Bon Appetit!

Thought I’d share my first experience with a hot roast-beef sandwich. It was pretty choice. If you want the recipe, email me…

Hot Roast Beef (Country Cooking)

Obama’s remarks to Congress on Health Care

I watch PBS’ coverage of political events for three reasons — David Brooks, Jim Lehrer, & Mark Shields. I just love their commentary. As Obama and his cabinet members walked in to the chamber all three commentators made hilarious remarks. At one point Brooks commented colorfully that the room was filled with “500 back slapping politicians” and Obama’s progress would be slow to get to the front, later he said it was a “mushroom of bon amie.”  A minute later he said “vote republican” if you want speeches to start on time. I was in stitches.

The Speech (9/09/09)
Obama mentioned several problems with the current system. For instance, Wall Street’s relentless expectations for profit. He also said “Our Healthcare problem IS our deficit problem, nothing else even comes close,” and that healthcare represents 1/6 of our economy.

He also referenced those who have supported Health Care Reform, like John McCain’s idea about catastrophic care for those who have been denied coverage, and John Dingell Sr. (D) Michigan who has made the case for health insurance reform at the beginning of each session for some time. While Dingell recieved a standing ovation, he lipped “thank you mister president.”

In the end, our president paid tribute to Ted Kennedy saying that Kennedy’s dream of health care as a basic right was not based on rigid ideology but on experience. He also read from a letter Kennedy had delivered after his death. Kennedy referred Health Care the “unfinished business of our past.”

The president referenced those who have opposed health care reform too, at times sounding paternalistic. He also attempted to clear up misconceptions about the bill. Regarding the supposed death panels, he said they “would be laughable if they weren’t so cynical.”

The New Bill

Obama also outlined features of the new bill. Some of the features include it being against the law to deny converage based on a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies won’t be able to “drop coverage, or water it down when you need it the most.” Insurance providers would also not be allowed to put caps on spending limits. Hopefully the bill will reform malpractice litigation too.

As for long-term aspects of the bill, he said they would decrease spending if the revenue they expect doesn’t materialize, and that they would form an independent commission to identify wasteful spending in the years ahead. The price-tag of the bill would be 900 billion dollars over 10 years, “less that we’ve spent on the Iraq war.”

As for the public option, Obama commented it was a means to end and that he would be open to other ideas.

My Analysis

I liked his speech, but I can be critical on at least one point. That point is that he spoke too much of “opponents.” By doing so he created artificial boundaries, which is very detrimental. At one point he even said to his opponents “We will call you out!” Perhaps the person he made the biggest opponent out of was George W. Bush, saying part of the reason there was a trillion dollar deficit was because many of the Bush policies weren’t paid for (e.g. tax cuts for the wealthy).

Not only did he reference some members of congress as opponents he also made an opponent out of the media, saying they were part of the problem. This is not a good idea, what if the media retaliates? (to be anthropomorphic…)

If Obama is serious about health care reform and bi-partisanship, which I think he is, he must drop the “opponent” rhetoric.

Associated Content

Adam Schenck’s Contributor Page – Associated Content

http://www.associatedcontent.comuser/423456/adam_schenck.html

Van Gogh’s Ear

Interesting news about Van Gogh – he didn’t cut off his own ear? It seems most great artists have interesting biographies, Van Gogh is certainly one of them. The alternative account of Van Gogh’s mutilation makes the artist more respectable, albeit at the expense of the mad-man appeal his legacy now enjoys. The fact he presented the severed ear to a prostitute named Rachel is not disputed (i.e. he’s still a mad-man).  

Seeing Van Gogh’s Starlight Over the Rhone is a memorable art moment for me. Starry Night has nothing on Starlight over the Rhone. I saw them side-by-side at an exhibition in Chicago, Over the Rhone floored me as soon as I turned the corner and saw it. The reflected lights in the water are amazingly bright and seem to pop-off the canvas. The illusion of space created by the reflections is a nice juxtaposition of Van Gogh’s post-impressionistic style as exemplified by Starry Night. Over the Rhone lacks the freneticism of Starry Night and is full of nostalgic ambience (at least for me).

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of memorable art moments, visiting the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam I had another. Something about this twelfth century bronze bodhisattva continues to be appealing, perhaps its it’s association with Mahayana Buddhism.

Slow-Ride Foghat Concert

You might remember the English band Foghat from the 1970’s for songs like “Fool for the City,” their cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” or the classic “Slow Ride.” But you might not know they’ve had 21 different lineups since 1968. Meagan and I saw the current iteration of Foghat last night at the Wolf Pen Creek outdoor ampitheatre with one original member, Roger Earl on drums. 

The concert was mostly boring, songs about getting drunk and wanting to make love to people… The guitar solos were gratuitous and the singer was a failure. No surprise, their encore was “Slow Ride” which is featured prominently in the movie Dazed and Confused and is one of the easier songs on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It started raining so Meagan and I starting making our way back to our bikes but stopped in front of the stage for a final listen. I was infinitely more impressed with the band once we were directly in front of them, they were all old and they played their instruments well. 

Their second album went gold, probably for the clever-clever album art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the day, Meagan and I rode in our first organized bike ride of the year. It was a relatively short 18 miles on mostly flat country roads northeast of Bryan, TX. It was a benefit-ride for Junction 505, a group that provides assistant for individuals with disabilities. They also provided us with Blue Bell ice cream, Shipley’s doughnuts, and hot dogs.

This Is England

Saw This is England over the weekend. As the opening montage suggests, there are two Englands. The England shown in this film has nothing to do with the Queen.

Ostensibly it is a movie about Racism and Skin Heads. Set in 1983, the viewer witnesses the transformation of “Shaun” a twelve year-old boy. When the viewer gets involved, Shaun’s father is already dead, a casualty of the Falklands War. Obviously, at 12-years-old, Shaun can be convinced of most anything. Shaun joins the National Front in order for his father’s death to not have been in vain.  

Meagan and I had a discussion about the merits of This is England and American History X. Meagan preferred X while I preferred England. Besides the plot, the warddrobes are awesome. If the look wasn’t associated with Skin-Headery, I’d consider buying my own Ben Sherman shirt, suspenders, and Dr. Martens.

My secret life as an Altar Boy

I’ve read somewhere that if a person were interested in staying in the Oscar conversation they would need to see a whopping total of 24 pictures — a movie every other day starting in December until the awards ceremony. That figure probably only includes the “big” categories, for instance best picture, best actress, actor, supporting role and the like. Meagan and I saw Doubt last night, what a tight movie. Even though the movie was short (104 min) the characters, symbols, plot, and ambience were expertly developed.

For me, Meryl Streep stole the show, each character in the movie was afraid of her. I would extend her sphere of intimidation to each member of the crowd too. I couldn’t decide whether to cheer for her as a person trying to rid the school of improper relations OR cheer against her as a wicked principal. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann had his moments also, usually while he was in the principal’s office. I didn’t particularly care for Amy Adams as Sister James but recognize her role was a tool (e.g. foil). I liked the ambience of the picture, specifically the weather. I perceived the wind, thunderstorms, and chill as another uninterrupted cast member.  The symbols were numerous and exciting. I have my notions about the meaning of the roses, the light bulb, the transistor radio, and the open window.

But what is the symbolism of Father Flynn’s long nails?  How about the dedication to “Sister James” at the end?

My secret life as an altar boy. 

My life as an altar boy is only secret because I’ve never documented it, my life as an altar boy was not seedy. I wish I recalled the first time I served at mass. As a student at the connected catholic school I was a server quite often, sometimes for the Saturday/Sunday weekly service and also for the daily services early in the morning before school. Honestly, being an altar boy was fairly uneventful, I thought I would have more to write about. I was a server at my grandpas funeral with two other boys. After the service the priest gave the other boys five dollars each but not me…

Fun Fun Fun Fest

Went to Austin, TX again this past weekend for a 2-day music festival called Fun Fun Fun Fest. The concert was held outdoors and the weather was beautiful in the mid-70’s. Although the concert was happening Saturday and Sunday we decided just to attend Saturday missing out on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. But we did see a fair amount of good/interesting bands. First, we saw Terp2It, a hip-hop performance ensemble from Austin. I’ve since found out that the leading man is a sketch comedy and improv performer in addition to fronting the musical group. They were all dressed unusually and sang songs about backpacks, statistics, and drinking soda to name a few topics. Terp2It also came complete with people (performers) roaming the crowd, dancing wildly, and “preaching.” The preachers would be yelling out, “Terp2It,” “3, 4, 51″ during the statistics number all the while looking prophetic. Each of the preachers carried a book and held it up high like a corner preacher would hold a bible, although I got a glimpse of one of the books, it was Women by Charles Bukowski. 

The rest of the day we saw Octupus Project, Deerhoof, Dengue Fever, and Atmosphere. Atmosphere was definitely my favorite act of the festival. 

If you ever in Austin, Waterloo Park is a must see.

Laughing is Fun.

Most will agree, laughing is fun. For me, laughing is especially fun whilst reading. It’s no wonder books like A Confederacy of Dunces, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay are on my personal favorites list.

For those who like him, Larry David, of Curb your Enthusiasm fame, has a hilarious short essay over at HuffPo about the election and the long wait until Nov. 4th. Both Meagan and I had healthy belly laughs to this one. Read it here.

Here is an excerpt:

The debates were particularly challenging for me to monitor. First I tried running in and out of the room so I would only hear my guy. This worked until I knocked over a tray of hors d’oeuvres. ”Sit down or get out!” my host demanded. “Okay,” I said, and took a seat, but I was more fidgety than a ten-year-old at temple.

Fantasy Schlep and Other News

Fantasy Update:

I’ve written about my fantasy football endeavors previously, Fantasy Bubkis, it appears that my current team is destined for a similar record, and its certainly not for lack of attention on my part. I was a victim of the tear heard ’round the league when my first string QB Tom Brady went down in the first game of the season. It followed then the NE defense starting going south. Now I’m starting Phillip Rivers of the Chargers and the New Orleans defense. I have a 2-3 record and am currently losing today’s matchup. My one bright spot has been Ronnie Brown’s 5 TDs a few weeks ago. 

Research Update:

Experiment 2 of the training metacognition project I’ve written about previously (metacognition) is up and running and appears to be going well. We have promising results from two exams, students in quartiles 2 and 3 are becoming more calibrated. In contrast, students in the bottom quartile, or the poorest students, are not benefiting from feedback. Given there are 5 exams throughout the semester, the pattern of data is bound to change, hopefully for the better. 

We will also begin collecting data for Experiment 2 of another project regarding the effects of affirmation on older adults’ memory performance, which is cross-disciplinary and in the vein of social and cognitive psychology. Generally speaking, this research is about stereotype threat. Stereotype threat is a cognitive/affective state in which an individual fears he or she will affirm a negative stereotype about his or her in-group (i.e. gender, race, social status etc…). For example, there is commonly held stereotype that men are better than women at math. So, if one administers a standard test of math ability (e.g. GRE – quantitative) the results will probably confirm the average score for men is higher than the average of women’s scores. But this is not the end of the story. 

Surprisingly, if the same math test is administered but framed as non-diagnostic OR if the proctor mentions there are no differences in men and women’s scores, the score differences mentioned above are eliminated. Women do just as well as men. Score differences between Blacks and Whites also evaporate under the right conditions (Steele & Aronson, 1995). The cognitive mechanisms for stereotype threat are still relatively unknown, most likely ST causes anxiety which reduces working memory capacity and attention.  

We’re wondering if traditional score differences between younger adults (18-25) and older adults (65-80) in memory performance can be eliminated by allowing Older Adults to affirm a personal quality and thereby reduce anxiety they may feel about a memory test. Furthermore, we attempting to clarify the theoretical mechanisms of ST by including a recognition and source test (more to come on this later). 

Other News:

Good Kansas friends John and Jennie came to visit us this weekend. They arrived Thursday evening, we ate edamame, miso soup, sushi, and chicken katsuish at home. Friday I went up to school, while Meagan, John, and Jennie walked about campus. John also met with faculty members about the PhD program. Friday night we headed to Houston for dinner and a Cat Power show at the Warehouse Live downtown. Cat Power was just okay and the opener, Appaloosa, started out like a train wreck but also ended like one. Appaloosa is a French electronic/ambient duo with close to zero stage presence. She definitely reminded me of Nico, of Velvet Underground fame. Although Appaloosa’s performance didn’t get better, I got more interested and ended up enraptured, much like the movie Last Days.