More on economic stimulus bill
Side-By-Side Chart of Notable Differences Between Senate-Passed and House-Passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Follow up to related postings on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, from the Senate Finance committee, this Side-By-Side Chart of Notable Differences Between the Senate-Passed and the House-Passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Joint Committee on Taxation - Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009,” As Amended And Passed By The Senate On February 10, 2009
Estimated Budget Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Contained In The Collins-Nelson Amendment (# 570) In The Nature Of A Substitute To The “American Recovery And Reinvestment Tax Act Of 2009,” Under Consideration By The Senate
CFTC Launches New Monthly Online Report
News release: "The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it has launched, on a six-month trial basis, a new monthly report: This Month in Futures Markets. The report, produced by the Commission’s Office of the Chief Economist, will add transparency to the information the Commission provides the public concerning regulated futures markets by providing graphical and tabular displays on the Commission’s website."
This Month in Futures Markets – January 2009 - posted February 4, 2009 - OCE, Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This report is based on the Commitment of Traders (COT) report released on January 30th, 2009. Up to date COT reports can be accessed here".
When a widely shared photo of one of the world’s most public figures is turned into art by someone else, who owns the image? That question punctuates an unusual copyright spat pitting an international news service against a Los Angeles street artist over a president’s image. Artist Shepard Fairey acknowledges using a 2006 Associated Press photo of then-senator Barack Obama as the basis for his iconic red and blue “Hope” poster, reproduced on buttons and banners through the campaign. When the AP pressed Fairey for credit and compensation, Fairey sued the AP in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. His lawyers said the artist transformed the image that “conveys a radically different message” and thus, falls into fair-use territory. If the AP prevails, would there be a domino legal effect? Could Fairey go after other groups that borrowed his work and tweaked it? One comes to mind: organizers of the annual Big Shoulders Swim race in Lake Michigan handed out t-shirts to participants last September in Chicago. It featured a Fairey-like Obama wearing goggles with the word “SWIM” printed beneath (Click here and scroll down for pictures). WSJ February 10, 2009
Unique flavonoids in hops and beer
Over 4,000 flavonoids have been identified, many of which occur in fruits, vegetables and beverages (tea, coffee, beer, wine and fruit drinks). The flavonoids have aroused considerable interest recently because of their potential beneficial effects on human health--they have been reported to have antiviral, anti-allergic, antiplatelet, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antioxidant activities.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/f-w00/flavonoid.html
The reopening of Ford’s Theatre after an 18-month refurbishment coincides with a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln there during a performance of “Our American Cousin” on the evening of April 14, 1865.
The theater unveiled a videotape, to be shown at its museum, in which the four living past-presidents--George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter--recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, accompanied by Matthew Brady’s Civil War images. The event was a retrospective of Lincoln’s life, from his humble beginnings described by James Earl Jones’s baritone to Vereen’s impassioned reading of the Emancipation Proclamation without the prompter, which broke mid-show.
The highlight for the audience of about 650 was classical violinist Joshua Bell’s “Variations on Yankee Doodle,” which was by turns playful and mournful.
Broadway singer Cheryl Freeman gave an electrifying rendition of a song from the play “The Civil War,” followed by Audra McDonald, Jessye Norman and Joshua Bell for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which earned a standing ovation.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=abNBZFgX8vls&refer=muse
The in vitro fertilization industry has doubled in size in the decade since the C.D.C. started collecting data in 1996. That year, 64,681 procedures were performed in 330 clinics. At last count, the number of procedures was up to 134,260 and there were more than 483 clinics across the country. More than 50,000 children a year are born as a result of in vitro fertilization in the United States. Nationwide, it is a more than $1 billion business. California has more doctors performing in vitro fertilization than any other state, with many concentrated in the Los Angeles area. The competition means that sales pitches are not unusual. The Huntington Reproductive Center offers a refund for some women. No pregnancy? You get 90 percent of your money back.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/health/12ivf.html?ref=health
pied (rhymes with pride) adjective
Having patches of two or more colors; multicolored
From pie (magpie), referring to a magpie's black and white plumage, from Latin pica (jay or magpie). The Pied Piper of legend owes his moniker to his multicolored attire.
"The pair of women came first, one strangely dressed, in pied clothes of three or four eras." Michael Chabon; The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; William Morrow; 1988.
A.Word.A.Day
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
New Web 2.0 Tools on USA.gov
Visit Government 2.0 for the latest tools available on USA.gov and other federal websites. With these tools, USA.gov hopes to engage the public and improve access to government information and resources. Here are just a few of the Web 2.0 tools you can find on USA.gov:
Blogs – Check out our library of active federal blogs.
Word Cloud – See a visual representation of the 75 most popular search terms on USA.gov.
Videos – Find government videos on health topics, space travel, food preparation, and more.
News – Get the latest RSS feeds from across the federal government!
Gadget 2.0 – Find government gadgets or widgets developed and maintained by one agency and shared across the web.
Report: Citizen Satisfaction with Federal e-Government Hits All-Time High
American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Government Satisfaction Index, February 3, 2009 and related Excel Score Chart
"The truth is that even before Obama became President, the government was doing a remarkable job satisfying citizens with e-gov initiatives—in fact, as the following report attests, citizen satisfaction with e-government was at its highest point in more than five years at the end of 2008 (the study’s surveys were conducted on more than ninety-four federal websites from October 1-December 31, 2008). However, we’ve only scratched the surface of e-gov’s potential, and a new President with a commitment to technology and the Internet is the perfect choice to implement new policies, executive orders, funding, and legislation that will improve the ability of federal departments, agencies, and programs to serve citizens online."
On February 6, the Senate voted 73-24 to adopt a measure by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to place tighter restrictions on facilities that can be built with money from the H.R. 1, the economic stimulus bill. The amendment would bar spending on casinos, aquariums, zoos, golf courses, swimming pools, stadiums, community parks, museums, theaters, art centers, and highway beautification projects. That's broader than a prohibition in the House-passed bill, which applied only to casinos, aquariums, zoos, golf courses and swimming pools. http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090207/pl_cq_politics/politics3027043
See how your senator voted at: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00136 The fastest way to find your state is go to the bottom of the page. Above that is a handy guide by yea, nay and not voting.
Music and sport derive from French. In Middle English, sport meant broadly "hobby" or "entertainment"; it came from the French word disport. English music is from Old French musique via Latin from Greek for the "art of the Muses." The root is also the basis for amuse, bemuse, mosaic, and museum. The Writer’s Almanac
The nine muses in Greek mythology were daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Calliope is the Muse of Epic Song and is shown with a wax tablet. See pictures of all nine and their attributes at:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/mgodsandgoddesses/tp/Muses.htm
Quote
I think that children’s fiction, more than anything, has the capacity to change lives.
Neil Gaiman, British-American author, and winner of the 2009 Newbery Medal for The Graveyard
A.Word.A.Day feedback
From: Kate Wellspring (kwellspring amherst.edu)
Subject: minor correction
On the Origin of Species was published Nov 24, 1859 rather than on Feb 12 (Darwin and Lincoln's birthday).
From: Stuart Showalter (showalter.stuart gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--conduce
Def: To lead to or contribute to a particular result.
Being a lover of the law and an admirer of Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr., I have always remembered his use of this beautiful, uncommon word. It seems Holmes had a standing desk where he did much of his work. "Doesn't it tire you?" his wife asked, watching him write one day. "Yes," the Justice replied. "But it's salutary. Nothing conduces to brevity like a caving in of the knees."
Muse reader feedback on moving a house over ice
My father and grandfather moved their cabin on their island using logs--three times! Till they found a spot that didn't flood.
Visit Government 2.0 for the latest tools available on USA.gov and other federal websites. With these tools, USA.gov hopes to engage the public and improve access to government information and resources. Here are just a few of the Web 2.0 tools you can find on USA.gov:
Blogs – Check out our library of active federal blogs.
Word Cloud – See a visual representation of the 75 most popular search terms on USA.gov.
Videos – Find government videos on health topics, space travel, food preparation, and more.
News – Get the latest RSS feeds from across the federal government!
Gadget 2.0 – Find government gadgets or widgets developed and maintained by one agency and shared across the web.
Report: Citizen Satisfaction with Federal e-Government Hits All-Time High
American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Government Satisfaction Index, February 3, 2009 and related Excel Score Chart
"The truth is that even before Obama became President, the government was doing a remarkable job satisfying citizens with e-gov initiatives—in fact, as the following report attests, citizen satisfaction with e-government was at its highest point in more than five years at the end of 2008 (the study’s surveys were conducted on more than ninety-four federal websites from October 1-December 31, 2008). However, we’ve only scratched the surface of e-gov’s potential, and a new President with a commitment to technology and the Internet is the perfect choice to implement new policies, executive orders, funding, and legislation that will improve the ability of federal departments, agencies, and programs to serve citizens online."
On February 6, the Senate voted 73-24 to adopt a measure by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to place tighter restrictions on facilities that can be built with money from the H.R. 1, the economic stimulus bill. The amendment would bar spending on casinos, aquariums, zoos, golf courses, swimming pools, stadiums, community parks, museums, theaters, art centers, and highway beautification projects. That's broader than a prohibition in the House-passed bill, which applied only to casinos, aquariums, zoos, golf courses and swimming pools. http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090207/pl_cq_politics/politics3027043
See how your senator voted at: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00136 The fastest way to find your state is go to the bottom of the page. Above that is a handy guide by yea, nay and not voting.
Music and sport derive from French. In Middle English, sport meant broadly "hobby" or "entertainment"; it came from the French word disport. English music is from Old French musique via Latin from Greek for the "art of the Muses." The root is also the basis for amuse, bemuse, mosaic, and museum. The Writer’s Almanac
The nine muses in Greek mythology were daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Calliope is the Muse of Epic Song and is shown with a wax tablet. See pictures of all nine and their attributes at:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/mgodsandgoddesses/tp/Muses.htm
Quote
I think that children’s fiction, more than anything, has the capacity to change lives.
Neil Gaiman, British-American author, and winner of the 2009 Newbery Medal for The Graveyard
A.Word.A.Day feedback
From: Kate Wellspring (kwellspring amherst.edu)
Subject: minor correction
On the Origin of Species was published Nov 24, 1859 rather than on Feb 12 (Darwin and Lincoln's birthday).
From: Stuart Showalter (showalter.stuart gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--conduce
Def: To lead to or contribute to a particular result.
Being a lover of the law and an admirer of Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr., I have always remembered his use of this beautiful, uncommon word. It seems Holmes had a standing desk where he did much of his work. "Doesn't it tire you?" his wife asked, watching him write one day. "Yes," the Justice replied. "But it's salutary. Nothing conduces to brevity like a caving in of the knees."
Muse reader feedback on moving a house over ice
My father and grandfather moved their cabin on their island using logs--three times! Till they found a spot that didn't flood.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Street artist will get day in court for pasting up his art
Shepard Fairey is scheduled to face charges in a Boston courtroom on February 9 for allegedly pasting art without permission on two local sites that police discovered last month--one under the Boston University Bridge and the other above Storrow Drive.
Fairey was arrested February 6 just as he was about to enter the Institute of Contemporary Art for a scheduled performance. The artist, who lives in Los Angeles, rose to national fame last year for creating the red, white, and blue image of Barack Obama emblazoned with the word HOPE, iconography that was adopted and popularized by campaign supporters. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/08/street_artist_will_get_day_in_court_for_pasting_up_his_art/
Book ban upheld
According to this account in the Miami Herald, the 11th Circuit ruled Thursday that the Miami-Dade School Board did not violate the Constitution in 2006 when it removed a controversial children’s book about Cuba from the public schools’ library system.
In a 2-1 decision, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the board did not breach the First Amendment, and ordered a Miami federal judge to lift a preliminary injunction that had allowed the book, called Vamos a Cuba to be checked out from school libraries. WSJ Law Blog February 6, 2009
The 2008 Bank Performance Scorecard: America's Top 150 Banks
Bank Direct Magazine: "There is not much flash and glitz among this year’s crop of top-performing U.S. banks and thrifts. But given all that’s occurred in the last six months, maybe slow and steady really is the name of the game. In fact, over a recent 12-month period, as the credit and financial markets came unhinged and some of the country’s best-known depository financial institutions teetered on the brink of collapse, “steady at the helm” was the governing mantra for the highest-ranked banks. That is just one salient feature of this year’s class of top performers among banks and thrifts, according to our annual Bank Performance Scorecard. Based on measurement criteria and analysis compiled by Sandler O’Neill & Partners L.P., a New York-based investment banking firm that specializes in the financial services industry, the scorecard features the institutions that maintain top standing in good times and bad—often with recurring high scorers."
2008 Bank Performance Scorecard Highlighting America’s Best Banks
The Financial Services Fact Book 2009, Insurance Information Institute, The Financial Services Roundtable: "The 2009 edition includes a host of new material to shed light on this challenging environment, including -
Trends in bank insolvencies
Data on credit default swaps
Information on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Congress’s landmark $700 billion rescue plan for the financial services industry
Expanded information on mortgage defaults
New data on mortgage-backed securities"
Newseum--daily newspaper front pages from around the world in their original, unedited form. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/default.asp
Quote
Some people love to love and some people love to loathe.
Some people love to praise and some people love to blame.
Book linked to JFK is decades overdue--Lincoln biography borrowed in '50s
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum said it will display, as part of a weeklong celebration of Presidents' Day, a 1930 biography of Abraham Lincoln that was apparently borrowed by Kennedy, or a member of his staff, when he was serving in the Senate in the 1950s. The Library of Congress book, "A. Lincoln" by Ross F. Lockridge, was found in Kennedy's pre-presidential papers. It has been listed as missing in the Library of Congress online catalog, and will be returned to its collection after the display.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/04/book_linked_to_jfk_is_decades_overdue/
Have you ever seen a house moved over ice? A muse reader shares the story:
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/38530692.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsl
Shepard Fairey is scheduled to face charges in a Boston courtroom on February 9 for allegedly pasting art without permission on two local sites that police discovered last month--one under the Boston University Bridge and the other above Storrow Drive.
Fairey was arrested February 6 just as he was about to enter the Institute of Contemporary Art for a scheduled performance. The artist, who lives in Los Angeles, rose to national fame last year for creating the red, white, and blue image of Barack Obama emblazoned with the word HOPE, iconography that was adopted and popularized by campaign supporters. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/08/street_artist_will_get_day_in_court_for_pasting_up_his_art/
Book ban upheld
According to this account in the Miami Herald, the 11th Circuit ruled Thursday that the Miami-Dade School Board did not violate the Constitution in 2006 when it removed a controversial children’s book about Cuba from the public schools’ library system.
In a 2-1 decision, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the board did not breach the First Amendment, and ordered a Miami federal judge to lift a preliminary injunction that had allowed the book, called Vamos a Cuba to be checked out from school libraries. WSJ Law Blog February 6, 2009
The 2008 Bank Performance Scorecard: America's Top 150 Banks
Bank Direct Magazine: "There is not much flash and glitz among this year’s crop of top-performing U.S. banks and thrifts. But given all that’s occurred in the last six months, maybe slow and steady really is the name of the game. In fact, over a recent 12-month period, as the credit and financial markets came unhinged and some of the country’s best-known depository financial institutions teetered on the brink of collapse, “steady at the helm” was the governing mantra for the highest-ranked banks. That is just one salient feature of this year’s class of top performers among banks and thrifts, according to our annual Bank Performance Scorecard. Based on measurement criteria and analysis compiled by Sandler O’Neill & Partners L.P., a New York-based investment banking firm that specializes in the financial services industry, the scorecard features the institutions that maintain top standing in good times and bad—often with recurring high scorers."
2008 Bank Performance Scorecard Highlighting America’s Best Banks
The Financial Services Fact Book 2009, Insurance Information Institute, The Financial Services Roundtable: "The 2009 edition includes a host of new material to shed light on this challenging environment, including -
Trends in bank insolvencies
Data on credit default swaps
Information on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Congress’s landmark $700 billion rescue plan for the financial services industry
Expanded information on mortgage defaults
New data on mortgage-backed securities"
Newseum--daily newspaper front pages from around the world in their original, unedited form. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/default.asp
Quote
Some people love to love and some people love to loathe.
Some people love to praise and some people love to blame.
Book linked to JFK is decades overdue--Lincoln biography borrowed in '50s
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum said it will display, as part of a weeklong celebration of Presidents' Day, a 1930 biography of Abraham Lincoln that was apparently borrowed by Kennedy, or a member of his staff, when he was serving in the Senate in the 1950s. The Library of Congress book, "A. Lincoln" by Ross F. Lockridge, was found in Kennedy's pre-presidential papers. It has been listed as missing in the Library of Congress online catalog, and will be returned to its collection after the display.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/04/book_linked_to_jfk_is_decades_overdue/
Have you ever seen a house moved over ice? A muse reader shares the story:
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/38530692.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsl
Friday, February 6, 2009
Follow-up to “A or AN?” using example of an herb People in England pronounce the H in herb. For some reason, when Americans speak the word, they drop the H. When people learn English as a second language, they probably pronounce the H because it makes sense. Some people may be returning to the English way of pronouncing herb—just as theater and center (American spellings) are being supplanted by English spellings: theatre and centre.
House Passes DTV Delay Act
Follow up to previous postings on digital television transition, "by a vote of 264 to 158, the House of Representatives approved S. 352, the DTV Delay Act, which will postpone the transition to digital television until June 12, 2009.”
See also - Over Two Million Households on DTV Coupon Waiting List: "On February 4, Energy and Commerce Chairman Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Boucher sent a letter to their colleagues with an updated list of households on the waiting list, organized by congressional district."
Report - TARP Recipients Paid Out $114 Million for Politicking Last Year
"The struggling companies whose freewheeling business practices have contributed to the country's economic woes are getting a lucrative return on at least one of their investments. Beneficiaries of the $700 billion bailout package in the finance and automotive industries have spent a total of $114.2 million on lobbying in the past year and contributions toward the 2008 election, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found. The companies' political activities have, in part, yielded them $295.2 billion from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Copyright battle over Obama image
No-one disputes that the poster was based on AP's photograph. The Associated Press is claiming compensation for the use of one of its photographs to create the most iconic image of Barack Obama. The red, white and blue portrait by Shepard Fairey appeared on thousands of posters and T-shirts and is now in Washington's National Portrait Gallery. Lawyers for AP and Shepard Fairey are reported to be holding talks. Mr Fairey's attorney says it was a case of "fair use", which allows exceptions to copyright law.
The Los Angeles-based street artist has acknowledged that the image is The Los Angeles-based street artist has acknowledged that the image is based on a photograph taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, a photographer on assignment for AP. AP's director of media relations Paul Colford says that because it was an AP photograph, its use by Shepard Fairey "required permission" and AP should have been credited.
Fair use considerations:
Purpose of the use: was the image used in a commercial or non-commercial way?
Nature of the copyrighted material: how creative or factual was the original?
Transformation of the work: was the original changed giving it new meaning or value?
Amount copied: how much of the original was copied and was it a central to the original?
Effect on the market of the original: could it supplant demand for the original?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7872253.stm
February 12 this year marks the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. On the same day Charles Darwin was born. The day also marks the sesquicentennial of the publication of his book, The Origin of Species. A.Word.A.Day celebrates the three anniversaries by selecting words from Lincoln's and Darwin's writing and speeches.
propinquity (pro-PING-kwi-tee)
noun: Nearness in space, time or relationship
From Latin propinquitas (nearness), from prope (near).
"I believe that ... propinquity of descent, -- the only known cause of the similarity of organic beings, -- is the bond, hidden as it is by various degrees of modification, which is partially revealed to us by our classifications."
Charles Darwin; On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; 1859.
conduce (kuhn-DOOS, -DYOOS)
verb intr.: To lead to or contribute to a particular result
From Latin conducere (to lead, bring together), from com- (together) + ducere (to lead). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deuk- (to lead) that led to other words such as duke, conduct, educate, duct, wanton, and tug.
"We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us." Abraham Lincoln; Lyceum Address; Jan 27, 1838.
A.Word.A.Day
WSJ Overview Charts on Auto Sales
Wall Street Journal: What's Hot Off the Lots | Top 20 vehicles | The U.S. Market | Sales and Share of Total Market by Manufacturer
On February 6, 1937 John Steinbeck published his novel Of Mice and Men. It was a short book, just 186 pages, the story of two migrant farm workers: George Milton and his simple-minded friend, Lennie Small. He took the title from lines by the Scottish poet Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes of mice and men / Gang aft a-gley," or, "The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry." Steinbeck was almost finished when his dog tore the manuscript to shreds. But he rewrote the novel, and it was published on this day in 1937 and made into a play later the same year.
On February 6, 1894 lexicographer Eric Partridge, (books by this author) born on a farm near Gisborne, New Zealand. When he fought in WWI, he was fascinated by British soldiers' slang. And since slang wasn't included in dictionaries, he decided that somebody should study it and write it down. He wrote books about the history of slang and clichés, and he even wrote a book about the slang used in Shakespeare's plays.
The Writer’s Almanac
House Passes DTV Delay Act
Follow up to previous postings on digital television transition, "by a vote of 264 to 158, the House of Representatives approved S. 352, the DTV Delay Act, which will postpone the transition to digital television until June 12, 2009.”
See also - Over Two Million Households on DTV Coupon Waiting List: "On February 4, Energy and Commerce Chairman Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Boucher sent a letter to their colleagues with an updated list of households on the waiting list, organized by congressional district."
Report - TARP Recipients Paid Out $114 Million for Politicking Last Year
"The struggling companies whose freewheeling business practices have contributed to the country's economic woes are getting a lucrative return on at least one of their investments. Beneficiaries of the $700 billion bailout package in the finance and automotive industries have spent a total of $114.2 million on lobbying in the past year and contributions toward the 2008 election, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found. The companies' political activities have, in part, yielded them $295.2 billion from the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Copyright battle over Obama image
No-one disputes that the poster was based on AP's photograph. The Associated Press is claiming compensation for the use of one of its photographs to create the most iconic image of Barack Obama. The red, white and blue portrait by Shepard Fairey appeared on thousands of posters and T-shirts and is now in Washington's National Portrait Gallery. Lawyers for AP and Shepard Fairey are reported to be holding talks. Mr Fairey's attorney says it was a case of "fair use", which allows exceptions to copyright law.
The Los Angeles-based street artist has acknowledged that the image is The Los Angeles-based street artist has acknowledged that the image is based on a photograph taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, a photographer on assignment for AP. AP's director of media relations Paul Colford says that because it was an AP photograph, its use by Shepard Fairey "required permission" and AP should have been credited.
Fair use considerations:
Purpose of the use: was the image used in a commercial or non-commercial way?
Nature of the copyrighted material: how creative or factual was the original?
Transformation of the work: was the original changed giving it new meaning or value?
Amount copied: how much of the original was copied and was it a central to the original?
Effect on the market of the original: could it supplant demand for the original?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7872253.stm
February 12 this year marks the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. On the same day Charles Darwin was born. The day also marks the sesquicentennial of the publication of his book, The Origin of Species. A.Word.A.Day celebrates the three anniversaries by selecting words from Lincoln's and Darwin's writing and speeches.
propinquity (pro-PING-kwi-tee)
noun: Nearness in space, time or relationship
From Latin propinquitas (nearness), from prope (near).
"I believe that ... propinquity of descent, -- the only known cause of the similarity of organic beings, -- is the bond, hidden as it is by various degrees of modification, which is partially revealed to us by our classifications."
Charles Darwin; On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; 1859.
conduce (kuhn-DOOS, -DYOOS)
verb intr.: To lead to or contribute to a particular result
From Latin conducere (to lead, bring together), from com- (together) + ducere (to lead). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deuk- (to lead) that led to other words such as duke, conduct, educate, duct, wanton, and tug.
"We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us." Abraham Lincoln; Lyceum Address; Jan 27, 1838.
A.Word.A.Day
WSJ Overview Charts on Auto Sales
Wall Street Journal: What's Hot Off the Lots | Top 20 vehicles | The U.S. Market | Sales and Share of Total Market by Manufacturer
On February 6, 1937 John Steinbeck published his novel Of Mice and Men. It was a short book, just 186 pages, the story of two migrant farm workers: George Milton and his simple-minded friend, Lennie Small. He took the title from lines by the Scottish poet Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes of mice and men / Gang aft a-gley," or, "The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry." Steinbeck was almost finished when his dog tore the manuscript to shreds. But he rewrote the novel, and it was published on this day in 1937 and made into a play later the same year.
On February 6, 1894 lexicographer Eric Partridge, (books by this author) born on a farm near Gisborne, New Zealand. When he fought in WWI, he was fascinated by British soldiers' slang. And since slang wasn't included in dictionaries, he decided that somebody should study it and write it down. He wrote books about the history of slang and clichés, and he even wrote a book about the slang used in Shakespeare's plays.
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I just realized I can’t name our senators, but I can remember every word of the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme song. Real Life Adventures cartoon, February 3, 2009
If you can’t remember your senators or representatives, search here: http://memberguide.gpoaccess.gov/
CWE/SANS TOP 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors
News release: "...experts from more than 30 US and international cyber security organizations jointly released the consensus list of the 25 most dangerous programming errors that lead to security bugs and that enable cyber espionage and cyber crime. Shockingly, most of these errors are not well understood by programmers; their avoidance is not widely taught by computer science programs; and their presence is frequently not tested by organizations developing software for sale. The impact of these errors is far reaching. Just two of them led to more than 1.5 million web site security breaches during 2008--and those breaches cascaded onto the computers of people who visited those web sites, turning their computers into zombies."
The Top 25 Errors are listed below in three categories:
Category: Insecure Interaction Between Components (9 errors)
Category: Risky Resource Management (9 errors)
Category: Porous Defenses (7 errors)
Harvard Prof. on Google and the Future of Books
Follow up to previous postings on the Google Book search project, from the New York Review of Books, Google & the Future of Books, by Robert Darnton
"How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright. For the last four years, Google has been digitizing millions of books, including many covered by copyright, from the collections of major research libraries, and making the texts searchable online. The authors and publishers objected that digitizing constituted a violation of their copyrights. After lengthy negotiations, the plaintiffs and Google agreed on a settlement, which will have a profound effect on the way books reach readers for the foreseeable future.
In rhetoric (as defined by Cicero and by the first century Latin text, Rhetorica ad Herennium), the five overlapping offices or divisions of the rhetorical process:
inventio (Greek, heuristics), invention
dispositio (Greek, taxis), arrangement
elocutio (Greek, lexis), style
memoria (Greek, mneme), memory
actio (Greek, hypocrisis), delivery
http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/rhetcanterm.htm
Cat colonies of Rome—about 300,000 cats roam the Roman ruins, some in packs, some fed by Gattara (“cat women”).
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0203/p17s01-hfes.html
http://goeurope.about.com/cs/rome/a/rome_cats.htm
Quote: When life kicks you, let it kick you forward.
Kay Yow, North Carolina State University women’s basketball coach, born in 1942 and died January 24, 2009
http://www.wbca.org/upload/KayYowQuotes.pdf
A or AN? Why do we say a university, a union--an herb, an hour? It’s too hard to close the n in university and union after using AN, so we substitute A. In the case of herb and hour, the Hs are silent. Let your ear be the guide. See more at: http://www.auburn.edu/communications_marketing/askaubie/042705.html
A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan
You may hear them on YouTube, or at a program near your home. Below is a link to groups in the states where our muse readers reside. You will find more complete information at the Web site.
Michael B. Bakan School of Music Florida State University
Friends of the Gamelan The University of Chicago
Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Chicago
Charles Capwell Raharja, dir. School of Music University of Illinois
Judith Becker Music Department University of Michigan
Tamara Fielding 1 Sir Kenneth Court Northport, NY 11768 Phone: (631) 754-5035
Department of Music CB #3320 Hill Hall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
David Harnish College of Musical Art Bowling Green State University
Jackson Hill Department of Music Bucknell University
Co-directed by I Nyoman Suadin and Tom Whitman Tom Whitman Department of Music and Dance 500 College Ave. Swarthmore College
http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/education/docpdf/KelompokGamelandiAmerikaSerikat.pdf
If you can’t remember your senators or representatives, search here: http://memberguide.gpoaccess.gov/
CWE/SANS TOP 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors
News release: "...experts from more than 30 US and international cyber security organizations jointly released the consensus list of the 25 most dangerous programming errors that lead to security bugs and that enable cyber espionage and cyber crime. Shockingly, most of these errors are not well understood by programmers; their avoidance is not widely taught by computer science programs; and their presence is frequently not tested by organizations developing software for sale. The impact of these errors is far reaching. Just two of them led to more than 1.5 million web site security breaches during 2008--and those breaches cascaded onto the computers of people who visited those web sites, turning their computers into zombies."
The Top 25 Errors are listed below in three categories:
Category: Insecure Interaction Between Components (9 errors)
Category: Risky Resource Management (9 errors)
Category: Porous Defenses (7 errors)
Harvard Prof. on Google and the Future of Books
Follow up to previous postings on the Google Book search project, from the New York Review of Books, Google & the Future of Books, by Robert Darnton
"How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright. For the last four years, Google has been digitizing millions of books, including many covered by copyright, from the collections of major research libraries, and making the texts searchable online. The authors and publishers objected that digitizing constituted a violation of their copyrights. After lengthy negotiations, the plaintiffs and Google agreed on a settlement, which will have a profound effect on the way books reach readers for the foreseeable future.
In rhetoric (as defined by Cicero and by the first century Latin text, Rhetorica ad Herennium), the five overlapping offices or divisions of the rhetorical process:
inventio (Greek, heuristics), invention
dispositio (Greek, taxis), arrangement
elocutio (Greek, lexis), style
memoria (Greek, mneme), memory
actio (Greek, hypocrisis), delivery
http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/rhetcanterm.htm
Cat colonies of Rome—about 300,000 cats roam the Roman ruins, some in packs, some fed by Gattara (“cat women”).
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0203/p17s01-hfes.html
http://goeurope.about.com/cs/rome/a/rome_cats.htm
Quote: When life kicks you, let it kick you forward.
Kay Yow, North Carolina State University women’s basketball coach, born in 1942 and died January 24, 2009
http://www.wbca.org/upload/KayYowQuotes.pdf
A or AN? Why do we say a university, a union--an herb, an hour? It’s too hard to close the n in university and union after using AN, so we substitute A. In the case of herb and hour, the Hs are silent. Let your ear be the guide. See more at: http://www.auburn.edu/communications_marketing/askaubie/042705.html
A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan
You may hear them on YouTube, or at a program near your home. Below is a link to groups in the states where our muse readers reside. You will find more complete information at the Web site.
Michael B. Bakan School of Music Florida State University
Friends of the Gamelan The University of Chicago
Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Chicago
Charles Capwell Raharja, dir. School of Music University of Illinois
Judith Becker Music Department University of Michigan
Tamara Fielding 1 Sir Kenneth Court Northport, NY 11768 Phone: (631) 754-5035
Department of Music CB #3320 Hill Hall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
David Harnish College of Musical Art Bowling Green State University
Jackson Hill Department of Music Bucknell University
Co-directed by I Nyoman Suadin and Tom Whitman Tom Whitman Department of Music and Dance 500 College Ave. Swarthmore College
http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/education/docpdf/KelompokGamelandiAmerikaSerikat.pdf
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
In the Financial District, Wall Streeters have developed an appetite not only for McDonald's hamburgers, they're gobbling up its stock, as well. McDonald’s net income increased a whopping 80 percent from 2007 to 2008--and its shares rose 11.22 percent from January 2008 to January 2009, while the rest of the market tanked. "You hear all the news going on [about the economy], and you want to save money. This is good value," said lunchgoer Mark Drapala, 29, a sales-account exec who works near Astor Place.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01282009/news/regionalnews/unhappy_meal_152342.htm
An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract. "These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers," said the study's lead author, Xianglin Shi, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky. "What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grape seed extract fits into this category," he said. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134016.php
The New Quebec Crater (previously known as Chubb Crater), now known as Pingualuit Crater (which means "where the land rises" in the local Inuit language), is a young meteorite crater, by geological standards, located in the Ungava Peninsula of Quebec, Canada. It is 3.44 km (2.14 mi) in diameter, and is estimated to be 1.4 ± 0.1 million years old (Pleistocene). The crater is exposed to the surface, rising 160 m (520 ft) above the surrounding tundra and is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep. A 270 m (890 ft) deep Pingualuk Lake fills the depression, and is one of the deepest lakes in North America. The lake also holds some of the purest fresh water in the world, with a salinity level of less than 3 ppm (the salinity level of the Great Lakes is 500 ppm). The lake has no inlets or apparent outlets, so the water accumulates solely from rain and snow and is only lost through evaporation. In terms of transparency, it is second only to Lake Masyuko in Japan. The lake-filled crater had long been known to local Inuit who knew it as the "Crystal Eye of Nunavik" for its clear water. World War II pilots often used the perfectly circular landmark as a navigational tool. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingualuit_crater
To your health
News, tips, recipes: http://www.everydayhealth.com/
News, reports, links to health sites: http://www.healthcentral.com/
The Circus Maximus was founded by King Tarquinius Priscus in the 7th Century BC. Its size was increased under successive rulers but at its greatest it measured some 2000 feet in length and 450 feet in width (650m x 125m). This made it fit snugly into the marshy Murcia valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills which king Tarquinius had specially drained for the job. The shape of the whole building was like a stretched oval with a flat end called the "officium" which contained the starting blocks called "carceres" from which the chariots would enter the track when metal barriers were lifted. (Carcere in Italian now means prison).
The seats around the track were initially made of wood up the valley sides but these were subsequently replaced with stone seating. The Circus Maximus was rebuilt by Caesar and the seating was increased to 150,000. It was then covered in marble by Trajan in the first century AD and the seating increased to the full 250,000. As in the Colosseum, the track was called the "arena" on account of the sand it was covered with. At the time of the Republic there was an average of about 17 days of "ludi" (circus games) a year, each of which included 10 or 12 actual races. Each race was called a "missus" (meaning to "launch" or "disperse"). Several hundred years later there might be as many as two months worth of races (60 days) lasting from sunrise to sunset. The general average was to hold 24 or 25 races in a day each made up of four contestants. The last races of Rome were held almost a hundred years after the fall of the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus. After more than 1100 years of racing tradition an end was put to them during the reign of the invading barbarian chieftain Totila in the 6th century.
http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/circus_maximus.htm
The Latin word circus, which comes from the Greek word kirkos, "circle, ring," referred to a circular or oval area enclosed by rows of seats for spectators. In the center ring a variety of events, including chariot races and gladiatorial combats, were held. The first use of circus recorded in English, in a work by Chaucer written around 1380, probably refers to the Circus Maximus in Rome. Our modern circus, which dates to the end of the 18th century, was originally an equestrian spectacle as well, but the trick riders were soon joined in the ring by such performers as ropedancers, acrobats, and jugglers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Circus
When is a square not a four-sided figure having equal-length sides meeting at right angles? When it is an open area for public use such as St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Mark’s in Venice. See many definitions, including mathematical ones at:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:square&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
Google Ocean, which will be included in the newest version of Google Earth, will allow users to swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about exotic marine life, read about nearby shipwrecks, contribute photos and watch unseen footage of historic ocean expeditions. The world's oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the planet's surface and contain 80 per cent of all life on Earth, yet humans have only ever explored around 5 per cent of that space.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/4434916/Google-Ocean-launched-as-extension-of-Google-Earth-to-map-the-seabed.html
On February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing all male citizens the right to vote regardless of their race. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which imposed a federal income tax.
February 3 is the birthday of the epic novelist James A. Michener, (books by this author) born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (1907), the author of Tales of the South Pacific. He said, "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter."
February 3 is "the day the music died," the day in 1959 when Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, along with Ritchie Valens (who sang "La Bamba") and J.P. Richardson (known as "The Big Bopper"). Buddy Holly's career as a rock star only lasted a year and a half, but he recorded "Peggy Sue," "Everyday," "That'll Be the Day," "Oh, Boy!" and many more hits. The Writer’s Almanac
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01282009/news/regionalnews/unhappy_meal_152342.htm
An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract. "These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers," said the study's lead author, Xianglin Shi, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky. "What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grape seed extract fits into this category," he said. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134016.php
The New Quebec Crater (previously known as Chubb Crater), now known as Pingualuit Crater (which means "where the land rises" in the local Inuit language), is a young meteorite crater, by geological standards, located in the Ungava Peninsula of Quebec, Canada. It is 3.44 km (2.14 mi) in diameter, and is estimated to be 1.4 ± 0.1 million years old (Pleistocene). The crater is exposed to the surface, rising 160 m (520 ft) above the surrounding tundra and is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep. A 270 m (890 ft) deep Pingualuk Lake fills the depression, and is one of the deepest lakes in North America. The lake also holds some of the purest fresh water in the world, with a salinity level of less than 3 ppm (the salinity level of the Great Lakes is 500 ppm). The lake has no inlets or apparent outlets, so the water accumulates solely from rain and snow and is only lost through evaporation. In terms of transparency, it is second only to Lake Masyuko in Japan. The lake-filled crater had long been known to local Inuit who knew it as the "Crystal Eye of Nunavik" for its clear water. World War II pilots often used the perfectly circular landmark as a navigational tool. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingualuit_crater
To your health
News, tips, recipes: http://www.everydayhealth.com/
News, reports, links to health sites: http://www.healthcentral.com/
The Circus Maximus was founded by King Tarquinius Priscus in the 7th Century BC. Its size was increased under successive rulers but at its greatest it measured some 2000 feet in length and 450 feet in width (650m x 125m). This made it fit snugly into the marshy Murcia valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills which king Tarquinius had specially drained for the job. The shape of the whole building was like a stretched oval with a flat end called the "officium" which contained the starting blocks called "carceres" from which the chariots would enter the track when metal barriers were lifted. (Carcere in Italian now means prison).
The seats around the track were initially made of wood up the valley sides but these were subsequently replaced with stone seating. The Circus Maximus was rebuilt by Caesar and the seating was increased to 150,000. It was then covered in marble by Trajan in the first century AD and the seating increased to the full 250,000. As in the Colosseum, the track was called the "arena" on account of the sand it was covered with. At the time of the Republic there was an average of about 17 days of "ludi" (circus games) a year, each of which included 10 or 12 actual races. Each race was called a "missus" (meaning to "launch" or "disperse"). Several hundred years later there might be as many as two months worth of races (60 days) lasting from sunrise to sunset. The general average was to hold 24 or 25 races in a day each made up of four contestants. The last races of Rome were held almost a hundred years after the fall of the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus. After more than 1100 years of racing tradition an end was put to them during the reign of the invading barbarian chieftain Totila in the 6th century.
http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/circus_maximus.htm
The Latin word circus, which comes from the Greek word kirkos, "circle, ring," referred to a circular or oval area enclosed by rows of seats for spectators. In the center ring a variety of events, including chariot races and gladiatorial combats, were held. The first use of circus recorded in English, in a work by Chaucer written around 1380, probably refers to the Circus Maximus in Rome. Our modern circus, which dates to the end of the 18th century, was originally an equestrian spectacle as well, but the trick riders were soon joined in the ring by such performers as ropedancers, acrobats, and jugglers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Circus
When is a square not a four-sided figure having equal-length sides meeting at right angles? When it is an open area for public use such as St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Mark’s in Venice. See many definitions, including mathematical ones at:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:square&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
Google Ocean, which will be included in the newest version of Google Earth, will allow users to swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about exotic marine life, read about nearby shipwrecks, contribute photos and watch unseen footage of historic ocean expeditions. The world's oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the planet's surface and contain 80 per cent of all life on Earth, yet humans have only ever explored around 5 per cent of that space.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/4434916/Google-Ocean-launched-as-extension-of-Google-Earth-to-map-the-seabed.html
On February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing all male citizens the right to vote regardless of their race. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which imposed a federal income tax.
February 3 is the birthday of the epic novelist James A. Michener, (books by this author) born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (1907), the author of Tales of the South Pacific. He said, "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter."
February 3 is "the day the music died," the day in 1959 when Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, along with Ritchie Valens (who sang "La Bamba") and J.P. Richardson (known as "The Big Bopper"). Buddy Holly's career as a rock star only lasted a year and a half, but he recorded "Peggy Sue," "Everyday," "That'll Be the Day," "Oh, Boy!" and many more hits. The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tampa, FL (AHN) - Florida-based deep-sea explorers have reportedly found remains from the wreck of the most famous ship in British naval history that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago. Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company that found millions worth sunken treasure in 2007, is expected to announce on February 2 that it has located the HMS Victory, a warship known as the finest ship in the world. The mightiest Royal Navy warship of its time, which was considered to be unsinkable, went down in 1744 off the Channel Islands and since then its exact location has remained a mystery. Its brass cannon are considered to be worth up to 20,000 pounds ($29,000) each. It was also reportedly carrying four tons or around 100,000 gold coins. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013913040
The Financial Times, reports Elizabeth Holmes at the WSJ’s Digits blog, is suing the Blackstone Group for multiple use of a single online subscription, alleging the private equity firm shared a user name and password to avoid paying for multiple accounts.
The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan (click here for the complaint), says that a senior Blackstone employee distributed login information to other employees. That account accessed thousands of individual articles between February 2006 and June 2008. The suit describes the use as massive and far more than an individual would normally access. Online subscriptions to the FT cost $179 to $299 a year.
For years, companies in many industries—automotive, cell phones, computers—have required customers to agree to arbitrate their disputes and to waive their right to pursue claims on a class-wide basis. On January 30, the Second Circuit struck down an arbitration clause drafted by American Express that banned any type of class litigation. The ban, according to the court, would have made it impossible for plaintiffs to pursue their antitrust claims against AmEx. Here’s a copy of the ruling and here’s a report on the decision from Public Citizens Consumer Law & Policy Blog.
Other courts, though, have gone the other way. Here is a January 29 posting from the ADR prof blog about a federal judge in New Jersey who upheld a Verizon Wireless class-action waiver, all the while acknowledging that the holding would kill the Verizon customers claim. WSJ Law Blog January 30, 2009
Energy in Brief — Who are the major players supplying the world oil market?
January 29th, 2009 Source: Energy Information Administration
From the Brief:
Governments of oil-rich countries have a major influence on the world supply of oil through ownership of national oil companies and, for some governments, their membership in OPEC.
See Also: Other Energy in Brief Articles
CBO: The State of the Economy and Issues in Developing an Effective Policy Response
Testimony, CBO, Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director, The State of the Economy and Issues in Developing an Effective Policy Response before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, January 27, 2009.
"The economy is currently enduring a recession that started more than a year ago. CBO projects that, in the absence of any changes in fiscal policy, economic activity will contract more sharply in 2009 than it did in 2008 and the economy will grow at only a moderate pace in 2010. Under that projection, the shortfall in the nation’s output relative to its potential would be the largest—in terms of both length and depth—since the Depression of the 1930s. Lost output would represent nearly 7 percent of the estimated potential output in both 2009 and 2010—amounting to about $1 trillion in each year—and almost 5 percent of the potential in 2011. Payroll employment declined by 2-1/2 million jobs last year, and CBO projects that, without further policy actions, even more jobs will be lost this year. The unemployment rate increased by more than 2 percentage points last year, reaching 7.2 percent, and is projected to peak at above 9 percent early next year."
The Washington Post is dropping Book World as a separate Sunday section and moving its coverage of books and publishing elsewhere in the paper. In dropping one of the few remaining stand-alone book sections in American newspapers, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said that the coverage will be shifted to the Style section and a revamped Outlook section. Editor Rachel Shea said that The Post would publish about three-quarters of the roughly 900 reviews it has carried each year. The change will take effect February 22 . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012802208.html
As traditional publishers look to prune their booklists and rely increasingly on blockbuster best sellers, self-publishing companies are ramping up their title counts and making money on books that sell as few as five copies, in part because the author, rather than the publisher, pays for things like cover design and printing costs. In 2008, Author Solutions, which is based in Bloomington, Ind., and operates iUniverse as well as other print-on-demand imprints including AuthorHouse and Wordclay, published 13,000 titles, up 12 percent from the previous year. In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html?_r=3&em
Cool pictures of rare clouds shared by a muse reader
http://www.collthings.co.uk/2008/06/10-very-rare-clouds.html
January 31 is the birthday of the man who holds the European record for reciting pi from memory, Daniel Paul Tammet. (books by this author) It took him five hours and nine minutes to recite 22,514 digits of pi (the number that begins 3.14).
He was born in London in 1979, and he grew up autistic, epileptic, and with synesthesia, a rare condition in which a person has unique sensory experiences. He wrote a memoir called Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant (2007). It begins, "I was born on January 31, 1979—a Wednesday. I know it was a Wednesday, because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number 9 or the sound of loud voices arguing." Tammet describes synesthesia as "a visual, emotional experience of numbers, a neurological mixing of the senses, which most commonly results in the ability to see alphabetical letters and/or numbers in color." Vladimir Nabokov was also a synesthete, and documented his perspectives and experiences in the memoir Speak, Memory. Daniel Tammet said, "Numbers are my friends, and they are always around me. Each one is unique and has its own personality."
February 2nd is a "cross-quarter" day in the solar calendar, which means that it falls exactly between a solstice and an equinox. It's the ancient Celtic celebration of Imbolc, in honor of Brigit, the goddess of fire, poetry, healing, and childbirth. Brigit brings the healing power of the sun back to the world on Imbolc, a day that carries the first promise of spring. Imbolc comes from the Old Irish i mbolg, meaning "in the belly," because this is the time when ewes became pregnant to deliver spring lambs. The Christians took over the Celtic celebration and made February 2nd into a Christian holiday, Candlemas Day. Candlemas Day celebrates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple exactly 40 days after Christmas.
There are many old sayings about February 2—about the emergence of animals from their winter dens and omens that predict the season ahead. One English saying goes:
If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
But if Candlemas day bring clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and won't come again.
There was a tradition in many European countries of watching animals—especially badger—to see how they acted on this day. If they returned to their dens, it meant that there was still a long winter ahead. German immigrants in Pennsylvania found that there weren't a lot of badgers in America, but there were a lot of groundhogs, so the holiday evolved into Groundhog Day. The first reference to Groundhog Day is from 1841, in the diary of a storekeeper in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. He wrote: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks' nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."
The Writer’s Almanac
The Financial Times, reports Elizabeth Holmes at the WSJ’s Digits blog, is suing the Blackstone Group for multiple use of a single online subscription, alleging the private equity firm shared a user name and password to avoid paying for multiple accounts.
The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan (click here for the complaint), says that a senior Blackstone employee distributed login information to other employees. That account accessed thousands of individual articles between February 2006 and June 2008. The suit describes the use as massive and far more than an individual would normally access. Online subscriptions to the FT cost $179 to $299 a year.
For years, companies in many industries—automotive, cell phones, computers—have required customers to agree to arbitrate their disputes and to waive their right to pursue claims on a class-wide basis. On January 30, the Second Circuit struck down an arbitration clause drafted by American Express that banned any type of class litigation. The ban, according to the court, would have made it impossible for plaintiffs to pursue their antitrust claims against AmEx. Here’s a copy of the ruling and here’s a report on the decision from Public Citizens Consumer Law & Policy Blog.
Other courts, though, have gone the other way. Here is a January 29 posting from the ADR prof blog about a federal judge in New Jersey who upheld a Verizon Wireless class-action waiver, all the while acknowledging that the holding would kill the Verizon customers claim. WSJ Law Blog January 30, 2009
Energy in Brief — Who are the major players supplying the world oil market?
January 29th, 2009 Source: Energy Information Administration
From the Brief:
Governments of oil-rich countries have a major influence on the world supply of oil through ownership of national oil companies and, for some governments, their membership in OPEC.
See Also: Other Energy in Brief Articles
CBO: The State of the Economy and Issues in Developing an Effective Policy Response
Testimony, CBO, Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director, The State of the Economy and Issues in Developing an Effective Policy Response before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, January 27, 2009.
"The economy is currently enduring a recession that started more than a year ago. CBO projects that, in the absence of any changes in fiscal policy, economic activity will contract more sharply in 2009 than it did in 2008 and the economy will grow at only a moderate pace in 2010. Under that projection, the shortfall in the nation’s output relative to its potential would be the largest—in terms of both length and depth—since the Depression of the 1930s. Lost output would represent nearly 7 percent of the estimated potential output in both 2009 and 2010—amounting to about $1 trillion in each year—and almost 5 percent of the potential in 2011. Payroll employment declined by 2-1/2 million jobs last year, and CBO projects that, without further policy actions, even more jobs will be lost this year. The unemployment rate increased by more than 2 percentage points last year, reaching 7.2 percent, and is projected to peak at above 9 percent early next year."
The Washington Post is dropping Book World as a separate Sunday section and moving its coverage of books and publishing elsewhere in the paper. In dropping one of the few remaining stand-alone book sections in American newspapers, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said that the coverage will be shifted to the Style section and a revamped Outlook section. Editor Rachel Shea said that The Post would publish about three-quarters of the roughly 900 reviews it has carried each year. The change will take effect February 22 . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012802208.html
As traditional publishers look to prune their booklists and rely increasingly on blockbuster best sellers, self-publishing companies are ramping up their title counts and making money on books that sell as few as five copies, in part because the author, rather than the publisher, pays for things like cover design and printing costs. In 2008, Author Solutions, which is based in Bloomington, Ind., and operates iUniverse as well as other print-on-demand imprints including AuthorHouse and Wordclay, published 13,000 titles, up 12 percent from the previous year. In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html?_r=3&em
Cool pictures of rare clouds shared by a muse reader
http://www.collthings.co.uk/2008/06/10-very-rare-clouds.html
January 31 is the birthday of the man who holds the European record for reciting pi from memory, Daniel Paul Tammet. (books by this author) It took him five hours and nine minutes to recite 22,514 digits of pi (the number that begins 3.14).
He was born in London in 1979, and he grew up autistic, epileptic, and with synesthesia, a rare condition in which a person has unique sensory experiences. He wrote a memoir called Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant (2007). It begins, "I was born on January 31, 1979—a Wednesday. I know it was a Wednesday, because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number 9 or the sound of loud voices arguing." Tammet describes synesthesia as "a visual, emotional experience of numbers, a neurological mixing of the senses, which most commonly results in the ability to see alphabetical letters and/or numbers in color." Vladimir Nabokov was also a synesthete, and documented his perspectives and experiences in the memoir Speak, Memory. Daniel Tammet said, "Numbers are my friends, and they are always around me. Each one is unique and has its own personality."
February 2nd is a "cross-quarter" day in the solar calendar, which means that it falls exactly between a solstice and an equinox. It's the ancient Celtic celebration of Imbolc, in honor of Brigit, the goddess of fire, poetry, healing, and childbirth. Brigit brings the healing power of the sun back to the world on Imbolc, a day that carries the first promise of spring. Imbolc comes from the Old Irish i mbolg, meaning "in the belly," because this is the time when ewes became pregnant to deliver spring lambs. The Christians took over the Celtic celebration and made February 2nd into a Christian holiday, Candlemas Day. Candlemas Day celebrates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple exactly 40 days after Christmas.
There are many old sayings about February 2—about the emergence of animals from their winter dens and omens that predict the season ahead. One English saying goes:
If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
But if Candlemas day bring clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and won't come again.
There was a tradition in many European countries of watching animals—especially badger—to see how they acted on this day. If they returned to their dens, it meant that there was still a long winter ahead. German immigrants in Pennsylvania found that there weren't a lot of badgers in America, but there were a lot of groundhogs, so the holiday evolved into Groundhog Day. The first reference to Groundhog Day is from 1841, in the diary of a storekeeper in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. He wrote: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks' nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."
The Writer’s Almanac
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