Chinese dissident to leave New York University shortly

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who left his home country last year and became a visiting scholar at New York University, will leave the school this summer, but will likely remain in the United States, university officials said on Thursday.

Chen made international headlines last year when he escaped house arrest in China's Shandong province, after campaigning for farmers and disabled citizens and exposing forced abortions in China. Chen spent 20 hours on the run before finding refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, prompting urgent negotiations between the two countries and, finally, China's agreement to let him travel to the United States.

Chen, who has been blind from childhood and taught himself law, may head to Fordham University Law School, also in New York City, according to a Fordham spokesman who said negotiations were still underway.

Chen could not immediately be reached for comment, but Danica Mills, an interpreter for Chen, said he may release a statement later.

Since moving with his wife and children to New York, working at NYU's U.S.-Asia Law Institute and working to learn English, Chen has continued to criticize China's human rights record, both through NYU forums and elsewhere.

On Thursday, the New York Post, citing an anonymous professor, reported that NYU had asked Chen to leave the school earlier than agreed at the behest of the Chinese authorities for fear that displeasing them would disrupt the construction of an NYU campus in Shanghai.

NYU confirmed that Chen would leave the school, but a spokesman called the Post's report "fanciful and false."

"If it were true, why would NYU have taken Mr. Chen in at the height of the public fervor, and why would the Chinese authorities have given us permissions to move forward with our Shanghai campus AFTER his arrival here?" spokesman John Beckman said in an email. "The plain fact is that these are unrelated matters. In countless hours of conversations involving the establishment of our Shanghai campus, this matter has never come up."

Jerome Cohen, an NYU law professor and friend of Chen who helped broker his departure from China, stated in May 2012, before Chen left Beijing, that he would be at NYU for a year at most.

Cohen had said, in an interview with PBS, "The idea would be, they could come for up to a year. And, at that point, he will be more comfortable with himself. He will be more adjusted to freedom. And he will have to decide, 'What next?'"

Cohen, who is traveling in China, said in a statement that: "No political refugee, even Albert Einstein, has received better treatment by an American academic institution than that received by Chen from NYU, and I am grateful to the university administration for its extraordinary generosity, which could not reasonably be expected to go on indefinitely."

In an interview with Reuters last month, Chen criticized China in the wake of reports that his relatives there had been harassed and mistreated by local authorities, and urged the United States to intervene, saying China had promised that his family would not be targeted.

(This June 13 story has been corrected to say Chen blind from childhood, not birth, in paragraph three.)

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-dissident-leave-york-university-shortly-160838258.html

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The Rise of the Surveillance State (As Predicted in 1967)

Uncle Sam might soon be spying on you with a vast, computerized network. At least that was the eerie prophecy of The Atlantic in 1967.

In an article by Arthur Miller (a law professor at the University of Michigan, not the playwright) readers were introduced to the rise of centralized data collection, and how a futuristic data center might be exploited in the future. Like, say, today.

Miller describes a dystopian world where computers can store vast amounts of personal, medical and financial data. He warns that while this information could prove incredibly useful, it could easily become vulnerable to nefarious entities in the government, private industry, or even individuals.

"Even the most innocuous of centers," Miller writes, "could provide the 'foot in the door' for the development of an individualized computer-based federal snooping system."

Back in 1967, the ARPANET?the precursor to the modern internet?was still two years away from making its first connection. But Miller foresaw the dangers of networked computing, an irresistible temptation for the development of a surveillance state by any tech-savvy government left unchecked by its people.

There are further dangers. The very existence of a National Data Center may encourage certain federal officials to engage in questionable surveillance tactics. For example, optical scanners ? devices with the capacity to read a variety of type fonts or handwriting at fantastic rates of speed ? could be used to monitor our mail. By linking scanners with a computer system, the information drawn in by the scanner would be converted into machine-readable form and transferred into the subject?s file in the National Data Center.

Miller's vision of machines reading all our handwritten mail, while quaint, seems just as plausible given recent revelations by the FBI. However, it's the automated monitoring of computer communications that resonates most for those of us here in the year 2013.

Miller's image of a push-button surveillance state was creepy, but firmly planted in midcentury visions of tomorrow. Especially since push-buttons were supposed to be the liberators of humanity, freeing people to work smarter in the projected leisure society of the 21st century.

Then, with sophisticated programming, the dossiers of all of the surveillance subject?s correspondents could be produced at the touch of a button, and an appropriate entry ? perhaps ?associates with known criminals? ? could be added to all of them. As a result, someone who simply exchanges Christmas cards with a person whose mail is being monitored might find himself under surveillance or might be turned down when he applies for a job with the government or requests a government grant or applies for some other governmental benefit. An untested, impersonal, and erroneous computer entry such as ?associates with known criminals? has marked him, and he is helpless to rectify the situation. Indeed, it is likely that he would not even be aware that the entry existed.

These tactics, as well as the possibility of coupling wiretapping and computer processing, undoubtedly will be extremely attractive to overzealous law-enforcement officers. Similarly, the ability to transfer into the National Data Center quantities of information maintained in nonfederal files ? credit ratings, educational information from schools and universities, local and state tax information, and medical records ? will enable governmental snoopers to obtain data that they have no authority to secure on their own.

By the end of his article, Miller calls for legislation to protect the data of American citizens. Miller wasn't the only one calling for privacy legislation around this time. The following year, Paul Armer of the RAND Corporation would testify in front of a Senate subcommittee raising some of the very same concerns about the emergence of a snooper society. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Armer read Miller's article.

Miller's article appeared in the November 1967 issue of The Atlantic, nearly 50 years ago! But needless to say, that art could would fit in nicely with the newsstands of today. Just check out the latest issue of The New Yorker.

As best I can tell, Miller's dystopian surveillance state without much in the way of due process is here. The only question that remains seems to be what the hell we can do about it.

Source: Charles Shopsin's Modern Mechanix blog

Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/-513848643

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Visualized: The lunacy of E3, live from Nintendo

Instead of its typical pre-show E3 press conference, Nintendo opted to open up its exhibition booth to journalists a bit early this year, teasing a few Wii U games, such as Pikmin 3 and the long-awaited Super Mario 3D World. Much to the amusement of attendees, Koichi Hayashida, the director of that latter title, joined journalists "dressed as a cat," as you can see in the image above. There were meows and everything. Such is our reward for an unusually long wait for the abbreviated event to kick off.

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/28mCCRPMvHU/

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Microsoft delays Xbox One launch in Asia by a whole year, forgets to even mention Japan

If you thought November 2013 was too long to wait, bear a thought for Asian gamers who will apparently have to wait those six months, plus an additional twelve, to pick up their Xbox One. According to Alan Bowman, Microsoft's Regional VP for Sales and Marketing in Asia, the new console will launch in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and India around late 2014. (Note the lack of Japan on that list, we're still checking with Microsoft on that.) These are all regions that have been marked as gaming high-growth areas by Microsoft -- the VP added that the Xbox 360 became the top-selling console in Asia this year. The company's also pointed to its next-generation Kinect sensor, one that will work in "dramatically reduced" room spaces and, according Bowman, will be better attuned to Asian gamers who might not have living room space in their homes.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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Source: WSJ

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/XCG3V5FFZ0Y/

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Neurostimulation helps children?s intractable constipation, study finds

June 11, 2013 ? Home treatment with a simple, battery-operated system that applies four sticky electrode patches to the mid-section allowed a group of children with the most difficult-to-treat, possibly congenital, constipation to reduce soiling and improve elimination, according to results presented today at the 11th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS).

The study involved 62 patients -- 34 girls, 28 boys -- at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute of the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. They ranged from 2 -- 16 years old, with a mean age of 7 years. Results of the three-year project are being presented by the institute's Bridget Southwell, Ph.D. who became involved in the INS due to its cross-discipline blend of medical research and development. She and pediatric surgeon Dr. John Hutson supervised the lead researcher, Dr. Yee Ian Yik, a surgeon obtaining his Ph.D. in studies of chronic constipation in children on a stipend from the Malaysian government.

The study is being expanded to typical causes of chronic constipation, and to adults. The work focused on children with slow transit constipation (STC), a problem of the upper colon.

After two to three months of treatment:

• 25 percent of the children completely stopped laxative use and 50 percent reduced it
• 57 percent of the children who began the study with fewer than three bowel movements per week (56 of the participants) improved bowel movement frequency to more than three times a week
• 87 percent of the participants decreased bypass soiling from an average of five times a week to once a week
• 87 percent of the families reported the child had an increase in urge-initiated defecation
• 95 percent of the patients who began with abdominal pain (39 participants) saw their pain reduced
• Quality of life scores by the children and parents increased 12 -- 13 points

In the study, parents were trained to apply electrode patches near the child's navel and back for an hour a day to administer electrical stimulation called inferential transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES). TES is commonly used in physical therapy. This form delivers two separate currents that cross, much like wakes from boats on the surface of water. This pattern is believed to penetrate well, in this case delivering a therapeutic pulse to cells and nerves in the gut.

Southwell's group started to research this use of TES in 2003 after a physiotherapist noticed references about TES use in adults with bladder problems causing loose stools.

Over the past 10 years, in examining muscle and nerve cells from colon samples of patients with STC, the researchers noticed that one-third have a reduced number of nerves, while one-fourth are missing the interstitial cells of Cajal. "These little cells are a really important in quickly carrying and spreading the message to contract from nerves to muscle cells," Southwell said. "The colon contains its own nervous system that controls movement, so if these cells are low in number or missing, then the intestine is not able to push properly."

About three out of every 1,000 people have STC. While some cases do improve by adulthood, many do not, and typical treatments such as enemas have little effect, while high-fiber diets can exacerbate it. In STC, it is possible for patients to not be able to feel fecal material in their bowel prior to elimination, so a bowel movement can suddenly appear without warning. Most patients also experience bypass soiling of more liquid matter seeping past the chronic blockage. Most cases are diagnosed in infancy and half are present at birth.

Overall, 5 -- 10 percent of children experience chronic constipation. Most often, it is due to stool accumulating in lower regions of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition to initiating a trial of TES placing the electrodes over the pelvic area in 100 children who have this more common kind of chronic constipation, Southwell said, the clinicians have also tested TES in adults with STC with good results as well, she continued, adding that if the technique becomes an established treatment, it might be helpful in elderly where medications cause constipation.

"The fact that electrical stimulation can make the bowel work in these patients tells us that all the parts of the mechanism for normal functioning are present but need some additional activation or resetting," Southwell said. "We think this will be relevant to other types of constipation including constipation in the elderly."

STC was once treated by removing the large bowel, since its inability to move digested material forward effectively slows movement through the whole colon. Now some children receive a port in the abdomen through which a tube is inserted for periodic bowel washouts. The study subjects had been referred to surgery at the pediatric center and were offered to participate in the trial first.

"We are in the early stages of the research," Southwell said, "and I have discussed the method with other experts in Europe, U.K. and the U.S.A. They are interested and we hope to have other centers testing the method in the next few years. "

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/l6RRHh5oblQ/130611111502.htm

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Tony Awards: Why producers are turning to oldies but goodies

Tony Awards producers under pressure to put on a good (ratings) show this year will be bypassing numbers from nominated plays in favor of material that viewers 'know and love.'

By Gloria Goodale,?Staff writer / June 9, 2013

Andrea Martin and Matthew James Thomas during a performance of "Pippin," at Broadway's Music Box Theatre in New York. "Pippin" is nominated for ten Tony Awards.

Joan Marcus/Boneau/Bryan-Brown/AP

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Sunday nights??67th Annual Tony Awards may provide a toe-tappin? evening, but?that won?t necessarily be thanks to?any show nominated for Broadway?s top honor.

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In a break with the awards-show tradition of showcasing?nominated material, tunes from past hits such as ?Phantom of the Opera,? and the current box-office darling ?Motown? ? not up for best musical ? are set to deliver some of the broadcast?s big musical numbers.

There?s a reason.

?This just illustrates how bad the split between commercial and critical hits has become,? says playwright?Charles Evered.

Of course, ever since the founding days of Broadway, playwrights have bemoaned?producer?s demands to sell tickets. Nonetheless,?says Mr. Evered, ?there are many good examples from the past?? even more recent past such as ?The Lion King,? that show it possible to be great art and a big hit.?

But this year, the broadcast?s producers are?facing a mandate to lift the CBS?event from last year, when only six million viewers tuned in and the show scored its lowest ratings in two decades.

This refrain is familiar, too.?The Tonys have routinely scored behind other awards shows such as the Oscars and the Grammys, says Anthony Chase, theater critic and assistant dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Buffalo State University in New York.

The standard line on this audience lag, he says, goes something like this: ?There will be 6,000 people watching?from the audience in Radio City Music Hall Sunday night, and maybe that many will be?watching on TV,? he says, somewhat ruefully.

Producers acknowledge this year?s approach is a departure. ?This year is a bit different for us because we?ll be putting on a show about iconic Broadway,? producer Glenn Weiss told the Los Angeles Times. ?We felt that that was important for [viewers] who didn?t make it for the first month of opening. They need material they know and love.?

Frontrunners such as ?Matilda The Musical? and ?Kinky Boots? are not exactly household names and tell relatively unfamiliar tales.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/fBn9FYw3A98/Tony-Awards-Why-producers-are-turning-to-oldies-but-goodies

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