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Nov 17

Arianna Huffington, Peter Thiel Talk Twitter And Democracy At The New Republic Panel

The New Republic held a discussion in New York City on Thursday night about whether Twitter, in the magazine’s words, has “made democracy impossible.” Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, and PayPal founder Peter Thiel spoke with TNR publisher Chris Hughes about the influence new technologies have on modern political discourse and the democratic process.

The pair’s ideas on the topic were as varied as a millennial’s twitter feed, and the evening included conversations on everything from how to keep the U.S. technologically relevant to Thiel’s million-dollar interview question. For a talk on social media, it was only fitting that the room in which the conversation was held included a giant projection of constantly scrolling tweets.

Huffington and Thiel talked about the challenges of democratic representation in a time of constant digital connection. Huffington said she actively engages in social media but tries to put limits on herself — for instance, she said she maintains a “no devices” rule in her bedroom. Thiel expressed a more cautious approach to the option avid social media users have to live-tweet every moment from breakfast to bedtime.

Life As The Voice Of Facebook: How Its ‘Content Strategists’ Are Quietly Shaping Our Entire Digital Lives

Posted in: Today's Chili

When Facebook speaks to you, it’s Alicia Dougherty-Wold who’s talking.

Dougherty-Wold oversees Facebook’s content strategists, a team of exacting writers that includes a children’s book author, Fulbright scholar, former advice columnist, and a ghostwriter for the Travelocity gnome. Charged with naming and explaining the social network’s numerous features, Dougherty-Wold’s staff is the voice of Facebook, quietly shaping our digital lives with meticulous word choices that influence how Facebook’s 1 billion users share.

From titling new tools to finessing the micro-copy that instructs users how to tag this or upload that, Dougherty-Wold massages content in ways that “[set] the tone for the site” and “[help] you tell your story and feel comfortable sharing.” Before joining Facebook, Dougherty-Wold worked as a journalist and completed a master’s degree in clinical psychology.

Gift Guide: The Cygnett Icon iPhone 5 Case

Posted in: Today's Chili

Short Version:

When I first wrote about the Cygnett Icon case for iPhone 4/4S, I called it the perfect case. It wasn’t rugged like the LifeProof case, and it didn’t come with any extra tricks like a fish-eye camera lens, a bottle-opener, or a swiss army knife-style assortment of blades and tools. It did, however, maintain the iPhone’s slim profile, it was comfortable due to a soft touch rubber finish, and it protected my phone against many a drop.

Today, I’m glad to report that the Cygnett Icon case for iPhone 5 is the same caliber of iPhone case perfection, and most certainly worth considering when shopping for holiday gifts.

Long Version

Features:

Snap-on design
Soft-touch finish
Designed by real artists
Super thin plastic case

Info:

Available: Now (Some models are out of stock)
MSRP: $29.99
Product Page

The Cygnett Icon is…

… quite simply, the best everyday iPhone 5 case I’ve seen so far. Cygnett pulls in work from artists like animators to graffiti artists and everything in between to adorn their plastic Icon line of cases. Each one is finished with a soft-touch coating that feels great against the hand, and they easily snap on and off.

The most important part of the Cygnett Icon collection, however, is just how thin and unobtrusive the cases are. There’s only a slight ridge that juts out over the screen, keeping it protected (the case comes with a screen protector, too, if that’s how you roll). The Icon case doesn’t bulge, or add any girth to the phone, which is one of the big annoyances with buying an iPhone case. They’re always muddling up the iPhone’s beautiful design.

Buy the Cygnett Icon for…

… anyone who just got an iPhone 5 and still needs a case. At least, that’s the obvious answer. Your niece, nephew, brother, or sister are all good answers, too.

It’s also not a bad idea to piggyback if you know that a family member is getting the new iPhone 5 from your parents or grandparents. The Icon case is a good way to show that you care, but with a budget in mind.

Because…

… anyone lucky enough to receive the Icon case for the holidays will learn quickly just how valuable it is. At first glance, you wouldn’t think the Icon can protect much. But then you drop your phone, and you drop it again, and again. No scratch, no dent.

After a few drops, the recipient of this case will surely have a new (albeit slight) appreciation for your thoughtfulness. The Cygnett Icon isn’t just an average iPhone case. It’s a great case.

Click to view slideshow.

Nov 17

David Curson, Michigan Rep. Finishing Thad McCotter’s Term, Has 6 Weeks To Make His Mark

Posted in: Today's Chili

WASHINGTON — Driving from Michigan in his Ford F150 pickup truck, David Curson arrived in Washington a week ago. He set up an office last Sunday, was sworn in as a congressman on Tuesday and by Friday had logged his first votes and given his first floor speech – one that stretched a bit past the one minute he’d been allotted.

The 64-year-old Democrat has no time to waste. In six weeks, he’ll be gone.

Kristen Stewart And Robert Pattinson: ‘Breaking Dawn’ Berlin Premiere (PHOTOS)

Posted in: Today's Chili

Kristen Stewart is gorgeous in gold alongside Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner at the premiere of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” held at Cinestar at Potsdamer on Friday night (Nov. 16) Berlin, Germany.

Kung-Fu Nuns Teach Cosmic Energy To CERN Scientists

Posted in: Today's Chili

By Robert Evans

GENEVA (Reuters) – A dozen kung fu nuns from an Asian Buddhist order displayed their martial arts prowess to bemused scientists at CERN this week as their spiritual leader explained how their energy was like that of the cosmos.

The nuns, all from the Himalayan region, struck poses of hand-chops, high-kicks and punches on Thursday while touring the research centre where physicists at the frontiers of science are probing the origins of the universe.

“Men and women carry different energy,” said His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, a monk who ranks only slightly below the Dalai Lama in the global Buddhist hierarchy. “Both male and female energies are needed to better the world.”

This, he said, was a scientific principle “as fundamental as the relationship between the sun and the moon” and its importance was similar to that of the particle collisions in CERN’s vast “Big Bang” machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The nuns, mostly slim and fit-looking teenagers with shaven heads and clad in flowing burgundy robes, nodded sagely.

But the 49-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, head since the age of four of one of the new independent schools of Tibetan Buddhism centered in India and Nepal, stressed that their visit to CERN was not just scientific in purpose.

GENDER EQUALITY

By taking the nuns around the world and letting people of other countries enjoy their martial displays, he told physicists and reporters: “I hope to raise awareness about gender equality and the need for the empowerment of women.”

The nuns themselves — who star on Youtube videos — have benefited from this outlook, he said.

For centuries in Tibet — incorporated into communist China since 1951 — and its surrounds, women were strictly barred from practicing any form of martial art.

In his homeland Himalayan region of Ladakh, the Gyalwang Drukpa said, women were mainly servants, cooks and cleaners to monks.

About three years ago he decided to break out of this pattern and improve the health and spiritual well-being of women by training them in kung fu and even allowing them to perform sacred rites once also restricted to men.

“And a very good thing too,” declared CERN physicist Pauline Gagnon, who recently wrote a blog study pointing to the low, although growing, proportion of women in scientific research around the world.

The visit to CERN, whose director general Rolf Heuer recently sponsored a conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to discuss the tense relationship between science and religion, was not the first by a top religious leader.

In 1983 the sprawling campus on the border of France and Switzerland hosted the Dalai Lama, Buddhism’s most revered figure, who argues that most scientific discoveries prove the truth of the view of the cosmos expounded by his faith — sometimes dubbed by outsiders an “atheistic religion.”

Pope John-Paul II preceded him in 1982 and the present Pope Benedict has a standing invitation from Heuer.

(Reported by Robert Evans, edited by Paul Casciato)