Wednesday, June 19, 2013

@9:59, 6/17/13

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1
U.S.

An Arid Arizona City Manages Its Thirst

There is a certain curiosity about the way water is used in Phoenix, which gets barely eight inches of rain a year but is not necessarily parched.
Conservation of Resources; Water; Deserts; Shortages; Area Planning and Renewal; 

Brandy Kelso can't do arithmetic.
Developers have trouble with the idea that there is no more water.
 
2
Business Day

This Week in Small Business: Analytics and Hashtags

Twitter introduces analytics and Facebook introduces hashtags. Old Spock battles the new Spock (in a well-received new commercial). Do you think the cloud is more secure than your own environment?
Entrepreneurship; Small Business; Start-ups; United States Economy; 

Just a waste of time for me.
 
3
Health

Medicare Panel Urges Cuts to Hospital Payments for Services Doctors Offer for Less

A Medicare payment-advisory panel said Friday that Congress should move to cut payments to hospitals for many services that can be provided at lower cost in doctors’ offices.
Medicare; Health Insurance and Managed Care; Hospitals; Doctors; 

The Medicare payment-advisory panel is assuming a nonexistent market.
We are in transition between three systems of payment; private insurance,
public insurance and charity.  The private practices have been creaming off 
work to pay their costs.  The hospitals have been shifting costs onto insured patients to cover the costs of charity and management.  There is an income stream that does not yet exist to cover the costs of charity. The advisory panel wants the benefit of the charity stream before the stream exists.

4
Opinion

Greedy Gardeners

The activists campaigning for urban farms should not forget the wildflowers, bees and butterflies that are critical to our survival.
Gardens and Gardening; Agriculture and Farming; Urban Areas; Bees; Insects; 

And greedy naturalists.  Real estate has no place for nature.

5
Opinion

The Next Storm: New York Prepares, but the Rest?

The Nature Conservancy in New York and the Center for Biological Diversity discuss Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s initiative.
Weather; Floods; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; 

Nature does not care how high the water rises.

New York City has no space for low carbon emission systems on land.
I am thinking of the "Cholera Bank".

A nuclear plant constructed in a caisson sitting in the bottom and piercing the surface. 


 
6
N.Y. / Region

Seeking Exposé, Students End Up in Handcuffs

Two journalists from West Islip High School on Long Island set out to examine school security measures, but they were prosecuted for trespassing and their article was quashed.
Education (K-12); Security and Warning Systems; Newspapers; 

Intrepid kid reporters discover political sensitivity.
 
7
U.S.

Democrats Quietly Renew Push for Gun Measures

Just months after it was defeated in the Senate, delicate talks have begun on a new background-check measure that advocates hope could change enough votes from no to yes.
Gun Control; Law and Legislation; Newtown, Conn, Shooting (2012); 

Good luck.  
There will be no gun control legislation until the power structure changes.
 
8
N.Y. / Region

Push for Speed Cameras Turns to School Zones

A leader of the State Senate, Jeffrey Klein, is adopting a new strategy to try to build support for a languishing bill to install speed-tracking cameras: limiting cameras to some school zones where speeding is a problem.
Speed Limits and Speeding; Cameras; Law and Legislation; Traffic Accidents and Safety; 

I don't want to get involved with this fight.
For parents there is no such thing as excess safety. 
Drivers hate speed zones.
 
9
Opinion

Talking Climate Online With David Roberts of Grist

A “very serious person” and “dirty hippy” talk climate change.
Blogs and Blogging (Internet); Energy and Power; Global Warming; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; 

I have nothing to contribute. 
I want to eliminate greenhouse gas gains.  
I don't much care how.  
Better is not good enough.
I like my creature comforts.
I am conflicted.  I can live with that.

10
Books

English Gavels Resound in a Trove Headed to Yale

Yale University has acquired a vast and renowned collection of English lawbooks and legal manuscripts assembled by the barrister Anthony Taussig.
Libraries and Librarians; Books and Literature; Legal Profession; Manuscripts; 

The Bodleian ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodleian_Library ) will want them if sanity returns to Britain.   
I doubt there will be the means soon.

11
N.Y. / Region

Bloomberg Plan Aims to Require Food Composting

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has tried to curb soda consumption, ban smoking in parks and encourage bike riding, is taking on a new cause: requiring New Yorkers to separate their food scraps for composting.
Compost; Waste Materials and Disposal; Recycling of Waste Materials; 

This will make a stink.
The trick will be sorting out the plastic.
 
12
Business Day

Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week.
Stocks and Bonds; Tax Credits, Deductions and Exemptions; Economic Conditions and Trends; States (US); 

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/europe-in-depression/

"June 17, 2013, 12:01 pm

Europe in Depression

I’m in Paris for an economics conference, opening tonight with what is billed as a debate (although it’s more of a dialogue) over European economics with Mario Monti. So it’s worth looking at the ever-valuable Eurostat (pdf) for an update on Europe’s truly remarkable performance since the crisis struck:
Actually, it’s not just the performance — with employment, after a slight uptick, back to declining 5 full years after the recession began — that’s remarkable; so is the fact that, as far as I can tell, European leaders don’t see this performance as a sign that there is anything fundamentally wrong with their policies, the structure of the euro system, or both."

"June 16, 2013, 5:31 pm

Inflation Nation Not

Brad DeLong has a fairly long, intricate piece keying off what looked like a prediction by John Cochrane, early in the Great Recession, that the Fed’s expansion of the monetary base would lead to high inflation. Brad spends a fair bit of time on various excuses — was it really a prediction? — but I think that’s beside the main point, which is that all the people predicting high inflation four years ago were right to do so, given their models. And the lesson of low inflation — a lesson most of them refuse to learn — is that their models were wrong.
Basically, many people on the right had and have a supply-side view of the slump. This comes in different versions: there’s the view that unemployment benefits and Obamacare are reducing labor supply; there’s the Austrian view that the bubble left us with the wrong capital structure; I suspect there are other versions I’m missing. But under any supply-side interpretation, the Fed’s decision to respond by trying to pump up demand, which it has done by vastly increasing the monetary base, ought to have been inflationary.
Of course it wasn’t — which is what people from my side of the argument predicted in advance, because we recognized that collapsing demand had pushed us into a liquidity trap in which the Fed’s problem was lack of traction, not inflation.
The disappointing thing is, as I’ve already suggested, that almost nobody has been induced by this dramatic failure of prediction — or the similar error on interest rates — to change views, and possibly even concede that the Keynesians might have a point."

13
U.S.

Louisiana: One Killed and Five Hurt In Second Chemical Plant Blast

One person was killed and eight people were injured in a chemical plant explosion in Donaldsonville, La., on Friday night, the state police said.
Explosions; Deaths (Fatalities); Chemicals; Labor and Jobs; 

Just running cheap.  
These make the case for regulation and inspection.

14
Magazine

What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions?

A study that explores abortion’s impact by looking at women who get to the clinic too late.
Abortion; Birth Control and Family Planning; Psychology and Psychologists; 

This is a baseline study.
We don't know yet.
It can be bad, it can be good.
There is statistical evidence that unwanted children are likely to be trouble.
It is the woman's call always.
 
15
Opinion

Coming Together on Prison Reform

Responses from liberals and others to Richard A. Viguerie’s Op-Ed essay, “Conservative Case for Prison Reform.”
Prisons and Prisoners; Crime and Criminals; Conservatism (US Politics); 

Note is made of the cognitive dissonance.
 
16
Opinion

That Extra Hurdle at the Airport

A new report seriously questions whether the behavioral detection program is objective or worth the cost.
Airport Security; Racial Profiling; Airports; 

Some of us are not masochists.
 
17
World

Another Garment Factory Scare in Bangladesh

A fire at a plant in Ashulia raised new questions about safety conditions less than two months after the collapse of a factory building claimed more than 1,100 lives.
Factories and Manufacturing; Accidents and Safety; Fashion and Apparel; Fires and Firefighters; Textiles; 

Just a scare this time.
Unions will protect the workers and move the manufacturers offshore.
"Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains".

It occurs to me that jobs and industry are inseparably paired.
 
18
Opinion

Reading Marx in Tehran

Iran’s Islamic revolution has forgotten about the working class.
Elections; Political Prisoners; Torture; Embargoes and Economic Sanctions; Economic Conditions and Trends; 

This is a religious insurrection.
The Iranian regime is not liberal.
 
19
Business Day

The Declining Demand for Husbands

The marriage market might work better if men were more flexible about changing gender roles and more willing to help out with family care, an economist writes.
Economic Conditions and Trends; Marriages; Men and Boys; Women and Girls;

"As same-sex couples have profoundly demonstrated, the demand for marriage is not based on some natural sexual division of labor, but on the desire to give personal commitments public recognition."

20
U.S.

Kerry Associate Chosen for Post on Closing Guantánamo Prison

Cliff Sloan, a lawyer with a varied career in government, is expected to be named the next envoy to the military jail on Monday.
Appointments and Executive Changes; Shutdowns (Institutional); Detainees; 

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/Cliff+Sloan%2C

No further word.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

@19:19

1
Books

English Gavels Resound in a Trove Headed to Yale

2
N.Y. / Region

Bloomberg Plan Aims to Require Food Composting

4
Opinion

Talking Climate Online With David Roberts of Grist

5
Business Day

Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

6
Opinion

Coming Together on Prison Reform

7
Opinion

That Extra Hurdle at the Airport

8
Magazine

What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions?


The relationship of S. and her child is instructive.
 
9
World

Another Garment Factory Scare in Bangladesh

 
 
10
11
Opinion

Reading Marx in Tehran

12
Business Day

The Declining Demand for Husbands

13
U.S.

In Gospel Songs of Yore, Clues to the Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.

Jonathan Rieder of Barnard College argues that the public Dr. King cannot be understood without understanding how he preached to black congregations.
Civil Rights and Liberties; Religion and Belief; Blacks; 

Good of him to sort it out and index the result.
Religion was one of the few tools of organization allowed.

14
World

4 Dutch Suspects Arrested in Widening Exam Scandal

The posting of one French exam online has broadened into a larger cheating case.
Education; Frauds and Swindling; Education (K-12); 

This is one way to look good in the papers.

Texas leads Georgia in the plagiarism stakes.
Politics is causal.
 
15
Opinion

Release the Facts About the I.R.S. Scandal

House Republicans talk about a White House connection, despite evidence to the contrary. It’s time they released the transcripts from their investigation.
Internal Revenue Service Political Profiling; United States Politics and Government; Tea Party Movement; 

"The oversight committee’s investigators spoke to the screening manager in Cincinnati — a self-described conservative Republican — who said that the idea for the Tea Party scrutiny originated in his office, not in Washington, and had no political motivation. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, says this is clearly established in the transcript of the interview with the manager, and by other employees in the office. Last week, he wrote a letter to Mr. Issa, demanding that the full transcripts of all interviews be released, so the public can be told what committee members have already seen."

"Witch hunt"

16
 
Health

Behind Scolding of the F.D.A., a Complex and Gentle Judge

Judge Edward R. Korman, who berated the government for limiting the use of a morning-after pill, calls himself “a compassionate conservative,” but his politics are hard to pin down.
Plan B (Contraceptive); Courts and the Judiciary; 

The Obama defense was "Please, please doan throw me in dat briar patch".
             Uncle Remus  Joel Chandler Harris
 
17
 
U.S.

Fears of National ID With Immigration Bill

Drivers’ license information of most Americans would be accessible through a nationwide computer network if the immigration legislation pending before the Senate becomes law.
United States Politics and Government; Immigration and Emigration; Law and Legislation; Identification Devices; Illegal Immigration; 

Well founded fears.
 
18
Opinion

The Faulty Logic of the 'Math Wars'

The “reform” strategy for teaching math that has taken American schools by storm lacks a claim to the progressive values that are its chief selling point.
Calculators; Education (K-12); Mathematics; Philosophy; Reform and Reorganization; 

Good points.
I find that I have no solid concept of "progressive".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism
-Things can be better.  Here is a way. -
Most confusing.

19
Business Day

In Utah, a Local Hero Accused

A wealthy Web marketer was known for acts of generosity. But the government, which has charged him with defrauding customers, sees him in a different light.
E-Commerce; Suits and Litigation (Civil); Philanthropy; Computers and the Internet; 
Several nasty things have come out of Utah.
I am trying to distinguish greed and selfishness.  Possible.
I am going to be interested in the results of the trial.
The government may have to prosecute for non payment of income tax.
Most people do not read the disclosures.
 
20
Movies

A Rebel Filmmaker Tilts Conservative

“Pandora’s Promise,” a documentary advocating nuclear energy, has been screened at festivals that, its maker feels, support the opposing position.
Movies; Documentary Films and Programs; Nuclear Energy; Environment;

 I am not much interested in the politics of festivals.

Nuclear power is far from as good as it can be. 
Operations have skimped on the design and engineering.
The last plants built are far better than the first ones.
Let's have the second and third thoughts and build another crop.
France has been building recently.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_france
Interesting article.

Verizon has been abusing us.






 

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