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What type of research did you do for "Whispering in the Daylight"?
The research IS the book. The adoptive parents were my first interviews and that set the stage for me to speak directly with children who were from the Alamo cult. As my research continued, I spoke with other Alamo cult survivors and branched out to talk with behavioral professionals such as sociologists and psychologi...
Despite concerns about where the operating money will come from, Ventura County supervisors have voted to apply for a $977,300 federal grant to help pay for construction of a new Oak Park library.
If the county is successful in obtaining the grant money, construction of the $2.3-million library could begin by January, 1997, and be completed by the end of that year, county Librarian Dixie Adeniran said.
Without the grant money, she said, groundbreaking on the long-promised library would remain uncertain.
Still, Supervisors Maggie Kildee, Judy Mikels and John K. Flynn all expressed concern Tuesday about where the money would come from to run the library.
A loss in state revenues has forced the county to drastically reduce library hours and to supplement the library budget with $2.3 million in general fund money.
Supervisor Frank Schillo, whose district includes Oak Park, argued that the county should take advantage of the grant as long as the money is available. He said the county was in a good position to receive the grant because it already has the matching money required. More than $1.3 million in developer fees have been s...
If the county is awarded the grant, the supervisors said they will ask Adeniran to bring back a plan outlining how the library will be operated.
Signing, Singing, Speaking: How Language Evolved Humans evolved a brain with an extraordinary knack for language, but just how and when we began using language is still largely a mystery. Early human communication may have been in sign language or song, and scientists are studying other animals to learn how human langu...
You know, the words you're hearing right now are really just arbitrary sounds. Yet, after some decoding by your brain, these sounds makes sense, which is because humans have evolved a brain with an extraordinary knack for language. In our series, The Human Edge, NPR's looking at evolutionary changes that helped us beco...
And today, NPR's Jon Hamilton explores the power of language and the uncertainty about where it comes from.
JON HAMILTON: As Jeff Elman why language is such a big deal and you get a simple answer.
Professor JEFF ELMAN (Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego): Because it's changed the face of the Earth. I mean, the Earth would not be the way it is if humankind didn't have the ability to communicate, to organize itself, to pass knowledge down from generation to generation. We'd be living in troops o...
HAMILTON: Elman, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego. Says language let's us cooperate in groups of millions instead of dozens. It also lets us share the complex ideas produced by our brains, and it's flexible in ways you don't find in the communication systems of other species.
Take bees. Elman says they have a remarkable ability to communicate precisely where to find pollen.
Mr. ELMAN: It's a very elaborate system. It works very well - but that's all it does. They can't talk about politics. They can't talk about, you know, who's having an affair with what other bee - and these are things that we can do.
HAMILTON: There's no single module in our brain. Instead, language seems to come from lots of different circuits. And many of those circuits also exist in other species.
Some birds can imitate human speech. Some monkeys use specific calls to tell one another whether a predator is a leopard, a snake or an eagle. And Elman says dogs read our gestures and tone of voice.
Mr. ELMAN: You could take a little bit from a dog, a little bit from a monkey, a little bit from a parrot and half a dozen other species, and you put it together and what you get is exactly the right ingredients for, you know, making language possible.
HAMILTON: What's unclear is how and when language first appeared. David Armstrong spent decades pondering that question at Gallaudet University. He says the problem is that, unlike physical changes, mental ones don't leave behind any fossils.
Professor DAVID ARMSTRONG (Gallaudet University): We have no way of knowing exactly when or how people began to speak, or in the case of sign language, when they began to sign or to gesture in a way that was complex enough for us to consider it to have been language.
HAMILTON: Language means not having just a label for, say, an ax, but being able to convey an idea like, The ax works better if you hold it this way. And there are several competing hypotheses about how language emerged.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Gesture, visible gesture, especially gesture involving the hands, may very well have been the earliest form of complex human communication.
HAMILTON: Armstrong says evidence from fossils supports that idea.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Relatively early on, we see the modern human hand pretty much in its current configuration.
HAMILTON: That was a couple of million years ago, not long after our ape-like ancestors stopped walking on their knuckles. But things like the modern vocal tract seemed to have arrived much later. And the modern version of a gene called FOXP2, which is important for speech and language, didn't appear until perhaps 100,...
So, Armstrong says, early human ancestors probably used gestures to communicate.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Articulate speech of the sort that we employ, would have been probably difficult for these animals.
HAMILTON: Also, Armstrong says, some kind of sign language would have suited the early human lifestyle.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Clearly, one of the times that visual signing is advantageous, and especially to, say, hunter-gatherers, is when they're hunting. And you find sign systems that are used by hunter-gatherers to communicate about their collective activity, to communicate about the sort of animal that they might be pursuing...
HAMILTON: Without making sounds that could alert their prey.
Armstrong thinks these gestures eventually became associated with sounds, which got more sophisticated as the human vocal tract evolved.
Even now, there are close links between the brain centers involved in speech and those involved in sign language. Of course, once spoken language appeared, Armstrong says, it would have given our ancestors a huge advantage. You no longer had to put down your tools or your baby in order to communicate.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Up until the invention of the incandescent light bulb, people spent about half their time in the dark.
HAMILTON: Another idea about the origin of language is that it came from song.
HAMILTON: Ani Patel of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, says that idea just feels right to a lot of people.
Mr. ANI PATEL (The Neurosciences Institute): We feel music just taps into this kind of pre-cognitive archaic part of ourselves. I reaches so deep inside us that must have come first and be there before we had this complicated articulate language that we use to do abstract thinking.
HAMILTON: Patel says even Charles Darwin thought language might have had its roots in musical expression.
Mr. PATEL: He talked about our ancestors - both males and females - singing songs - love songs to each other, essentially, without words before we could speak articulate language.
HAMILTON: And just like with language, you can see aspects of musical ability in other species. Some monkeys can recognize dissonant chords, songbirds use complicated patterns of pitch and rhythm, and a few parrots can even dance to a beat.
What's more, modern humans still combine music and speech in ways that seem innate. For example, when a parent speaks to a baby.
Mr. PATEL: It's this kind of lilting intonation. Aren't you a cute little guy. And, you know, they slow down, there is a lot of rhythm, a lot of exaggerated pitch contours, and people have speculated that this kind of way of communicating with infants might have been one of the important roots to language in our specie...
HAMILTON: Patel says it's also worth noting that the brain processes music and language in a similar fashion. But he says just finding a connection between music and language, doesn't prove that music came first. Patel himself favors and explanation of the origin of language that doesn't start with gesture or music.
Instead, it comes from a behavior you see in another smart mammal with a very long life span.
Mr. PATEL: Killer whales have dialects where different pods have different characteristic calls that seem to be important in establishing identity. And our ancestors, living in small groups where affiliation and identity was important, it seems interesting to think about them having some kind of vocalizations that coul...
HAMILTON: Patel says that over time, these social calls could have become words - a bit like the ones you're hearing right now.
INSKEEP: And look where we've gone since then. We have more and more words. We have languages, grammar, dictionaries, crossword puzzles, other kinds of puzzles, which brings us to these two words: Robert Krulwich. Hi, Robert.
We know that words have so many flavors and so many connotations at this point, that for the fun of it, we thought we'd design a visual puzzle. So, if you go to NPR.org/Science, you will see a series of gorgeous scenes from every day life. Each picture supports or contains a hidden word. We've hidden about nine words i...
INSKEEP: I know that I can't 'cause I was never any good at these kinds of puzzles.
KRULWICH: Well, I don't know. You should give it a shot.
INSKEEP: Well, give it a shot - NPR.org/Science.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at the supporters during an election campaign rally in support of the BJP candidates, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections at Rash Mela Ground in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, Sunday, April 7, 2019.
In a scathing attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday "speed-breaker Didi" has applied brakes on several central schemes, denying people of the benefits available in other parts of the country.
Noting that a venue with limited space was allotted for today's rally, Modi said, "Didi tried her best to stop people from attending the rally in large numbers. How does she expect to win the elections with such childish antics."
"Didi has betrayed the Centre by giving protection to the intruders. This chowkidar has brought NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to drive out infiltrators. But Didi with her 'Mahamilawati' (opposition alliance) colleagues are trying to stop the government from pursuing them," he said.
Regan Smith won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
Regan Smith tapped Alex Tagliani in the last turn and drove past him to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
This was Smith’s first win of the year and fifth overall.
Tagliani placed second, Ty Dillon was third, followed by Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott. Buescher won the race last year.
“I did what I had to do,” Smith told reporters.
Tagliani was upset in a TV interview following the race.
Smith said he was happy about the win.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2015/08/web1_20150815_180445.jpgRegan Smith won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
Former Head Coach Arlissa Williams stepped down from her role in the Georgetown women’s volleyball team last weekend. Williams amassed an 8-22 overall record with a 2-16 Big East record. this season.
Georgetown women’s volleyball Head Coach Arlisa Williams resigned from her position Sunday, one day after finishing the 2017 season with a five-set loss to Creighton in McDonough Arena. It was the second time this season Georgetown was topped by the Creighton Bluejays after a four-set loss Sept. 22; similarly, on Frida...
Williams leaves Georgetown with an 8-22 overall record and a 2-16 record in Big East play for the season. Williams entered the 2017 season with the fourth most wins in program history, standing tall with 114 victories, before adding eight wins this season.
Overall, Williams accrued a 122-231 over 12 seasons. She had two winning seasons in 2008 and 2011 and one even season in 2010. Under Williams, the Hoyas consistently found themselves finishing their season in the bottom half of their league, and they never advanced to the Big East Championship tournament.
Georgetown’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee Reed announced Williams’ resignation Sunday in a statement to GUHoyas.
Reed and the rest of the Georgetown athletics department began a national search for a new head coach immediately following Williams’ resignation.
In the 2018 season, Georgetown will return 13 letterwinners, five of whom started this season and one of whom, junior middle blocker Symone Speech, was named to the all-Big East Team on Wednesday. This marks Speech’s second consecutive post-season honor after being named to the All-Big East Second Team her sophomore se...
She is among five other Hoyas who also won all-Big East honors with Williams as their coach, and she is one of three repeat all-Big East selections whom Williams coached in her time on the Hilltop. Dani White won back-to-back second team honors in 2012 and 2013, and Vanessa Dorismond did the same in 2009 and 2010.
None of Williams’ players were available for comment regarding her resignation.
Before joining the Georgetown staff, Williams served for four years as an assistant coach at the University of Florida. While she was at Florida, the Gators reached two Final Fours and made an appearance in a national championship game in 2003. In her undergraduate years, Williams was a recordbreaking middle blocker fo...
A CANCER Research shop based in Glasgow has sparked outrage after it placed a golliwog doll in its window display.
Golliwog's, which were created in the late 19th century by Florence Upton and were frequently described as a “horrid sight, the blackest gnome”, are known for their racist connotations and minstrel characterisation of black people - and one customer complained after she spotted the offensive toy in the window.
“In this day and age, when we should be seeing black people as equal to white people, something that represents the evil history of slavery should not be being sold in a shop today,” Fatima Uygun, of Govanhill Against Racism, told the Glasgow Evening Times.
According to the Scottish publication, bosses thanked the customer who raised their concerns over the doll at the store.
Cancer Research UK issued a full apology, saying it was “never our intention to cause offence or distress”.
“We’d like to apologise for the offence this may have caused and thank the customer who brought this to our attention,” spokeswoman Lisa Adams said.
“The item has now been removed from the shop and will not be sold. It was never our intention to cause offence or distress. We greatly value all our customers and the contribution they make towards helping fund vital research to beat cancer sooner.
This is one of many recent sitings of golliwog dolls still being sold in stores. The Cotswolds Dogs & Cats Home, an affiliate of the RSPCA, stopped selling the racist dolls last month after receiving complaints from angry customers.
And a Gloucestershire shop owner was called out for selling golliwogs after an investigation by Gloucestershire Live.
John Weir, who runs The Cedars with wife Sue, told Gloucestershire Live on Monday (Aug 6) the gift shop stopped selling the dolls months ago - however, the publication found 10 golliwogs on sale in the shop on Saturday (Aug 4).
The Cedars’ large golliwog was priced at £16.99, the two medium dolls at £8.99, the four small ones at £5.99 and the three on keyrings at £4.99.
Despite obtaining evidence, Mr Weir insisted that the dolls are no longer being sold at his shop and stated that they are "popular" and his customers are not racist.
“I don’t sell them anymore because I don’t like the way people try to change what they represent. I am tired of it being brought up. The golly is popular. Our customers are not racist people. They just remember them from a time before they became a problem.
"The reason I did sell them was the sentimental side to them. They are a very much-loved character," Mr Weir added. "I was born in the 1960s and I remember that. There was never any link to racism."
The Championship basement side have come out swinging and have hit out at their own fanbase over a "growing number of unacceptable incidents".
Falkirk have blasted their own supporters in a strongly-worded statement after Bairns star Dennon Lewis was the victim of racial abuse.
The Championship basement side have come out swinging by slamming their own fanbase over a "growing number of unacceptable incidents".
Lewis was subjected to vile taunts from the stands during Saturday's Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Stenhousemuir - and the club have been left seething after the latest flashpoint.
Falkirk were condemned from all quarters as Dunfermline star Dean Shiels was the victim of a sickening indecent in January when he was pelted with fake eyeballs - after Kevin O'Hara had been banned for taunting the striker.
The club were left fuming after the Shiels incident, which saw two supporters charged, and have once again hit out at those who are threatening to tarnish the Bairns' reputation.
They have now urged their own fans to help identify the culprits.
A Falkirk statement read: "Falkirk FC is extremely disappointed to learn of racist abuse directed at Dennon Lewis by its own supporters during Saturday’s match against Stenhousemuir.
"As a club, we wholeheartedly condemn the abuse received by Dennon and will work to identify those responsible.
"The individuals in question were in the Main Stand of Ochilview Park on Saturday and anyone with any information is urged to contact the club on 01324 624121 in strictest confidence.
"Racist abuse towards anyone is simply unacceptable and will absolutely not be tolerated by Falkirk Football Club.
"Further to this, there has been a growing number of unacceptable incidents of abuse by Falkirk fans towards members of staff and players at our club.

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