If you’re gearing up for Disrupt Europe, to be held in Berlin in just under two weeks, you know the conference features an amazing roster of panelists, speakers, and Battlefield companies, and of course, Disrupt’s legendary after-parties. Fitting in a city known for its wild party scene.
In the past, Disrupt after-parties were only available to Disrupt attendees. A full ticket costs anywhere between €714 and €952, and grants attendees access to the entire conference, from Hackathon demoes to each night’s after-party and everything in between.
However, if you can’t make it to the whole conference and simply want to hang out at one (or all) of the parties, rubbing elbows with a veritable Who’s Who of the tech world, you can purchase tickets to each for €30.
Or you can head over here and buy full conference tickets.
In either case, there will be booze, good conversation, and a high concentration of geeks in one place.
Some politicians and commentators amp up their rhetoric at the expense of the facts. In her regular "Can I Just Tell You" essay, host Michel Martin suggests that they get a reality check... at the movies.
Finally today, if I ruled the world - which I do not - I would have a list of movies that politicians and would-be-politicians and pundits would have to see before they get to weigh in on any topic that involves anybody other than themselves. Yes, of course, I have a list of books, too, that I would prefer that they read. And maybe a podcast or two that they would download - you can guess which ones. But I'm going to stick with movies for now because movies are the way that anybody can see the world. Now I'm not talking about documentaries, although this country has produced some great ones. I'm talking feature films, because many people will see a feature who wouldn't be caught dead in an art house theater watching a movie about race relations or the Holocaust or farm workers or space. But they will go see a movie and they will be changed.
The movies on my current list aren't necessarily the ones with the big ideas and soaring rhetoric or most exciting visuals, although some of them have that. They are the ones that show the day-to-day reality of being the object of forces bigger than yourself. And that's why "Schindler's List" is on my list. Not just for the incredible scenes at the death camps, but because it shows the day-to-day moments of desperate fear and petty humiliations that are the meat of the oppressed. Demian Bichir's "A Better Life" is on my list because it shows what life is like for illegal immigrants living in the shadows. And "The Children's Hour" is on my list because it shows you that the closet can actually kill that which it seeks to hide. "The Right Stuff" is on my list because it shows why it's important to dream, but why dreaming is not enough. And "Miral", a little indie film about a Palestinian orphan is on my list because, love it or hate it, it offers a version of history that most Americans never see or hear about. And now there's a new one to add to the list. "12 Years A Slave," which will be in theaters this week.
It's a film based on the true story of a free black American named Solomon Northup who was kidnapped from his home in New York, sold into slavery and survives - barely - to tell about it. Now I'm no critic, but I must tell you it's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen that's almost unbearable to watch. And I say that because it exposes in graphic detail one of the ugliest chapters in our history. More than that, it shows the humiliation and degradation of utter powerlessness of being subjected to the roaming hands, the fits of rage, the petty resentments of another human being with virtually no recourse except death. All this in a nation that says it cherishes the freedom and equality of everybody. As I say, it should be required viewing before anybody throws around slavery as a casual metaphor again.
Now I'm saying this because Dr. Ben Carson, the renowned surgeon, compared the Affordable Care Act to slavery last week in his remarks to a conservative political group. Dr. Carson, like the president, is African-American. And, like the president, has a compelling personal story behind his professional success. But he's no fan of President Obama and he likes the Affordable Care Act even less. He said that Obama Care is, quote, the worst thing that's happened in this nation since slavery, unquote. He went on to say that, quote, it is slavery in a way. Can I just tell you - he has a right to his opinion, but if Dr. Carson were as careless with his scalpel as he was with his words, he would not be the famous figure he is now. The healthcare law may be many things, but slavery it is not.
Comparing a law to extend health insurance to millions of people who don't now have it through a combination of private insurance, government-sponsored exchanges, and expanded subsidies, however flawed it may be, is not a system for owning human beings in perpetuity. To subjecting them to forced sex, forced work, forced ignorance and utter brutality. In the words of a former colleague and mentor of mine, it is not that words fail - it's that we have degraded them. There are slaves in the world right now. They are trapped in brothels, in fishing boats, making bricks, tending children not their own. They are hiding in plain sight. Let's not degrade their suffering and the suffering of generations by equating it with our disagreements of the moment. And that's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Let's talk more tomorrow.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
On Dec. 23, 1973, cars formed a double line at a gas station in New York City. The Arab oil embargo caused gas shortages nationwide and shaped U.S. foreign policy to this day.
Marty Lederhandler/AP
On Dec. 23, 1973, cars formed a double line at a gas station in New York City. The Arab oil embargo caused gas shortages nationwide and shaped U.S. foreign policy to this day.
Marty Lederhandler/AP
Forty years ago this week, the U.S. was hit by an oil shock that reverberates until this day.
Arab oil producers cut off exports to the U.S. to protest American military support for Israel in its 1973 war with Egypt and Syria. This brought soaring gas prices and long lines at filling stations, and it contributed to a major economic downturn in the U.S.
The embargo made the U.S. feel heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, which in turn led the U.S. to focus on instability in that region, which has since included multiple wars and other U.S. military interventions.
"The oil crisis set off an upheaval in global politics and the world economy. It also challenged America's position in the world, polarized its politics at home and shook the country's confidence," author and oil analyst Daniel Yergin wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
While these concerns linger, the world energy market has changed dramatically over the past four decades. U.S. energy production is rising. Less than 10 percent of U.S. oil comes from the Middle East. Global prices are relatively stable.
All this has spurred debate about whether the U.S. is too focused on the Middle East and its oil when it does not appear to pose much of an economic threat to America. We won't try to answer that question today, but we did want to point out things that were very different back in the fall of 1973:
Leon Mill spray-paints a sign outside his Phillips 66 station in Perkasie, Pa., in 1973 to let his customers know he's out of gas. An oil crisis was the culprit, squeezing U.S. businesses and consumers who were forced to line up for hours at gas stations.
AP
Leon Mill spray-paints a sign outside his Phillips 66 station in Perkasie, Pa., in 1973 to let his customers know he's out of gas. An oil crisis was the culprit, squeezing U.S. businesses and consumers who were forced to line up for hours at gas stations.
AP
Saudi Arabia was a leading proponent of the 1973 embargo. For many Americans, Saudi Arabia was the symbol of the wealthy Arab monarchies that were inflicting so much pain on the U.S. Yet today, Saudi Arabia is one of the closest U.S. allies in the region and is currently pumping oil at high levels to keep world markets stable and offset lower production in places like Iraq, Iran and Nigeria.
Iran and the U.S. were allies. Under the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran kept on producing and exporting throughout the six-month embargo that lasted until March 1974. After the shah was overthrown in 1979, the U.S. and Iran became sworn rivals, a confrontation that has lasted more than three decades. Iran is now the target of Western sanctions that took effect last year and have cut the Islamic Republic's oil exports by half, from 2.5 million barrels a day to around 1.2 million.
In response to the oil shock, Congress passed fuel economy standards. That 1975 measure required automakers to raise mileage from 13.5 miles per gallon to 27 mpg. Last year, the standards were again doubled, and vehicles must average 54 mpg by 2025. As a result, Americans are driving more without increasing the amount of gas they are using.
Soaring oil prices remade the global energy industry. As oil prices skyrocketed in the 1970s, producers were willing to travel to more remote and difficult places to drill, including Alaska, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian oil sands. World oil production today is 50 percent higher than it was in 1973. Also, the crisis prompted efforts to find and develop other power sources, from natural gas to wind to solar.
The U.S. is less dependent on the Middle East today. In the years that followed the 1973 embargo, a cutoff of Middle Eastern oil was regarded as a grave national threat.
Here's President Jimmy Carter in his 1980 State of the Union address:
"An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America. Such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."
In reality, Middle Eastern oil has never been a huge part of the overall U.S. supply. Imports from the Middle East never accounted for more than 15 percent of the U.S. oil supply and now they account for only about 9 percent.
The U.S. now imports more oil from Canada than anywhere else. Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern nation among the top five nations sending oil to America.
By limiting supply, OPEC was able to cause oil price spikes in the 1970s and '80s. But it has much less power today, and a number of top producers, such as Saudi Arabia, work to stabilize prices rather than disrupt the market.
"For the last four decades, Washington's energy policy has been based on the faulty conclusion that the country could solve all its energy woes by reducing its reliance on Middle Eastern oil," Gal Luft and Anne Korin write in Foreign Affairs.
"The crux of the United States' energy vulnerability was its inability to keep the price of oil under control, given the Arab oil kingdoms' stranglehold on the global petroleum supply," the authors write.
So the oil industry is a very different place. But not everything has changed:
The Israelis and the Arabs are still feuding. The 1973 Middle East war was essentially a draw, and Israel and Egypt then made peace before the decade was over. Israel also has a peace treaty with Jordan, but it is still at odds with its other immediate neighbors, the Palestinians, Lebanon and Syria. And Israel considers its biggest threat to be Iran, arguing that Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.
Miley Cyrus is becoming known for being naked as much as she is for her music career. The 20-year-old singer appears as an alien being in rapper Future’s latest music video, where she appears nude except for silver body paint. Miley is seen wearing nothing but paint as she is shown lying down on chaise. ...
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People look at what scientists believe to be a chunk of the Chelyabinsk meteor, recovered from Chebarkul Lake near Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Scientists on Wednesday recovered what could be the largest part of this meteor from Chebarkul Lake outside the city. They weighed it using a giant steelyard balance, which displayed 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) before it broke. (AP Photo/Alexander Firsov)
People look at what scientists believe to be a chunk of the Chelyabinsk meteor, recovered from Chebarkul Lake near Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Scientists on Wednesday recovered what could be the largest part of this meteor from Chebarkul Lake outside the city. They weighed it using a giant steelyard balance, which displayed 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) before it broke. (AP Photo/Alexander Firsov)
FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 file photo provided by Chelyabinsk.ru, a meteorite contrail is seen over the Ural Mountains' city of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Russia. Scientists on Wednesday recovered what could be the largest part of this meteor from Chebarkul Lake outside the city. They weighed it using a giant steelyard balance, which displayed 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) before it broke. (AP Photo/Chelyabinsk.ru, Yekaterina Pustynnikova)
Divers retrieve what is believed to be part of the Chelyabinsk meteor from Chebarkul Lake near Chelyabinsk, some 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Scientists on Wednesday recovered what could be the largest part of this meteor from Chebarkul Lake outside the city. They weighed it using a giant steelyard balance, which displayed 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) before it broke. (AP Photo/Alexander Firsov)
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian scientists have recovered a giant chunk of the Chelyabinsk meteor from the bottom of the lake it crashed into.
A meteor that blazed across southern Urals in February was the largest recorded meteor strike in more than a century. More than 1,600 people were injured by the shock wave from the explosion, estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs, as it landed near the city of Chelyabinsk.
Scientists on Wednesday recovered what could be the largest part of this meteor from Chebarkul Lake outside the city. They weighed it using a giant steelyard balance, which displayed 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) before it broke.
Sergei Zamozdra, an associate professor at Chelyabinsk State University, told Russian television the excavated fragment was definitely a chunk of the meteor.
Antibiotic use to treat catheter-associated bacteriuria futile in decreasing risk of mortality
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
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Contact: Tamara Moore tmoore@gymr.com 202-745-5114 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
With 30 million indwelling bladder catheters placed annually nationwide, patients face an increased risk of developing catheter-associated bacteriuria (bacteria in the urine). Many patients with indwelling urinary catheters acquire bacteria in the urinary tract while they are catheterized. Most previous studies assessing morbidity and mortality associated with catheter use have not separated urinary tract infection from asymptomatic bacteriuria. This has made it difficult to determine if bacteria in the urine puts patients at higher risk for bloodstream infection or death. The study is published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
In a retrospective cohort study of 444 urine cultures from 308 patients, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that catheter-associated urinary tract infection, but not asymptomatic bacteriuria, was significantly associated with developing bacteremia (bacteria in the bloodstream) within 30 days but was not significantly associated with mortality. Treatment with antibiotics did not reduce the risk of developing bacteremia or change mortality rates. Overall mortality was high (21.1 percent), indicating, as expected, that hospitalized patients who require indwelling bladder catheters have many serious underlying illnesses.
"Our study findings call into question what we are accomplishing by treating with antibiotics bacteria that are found in urine in asymptomatic patients" said Barbara Trautner, MD, senior author of the study.
Fifty-two patients experienced bacteria in the bloodstream within a month after the urine culture was collected, but only three of these infections might have started in the urinary tract. In other words, only three of 444 positive urine cultures (less than 1%) might have led to bloodstream infection. Giving antimicrobial agents specifically to treat bacteria found in the urine did not decrease the risk of bloodstream infection or death. In spite of that, nearly 90 percent of patients (277 of 308 patients) received some antimicrobial agent for some reason, not necessarily to treat the urine, between 7 days before to 30 days after obtaining the urine culture.
###
Quratulain F. Kizilbash, Nancy J. Petersen, Guoqing J. Chen, Aanand D. Naik, MD;2,3,5 Barbara W. Trautner. "Bacteremia and Mortality with Urinary Catheter-Associated Bacteriuria." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 34:11 (November 2013).
Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 13 out of 158 journals in its discipline in the latest Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.
SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at http://www.shea-online.org, http://www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Antibiotic use to treat catheter-associated bacteriuria futile in decreasing risk of mortality
Public release date: 16-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Tamara Moore tmoore@gymr.com 202-745-5114 Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
With 30 million indwelling bladder catheters placed annually nationwide, patients face an increased risk of developing catheter-associated bacteriuria (bacteria in the urine). Many patients with indwelling urinary catheters acquire bacteria in the urinary tract while they are catheterized. Most previous studies assessing morbidity and mortality associated with catheter use have not separated urinary tract infection from asymptomatic bacteriuria. This has made it difficult to determine if bacteria in the urine puts patients at higher risk for bloodstream infection or death. The study is published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
In a retrospective cohort study of 444 urine cultures from 308 patients, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that catheter-associated urinary tract infection, but not asymptomatic bacteriuria, was significantly associated with developing bacteremia (bacteria in the bloodstream) within 30 days but was not significantly associated with mortality. Treatment with antibiotics did not reduce the risk of developing bacteremia or change mortality rates. Overall mortality was high (21.1 percent), indicating, as expected, that hospitalized patients who require indwelling bladder catheters have many serious underlying illnesses.
"Our study findings call into question what we are accomplishing by treating with antibiotics bacteria that are found in urine in asymptomatic patients" said Barbara Trautner, MD, senior author of the study.
Fifty-two patients experienced bacteria in the bloodstream within a month after the urine culture was collected, but only three of these infections might have started in the urinary tract. In other words, only three of 444 positive urine cultures (less than 1%) might have led to bloodstream infection. Giving antimicrobial agents specifically to treat bacteria found in the urine did not decrease the risk of bloodstream infection or death. In spite of that, nearly 90 percent of patients (277 of 308 patients) received some antimicrobial agent for some reason, not necessarily to treat the urine, between 7 days before to 30 days after obtaining the urine culture.
###
Quratulain F. Kizilbash, Nancy J. Petersen, Guoqing J. Chen, Aanand D. Naik, MD;2,3,5 Barbara W. Trautner. "Bacteremia and Mortality with Urinary Catheter-Associated Bacteriuria." Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 34:11 (November 2013).
Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 13 out of 158 journals in its discipline in the latest Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.
SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at http://www.shea-online.org, http://www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi.
[
| E-mail
| Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
These people need another hole in the head like the need another, um, hole in the head. This adorable CGI short follows the denizens of a mouthless metropolis as they discover all of the awesome things that spectacular orifice is good for. Yes, even that.
Miley Cyrus is becoming known for being naked as much as she is for her music career. The 20-year-old singer appears as an alien being in rapper Future’s latest music video, where she appears nude except for silver body paint. Miley is seen wearing nothing but paint as she is shown lying down on chaise. ...![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s9oFVcGZFT2giqWSeiF0vvXuGa0PuWdNBlf0ZaLDJNG-IBMJgkojboiXlffGuICcXePyI5kaQp52NcgPuCarMgLq7a-GRuXElewsWizjs=s0-d){kind=small}
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