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The debt ceiling debate that we don’t hear about

Andy Driska

I am really torn about this debt ceiling debate. On one hand, I see a noisy Republican majority in the House who doesn’t care if the government shuts down, a reckless attitude that ignores the impact that this will have of millions of people’s lives. On the other hand, the Fed’s desire to continue raising the debt ceiling has been somewhat callous and ignorant. The sub-text here is that there are two separate debates: one political, one economic. The political debate has been a theater of incompetence; the Daily Show on Monday, July 25th, characterized it with a YouTube video of a skunk with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. The economic debate has not been very visible at all — carried on in the pages of the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

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"Public Works" on display

Andy Driska

On a recent trip to Chicago, I caught the final day of the Public Works exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. This was right up my alley, I love looking at the landscape and what humans do to it. In most cases, “progress” on the landscape involves a typical set of development behaviors; cut down the trees, grade the land, put in drainage, etc. These behaviors are so deeply ingrained into the default construction code that trying to do something different requires too much thought. When we see the cranes and bulldozers, we typically think “progress,” and so we don’t tend to ask too many questions.

Frank Breuer, Untitled, 2004 (1523 Plum Island, MA)

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NewsCorp: The actions of a few… or the Business Model?

Andy Driska
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Horrible Bosses
www.thedailyshow.com
http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:392461
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

This clip from the Daily Show gives a little more background on the case (humorously).

Rupert Murdoch has his ass in hot water, Jim, and let me tell you, there isn’t one piece of me that’s rooting for him to come out the other end unscathed. Should the bureaucrats for whom he has shown so much contempt decide to grind him into hamburger, so be it. Bureaucrats are old, angry dogs that sleep in the sun all day, generally too tired to fight until they are poked with a sharp stick one too many times. And when they devour you with the full force of government power that they wield, no diatribes about freedom of the press or strong-handed government interfering with the workings of business will rally enough sensible people to stop the carnage. Didn’t your mother warn youabout poking old dogs with sharp sticks?

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A Brief History of Sport Psychology

Andy Driska

This history of sport psychology was my contribution to the Sport Psychology Wikipedia entry, and a much abbreviated version appears on Wikipedia. In this history, I tried to focus on the modern applied sport psychology movement and the events that have led to the crossroads the field now stands at.

I was urged to write a portion of the new Wikipedia entry by my Michigan State cohort Sam Forlenza, who is battling the stunning lack of clarity in sport psychology knowledge and information on the web. Sam has also revived the sport psychology movie database, a comprehensive list of movies related to sport psychology.

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Early History: Isolated Studies of Motor Behavior and Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity
Look back at the history of sport psychology, and until the mid-1960s, it is hard to find a consistent line of research and applied practice typical of a scientific discipline. From the late 1800s until the middle of the 20th Century, psychologists, physical educators, coaches, and even ornithologists, carried out the “work” of sport psychology.

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The Economic Space of a Children’s Hospital

Andy Driska

We’ve been analyzing spaces as part of a class I’m taking (qualitative research methods), and we’ve been examining how a space fits into one of the three spheres described by Habermas. Habermas talked about the economic sphere, the public sphere, and the private sphere. For example, a Wal-Mart clearly lies in the economic sphere – it’s a place where you consume, and that message is clear from the minute you walk into the store, with prices displayed prominently and the resounding beeps that Wal-Mart registers make. Habermas contested that the economic sphere is gradually encroaching on spaces that were previously … Continue reading The Economic Space of a Children’s Hospital

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Parking Lot Movie

Andy Driska

I recently watched this Independent Lens feature (available to stream on NetFlix). This movie documents what happens when dudes with a lot of education run a parking lot. The film’s strength is how it portrays people’s suspension of civil behaviors and rationality when they are driving their cars, and especially when they are trying to find a parking spot for their cars. This movie is an interesting counterpart to the Parking Wars TV show, that documents the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA). The parking lot, and parking in general, seems to be a situation or a space where it is normal … Continue reading Parking Lot Movie

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Two TED speeches on waste

Andy Driska

This week I want to examine two talks on TED. Both seem to deal with the subject of waste. Dan Phillips uses building materials that would otherwise be wasted in landfills and make homes out of them. Jason Fried campaigns against the senseless waste of time created by the company meeting. Dan Phillips http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf Dan Phillips has made his living constructing affordable homes from materials that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. The homes have lots of character, “warts” and things that don’t look perfect or regular. Phillips counters that our desire to have houses (and most things) look … Continue reading Two TED speeches on waste

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Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

Andy Driska

Here’s a great video on psychological development in youth swimmers. The speaker is Dr. Dan Gould at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University. I think the discussion of maintaining consistency after races is something that swimming coaches and researchers need to explore. There is always a reason to celebrate a good performance, and it’s important to acknowledge that a string of good races creates a sense of positive momentum in a swimmer’s mind (it can also contribute positive momentum to others by inspiring teammates). However, each race is a separate entity in a swim … Continue reading Psychological Development in Youth Swimmers

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"You cannot write up intuition and send it to the White House in intelligence reports"

Andy Driska

Robert and Dayna Baer, two former CIA agents who married each other, appeared on Fresh Air on March 7, 2011. They discussed life in the CIA, what it’s like to fall in love with another agent, but more interestingly, the current crises in the Middle East and North Africa. Mr. Baer’s conclusions that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have commandeered precious intelligence resources away from other countries in the Muslim world was striking. Then he said that despite the lack of intelligence in the region, even good intelligence would have struggled to predict the current uprisings. He stated: Mr. … Continue reading "You cannot write up intuition and send it to the White House in intelligence reports"