NEW THINGS: @10:12 6/12/13

N.Y. / Region

Bloomberg Outlines $20 Billion Storm Protection Plan

By KIA GREGORY and MARC SANTORA | Jun 12, 2013

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled a far-reaching proposal that included building a network of barriers, fortifying the power grid and retrofitting older buildings.

Hurricane Sandy (2012); Area Planning and Renewal; Infrastructure (Public Works);

Politically Bloomberg must make this noise.

There is much that can be done to get New York City through the next hundred years.

There will be a catastrophic end.

"In the long run we are all dead".

I would like to leave the world a better place.

Business Day

Health Care’s Overlooked Cost Factor

By EDUARDO PORTER | Jun 12, 2013

While efforts to rein in medical costs focus on waste, hospitals’ market concentration receives less attention.

Hospitals; Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates); Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures; Antitrust Laws and Competition Issues; Health Insurance and Managed Care; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010);

Yes.

It is more than time this set of facts entered the discussion of Health Care.

Business Day

Robert W. Fogel, Nobel-Winning Economist, Dies at 86

By ROBERT D. HERSHEY Jr. | Jun 12, 2013

Mr. Fogel was widely known for work that aroused objections if not open hostility through his pioneering use of cliometrics, which applies economic theory and statistic methods to history.

Economics (Theory and Philosophy); Deaths (Obituaries); Slavery; Civil War (US) (1861-65); Statistics;

Perhaps the best description of Professor Fogel's work is "incomplete".

I have not read it, much less studied it.

I am not prepared to debate his conclusions.

I think I admire his methods.

The project would make a lifetime hobby.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Fogel

Opinion

Out of India's Trash Heaps, More Than a Shred of Dignity

By SARIKA BANSAL | Jun 12, 2013

Pune, India, has developed a a waste-management approach that is improving the environment, as well as the livelihoods and social standing of some of the city’s poorest inhabitants.

Environment; Labor and Jobs; Recycling of Waste Materials; Waste Materials and Disposal;

There is an economic bind here.

Trash removal is an externalized cost because the cost of recycling is greater than the return for recycling. If it does not pay to do it in-house it is very hard to make it pay on the outside.

Science

Turn Off or Leave Running?

By C. CLAIBORNE RAY | Jun 11, 2013

The Consumer Product Safety Commission advises that devices like dishwashers, washing machines and even cellphones be shut down overnight to prevent overheating and fires.

Dishwashers and Dishwashing; Home Appliances; Consumer Protection; Fires and Firefighters; Accidents and Safety;

I find I do not use the heater in the dishwasher. no temperature boost, no heated dry.

Asside from that I am rather casual about leaving things powered up or plugged in.

I do not run electric heat unattended. Most lights get turned off.

I let the computers go to sleep mode.

My old cell phone does not overcharge its battery.

Please yourself. Put the phone on a saucer if it worries you.

Job Market

That Entrepreneurial Itch

By SCOTT BAXTER | Jun 9, 2013

The founder of SA Baxter, a custom hardware company, has always liked to build things. That love now extends to creating companies.

Executives and Management (Theory); Careers and Professions; Entrepreneurship; New Models, Design and Products;

I would rather do it than hire it done.

The process rather than the business fascinates me.

Opinion

Delivering Water From Disaster

By CHARLES J. VOROSMARTY and CLAUDIA PAHL-WOSTL | Jun 11, 2013

A harrowing panorama of our conflicted relationship with water is unfolding in sensational spills and millions of misguided decisions.

Water; Water Pollution; Environment; Conservation of Resources;

Aside from make better use of wetlands this is just a dire warning.

N.Y. / Region

Groups Press City Council on Budget for Homeless

By E. C. GOGOLAK | Jun 12, 2013

There are roughly 3,800 homeless youths on the streets of New York City, said the Empire State Coalition, yet only 250 city-financed youth shelter beds are available.

Homeless Persons; Youth; City Councils; Budgets and Budgeting; Human Trafficking; Prostitution;

They should not have to ask.

Business Day

Discontent With Chief Is Seen in Votes by Wal-Mart Shareholders

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD | Jun 11, 2013

The shareholders’ vote tallies will not force any change at Wal-Mart, but they highlight support for several proposals regarding broader disclosure and changes to the board.

Boards of Directors; Shareholder Rights and Activism;

An unhappy shareholder is best advised to sell the stock.

A coup against the Waltons is not going to happen

Booming

Tips on Archiving Family History, Part 3

By THE NEW YORK TIMES | Jun 12, 2013

Bertram Lyons, an archivist, addresses the preservation of documents and video and the importance of passing along memories.

Baby Boomers; Archives and Records; Families and Family Life; History (Academic Subject); Video Recordings and Downloads; Manuscripts; Audio Recordings and Downloads;

They are my memories. I shall use them as I see fit.

Opinion

Healing the Overwhelmed Physician

By JERRY AVORN | Jun 12, 2013

Doctors also need help making sense of the latest medical studies.

Doctors; Drugs (Pharmaceuticals); Medicine and Health; Diabetes;

Apply the form to elementary and secondary public education.

There are some other factors that enter.

It is not so much that is new as everything is new to the student.

The student is always overwhelmed or bored.

Booming

A Gay Dad Wonders How to Respond to Nosy Questions About His Son

By STEVEN PETROW | Jun 11, 2013

Some Fathers’ Day advice for same-sex parents (and their children) getting intrusive questions.

Baby Boomers; Homosexuality; Parenting; Adoptions; Customs, Etiquette and Manners; Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships; Father's Day;

"First catch your rabbit." Instructions on making a rabbit stew.

Any child we raise will obviously not be ours by blood.

Science

An Old Torah, Older Sunken Boats and a Seriously Old Primate

By JENNIFER A. KINGSON | Jun 11, 2013

Recent developments in health and science news. This week: discoveries from an Italian library, British waters, and a slab of rock in China.

Science and Technology; Medicine and Health; Paleontology; Archaeology; Brain; Robots and Robotics;

Dugouts are very durable. They are usually too heavy to carry far.

N.Y. / Region

Ethnicity, Class and Suicide Lead a Hamptons School to Reach Out

By JIM RUTENBERG | Jun 11, 2013

An ethnic integration problem that had been festering in the background for years at East Hampton High School has been brought to the forefront by student suicides.

Education (K-12); Hispanic-Americans; Suicides and Suicide Attempts; Immigration and Emigration;

Opinion

Blowing a Whistle

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN | Jun 12, 2013

Respecting and caring about civil liberties means supporting the government programs needed to prevent another 9/11.

Terrorism; September 11 (2001); Surveillance of Citizens by Government; Civil Rights and Liberties; Privacy; Whistle-Blowers;

I will not pardon Thomas Friedman.

There is no way to anticipate the next successful terrorist action.

If the government wants a database of all the phone calls in the world

They can have it. They must not have it in secret.

Conspiracies can go through the mail as they have since the post began.

N.Y. / Region

Cuomo Pushes Legislators on Elections Financing

By THOMAS KAPLAN | Jun 12, 2013

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo acknowledged that the measure was a long shot in the waning days of this year’s legislative session.

Elections; Campaign Finance; State Legislatures;

Not likely. Public financing would limit the power of money.

Opinion

Raising the Cigarette Tax

Jun 12, 2013

Susan Liss of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids responds to a column by Gail Collins.

Smoking and Tobacco; Taxation; Sales and Excise Taxes; Children and Childhood;

Not a bad idea.

Health

Tiny Patients, Major Goals

By GINA KOLATA | Jun 11, 2013

The “mouse hospital” at Beth Israel Deaconess and similar ones elsewhere are at the forefront of a new approach to studying human cancers, namely prostate cancer in men.

Mice; Prostate Cancer; Tumors; Research; Prostate Gland; Testosterone; Cancer;

Sounds hopeful.

Business Day

Accounts and People of Note in the Advertising Industry

By THE NEW YORK TIMES | Jun 10, 2013

ABC Regional Sports and Entertainment Sales, New York, signed a sales and marketing agreement to collaborate on a digital out-of-home LED network in major cities around the country.

Advertising and Marketing; Television; Appointments and Executive Changes; E-Books and Readers;

I just don't want to play.

Booming

A Second Act for Biosphere 2

By MICHAEL WINERIP | Jun 10, 2013

Retro Report revisits an experiment in the Arizona desert in 1991 that sought to test the limits of sustainability. Deemed a fiasco, the project had a surprising afterlife.

Environment; Global Warming; Mars (Planet);

The drama failed but the science continues.

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

@19:07

N.Y. / Region

Actors Make Videos in Push for Campaign Finance Reform

By JESSE MCKINLEY | Jun 12, 2013

The videos, available online, are intended to build pressure on New York State politicians were released a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled a bill to establish a public financing system for state elections.

Campaign Finance; Elections, State Legislature; Law and Legislation; Political Advertising; Reform and Reorganization;

A good idea with no constituency.