Definition of "synesthesia" Synesthesia is the general name for a related set (a "complex") of various cognitive states. Synesthesia may be divided into two general, somewhat overlapping types. The first, which I sometimes call "synesthesia proper", is as described above, in which stimuli to a sensory input will also trigger sensations in one or more other sensory modes. The second form of synesthesia, called "cognitive" or "category synesthesia", involves synesthetic additions to culture-bound cognitive categorizational systems. In simpler words, with this kind of synesthesia, certain sets of things which our individual cultures teach us to put together and categorize in some specific way – like letters, numbers, or people's names – also get some kind of sensory addition, such as a smell, color or flavor. The most common forms of cognitive synesthesia involve such things as colored written letter characters (graphemes), numbers, time units, and musical notes or keys. For example, the synesthete might see, about a foot or two before her, different colors for different spoken vowel and consonant sounds, or perceive numbers and letters, whether conceptualized or before her in print, as colored. A friend of mine, Deborah, always perceives the letter "a" as pink, "b" as blue, and "c" as green, no matter what color of ink they are printed with. Synesthesia is additive; that is, it adds to the initial (primary) sensory perception, rather than replacing one perceptual mode for another. With my colored musical timbres, I both hear and "see" the sounds; the visual images...

Fifty-five percent of fourth graders in California read below grade level. It's a shocking statistic, but it's a reality for thousands of children. The Jewish Coalition for Literacy (JCL) is dedicated to reversing this statistic, one child at a time. JCL is part of an effort to engage the Jewish and general communities in tikkun olam - repairing the world - through social justice work in our own local community. Our goal is for all Bay Area students to be reading at grade level by the fourth grade. Ways You Can Help: Our program is open to all. Contact Helene Tinkler at 510.839.2900 ext. 272 or email helene@jfed.org .

Hello, Mark here again from the beverage team. We’ve noticed some concern around the decision to switch to a new soy package and formula, and realize that there are some unhappy soy drinkers out there. Therefore, we wanted to share some information so that you (our loyal soy drinkers) have more visibility into the decisions that affect you. Let’s begin by addressing the packaging change. We decided to move to a bigger package to reduce our use of packaging materials. We believe this change will have a positive impact on the environment and enable us to reduce our soy milk packaging waste by approximately 25%. We are, and always have been proud of our environmental consciousness when making a decision at Starbucks, the decision to change the soy packaging reflects our mindfulness as stewards of the environment. When we decided to change the packaging, an opportunity came up to adjust the formula as well. Our product developers crafted a smooth and delicate soy milk that would appeal to many of the soy drinkers. They produced a formula that is easy to aerate when it is steamed and warmed, (to get that velvety foam our cappuccino drinkers adore) while maintaining the same level of sugars as the old version. Just like the old version, the new soy is 100% organic. We tested the new formula using our in-house product testing and it scored well above the old version, signaling we could move forward in production. We hope that by sharing a...

The closest place to get a latté in my 'hood is Starbucks. I know many people think Starbucks is the devil, but I personally don't have a problem with the brand. Sure, if given the choice of major coffee houses I choose Second Cup (support Canadian!), but if the best walking distance espresso is the green mermaid, so be it. Or sort of. I recently began noticing an extra $.45 charge every time I ordered soy instead of milk for my coffee drinks at Starbucks. (Being lactose intolerant, I try to avoid dairy whenever possible.) After having this happen at different Starbucks locations, I figured it wasn't just a single retailer decision, but rather a top-down corporate directive to charge extra for soy. Slightly miffed by this, I wrote head office to see what was up. Why did Starbucks charge me nearly half-a-dollar extra for substituting soy? This is part of the response I received: "Starbucks is committed to offering viable options for all of our valued customers; for this reason each of our retail locations is able to offer soy milk. Due to the higher cost of purchasing, stocking, and preparing this product, we do charge an additional fee for the substitution of soy milk." I certainly appreciated their answering my inquiry, but the logic doesn't make much sense. You're telling me Starbucks can have on hand - at any given time - multiple types of milk (2%, half&half, skim, etc.), three types of sweeteners (in the raw, regular...

I am so releived that I am not the only one who thinks the new soy stinks! But on the bright side, I am now free from $5.00 coffee habit every day. The new soy is undrinkable. Yes, Starbucks no longer uses the Silk brand. They have their own specially made brand now and it doesnt taste anything like Silk. It upsets my gut something awful and it doesnt taste the same. I can't drink dairy and so I was really enjoying the Soy Latte's but no longer. This new brand of theirs is probably not GMO free like Silk is. May be Organic but that's just a facade as far as I am concerned. Trying to make you feel better for what you don't know is in it. I just found out the same thing about the soy milk at sbux, which I go to a least 2 times a day, the new stuff tastes like crap, leaves an after taste in your mouth and does not have as much of a vanilla flavor to it.I called sbux customer service and complained, and I also posted this complaint/idea on the sbux idea website, which everyone who feels the same way should comment on my post to make sure that the powers that be at sbux can see the amount of response to this post regarding the change in the soy milk. I completely agree! The new soy milk is awful. Bring back SILK!!!!! I agree, and glad to hear...