Tag Archives: oliver

Watch John Oliver explain the Green New Deal like only he can

In typical John Oliver rapidly-switching-between-serious-and-satirical style, Last Week Tonight’s latest episode discussed the Green New Deal. And by ‘discussed,’ what we really mean is: He considered riding a sled pulled by 400 hamsters, made Trump jokes, and explained why carbon taxing may be an important tool in the climate fight.

In the nearly 20-minute piece, Oliver covered a lot of ground. He first described the Green New Deal and the frenzy of media coverage from both sides that has followed.

“However bumpy its rollout was, to its eternal credit, the Green New Deal has succeeded in getting people talking,” Oliver said. “But that won’t mean anything unless that talk turns to actions, and putting a price on carbon could be one of them.”

He then dove into carbon pricing. Using science icon Bill Nye the Science Guy to explain the concept, Oliver tried to make the idea of introducing a new tax a little more feasible and innocuous.

“[A carbon tax] will not be enough on its own by a long shot,” Oliver said in one of his moments of gravity. “We’re going to need a lot of different policies working in tandem, and we have to take action right now!”

And then, with an angry flourish, Bill Nye took a torch to a model of Earth.

Original source:  

Watch John Oliver explain the Green New Deal like only he can

Posted in Accent, alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Watch John Oliver explain the Green New Deal like only he can

Who’s in Charge? – Michael S. Gazzaniga

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

Who’s in Charge?

Free Will and the Science of the Brain

Michael S. Gazzaniga

Genre: Life Sciences

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: November 15, 2011

Publisher: Ecco

Seller: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS


“Big questions are Gazzaniga’s stock in trade.” —New York Times “Gazzaniga is one of the most brilliant experimental neuroscientists in the world.” —Tom Wolfe “Gazzaniga stands as a giant among neuroscientists, for both the quality of his research and his ability to communicate it to a general public with infectious enthusiasm.” —Robert Bazell, Chief Science Correspondent, NBC News The author of Human, Michael S. Gazzaniga has been called the “father of cognitive neuroscience.” In his remarkable book, Who’s in Charge?, he makes a powerful and provocative argument that counters the common wisdom that our lives are wholly determined by physical processes we cannot control. His well-reasoned case against the idea that we live in a “determined” world is fascinating and liberating, solidifying his place among the likes of Oliver Sacks, Antonio Damasio, V.S. Ramachandran, and other bestselling science authors exploring the mysteries of the human brain.

See original article – 

Who’s in Charge? – Michael S. Gazzaniga

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, ONA, Oster, PUR, Ultima, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Who’s in Charge? – Michael S. Gazzaniga

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human – V. S. Ramachandran

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human

V. S. Ramachandran

Genre: Life Sciences

Price: $2.99

Publish Date: January 17, 2011

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Seller: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.


"A profoundly intriguing and compelling guide to the intricacies of the human brain." —Oliver Sacks In this landmark work, V. S. Ramachandran investigates strange, unforgettable cases—from patients who believe they are dead to sufferers of phantom limb syndrome. With a storyteller’s eye for compelling case studies and a researcher’s flair for new approaches to age-old questions, Ramachandran tackles the most exciting and controversial topics in brain science, including language, creativity, and consciousness.

From: 

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human – V. S. Ramachandran

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, Landmark, LG, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized, W. W. Norton & Company | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human – V. S. Ramachandran

The River of Consciousness – Oliver Sacks

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

The River of Consciousness

Oliver Sacks

Genre: Life Sciences

Price: $13.99

Publish Date: October 24, 2017

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Seller: Penguin Random House LLC


From the best-selling author of Gratitude, On the Move, and Musicophilia, a collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks's passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience. Oliver Sacks, a scientist and a storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories ( Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars ) in which he introduced and explored many now familiar disorders–autism, Tourette's syndrome, face blindness, savant syndrome. He was also a memoirist who wrote with honesty and humor about the remarkable and strange encounters and experiences that shaped him ( Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, Gratitude ). Sacks, an Oxford-educated polymath, had a deep familiarity not only with literature and medicine but with botany, animal anatomy, chemistry, the history of science, philosophy, and psychology. The River of Consciousness is one of two books Sacks was working on up to his death, and it reveals his ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless project to understand what makes us human.

Visit source: 

The River of Consciousness – Oliver Sacks

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, Knopf, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The River of Consciousness – Oliver Sacks

We broke down Trump’s baffling speech on the “solar wall.”

The nation’s largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy, just filed a lawsuit against the Last Week Tonight host over the show’s recent segment. Oliver had criticized the company’s CEO, Robert Murray, for acting carelessly toward miners’ safety.

Murray Energy’s complaint stated that the segment was a “meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character and reputation” of Murray by broadcasting “false, injurious, and defamatory comments.”

Oliver shouldn’t be too concerned, according to Ken White, a First Amendment litigator at Los Angeles firm, who told the Daily Beast that the complaint was “frivolous and vexatious.”

The lawsuit is hardly a shocking development. Before the show aired, Oliver received a cease-and-desist letter from the company. He noted that Murray has a history of filing defamation suits against news outlets (most recently, the New York Times).

Oliver said in the episode, “I know that you are probably going to sue me, but you know what, I stand by everything I said.”

Source article – 

We broke down Trump’s baffling speech on the “solar wall.”

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Ringer, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on We broke down Trump’s baffling speech on the “solar wall.”

John Oliver Issues a Stark Warning to France Ahead of Presidential Election

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Ahead of next week’s first round of the French presidential election, John Oliver on Sunday implored voters not to go down the road of the United States by electing head of the far-right National Front group, Marine Le Pen.

Similar to Donald Trump, Le Pen has attracted voters by touting a France-first message that promises to create jobs for the unemployed youth. But “beneath her slick presentation, Le Pen’s message is vicious,” the Last Week Tonight host explained. Like Trump, the far-right French candidate runs an extremely anti-immigration campaign, and she’s been accused of using her platform to promote racist policies against Muslims.

“One of the frustrating things about watching this unfold from America is this feels a little like deja vu,” Oliver said. “A potentially destabilizing populist campaigning on anti-immigrant rhetoric who rages against the elites, despite having a popular father and inherited wealth—even as all the experts reassure us that there is no way this could possibly happen.”

Original article: 

John Oliver Issues a Stark Warning to France Ahead of Presidential Election

Posted in ATTRA, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on John Oliver Issues a Stark Warning to France Ahead of Presidential Election

John Oliver Explains Why It’s Time to Update Federal Marijuana Laws

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Despite the fact that recreational marijuana has been legalized in eight states—with 44 states also allowing some form of medical marijuana use—federal law continues to classify weed as an illegal Schedule 1 drug. On Sunday, John Oliver took on the issue of clashing marijuana laws, explaining why the Trump administration is likely to make it even harder to fix such outdated laws.

“If you have marijuana right now, even if you are acting completely legally according to your state, you may still be in serious jeopardy,” Oliver said. “And that’s not your weed-induced paranoia talking.”

The Last Week Tonight host also pointed to attorney general Jeff Sessions’ history of opposing marijuana use to show why current legislative attempts to finally reclassify the drug may be doomed.

Original article:

John Oliver Explains Why It’s Time to Update Federal Marijuana Laws

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on John Oliver Explains Why It’s Time to Update Federal Marijuana Laws

Foreclosure Victims Say They Were Mistreated by Trump’s Treasury Pick

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

After Donald Trump nominated longtime Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin to be secretary of the treasury, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Democrats’ leading anti-Wall Street crusader, asked to include “victims of Mnuchin’s foreclosure machine” at his Senate confirmation hearing. According to Warren, Senate Republicans rebuffed her request. So on Wednesday, one day before Mnuchin goes before the Senate, Warren convened a panel of women who testified that OneWest Bank, under Mnuchin’s leadership, ruthlessly tried to take away their homes.

“If Steve Mnuchin become secretary of treasury, if he runs our country the way he ran OneWest Bank—cutthroat—this country is in trouble,” said Sylvia Oliver, a New Jersey woman whose home was scheduled to be foreclosed on by OneWest on Wednesday. According to Oliver, OneWest has refused to modify her mortgage, but she managed to stave off foreclosure with the assistance of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who was at Wednesday’s forum.

In early 2009, Mnuchin led a team of investors in purchasing failed home lender IndyMac from the federal government—after extracting a promise that the government would help pick up the tab for any losses—and took over as CEO of the bank, which changed its name to OneWest. During his tenure, which covered the time when the four women who testified ran into trouble with the bank, OneWest was known for its aggressive tactics in dealing with foreclosure. In 2015, Mnuchin sold OneWest to another California bank, CIT, for more than twice what he and his fellow investors had paid. Mnuchin, who had previously donated to Democratic candidates, joined Trump’s campaign fundraising team in May 2016, when Trump was still toxic to many Republicans, and he became one of Trump’s first announced Cabinet picks.

“The OneWest model was terrible for homeowners, but it was great for Mr. Mnuchin,” Warren said on Wednesday, claiming that Mnuchin pocketed more than $200 million from the sale to CIT. “At Thursday’s hearing, he will have the opportunity to explain why his years of grinding families into the dirt at OneWest Bank does not disqualify him from becoming the nation’s top economic official.” (A spokesman for Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch did not respond to a request for confirmation that Warren had asked to include the foreclosure victims in Thursday’s hearing.)

Cristina Clifford, a California acupuncturist, told the panel that her business began to falter in 2009 and she struggled to make her mortgage payments to IndyMac. Clifford said the bank told her that she didn’t qualify for a mortgage adjustment because she had always made her payments on time. She said she stopped doing so, on the bank’s recommendation. But by the time she was approved for a mortgage modification and submitted the paperwork, the bank was under Mnuchin’s control. It cashed the check she sent with the paperwork, she said, but insisted it never received her application. This happened twice, Clifford said, and eventually the house was sold by the bank, even as she says her lawyer was attempting to work with OneWest to avoid a foreclosure.

“It was OneWest that saw a chance to make money,” Clifford told Mother Jones. “They could’ve kept me in the house and worked with me, or they could’ve sold the house and made a couple extra thousand dollars.”

Senate Democrats are expected to grill Mnuchin on OneWest’s business tactics tomorrow. The Hill obtained an advance copy of Mnuchin’s prepared statements and reported that he will defend OneWest as “an American success story.”

“My group had nothing to do with the creation of risky loans in the IndyMac loan portfolios,” Mnuchin reportedly plans to say. “We did this because we believed in our ability to rebuild and create a successful regional bank. We believed in recovery for the American economy.”

This article is from: 

Foreclosure Victims Say They Were Mistreated by Trump’s Treasury Pick

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Foreclosure Victims Say They Were Mistreated by Trump’s Treasury Pick

John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

On Last Week Tonight’s final episode before Election Day, John Oliver reserved the opening monologue of his show to urge voters to cast their ballot and deny Donald Trump the American presidency.

“We are at a point where this man has a genuine shot at the presidency,” Oliver said. “Despite having blown up a political party, undermined confidence in our electorate system, declared open season on journalists, and unleashed a river of racism and misogyny. Also I feel like we’ve lost sight of this—he has really stupid hair.”

The HBO host recalled a more innocent time when the possibility of a Trump candidacy was a laughing mater, before flash-backing to an eerie clip from his Daily Show days where he jokingly urged Trump to run for president. (“Do it. Look at me. Do it. I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president, but badly wants you to run.”)

Oliver wants to believe Americans will eventually reject Trump on Tuesday. But the aforementioned clip, along with his previous claim that the Chicago Cubs could never win the World Series, proves that “no outcome is certain.” So get out the vote.

See the article here: 

John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

Posted in alo, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

John Oliver Takes on the Predatory World of Subprime Car Loans

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

On Sunday, John Oliver took on the shady world of subprime auto lenders, an industry that too often tricks vulnerable people into paying far more for a used car than it’s actually worth. As the Last Week Tonight host explained, predatory loans are just “one of the many ways that when you are poor, everything can be more expensive,” with lenders’ practices driving borrowers into inescapable debt and bankruptcy.

It’s also an industry, unburdened by alarmingly lax rules, that closely resembles the 2008 financial crisis. For more on subprime car loans, head over to our recent in-depth coverage here.

Link to article:  

John Oliver Takes on the Predatory World of Subprime Car Loans

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on John Oliver Takes on the Predatory World of Subprime Car Loans