmaceuticals manufacturer

Walmart

Goldman Sachs

Monsanto

Smith and Wesson: handgun manufacturer

Haliburton

Letters to Wall Street - Page 159-160 (Taylor)

"Measuring Up," Leathea Vanadore of New York, NY

To the 1%,

I am a retiree who spent many years teaching students not only subject matter but self-respect, respect for others, and measuring up. My students were inner-city and immigrants. They loved learning and being told that they could do it, and they did.

Now, you tell me that I should just curl up and die - without Medicare, Social Security, or even a pension. I went to school for many years, got a Master's degree and far more than thirty credits beyond so that I could keep my job. I started working at age 16.

I did not worship the Golden Calf. Otherwise, I would never have become a teacher. My ability to respect myself and my contribution to the world are priceless. I deserve to keep what I worked long and hard for.

Do you deserve your huge compensation? Can you look me in the eye and say that you respect yourself and your contribution? Are you leaving behind a destroyed environment and spiritual bankruptcy?

Letters to Wall Street - Page 118-9 (Taylor)

"What Happened to Your Integrity and Honor?" Anthony Martin Dambrosi of Middletown NY

I worked for Goldman Sachs when I was 17 years of age. America had the politically disenfranchised in 1967, but economically the wealth of this country was far more equitable. The letter as well as spirit of the law that made that golden age possible has been dismantled over the past fifty years by those who work for you, doing your bidding. It seems that thieving and calling it the entrepreneurial spirit has become the rule, and all of America has greatly suffered for it.

You insist on lining your pockets at the expense of the common good. You believe you're entitled; that you deserve to be the exception; that you are the fittest - but all you really are is the worst type of parasite. So if the feeling that motivates you more than greed is fear, it's time you detoxed from your addiction, as it is destroying what has made this country great.

Letters to Wall Street - Page 163-4 (Taylor)

"Small Business Are the Economy," C. Mahoney of New York City

I'm a small business owner in New York City. We started in 2007, with nothing but determination and the ability to work hard. We've grown each year, despite a global recession and lack of access to credit. We pay our bulls and taxes, and put the money we make back into our local economy. We have more demand than we can keep up with. My partner and I work 24/7 because we don't have cash on hand to hire the local employees we need to expand our business.

Why?

Because your banks - which took billions of dollars of our tax money in bailouts, and are able to borrow money at rock-bottom rates from our government in the name of "economic stimulus" - have failed to lend back to small businesses.

Because all our profits go to pay interest and bank and credit card fees. You get a percentage of every dollar our clients pay us. We operate month-to-month on a cash basis. We don't take excessive risks because we are responsible and don't depend on bailouts from our fellow citizens. We are working hard to build our own American Dream, playing by the rules.

Can any of your big banks and investment firms honestly say the same? What value do you create for anyone but your shareholders? A small line of credit at a reasonable interest rate is all we need to hire people and create jobs. I'm sick of hearing about "job creators" who are punishing our entire country for your own risky behavior/

A healthy economy needs consumers with money to spend. Sucking all the money in into your offshore accounts is insanely short-sighted. Even if you and your kids live comfortably behind walled gates, you cannot be separate from the world. Wake up!

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