Left To Our Own Devices

School Bans Phones, Big Plan on Campus

My first day teaching in the 90s at one of the roughest high schools in Brooklyn was spent as a sub for a Physics teacher who was absent because he had been stabbed in the hand trying to take away a student's Walkman. So the question of devices in schools is not new to me. But it's become a much more interesting issue. On one hand, the tech alarmists that blame every ill on phones tend to overdo it. On the other hand, we all know our phone addictions have some heavily negative impacts on our lives. And as a parent, it's hard not to feel a little guilty about the tech everywhere world we've created for our children—especially when your daughter regularly blames you for her phone addiction (she's got a point, and besides, a little finger-pointing beats a stab in the hand). Technology is here to stay and its role in our lives is only going to increase. But are there times when we can all admit it would be better to put our phones down (or, more likely, seal them into an individual gray pouch made of synthetic rubber)? Nowhere is that question more considered than in our schools, which is why it's so interesting to see what happens when one tries to limit phone usage. WaPo (Gift Article): How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones. I can't wait to discuss this article with my daughter. Better yet, I'll text it to her.

2

The Old College Try

I support the right to protest. I worry about the way some campus protests have morphed into antisemitism (and I've been hearing from young people about the increase of antisemitism on their campuses for years). I agree that the civilian cost in Gaza has been heartbreaking and that peace is the only way forward. I don't get the idea of a protest against Israel that doesn't also call on Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, or a call for divestment a few weeks after Iran launched a state-on-state attack and their proxies are attacking US ships. You can be for peace and for Palestinians, but you can't be for Iran and its terror proxies. And when I see a protest leader on Columbia's NYC Ivy League campus calling for humanitarian aid (for the protesters), I wonder if The Onion started a university. I also wish the focus of more young people was directed 140 or so blocks south where a former president wannabe fascist is on trial. Of course, if Mike Johnson came to my campus and said I was doing something wrong, I'd probably be inclined to do more of whatever it was I was doing. All that said, as long as the protests are peaceful (and not breaking into buildings), it seems both wrong and counterproductive to respond with heavy-hand police actions. And the protester on protester violencewe're seeing is a failure of both the participants in that violence and the school leaders tasked with keeping students safe. Basically, I'm pissed at everyone on every side of these protests (hey, it's the Middle East), so I'm going to focus on what could be a glimmer of hope in the region that has become (once again) the world's infected open wound. Bloomberg (Gift Article): US and Saudis Near Defense Pact Aimed at Reshaping Middle East. "Once the US and Saudi Arabia settle their agreement, they would present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a choice: either join the deal, which would entail formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia for the first time, more investment and regional integration, or be left behind. The key condition for Netanyahu would be ending the Gaza war and agreeing to a pathway for Palestinian statehood."

+ I'm especially flummoxed by Muslim voters in Michigan and elsewhere who think that teaching Biden a lesson by re-electing the Muslim-banning Trump (whose position is that Israel should continue its war efforts in Gaza) is somehow a good idea.

+ "Two hundred and eight days after it invaded Israel, slaughtered 1,200 people and abducted 253, it is a sickening reality that Hamas still holds the key to what is unfolding." All eyes, still, on Hamas.

3

Six Pact

One of the things that surprises me most about protests in America are the things young people are not protesting about at all. WaPo (Gift Article): Tears and despair at Florida abortion clinic in final hours before ban. "The 22-year-old mother of two had learned just a few hours earlier that a new six-week abortion ban would go into effect in Florida on Wednesday. So she canceled all her plans and found someone to drive her, in hopes of ending her pregnancy before the deadline. She was one day too late."

+ Why is a 6-week abortion ban nearly a total ban? It's about how we date a pregnancy. (In too many places, we're dating them 1864.)

4

Life Imitates Heart

I swear, my goal with NextDraft today was to avoid the protests, the Middle East, politics, trials, and everything else that is taking a toll on my mental health. And my physical health. Science shows how a surge of anger could raise heart attack risk. "Previous research has suggested there’s a link between an acute episode of anger and an increased risk of heart attack. Researchers ... wanted to tease out why. To answer that question, they’d need to make some people angry." (Easy, write a daily newsletter.)

5

Extra, Extra

That 70s Show: "The book arrives at a time when the countries with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals, the U.S. and Russia, are violently at odds in Ukraine, a Russian state TV host is calling a Russia/NATO conflict 'inevitable,' and the Council on Foreign Relations is gaming out scenarios in case the Russians use tactical nukes in Ukraine. Oh, and Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than ever before. It’s a fair time to ask Jacobsen’s central question — what if deterrence fails? Even if we’d rather not think about it." Politico Magazine: 72 Minutes Until the End of the World? "A new book lays out the frighteningly fast path to nuclear Armageddon." (Sorry, I'm trying to take my mind off the current bad news by imagining worse news.)

+ Don't Bank on Banks: "Western banks that have continued operations in Russia paid more than €800mn in taxes last year, marking a fourfold increase from pre-war levels, despite pledges to reduce their exposure following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

+ Celling Point: "Researchers hope that the reams of molecular data will eventually help clinicians to develop tailored exercise prescriptions for people with chronic diseases." Why is exercise good for you? Scientists are finding answers in our cells. And yes, this could lead to an exercise pill at some point (preferably before my next workout.)

+ Small Acts of Blindness: "I believe the foundation did what it did because of the same pressures hollowing out many Republican institutions and weakening many conservative leaders across America—the fear of retaliation from the forces of Trumpism, forces that deeply loathe Cheney and the values she represents. Fear that president No. 45 might become No. 47. Fear that wealthy donors might be on Trump’s team overtly or covertly and might withhold money from the foundation. Fear of phantom circumstances." Solid points from David Hume Kennerly: The Danger of a Small Act of Cowardice. (Jason Isbell: "Be afraid, be very afraid. Do Anyway.")

+ Take the Wheel: "By law, pilots must be aboard ships 750 gross tons and over that travel the San Francisco and Monterey bays and tributaries to Stockton and Sacramento. They use local knowledge to guide nearly 8,000 ships a year from faraway lands through narrow channels and ever-changing currents, negotiating ship traffic and dodging pylons, bridges and cable crossings—at any time of day or night, during all manner of weather." How can the crew of a giant ship be asked to navigate unfamiliar waters? In the SF Bay, they have help. Great stuff from SF Standard: These bay navigators keep the port humming—and bridges safe from boat wrecks. And here's a quick video on the Bar Pilots.

6

Bottom of the News

"Who among us hasn’t walked up to a drinking fountain, expecting a bubbling stream of life-giving water, only to experience the crushing disappointment of a measly trickle after smashing in that button? But I’m beginning to think it’s not the drinking button’s fault; they’re actually some of the most elegant buttons out there." The drinking fountain button is tragically misunderstood.

+ "Customers can soon make a friendly $5 wager on a Hot Shots basketball game, a bet on a Skee-Ball competition or on another arcade game. The betting function, expected to launch in the next few months, will work through the company’s app." Dave & Buster’s to allow customers to bet on arcade games. (The first step is admitting you have a problem. Or you can let your actions admit you have a problem and lay a bet on Skee-Ball.)