@10:20, 2/4/13

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The Agonist,  a blog from Austin, has died.
I will miss it.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/world/europe/richard-the-third-bones.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw

1

World

Felling Trees to Save Kashmir's Wullar Lake

By JOHN UPTON | Feb 3, 2013

Decades of planting willow trees has led to water shortages and shrinking marshes.

Glaciers; Lakes; Terrorism; Water Pollution; Wetlands; 

It might work.

There is a problem with the monsoon but less in Kashmir.

 

2

Business Day

Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

Feb 4, 2013

The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week.

Government Bonds; Tax Credits, Deductions and Exemptions; Banking and Financial Institutions; States (US); 

No information yet.   hopeful

3

World

Rise in Oil Tax Forces Greeks to Face Cold as Ancients Did

By SUZANNE DALEY | Feb 4, 2013

After a 450 percent increase, many residents have switched to firewood but still cannot keep warm, as smoke and logging raise environmental worries.

Trees and Shrubs; Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline; Heating; Sales and Excise Taxes; 

There is nothing romantic about depending on a wood fire to keep warm.

Greece and the euro must part.  The banks will not be paid.

4

U.S.

Vast Oil Reserve May Now Be Within Reach, and Battle Heats Up

By NORIMITSU ONISHI | Feb 4, 2013

Depost Monterey Shale, which could represent the future of California’s oil industry, is producing conflict between drillers and environmental interests wary of hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic Fracturing; Environment; Regulation and Deregulation of Industry; 

Lots of happy talk.

This will be expensive oil.  Our problem is not lack of expensive oil.

Our problem is fossil carbon burned.

The U.S. and Europe will be rebuilding most of the housing stock.

The governor of New York is proposing a buyout of flood damage.

 

5

World

As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts of a Golden Age

By LYDIA POLGREEN | Feb 4, 2013

Residents found ways to hide delicate artifacts from the Islamists who reigned over the city until last weekend, when fighters set fire to dozens of ancient manuscripts.

Manuscripts; Libraries and Librarians; Defense and Military Forces; Tombs and Tombstones; Tuareg (Ethnic Group); 

I wish the keepers luck.  I hope they add to the trove.

 

6

Health

Study Discovers Internal Trigger for Panic Attack in the Previously Fearless

By JAMES GORMAN | Feb 4, 2013

An experiment involving a woman incapable of experiencing fear because of brain damage suggests a different path for signals generated by internal bodily stress like heart attacks.

Brain; Fear (Emotion); Anxiety and Stress; 

I have establishes a bookmark folder "brain systems".

This suggests a new insight into the processing hierarchy.

It references a possible mechanism for PTSD.

7

World

North Korea Covers Tunnel at a Nuclear Site

By CHOE SANG-HUN | Feb 2, 2013

After threatening to conduct a nuclear test, North Korea is keeping intelligence analysts guessing when a blast might occur.

Nuclear Tests; Embargoes and Economic Sanctions; Arms Control and Limitation and Disarmament; Missiles and Missile Defense Systems;

We will detect the bang in detail as will the rest of the world.

If North Korea is modestly competent there will be nothing else to detect.

I would be very leery of blowing off a big fraction of my arsenal to no purpose.

 

8

World

Reformers Aim to Get China to Live Up to Own Constitution

By EDWARD WONG and JONATHAN ANSFIELD | Feb 4, 2013

The Constitution guarantees full powers for a representative legislature, the right to ownership of private property, and freedoms of speech, press and assembly.

Constitutions; Freedom of Speech and Expression; Reform and Reorganization; Law and Legislation; 

John Peter Zenger is still a hero.

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

9

Opinion

Nagging Concerns Before the Big Game

Feb 3, 2013

As President Obama pointed out, football must change because of the long-term damage from concussions.

Concussions; Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy; Football; Dementia; 

The NFL will play as long as money buys lives.  

I see no end of it.

 

10

Your Money

In the World Economy, the Ditch Is Never Far Away

By JEFF SOMMER | Feb 3, 2013

A Canadian economist compares the world economy to “a car being driven by a drunk” this is maybe only momentarily staying in the correct lane.

Economic Conditions and Trends; Quantitative Easing; Interest Rates; Stocks and Bonds;

This is the blind leading the blind.

I know better than to give financial advice.  I am always surprised By the behavior of the speculators.

 

11

Opinion

Stormy Weather: Blues in Winter

By AVITAL RONELL | Feb 2, 2013

Like many New Yorkers, I am having a delayed response to Hurricane Sandy. It continues to return, flooding my psyche, whenever events show up as severe and unyielding.

Hurricane Sandy (2012); Philosophy; Weather; 

Let us start on this with her professor:

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

I have very little patience with Derida.  He was a Nazi sympathizer and Jewish.  He spent his time trying to strip the Second World War of significance.  This is a terrible tool kit to assault a conflict between  natural processes and modern human processes.  

Storm Sandy was a natural event.  Such events have happened before and will happen again.  Storms like Sandy have been rare. The Mid Atlantic coasts  have not experienced one for several human generations.

Our problem is that we love the coast and want to live there. Our memories are no longer than our lives.  Opportunists built on the coast and people 

bought.  People who did not know and did not know to ask about storm risk.

That nature simply does not care about human structures and human lives

came as a shock and a revelation.

Sandy was weather.

Global warming, like age, has not killed us yet.  

It will kill us in its own time.  

We can prepare and we can attempt to not rush the process.

12

N.Y. / Region

Higher Flood-Zone Rebuilding Is Allowed

Feb 1, 2013

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s emergency executive order allows Hurricane Sandy building owners in new federal flood zones to rebuild higher without violating existing codes.

Hurricane Sandy (2012); Floods; Executive Orders; Disasters and Emergencies; 

Andrew Cuomo's  buy out is a better Idea.  If people will not leave this elevation will help some.

 

13

Business Day

Investigators Begin to Test Other Electrical Parts on the 787

By JAD MOUAWAD and CHRISTOPHER DREW | Feb 2, 2013

Regulators in Washington and Tokyo said they had no answers to explain why two batteries on Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner emitted fire or smoke.

Batteries; Airlines and Airplanes; Aviation Accidents and Safety; 

The investigators are thrashing.

Use a different battery.  These are not ready for a man rating.

 

14

U.S.

Judge Stops Censorship in Sept. 11 Case

By CHARLIE SAVAGE | Feb 1, 2013

The order from the judge, Col. James L. Pohl of the Army, followed a mysterious interruption on Monday of a feed from the military tribunal courtroom in Guantánamo Bay.

Military Tribunals; Censorship; September 11 (2001); Terrorism; 

I do not understand why these prisoners are denied the US courts.

 

15

Technology

Once BlackBerry Focused, a Campus Widens Its View

By IAN AUSTEN | Feb 4, 2013

The University of Waterloo, a world-class engineering school in Canada, is a feeder campus for big-name global tech companies like BlackBerry, a neighbor and Waterloo offshoot.

Colleges and Universities; Engineering and Engineers; Blackberry (Handheld Device); Labor and Jobs; 

The university seems to have the right idea.

I am still not sure about BlackBerry.  

They have been having a very tough time.

The product looks good.  The buzz before release is doubtful.

16

Opinion

Medical Pay Model: Hospitals and Doctors Weigh In

Feb 4, 2013

Spokesmen for hospital groups and the American Medical Association respond to a column by Bill Keller and an editorial.

Doctors; Hospitals; Health Insurance and Managed Care; Medicare; 

Careful analysis should precede risk and reward.  The care has been separated from the billing and from the cost. 

17

World

U.S. Offers Medical Aid for Victims of Club Fire in Brazil

By REUTERS | Feb 2, 2013

The United States government is shipping emergency medical supplies to Brazil to treat survivors of a nightclub fire who are suffering from exposure to cyanide gas released in the blaze, officials said.

United States International Relations; Fires and Firefighters; Humanitarian Aid; 

Cyanide kills in about ten seconds or it does not kill.

The victims need treatment but not for cyanide.

 

18

U.S.

Tennessee: Grand Jury Foreman Has His Own Record

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Feb 1, 2013

Nashville’s top prosecutor said Thursday he was expecting a flood of appeals of criminal cases after it was discovered that a grand jury foreman was a felon and thus ineligible for jury service.

Decisions and Verdicts; Jury System; Crime and Criminals; 

Not the worst blooper I ever heard of.  

This set of appeals will be tossed out.

The grand jury does not prosecute or otherwise determine guilt or innocence.

 

19

World

Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, American Who Aided Britain in War, Dies at 103

By DOUGLAS MARTIN | Feb 3, 2013

A Manhattan socialite, she started Bundles for Britain, which became an enormous World War II relief operation.

Deaths (Obituaries); Philanthropy; World War II (1939-45); 

I can't promise such a life.  You will have to build your own.

 

20

Opinion

The Night Writer

By JONATHAN BAUMBACH | Feb 4, 2013

They were his sentences and he could do with them as he liked, couldn't he? A short fiction by Jonathan Baumbach.

Anxiety and Stress; Dreams; Sleep; Writing and Writers; 

Art but not truth.

I will sleep now.





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