Computer Nerd Barbie

On today’s list: Speaking more than one language can delay Alzheimer’s, literary tattoos, why they hate us (hint: it’s not our freedom), and Barbie goes geek.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

Dog Bites Man: Too Much TV Harms Kids Parents may went to limit their children’s computer use and TV viewing time to ensure their psychological well-being.

Speakers of More Than One Language May See Delayed Onset of Dementia Symptoms A lifetime of speaking two or more languages appears to pay off in old age, with recent research showing the symptoms of dementia can be delayed by an average of four years in bilingual people.

Discreet rhetoric of the bourgeoisie Deirdre McCloskey is right: the emergence of a new rhetoric, ideology, or set of ideas was an important factor in the rise and development of capitalism.

Words made flesh

They hate us for our occupations In 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld commissioned a task force to study what causes Terrorism, and it concluded that “Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies”: specifically, “American direct intervention in the Muslim world” through our “one sided support in favor of Israel”; support for Islamic tyrannies in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia; and, most of all, “the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan … .”

Appalled economists Here is a link to the Manifesto of the Appalled Economists (Économistes Atterrées), in opposition to the proposed neoliberal solutions to the current crises in the European Union.

Beating the Drum for al-Qaida On July 21, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Zachary Adam Chesser on charges that he twice tried to join al-Shabab, the fast-growing Somali terrorist group that has become a close ally of al Qaeda. …

Green Gubernatorial Candidate Arrested in California Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells was detained by police at Dominican University after a spokeswoman said she tried to get into tonight’s debate.

Palestine Liberation Recalls Anti-Apartheid Tactics, Responsibilities And Controversies On a full-day drive through the Jordan Valley late last month, we skirted the earth’s oldest city and the lowest inhabited point, 400 meters below sea level. For 10,000 years, people have lived along the river separating the present-day West Bank and Jordan.

Computer Nerd Barbie — You Know You Want One

Neoclassical economists and the minimum wage Nothing quite makes neoclassical economists go apoplectic than reading or hearing the argument that an increase in the minimum wage doesn’t cause unemployment.