BottomFeeder U.S.A.

Attention Economy – October 14, 2011

Mark Willis — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:58:33 +0000

David Frum bids farewell as regular Marketplace commentator | Marketplace From American Public Media 101211
The long-time Marketplace conservative commentator will contribute occasionally; says he doesn’t represent “the view of most people who call themselves Republicans and conservatives.” FRUM: Well, we’ve been doing a point/counter-point here between me and Bob Reich for a couple of years. And it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve certainly learned a lot from it. But I think that there’s a kind of expectation that when you do it that you represent the broad point of view of your half of the political spectrum. And although I consider myself a conservative and a Republican, and I think that the right-hand side of the spectrum has the better answers for the long-term growth of economy — low taxes, restrained government, less regulation — it’s pretty clear that facing the immediate crisis — very intense crisis — I’m just not representing the view of most people who call themselves Republicans and conservatives these days.
Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers! | Video on TED.com
Despite multibillion-dollar investments in cybersecurity, one of its root problems has been largely ignored: who are the people who write malicious code? Underworld investigator Misha Glenny profiles several convicted coders from around the world and reaches a startling conclusion.
‘DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You’ – Exploring the World of Cybercrime | PRI’s The World 101011
Anchor Marco Werman talks about the borderless world of international cyber crime with Misha Glenny, whose new book is called “DarkMarker: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You.”
Ayesha Khanna on smart cities and the Hybrid Age | Spark
According to Ayesha Khanna, the end of the so-called “Information Age” is nigh. Ayesha is the the director of the Hybrid Reality Institute, and she says we’re starting to enter a new age — the “Hybrid Age” — which is characterized by pervasive computing, biotechnology and nanotechnology, and “the emergence of technologies as a social actor.” That is, a time defined by our social interactions with the machines around us. This week, Nora interviewed Ayesha Khanna about the hybrid age, and about another of Ayesha’s areas of expertise: smart cities. You can hear the full, uncut interview or download the MP3. [runs 32:15]
Spark 157 – October 2 & 5, 2011 | Spark
Psychology professor Jennifer Steeves of York University explains how human beings recognize one another compared to facial recognition software. And Alessandro Acquisti from Carnegie Mellon University reveals some surprising research into how regular recognition tech can identify “anonymous” people. | Jure Leskovec is an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford, and he analyses past human behaviour online to predict future outcomes. And he’s discovered he can correctly predict who your next friends on Facebook will be. | What happens when cities can monitor and respond to the people who live in them? There is no end to the Spark obsession with this question. Ayesha Khanna, director of the Hybrid Reality Institute, talks to Nora Young about the potential, and the challenges of smart cities, and what becomes possible when sensors are embedded everywhere.
Steve Jobs and Apple’s Innovative Advertising – On The Media 100711
Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs died this week at the age of 56. Bob remembers the tech giant, and discusses Apple’s iconic “1984″ Super Bowl commercial, which he says is one of the best advertisements ever made.
The Loss of a Valuable Journalistic Tool – On The Media 100711
For years, health care reporters have employed a government database called the National Practitioner Data Bank, containing information on malpractice payouts. The public version of the database hides the names of physicians, but after a reporter was able to identify an anonymous doctor, the public database was taken offline. Bob talks to Charles Ornstein of the Association of Health Care Journalists about why the database is important, and attempts by journalists to regain access to it.
Occupy Wall Street – On The Media 100711
The world watches as Occupy Wall Street approaches its fourth week of protests in lower Manhattan and similar demonstrations pop up around the country—but this new-found media attention was slow to catch on. Brooke speaks with Bill Dobbs, a press representative for OWS about what they are doing to generate media coverage. Then Brooke speaks with Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation, about what needs to happen before protests are transformed into a movement.

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Attention Economy – September 30, 2011

Mark Willis — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:07:05 +0000

‘Retirement Heist’: How Firms Trimmed Pensions : NPR 092911
Companies have claimed for years that old-style pensions were unsustainable. Author Ellen Schultz tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep that there’s another explanation. “The main narrative is that [companies] are struggling to pay both their pensions and these unexpectedly high health care costs for the retirees,” Schultz says. “What isn’t known is that companies were well-prepared for this phenomenon. The plans were in fact significantly overfunded. They had more than enough to pay every dime for every person currently employed and already retired.” Schultz investigated the changes in pension plans as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and has written a book called Retirement Heist.
The ‘Worm’ That Could Bring Down The Internet : NPR 092711
As many as 12 million computers worldwide have been infected with a highly encrypted computer worm called Conficker. Writer Mark Bowden details how Conficker was discovered, how it works, and the ongoing programming battle to bring down Conficker in his book Worm: The First Digital World War.
Cheeseheads Take Issue With Anti-Cheese Billboard : NPR 092611
A billboard went up near the Green Bay Packers’ stadium showing the grim reaper decked out in a cheesehead hat. A physicians group promoting vegan diets says its new ad simply points out that cheese can be unhealthy. Green Bay’s mayor says this is silly. As he put it, “We love our cheeseheads and we love our cheese.”
Bill O’Reilly: ‘Abraham Lincoln Was Our Best Leader’ : NPR 092611
BILL O’REILLY: “That’s what the media is today. The media remarkably hasn’t changed since Benjamin Franklin was – written “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” The media is a bunch of guttersnipes and, you know, low – what can I tell you? I mean, look. I’m in the media. I’ve been doing it for 35 years. I know the media as well as anybody in the world knows it. And there are always going to be people who try to make money by slamming other people and by, you know, creating all kinds of stuff that doesn’t really get us anywhere. [STEVE INSKEEP: Do you think you add to that sometimes?] O’REILLY: You know, I try not to do it personally. I think that we bring a robust debate to the nation every night. I think we try to stay away from the personal stuff. We try to back up our opinions with facts. So, yeah. I mean, you can accuse me of anything you want, but, you know, I’m trying to do the right thing.”
News Corp.’s U.K. Actions Under Scrutiny In U.S. : NPR 092611
The newest front for News Corp. involves the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law banning American firms from paying bribes to government officials abroad. Columbia University law professor John Coffee, director of the law school’s Center of Corporate Governance, said the company is moving swiftly and powerfully to contain the threat. “The most striking feature of the current standoff is that News Corp. has pretty much assembled a dream team of all-star foreign corrupt practice litigators,” Coffee said. “You don’t put all that investment into this without having some serious concerns about what might happen.”
Retirement: Reality Not As Rosy As Expectations : NPR 092611
Americans pride themselves on being optimistic. But Robert Blendon, of the Harvard School of Public Health, says that may not be such a good thing when it comes to planning for retirement. For many Americans, it is proving harder than they imagined, according to a a new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.

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Attention Economy – September 26, 2011

Mark Willis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:18:43 +0000

The Hacker Toolkit: Social Engineering – On The Media 092311
Alex Goldman: “There’s an air of alchemy and mystery that surrounds the world of hacking, because it’s perceived as being so technical. That’s part of what makes hacking seem so illicit to non-hackers. But some of the most well known hackers have obtained information using an incredibly low-tech method. That method is called “social engineering.” Put simply, social engineering is the process of fooling people into divulging sensitive information. In a lot of ways, it’s not too far off from calling your high school pretending to be your parents in order to excuse an absence. If you can convince people that you are entitled to access certain information, or even trick them into creating situations where you can get access to it, you’re a successful social engineer.”
Word Watch: Hacker – On The Media 092311
This year we’ve heard stories about hacking, from The News of the World scandal to the exploits of groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec. But the way the media uses the word hack diverges sharply from the way it’s used by actual hackers. On the Media Producer Alex Goldman explores the history of the word and how its meaning has shifted over time.
The Hacker Law – On The Media 092311
Passed in 1986, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was specifically meant to target hacking. But in recent years it’s been used to prosecute a much wider swath of behavior, some of which has nothing to do with hacking. Marcia Hofmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation talks to Brooke about the perils of having such a vague law on the books.
Death for Blogging – On The Media 092311
Last week the mutilated bodies of a man and a woman were found dangling from a pedestrian overpass in the Mexican boarder town of Nuevo Laredo, with notes explicitly warning that those posting the wrong things on the internet will share the same fate. As Drug cartels in Mexico turn their sights on blogs and twitter feeds, the mostly-anonymous social media may have an advantage that eludes mainstream journalism. Louis Nevaer of New America Media discusses the drug wars and the possibility of a newly empowered Mexican social body.
Mexican Drug Cartels Now Menace Social Media : NPR 092311
In areas where they are powerful, the Mexican drug cartels silenced the mainstream media by threatening and killing journalists. Now they seem to be extending the practice to social media. Many Mexicans have had to rely on social media to find out what’s going on in their cities after newspapers, TV and radio stations stopped reporting on drug-related violence. But last week, the mangled bodies of a young man and woman were hung from a highway bridge in Nuevo Laredo along with a sign that read: “This is what happens to people who post funny things on the Internet. Pay attention.”
Week In Politics: Jobs Bill; Spending Bill; GOP Presidential R 092311ace : NPR
DAVID BROOKS: “the two sides have a different view on the role of government. I sort of agree that we shouldn’t have offsets for disaster relief spending. I also don’t think we should be doing industrial policy, spending that much money on electric car programs which were probably – don’t need our help if they’re market-friendly. So I think both sides have a point, but the – E.J. is right, the two sides have become more polarized and they want to stage these kind of fights. I think the thing most people would see is how incredibly parochial it is. We’ve got the European economy sliding maybe into a double-dip recession. We’ve got a pre-Lehman situation with a bunch of banks over there possibly collapsing, dragging our markets down, dragging our economy down. We’re looking at a decade of slow growth and they’re fighting over these little things. I think that, fundamentally, is what unnerves the markets and unnerves Americans.”
Spark 155 – September 18 & 21, 2011 | Spark
Do you know anyone who staunchly refuses to carry a cell phone? Or simply won’t sign up for a Facebook account? Turns out, there’s a name for that: “technology refusal.” Nora interviewed Alice Marwick, who studies social software at Microsoft Research and recently wrote a blog post titled “If you don’t like it, don’t use it. It’s that simple.”
‘Confidence Men’: Ron Suskind On White House Woes : NPR 092011
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind talks about his unflattering picture of rivalries and dysfunction within President Obama’s first economic team in his book Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President. Some of officials quoted in the book say they were misquoted or that their comments were taken out of context. [includes link to book excerpt]
Freakonomics: Where have all the hitchhikers gone? | Marketplace From American Public Media 092111
Besides the fear of an axe murderer, there are valid reasons why hitchhiking has died off. Freakonomics Radio’s Stephen Dubner discusses those reasons and tells us why you should care. “If you care even a little bit about transportation, about cost and congestion and accident risk, carbon emissions, all of that, you’ve got to be depressed to learn the following thing — about 80 percent of all passenger-vehicle capacity in this country goes unused.”
Bioethicist HPV Bet Ends Without Bachmann Acknowledgement – Bloomberg 092211
Bioethicist Art Caplan said his challenge to Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann for evidence that a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer caused mental retardation ended without Bachmann acknowledging it. Caplan, director of the center for bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, offered to pay $10,000 to a charity of Bachmann’s choice if she could find such a patient by noon today. Bachman claimed in television interviews on Sept. 13 that a woman told her that the shot, usually given at age 12, triggered mental retardation in the woman’s daughter.
Political Heat Is Nothing New For The Fed : NPR 092111
In recent months, the Fed has come under increasing fire both from politicians and regular citizens. One such critic is Steve Dore, a 65-year-old resident of San Antonio, Texas, who has a T-shirt that reads “End the Fed” in bold print. Dore has written some 25 songs about the Fed, one of which argues: “Government promise ain’t worth a damn. The Fed is an outrageous scam.” Dore wrote that rock anthem about the central bank in 2008 just as the Fed took extraordinary measures to prop up the nation’s financial system. He’s part of a larger movement, though it’s unclear exactly how big it is.
What Are The Origins Of The Term ‘Class Warfare’? : NPR 092011
Lynn Neary speaks with Julian Zelizer, Princeton professor of history and public affairs, about the origins of the term “class warfare” — and how it has evolved over the years.
Study: Women’s Memory More Receptive To Low Voice : NPR 092011
Melissa Block and Lynn Neary learn from researcher Kevin Allan of the University of Aberdeen King’s College in Scotland that women remember better when spoken to in a low-pitch voice. This helps women to pick a suitable partner.
Teasing Your Book on the Funny Pages – On The Media 091611
Joe McGinniss, author of the controversial forthcoming book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, entered an exclusive first-serial arrangement for the book with Garry Trudeau, author of the comic strip Doonesbury. Bob talks to Trudeau about the unorthodox tactic of teasing a book in a comic strip, and critical reaction to both the book and the strips it generated.

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Attention Economy – September 23, 2011

Mark Willis — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:49:37 +0000

Political Heat Is Nothing New For The Fed : NPR 092111
In recent months, the Fed has come under increasing fire both from politicians and regular citizens. One such critic is Steve Dore, a 65-year-old resident of San Antonio, Texas, who has a T-shirt that reads “End the Fed” in bold print. Dore has written some 25 songs about the Fed, one of which argues: “Government promise ain’t worth a damn. The Fed is an outrageous scam.” Dore wrote that rock anthem about the central bank in 2008 just as the Fed took extraordinary measures to prop up the nation’s financial system. He’s part of a larger movement, though it’s unclear exactly how big it is.
Teasing Your Book on the Funny Pages – On The Media 091611
Joe McGinniss, author of the controversial forthcoming book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, entered an exclusive first-serial arrangement for the book with Garry Trudeau, author of the comic strip Doonesbury. Bob talks to Trudeau about the unorthodox tactic of teasing a book in a comic strip, and critical reaction to both the book and the strips it generated.
Daniel Yergin Examines America’s ‘Quest’ For Energy : NPR
The ad is part of an intensifying debate over hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — the process energy companies use to get a certain kind of natural gas out of the ground. Fracking is also one of the many subjects energy expert Daniel Yergin covers in his new book, The Quest. Yergin tells NPR’s David Greene that the type of natural gas obtained through fracking, the gas found in shale, only recently became a serious energy source for the U.S. [Includes link to book excerpt]
Study: Some Groups Prepare Texting Over Talking : NPR 092011
The Pew Research Center has released a new survey on text messaging. It says the vast majority of Americans now own cell phones, and the vast majority of them use text messages. People between the age of 18 and 24 send, on average, about 110 messages per day.
HPV Vaccine: The Science Behind The Controversy : NPR 091911
The first vaccine against human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer, came out five years ago. But now it has become a hot political topic, thanks to a Republican presidential debate in which candidate Michele Bachmann inveighed against “innocent little 12-year-old girls” being “forced to have a government injection.” Behind the political fireworks is a quieter backlash against a public health strategy that has won powerful advocates in the medical and public health community. It appears this vaccine gets people riled up because it involves sex and 11-year-old girls. The two approved vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, are designed to protect against a sexually transmitted virus.
The GOP War on Voting | Politics News | Rolling Stone
Ari Berman: “As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008. Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of GOP governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. “What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century,” says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.”
Do New Voting Laws Suppress Fraud? Or Democrats? : NPR 091711
Republican lawmakers [are] trying to crack down on voter fraud. Kansas, Alabama and Tennessee mandated that voters show proof of citizenship before registering to vote. Six states now require voters to show a government-issued ID at the polls. Other states, like Florida and Ohio, have cut short their early voting programs. Ari Berman, who’s reported on these laws for Rolling Stone magazine, says that requirements in the name of protecting against voter fraud actually suppress certain voter demographics. “I believe what Republicans are trying to do is make it harder for Democratic candidates to turn out an electorate [like] they turned out in 2008, which is young voters, African-Americans, Hispanics,” according to Berman. He says those are the people who are disproportionately affected by the new laws.
Scripting News: Corporate blogging silos 091611
Dave Winer: “I won’t put anything more than a random comment into a corporate blogging silo like this without it flowing through my tools so I can archive it and publish it in my space too. The fact that it goes to Twitter too is the least important thing about it. “
In Texas, Perry’s Vaccine Mandate Provoked Anger : NPR 091611
The most dramatic moment of the GOP debate in Florida last Monday revolved around Gov. Rick Perry and his 2007 executive order mandating that all 11- and 12-year-old girls in Texas get the HPV vaccine. The human papillomavirus vaccine protects women and teens against a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. During the debate, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann called Perry’s executive order an example of crony capitalism. “The governor’s chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company,” Bachmann said. “The drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor. This is flat-out wrong. Was this about life, or was it billions of dollars for a drug company?”
Week In Politics: Special Election; Jobs : NPR 091611
BLOCK: E.J., I want to ask you about a moment in the debate on Monday. There were cheers from the audience when the prospect was raised: Do you let someone without health insurance die? And we may remember there was a moment during an earlier debate when the fact was raised that Rick Perry had overseen more than 230 executions as governor, there was big applause for that. Would do you make of that? DIONNE: I think it was deeply disturbing. I’ve been struck by the number of right-to-lifers, sort of right to life liberals have said, wait a minute: this is supposed to be a pro-life party and first they cheer for the death penalty – this isn’t about supporting the death penalty, this is cheering – and then some of those cheers for the idea of letting a person die. I think this is very dangerous for the Republicans. I don’t know how many people actually watched that debate, but the Tea Party has not improved its image at all.. . it’s beginning to taint the image of the Republican Party.
Boehner Offers Response To Obama’s Jobs Speech : NPR -01511
House Speaker John Boehner ruled out tax increases and hammered at government regulations in his first lengthy response to President Obama’s jobs speech last week. BOEHNER: “Job creators in America basically are on strike and the problem is not confusion about the policies. It’s the policies themselves.”
An Interrogator Writes ‘The Inside Story Of 9/11′ : NPR 091311
Former FBI agent and interrogator Ali Soufan talks about dysfunction and rivalries inside the government’s counterterrorism agencies that led to missed opportunities — as well as the ineffectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques on collecting intelligence. [includes link to book excerpt]

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In recent months, the Fed has come under increasing fire both from politicians and regular citizens. One such critic is Steve Dore, a 65-year-old resident of San Antonio, Texas, who has a T-shirt that reads “End the Fed” in bold print. Dore has written some 25 songs about the Fed, one of which argues: “Government promise ain’t worth a damn. The Fed is an outrageous scam.” Dore wrote that rock anthem about the central bank in 2008 just as the Fed took extraordinary measures to prop up the nation’s financial system. He’s part of a larger movement, though it’s unclear exactly how big it is.

The Rhetoric of ‘Class Warfare’?

Mark Willis — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:59:59 +0000

I’ve tried to embed the NPR media player, but it never worked until now. I’m not sure how much I like it, since the text presented on the wrapper is not readable by my screen reader. Via NPR, here’s the blurb:

Lynn Neary speaks with Julian Zelizer, Princeton professor of history and public affairs, about the origins of the term “class warfare” — and how it has evolved over the years.

Attention Economy – September 16, 2011

Mark Willis — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:28:01 +0000

via National Inflation Association: College education is the largest scam in U.S. history! http://inflation.us

Khan Academy | Learn almost anything for free
With a library of over 2,400 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 150 practice exercises, we’re on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.
Full Interview: Cathy N. Davidson on Evolving Education | Spark 090211
[re attention blindness; William James on attention] Duke University professor Cathy N. Davidson is author of the new book “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn.” She believes that how we learn is a relic of 19th century values, and if it has any chance at relevancy, must embrace aspects of our digital lives that are normally shunned by scholars – technology, collaboration, and yes, even distraction.
Remembering the Twin Towers Using Augmented Reality | Spark 082911
Brian August has created an app that uses augmented reality to add a silhouette of the World Trade Center to images of New York City’s skyline. He calls the project 110 Stories, and he tells Nora why he thinks this app is about more than the destruction of the twin towers. (Runs: 8:47)
9/11 Memorial Webcam | National September 11 Memorial & Museum
EarthCam’s live webcam brings into view the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Use the navigation tools to direct the camera. You can also save the high definition image on your computer, print it or share it with friends.
National September 11 Memorial & Museum | World Trade Center Memorial
All The Names: Algorithmic Design and the 9/11 Memorial | blprnt.blg 061011
Jer Thorpe: “The project was to design an algorithm for placement of names on the 9/11 memorial in New York City. In architect Michael Arad‘s vision for the memorial, the names were to be laid according to where people were and who they were with when they died – not alphabetical, nor placed in a grid. Inscribed in bronze parapets, almost three thousand names would stream seamlessly around the memorial pools. Underneath this river of names, though, an arrangement would provide a meaningful framework; one which allows the names of family and friends to exist together. Victims would be linked through what Arad terms ‘meaningful adjacencies’ – connections that would reflect friendships, family bonds, and acts of heroism. through these connections, the memorial becomes a permanent embodiment of not only the many individual victims, but also of the relationships that were part of their lives before those tragic events.”
Jer Thorp on Algorithmic Design and the 9/11 Memorial | Spark
On the newly opened 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York City, the names are laid according to where people were and who they were with when they died. Jer Thorp had the difficult task of designing an algorithm for placement of the names, and he talks to Nora about the challenges of using math and computer science to tackle a very, very sensitive problem. (Runs: 13:44)
Spark 154 – September 11 & 14, 2011 | Spark
On this episode of Spark: The Future of Education, The Myth of the Digital Native, and Designing Memorials for 9/11. | The Myth of the Digital Native: It’s easy to assume that anyone under the age of 25 is “tech savvy”, but it turns out that’s not entirely true. A new study of undergrads suggests that these so-called “digital natives” are not so digitally minded after all. Nora speaks with Andrew Asher, the lead anthropologist on the project, as well as Eszter Hargittai who has researched differentials in how much young people know about tech. (Runs: 12:28)
Catherine Lutz: “magical thinking” and the costs of war | Radio Open Source with Christopher Lydon 091911
Chris Lydon: “Catherine Lutz delivers her conservative Costs of War accounting in a calm teacherly tone, but her reckoning is nothing short of outrageous: it was a 5 Trillion Dollar War after all, this ten-year response to 911. She is counting, on top of the direct military allocations, something like a trillion for the lifetime care of American service men and women injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; and probably another trillion in interest on a credit-card war, financed without war taxes or even a pretense of shared sacrifice. She is not counting the war damages our force inflicted on invisible, mostly innocent villages and families under our guns. She is not counting the “opportunity cost” in jobs, profits, and sustainable growth in the US if the war investment had gone to the basics of a modern economy, like science, education, and infrastructure.”
Christine Lagarde: Changing of the Guard – Magazine – Vogue
When she does arrive at her office, the force of her presence is palpable. When we call somebody a star, we’re sometimes hinting that along with the glamour, there may be an element of fragility or caprice; Marilyn Monroe was a star. It would be better to say of Christine Lagarde that she is a planet with a powerful field of gravity, orbiting through the skies of global high finance, the first woman to be in charge of the world’s economy. Not everyone is in her constellation, though: She’s been charged with actions in her capacity as Sarkozy’s minister of finance that resulted in a lucrative legal settlement for a powerful French businessman, Bernard Tapie; and, perhaps more shocking, she’s been accused by political skeptics of being elegant, usually a compliment in France, now subtly turned to a term of belittlement by several male members of the political elite.
How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages? (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) 091211
If the Web page survives this first — extremely harsh — 10-second judgment, users will look around a bit. However, they’re still highly likely to leave during the subsequent 20 seconds of their visit. Only after people have stayed on a page for about 30 seconds does the curve become relatively flat. People continue to leave every second, but at a much slower rate than during the first 30 seconds. So, if you can convince users to stay on your page for half a minute, there’s a fair chance that they’ll say much longer — often 2 minutes or more, which is an eternity on the Web. [What's a Weibull distribution? Weibull is a reliability-engineering concept that's used to analyze the time-to-failure for components. The model's hazard function indicates the probability that a component will fail at time t, given that it has worked fine up until time t... when analyzing Web visits, we simply replace "component failure" with "user leaving the page." ]

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What Are The Real Costs of the War on Terror?

Mark Willis — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:58:29 +0000

via VIMEO: Catherine Lutz is the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the Watson Institute for International Studies and chair of the Department of Anthropology at Brown University. She’s also the co-director of the Costs of War project, along with Neta Crawford.

To learn more about the Costs of War and read our complete findings across the topics mentioned here and more, visit costsofwar.org

Catherine Lutz interview with Chris Lydon on Radio Open Source:

Catherine Lutz delivers her conservative Costs of War accounting in a calm teacherly tone, but her reckoning is nothing short of outrageous: it was a 5 Trillion Dollar War after all, this ten-year response to 911. She is counting, on top of the direct military allocations, something like a trillion for the lifetime care of American service men and women injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; and probably another trillion in interest on a credit-card war, financed without war taxes or even a pretense of shared sacrifice. She is not counting the war damages our force inflicted on invisible, mostly innocent villages and families under our guns. She is not counting the “opportunity cost” in jobs, profits, and sustainable growth in the US if the war investment had gone to the basics of a modern economy, like science, education, and infrastructure.

Attention Economy – September 12, 2011

Mark Willis — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:28:40 +0000

Fresh Air Weekend: Remembering Sept. 11 : NPR 091011
Firefighter Ken Haskell talks about searching the rubble at Ground Zero for his brothers’ bodies; linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on language since Sept. 11; Maureen Corrigan reviews a debut novel, and a clarinet quartet plays several tribute songs.
The Economic Legacy of 9/11 | Marketplace 090911
In their own words, survivors of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, remember the events of that day and talk about the personal impact 9/11 has had on their lives and career choices. Share your story and read more.
9/11: New York remembers | Reuters.com
Sleeping Barry Awakes – NYTimes.com 091011
The reawakened Republicans are no longer the loyal opposition. They’re revolutionary Bolsheviks who want to eat Obama alive.
The criminalization of speech since 9/11 – War Room – Salon.com 091011
The case is an example of prosecutors’ aggressive use, in the decade after Sept. 11, of the preexisting law that bars providing “material support” to officially designated terrorist groups. In a landmark case last year, the Supreme Court endorsed the government’s broad interpretation of the material-support law in a way that critics say criminalizes speech. The expanded use of the material-support law is an important part of the legacy of 9/11 and the legal regime erected in response to the attacks.
The Obama Kill Osama Collectible Figurine (Limited Edition)
The years since 9/11 already look like a detour, not the main road of history | Timothy Garton Ash | Comment is free | The Guardian 090711
Timothy Garton Ash: “A major research project on the Costs of War at Brown University records that over these 10 years “more than 2.2 million Americans have gone to war and over a million have returned as veterans”. It estimates the overall, long-term economic costs so far incurred as a result of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other theatres of counter-terrorist action at between $3.2 and $4 trillion. On its projections of likely future activity until 2020, that could rise to as much as $4.4tn. Experts can argue about the numbers, but there is no doubt that they are huge. In round figures, this amounts to something like a quarter of the US’s soaring national debt, which itself is heading up towards 100% of GDP. Yet this is nothing like a full accounting of what economists call the opportunity cost. It’s not just a matter of how much investment in human resources, skilled jobs, infrastructure and innovation the US could have bought for $4tn…”
How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill It | Danger Room | Wired.com
Cheney: I never linked Iraq with 9/11. Oh really? – YouTube
During the 2004 Vice Presidential debates, Vice President Cheney attacked Senator John Edwards for saying he kept trying to link Iraq to 9/11. But he did, most notably in 2003 on “Meet the Press”, and four days later, President Bush was forced to publically “clarify” Cheney’s comments with yet another lie.
The Talk Online – Web Offers Both News and Comfort – NYTimes.com 091201
[Dave Winerlinks to this] NYT writeup, the day following 9/11/01, on the role bloggers played in getting the first information about the attacks.
Scripting News: My 9/11 | 091011
Dave Winer: “I realize I am a strange duck from the standpoint of 9/11. I experienced it from California, and blogged it, as my NY counterparts couldn’t. I received their emails and pointed to their pictures and stories. I acted as an online anchor, and learned a lot that day, and grew a lot, all while being scared out of my mind and depressed. The blogging helped me get through it.”
Scripting News: 9/11/2001
Dave Winer’s historic blog post from 9/11 — still linked on the net.
The acquiescent Media after 9/11 – On The Media 090911
Bob looks back at the media’s initial response to 9/11, when journalistic independence took a backseat to patriotism. He says journalists performed their real patriotic duty when they stopped being compliant and started questioning authority once again.
Telling jokes about september 11th – On The Media 090911
Comedian and host of the WTF podcast Marc Maron was living in New York during the attacks of 9/11. Brooke talks to Maron about how comedians began to grapple with the tragedy in their acts and how he dealt with it personally.
Growing up in the shadow of 9/11 – On The Media
When WNYC’s Radio Rookies–a program that teaches kids how to tell their own stories–put out a call for personal tales of 9/11, Brendan Illis answered. Illis was 6-years-old when the towers fell, after which he became a voracious news consumer. He says 9/11 and the past decade of news have played a pivotal role in the direction of his life.
Al Jazeera English in America – On The Media 090911
Since its launch in 2006, Al Jazeera English has had a lot of trouble breaking into American markets. Andrew Stelzer reports a cautionary tale about Burlington, Vermont, a town whose cable service picked up Al Jazeera English, inspiring intense local protests.
Newly Released 9/11 Audio – On The Media
This week, Rutgers Law Review published an archive of conversations between air traffic controllers on the morning of September 11, 2001. Jim Dwyer of The New York Times wrote about the newly released audio, and talks to Bob about what we can learn from them.
Arbitrary Restrictions on Photographers – On The Media 090911
At times during the last decade, authorities have arbitrarily stopped photographers from taking pictures in the name of national security. For example, University of Maryland student Reza Farhoodi was removed from his seat at a Washington Redskins game because he was using a ‘professional camera’ – even though there is no prohibition against using ‘professional’ cameras at football games. Brooke spoke with attorney Morgan Manning about being forbidden to photograph.
Could ‘Submission’ Be America’s Sept. 11 Novel? : NPR 090611
Maureen Corrigan: The Submission is a gorgeously written novel of ideas about America in the wake of Sept. 11. It tackles subjects like identity politics, undocumented immigrants and the stress fractures of democracy. Maybe the most audacious question that’s posed by Amy Waldman’s debut novel, however, is the implicit one that lingers long after a reader finishes it: Namely, could it be that a decade after the attacks, America finally has the Sept. 11 novel — one that does justice, artistically and historically, to the aftershocks of that day? | Of course, there have been other serious fiction contenders that have ruminated on Sept. 11; among them, Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland; Deborah Eisenberg’s short story collection, Twilight of the Superheroes; Don DeLillo’s Falling Man; and Ken Kalfus’ dark tour de force, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country.

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President Obama To Congress: “Stop The Political Circus”

Mark Willis — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:07:38 +0000

President Obama presented his proposal for the American Jobs Act to a joint session of Congress on September 8, 2011. [via whitehouse.gov | Read the Transcript ]

Attention Economy – September 9, 2011

Mark Willis — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:38:53 +0000

Michael Hart, inventor of the ebook, dies aged 64 | Books | guardian.co.uk
Michael S. Hart on the 1971 origins of the ebook and Project Gutenberg: “Somehow I had envisioned the net in my mind very much as it would become 30 years later. I envisioned sending the Declaration of Independence to everyone on the net… all 100 of them… which would have crashed the whole thing, but luckily Fred Ranck stopped me, and we just posted a notice in what would later become comp.gen. I think about six out of the 100 users at the time downloaded it.”
Michael S. Hart, e-book inventor and Project Gutenberg founder, dies at 64 — Engadget
Michael S. Hart, the e-book inventor who founded Project Gutenberg, has died at the age of 64. []In 1971 he] founded Project Gutenberg — an online library that aims to “encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks” and to “break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy.” By 1987, he’d already digitized a total of 313 books, including works from Homer, Shakespeare and the Bible, before recruiting more volunteers to help out. As of this June, Hart’s pioneering library housed about 36,000 works in its collection (most of which are in the public domain), with an average of 50 new books added each week. Described by Project Gutenberg as an “ardent technologist and futurist,” Hart leaves a literary legacy perhaps best summed up in his own words. “One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much is that eBooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air.”
e-Book Founder Michael S. Hart Dies At 64 : NPR 090811
In 1971, computer scientist Michael S. Hart typed the text of the Declaration of Independence and made it available on a computer network so others could read it as well. It was an electronic document, and he created what you might think of as the prototypical e-book. Before his death this week at the age of 64, Hart founded Project Gutenberg, which provides free digital literature, to spread literacy.
Rick Perry stands by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme – Political Hotsheet – CBS News 090811
In spite of warnings from his fellow Republicans that calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” would be polarizing in the presidential contest, presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday stood by his remarks. “You cannot keep the status quo in place and call it anything other than a Ponzi scheme,” Perry said at a Republican debate in California. Acknowledging that several have called his remarks controversial, he added, “Maybe it’s time to have some provocative language in this country.”
Rick Perry: Social Security ‘is a Ponzi Scheme’ | Video | TheBlaze.com 082911
While campaigning in Iowa over the weekend, Texas Governor Rick Perry shared his thoughts on Social Security, stating: “It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie,” Perry said. “It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can’t do that to them.”
Perry, Romney Capture Spotlight At GOP Debate : NPR 090811
[Ponzi Scheme] Eight Republican presidential candidates gathered Wednesday night at the Reagan Presidential Library in California for a debate. It was the debate debut for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He’s overtaken former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in national polls.
Apprenticeships May Solve Skills Gap, Spark Economy : NPR
Morning Edition has been asking business people for their one idea on how to help fix a part of the economy. Tim Brown, CEO of the design firm IDEO, talks to Steve Inskeep about his idea of reviving apprenticeships.
Saving The Stories Of Loved Ones Lost On Sept. 11 : NPR 090811
Each year, the oral history project StoryCorps has marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with the voices of those directly affected by the events: wives and husbands, grandparents and friends of those who died that day. But as StoryCorps founder Dave Isay tells Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep, the outpouring of stories about Sept. 11 initially came as something of a surprise. “When StoryCorps started, I expected to see a lot of people come to StoryCorps who were dealing with kind of end-of-life issues,” Isay says. “What I didn’t expect to see were people coming to memorialize loved ones who were lost. And we saw that from the first days after StoryCorps opened eight years ago.”
Clergy Insulted By Speaking Ban At Sept. 11 Events : NPR 090811
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning clergy-led prayer at this weekend’s events marking the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The mayor’s office says he wants to avoid disagreements over which religious leaders participate. Some religious groups are calling the ban a sign of prejudice against religion.
Mall Counterterrorism Files ID Mostly Minorities : NPR 090811
Programs aimed at keeping a lookout for potential terrorists are not about profiling, government officials stress. But an analysis of suspicious activity reports of incidents at the Mall of America near Minneapolis, by NPR News Investigations and the Center for Investigative Reporting, suggests that the Mall of America may be questioning people based partly on their appearance. From the more than 1,000 pages of suspicious activity reports examined, the documents suggest almost two-thirds of the “suspicious” people whom the Mall reported to local police were minorities. Compare that with the U.S. population, which is more than 70 percent white. And whites account for 85 percent of the population in Minnesota.
Jobless data show only part of economic pain | Marketplace From American Public Media 090611
Q ['marginally attached' to the labor force].
Republican Debate: Five Things to Watch – NYTimes.com 090711
But even [Ronald] Reagan is not a subject that is free from division, as was proved on Tuesday by a spat between the two Texans, Mr. Paul and Mr. Perry. Mr. Paul ran a television ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that compared him to Reagan, saying both men were considered unelectable. He notes his own support for Reagan’s campaign and accuses Mr. Perry of supporting the early campaigns of Al Gore. “Al Gore found a cheerleader in Texas named Rick Perry. Rick Perry helped lead Al Gore’s campaign to undo the Reagan revolution,” Mr. Paul’s ad says. Mr. Perry’s campaign shot back quickly, unearthing a letter that Mr. Paul wrote in 1987 in which he resigns from the Republican Party. “Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national debt,” Mr. Paul wrote in 1987. A spokesman for Mr. Perry said that “Rep. Paul’s letter is a broadside attack on every element of President Reagan’s record and philosophy.”
Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult | Truthout 090311
Mike Lofgren: “It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.”
Apocalyptic GOP Is Dragging Us Into a Civil War | Rolling Stone Politics | Taibblog | Matt Taibbi on Politics and the Economy
Matt Taibbi: “[Mike] Lofgren, in describing the reasons for his defection from the Republican party, describes a Republican camp that increasingly acts not like a traditional peacetime political organization, but more like an apocalyptic cult or one of the authoritarian movements from early 20th century European history. In particular, the insane decision to turn the once-routine procedure of raising the debt ceiling (Lofgren notes it was done 87 times since WWII) into a political crisis revealed that the GOP party mainstream had sunk to the level of terrorism – holding our economic system hostage in exchange for political concessions. This was a form of violence… this current crew of Republicans shook canisters of kerosene over the entire American population and threatened to light a match if it didn’t get what it wanted.