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There are more details here.

Personally, I'm just gonna sit back and watch this unfold *grabs popcorn*

From my comment here: http://econfuture.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/robots-jobs-and-our-assumptions/#comment-392

In brief, a combination of robotics and other automation, better design, and voluntary social networks are decreasing the value of most paid human labor (by the law of supply and demand). At the same time, demand for stuff and services is limited for a variety of reasons -- some classical, like a cyclical credit crunch or a concentration of wealth (aided by automation and intellectual monopolies) and some novel like people finally getting too much stuff as they move up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs or a growing environmental consciousness. In order to move past this, our society needs to emphasize a gift economy (like Wikipedia or Debian GNU/Linux or blogging), a basic income (social security for all regardless of age), democratic resource-based planning (with taxes, subsidies, investments, and regulation), and stronger local economies that can produce more of their own stuff (with organic gardens, solar panels, green homes, and 3D printers). There are some bad "make work" alternatives too that are best avoided, like endless war, endless schooling, endless bureaucracy, endless sickness, and endless prisons.

Simple attempts to prop things up, like requiring higher wages in the face of declining demand for human labor and more competition for jobs, will only accelerate the replacement process for jobs as higher wage requirements would just be more incentive to automate, redesign, and push more work to volunteer social networks. We are seeing the death spiral of current mainstream economics based primarily on a link between the right to consume and the need to have a job (even as there may remain some link for higher-than-typical consumption rates in some situations, even with a basic income, a gift economy, etc).

Essentially, mainstream economists are clueless and living in a conceptual bubble. And that is not just e saying it, other economists say that about their peers, like here:
    "They Did Their Homework (800 Years of It)"
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/economy/04econ.html
"But in the wake of the recent crisis, a few economists -- like Professors Reinhart and Rogoff, and other like-minded colleagues like Barry Eichengreen and Alan Taylor -- have been encouraging others in their field to look beyond hermetically sealed theoretical models and into the historical record. "There is so much inbredness in this profession," says Ms. Reinhart. "They all read the same sources. They all use the same data sets. They all talk to the same people. There is endless extrapolation on extrapolation on extrapolation, and for years that is what has been rewarded.""

For more info:
http://econfuture.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/robots-jobs-and-our-assumptions/#comment-402
http://knol.google.com/k/paul-d-fernhout/beyond-a-jobless-recovery

The late '90s were a zenith of Western society, a fair balance of regulation and freedom; technology and tradition.

You've got to be kidding. This ranks right up there with Jody Foster defending Mel Gibson as "not such a bad guy to work with" while the Russell Williams story was breaking in Canada. He was a great guy in the office, too, but had defects in other life aspects.

You cleverly post this right after I finish reading a long treatise on the nutter-of-the-moment and his trigger words.

Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin of an Accused Killer

One sentence (nice touch with the semicolon) before you spout on the G-word. Plus you're potty mouth to no useful effect.

But let's argue the point. If the late 90s was a zenith, it was the kind of zenith that ought to include a parachute, but doesn't, or the parachutes are fabricated in metal: gold for the precious few, lead for everyone else. Nortel stock needed a parachute *and* a heat shield *and* a giant sofa cushion.

I just finished watching the movie Moon. There's a character who throws up in his space suit. His slashdot nick was Ralph Nadir, cause throwing up in a space suit is a *bad* day at the office. How did you pick your nick?

Or am I not giving you enough credit all around, and you're actually talking about the late 1890s?

had acquired a round-up resistance trait, as have any number of weed species growing wild alongside roads in many places where canola is grown.

For a moment I must admit I had my doubts about that, having seen how that thing can wither a plant to death very quickly with just a few drops accidentally sprinkled (as opposed to much weaker herbicides such as gramoxone) and the fact that farmers usually use Round-up only to completely clear patches of land (or more recently, on those "round-up ready crops"), but damn that's right.

My main question here is: why is Microsoft filing for these patents? They have been involved in biomedics, afaik, only on the software and infomatics side. Bill Gates, through his foundation, is generously giving grants to many organizations doing promising research. I didn't realize that Microsoft was directly involved in the research side of things. Did they buy assignment rights to this research (and potential patent)? Develop it themselves? That, I think, is the bigger story for me — not that this patent has been filed for, but that it's MSFT that is the assignee.

I can't find a good reference (read: I am lazy), but I know the MS Basic Research Lab had been doing various bio/genetics stuff at one point. The MS Basic Research lab is (or at least was when I followed it more closely) basically the only true basic research lab left in the country, and one with enormously broad interests.

Organizations like SBRI are doing really interesting work on genetically attenuated malaria vaccines, and the research isn't as scary as TFS makes it out to be (e.g. comparing it to Jurassic Park). (Here's a detailed slideshow if you want to know the specifics.) The "runaway breeding" the article alludes to is ridiculous — we already have "runaway breeding" of anopheles mosquitoes, and as a result malaria kills a million or more persons per year, mostly in poor countries. The main issue with malaria vaccines is not "runaway breeding," but that eventually mutations may render the vaccine ineffective.

My main question here is: why is Microsoft filing for these patents? They have been involved in biomedics, afaik, only on the software and infomatics side. Bill Gates, through his foundation, is generously giving grants to many organizations doing promising research. I didn't realize that Microsoft was directly involved in the research side of things. Did they buy assignment rights to this research (and potential patent)? Develop it themselves? That, I think, is the bigger story for me — not that this patent has been filed for, but that it's MSFT that is the assignee.

Further, the "debate" over this has increased distrust of doctors, which isn't helpful.

Because doctors inherently deserve our trust?

So behave yourselves -- you won't see us coming if we don't want you to...

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/international/americas/02CANA.html?ex=1070946000&en=37b83e09654ed443&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Non-paywall:

http://forum.grasscity.com/general-marijuana-news-around-world/31035-canada-steers-closer-europe-than-u-s.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x248028

This would be like Ford giving road-side assistance during a heist.

No, it's like Jared Loughner taking a taxi to the site of his shooting spree:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11taxi.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The taxi driver is just providing his usual service at his usual price and has no indication that a crime is going to be committed.

Similarly, Amazon knows you're doing a lot of heavy computation, but that is one of the reasons someone would use Amazon EC2.

That's probably why the Government wouldn't allow Chrysler or GM to go bankrupt.

Actually but the government allowed both Chrysler and GM to go bankrupt. Sorry to throw a wrench in your "unions just won't die" fantasy.

Entire wikipedia page on GM bankruptcy: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reorganization

Article detailing Chrysler bankruptcy: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/business/01auto.html?_r=1&hp

So, what do you suggest we do, keep dangerous sex offenders in prison forever?

The government calls this "Civil Commitment". It's in the constitution, it's just in the part that nobody read until last year, so there's all sorts of pedos that nobody realized they could just leave locked up forever, even after their jail term ends.

People do get added to the sex offender list for the wrong reasons, IMHO.

You mean like this guy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11bar.html
A Place on the Sex-Offender Registry for a Crime That May Be Off the Books
By ADAM LIPTAK
January 10, 2011

People do get added to the sex offender list for the wrong reasons, IMHO.

food for thought: That means, Mr. Allender wrote, based on studies of teenage sexual activity, that “nearly half of the teenagers in North Carolina and Virginia are felons.”

This tracking system appears to violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

If that were true, that would mean they could charge the newspapers with treason.

Actually newspaper reporters and editors have been charged with treason in the past, and probably will be again in the future, in nations around the world. Newspaper reporters traveling with the military, for instance, are enjoined and warned about transmitting their locations over broadcast. Geraldo Rivera was kicked out of just such an assignment for drawing a map in the sand for the audience.

I won't comment on other countries, but in America it has been found time and time again that American news reporters are not guilty of treason if they publish classified documents they did not solicit (and Assange isn't even American, so even that tenuous claim doesn't hold). The American government knows this, so pursuing Assange is actually wasting taxpayers' money. Personally, I think any such official ordering such an act should be removed from office due to incompetence.

I doubt even Bush/Cheney, with all their constitutional overstepping, would have executed a Julian Assange. That entire line of thinking was started by a few very right-wing pundits who are trying to score political points. Not even actual terrorist sent to Guantanamo have been executed thus far.

Additionally, even though Obama is getting stymied on closing Guantanamo, AFAIK prisoners are no longer being sent there. On a positive note, the NY Times reports that Obama is getting high marks from constitutional law groups for not using signing statements to override Congress's authority even though he disagrees with the Guantanamo measures present in the recently passed Defense Authorization bill. It would seem our system of checks and balances has been restored.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/us/politics/08gitmo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

I found a NYT article that talks about proving exactly such a thing. That is what trials almost certain to be upcoming trial will almost certainly be for. It's the difference between a classified document landing on a reporters desktop (which has gone to court with the report cleared before) and the reporter actively encouraging the person to give them such information.

it's been proven that there is no charge of espionage, since he never obtained any information in the first place.

Then what did he have to post?

It was given to him.

Ahh. So your assertion is that if it is "given" to him, as opposed to his asking for it, that's not espionage? Likely as not, the charge is going to assert that Assange asked PFC Manning to give him the information, which would make them co-conspirators.

Whether that is TRUE, or not, I do not make judgement. But that is likely what the charge will be.

If that were true, that would mean they could charge the newspapers with treason.

Actually newspaper reporters and editors have been charged with treason in the past, and probably will be again in the future, in nations around the world. Newspaper reporters traveling with the military, for instance, are enjoined and warned about transmitting their locations over broadcast. Geraldo Rivera was kicked out of just such an assignment for drawing a map in the sand for the audience.

quit making shit up, you dumb fucking retard.

Are you expecting me to respond in kind? I know your type. You're posting "anonymously" so that you can log in and downmod me a few times.

Please get an education and grow up. The world does not work the way you think it does.

Yeah, the United States Government never does that sort of thing, not even to American citizens!

Oh wait...

That kid is an American citizen who was, apparently, detained and beaten in Kuwait because the United States Government thought he might know something. If my government gets its hand on Assange, do you think the result will be much different?

The US Attorney General has said he's looking into him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/16wiki.html

This is not FUD

Some pirates may be motivated by greed, but that goes without saying for any criminal. But you have quite a large amount of pirates in a small area which gives rise to wondering why so many get involved in piracy?

While its always easy to look at the problem with these pirates at the one angle ("Its just money and greed"), it is always possible it came from something else. And according to 3 different interviews with 3 different Somali pirates (1 pirate caption, and 2 different pirates). They all said the same thing though of why they became pirates: "I was forced to hijack foreign ships after the central government collapsed. No one was monitoring the sea, and we couldn’t fish properly, because the ships which trawl the Somali coasts illegally would destroy our small boats and equipment. That is what forced us to become pirates." "The men behind bars, however, offered another explanation for piracy. Their story is also rooted in greed — not of their brazen colleagues with the million-dollar ransoms, they say, but of foreign companies that they say have profited from Somalia's lawlessness by fishing illegally in their waters since the 1990s.". 1 2 3

In short, if all 3 of these different pirates are to believed, this problem of piracy wouldn't be nearly as big an issue (not gone, just not as much of an issue) if other companies and countries hadn't come in and destroyed their livelihoods. In won't be as simple as teaching these people a peaceful means of making money, because they were already doing that. It means they are out of options and are now getting desperate. They lost their jobs (fishing), their tools of their trade (boats and fishing equipment) all by the greed of others and no one caring about them.

Or breastfeeding information either.

Apart from being a rich state within a rich country: Do they deserve donation money - or is this a classic case of reap what you sow - privatizing profits and socializing losses? Australia and especially conservative Queenslanders are amongst the staunchest climate change denialists out there (from link: "There's been a big swing back towards climate change denialists..."). Further, Queensland is a massive coal exporter - and more than happy to fuel dirty-coal burning both in Australia or at export sites the world over, all to make a quick buck. The costs of this flood will be minuscule compared to the Queensland coal industries profits:

In 2009, the [Queensland] state’s 52 coal mines produced a record 195 million tonnes of coal, generating $33.2 billion in export revenue. Queensland is a major player in the international coal market, exporting 168 Mt of coal in 2009 that accounted for 20% of the global trade. The industry generated $3.22 billion in coal royalties, accounting for 9% of the total income of the Queensland Government for the 2008-09 financial year.

Australian media is divided up amongst a few powerful players (Murdoch included) that don't want any meaningful public debate of climate change. For example most Australians are completely unaware of Australia complacency in the farce that is the "Copenhagen accord" on climate change as exposed by Wikileaks

So you care nothing about these people who have died (thankfully only a few)? And those who've gone missing due to this catastrophic flooding simply because a majority of them do not hold the same view as you do towards climate change? Put aside your political agenda/views and show some sympathy for those amidst tragedy. You sir and the climate change alarmists like you are the very reason I'm very skeptical of man-made climate change.

Granted it doesn't happen enough, partly because well designed regulations are actually really hard to pull off, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Case in point, and apropos to the original post, it was the government that required cell phone carriers to allow customers to take their phone numbers with them when they switched to a different carrier. This removed a barrier to competition, as the hassle of telling everyone your new number was often enough to dissuade people from switching companies, and may have even caused cell carriers to offer better deals in order to pick up more customers that were ready to switch.

Apart from being a rich state within a rich country: Do they deserve donation money - or is this a classic case of reap what you sow - privatizing profits and socializing losses? Australia and especially conservative Queenslanders are amongst the staunchest climate change denialists out there (from link: "There's been a big swing back towards climate change denialists..."). Further, Queensland is a massive coal exporter - and more than happy to fuel dirty-coal burning both in Australia or at export sites the world over, all to make a quick buck. The costs of this flood will be minuscule compared to the Queensland coal industries profits:

In 2009, the [Queensland] state’s 52 coal mines produced a record 195 million tonnes of coal, generating $33.2 billion in export revenue. Queensland is a major player in the international coal market, exporting 168 Mt of coal in 2009 that accounted for 20% of the global trade. The industry generated $3.22 billion in coal royalties, accounting for 9% of the total income of the Queensland Government for the 2008-09 financial year.

Australian media is divided up amongst a few powerful players (Murdoch included) that don't want any meaningful public debate of climate change. For example most Australians are completely unaware of Australia complacency in the farce that is the "Copenhagen accord" on climate change as exposed by Wikileaks

As for lax government oversight, it's a red herring. (Pun intended.) When there was lax oversight of poultry farmers in the midwest and as a result people got sick from bacteria, the farmers couldn't say "You ignored our bad behavior, so we don't have to pay a fine." They go nailed anyway, it just took longer.

Following up on useless oversight MMS (Mineral Management Services). http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/us/25mms.html

Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil — and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency, according to an inspector general’s report to be released this week. The report said that investigators "could not discern if any fraudulent alterations were present on these forms."

Note that this is completely separate from the sex and drug scandal at the MMS that came to light in 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html

So how did this oversight failure happen? It was a product of the Bush administration's conscious sabotage of regulation when they were in control. They appointed "pro-business" officials who had a policy of letting business get away with everything up to and including murder. Remember that people died on that oil rig.

So far, all that has happened is that MMS people have quit or been fired. There have been lots of investigations but no one has been charged with anything.

The Obama administration seems to be serious about reinstating meaningful regulation, but now with the Republicans in control of the House that might not happen. Congressman Darrell Issa is asking businesses what government regulations they want eliminated (also known as soliciting bribes) http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05/business/la-fi-issa-business-20110105. So if you like getting sick from bad food or big environmental disasters then you may be in luck.

As for lax government oversight, it's a red herring. (Pun intended.) When there was lax oversight of poultry farmers in the midwest and as a result people got sick from bacteria, the farmers couldn't say "You ignored our bad behavior, so we don't have to pay a fine." They go nailed anyway, it just took longer.

Following up on useless oversight MMS (Mineral Management Services). http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/us/25mms.html

Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil — and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency, according to an inspector general’s report to be released this week. The report said that investigators "could not discern if any fraudulent alterations were present on these forms."

Note that this is completely separate from the sex and drug scandal at the MMS that came to light in 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html

So how did this oversight failure happen? It was a product of the Bush administration's conscious sabotage of regulation when they were in control. They appointed "pro-business" officials who had a policy of letting business get away with everything up to and including murder. Remember that people died on that oil rig.

So far, all that has happened is that MMS people have quit or been fired. There have been lots of investigations but no one has been charged with anything.

The Obama administration seems to be serious about reinstating meaningful regulation, but now with the Republicans in control of the House that might not happen. Congressman Darrell Issa is asking businesses what government regulations they want eliminated (also known as soliciting bribes) http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05/business/la-fi-issa-business-20110105. So if you like getting sick from bad food or big environmental disasters then you may be in luck.

Who is this ingenious "Kung Fu Monkey" that I may subscribe to his newsletter?

Thanks for the cough-inducing guffaw..

Apparently you can subscribe (in a manner of speaking) to it here, and the others in this thread who attribute the Kung Fu Monkey quote to Paul Krugman are incorrect, as Krugman himself sources it to Kung Fu Monkey. And here I was about to correct the Atomic Rabbit's attribution. Thank goodness for Googling first.

From Paul Krugman:

When Krugman reproduced that quote in his blog he said it was a quote, marked it up as a quote and linked to the source. And someone already quoted the same thing a few comments above and said where it's from. It's by John Rogers, published on the Kung Fu Monkey blog.

I don't know about spraying. But they do inject beef with ammonia just so that they can sell potentially contaminated beef: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?pagewanted=all (if you get a registerwall, search for the link in google, click on it, so you get google as referrer).

I suspect the term "trimmings" as used in the article might be a euphemism for something people wouldn't normally eat.

To me if there wasn't so much shit in the beef and it was processed more hygienically you wouldn't have such a big problem with e coli. Problem is beef might cost more.

IMO it would be better if we maintained a distinction between food and fuel, and didn't treat food as a mere fuel for humans.

Krugman merely quoted it, even citing KFM's blog post.

you already eat bugs.

Eat anything preprocessed? insects are in them, ground up with the rest of it.
Do you sleep with a net over your head? no? you eat bugs at night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/opinion/13levy.html

"Peanut butter — that culinary cause célèbre — may contain approximately 145 bug parts for an 18-ounce jar; or five or more rodent hairs for that same jar; or more than 125 milligrams of grit."

"Medical marijuana" is just a scam. 60 "grow facilities" in Boulder, Colorado? Four times as many "dispensaries" in San Jose as 7-11s?.

Maybe four times as many people need pot as need slurpees. It's an effective treatment for a vast array of common conditions such as chronic anxiety, ADHD, nausea, or just everyday aches and pains. It's not just for the terminally ill. While most states with medical marijuana laws restrict it to only the most severe cases, California allows it for any condition a doctor feels justified in prescribing it for.

If it's to be treated as a medical treatment, it should be moved to Schedule II or III, prescribed by doctors, and distributed through pharmacies.

You're right, it should. The only thing standing in the way is the federal government.

"Medical marijuana" is just a scam. 60 "grow facilities" in Boulder, Colorado? Four times as many "dispensaries" in San Jose as 7-11s?.

If it's to be treated as a medical treatment, it should be moved to Schedule II or III, prescribed by doctors, and distributed through pharmacies. Some people need to be on full-time pain relievers, but not that many. And in real treatment, you try to get people off medication.

At the height of the Just-Shoot-Assange media circus, Glenn Greenwald pointed out that the New York Times had just spilled the most forbidden, unlawful, immoral, unforgivable secrets of all, on it's front page: imminent troop movements.

Assange, of course, was being treated as if he'd sent countless troops and allies to their deaths with his leaks, even though the Pentagon disagreed that anybody had been hurt, whenever they were asked. (A few Afghan supporter's names had failed to be redacted in an earlier release of the "war logs"; Wikileaks corrected its processes, and fortunately, there's no news of any of those Afghans being attacked, even verbally.)

The NYT piece - about upcoming covert action in Pakistan - generated no comment of that sort whatsoever. How can that be?

Well, the Pentagon, the ground commanders, the Administration, Congressmen - not one of them said a thing. And why not?

Because it wasn't a "leak": it was a press release that didn't come with any follow-up questions allowed, or any accountability for the plan, the statement, or the subsequent action: completely anonymous.

All the benefits of a leak and none of the downside.

"Sauce for the Goose" would require EVERY leak to be followed up with a serious investigation by impartial detectives, and summary dismissal, at minimum, for the leaker. They would prefer, of course, to have complete control of the information and the ability to use it for any reason - public-serving or just partisan advantage - that they wish. Ask Val Wilson.

Not dead, but according to the New York Times report, it doesn't sound good. This is not a minor injury:

Dr. Steven Rayle, a former emergency room doctor who now works in a hospice, said that he had witnessed the shootings. He said the congresswoman was standing behind a table outside the Safeway greeting passersby when the gunman approached her from behind, held a gun about a foot from her head and began firing.

. “He must have got off 20 rounds,” he said. Ms. Giffords slumped to the ground and staff members immediately rushed to her aid, Dr. Rayle said.

Dr. Rayle said he performed CPR on some of the victims. He said one of the victims was a young child and appeared to be in critical condition with a gunshot wound.

link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html

1. Regulators Failed to Address Risks in Oil Rig Fail-Safe Device
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/us/21blowout.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
2. Spill report: It could happen again
   'Failure of management' and regulators given blame for disaster
   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7367856.html
3. Slick Operator
   How British oil giant BP used all the political muscle money can buy to fend off regulators and influence investigations into corporate neglect.
   http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/07/slick-operator.html

This wasn't a technical failure - it was a failure brought out by greed and corruption. The blow-out was only the symptom, and addressing the symptom isn't going to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

We've seen this before - the mortgage disaster and bank bailouts, the savings and loan disaster, etc.

Start by fixing campaign financing - private donations only, strict annual limit per capita, no 3rd party involvement, etc.

-- Barbara

My math was slightly off, as I focused on winning the jackpot, and forgot to factor in the smaller prizes (like your $2 prize) that occur at much higher probabilities. So this means that the last Mega Millions jackpot was even MORE in your favor than what I stated, as long as you made a smart bet.

Of course, your bet was smarter than mine. I bet $5, and lost on all of them. You hit the Mega Ball! Congrats.

I do remember reading an article where an organization tried to buy all numbers to the lotto, with an organized effort at multiple sales locations. It was back in 1992, and they succeeded.

"The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/25facebook.html

Every time a new gee-whiz technology is created, it is soon used to solve social problems. In Great Britain millions of surveillance camera have failed to dent crime rates, in spite of a few high-profile successes.

In education, which is even more fad-driven than crime fighting, deployment of educational tv, audio tapes, laptop computer and other gizmos have failed to engage turned-off students. iPads are the latest gadget.. I expect they will be another expensive fiasco.

There is no substitute for engaged teachers and parents.

thank you for changing the subject, from paleopathology to ancient egypt

read this einstein:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cancer.html?pagewanted=all

then open your ignorant mouth

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cancer.html?pagewanted=all

*most tumors are in soft tissue which doesn't preserve well

*people didn't live long enough for most cancers to be very prevalent.

"For both groups, the authors wrote, malignant tumors “were not significantly fewer than expected” when compared with early-20th-century England. They concluded that “the current rise in tumor frequencies in present populations is much more related to the higher life expectancy than primary environmental or genetic factors.”"

The NYTimes has, of course, a lot of coverage on the topic, but many, including the editorial board, make the very strong point - how is this any better? Yes, as countless first posters try to show everyday, nigger is offensive, but nothing is such a blight on American history as the institution of slavery. This censorship wrongly conflates the word to be the problem, when really the problem is the hundreds of years of oppression, hatred, and violence that has and is aimed at blacks that the word represents. Some choice editing won't change the realities of the South in the mid-1800s, to think this fools anyone is a presumption of ignorance amongst teachers, parents, and children.

Having did a family tree several years ago...found out these terms:
1. Ancestors came from Switzerland to South Carolina in 1629
2. They owned land and slaves. In a will from 1775...the slave owner mentioned a "Mazzie" by name as a fine house servant. I could be incorrect that this woman could be the "Sally Hemmings" in my family tree.
3. Movement of relatives to Mississippi years after this.
4. Moved to Texas years later.
5. Moved to Oklahoma after that.
6. Unknown...if I had any ancestors who fought on either side during the Revolutionary War. Known...had ancestors who fought in the War of Northern Aggression.

Being from the South...that word was in common use until the 70's. Now...can't stand the word...but I do know this that poor whites/blacks are treated the same way by those with power/money. Other than skin color...there is no difference between the two races.

Having read this story the other day...went over to one of the free book sites and downloaded copies of Twain's work published during his lifetime or soon after his death to have a copy of it. You never know how far censors can go to having what they don't like banned and being impossible to find in the future.

The NY Times article, Publisher Tinkers With Twain, reports that "Indian" is substituted for "injun". Still, it's unwarranted revisionist tinkering. Schools shouldn't fear teaching, and students need to learn, history and literature as it was, not how we'd like it to have been.

do you know he's currently on the ny times best seller list?

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/overview.html

how'd he do that? he wrote a book, said "wait 100 years before publishing", and they did, and here he is, selling a new book, in 2011

quite an impressive man

and did you know about twain and halley's comet?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_connection_between_Mark_twain_and_Halley's_comet

It is believed that Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) was born the same month as the passing of Halley's comet in November 1835. Halley's Comet passed on November 10th 1835 and Twain was born November 30th 1835. Twain vowed he would "go out"with the passing of the comet, as it passes in 75 year cycles. Halley's comet passed again April 20th 1910, Twain passed April 21st 1910.

mark twain: space alien who travels via halley's comet

The NYTimes has, of course, a lot of coverage on the topic, but many, including the editorial board, make the very strong point - how is this any better? Yes, as countless first posters try to show everyday, nigger is offensive, but nothing is such a blight on American history as the institution of slavery. This censorship wrongly conflates the word to be the problem, when really the problem is the hundreds of years of oppression, hatred, and violence that has and is aimed at blacks that the word represents. Some choice editing won't change the realities of the South in the mid-1800s, to think this fools anyone is a presumption of ignorance amongst teachers, parents, and children.

Whats the risk? This:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDA1F3BF933A15751C0A967958260

By not vaccinating you children you put at risk other children too young to get vaccinated.

I'm sure it's old news to most of us, but the un-encrusted URL buried in there (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html) doesn't require a cookies, or a free login, if you use something like RefControl for Firefox, and tell www.nytimes.com that news.google.com sent you.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-wbmake.1.20332814.html?_r=1

The US was still the worlds leading manufacturer as of 2009... I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the US still holds that position today.

They are called mini flash crashes, but only because of new circuit breakers put in place after the big one. I am a more old school, Graham-style market participant so I don't use GTC's. Most of my exits are measured in multiple years from my entries, and I'm switching over more to bonds instead of participating in secondary markets as a response to the principal agent problem. Even so, the vig HFTs and other participants take out of my trades is buried in the rounding error on those duration scales, unless it is a losing trade of course. As long as my participation helps me stay even with inflation, I'm content to focus upon my business and make money the old fashioned way.

What do you mean by this? The market enforces rules as to which orders are first in the queue.

Unfair rules in this context. They get to be 30 milliseconds ahead of everyone:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/07/24/business/0724-webBIZ-trading.ready.html

They can also post orders AND cancel them before others can go through with the transaction. So if you have a simple automated system - they can figure out what your minimum/maximums/rules are.

Quote first link: "High-frequency traders often confound other investors by issuing and then canceling orders almost simultaneously. Loopholes in market rules give high-speed investors an early glance at how others are trading. And their computers can essentially bully slower investors into giving up profits -- and then disappear before anyone even knows they were there. "