Business Day

Lincoln’s School of Management

By NANCY F. KOEHN | Jan 27, 2013

The deliberations over the Emancipation Proclamation built the leadership backbone of Abraham Lincoln, and offer huge lessons for modern executives.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863); Executives and Management (Theory); Civil War (US) (1861-65); Slavery; United States Politics and Government; Emotions;

Nancy Koehn does not emphasize that the conflicting advice Lincoln received all came from those who were nominally his supporters.

Opinion

Successful and Schizophrenic

By ELYN R. SAKS | Jan 27, 2013

Some people with severe mental illness are capable of high levels of achievement.

Mental Health and Disorders; Schizophrenia; Psychology and Psychologists; Therapy and Rehabilitation;

I have no difficulty with this.

Nancy is one. I had news of her recently.

I am not one of these.

Opinion

Revolution Hits the Universities

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN | Jan 27, 2013

Nothing has more potential to let us reimagine higher education than massive open online course, or MOOC, platforms.

E-Learning; Education; Computers and the Internet; Autism;

We must consider correspondence courses.

What is new is the attached chat rooms.

Reading groups have been there since soon after public Libraries.

The reader was a feature of the garment trade sweat shop.

I had a history of literature and painting course when I returned to Parsons.

I was shocked that the kids did not know how to read aloud.

They had no idea of the music that can hide in text.

No, this is not a revolution.

This is the result of the prosperous period we grew up in.

Education is now seen as the route to comfort and security.

We were taught that and taught the children.

China and India learned it long ago.

U.S.

How Texas Keeps Voters in the Shadows

By ROSS RAMSEY | Jan 27, 2013

Despite talk about transparency, getting financial information about Texas lawmakers and those running for office is no easy matter.

Ethics (Institutional); State Legislatures; Finances; Voting and Voters;

The news organizations have a duty to remember the last campaign and to speak their memories at the next campaign. In a very few years the state and the nation will have the transparency desired.

World

Economist Says Cats Should Be Eliminated From New Zealand

By GERRY MULLANY | Jan 24, 2013

Gareth Morgan, an economist and environmentalist, says that the cat is actually a a “friendly neighborhood serial killer” when it comes to native birds species.

Cats; Birds;

I will not defend the cats of New Zealand. I cannot defend the rats and mice. I can easily imagine licensed kittens being sold for a premium

and turned in for a bounty.

Consider sheep killing dogs among shepherds.

Business Day

How Bright Horizons Took Care of Bain Capital Over the Years

By PETER LATTMAN | Jan 25, 2013

Bright Horizons' successful initial public offering on Friday was the latest chapter in the day care center chain's long and lucrative relationship with Bain Capital.

Child Care; Day Care Centers; Initial Public Offerings; Private Equity;

A privately held company does not have the fiduciary duty of a publicly held corporation.

This kind of operation is known as a White Knight deal.

There is no inherent problem with such a deal.

It does require trust and communication among management.

As Bright Horizons goes public we will see who gets the payoff.

Health

A Flood of Suits Fights Coverage of Birth Control

By ETHAN BRONNER | Jan 27, 2013

Federal courts have been flooded by lawsuits from religious institutions and private employers who say providing birth control to employees would violate their beliefs.

Birth Control and Family Planning; Suits and Litigation; Courts and the Judiciary; Freedom of Religion; Law and Legislation; Health Insurance and Managed Care;

This is a prepared GOP campaign. The law is very clear. Religious convictions are private concerns. Public operations must follow the rules for public operations.

"Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's."

I am dyslexic I did not have a word for it but I believed it was genetic.

I did not and do not want to inflict dyslexia on a child.

N.Y. / Region

Hispanics in East Haven Are Wary of Kinder Tone

By VIVIAN YEE | Jan 24, 2013

A year after an investigation into police harassment of minorities ended with the arrests of four officers, the mayor is reaching out — but suspicions remain.

Racial Profiling; Hispanic-Americans; Police; Race and Ethnicity; Police Brutality and Misconduct;

Do not beat the residents.

Fashion & Style

Thy Neighbor’s Flag

By PHILIP GALANES | Jan 27, 2013

What to do about an offending flag, R.S.V.P.’ing to an invitation never received and affection in a text message.

Vegetarianism; Veganism; Customs, Etiquette and Manners; Flags, Emblems and Insignia; Parties (Social);

I will not put my relatives and very few friends through a process of dashed expectations and canceled plans. I will send invitations to an event with a certain date and place.

The Stars and Bars is the only Confederate flag that is recognized as such.

No collector of flags would fly it out of doors. Flags do tolerate the weather. It is flown only as an emblem of loyalty to the vanished Confederacy or as an act of defiance to the federal government.

One might better fly the solid black of anarchy or the Jolly Roger.

Better to fly the black and yellow quarantine flag.

The approach on food seems good to me.

Magazine

What Does It Mean to Be Comfortable?

By MAGGIE KOERTH-BAKER | Jan 27, 2013

As the world’s cultures become more homogeneous, so has the definition of comfort.

Energy Efficiency; Heating; Thermostats; Social Conditions and Trends; Air Conditioning;

This could be a book.

For this writer it means the building micro-climate matches the occupants clothing and activity level.

For the very old the room temperature should be higher.

I like it cooler than average with some radiant heat.

Warm and dry is good too.

Sticky heat I do not like.

With shade and low humidity, 90f. is not bad.

A shower helps.

Mostly clean and dry and dressed.

Opinion

Timothy Geithner's Legacy

By STEVEN RATTNER | Jan 24, 2013

A recent reunion at the Treasury Department underscored Timothy F. Geithner's successes in taming the financial crisis of 2008-9.

Banking and Financial Institutions; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010); Recession and Depression; Subprime Mortgage Crisis; United States Politics and Government;

Steven Rattner should be careful of his rotator cuff on his dominant arm.

Patting yourself on the back is not easy.

The crisis is not over. The pause may be.

Books

The Heat of Battle

By J. D. BIERSDORFER | Jan 27, 2013

Apps that explore the events of the Civil War and World Wars I and II.

Mobile Applications; Civil War (US) (1861-65); World War I (1914-18); World War II (1939-45); Books and Literature;

I find that I am not that interested in the daily drama.

As a child I watched Victory at Sea on early morning television.

I caught the footage from the clean-out of the concentration camps in Europe and the morning after reconnaissance flights over Dresden and Homburg. My six year old understanding was limited.

The images stay with me.

Opinion

Hope, and Lessons, in Somalia

Jan 26, 2013

The country’s positive evolution may offer some cautionary advice for the fight against militants in Mali.

United States International Relations; Humanitarian Aid; Foreign Aid;

Hillary Clinton has been busy.

I hope she has built well.

Business Day

Mixing, Matching and Charging Less for a Phone Plan

By RANDALL STROSS | Jan 27, 2013

Republic Wireless keeps its cellphone service prices low via an interesting hybrid: it uses Wi-Fi when customers are in a Wi-Fi area and a 3G network when they are not.

Cellular Telephones; Smartphones; Android (Operating System); Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates); Computers and the Internet;

This may be a very good deal. Check with your IT people about the firewall.

See if it will serve as a modem for a computer.

A Soldier in a Skeleton Scarf in Mali

By CHRISTINE HAUSER | Jan 24, 2013

The similarities to a killer character from an online warfare game to a news agency's recent photograph of an actual soldier with French forces in Mali is called unacceptable by a military spokesman in France.

Computer and Video Games; Computers and the Internet; Defense and Military Forces; News and News Media; Photography;

As long as the photographer did not give him the mask . . .

It is a great image for a mercenary.

The Legion are not heroes. They go where ordered and do as ordered.

Opinion

January Is the Cruelest Month

By NEIL SHUBIN | Jan 27, 2013

Written inside of us is the birth of the solar system and workings of the planet itself.

Sleep; Earth; Space; Moon; DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid);

Immanuel Velikovsky

was wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velikovsky

Your Money

When Customer Service Is a Dead-End Street

By DAVID SEGAL | Jan 27, 2013

The Haggler goes to bat for a bank customer run ragged by its phone system.

Customer Relations; Mortgages; Pork; Foreclosures;

Customer service is a banks only excuse for existence.

Customer service is seen by management as a cost center to be minimized.

Customer service does nothing by policy from the top.

Write to the bank president.

He knows he is running a bank and not a private equity firm.

There is doubt as to the species of "Chicken McNuggets".

Remove the doubt on this pork product.

N.Y. / Region

40 Miles to Work, on a Bike

By ABIGAIL MEISEL | Jan 27, 2013

More people are riding their bikes into Manhattan, and even the freezing temperatures do not dissuade a few brave souls.

Bicycles and Bicycling; Commuting;

"“Bicycling in from New Jersey and other suburbs took off after the city passed a law requiring landlords to accommodate bikes in buildings,” said Mr. Kotch, referring to the Bicycle Access to Office Buildings Law, which went into effect in December 2009."

Real but slow progress.

George is doing better in the winter.

The Bicycle is a fair weather friend.

Technology

Apps and Other Digital Tools Lend a Hand to New Mothers

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER | Jan 24, 2013

Digital tools offer new mothers help with a range of tasks, including writing thank-you notes, getting back to the pre-baby weight, ordering diapers and other necessities, and calming the little one.

Computers and the Internet; Parenting; Mobile Applications; Babies and Infants;

Not as yet. Mothering is still a hands on craft.

This view is not respected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner_box

An operant conditioning chamber (also known as the Skinner box) is a laboratory apparatus used in the experimental analysis of behavior to study animal behavior. The operant conditioning chamber was created by B. F. Skinner while he was a graduate student at Harvard University (Masters in 1930 and doctorate in 1931). It is used to study both operant conditioning and classical conditioning.^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism

"Behaviorism (or behaviourism), is an approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory.^[1] It emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction to "mentalistic" psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary tenet of behaviorism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds.^[2] The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs.^[3]
From early psychology in the 19th century, the behaviorist school of thought ran concurrently and shared commonalities with the psychoanalytic and Gestalt movements in psychology into the 20th century; but also differed from the mental philosophy of the Gestalt psychologists in critical ways.^[4] Its main influences were Ivan Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning although he did not necessarily agree with behaviorism or behaviorists, Edward Lee Thorndike, John B. Watson who rejected introspective methods and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who conducted research on operant conditioning.^[5]
In the second half of the 20th century, behaviorism was largely eclipsed as a result of the cognitive revolution.^[6]^[7] While behaviorism and cognitive schools of psychological thought may not agree theoretically, they have complemented each other in practical therapeutic applications, such as in cognitive–behavioral therapy that has demonstrable utility in treating certain pathologies, such as simple phobias, PTSD, and addiction. In addition, behaviorism sought to create a comprehensive model of the stream of behavior from the birth of the human to his death (see Behavior analysis of child development)."
I can dig further.

World

Leading the Tunisian Agency That Once Jailed Him

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR | Jan 26, 2013

Ali Laarayedgh, now the interior minister of Tunisia, said that his prison experiences as a political activist make him sensitive to the abuse of power.

Capital Punishment; Torture; Demonstrations, Protests, and Riots;

This is GOP manipulation.

Ali Laarayedgh is an honorable man.
The fuss about our ambassador is attempted propaganda.

Earlier today.

Opinion

Successful and Schizophrenic

By ELYN R. SAKS | Jan 27, 2013

Some people with severe mental illness are capable of high levels of achievement.

Mental Health and Disorders; Schizophrenia; Psychology and Psychologists; Therapy and Rehabilitation;

Not my problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism

Science

An Ecolabel for McDonald's Fish Fare

By DAVID JOLLY | Jan 27, 2013

The company's offerings have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as responsibly harvested.

Accreditation; Fast Food Industry; Fish Farming; Fishing, Commercial; Labeling and Labels; Pollock (Fish);

Trivial.

Opinion