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August 24, 2006
first impressions
It's not that we humans are shallow. We're just efficient.
Psychologists at Princeton University have published results of recent research indicating that it takes a-mere-tenth-of-a-second for us to make up our minds about other people. And that once the initial impression is formed, it's nearly impossible to change.
The staff here at KIW urges everyone to smile more - and don't forget the firm, yet friendly, handshake.
The Guardian; Wednesday August 23, 2006; 'Research shows first impressions really count'
Posted by williamfrick at 11:02 PM | Comments (3)
August 20, 2006
California (and prisons)
Recently one KIW staffer had to good fortune to wander up and down the coast of California for a few days.
Moonrise @ Big Sur
Apparently there's an awful lot of people in California who aren't free to go wandering.
According to writer Joan Didion there is a powerful prison guard lobby in the state of California. The "California Correctional Peace Officers Association" is arguably the most influential and effective lobby in the state. It advocates more and bigger prisons - and laws to make sure that those prisons are full.
"The prison guards were in California the political muscle behind the victims' rights movement. The prison guards were in California the political muscle behind the 1994 'three strikes' legislation and initiative, the act that mandated a sentence of twenty-five years to life for any third felony conviction, even for crimes as minor as growing a marijuana plant on the windowsill or shoplifting a bottle of Ripple. The prison guards were the political muscle that had by the year 2000 made the California corrections system, with thirty-three penitentiaries and 162,000 inmates, the largest in the western hemisphere."Where I Was From, pages 184-185
Didion goes on to point out that in 1995 California - for the first time - spent more on prisons than on its 34 universities.
Santa Cruz Sentinel; 8 August, 2006; p A-4; 'Prison guards ready to weigh in on election'
Where I Was From; Joan Didion; 2003; pages 182-188
Posted by williamfrick at 10:03 PM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2006
the mighty Mr. George Galloway
Few elected leaders have the quick intelligence, and the confident command of facts and history, that British Member of Parliament George Galloway possesses.
Mr. Galloway makes it his business to tell the truth - and to make sure that others don't cloud that truth.
Spend nine minutes with this August 8, 2006 exchange between Mr. Galloway and a Sky News reporter. You'll hear some truths that are seldom uttered in the U.S. media. (Sky News is the older British cousin of America's Fox News. Both are controlled by Australian media mogul, Rupert Murdock.)
watch the video here
download the video here
(The video should work in i-tunes, quicktime, real player, and on a video iPod - or you can watch it here if you have a quick time plug-in.)
Posted by williamfrick at 9:17 PM | Comments (2)
August 17, 2006
Philo Farnsworth
August 19, 1906 is the birthday of a Nebraskan genius named Philo Farnsworth who, while plowing a field at age 14, realized just how pictures could be transmitted through the air.
By age 21 Philo had invented television. Only to have the glory of it all - and the money - taken by the RCA Corporation.
Read Philo Farnsworth's American story.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 17 August, 2006; p C9; 'You may not know him but he invented TV'
Posted by williamfrick at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)