Sooooooo remember you guys told me about bird friendly coffee?

[conuly]

Well, I like birds!

The good news is that bird friendly coffee is automatically fair trade and organic. That's part of the certification.

The bad news is that you really do get what you pay for and that's twice the price of the fair trade beans I'm currently buying. I do not think I can 100% replace those beans at this time.

But! I can probably get them half and half, or at least at a 2:1 ratio! So I'll save some birds. Just not all of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet Chloe, Ramon, and Rula, three pregnant feral cats, all due in the next two weeks, on live cam!

What makes a tree a tree?

In a colony, king penguins behave like molecules in a 2-D liquid

It's time for an RSS revival

If male authors described men in literature the way they describe women (One more time!)

The Swedes rebelling against a cashless society

Why cities should just annex the suburbs

Cities need a new approach to water bills. Philadelphia’s got one. (Video)

For low-income graduates of elite colleges, the future often brings struggles with class issues

The Last Frontier for Gay Rights

How One Man Got Rich Selling Machine Guns

The life and death of Homaro Cantu, the genius chef who wanted to change the world

I am a “MasterChef” survivor

If Mueller finds evidence of wrongdoing, can he indict Trump?

HUD Long Neglected These Residents. Now As They Move Out, Some Feel HUD Let Them Down Again.

How Natural Birth Became Inaccessible to the Poor in Mexico

At 16, the U.S.-born daughter of deported Mexicans must decide between life with her parents and life in America.

The Duterte dissonance: One leader, two Philippines?

The University That Launched a CIA Front Operation in Vietnam

The Opioid Crisis Isn't A Metaphor

Addiction Rehab Is Broken. Can Technology Fix It? (I know nothing about this subject at all.)

“The Clock Is Ticking”: Inside the Worst U.S. Maritime Disaster in Decades

In Budapest and Warsaw, nationalist governments are stealing pages from their predecessors’ playbooks.

Dangerous, growing, yet unnoticed: the rise of America's white gangs

The Rise of Male Supremacist Groups

China’s global kidnapping campaign has gone on for years. It may now be reaching inside U.S. borders.

How a secret Russian airlift helps Syria's Assad

Syrian refugees: The people who want four things before they go home

The ISIS Files

Supreme Court Sides With Cops Who "Shoot First and Think Later"

When cops become robbers: Inside one of America's most corrupt police squads

Comments

[stardreamer]

Indiana Jones is in his thirties, but he’s dressed like a much younger man in a half-unbuttoned shirt and a hat that he thinks too much of. He wears glasses, but would look good without them.

That is absolutely perfect. The best of the batch.

[conuly]

:D

[loligo]

Thanks for the ProPublica link -- I hadn't realized our local story had gone national! (I live an hour north of Cairo and Thebes.)

[wpadmirer]

Well, that's a depressing lot of news. (sigh)

[conuly]

Don't blame the messenger.

[wpadmirer]

Definitely not your fault. Just, ARGH.

[monanotlisa]

That opioid crisis article is a travesty, just to give you a heads-up -- dumb, uninformed, and medical bullshit to boot.

[siderea]

Which one? "The Opioid Crisis Isn't A Metaphor"? I thought that one was excellent.

[siderea]

Addiction Rehab Is Broken. Can Technology Fix It? (I know nothing about this subject at all.)

Whereas, I know a hell of a lot about all three subjects, and could tell you without reading the story the answer is, "No, and anybody who wants to convince you otherwise is an amoral scoundrel who wants to sell you an app and then sell your data to Cambridge Analytica – or their dupe."

But I did start reading the article. Got as far as the point where the author admitted that well, okay, yeah, this probably wouldn't have helped him with his particular case but he still wanted to tell us all how wonderful it would no doubt be for some other addicts, other than him, and I was like, Suuuuure buddy, your own first hand knowledge tells you its garbage but you're not going to let that stop you. I came back to report because I have other things to do with my day. I may finish reading it for use of an example of the regular sort of bullshit in journalism about substance abuse treatment, later. I have plenty of other things to write about, including about substance about treatment.

Just a few points:

1) The abusive, confrontation model of "treatment" is not part of the 12 Step folk paradigm. It is the original alternative out of the "scientific" tradition.

2) The alternative to abusive, confrontational "treatment" is non-abusive treatment that is not based on confrontation (see Motivational Interviewing, for the classic example). Not putting the single most stigmatizing and confidential information there is about a person on the fucking internet.

3) You can't get methadone, suboxone, or vivitrol through an app. Your counselor at the methadone clinic already has your phone number.

4) As always, in substance abuse treatment, "evidence-based practice" and its permutations as a phrase and claims to being more sciency than other approaches is a big yellow flag that someone is trying to sell snake-oil at a profit, to the detriment of the patients.

[conuly]

As always, in substance abuse treatment, "evidence-based practice" and its permutations as a phrase and claims to being more sciency than other approaches is a big yellow flag that someone is trying to sell snake-oil at a profit, to the detriment of the patients.

See, this is very useful information.

[siderea]

Similarly useful information: In all things related to mental health, whenever someone starts touting technology as a way to treat patients – or, really, involve technology in the treater-patient relationship in any way – somebody is trying to get away with something.

One of the simplest, most obvious reasons to try to replace therapists with computers is to remove from the treatment loop professionals who are trained in the ethics of mental health treatment – and whose careers are on the line to uphold those ethics and regulations – and would be in a position to scream bloody murder about what they're up to.

I regularly get solicited by various therapist-technology companies, and every single one I have looked into was in one way or another in flagrant violation of the code of ethics I am legally bound to follow.

(This week: Bark.com. It's illegal for therapists to pay for referrals. Guess what their business model is.)

[fred_mouse]

I always appreciate your perspective on this field. Thank you for making commentary even when you have better things to write about.

[kareina]

I had to laugh at the headline about the Swedes rebelling at the cashless society, since it is very few of them who do so. Cash is so rare here I don't even know what colours go with what notes--I haven't had to pay with cash since it became possible to pay with my phone and the Swish app...

[conuly]

That makes the rebellers more poignant, I'd assume.

[greghousesgf]

"the part of a man that death comes out of"
what the exact fuck? a gun?

[conuly]

Poop guns. An idea whose time has come.

Quick, nobody tell them that plants grow best in shit!

[ratcreature]

Isn't poop mostly living bacteria anyway? And thus very much something alive coming out of us? Maybe they don't believe in the microbiome the same as they don't believe in evolution...

[conuly]

Don't ask me....

[adrian_turtle]

The "Addiction rehab is broken: can technology fix it?" appears to have been written by a salesman.

[conuly]

Yeah, little secret, sometime if I'm doubtful about a shrink-y article I post it anyway because I want to read siderea's reply.

I wouldn't do it if I know 100% it's bullshit, but if it's possibly not (personal anecdote? maybe!) then yes.