Vicious Cycle in the World’s Prison Capital

The Huffington Post featured an interesting one today from the Times-Picayune. Interesting and depressing.

While Louisiana tops the prison rankings, it consistently vies with Mississippi — the state with the second-highest incarceration rate — for the worst schools, the most poverty, the highest infant mortality. One in three Louisiana prisoners reads below a fifth-grade level. The vast majority did not complete high school…More money spent on locking up an ever-growing number of prisoners means less money for the very institutions that could help young people stay out of trouble, giving rise to a vicious cycle. Louisiana spends about $663 million a year to feed, house, secure and provide medical care to 40,000 inmates.

Subdivide and Conquer

H/T to Jimmy Brown and this Guitar World Column from last November:

When sight-reading any transcription for the first time, it’s always a good idea to first focus on reading and trying to master only the rhythms before picking up your guitar and attempting to deal with everything all at once (rhythms, different notes, fingerings, repeat signs and whatnot.). To do this, simply clap the rhythms of the notes or chords (or tap them on your knee) while counting and tapping your foot on each beat, subdividing your count only when necessary.

Doing this rhythm-only sight-reading drill will help make it easier to concentrate on counting and hitting the rhythms correctly because you’re not simultaneously processing and reacting to all of the other information presented. (It will also give you extra practice reading and counting rhythms, which will help improve your skills.)

On This Day in History

Courtesy of the New York Times:

1912: The British luxury liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg.

1850: The city of San Francisco was incorporated.

1865: Andrew Johnson became the 17th president of the United States after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

1947: Jackie Robinson became baseball’s first black major league player when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Birthdays

Emma Thompson, Actress

Henry James, 4/15/1843 – 2/28/1916 (American-English novelist)

Leonardo da Vinci, 4/15/1452 – 5/2/1519 (Italian artist, architect, scientist, inventor and engineer)

Shut Down the Tracks

“Greyhound Races Face Extinction,” says the New York Times. There’s a welcome headline.

Now, after years defending greyhound racing against attacks that it is inhumane, a growing number of track owners are, to the astonishment of opponents and the dismay of fans, joining the critics among the animal rights groups. Complaining that they are being forced to spend millions of dollars a year to subsidize a pastime that the public has all but abandoned, greyhound track owners in Iowa, Florida and Arizona have been lobbying for changes in the law that would allow them to cut the number of races, or even shut down their tracks, while keeping their far more lucrative gambling operations.

Lessons

For the record, I’m officially taking guitar lessons as of today. First time since 1992.

“Shark” Etymology

H/T to Oceana for pointing to this post by Deep Sea News:

Bailey’s Dictionary in 1724 used “scearan” as the likely origin for the word: a saxon term meaning “cut to pieces”. Webster took a different tack in his 1828 dictionary, accepting a theory that it comes from the greek word “carcharias” (sharp tooth), even though that word clearly has a typical Greek hard c sound, not the soft start of shark. These days, Oxford English Dictionary just says “of obscure origin” and to me that might be the best answer, if you insist on a European etymology. The major alternative explanation is that the word comes from the Yucatec Indian word “xoc”.

Lose the Temper

Isabel has a new blog, one with a mission.

I am not going to lose my temper for ONE YEAR – at any one. And I’m going – to keep me honest – blog on how it’s going every day.

Now That’s A Large Potato

Smithsonian.com

Compared with grains, tubers are inherently more productive. If the head of a wheat or rice plant grows too big, the plant will fall over, with fatal results. Growing underground, tubers are not limited by the rest of the plant. In 2008 a Lebanese farmer dug up a potato that weighed nearly 25 pounds. It was bigger than his head.

H/T +Candice Gullett

I Would Not Have Guessed

I just learned that Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox. That's like finding out that McDonald's owns Rainbow Grocery.—
Mary Roach (@mary_roach) October 10, 2011