December 2010
63 posts
Rewriting the Civil War? Let's read what they said...
TeachingAmericanHistory.org
Cornerstone Speech Alexander H. Stephens March 21, 1861 Savannah, Georgia
When perfect quiet is restored, I shall proceed. I cannot speak so long as there is any noise or confusion. I shall take my time I feel quite prepared to spend the night with you if necessary. I very much regret that everyone who desires cannot hear what I have to say. Not that I have any...
Help the 99ers
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THE 99ERS
From the BLS, this table documenting the number of unemployed workers, grouped by number of weeks of unemployment. (source: Current Population Survey, Table 38)
Note: other sources report significantly different (and larger) numbers using different methodologies. The BLS attaches this disclaimer to their...
Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink
Writers are bypassing the traditional route to bookstore shelves and self-publishing their works online. By selling directly to readers, authors get a larger slice of the sale price.
Science fiction writers Greg Bear, left, and Neal Stephenson created a subscription-based historical novel about Genghis Khan’s conquests. (Kevin P. Casey, For...
How unemployment is becoming an age-old problem
Behind the horrible jobless numbers lies another story: if you’re over 50, you soon wonder whether you will ever work again
Naomi Cohn
guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 December 2010 14.00 GMT
Article history
Job-seeker Maurice Jones looks through listings at a career centre, in Oakland, California, as the latest figures for US jobless...
Unemployed may have to volunteer to get benefit checks
Unemployment insurance policy form By Jody Lowery, Reporter Last Updated: Thursday, December 23, 2010
Get a job or get ready for community service is the newest motto of Governor-elect Rick Scott’s transition team.
Floridians receiving unemployment benefits may have to work for their money under the incoming Scott administration.
...
Print | Close
Is Chinese the New Language of the Internet?
By Nicholas Jackson
English is often considered the need-to-know language for conducting international business, but how will the expansion of the Internet into rural communities in China and India affect that? Thisinfographic created by The Next Web Asia using data from Internet World Stats shows that China has added 36 million Internet...
16 U.S. Cities That Could Face Bankruptcy in 2011
Posted Dec 21, 2010 06:06pm EST by Gus Lubin and Leah Goldman in Recession, Politics Provided by the Business Insider, Dec. 21, 2010:
2011 will be the year of the municipal default. At least that’s what analysts like Meredith Whitney predict, as do bond investors that have been fleeing the muni market.
There are many reasons to be...
Daily chart
Youth unemployment
Young and jobless
Dec 16th 2010, 13:11 by The Economist online
The ratio of youth to adult unemployment worsens
THE global recession has hit young workers particularly hard. In the mostly rich countries of the OECD, the youth-unemployment rate (the unemployed as a proportion of the labour force aged 15-24) increased by 4.9 percentage points between 2007 and...
Robert Reich: The Attack on American Education →
robertreich:
Over the long term, the only way we’re going to raise wages, grow the economy, and improve American competitiveness is by investing in our people — especially their educations.
You’ve probably seen the reports. American students rank low on international standards of educational performance….
November 18, 2010
Axis of Depression
By PAUL KRUGMAN
What do the government of China, the government of Germany and the Republican Party have in common? They’re all trying to bully the Federal Reserve into calling off its efforts to create jobs. And the motives of all three are highly suspect.
It’s not as if the Fed is doing anything radical. It’s true that the Fed normally conducts monetary...
The Quotables Blog: Top Quotes of 2010 →
quotablesblog:
In the News in 2010
[The Burj Khalifa is] the tallest building ever created by the hand of man. This great project deserves to carry the name of a great man. Today I inaugurate Burj Khalifa. — Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj…
Five superbug defenses that can keep you from dying in the hospital
By Boonsri Dickinson | Dec 22, 2010 |
He may have not realized it, but Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered a mold that could save millions of lives. On 1928, while in his lab, he discovered penicillin. The active ingredient in the mold Penicillium notatum was an infection-fighting agent that could kill colonies of the...
Robert Reich: Why Obama Wins on Foreign Policy and... →
robertreich:
Two important victories for President Obama this week — the New Start anti-ballistic missile treaty with Russia to reduce weapons and re-start inspections, and the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell after a 17-year ban on gays in the military.
Why have Senate Republicans been willing to break ranks on…
Electro-hypercannon could bring back the...
By Lewis Page • Get more from this author
Posted in Science, 13th December 2010 12:53 GMT
The US Navy, continuing its quest for a hypervelocity cannon which might restore the big-gun dreadnought to its lost dominion over the seas, has carried out a new and record-breaking railgun test.
This latest trial firing pushed muzzle energy to a blistering 33 megajoules (MJ). The muzzle...
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Pretty Good for Government Work
Robert Grossman
By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: November 16, 2010
Related
Times Topic: Warren E. Buffett
DEAR Uncle Sam,
My mother told me to send thank-you notes promptly. I’ve been remiss.
Let me remind you why I’m writing. Just over two years ago, in September 2008, our country faced an economic meltdown. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the...
Robert Reich: The Real Reason Why Republicans... →
robertreich:
Has the President’s olive branch on extending the Bush tax breaks for the rich opened a new era in bi-partisanship? Doubtful.
Anyone who isn’t worried about loose nukes – nuclear warheads that can travel long distances, and could find their way into terrorist hands – should have his head…
Science of man-made life can proceed: White House
Dec 16 11:10 AM US/Eastern
The White House on Thursday said the controversial field of synthetic biology, or manipulating the DNA of organisms to forge new life forms, poses limited risks and should be allowed to proceed. An expert panel convened by President Barack Obama advised vigilance and self-regulation as scientists seeks ways to create new organisms that could spark useful...
News Corpse / By Mark Howard
Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid
A new survey of American voters shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources.December 15, 2010 | Advertisement
Yet another study has been released proving that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed...
Robert Reich: The Year Washington Became "Business... →
robertreich:
History will record 2010 as the year Washington became “business friendly.”
Not that it was all that unfriendly before. Some would say the bailouts of Wall Street, AIG, GM, and Chysler were about as friendly as it can get. In addition, Washington gave windfalls to drug companies and health…
Want to Join a Corporate Board? 7 Tips
By Kimberly Weisul | December 15, 2010
Everyone knows that getting appointed to a corporate board can be a huge boost to your career. What’s less well-known is the role that flattery plays in getting nominated to a board seat. Now two business-school professors, Ithai Stern, of the Kellogg School of Management, and James Westphal, of the University of...
Benefits: Jobless relieved life raft still afloat
(AP) – 12 hours ago
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kimberly Smith holds up the piece of paper that is the only thing keeping her from bankruptcy: an application for extended unemployment benefits. She’s not happy that she needs it. And she’s upset that it was nearly taken away.
“I do deserve it,” the 49-year-old says. “I’ve done everything I could to try and get a job. I...
From: www.cio.com
Why IT Jobs Are Never Coming Back
– Stephanie Overby, CIO
December 09, 2010
The combination of more automation, increased offshoring, and better global IT infrastructure has taken its toll on the U.S. IT profession, resulting in a net loss of 1.5 million corporate IT jobs over the last decade, according to recent research from IT consultancy and benchmarking provider The...
Unemployment
FRIDAY, DEC 17, 2010 07:01 ET
Why the “lazy jobless” myth persists
We’re asked to believe that the 15 million jobless Americans are all George Costanzas
BY DAVID SIROTA iStockphoto/Spauln
During the recent fight over extending unemployment benefits, conservatives trotted out the shibboleth that says the program fosters sloth. Sen. Judd Gregg, for instance,...
DECEMBER 18, 2010
Your Apps Are Watching You
A WSJ Investigation finds that iPhone and Android apps are breaching the privacy of smartphone users
By SCOTT THURM and YUKARI IWATANI KANE
Few devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, current location, often the owner’s real name—even a unique ID number that can never be changed or...
Book Review: Black Faces in White Places Posted By Alfred Edmond, Jr. On November 4, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
[1]Much has been made—and rightfully so—of the need for America’s institutions to embrace diversity and inclusion in anticipation of the ‘browning’ of America. However, not enough has been provided in the way of survival and success strategies for those...
A Physicist Solves the City
Photo Illustration by Hubert Blanz
By JONAH LEHRER
Published: December 17, 2010
Geoffrey West doesn’t eat lunch. His doctor says he has a mild allergy to food; meals make him sleepy and nauseated. When West is working — when he’s staring at some scribbled equations on scratch paper or gazing out his office window at the high desert in New Mexico — he subsists on black tea and nuts. His gray...
Charlie White
5 Unusual Ways to Use Dropbox You Might Not Have Thought Of
Dropbox has just been upgraded to version 1.0, so we thought we’d take a look at some great ways to use it that might not have occurred to you.
A free Dropbox account allows users to store up to 2GB worth of files and access them from any other Linux, Mac or Windows machine running the Dropbox application. Or, those...
How Our Brains Threaten Democracy: The Logic...
By Stephen Dufrechou
NEWS JUNKIE POST
Dec 13, 2010 at 11:55 am
One the founding notions of modern liberal democracies is that the citizenry, and their representatives, need only call on their rational faculties when debating political matters. Accordingly, this logic allowed Thomas Jefferson to state, ”Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government”. In...
Too Nice to Land a Job
November 10, 2010
You are reading a letter of recommendation that praises a candidate for a faculty job as being “caring,” “sensitive,” “compassionate,” or a “supportive colleague.” Whom do you picture?
New research suggests that to faculty search committees, such words probably conjure up a woman — and probably a candidate who...
Robert Reich: The New Tax Deal: Reaganomics Redux →
robertreich:
More than thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan came to Washington intent on reducing taxes on the wealthy and shrinking every aspect of government except defense.
The new tax deal embodies the essence of Reaganomics.
It will not stimulate the economy.
A disproportionate share of the $858 billion…
Using Waste, Swedish City Cuts Its Fossil Fuel Use
Johan Spanner for The New York Times
As part of its citywide system, Kristianstad burns wood waste like tree prunings and scraps from flooring factories to power an underground district heating grid. More Photos »
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: December 10, 2010
KRISTIANSTAD, Sweden — When this city vowed a decade ago to wean itself from fossil fuels, it was a lofty aspiration, like...
Swedish city ditches fossil fuels by drawing energy from waste
By Andrew Nusca | Dec 13, 2010
The southern Swedish town of Kristianstad has almost completely done away with fossil fuels, using instead waste — from manure to kitchen scraps to animal byproducts — for energy.
Wonderfully described in a New York Times article on Friday, Kristianstad — a town of 80,000 residents that specializes...
The 99ers
By The Economic Collapse Blog (Reporter) Contributor profile | More stories Sun Dec 12 2010 20:04
How much have things changed in America when we have to invent a new word to describe the hordes of Americans that have exhausted two years of unemployment benefits and yet still have not been able to find a new job? In America today, there are at least 1.5...
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010, 6:00 AM
How Many Jobs Do We Need?
By NANCY FOLBRE
Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The answer to how many jobs the United States needs depends on how you define “we” and how you define need.
People who have secure jobs may not be too worried about employment levels. Some may even anticipate a comfortable ride over the next...
Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees
BY ARIEL SCHWARTZFri Dec 10, 2010
The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined—electromagnetic...
Robert Reich: The Why-Should-I-Get-Out-Of-My-Chair... →
robertreich:
In the 2010 midterm elections Democrats suffered from a so-called “enthusiasm gap.”
If Dems agree to the tax plan just negotiated by the White House with Republican leaders, they’ll face a “why-should-I-get-up-out-of-my-chair” gap that will make 2010’s Dem enthusiasm seem like a pep rally by…
Why AIDS doesn’t make headlines
Posted By Richard Ashby-Leeds On December 1, 2010 @ 12:07 pm In Top Stories | 1 Comment
U. LEEDS (UK) — Media coverage of HIV/AIDS has fallen by more than 70 percent in developed countries over the last 20 years, particularly in French- and U.S.-based newspapers.
An international research team looked at approximately 69,000,000 articles in 410,000 newspaper issues. The results are...
“Turn down your thermostats? Buy a smaller car? Conserve? I have spent quite a...”
– Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy—the company that owns the Upper Big Branch mine that exploded in April and killed 29 coal miners. Blankenship announced his retirement last week shortly after an article in Rolling Stone called him “the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with the business and...
“This type of language sounds awful and is very disappointing, but it does not...”
– Goldman Sachs, responding to questions from the Financial Times regarding newly discovered emails between Goldman traders discussing a strategy in 2007 to drive down the price of credit default swaps “to cause maximum pain” and make people “totally demoralised.” (via officialssay)
Robert Reich: Why Democrats Should Disregard Bill... →
robertreich:
Bill Clinton seems the perfect validator for Barack Obama — which is why the President is utilizing the former president for selling his tax deal. After all, the economy boomed when Clinton was president and 22 million net new jobs were created. What’s more, Bill Clinton was reelected — even…
Cary Clack: Young black men need role models
Published: 12:00 a.m., Saturday, December 4, 2010
“The nation’s young Black males are in a state of crisis. They do not have the same opportunities as their male or female counterparts across the country. Their infant mortality rates are higher, and their access to health careis more limited. They are more likely to live in single-parent homes and less likely to participate in...
“Look Sarah, its a Democratic Death Panel, oh wait she’s a...”
– “It’s just an unfortunate situation and my heart goes to his family and certainly to his five children. The bottom line is the state only has so much money and we can only provide so much optional types of care and those were one of the options that we had taken liberty to discard, to...
Jobless Recovery?: 25 Unemployment Statistics That Are Almost Too Depressing To Read
Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That’s right - even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that “the recession is over”, the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? The truth is that there should...
Everything You Need To Know About World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Next week Tonight, the world of Warcraft will change forever with the release of Cataclysm. Here’s everything you need to know before Deathwing the Destroyer comes over and trashes the place. [Republished for the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.]
What Is Cataclysm?
Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for...
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate ReleaseDecember 07, 2010
Fact Sheet on the Framework Agreement on Middle Class Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance
The framework agreement announced by the President secures vital tax relief and investments in our workers that will create jobs and accelerate economic growth. The plan has three key accomplishments:
Working families...
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wrote this Op-Ed...
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wrote this Op-Ed for The Australian today:
Key lines:
* WikiLeaks is fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.
* The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.
* (My idea is) to use internet technologies in new...
Robert Reich: The President's Last Stand Is No... →
robertreich:
The deal the President struck with Republican leaders is an abomination.
It will cost $900 billion over the next two years — larger than the bailout of Wall Street, GM, and Chrysler put together, larger than the stimulus package, larger than anything that’s come out of Washington in years.
It…
