Senate Passes Health Insurance Bill for Children

Senate Passes Health Insurance Bill for Children - washingtonpost.com

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation yesterday to provide health insurance to 11 million low-income children, a bill that would for the first time spend federal money to cover children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants.

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is aimed at families earning too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance, currently covers close to 7 million youngsters at a cost of $25 billion.

Lawmakers voted 66 to 32, largely along party lines, to renew the joint state-federal program and spend an additional $32.8 billion to expand coverage to 4 million more children. The expansion would be paid for by raising the cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.

That’s what I’m talking about. Those who voted against healthcare for children should be… hmmm… well, whatever you think most suitable.

CLD419 Brain training games get failing grade

Brain training games get failing grade

That Nintendo brain-training game you’re carrying around in your purse may be sparking some mental activity, but new evidence suggests your prefrontal cortex may be just as happy with a crossword puzzle or a good book.

While millions of trendy puzzle-based video games have been sold around the world on the premise that they can improve cognitive function - and even reverse the signs of an aging brain - there’s nothing the “technological jewel” can do that low-tech alternatives can’t, according to cognitive psychologist Alain Lieury of the University of Rennes 2 in France. [...]

On the memory tests, which involved maps, the puzzles-only group showed a 33-per-cent improvement, but the Nintendo kids’ performance dipped 17 per cent. The Nintendo and puzzle groups matched each other with a 10-per-cent rise in logic scores. In math, all four groups - even the ones with no extra work - showed roughly an 18-per-cent jump in scores.

Personally, I’ve always thought that reading narratives is the best way to work the whole brain. Not just a cognitive workout, but a social education and a creative imaginative exploration. I find that the people I know who are active readers of fiction have greater mental dexterity than those who do not. This just a survey of my own friends. I notice that they are more easily engaged in abstract conceptualization of concrete things and have an active imagination. Those who read fiction less seem to be more baffled with questions that ask them to respond with multiple potential outcomes or too many variables, and difficulties making decisions.

I’ve always thought that reading a variety of narratives and fictions allows someone to see the world from many different perspectives, times, contexts… especially being able to see how different people deal with similar situations, or similar people deal with diverse events. The idea is that the reader is able to contextualize personal lived experience within myriad other character’s experience. This ability to compare, contrast and critically evaluate, assuming one is an active reader, is something the non-reader lacks. How can you cram many lifetimes of experience into a single few years? Stories and fiction allows us to live many lives from many perspectives and integrate what we experience in reading with what we experience in our own lives. And I really don’t know what other form of social interaction gives you that much bang for your buck.

I read a lot, and I watch a lot of movies. At least 3 movies a week. And I talk to lots of people and reflect a lot, and do yoga, etc. I don’t know of anything that has as much effect on my body and mind, and seems to help me in understanding how I can and might interact with the world around me. And I think on average about 50 books a year… fewer in the past 5 years as work has taken over, but as soon as I have a moment I feel compelled to read for the therapeutic effect… it is calming in the way a good long run might be for others.

This is not a professional opinion, just something I’ve noticed over my life. Your friends and mileage may vary.

So, in relation to children and technology, I’d like to say that the old technology of the book has not, IMHO, been superseded by a technological fix that does more… but rather does less.

Iceland’s new government takes office

globeandmail.com: Iceland’s new government takes office

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A new centre-left government took office in crisis-hit Iceland Sunday, headed by the country’s first openly gay national leader.

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her cabinet were officially appointed by the head of state, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, after a tumultuous week that saw Iceland’s previous conservative government collapse over the country’s economic meltdown.

Ms. Sigurdardottir said one of her first acts “will be to change the leadership of the central bank.”

Central bank governor David Oddsson, a former prime minister, is disliked by many Icelanders, who say authorities helped cause the economic crash by failing to rein in reckless banks and businesses.

Ms. Sigurdardottir, 66, is a former flight attendant and union organizer, and served as social affairs minister in the previous government.

She is Iceland’s first female prime minister, and her cabinet is the country’s first to be split evenly between men and women.

Ms. Sigurdardottir also is the first openly gay national leader of modern times, apart from Per-Kristian Foss, a Norwegian politician who briefly served as his country’s prime minister in 2002.

The new government is a coalition of Ms. Sigurdardottir’s Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green movement, and will hold office until elections April 25.

Iceland’s economy’s an absolute mess, according to my friend lilja. I really hope that Sigurdardottir can do something.