A Nettlesome Problem

For male prisoners with a history of violent behavior the catalyst frequently is perceived disrespect, which leads to shame, which in turn triggers violence. Writer Jonathan Asser "used to struggle with his extreme rage until he learned to master it – and discovered a skill for calming violent prisoners." [bold added]

With the exception of psychotic prisoners being treated through the healthcare department, every violent incident I have ever come across in prison could be traced back to shame and the feeling of being disrespected. Conventional programmes working outside the heat of the moment studiously avoid the crucial shame trigger. I worked with it every day. I came up with the name Shame/Violence Intervention (SVI) to describe my approach.

Many prisoners are able to give the "correct" answer when a staff psychologist poses a hypothetical question, such as "what if you see a man talking to your girlfriend?" In SVI therapy Jonathan Asser publicly embarrasses the prisoners and trains them how to recognize and control their responses.

His approach is difficult, slow, expensive (in terms of trained therapists' time) and successful. Unfortunately, it's not easily scalable and demonstrates why breaking the cycle of violence is such a nettlesome problem.

[Update - 3/9/14: Jonathan Asser's screenplay, Starred Up, was nominated for eight British Independent Film awards.]

Not High on the List

The U.S. military has identified a new adversary -- sugary drinks:

three quarters of all young Americans are ineligible for military service because they’re overweight or obese, and consumption of sugary drinks is a leading cause of obesity among children and adults

Unfortunately, California public schools are not helping [bold added]:

despite state and federal regulations requiring schools to provide free, clean drinking water to students during school mealtimes, one study found that one out of every four California schools does not provide water to students where food is served.

Even when water was available, a survey revealed that many students did not partake. The top three reasons:

The water in the fountains or dispensers is not cold.

Schools do not have enough water fountains for the number of students.

Water fountains or dispensers are poorly maintained.

The law was enacted in September, 2010 with an effective date of July 1, 2011. Unlike private entities who would be subject to fines, many public schools are in no hurry to comply. Inculcating long-term health habits is apparently not high on the list of priorities.

In Earnest

50 years ago today Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali. In 1964 the world heavyweight boxing champion was the most celebrated athlete on the planet, more famous than any quarterback, home-run hitter, or 7-foot center. Ali's conversion to the Nation of Islam was unsettling to Americans and even to blacks, who were mostly Christian.

John F. Kennedy had been assassinated four months earlier, the Beatles with their moptops had invaded America in February, and a young lady named Kitty Genovese would be stabbed to death in New York on March 13th near dozens of witnesses, none of whom lifted a finger or called for help. 

The Sixties had begun in earnest.

Ash Wednesday

A walk in the woods.

No cell reception.

Ash Wednesday.

Thoughts of mortality.

Valley. Hills. Trees. Deer.

Rest.

Triglyceride Tuesday

At least my salad and veggies were healthy

One of the reasons I need to take statins for cholesterol is that I can't resist deals like IHOP's free pancakes on Fat Tuesday. As I wrote last year,

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, during which we are to abstain from the foods that give us pleasure. The pancake supper reminds us of the centuries-old tradition of emptying the larder of perishable items that will spoil during Lent's 40 days.

Freezing and refrigeration have eliminated the need to empty the larder. Nevertheless, we must honor tradition...

Superior Quality Presumed

Impact upon Pfizer of Lipitor patent expiration in 2011

Two years after the patent expired, Pfizer wants to make Lipitor an over-the-counter medication, i.e., available without a prescription. [bold added]

Over-the-counter Lipitor could be a boon to Pfizer by helping recapture a portion of the market it has lost since low-cost generic versions hit the market beginning in late 2011. Pfizer's Lipitor sales tumbled to $2.3 billion last year from a peak of nearly $13 billion in 2006. Goldman Sachs estimates that over-the-counter Lipitor could generate more than $1 billion in annual sales.

Generic from CVS

Ten years ago I began taking a daily dose of 10 mg of Lipitor, which reduced total cholesterol below the recommended target of 200 mg/dL. In 2011 the insurance company required a switch to the generic Atorvastatin which occurred, thankfully, with no ill effect.

The generic tablets cost, out-of-pocket after insurance, about 40 cents each or $146 annually. I'd be willing to go back to Lipitor and pay for the name (and presumed superior quality) up to $200 per year. If Pfizer prices it higher, well, the Atorvastatin has been doing just fine. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

It's Time

There is much to like about Tim Cook. As the WSJ essay points out, he has admirable personal characteristics. He's frugal, hard-working, smart, an excellent manager, and doesn't hesitate to dig deep:

Apple under Jobs was a roller coaster, but Cook's operations fief was orderly and disciplined. Cook knew every detail in every step of the operations processes. Weekly operations meetings could last five to six hours as he ground through every single item. [snip]

Cook's quarterly reviews were especially torturous because Cook would grind through the minutiae as he categorized what worked and what didn't, using yellow Post-its. His managers crossed their fingers in the hopes of emerging unscathed.

Though Apple is still the most valuable company in the world, it's no longer considered to be among the top innovators like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tesla, Netflix, and Yelp (and those are just the Bay Area companies on the list). Since Steve Job's death on October 5, 2011, Apple's stock has underperformed the NASDAQ and been soundly outpaced by Google, Apple's largest rival.

After Steve Jobs:  Apple +39%, NASDAQ +75%, Google +141%

Apple has remained a leader in its markets, and today's Macs, iPads, and iPhones are thinner, lighter, and faster than they were in Steve's time, but incremental improvements to existing products are not enough to keep Apple on top.

Tim Cook keeps promising that Apple is working on "amazing" and "incredible" products. After nearly three years, it's time to show his cards. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

In Like a Lion and Let's Hope it Stays That Way

The storm that greeted the month of March has raised (a little) hope that there won't be a drought emergency this year. But the outlook is still bleak.

Mercury News graphic

Even after a reasonably wet February, the Bay Area would need to see five to 10 more significant storms by the end of April for regional rain totals to hit their historic seasonal averages.

Residents of California since the 1970's are afflicted with déjà vu. The Governor's name is Jerry Brown, and he has declared a drought emergency.

Here's hoping (praying) for rain. I'm not looking forward to putting a brick in the toilet tank, and showering with a friend in my demographic is not as much fun as when I was in my 20's. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

The Vast Garden

There's no better time to be a book-reader (if one isn't averse to reading on a screen). Thousands of free books can be downloaded to one's phone, tablet, or computer. Others, including many recent best-sellers, are available for $5 or less.

A small sampling of free iBooks

Apple's iBooks app, which can be downloaded free, is my favorite reading environment because of its indexing, highlighting, and bookmarking features, not to mention its look and feel.

Right now I'm catching up on Shakespeare; your humble observer was culturally deprived in his youth and never made the time to read beyond the Great Plays taught in high school and college.

Free Kindle Classics

Amazon's Kindle--the latest is the Kindle Fire--is the preferred e-reading device for millions of consumers. If one already has a tablet, however, it's unnecessary to lay out the shekels for a Kindle.

The Kindle App can easily be downloaded through iTunes for iPads and iPhones and through GooglePlay for Android devices.

Even if the reader hasn't joined the mobile revolution, it's possible to partake of the ever-expanding cornucopia of compendia. Project Gutenberg has "over 42,000 free ebooks" available for download to PC, Mac, or Kindle.

BTW, did the Bard himself foresee ebooks? "As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words." [Two Gentlemen of Verona]

Wait Till One Gets Home

Now that Apple phones, tablets, and computers have become widespread, Apple's security features have attracted greater scrutiny from experts and hackers alike. The company's reputation for superior security may have been over-hyped:

A major flaw in Apple Inc software for mobile devices could allow hackers to intercept email and other communications that are meant to be encrypted, the company said on Friday, and experts said Mac computers were even more exposed.

If attackers have access to a mobile user's network, such as by sharing the same unsecured wireless service offered by a restaurant, they could see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Gmail and Facebook. Governments with access to telecom carrier data could do the same.

"It's as bad as you could imagine, that's all I can say," said Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green.

I do not make purchases or conduct online banking when connected to a public network. It's more prudent to switch to the device's data plan (mine are AT&T and Verizon) or, better yet, wait till one gets home.

Old Money

(Chronicle photo)

A California couple has unearthed history's largest find of buried gold coins, approximately $10 million worth:

The bonanza emerged last year as the man and woman were walking their dog on their property in the Gold Country and noticed the top of a decaying canister poking out of the ground.

They dug it out with a stick, took it to their house and opened it up. Inside was what looked like a batch of discs covered in dirt from holes rotted through the can.

They weren't just discs.

A little brushing revealed nearly perfectly preserved $20 gold coins with liberty head designs on the front, dated from the 1890s. They ran back to the same spot, and when they were done digging, they'd found a total of eight cans containing 1,427 coins - with a face value of $27,980.

A total of 1,373 were $20 coins, 50 were $10 coins and four were $5 coins. They were dated from 1847 to 1894, and after sprucing up they shone like, well, gold - which fortunately never corrodes. About a third of the coins were in pristine condition, having never been circulated for spending. Most were minted in San Francisco.

Despite its name, the Gold Country in Central California has not shared in the tech boom of the coastal regions.

The couple, who are in their 40s and are self-employed, told [coin dealer Don] Kagin and [numismatist David] McCarthy they want to donate some of the proceeds to the homeless and hungry in their area. They also plan to keep a few coins as keepsakes.

"Like a lot of people lately, we've had some financial trials," the man told Kagin in the recorded interview. "I feel extreme gratitude that we can keep our beloved property."

Once our envy subsides, we always get a warm feeling when good fortune comes to good people who could really use it.

[Update - 3/4: Uh-oh, they may not get to keep their find. The coins may have been stolen from the San Francisco mint in 1900.]

His (In)actions Speak Loudly

The United States has overwhelming economic, military, cultural, and, yes, moral superiority over Russia. Yet Vladimir Putin is running rings around Barack Obama.

Historian Paul Johnson [bold added]:

Whatever one may think of Putin’s moral posture–which is deplorable–he is regarded as strong, decisive and vigorous, pushing Russia’s interests at all times, with considerable success. In contrast, Obama is written off as weak and irresolute, with no clear short-or long-term aims. He gets high marks for rhetoric but scores zero for action. In short, he’s a windbag. [snip]

President Obama is missing two crucial chances [Syria and the Ukraine] to take a stand for decency and humanity against the forces of evil and is handing Putin an easy victory. History has placed Obama in a position in which he can be held responsible for the freedom or servitude of two peoples. Putin has far fewer resources but has been using them with skill, consistency and determination. It’s terribly sad that at this juncture the U.S. is led by a man with so little regard for his nation’s role in upholding and extending freedom and that the forces of evil should be winning battles with so little effort.

Barack Obama's critics say that he is weak and vacillating, but IMHO, the election of 2012 showed otherwise: the President is capable of great ruthlessness in intimidating and silencing political opposition by means fair or foul (IRS audits and NSA surveillance).

Where is that man today? One hopes that plans are afoot to reverse what appear to be American setbacks in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. If nothing happens, one is left to conclude, sadly, that what his opponents said is true: the assertion of American interests and the promulgation of American values in the world are not important to Barack Obama. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

Waiting for the Big Dog

The problems with wearable computing:

Big and unresolved questions remain about pricing (too high), battery life (too short), utility (too limited), looks (too ugly) and privacy (too scary).

Best Buy fitness rack (bryanorourke.com)

Fitness monitors comprise "nine out of ten" devices sold, and your humble correspondent is part of that crowd.

I went to Best Buy to shop for a replacement for the three-year-old Garmin exercise tracker but didn't see anything that was substantially better, at least for my moderate exercise routine. Like a lot of people I'm waiting for the big dog:

Few have focused on taste and the behavioral insights that are fundamental to the business of selling stuff you wear. That’s why all eyes are on Apple. While it wasn’t first to market with a smartphone or tablet, Apple’s design sense and ability to integrate gadgets, apps and online services set the standard others follow.

Full of Grace

At Grace Cathedral in 2011
the Rev. Whitney Roberson & friend

The last time I saw Whitney she greeted me with a smile and a hug. Though sick with the cancer that would eventually end her life, she asked about the health of each of us. That's one of the reasons she was beloved; she was always turning the subject away from herself.

At yesterday's memorial service, Whitney's daughter Sarah reflected upon the life of the single mother who raised three daughters, went through seminary, and became an ordained minister late in life. We met Whitney when she was in San Carlos. She had that light in her eyes that invited us to return every Sunday, and so we did. Rest in peace, dear friend.

It's Just One Man's Opinion

From Quora, the question-and-answer website:

How can I have more energy in the mornings?

Most popular answer [bold added]:

Try a "Scottish shower."

Start with a regular hot shower to loosen up and get comfortable. After a couple minutes, turn the temperature to cold. You can do this gradually if you'd like, but I personally just smack the handle towards cold and go on with shower. You will freeze, you will find it difficult to stay in the water, your breathing will become short, but this only lasts about 30 seconds in my experience and is actually very invigorating and exciting.

Thanks, all the same, but I'll have a hot cuppa joe instead.