Blogging on wordpress

I'm blogging here: http://brainbytes.wordpress.com I'm slowly transfering posts over, since there doesn't seem to be any useful tool to transfer ftp-posted blogger sites to wordpress.com

Posting at "The Levelers"

Update: Back to posting primarily on brainbytes Yes, I've been gone awhile. I'm mostly posting now at http://www.thelevelers.org - journaling my adventures using new forms of communication and new technologies to catalyze social change.

Followup on Mendocino

Follow up on Mendocino restaurants. Had a mixed experience at Rendezvous. But the breakfast the next morning was excellent. The inn it self is very bare bones, so really just expect to crash there. We did eat at Mendo Bistro, great vibe, food was okay. I did their mix and match menu, and my 1/4 chicken was grilled superbly, but somehow the mix of grilled chicken with sauce that you put on top, and polenta (felt dry to me) and veggies somehow didn't make for the feeling that we were having a phenomenal meal.

Food & Mendocino

We're looking forward to going up to Mendocino county early in the Labor Day Weekend. We'll be trying two restaurants, both of which - in different ways - emphasize local food and drinks. Rendezvous just got top-rating from Zagat, but it's the description of the inn owners - one of whom is the chef - that made me feel that this was the real deal. A labor of love. Plus, it set the right tone for me when I read on their web-site, that children were allowed as long as they were well-behaved. Mendo Bistro seems quite different and not just on ground rules for kids. It has a much more actively claimed relationship with local food and farmers, clearly thought-through attitude towards 'organic' rather than superficial, and what looks like a hip and creative space for eating in downtown Fort Bragg. I'm excited. On the complexities of understanding organic and local, from Mendo Bistro (written in 2005):

While USDA organic standards have pushed the concept into the mainstream, some farmers and consumers think the regulations make it easy to subvert the purpose of organic farming. Indeed, when you see labels like "Dole Organics" you have to wonder. With organic certification comes a mountain of paperwork to file and fees to pay. Affordable for large corporations but not small farmers. One of our main suppliers, an organic farmer in the foothills, is considering dropping his certification. "Why should I pay fees and fill out paperwork to do what I'm already going to do?" is his argument... ...How should we define local? According to Gussow the most commonsense principle to follow is that the fewer miles the food travels from the farm to your table, the better.... ...We try to get our products locally as often as possible. Being in Mendocino County that means many of them are certified organic. Many aren't however, but they would be if the farmers wanted to jump through hoops instead of tending the soil... More Here. (Scroll to "The New Organics")

Foodies: Don't forget to check out Marco's "Cook Here & Now". technorati tags: food, mendocino, localfood, organic

Smashcast hits "Jet Set Show"

Just watch it - make sure you're plugged in and/or wait for the show to download once. I'm very sorry for some of the girls comments on 'why such few girls in Smashcast'. We'll see if we can't prepare a podcast on this at our next session. But cheers all in all. Just that moment with Vincent talking about downloading audacity, open source software etc. takes us miles ahead in breaking those dastardely stereotypes. Cameo by Moi. I had said 'no' to their videotaping me at the conference, figured it should be all about the Smashcasters. The cameo's from some clever interjection of still photographs into the video. Permalink to show.

Better if heard to music, Part 1

Running around the lake the other day, I realized that it really all boils down to aesthetics, to beauty. Freedom is the most beautiful thing, on the rare chance we get to observe it. I've decided that all that's needed to change the world is in fact a mass adoption of my sense of aesthetics, my preferences in beauty. On that note, I've also always claimed that exercise messes with one's mind in deep and insidious ways.

A Roman in San Francisco

Raj writes about food and politics - watch out for his book - coming soon... but in the meanwhile, in the here and now, Marco has launched his new group that seeks out good local produce, farmers markets and the like. Not one to simply do, he steps beyond to the world of blogging, capturing his unique sensibility and talent with food at Cook Here and Now. Visit with Marco to get a small small taste of what it's like to be at his place eating off his plates and engaging in passionate conversation about ... something, anything. Then know, I'm having it much better, because I get it all for real ...

Welcome Strangers ...

World Cup is on us (begins June 9th). This is where true world citizens get separated from the chaff (that's you, if you're thinking 'soccer' as you read this) In the spirit of global citizenship, a little German town has reached out and touched ... the African nation of Togo. "For the last two weeks, Wangen's citizens have been busy turning their idyllic little town into a corner of Africa as the Allgau region plays host to the Togo national team’s pre-FIFA World Cup™ training camp. Indeed, some 3,000 people turned out wearing scarves and shirts to bid their adopted side the warmest of welcomes at the Marktplatz on 15 May. There was even a song composed in their honour by local soul band, the bizarrely-named Double Cooked Pork Slices, entitled Miawo-ezon-Lo-o (Welcome strangers who have travelled so far)." 'Welcome strangers who have travelled so far'

Goodbye Coffee Cart Days

Bostoners had Cheers, or at least TV-watchers had Norm. I and a few other lucky ones had Lydia, Ricardo, and 'the coffee cart'. They've now left. I'm still here. In memory of what to me now was an Oakland institution. Small enough to know everyone's names, a welcome stop on the way to BART and work, it always put my mind in another space where it was okay to take a few minutes to loiter, chat, commiserate, catch up. Kathy and Chris. Julio. Endo. Theresa. The man with the snazzy neckties. The woman that called in her orders of nonfat vanilla flavored drinks. The Mexican Chocolate I never tried. Ricardo's famous latte with designer 'hearts' swirled on top. Walking in one day to notice Raj's CV on the counter ("What a talented guy!") Jaunts to the coffee cart with mummy and papa to introduce them to the gang. I'll miss it all - but hopefully this sets the stage for the next exciting phase for Lydia and Ricardo, away from the heartaches and stress of entrepreneurial life, and towards some stability and security.

Unreal Quotes from the Serious Games Summit

• Grassroots effort within the military simulation community - straight-faced.
• Life is a game. Money is how we keep score - Ted Turner, as quoted on Philip Rosedale's opening slide at his plenary talk.
• Family killed by ninjas, need dollars for Kung Fu Lessons. - by critter (from, guess where).
• Some industry-leaders, like the government and the military … - they-meant-it.

From Serious Games Summit at the GDC '06

Hard out there ...

Blackprof.com blogger Paul Butler talks about two articles in the Washington Post on "Hustle n Flow" - a black article and a white article.

The white article (front page of the Style section), by Philip Kennicott, begins hilariously:

"At dinner, say a month from now, perhaps it will be your very unhip great aunt who says it. Someone skimps her on dessert, so she looks plaintively down the table, waits for a moment of silence and then delivers the line -- 'It's hard out here for a pimp.' "

The other day, Boondocks had this to say (thanks Eric!)

Durban: House of Immigrants

Conversations overheard, statements delivered. Zimbabweans in South Africa, one finds out her study permit has been 'lost' by the university - her life is on hold as she frantically calls up office after office. Another is on the phone checking on the status of something, quickly moving from a polite enquiry to an emotional exchange - "you know I don't want to be here, I'm just asking for information", tears in his eyes as he slams down the phone. Someone stuck. And the handsome young man who came while we were here, and left while we were still here, back and forth from Zimbabwe, under the radar, fighting the fight. When he left, I said as one might in my world, 'hope it's a good trip'. His response was determined. "It will". Immigrants, fighters, homeless and transient. All over the world, it's the same, and yet another gulf that separates people - those that have and those that haven't moved across boundaries in any way other than those predetermined, for the few predetermined. And this is only middle-class strife. Sunpuppy (left) has found a home finally but still shakes when we take her out of the house (she was dognapped once), straining at the leash in the direction of the house of immigrants.

Sundowners, Books, and a Party

We will be hosting a party at Ike's bookstore in Durban to celebrate our matrimonials in South Africa. Ike's is on the second floor of a two-story colonial building, with shelves of books all over, books laid out on tables, many old and rare, especially from/about countries and lands in Africa. It's not packed with serpentine towers of books facing you at every step, like bookstores in Mumbai or Delhi, but has broad walkways and much mulling space between bookcases. There's a little room off the main one, with a lovely old table and nicer bookshelves with some of the more precious finds. But the best part is stepping out of the large french doors onto the balcony that encircles the store. There, there's ample room for a sofa, chairs, table - calling out for marrying the cocktail hour with a good sunset, conversation or perhaps that simplest of pleasures - reading a good book. Very civilized. Ike's is now owned by Vishnu Padayachee, professor and head of the school of development studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, influencer of South African national finance, and all around rennaissance man, with an ability to combine social analysis with a subject even dryer ... cricket. He and his co-owner bought the bookstore from Ike when he was forced to sell it. In this way, they've done a national service, and given us a place for a party. We all shared a drink on the balcony the first time I was in Durban, and indeed considered the option, even then, of hosting our reception at Ike's. I was elated then - and am elated now - at the prospect. More on Ike

An Example To Follow

A friend read the recent businessweek article on Dan Gillmor and Bayosphere in which I'm quoted (accurately) and said "guess who got the negative quote". I hope he was kidding, but it forced me to think about the quote, and any future quotes. What's the difference between a negative quote and a critical quote? There are rare cases where I feel the former is justified, whereas the latter is probably the norm for me. But to the readers eye, perhaps the line is blurred. If you have a tip to help differentiate one from the other, I'm all ears. But the real shame for me was that I hadn't read Dan's thorough self-evaluation of the Bayosphere experiment before speaking with Heather Green of Business Week. I would have then built off his own points. The emphasis also could not then have been on anything but the net positives from the experiment. Just wrote a followup on Bayosphere, with this conclusion: Another version of (Esther) Dyson's "always make new mistakes" is the standard in science: You only progress by proving something wrong. Dan's allowed us a calculus whereby he's made mistakes and we've progressed. Very generous indeed. The rest of my Bayosphere post. Also, here's what I said as a comment to a followup post on Businessweek, re: Bayosphere "...it's important to note somethings that I think distinguished Bayosphere from start. Primarily, that Dan, better than anyone or any site I know, created a space for the expression of diverse opinions. Blogs and their related communities are generally quite partisan, especially when it comes to Politics. I thought (and think) that Dan, through his personality, focus on quality of discourse, and through the openness he engendered, created a unique space for differing viewpoints, across the spectrum of opinion and politics. This is hard to do, and rarely seen on the net, so for those looking for lessons on what to keep from Bayosphere, I'd recommend an analysis of Dan's explicit and implicit sculpting of the space for community expressions. ..."

Bad School

Synablog, new entrant on my blogroll, reminds us about how crazy life can be when he tries to log onto smashcast at school. Read More.

Bizweek on Smashcast

Heather Green from business week captures the spirit of smashcast.org in her most recent blog entry.

Secret Killer: School Transfers

Smashcast.org goes live tomorrow (Preview here; Brainbytes preview here). This week's post, and next week's post are going to veer away from talking directly about science and technology, but instead bring up environmental and contextual issues that impact whether smashcasters have the peace of mind to allow them to focus on their academics. This week's post, "Top High Shcool Acceptance", describes the travails of a top student who has to move to Kentucky and wants to get into a good public school. The school has its own rules about who gets in, how and when. None of these seem flexible enough to accomodate families that need to move to deal with financial hardship. When these families move, the timing isn't perfect, and rarely aligns with expected application dates. So if you don't move proactively and control your moving time to school application deadlines, sounds like there are not many options for your child ... In related news, from a recent series of articles in the LATimes - "Why Does High School Fail So Many?" (thanks Jessica): The more students transferred, the less likely they were to graduate; an ominous development in a district in which one-quarter of the students change schools annually. Of 18 students who attended three or more schools, only one graduated.

Playing With Dolls

This is very cool. It's a physical 3D rendering of a 2d/3d 'world of warcraft' character. It comes from the folks at Eyebeam - who's Jonah Peretti was, a long time ago in Internet time, behind the crazy, controversial, viral "blackpeoplelikeus" website. But this is from other fellas (called 'fellows' in Eyebeam-speak) at Eyebeam labs. What I got is that they manage to print a rendering of the in-world character. Does that mean, that this little guy/woman/thing on the left is a paper doll? I think it's the same little part of me that plays with the Winnie-the-Pooh Fisher-Price models (there, it's out) - that is so enthralled by my friend up there. Even though it's quite silly to get so excited about starting with simulation/VR design and recreating clunky physical dolls. (Image from Eyebeam CC sharealike license)

The Relevance of Visual Design: Zero

Blue & black, dry as ice. Bookfinder's web-site seems to have stayed the way it is forever. And that hasn't done a damned thing to it's runaway success, which I'm defining as the passion and loyalty it inspires in it's customers, and the number of back-handed compliments from critics.

Mountaineer, Missionary, Researcher

India hasn't allowed dual citizenship in the past. But recently - especially since the South Asian diaspora is a significant source of investment 'back home' - many schemes have been devised to give us outsourced Indians a sense that we still belong. First there was the PIO card - Person of Indian Origin. But now we have an Overseas Citizenship scheme. I'm certainly applying, at the very least it gives someone of Indian origin visa-free entry for life, and no need to register at a police station for any length of stay. Even with the PIO card I would have needed to register at a police station near my residence if I stayed for longer than 6 months. So, full steam ahead. But in reviewing various FAQs about the scheme, I ran into a strange tidbit. Apparently, with the OCI card in hand I can do anything I want in India - except "mountaineering, missionary and research work". What strange bedfellows. More from the Home Ministries website. And on a practical note, for those like myself confused about the different schemes, this chart (PDF) describes some of the differences between NRI/PIO and OCI rights, privileges and requirements. Btw, the motto above under our 4-lion symbol reads 'satyamev jayate' or "truth will always win". On the Internet, I've seen it mis-used on lopsided sites that are a thin cover for a grotesque anti-muslim bigotry - a far cry from the truth of our motto.

Cutting Edge Hype

As my job has evolved into a direction bringing together my myriad interests - and chunks of experience - I've been using the catch-phrase "cutting-edge" for the ideas and technology I'm supposed to be exploring and integrating into our programs. But everytime I use that word, I cringe a little. It sounds so ... pompous. But how else do I capture that my job is about looking at what's new in science, technology, ideas ...? Hmm, perhaps I should just say that. "New" rather than "Cutting-Edge" - a little more humble and precise. After all, really, what does 'cutting-edge' mean that isn't captured by "New"? Is it, like, Really New? Probably just marketing lingo that I've unconsciously absorbed ... ick.

Coming Soon

Who Killed Birjinder Anant?

I want to hunt them down. Was it the spider splotch on the pavement? The sly neighbour who slunk away? The radio blaring tinnily under the sink? The gleeful portrait on the wall? Did Birj kill Birj? Did we kill Birj? How can someone die without us knowing who killed him? How can he dissapear, and we not demand, WHO KILLED BA? A bird-watching guide, cavorting Elks, sequined robes on book, that hated film, yet another mixed cd, and the bad joke about dino-sores heard post-mortem, once again. With all this, you couldn't just slip away. One of us would have grabbed you, caught you, just then, at the last minute. And it would have all be fine.

More In His Own Words

mum - finally we are no one. Sometimes I would open a window - other times it would be the other way around. (from Birjinder's old homepage - now irrretrievable)

More Birj

Books, Movies, Food, Manifestos, Music, CDs lent to you, Books given to me, Granular Sugar from India as a gift to an emigrant, Beats, "No", straight-faced make-believe words, Cucumber mocktails, Bycycle, Apartment-hopper, Emo. More: Birj on Flickr (tag: birj)

In his own words

BIRJINDER ANANT tries to wear orange every day but never gets it right. He takes photographs of the animals left on sidewalks. They are on the wall, but off the hook. He likes fake animals. He wants you to like him. He is a fake animal.

Birj

I haven't been able to write about Birj, dear Birj. Here are some photographs that made me cry again. This one on the left, with Amal, shows me Birj at his naughtiest. And he was naughty - what with his made up words, quick retorts - and indeed sometimes sly comments. Last night I was having dinner with a friend, and while he was speaking - of friends, of loss - I looked up to the glass door and I willed myself to see Birj there, walking in and joining us - as he would. The small smile on his face - knowing he had surprised us - calmly sitting down, one-word rejoinders. I'm so selfish, but I want him back so much.

5 dollars a month for 256 kbps

Broadband comes to India - and how. This is an Ad on the train for 256 kbps Broadband at Rs 250 per month - or 5 dollars. I'd take it.

Safety on the road ...

Safety on the road ...means Safe Tea at home.

(traffic safety signage from Chandigarh, photograph from Delhi on our way back to Chandigarh)

Testing Flock

As my position has evolved at my work, to keep abreast of technology-catalyzed changes in the way we communicate - I get to do some things that end up being way beyond cool. Testing this developer release of flock is one of these. I'm posting this blog directly from my flock browser. And thats only the beginning of what I can (apparently) do with Flock. The browser is an entirely different experience, with tagging, blogging and other interactive and bottom-up services integrated directly into the browsing experience. Wow.

technorati tags: technology, flock web2.0, flock, web2.0

Open Access for Articles in the Public Eye, contd.

In thinking further about open access for articles in the public eye, such as the recent JAMA article on fetal pain, Alexandre writes in response to my post:

if the JAMA is abiding by some free-market economy imperatives, it is possible that papers connected to popular polemics are actually seen and utilized as cash-cows by them. In that scenario, we come to an interesting situation where, the more accessible a paper should be (on ethical/social grounds), the less likely it is to be (for economical reasons).

Here's more.

Bulla & Everyone Else

Everyone sings in India. Birj mentioned this in passing. I had forgotten it. This is the song, he said, that all the kids on the streets were singing when I was last there. Friday morning, I put on Rabbi in the car. Bulla streams out as the sun glances off downtown San Francisco. I'm approaching the city, on the bay bridge. Rabbi's sound, Bulleh Shah's words, kids with nothing who keep singing the words of a Sufi poet from the mid-18th century.

Nor did I create the difference of faith Nor did I create adam-eve Nor did I name myself Beginning or end I know just the self Do not acknowledge duality There’s none wiser than I Who is this Bulla Shah Bulla! I know not who I am

The song overwhelms me. If I know only myself, if at all, that means I don't know a lot. If at all. The kids sing Bulla on the streets of Mumbai. With not a thread of their own, not a home but a tarpaulin, not a bath but under a public tap, no school just the business of an outstretched hand. If they can sing, why can't I? ---------- Postscripts: The only other person that similarly frees my mind with an evocation of the human spirit's possibilities while at the same time spinning a fine web of entrapment with his very present sense of our human cruelties is Rohinton Mistry in "A Fine Balance". Rabbi's story from Tehelka; The video. The wallpaper. Thank you Gurtaj & Mila for the introduction.

Helping Katrina survivors

Too many thoughts on Katrina. In the meanwhile, here's a way we can all help - you do have to know how to use a wiki, and be prepared to do an hour of data entry or so on-line. You would be putting info from message boards from around the country into a centralized database. This is really an amazing way we can facilitate people finding out about their loved ones. UPDATE2: I'm updating the how-to instructions on the peoplefinder volunteer wiki so it remains at a centralized place and can be updated by others.

brainy bytes, August is over

Hi there,

Your favorite brain here with the occassional brainbytes update.

* Fresh off the press, I've written about fetal 'pain' and the furore about what doctors should be telling their abortion-seeking patients. I bring out the neuroscience guns, and boy are they smokin'

* I moved a step ahead in improving my relationship with Nature. I've written and posted a collage on farms I ran into in the middle of Los Angeles. Yes, you heard right. *Farms* in the *Middle* of *Los Angeles*. What's happening to the urban dream, dammit?!

* I engaged the weaker sex on why they braved a blogging conference dominated by women. By chance many of them and the one woman I interviewed and quote are 'luminaries'. But despite that they had interesting things to say.

On the silly end, there's the Japanese publishing Raj's book even as he's knee-deep in researching it and a lurid story - about a poodle (especially for you, Eric). Also, a radio appearance and Mila drools over fish eggs.

If you don't like these (and Ruth, I can hear you grumbling all the way here in San Francisco), you just must not be cool enough.

Your loving friend,

- Mini

Open Access & Fetal Pain

Peter Suber with Open Access News and John Wilbanks from Science Commons highlight (1, 2) the open access argument in the recent furore over fetal pain and the JAMA review. That's in addition to the UC Davis Intellectual Property & Social Justice Blog (thanks Leena!) (Since the original post was cross-posted on Bayosphere, I'm having to use trackbacks, I apologize for the confusion).

Pain for mother, fetus and you, the reader without access.

There’s a bill currently in the house and senate addressing the issue of fetal pain, and what doctors should say to mothers that need abortions for fetuses beyond 22 weeks gestational age. Naturally, given the subject matter, it’s controversial. A week ago, a review was published in the prominent medical journal JAMA, which surveyed the medical and scientific field and found the bill wanting. It made the news. A day later, it was revealed that 1 of 5 authors had a prior connection to the pro-choice movement, one performed abortions. They were accused of bias; they disagreed. It also made the news. In all of this, the review it self was hard to obtain, so most of the disagreement and conflict occurred without direct reference to the meat of the paper. If there’s one call for action from this mess, it’s this: open the access to this and similar papers. It’s simply atrocious that as arguments progress in this area few will go through the trouble that I did to obtain the paper – signing up, providing personal information, and paying twelve dollars. ~> read more But back to the bill, back to the science. The proposed legislation, the fetal pain bill, would require doctors to tell mothers needing abortions for fetuses of 22 weeks gestational age (20 weeks post-fertilization age) that fetuses feel pain. The bill includes a script that the doctor must use, which includes this: "The Congress of the United States has determined that at this stage of development, an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain.” The bill also requires doctors to suggest the use of fetal anesthetics. Can we believe the accuracy of what “the Congress of the United States has determined”? The review article recently published in JAMA - “Fetal Pain: A systematic multidisciplinary review of the evidence” – does not. The authors, Lee et al from UCSF, state that what evidence there is on fetal pain suggests it occurs only after 29 weeks, gestational age – not the 22 weeks of the bill. The paper also summarizes the literature on fetal anesthetic procedures and tell us that fetal anesthetics and analgesics are currently used not to reduce pain, but to extend mortality of fetuses or neonates (for example, it helps immobilize them during surgical procedures, in this way making the surgeries more effective, and the chance of survival post-surgery, greater) Instead, there’s ample evidence that these fetal anesthetics reduce the chances of the mothers survival. For a complex issue, and one characterized primarily by sparse information, the review assesses evidence on the multiple fronts necessary to understand what kind of legislation if any should be passed – pain for the fetus, survival for the mother, and the current state of fetal anesthetics. The response to the papers content, both as expressed in the press and on right-to-life websites, has focused on the issue of pain – for the fetus. Dissenters point to evidence that pain is felt by the fetus at 22 weeks – fetuses at this age will show reactions to touch. At 23-24 weeks, according to the one scientist most prominently quoted, neonates will ‘cry’ when blood is drawn. These reactions are similar to our immediate physical reactions to touch, a cut or burn, etc. No one’s disagreed (yet) on the existence of these reactions and the fetal age at which they occur. The disagreement lies in interpretation. Some scientists (at least one) pro-life activists and the authors of the bill seem to think that this is an obvious marker of pain. Other scientists, and I will add pretty standard neuroscience, believe that nociception (stimulation of receptors of ‘pain’ on our skin), and reflexive reactions are distinct from perceived pain. Distinct to the extent that pain can occur without physical stimulus or reactions – for example pain can be felt in anticipation of a learned scenario, and also most strikingly from phantom limbs in adults, where there’s actually no physical stimulus at the time of the perception. It’s also generally agreed that to feel pain requires a functioning cortex. So, do fetuses have cortexes at 22 weeks? Sort of, it’s developing. But what’s also only just developing at this time are the nerves that carry information from the periphery, feet, hands, legs and body – to the cortex. These nerves first grow to the thalamus, and then nerves from the thalamus grow towards and synapse onto the cortex. Here the evidence (not disputed as far as I can tell) is that thalamic neurons develop and reach the cortical plate at 23-24 weeks. Perhaps these are the ‘structures required to feel pain’ to which the bill refers – although this is still later than the 22 weeks mentioned. However, these ‘structures’ are just that – physical structures, the conduits for future communications. The nerves from the thalamus grow into the cortical plate by 23-24 weeks (undisputed) but once there, do they do anything? Again, standard development neuroscience fare is that there’s a lag between development of physical synapses and any functioning electrophysiology. Standard, only because all the evidence across species, development stage, and experiment-type reveal this two-staged activation of synapses. So as physical structures, the synapses between the rest of our body and our cortex, get cemented by 23-24 weeks, but do they fire up immediately? From Lee et al, the earliest signs of a ‘proper’ evoked electric potential (activate a neuron near the skin and see if the cortical neurons fires in response) or EEGs that look like sleep-wake cycles occur at 29-30 weeks. Therefore, say Lee et al, the earliest evidence for perceived pain in the fetus is at 29 weeks gestation age. Prior to this time, the nerves in the body that are receiving information about potential pain can’t even convey the information to the cortex. No cortical connection, no pain. In my mind, there are wrinkles to the fetal pain story from Lee et al’s review. For something as complex as connecting our knowledge of the human fetus with our understanding of the neuroscience behind the cognitive percept of pain, it’s to be expected. Here are my questions: There’s a cortical subplate to which thalamic neurons make connections in gestation weeks 20-22. The subplate is a transient structure, but its thought to help the growth of thalamic neurons into the cortex. But are subplate neurons themselves making connections to the cortex earlier than 29 weeks, and as such proxying for thalamic-cortical connections? I couldn’t tell from the review. The EEG data in my mind is full of questions just because, as Lee et al themselves describe, neonatal baseline EEGs are different from adult baseline EEGs. This makes assessing the first ‘normal’ occurrence of an evoked potential in the fetus or neonate a little tenuous. Finally, I’d want to know more about the various hormonal responses that do occur in fetuses at 20 weeks or younger. Although here too, hormonal reactions are not in and of themselves predictors of pain – or a functioning cortex. Others’ critiques of the JAMA review, and/or supporters of the bill focus only on the fetal pain issue rather than other aspects of the paper. The power of the review, though is not just its summary of the evidence on fetal pain, but in its review of the balance of evidence on pain, anesthetics, and mortality for both mother and fetus. That’s why it’s the sum total of the review that Lee et al present that’s key in informing the debate on the fetal pain bill. After all, the bill is not just about getting doctors to present seemingly factual information that may or may not be accurate about the percept of pain. Instead, it’s about providing information and suggestions that can negatively impact a mothers life. But wait. Is the review it self believable? A day after the review was published came another sort of reaction. One of the authors worked with NARAL pro-choice America, the other performs abortions. The criticism: the authors should have revealed these potential sources of bias. I absolutely agree. They should have, certainly for the NARAL connection. It's a little less clear with the doctor performing abortions, but it wouldn't have hurt. Given such an obviously charged arena, with an obvious political and legislative context that the authors themselves use to frame the paper, it’s disingenuous of those fingered for conflict of interest or potential bias to say that it’s not an issue. That the authors didn’t bring up their personal politics shouldn't be surprising to anyone. As a start, conflicts of interest are narrowly defined in scientific publishing as ‘financial connections’. The several paragraphs in JAMA’s disclosure rules focus on financial interests, of which the authors have none, nor are they accused of having any. Although there’s a phrase in the disclosure requirements on ‘personal relationships’ the meaning of which is left ambiguous – for example, personal relationships to what, and when? And beyond this, there is a deep cultural issue in science of assuming objectivity even in the face of obvious sources of conscious – or unconscious potential bias. The methodology of science is solid and powerful, but scientists are still human beings. Scientists choose questions, frame issues, and can miss things – because of default assumptions and inherent biases. If the potential for bias is acknowledged in a broad sense in the medical and scientific communities, then across the board we would have won one small battle in improving our quest for truth. But that’s another war. Here, the critiques brought up about the authors are not about the culture of science in general, or the nature of bias, but just about implications for this one paper. So what can we pull out of the paper it self as being problematic? I haven’t heard about anything disagreed with in content – other than the one major interpretative difference on reflexes and pain. I read the review, and it seems transparent in methodology, as much as can be in a review. If there were only a couple of authors on the review, I might consider it more likely that in framing and emphasis we’d see more obvious impact of individual authors bias. But there were a total of five authors. Given this I rest mostly easy until I can find the evidence for bias having influenced method and results. In fact, one of the powers of the review is the diversity of (medical) background of the authors, bringing overlapping but distinct expertise to the review. And beyond the five authors, the article was peer-reviewed prior to publication by additional scientists. Not bullet-proof, but not too shabby. So, back to the bill. As the prelude to the bill, some ‘findings’ are referenced. These, I presume, form the ‘factual’ basis for the rest of the bill. I’ve selected four from the seven findings:

(1) At least 20 weeks after fertilization, an unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain. (2) There is substantial evidence that by 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children draw away from certain stimuli in a manner which in an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a response to pain. (3) Anesthesia is routinely administered to unborn children who have developed 20 weeks or more past fertilization who undergo prenatal surgery. (6) Medical science is capable of reducing such pain through the administration of anesthesia or other pain-reducing drugs directly to the unborn child.

Lee et al show through a consideration of others’ work, that the physical structures necessary to experience pain do not exist for a fetus 20 weeks after fertilization, unless one believes that reflexive actions imply the perception of pain. Drawing away from a stimulus is not interpreted as a response to pain in adults. It’s interpreted as existence of the appropriate nociceptive reflex. We learned this very early on in neuroscience graduate school, in fact it was drilled into us. Anesthesia is administered to neonates, but not for the purpose of reducing pain, instead, to make it more likely that a neonate can survive surgical procedures. And finally, there is no evidence that medical science is currently capable of reducing fetal ‘pain’, were it to exist. Instead there is ample evidence that administering these anesthetics to the fetus can harm the mother, to the extent of killing her. Epilogue: Derivative Ping Pong Now for the real pain. You may or may not agree with my review and analysis of the JAMA paper. But at least you should know that I *did* read the paper. I also read one other paper referenced on pro-life sites, and of course I read the articles in USA Today, LA times, NY Times, Forbes, the International Herald Tribune, CNN, SF Chronicle and more. But getting to the original JAMA article, on a subject clearly pertinent to me and my decisions (I want to have children) was certainly not easy. The article wasn’t available freely on-line, not as in beer, and not as in speech. I had to find the article on JAMA’s web-site, sign up for an account, and pay 12 dollars to actually read what others were derivatively going back and forth on. If ever there were an argument for open access to medical publishing, it’s this article. How can we hope to get beyond superficial debate if we don’t even have access to the primary material? I’m putting a call out right now, that if JAMA has any moral sense of duty as per its medical mission, they should make the article freely available and easily accessible. This way people can actually read what they subsequently argue about. You may disagree with me, but if you don’t have the article in front of you, it would be hard to have an even-handed discussion of points. We’d have lost before we’d begun. Even I wouldn’t enjoy that argument. ---- My disclosures: I got my Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCSF. I believe it’s very important to keep pushing the boundaries of knowledge on the status of a fetus. I also believe that there’s a historical bias in our society towards undervaluing the life of a mother and the freedom of a woman. A note on ages: Gestational age, used in the JAMA review, is age from fertilization + 2 weeks. The bill mentions fetal age 20 weeks from fertilization, which I’ve converted to 22 weeks gestational age. I’ve tried to be consistent and refer to all ages as gestational age.

Every Night Josephine and other Lurid Stories

This was not the cover of the book I was caught reading in 6th grade. The cover of that previous edition didn't show the poodle, and did have a by-line - "My First True Love Story" Caught reading this 'trash' while everyone else was studying for a Hindi exam, our Arts & Crafts teacher, the only male teacher at the school, hauled me up, then announced to the class the 'terrible' things I was reading. Every Night Josephine GASP My First True Love Story EEESSSSHHHH I just stood their stony-faced. ITS ABOUT A DOG i wanted to yell, and Jacqueline Susann's story about how the dog takes over her life, and Jaqueline falls in love with the DOG ... but in moments like this, bureacracy doesn't listen. Too late they figure out that there's a joke, and its on them. I just let it play out all the way to the hyper-concerned parent-teacher meeting on my precocious behavior (I agreed with the general assessment even though the specifics were ridiculous, so I just let them go at it) In subsequent years, someone changed the cover of the book to the sober one shown here. But Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's story is a one-up ...

"... I needed a business license from THE CITY of Albuquerque No problem. Or so I thought. They called today, to tell me they had decided to reject my application for a business license. "On what grounds?" we asked. "Because you are a pornographic establishment," said the brilliant people at City Hall. "

Here's the rest.

and its Japan first, again!

Raj's book will come out in a year+. But the Japanese are already on it.

Lost and Found in South Central

As those who know me are well aware, one of a triumvirate of things I ‘Don’t Do’ is Nature. Give me a glass-walled house with me on the inside, and nature on the outside - thats the way I like it. But this urban hound stumbled into nature more spectacular for its unexpectedness, more devastatingly sorrowful because of its limited life, more hopeful in its fleeting glimpse of an alternate urban vision, and for this bourgeois gourmet, most delightfully heady in its introduction of a new world of exotic Mexican tastes and flavors - all from South Central Los Angeles. The South Central LA farms are an amazing innovation in urban community design with food self-sufficiency – and fine tastes – as part of the package. The facts: 14 acres, 350+ families of mostly poor immigrants from Mexico and Central America (although there are other communities, such as Filiponos in the mix) at 41st and Alameda, South Central Los Angeles, initiated after the ’92 riots, most food grown eaten by those that tend the farms, with individual plots about 900 sq feet. ~> read moreLet me tease you first with the experience of stumbling onto these farms. With so many competing images to convey, this collage (600KB) is my substitute for words. The pieces not captured here include the very lively sense of community, the gatherings, the grandparents, the kids, the icecream carts. The backdrop to the collage is this usgs overview of the location. In the next post, an unabashedly urban approach to these farms - a taste of Mexico in herbs, vegetables and fruits I have never seen before in this here United States. If you want to do something to help the South Central Farms not get bulldozed over, get in touch with the press. Here’s the farms web-site with relevant contact information. I don't see anything more direct for now, although there is this petitition you can sign. All photographs were taken either by myself or Jose Alfredo Vaquero, a 10th grader who with his family enjoys a plot of green and extended community in the south central farms. You’re welcome to redistribute with this creative commons license that requires attribution – only, for which, please name Jose Vaquero and myself, Mini Kahlon.

Blogher: Where the Boys Are

Jeff Clavier "I told them, if you want me to live blog, serve food or whatever, let me know ..."

Scott Rafer "There was something I read wrote about attending - ‘real men prefer to be outnumbered’ – I think that sums it up"

Ka-Ping Yee "I don’t often get the chance to be talked to about blogging by women"

~> read more

Markus Sandy "I got one of the women I was working with to come, and my wife is as well. And that’s important to me, because the video blogging group I’m part of is mostly men."

Dave Toole "I think hearing different people’s perspectives on how they do it, how they’re applying it, how they’re exchanging their ideas and with whom is really important."

Josh Wolf "blogging is about empowerment and a female conference on blogging is empowering empowerment so how could I not be there to share my solidarity."

Christopher Carfi "Another significant reason is that Lisa Stone is my partner (laughter)"

Marc Cantor "The best news I heard – a third of the women have four or more blogs – oh my god, this is music to my ears..."

Halley Suitt "I think that the men that are attending blogher are doing it for fairly reputable reasons."

Here's what the real men say about why they attended blogher, and Halleys (accurate) predictions of their responses. More at my blog on bayosphere.

BlogHer

Upfront Talk

08/31 UPDATED: Here's the radio feed for the show. (Streaming audio) Enjoyed speaking with Sandip Roy on Wednesday on immigrants in the U.S. and my recent trip to Lodi, CA. The show he hosts is called "Upfront" and you can hear it on 91.7FM. For Upfront viewers, here are the key articles to which I referred. You can hear a rebroadcast of the show on Sunday at 3pm

• Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira's excellent early piece
• My followup piece on the community.
• ASATA's web-site with additional articles

A Day in the Life

Ishmael Reed and Esther Dyson co-star in Bay Area afternoon. An African American produces a play that provides a lens into the internal dynamics of a modern-day Pakistani-American family. The play is directed by the producer’s Jewish wife. A talk about the future stars a tech doyen – a woman. She is accompanied at the talk by another woman – her mother, Verena – a mathematician who has to work to ensure we don’t forget the boy in the family, who, by the way is an accomplished historian and writer. Ishmael Reed and Esther Dyson starred in my Saturday afternoon, casually defying expectations and stereotypes. I did not construct the afternoon – it just happened as it does, in the Bayosphere. Read the rest on my bayosphere blog.

Mentaiko mentaiko mentaiko

An unsatisfying Sunday found a stupendous close. Walked over (okay, to all my friends that are gasping incredulously, I walked one block and drove the rest around the lake) to my local Sushi place (Mr Sushi) settled in at the bar, enjoyed the needlefish that only comes in once in a while. Then I started telling Kenny about how I'd told everyone in the world (okay, so everyone that reads Bayosphere and had been pulled into Noriko's post) about Mr Sushi. Taking on a mock pained and saddened tone, I mentioned how I had told everyone about my love of Mentaiko but that he, Kenny, just didn't get it anymore. And, this, I sighed, was how my favorite Sushi chef treated me - with not enough consideration to procure, for me, that orange glob of spicy bitter saltiness that I craved. He had mentaiko! He looked at me quizzically, then said - "but I have Mentaiko today". Thats it. No fanfare. Just the words. And I was speechless. Also speechless because my sushi orders came fast and furious - needlefish, mentaiko, fatty hamachi, mentaiko, mirugai and mentaiko handroll to top it off. Mr Sushi is on Grand Avenue in Oakland. The main sushi chef is Kenny, his able and silent assistant is George. Sit at the bar and ask them what's good. Tell them Mini sent you.

brainy bytes July 2nd

Hi friends and family,

As I take the plunge into public writing, you (because you love me) will bear up with the occassional email notification. A notification that important things have happened. The brain has spoken, the bytes await you if you just go here http://www.brainbytes.com

Over the last month here are a couple of things I've shared:

1. Dizzy Gillespie in Calcutta paints a vision of America

2. Insight into my sense of humor with one of the funniest headlines I've seen yet. Well, Anirvan at least will likely get this.

3. And the secret's out about my undying love of Gandhi. To find out why, you've got to read ... http://www.brainbytes.com

- Your favorite, non-spammer, Mini.

(p.s. please forgive this note. I'm feeling terribly silly right now)

(if you're really annoyed with me for sending you this e-mail - Too Bad!)

(seriously, feel free to tell me you already subscribe to my blog on bloglines or technorati and really don't need this)

Dizzy with Muezzins in Calcutta

The chairs were wooden. The stage was rudimentary. We sat under blurred Calcutta skies. But the sounds were heavenly. Dizzy Gillespie was throwing his trumpet's innovations to the self-professed cultural capital of India, Calcutta. Jazz. It may have been music, but for me it was everything - everything that was different from my teenage perception of straitjacket India and our old masters, stodgy rule-ridden b