April 2012 Archives

"Her depression controlled her life for the next 40 years -- until she decided to volunteer for an experimental treatment. A neurosurgeon would drill two holes in Guyton's skull and implant a pair of battery-powered electrodes deep inside her brain.

Mayberg's groundbreaking research on this part of the brain showed that Area 25 is relatively overactive in depressed patients. So, Mayberg hypothesized that in patients who do not improve with other treatments, Area 25 was somehow stuck in overdrive."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/battery-powered-brain/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Just a quick note that I'm giving a talk tomorrow afternoon at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Just landed here and it's truly like another planet. Having my own Jane Carter moment….

DISABILITY OF THE SOUL | Thursday, April 12, 2012 2:00 PM BEH S Room 114

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Event Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 2:00 PM MDT

A DISABILITY OF THE SOUL: MENTAL ILNESS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN

By Karen Nakamura
Associate Professor
of Anthropology and East Asian Studies,
Yale University

For the past several years, Prof. Nakamura has been conducting research within an intentional community of people with severe mental illnesses in northern Japan. Founded in 1984 on Christian principles, Bethel House attempts to create a space where people with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders can live within
the community.

Like other utopias, Bethel is not without its flaws but it also has much to teach us in its approach to mental illness and community life. A visual and cultural anthropologist, Prof. Nakamura's work explores through image and text what it means to live with psychiatric and other disabilities in contemporary Japan.

One of my coworkers wanted a simple audio data recorder to do some interviews. Here was my response to her:

Sorry to take a few days to get back to you on the audio recorders. I think you said you wanted a digital audio recorder that you could use to transfer files back to your computer, that eliminates several of the sub-$50 models and so the cheapest ones are all in the $50-100 range and above.

There are a couple of Sony models in this price range, but I find that Sony usually has complicated user interfaces and really bad software, so unless you're a huge Sony fan, I'd generally avoid:

Sony ICD-PX312 $52

I'd instead recommend Olympus. They tend to have simpler interfaces that are easier to use and harder to mess up:

Olympus VN-8100PC $65

There are models that go on up from there, but unless you want to record live audio (concert performances, etc.) then they are overkill.

Karen