Stop terror and public shootings by limiting press attention

Here's NPR with a mental health based approach to preventing shooting incidents


https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/07/590877717/experts-say-here-s-how-to-prevent-the-next-school-shooting?sc=17&f=1001


A lot of people are advocating a gun based approach, either, on the one hand, more gun control, or, on the other hand, arming more people to defend themselves.

Here's an article about an actual school shooter


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-south-carolina-school-shooter-20180303-story.html


If you read this, you will note that this guy's stated motivation was to be famous. This supports my view that it is sensationalized press coverage that is encouraging copycats. If the press were required to limit reporting of these incidents to simple facts: location, number killed and injured, whether the suspect is at large, in custody, or dead, whether the incident is ongoing, and streets or areas closed -- no photos, no interviews -- then the incidents would stop.

Terror thrives on press attention. Without that attention, terrorism fades into the background noise. Numbers killed in these incidents are dwarfed by other possibly preventable incidents like: opioid overdoses, auto accidents; more common one-on-one shootings (including suicides), and medical mistakes.


45, in one of his many fake news claims, insisted that terrorist acts were under-reported, when in fact quite the opposite is true.  They're over-reported -- made into high drama content to attract advertisers. 


Thinking that we're somehow going to find all the whacko teen boys and prevent them from getting guns seems unrealistic to me.  What seems realistic is to stop filling their media screens with the temptation to get famous by doing a public shooting.

This week's calligraphy

Done with a tablet & stylus device on my desktop computer.

rising background levels of carbon dioxide, ventilation, and train crashes

People are so worried about carbon dioxide causing global warming -- but I seldom see anyone worrying about other consequences of rising levels of background carbon dioxide.

I personally have found that I'm very sensitive to carbon dioxide levels in crowded rooms like classrooms, theaters, hotel ball rooms, and commuter trains.  I get restless limbs, nausea, and drowsiness -- and even narcolepsy -- in these environments.

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air.  With the advent of air conditioning, it has become fashionable to have only ceiling ventilation in rooms.  Ceiling ventilation is not very good at removing carbon dioxide from the air.

In older rooms that have floor vents, I feel that the air is much clearer and I am much more alert.

I am particularly concerned about ventilation in trains.  I have often found that I get narcolepsy in trains.  I once complained of this and MetroNorth turned up the ventilation in the trains and I found that I stopped getting drowsy.

I noticed in college that I used to fall asleep a lot in a basement classroom.  It was only later that I realized that a basement classroom, being below ground level, would be very hard to clear of carbon dioxide.

There has been a recent spate of engineers falling asleep and causing train wrecks.  This has been blamed on undiagnosed sleep apnea.  But why would there suddenly be undiagnosed sleep apnea when there wasn't before?

I strongly suspect that sleep apnea is being wrongly blamed for these incidents. I strongly suspect that there is an unsafe level of carbon dioxide on these trains that is contributing to these incidents.

I am frustrated that I can't get anyone to pay attention to my concern about this

buykud scam

Here is what the dress looked like on their ad

They said the model was small, but they didn't say she was a dwarf.  They said the dress would fit small, medium, and large. This was a FB ad targeted to me in the USA.  I usually wear medium or large. I'm 5'7"  That's taller than the US average of 5'4", but not inordinately tall.  I wouldn't qualify to be a model in the US, where you have to be at least 5'8"

They also said that the dress would fit sizes 8-14 US.  I normally wear a 12.

This is what the dress looks like on me

The short part is too short for decency -- more like a tunic.  The sleeves are too short -- don't reach my wrists even with the arms extended. Moreover, that long, drapy look from the ad is completely absent.  It fits like a regular shirt on top.

The fabric is very warm, but there are no care instructions, so I have no idea whether it should be washed or dry cleaned.

They demand that I pay postage to return it.  The postage was $35, which was half the cost of the dress originally.

The USPS has eliminated sea mail, which would have been a cheap, but slow alternative for shipping.  Now that Chinese companies are putting so many clothing ads on FB, I think the USPS should re-institute sea mail so that US consumers can return merchandise to these Chinese fraudsters.

Their address:

Chenfuxin

Room 401, No.1 Building, JuHe Creative Park, Metallurgical Reseach Institute, Hebian  National Road 106, Baiyun  District,

Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Telephone :0086-020-86213862

ZIP : 510420 

Photos from Spooky Doings 1/6/18

Photos from Spooky Doings 1/6/18

Obsessive doodling

I've found myself doodling a lot recently -- obsessively, really.  I've been posting photos on Instagram and FB, but I was thinking I should here as well.  Here's an embedded version of my FB album of doodles. I'm still expanding this album

The post that I've embedded says to ignore this, but don't ignore it.  That was just for FB friends. 

I'm frustrated at how this embedding works.  You don't seem to be able to see this album in its entirety unless you go to FB.  Please note that these photos all appear on my Instagram account under @barschall

Updates: fourth quarter 2017

• filming Fine Fixtures Commercial d. Rochelle Scharf 12/7/17
• filming music Video for Franke: Bad Tattoo
• Creative Block/ Bloc et Blocage, a film I appear in, has won 4 awards: a) silver award in Best Drama category at  Mindfield Awards, Los Angeles; b)  Spotlight Silver Award; c) Prindie featured filmmaker; semi-finalist at Los Angeles CineFest; 
• National Monolog Slam, Edison NJ 12/2/17 instagram post
• Continued to appear at improv mixers at The Magnet, Armory, PIT, and Triple Crown
• competed in the Cabaret Showdown -- 6th Anniversary link to FB event 11/12/17 
• friends have told me that they spotted me in my background roles on "Wizard of Lies" and last winter's Hallmark Christmas movie.

completed courses

• Musical Theater with Jeffrey Saver 9/18/17- 12/20/17 
• 12/12/17 Mary Tierney Theater Workshop; Theater for the New City

law related courses

• NYIPLA fall one day program 11/16/17 link to program
• CLE on venue in Patent law with ENYIPLA 11/8/17 photo with other representatives of falati.com
• "Understanding the Protectable IP of Jewelry and Fashion," NYIPLA 10/24/17 programme
• "Ethics Considerations in Intellectual Property Practice," IIPS 9/27/17

Links to my online profiles

Detailed log of what I've been up to