June 2010
78 posts
The Third Depression
June 27, 2010
By PAUL KRUGMAN New York Times
Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment that followed the financial crisis of 1929-31.
Neither the Long...
All the Dead Are Vampires
June 13, 2010
A natural-historical look at our love-hate relationship with dead people.
Bettmann, Corbis
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By Michael Sims Chronicle of Higher Education
I remember the view from a grave. Cartoon stars spiraled in front of my eyes when I hit the damp soil at the bottom. Up there on the faraway earth, past six feet of square muddy wall, a man and a boy stared down at me—my brothers,...
Inadequate Grant Aid Hurts Low-Income Students'...
June 25, 2010 By Beckie Supiano
Chronicle of Higher Education Washington
The grant aid available to low- and moderate-income students is insufficient to ensure that they will enroll and stay in college, undermining the bachelor’s-degree completion rates of high-school graduates, according to a report presented here on Friday by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.
...
Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a...
By Umberto Eco
Writing in New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995, pp.12-15. Excerpted in Utne Reader, November-December 1995, pp. 57-59.
The following version follows the text and formatting of the Utne Readerarticle, and in addition, makes the first sentence of each numbered point a statement in bold type. Italics are in the original.
For the full article, consult the New York Review of...
Does the Fed Really Care About Unemployment?
Why Ben Bernanke is standing pat on monetary policy and doing nothing new to boost jobs.
Mark Wilson / Getty Images Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
If Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had a theme song, it would be Meat Loaf’s 1978 classic “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.”If Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had a theme song, it would be Meat Loaf’s 1978 classic...
Seeking Answers on Oil Spill as Questions Mount
Kari Goodnough/Bloomberg News
Oil off the coast of Alabama.
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 25, 2010
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Since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, killing 11 and setting off the biggest maritime oil spill in the nation’s history, questions about the potential dimensions of the...
The Conservative Manifesto
by Not Einstein Posted 4 days ago
40 answers
Read all 121 comments
+26 raves
I proudly proclaim to the world that I am a conservative. And that means I never have to say I’m sorry—unless I get caught. Nothing is ever my fault. I’m purer than the virgin Mary. I feel good about myself and I expect you to toe the line. I expect you to do as I say, not as I do. I expect you to arm...
Stymied By GOP, Democrats At Loss On Jobs Agenda
Democrats Unable To Overcome GOP Opposition On Jobs Agenda, Struggle To Help Pump Up Economy
(AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - Stymied by Republicans, Democrats are at a loss as they struggle to help pump up the economy in the run-up to congressional elections this fall. The demise of their jobs-agenda legislation Thursday means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a...
'Toy Story 3' Chock Full of Hidden Facts and Movie...
by Mike Ryan · June 22, 2010
“Toy Story 3” has entertained children and parents alike (and has made at least one childless, unmarried adult male in his thirties cry) to the tune of $110 million dollars in its opening weekend.
Chances are, considering the amount of money the film made over the weekend, that if you’re reading this, there’s a better than average chance...
Facebook risks? Don’t look to your IT security...
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From: www.itworld.com
by Ellen Messmer
June 22, 2010 —
National Harbor, Md. — Risks associated with employee use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites social media shouldn’t really be considered the primary responsibility of the IT security department, a Gartner analyst said Tuesday.
There are many risks in social media, including loss of...
Chip Showdown: A Guide to the Best CPUs
NEWS | POLITICS | OPINIONS | BUSINESS | LOCAL | SPORTS | ARTS & LIVING | GOING OUT GUIDE | JOBS | CARS | REAL ESTATE |SHOPPING
David Murphy PC World Tuesday, June 22, 2010; 1:19 AM
Illustration by Harry Campbell>When you’re shopping for a new PC, don’t meekly settle for the default processor recommended by the configurator. Picking the right CPU is a personal decision that...
Against Despair
Issue #17, Summer 2010 Against Despair
How our misreading of history harms progressivism today. Michael Tomasky
On the day in late April when Barack Obama gave his speech at Cooper Union urging financial regulation reform, The Huffington Post, one of the most important liberal websites we have, could hardly have made more clear to its readers what it thought about Obama’s appeal to his audience....
Martin Gardner, 1914-2010
May. 24 2010 — 1:30 pm | 694 views | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
Martin Gardner, 1914-2010
Image via Wikipedia
This past weekend the world darkened with the loss of one of its brightest lights: Martin Gardner, polymath extraordinaire, founding father of the modern skeptical movement, and a friend. R.I.P. Martin. We will miss you terribly.
How does one capture in a few paragraphs the...
The Deep Water Horizon Incident
Unlikely Decisions Set Stage for BP Disaster by Ben Casselman & Russell Gold | The Wall Street Journal | Thursday, May 27, 2010
(Dow Jones Newswires), May 27, 2010
It was a difficult drill from the start.
API Well No. 60-817-44169 threw up many challenges to its principal owner, BP, swallowing expensive drilling fluid and burping out dangerous gas. Those woes put the Gulf of Mexico...
‘Too Young Not to Work but Too Old to Work’
Age Discrimination Plagues the Long-Term Unemployed By ANNIE LOWREY 6/17/10 6:00 AM
Last week, thousands of Americans who have exhausted their unemployment insurance — the 99ers, named after the maximum number of weeks of state and federal benefits — sent letters and petitions to Washington as part of a futile campaign to convince the Senate to pass a bolstered version of the jobs bill,...
Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday
ON a Tuesday evening this spring, Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, became part man and part machine. About 40 people, all gathered here at aNASA campus for a nine-day, $15,000 course at Singularity University, saw it happen.
While the flesh-and-blood version of Mr. Brin sat miles away at a computer capable of remotely steering a robot, the gizmo rolling around here consisted of a...
Stuart W. Rose, Ph.D., has a tropical tree growing...
So What Do You Do, Alan Levy, Founder and CEO of...
This podcast innovator discusses how he turned a new radio concept into a reality
By Kristen Fischer – June 16, 2010
RELATED: Hey, How’d You Build an Entirely New Publishing Business, Eileen Gittins, CEO of Blurb?
Perfect your podcast game with a class
Taking an idea and making it a reality is no easy feat, especially when that concept is to allow readers to “hear”...
Wave power: how it works
smartplanet.com / Smart People / Pure Genius
By Christina Hernandez | May 27, 2010
SmartPlanet is launching a new, occasional series aimed at dissecting some of the complex topics we cover on a daily basis. ”How It Works” will provide primers on the important issues — in energy, power, technology, health and more – that affect our ever-changing world.
First up: wave power.
What is wave...
Job Search: What to Do When You're Overqualified
From: www.itworld.com
by Meridith Levinson June 10, 2010 —
Derek Stolpa has been working as an independent consultant and searching for a stable, full-time job since he was laid off from his position as manager of IT procurement and asset management with Jefferson Wells, a professional services firm now owned by Manpower, in 2005. When applying for jobs in his field, Stolpa says employers have...
New Mac Mini: Cheap Mac desktop or SOHO server
From: www.itworld.com June 15, 2010 —
I’ve always liked Apple’s Mac Mini. It was easily the most affordable desktop Mac around. Now, in its latest models, the new Mac Mini comes as both a desktop and Apple TV replacement and as a SOHO (small office/home office) server, I still see a lot to like.
While, it’s not as cheap as it used to be, the desktop model comes in at $699,...
The Man Who Could End Global Warming
Nuclear power — dangerous, right? And there’s nowhere to put the nuclear waste, right? Eric Loewen is the evangelist of the sodium fast reactor, which burns nuclear waste, emits no CO2, and might just save the world.
PLUS: One (Republican) Senator’s Quest for Clean Nuclear Power
By: John H. Richardson
The man who is going to save the world is an ordinary-looking man. He’s...
In Case You Missed These Stories
consortiumnews.com
May 26, 2010
Editor’s Note: Because we’ve been publishing so many stories, some readers say they miss some that fly by. So, each month, we’ll point out some special stories from the previous month.
Here is a selection from April 2010, focusing on mounting tensions with Iran, Tea Party hypocricy and the double standards in the continuing Global War on...
Can YOU balance the California Budget? →
Here is your chance to attempt to balance the California budget in 2010. Can you juggle the priorities and get the budget to be effectively balanced? Requires JavaScript to run the project.
Here are my choices:
Mac Mini Gets an Aluminum Unibody Update
About 19 hours ago Stan Schroeder 19
Apple today launched an updated Mac Mini, which has aluminum unibody housing and far more powerful hardware than the previous iteration.
The specs for the most basic version include a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive and a NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip, all of which will set you back $699.
Those in need of a...
Obama's Remarks To Nation On Oil Spill
President Obama’s remarks to the nation on the BP oil spill:
Good evening. As we speak, our nation faces a multitude of challenges. At home, our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every American. Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al Qaeda wherever it exists. And tonight, I’ve returned...
Saint Sarah
To white evangelical women, Sarah Palin is a modern-day prophet, preaching God, flag, and family—while remaking the religious right in her own image.
Joshua Lott / Reuters-Corbis
Sarah Palin’s pro-woman rallying cry is poised to transform the Christian right into a women’s movement. Click the image above to see a photo gallery of how her following has become big business.
Another...
Blaming Obama Is Easy and Irresponsible
President Obama is briefed on the BP oil spill relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region earlier in June. (photo: AP)
By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News 15 June 2010
Reader Supported News | Perspective
his victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can’t happen without...
Foreign flagging of offshore rigs skirts U.S....
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-inspection-20100615,0,7349376.story
latimes.com
The Marshall Islands, not the U.S., had the main responsibility for safety inspections on the Deepwater Horizon.
By Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau
7:28 PM PDT, June 14, 2010 Reporting from Washington
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in...
Waxman puts Big Oil on trial
By: Jonathan Allen and Jake Sherman June 15, 2010 04:49 AM EDT
Henry Waxman’s war on Big Oil has begun. The California Democrat, along with Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), will force top oil executives to defend or condemn industry practices and profits, according to series of pre-hearing questions obtained by POLITICO, foreshadowing an intense, made-for-TV hearing Tuesday that could create...
What if there's no fix for high unemployment?
By Martin Ford, contributorJune 10, 2010: 12:08 PM ET
FORTUNE — There seems to be little doubt that unemployment is going to remain stubbornly high — quite possibly for years to come. There’s also mounting evidence that a good part of that unemployment is really structural in nature: The skills and capabilities of many experienced workers are simply no longer demanded by...
Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm'...
Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.
By Andrew Hough Published: 1:00PM BST 14 Jun 2010
National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop...
Bar Codes Glossary
Glossary
2d-code 2d-codes are the further development of 1d barcodes which you can find on every single product (in this the case the EAN). The capacity of data of 2d-codes is basically superior and they are predominantly impassible for errors while the reading out process. Most of them have the shape of a square and are based on a two-dimensional bit pattern. Here you find further information...
Unemployment - Fast Forward →
This graphic details the unemployment numbers from 2007 unto now. It shows them in a graphical representation by county across the US. You might want to be sitting when you view it.
Bilderberg 2010: How political and business...
A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of ‘secret’ meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them?
The lines have been drawn. Whose side are you on? Photograph: Alex Amengual
Weary and bramble-scratched, elated by the press coverage, and sick of riot vans and lukewarm Spanish omelette baguettes, we return...
Afghans: US finds mineral riches in Afghanistan
Afghans: US finds mineral riches in Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ (AP) – 1 hour ago
KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. geologists have discovered vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan, possibly amounting to $1 trillion, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said Monday.
Waheed Omar told reporters the findings were made by the U.S. Geological Survey under contract to the Afghan government.
“The...
On cable TV and talk radio, a push toward...
NEWS | POLITICS | OPINIONS | BUSINESS | LOCAL | SPORTS | ARTS & LIVING | GOING OUT GUIDE | JOBS | CARS | REAL ESTATE |SHOPPING
By Michael Smerconish Friday, June 11, 2010; A17
Any conversation about political polarization would be incomplete without a look at the media’s role in shaping opinions. From my view on the front lines, I have seen a rapid escalation of extreme dialogue...
Fighting To Ensure Children With Autism Receive The Medical Care They Deserve, Senate Passes Landmark Autism Legislation
Posted by Majority Press on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Holding Health Insurers Accountable
The Senate Democratic Majority passed groundbreaking legislation to protect children with autism, setting the bar for a new national standard for treatment and services. The...
TIER 5 to Survive:THE MOVIE *** The FIERCE URGENCY of NOW - http://tinyurl.com/ye956rd
March 18, 2010 United States of America
710
1.2 million long term unemployed in American have lost their only lifeline. By the end of March another 2.8 million and in April, 3 million more will join them teetering on the brink of homelessness.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Free-Press-Release.com) March 18, 2010...
Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals
Posted by Administrator on June 11, 2010 at 2:30pm in IN THE NEWS
Send Message View Discussions
Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals By ADAM KLAWONN / PHOENIX Adam Klawonn / Phoenix 17 mins ago “Anchor babies” isn’t a very endearing term, but in Arizona those are the words being used...
BP Crisis: What President Obama Can Learn From Bobby Jindal
By Sean Silverthorne
June 10th, 2010 @ 6:56 am
President Obama railed recently against critics of his administration’s handling of the BP crisis by arguing that the government has done all it could to get control of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But clearly the public doesn’t think so — recent polls show the spread of the oil...
Alternative Careers for CIOs
From: www.cio.com Meridith Levinson, CIO February 08, 2007
It wasn’t so long ago when the only opportunity facing CIOs seized by the desire to tackle new challenges was to move to a larger firm. Today, IT executives have more opportunities than ever to expand their careers. As the CIO role has grown more business oriented, strategic and recognizable, the skills required to perform the job...
Unemployment Nightmare
June 7, 2010By Swift75
I have hesitated from making my blogs too personal but this is an area where I have to draw upon some very personal experiences. The topic is unemployment.
Every newspaper and media outlet from left and the right all post some statistic about unemployment on daily basis. All I know is that regardless of all this talk and stimulus $’s, the situation...
In Brutal Job Market, More Than a Million Quit Looking
Published: Monday, 7 Jun 2010 | 1:13 PM ET By: Jeff Cox, CNBC.com Staff Writer
If you think the jobs situation has become pretty hopeless, you’re not alone. Roughly 1.1 million workers have given up hope of finding employment.
The staggering level of “discouraged workers” as the government calls them has swelled to...
Unemployed? Then Don’t Bother Applying
By Suzanne Lucas
June 7th, 2010 @ 3:15 am
Everyone knows it’s easier to find a job when you have a job. But, it looks like companies are now admitting their preferences and even excluding unemployed applicants altogether. Here’s a quote from an engineering job posting: “Client will not consider/review anyone not currently employed regardless of...
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Years of Internal BP Probes Warned That Neglect Could Lead to Accidents
by Abrahm Lustgarten and Ryan Knutson, ProPublica - June 7, 2010 10:00 pm EDT
A version of this story was co-published with The Washington Post.
Getty Images
A series of internal investigations over the past decade warned senior BP managers that the company repeatedly disregarded...
Leaked Reports Expose BP’s Safety Record
A damning investigation by ProPublica finds a pattern of neglect and corner-cutting at the oil giant.
U.S. Coast Guard/Getty Images
Boats battle to put out a fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 21, 2010—the day after it exploded, killing 11
BP repeatedly disregarded safety problems, according to a new damning investigation from...
School moves away from ‘coding’ kids Classes integrate all types of students
BY KAREN KLEISS, EDMONTON JOURNAL JUNE 8, 2010 COMMENTS (9)
STORY
PHOTOS ( 2 )
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Crawford Plains School is one of several Edmonton Public Schools involved in a two-year pilot project to better integrate special-needs students. A classroom of 17 students might include half a dozen kids...
April 13, 2010, 3:08 PM
FAQs on Style
By PHILIP B. CORBETT
Notes from the newsroom on grammar, usage and style.
Many topics come up repeatedly in reader comments and e-mail messages to After Deadline. Unfortunately I’m not able to offer a direct response to each comment (truth be told, After Deadline is a sideline for me). But one thoughtful reader suggested that I compile answers for some...
June 7, 2010, 1:56 PM
An End for Helen Thomas and the Helen Thomas Rules
By JEREMY W. PETERSRonald Reagan Presidential Library and MuseumHelen Thomas, above with President Ronald Reagan, has covered every president since John F. Kennedy.
Photographs
To many in Washington, two sets of rules seemed to apply for journalists covering the president: those for regular White House correspondents,...
