Feeling Thankfully Placid? I Can Fix That. Today's Af-Pak Reading

 

 

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Feeling Thankfully Placid? I Can Fix That. Today's Af-Pak Reading

via James Fallows : The Atlantic by James Fallows on 11/25/11

During some period of alertness during the turkey-comatose weekend, you might consider reading an essay by Franklin "Chuck" Spinney -- my long-time friend and a former guest blogger -- about the situation in Afghanistan. (It's in Counterpunch. This should go without saying, but I have learned always to say: in endorsing one article from any site or publication, I am not necessarily endorsing everything that appears there.)

Here is how this one begins:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the AF-PAK war will end in yet another grand strategic defeat for the United States.  To date, President Obama, has been able to distract attention from this issue, but given the stakes in 2012, that dodge is unlikely to last. Get ready for an ugly debate over "who lost the Afghan War."

To those readers who disagree with my opening line, I urge you to study Anthony Cordersman's most recent situation report on the AF-PAK War, THE AFGHANISTAN- PAKISTAN WAR AT THE END OF 2011... Reading the report is heavy slogging but I urge readers to download and examine it -- at the very least, take a few minutes  to read the executive summary.

Now compare Cordesman's systematic, detailed, and workmanlike analysis to the bizarre obscurantism peddled one week later, on 22 November, co-authored by Michael O'Hanlon (Brookings Institution) and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (American Enterprise Institute) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, entitled Defining Victory in Afghanistan.

O'Hanlon and Wolfowitz posit the bizarre thesis that the admittedly less than successful outcome against the FARC guerrillas in Colombia is a favorable model for justifying continuing business as usual in Afghanistan. Viewed through the refractions of their Columbian lens, O'Hanlon and Wolfowitz conclude, "Our current exit strategy of reducing American troops to 68,000 by the end of next summer and transferring full security responsibility to Afghan forces by 2014 is working. In a war where the U.S. has demonstrated remarkable strategic patience, we need to stay patient and resolute."

Are O'Hanlon and Wolfowitz living on the same planet as Cordesman or do they live in some kind of parallel universe?

I submit it is latter. Here's why -

If you're interested so far, go to the site for more. Spinney is effectively in the "cut our losses" camp concerning Afghanistan, a political position occupied in the campaign only (to my knowledge) by Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. For the past five or six years now my instincts have put me in that same camp, including in skepticism about the buildup that President Obama announced two years ago. In my view, problems in Afghanistan trace almost irreversibly back to the disastrous 2002 decision to shift U.S. troops from that theater to preparations for (needless) war in Iraq. Like anyone's, my judgments can be wrong: for instance, the intervention in Libya has turned out better than I feared it would. But it is hard to see plausibly encouraging signs in reports from Afghanistan.

Also worth considering: on the general theme of how to make plans when outcomes are uncertain and evidence about the future is sketchy, see Richard Danzig's essay Driving in the Dark from the Center for a New American Security. It moves beyond assertion of "unknown unknowns" to offer practical suggestions for dealing with the certainly uncertain.

 

 

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Six dream improvements to the TTC

 

 

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Six dream improvements to the TTC

via National Post | News » Posted Toronto by Peter Kuitenbrouwer on 11/25/11

We offer six dream improvements that this city will probably never be able to afford, but that may provide a welcome diversion while waiting for the next bus or streetcar

Related

• TTC service cuts will hit the busiest routes

• TTC chair holds firm on fare hike, service cuts

 

 

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Good for Peggy Noonan (on GOP Get-Tough Talk)

 

 

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Good for Peggy Noonan (on GOP Get-Tough Talk)

via James Fallows : The Atlantic by James Fallows on 11/26/11

See UPDATE below.

I don't always, or often, see the world just the way Peggy Noonan does, so I was struck by her latest WSJ column. It was about this week's GOP debate, and it expressed a concern that I had also felt but not taken the time to think through or write down. She mentioned the series of hypothetical questions about what the candidates would do in Iran, Pakistan, or other trouble spots:

I also wondered if it actually serves U.S. interests to have possible presidents in a formal venue pressed on whether they will topple this regime or bomb that sovereign nation. At one point Wolf Blitzer asked Newt Gingrich: "Would you, if you were president of the United States, bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power?"...

Should we be discussing those things so blithely and explicitly in such a public way? You have to wonder what the world thinks when it hears such talk--and the world is watching.

It would have been nice to hear one of the candidates say, "You know, Wolf, I'm not sure it's a good idea to talk the way we're talking at a time like this, with the world so hot and our problems so big. Discretion isn't cowardice, so let me give you the general and overarching philosophy with which I'd approach these challenges, and you can infer from it what you like. I prefer peaceable solutions when they are possible. I think war is always a tragedy, sometimes necessary, sometimes even inevitable, but always tragic, and so I don't speak lightly or blithely of taking up arms . . ."

By the end, some of what was said sounded so dramatic that Ron Paul seemed like the normal one. He very much doesn't want new wars or new military actions. This is not an unreasonable desire! Jon Huntsman was normal too. They both seemed to think our biggest foreign-policy challenge is the American economy, which pays for our arms and diplomacy but has grown weak. It has to be made stronger, because without it we can afford nothing.

Emphasis added, to what is a truly excellent suggested-answer paragraph, for this reason: Over the years I have interviewed a lot of people about military action, and they have come from two broad categories. Some are actual military people, especially those who have led troops in combat. The others are "policy" people, from think tanks, the media, academia, and so on. The most striking difference between the two is that the real military figures virtually never "speak lightly or blithely of taking up arms." That difference was notable before the Iraq war, and it is notable again in discussions about how to handle Iran.
____
UPDATE. A reader begs to differ:

I totally disagree with you and Ms. Noonan. I think we really need to know what the candidates are thinking about their foreign policy with respect to taking up arms. We really do need to know if these people are irrational warmongers BEFORE they get into office. So the more that the Wolf Blitzers press these people on foreign policy and national security, the better I like it. Would that we (or the press, more specifically) had discerned an irrational neoconservative policy thinking on Iraq back in 2000.

If I were a very, very cynical person, I might be thinking that Ms. Noonan is concerned at how completely frightening the GOP candidates are with respect to foreign policy and national security. If I were that cynical, I'd think she was sending a message for them to clam up with respect to foreign policy and national security, lest they scare the children, and the adults in America.

 

 

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Easy Ways to Incorporate More Phytochemicals Into Your Diet

A test to see if I can get around the elimination of the Share function from Google Reader.

 

 

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Easy Ways to Incorporate More Phytochemicals Into Your Diet

via Life : The Atlantic by Beth Fontenot on 11/26/11

Fruits and vegetables as well as other whole foods contain the plant chemicals, which protect against heart disease, cancer, other diseases

"Eat your fruits and vegetables" is familiar nutritional advice and was no doubt originally intended to encourage people to eat foods that would meet all of their nutritional needs. Now, the science of nutrition has unearthed even more reasons why that advice is indeed beneficial: phytochemicals. Fruits and vegetables as well as other whole foods like nuts, legumes, and whole grains contain phytochemicals that have the ability to alter body processes and protect against heart disease, cancer, and many other chronic diseases.

MORE FROM THE DOCTOR:
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The word phytochemical means plant chemical. In fact, the term "phyto" comes from the Greek word for "plant." Phytochemicals are organic, non-nutritive, naturally occurring chemicals found in plant foods. Even though they are non-essential nutrients, meaning they are not needed to sustain life, they may prolong life because of their health promotion properties.

PROTECTING PLANTS AND PEOPLE

Phytochemicals are a plant's way of protecting itself. They help shield tender buds and sprouts from predators, the elements, and pollution. These protective compounds are passed along to us when we eat plant foods.

One of the reasons we may like (or don't like) certain foods is because of the phytochemicals they contain. These various compounds give foods their color, taste, and smell. They put the hot in habaneras, the gusto in garlic, the bitterness in broccoli, and the color in carrots. For example, carotenoids give foods their deep red, dark orange, and yellow color while anthocyanins provide the various shades of red, purple, and blue found in other fruits and vegetables.

Flavonoids are the pigments that are responsible for the many other shades of yellow, orange, and red in foods. Isothiocyanates and indoles are the chemicals in cabbage that give that notorious odor to the kitchen when cabbage is cooked. Capsaicin puts the hot in chili peppers.

HOW PHYTOCHEMICALS HELP THE BODY

Phytochemicals appear to have significant physiological effects in the body. Whether they are acting as antioxidants, mimicking hormones, stimulating enzymes, interfering with DNA replication, destroying bacteria, or binding to cell walls, they seem to work to curb the onset of diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Some phytochemicals work alone, others work in combination, and some seem to work in conjunction with other nutrients in food, such as vitamins.

The more brightly colored the food, the more phytochemicals a food contains, perhaps making the food that much more beneficial. However, less colorful fruits and vegetables, like onions and corn, are also rich in phytochemicals. Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is the best way to achieve all the potential benefits that phytochemicals offer.

There are over 1,000 known phytochemicals and probably many more that are yet to be discovered. The table below shows several types of phytochemicals, their possible beneficial effects, and food sources of each.

The recent research into the potential health benefits of phytochemicals has uncovered numerous possibilities. Anthocyanins and other flavonoids appear to improve vision health. Resveratrol is being studied for the prevention of prostate cancer. The isoflavones in soybeans may reduce inflammation and the risk of heart disease. Lignans have shown promise in reducing the growth of cancerous tumors, particularly in the breast and prostate.

Cranberries contain a diverse composition of phytochemicals, and research shows promise that they may help to limit cancer and other diseases of aging. Phytochemicals in apples were shown to reduce cardiac risk factors in obese rats with metabolic syndrome. Whole grain foods contain a wide variety of unique phytochemicals that are thought to be responsible for the health benefits of whole grain consumption.

Vegetarians naturally consume higher levels of carotenoids, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals and tend to have lower cancer rates, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure, and a lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Their diets also tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins C and E, and folate.

The value of phytochemicals is one reason why the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage the consumption of at least five cups of fruits and vegetables and three ounces of whole grain foods every day. On average, Americans eat less than two cups of vegetables per day and only one cup of fruit a day. Less than 5 percent of Americans consume the recommended amount of whole grains with most eating less an one serving a day. Clearly, Americans are lacking in their intake of plant foods and not reaping the health benefits provided by the phytochemicals they contain.

IT'S EASY TO UP YOUR INTAKE

The only way to increase the intake of phytochemicals is to eat more plant foods. Here are some tips for incorporating more plant foods in your diet:

• Make a conscious effort to eat at least five portions of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Use ketchup on your burgers instead of mayonnaise. Not only is ketchup fat-free and lower in calories, but it is rich in the phytochemical lycopene.
• Add shredded peppers, radishes, onions, or broccoli steams to a shredded cabbage and carrot salad.
• Choose dried apricots, pineapples, apples, or tropical mix for snacks instead of candy.
• Eat the white part of citrus fruit, the albedo. While the flesh and juice of citrus fruits are loaded with vitamin C and other nutrients, the albedo is very rich in phytochemicals.
• Add artichokes, onions, sliced tomatoes, or spinach to your pizza.
• Keep jars of chopped garlic, ginger, and basil in your kitchen to speed up meal preparation.
• Drink more tea. Both ordinary and green teas contain beneficial phytochemicals.
• Add grated zucchini, carrots, or apples to plain muffin mix.
• Make spaghetti using less meat and more vegetables. Onions, peppers, squash, zucchini, and carrots can all be incorporated into spaghetti sauce
• Keep frozen vegetables on hand to add to casseroles and soups.
• Eat the whole fruit instead of drinking fruit juice.
• Be liberal in your use of spices when cooking. Basil, oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, turmeric, garlic, and ginger all contain phytochemicals.
• Toss a handful of nuts into a salad.
• Learn to cook with whole grains like brown rice, whole oats, whole wheat, amaranth, barley, buckwheat, and quinoa.
• Experiment with soy products like tofu and vegetable protein meat substitutes.
• Designate one or two meals a week as meat-free meals. Use legumes to create main dishes.
• Be adventurous. Use the resources at your fingertips on the Internet to search for recipes that incorporate fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds in ways you may not have tried before.

Image: Givaga/Shutterstock.

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This article originally appeared on TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com, an Atlantic partner site.

 

 

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Things I'd wished I'd thought of, part XIV

Calvin & Hobbes: the pre-cursor to... Fight Club?
http://metaphilm.com/index.php/detail/fight_club/

The shorter youtube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDOA25y6d98&feature=player_embedded

You can learn a lot from a rom-com.

 

 

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You can learn a lot from a rom-com.

via Indexed by Jessica Hagy on 10/20/10

 

 

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56. Self-Awareness, Part 2

This series has been very interesting. Too bad I'm so over the hill :)

 

 

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56. Self-Awareness, Part 2

via Sport At Its Best by duffgibson on 7/29/10

As with many sports, in skeleton we spend as much as two hours a day watching video in addition to all the other things one has to do in terms of preparation and training (not to mention eating and sleeping).  It's easy to think to yourself, "hey I've done two hours of homework here, my preparation is done."  The concern is that the athletes take a run down the track, watch a video from an external perspective and think of how they'll then make the video better the next time rather than the skill itself.  In other words you need to translate the video to an internal perspective.  You need to imagine what it looks and feels like as if you were actually doing it.

I realize this may sound a bit specific to skeleton but I believe the same concept applies to all sports (and dance – refer to comments from part 1 of this article).  The concern is, with so much video analysis (an external perspective), the athletes will fall short in terms of putting it back into an internal perspective and obviously this is the only vantage point from which an athlete can perform a skill.

An athlete's success or failure with regard to a technical skill, is based to some extent on sight but in skeleton when you have five G's preventing you from looking where you need to go, feel for the ice and body-awareness become even more critical.  It can also be more subtle than that.  For example, does the sled skid underneath you almost unnoticeably as you enter or exit a corner?  In the highest G-force situations is the sled turning and therefore grinding the ice underneath it or is the sled going parallel through the pressure?  Can you feel the pressure drop a very slight amount in the middle of a corner thereby telling you exactly where you are and making it possible to time the exit perfectly?  These are all questions that the best will be able to answer because they're aware of what they're feeling and can react to it as it happens.

The athletes I coach are probably tired of me saying it, but my catch phrase is, "there shouldn't be anything that a video or a time sheet can tell you that you didn't already know [by feel]."  This is admittedly an exaggeration, and I would never insinuate that video analysis is not a very valuable tool – it truly is.  But it has to be used in the context of gaining a better internal understanding of what's going on in the performing of a skill as it happens.

With respect to other sports the same physical rules apply.  It may seem like a fine point but athletes need to feel why a change in hip angle leads to an increased efficiency in a skating stride – it's not for the purpose of making the video look better.  Sprinters spend a lot of time looking at the angle of the torso because it affects the range of motion and therefore the strength of certain muscles integral to generating speed, not the least of which are the hip flexors.  If an athlete simply arches the back to change the angle of the torso it misses the mark, but to an untrained eye the issue may appear to be solved on video.

I've actually come across a few examples recently of what I would call poor self-awareness in very elite athletes; a swimmer who couldn't say whether he was breathing in or out or holding his breath when waiting for the gun to go off; a skeleton athlete that didn't realize that by doing certain nervous system priming drills within two minutes of a sprint could actually knock up to five hundredths of a second off a 30 meter time.  It becomes really difficult to replicate great performances if you don't know exactly how they happened.

"There shouldn't be anything that a video or a time sheet can tell you that you didn't already know [by feel]."

There are occasionally athletes that have poor self-awareness who are still successful because they have a coach that is so in tune with them that they are able to make all the correct decisions on the athlete's behalf.  The athlete does exactly what they're told, when they're told, and essentially the awareness becomes the coach's role.  This can work but the chances of success are decreased.  Certainly over years of working together, a coach is going to develop a really good understanding of an athlete's idiosyncrasies and what they need from them and when, but ideally a coach's input will only ever be supporting what the athlete already knows for themselves.  Olympic champions like Beckie Scott and Catriona LeMay-Doan have both been referred to as athletes who were extremely self-aware.

 

 

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