Selected listening for 1 February 2011

Wise Counsel
Raun Kaufman on Autism and Son-Rise
Former CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America Raun Kaufman was the first recipient of the Son-Rise program, developed by his parents in response to his childhood diagnosis of severe autism. Though his diagnosis was presented by doctors as incurable, the Kaufmans, who had recently engaged with the 1970s human potential movement, remained hopeful with the understanding that if they decided the situation was hopeless, it would become so. They engaged intensively with their son, joining in and participating with his autistic repetative behaviors (against medical advice), seeking to create rapport. As Mr. Kaufman began attending to and engaging with his parents, they then used that hook to challenge him and teach necessary interpersonal and communication skills. Today the son-rise program offers an alternative to the dominant applied behavior analysis model which seeks to treat autism by first addressing the autistic child's difficulty forming relationships rather than their odd behaviors. The Center offers intensive parent training in the son-rise intervention model (as parents - not professionals - deliver this care) from their Massachusetts campus. Having been developed by non-scientists outside the university, the efficacy of the son-rise program has not been established with clinical trials. However, Mr. Kaufman suggests that recently resarch has been occuring which will shortly be published.
(review, feed)

London School of Economics: Public lectures and events
Phase Three of the Global Crisis
As countries adopt competitive exit strategies from the global crisis Paul Mason surveys the political economy of a flat recovery. He argues that mainstream economics have still refused to draw the lessons of asset price bubbles and situates the divergent recovery, east and west, within a long-wave explanation of the crisis. Paul Mason is the award-winning economics editor of BBC Newsnight, covering an agenda he describes as 'profit, people and planet' and author of the Idle Scrawl blog , which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2009. His first book, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. This event marks the publication of his latest book Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.
(review, feed)

Entitled Opinions
Héctor Hoyos on Roberto Bolaño
Héctor Hoyos holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from Cornell University. He was born in Bogotá, where he studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad de los Andes. He is preparing two book-manuscripts, entitled Beyond Bolaño: The Global Latin American Novel and El deber de la travesura: César Aira y la crítica cultural. His interests include visual culture and critical theory, as well as comparative and philosophical approaches to literature. Professor Hoyos has published scholarly articles on García Márquez, Roberto Bolaño, urban fiction, and the late thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
(review, feed)

KQED's Forum
Protests in Egypt
We get the latest on the protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for nearly three decades. We'll also check in with members of the local Egyptian community to get their reactions to recent developments.
(review, feed)

Subscribe to iTunesU feeds as a podcast

Here is a hot tip for approaching iTunesU feeds in iTunes. Aside from the fact that iTunesU feeds, by all technical standards I can think of, are really podcasts and therefore that is where I'd rather have them grouped, this mode of operating also gives a solution to the problem of not being able to remove iTunesU files from iPod.

In short, my advice is to subscribe to iTunesU feeds as podcasts. In other words, take the url to the feed and subscribe to it as a podcast and NOT by simply choosing 'subscribe' when in iTunesU. The files will show up in your podcast list and not under the iTunesU category. In addition, as you copy them to your iPod, the files will be considered podcast files and as a consequence can be deleted whenever you wish (which is not so easy for iTunesU files, in case you have a 4th generation iPod or older).

If you know the URL to the iTunesU feed, choose in the iTunes Menu Advanced | Subscribe to podcast... and then paste the URL into the text field, followed by OK. That is all.

If you do not know the iTunesU feed URL, you can figure it out by temporarily subscribing through iTunesU. Interrupt the download and go to the course in your iTunesU collection. Right-click the course and choose Copy iTunesU URL. This will copy the URL to your clipboard so that you can delete the iTunesU course and continue to the iTunes Menu Advanced | Subscribe to podcast... and then paste into the text field, followed by OK.

What is hot on 31 January 2011

Philosophy Bites
Cécile Fabre on Cosmopolitanism and War
There is a long tradition of just war theory, but how does it square with moral cosmopolitanism, the idea that individuals, not nations, should be our prime concern? Cécile Fabre discusses this question with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.
(review, feed)

Witness
North Sea Flood
On the last day of January 1953, a storm combined with high tides to breach the sea defences in the Netherlands. Over 1800 people died in the flooding - we hear from a survivor of that night.
(review, feed)

Mahabharata Podcast
Kidnapped!
Episode 42 - Vyasa stops by the Pandava camp and tells the story of Mudgala, who turns down the opportunity to go bodily to heaven because it wasn't permanent enough! He chose instead to stay on earth, eking out his miserable existence until his natural death, when he finally attained total extinction. That seems to be Vyasa's only mission, because after the story, he leaves. Soon after, King Jayadratha of Sindh passes by the camp while the brothers are away hunting. He spots Draupadi alone and undefended, so he grabs her and runs off.
(review, feed)

Beyond the Book
France Gets Its E-Book Moment
The world came to the 2011 Digital Book World Conference in late January. At Editis, one of France’s leading publishers, Virginia Clayssen oversees digital development. In an interview with CCC’s Chris Kenneally, she accounts for why France has not yet had its ebook moment, but is about to this year. “We didn’t have in France the Kindle effect, because connected e-readers are just arriving in France. We have one now, but it’s very new.”
(review, feed)

The History of Rome
The Tetrarchs at War
In the mid-to-late 290s the Imperial Tetrarchy was at war on multiple fronts. In the west Constantius undertook the reconquest of Britain, while in the east, Galerius fought a newly hostile Sassanid Empire.
(review, feed)

What is hot on 30 January 2011

Forgotten Classics
Genesis, chapters 13-15
In which Abram goes on the warpath, meets a mysterious priest, and has an out-of-body experience.
(review, feed)

Tapestry
Survival of the Kindest
Mary Hynes talks to Dacher Keltner about his book, Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life.
(review, feed)

More Dacher Keltner:
Dacher Keltner in podcast,
Dacher Keltner on happiness and health.

What is hot on 29 January 2011

The Philosophy Podcast
What Was the Enlightenment?
What Was the Enlightenment? by Professor James Schmidt.
(review, feed)

Philosopher's Zone
The Philosophical Baby - Alison Gopnik
Given that we all begin our lives as children, it is perhaps surprising that philosophy has paid such little attention, relatively speaking, to childhood. This week, we meet the American philosopher and psychologist Alison Gopnik, who argues that in some ways young children are actually smarter, more imaginative, more caring and even more conscious than adults are.
(review, feed)

Center for Near Eastern Studies
Traumatic Memory Discourses in Israel: Holocaust History, Territory and Self-Critique
A lecture by Joseph Rosen, Department of History and Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence, Concordia University, Montreal
(review, feed)

What is hot on 28 January 2011

New Books In History
Catherine Epstein, “Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland”
Greiser believed in the Nazi cause with his heart and soul. He wanted to create a new Germany, and indeed a new Europe dominated by Germans. As the Gauleiter of Wartheland (an area of Western Poland annexed to the Reich), he was given the opportunity to help realize the Nazi nightmare in the conquered Eastern territories. But, as Epstein shows, he was often hindered both by his own personality and the chaos that characterized Nazi occupation of the East. Grieser emerges from Epstein’s book as someone who wanted to be a “model Nazi,” but couldn’t really manage it.
(review, feed)

Shrink Rap Radio
Mindful Sleep, Mindful Dreams with Rubin Naiman PhD
Rubin Naiman, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in integrative sleep and dream medicine. He is director of Circadian Health Associates, an organization that provides information, goods and services in support of sleep health.
(review, feed)

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Death Throes of the Republic IV
Sulla returns to Rome to show the Republic what REAL political violence looks like. Civil war and deadly partisan payback will pave the way for reforms pushed at sword point. Lots of heads will roll...literally.
(review, feed)