September 2007

Wisconsin researcher provides more insight into some fairly well-known correlations (Sunday, 9/30/07)
We've hoped for a long time that Americans will someday stop thinking of colleges and universities as high-level trade schools, and, instead, as EDUCATIONAL institutions that have as their primary purpose the creation of EDUCATED adults, not to prepare people for careers.

Moreover, we've also hoped for a long time that the people running colleges and universities would start emphasizing genuine EDUCATION, not degrees, so that an unschooled but highly educated person will be seen as deserving the same treatment as one who has become highly educated by spending a lot of time in school. Nowadays, particularly, there seem to be many ways of accomplishing essentially the same things, and it's time for us all to face reality.

We've believed for a long time that genuine learning tends to produce a long list of benefits, not only for the individuals directly involved, but also for those around him/her, as well as for society as a whole. For instance, the correlations between education and health, as well as between income and health, have been fairly well-known for a long time. However, Professor Pamela Herd's research at the University of Wisconsin adds important new perspective.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain (Saturday, 9/29/07)
Twenty or thirty generations is nothing to biology, and it isn't much to culture either, even though most Americans probably can't trace their ancestries back more than two or three. Interestingly, America's largest minority is now hispanic, not African American, although, if we go back far enough, apparently, we're all Africans.

Those persons whose recent ancestors were from the Americas south of the U. S. border probably are an interesting mixture of genes and cultures. During recent centuries, persons from that region have been a mixture of Native American and European origins. Of course, Spain itself, while a modern Western European country now, has been a European and African genetic and cultural mixture itself, given the long presence of the Moors on the Iberian peninsula.

If you're interested in what all this is likely to mean for American life in the future--and you should be--you'll probably also be interested in examining one aspect of Spanish culture, its architecture. Here's the Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Broad Benefits of Restoring the Great Lakes (Friday, 9/28/07)
Lake St. Claire is a GOOD lake, but it's not a Great Lake.

Okay, so much for efforts to be funny. Lake St. Claire lies between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and, like others, is part of the same hydrological system, but is not considered one of the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior alone is larger than Scotland and contains enough water to cover both North and South America with a foot of water. At least, this was the case a few years ago, before the lake's level diminished significantly. As a group, the Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the entire world's fresh surface water.

There are various reasons why Americans, as well as people all over the world, should be concerned about the condition and future of the Great Lakes. Several scholars from the Washington, D. C.-based Brookings Institution have prepared a paper on this and related issues titled "The Broad Benefits of Restoring the Great Lakes."

Huh? The worst is the best? (Monday, 9/24/07)
Pay-option ARMs sound absolutely hideous, but, according to professors at Columbia and New York Universities, it's actually the best kind of mortgage. The catch is that it has to be conducted in a "perfect world." Here's more from Peter Coy, who, it is assumed, lives with the rest of us in a world that is somewhat less than perfect.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Top Credit Cards (Monday, 9/24/07)
It's probably best not to borrow money at all, except possibly in order to buy a house and/or a car that you need to get to work. It's also probably the case that credit card borrowing can be the worst kind, even though the availability of credit cards for emergencies can be a good idea. All credit cards aren't equal, though, and this article on the Top Credit Cards is based on research conducted by Consumer Reports.

Greenspan is the center of attention again (Saturday, 9/22/07)
For many years while he was Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan was the focus of global attention and surely one of the most powerful persons in the world. Now, with the publication of his new book, The Age of Turbulence, this noted octogenarian and former Juliard musician seems to be everywhere on American television. Moreover, people all over the world want to hear what he has to say.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: C-SPAN Classroom (Saturday, 9/22/07)
It required tens of thousands of years of human experience before the U. S. Constitution could be written, and we believe that the entire world has a stake in its continuation. The United States initiated the modern history of democracy on Earth and has done much to spread democratic ideals to many other countries.

Unfortunately, though, Americans have an international reputation for being somewhat too casual about their civic responsibilities and not altogether well-informed about history or their own government.

There's nothing else on television quite like C-SPAN, and, for many years, its contributions to American life have been significant. Now, C-SPAN Classroom is available on the Web to assist in the teaching of civics and government.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The 400 Richest Americans (Friday, 9/21/07)
Is Bill Gates still the richest person in the world, or is this ranking now occupied by Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim? Forbes magazine says it depends on which day you ask.

At any rate, there's no doubt that Mr. Gates is still the richest American, although his good friend Warren Buffet is "only" a few billion behind. Also, if you've been thinking that American TV personality Oprah Winfrey isn't simply a billionaire anymore, but, instead, a 1 1/2 billionaire, you're oh so last year. Forbes now lists her net worth at about 2.5 billion dollars. Moreover, simply being a "mere billionaire" isn't enough to make the list this time.

Here's the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans.

Warming will promote some kinds of illnesses (Thursday, 9/20/07)
Infectious disease was responsible for most deaths in the United States early in the 20th century and before, but, after "magic bullets" were developed to combat or prevent many of them, the late 20th century was mostly a time of degenerative diseases.

However, infectious disease is back, and climate change will help viruses and microbes to flourish and spread, according to researchers reporting at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Here's more from Jean-Louis Santini in Chicago.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Human Genome Project Education Resources (Thursday, 9/20/07)
The first survey of the entire human genome was completed in early 2000. On July 4 of that year, the Liberty medal Award was given to Watson and Crick in Philadelphia. Why that particular timing?

Perhaps it was because Jefferson was more correct than he could have known when he asserted that "all men are created equal." When examining the DNA, it's not possible to tell what "race" a person is, and DNA is what we're made of.

If you would like to know more about the Human Genome Project and why it is important, a good place to begin is with the Human Genome Project Education Resources.

Fewer paid sites, more free information on the Web? (Wednesday, 9/19/07)
Over the years, people have asked us how we make money on the Internet. First, many productive activities are not intended to make money, but, instead, are nonprofit or philanthropic in nature.

Moreover, the question is a bit like asking how one can make money on the telephone. The Internet is part of the world's infrastructure now, and it can be used in a whole variety of ways, some constructive, and, as you know, many destructive. Scams can be operated from countries most people in the United States have never heard of by people who aren't in the least empathetic toward those they simply see as bigger targets. Also, international terrorism has been assisted greatly by this digital system in which tens of millions of computers are able to "talk" to each other and nearly everything is connected to nearly everything else. That is, the Internet has never been simply a business opportunity.

Just a few years ago, we used to answer questions about how to generate income from web sites by identifying a limited number of possibilities. First, we used to say, one can charge a subscription fee. It's certainly easy to try. At the time, though, even the great Wall Street Journal was having difficulty doing this. It appears that people learned early to expect information on the Internet to be free. Many people might be willing to pay for the same words on paper that they are reluctant to pay for if they appear on a computer screen. In recent years, though, the Journal has been able to charge hefty subscription fees and has considered itself successful in this regard. However, the Dow Jones company's new owner is hinting that he's not satisfied with the subscription model, and may soon make the Wall Street Journal freely available online.

Similarly, the New York Times is discontinuing "TimesSelect," and Joe Strupp writes in Editor and Publisher on the question of whether paid web sites are nearing their end.

Incidentally, what are some of the other ways in which it can be possible to generate revenue from web sites? We used to say that the Internet remained an unproved advertising medium, but Google and others seem to have found the right formula and are generating huge advertising revenues at this point.

We also said that a web site can be used to sell products directly, as Amazon.com has done, or to bring buyer and seller together and collect a brokerage fee, as Ebay has done with great success, or to promote other kinds of activities for which one can charge a fee.

Finally, Alan Greenspan is able to speak plainly (Monday, 9/17/07)
When he was Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan had a reputation of speaking cryptically. He seemed quite aware that he could not describe economic conditions without influencing them, so he often testified in Congress in ways that left many people scratching their heads and muttering, "What did he say?" It seemed better to leave large numbers of people with their varied and often contradictory interpretations, rather than setting off a "stampede."

Mr. Greenspan seems complicated. Though he has been a lifelong Republican and was appointed to the Federal Reserve by Republican President Ronald Reagan, he indicates in his new book that he preferred President Clinton's economic policies to those of the current President.

Moreover, he has disturbed many people in the Administration by saying that the West's concern with securing oil supplies lies at base of the war in Iraq, but, as JoAnne Allen reports from Washington, he has attempted to "clarify" his remarks.

Greenspan has indicated that he believes that the risk of recession has increased, but the probability that it will occur is still less than .50, meaning that, despite the increased likelihood, it's still more likely NOT to happen. He still seems to worry about inflation about as much as he did when he was Chairman of the Fed. He told USA Today that we can expect double-digit interest rates during the years ahead in order to defeat inflation.

Finally, even though he has said that he didn't anticipate that a flood of mortgages could endanger the entire economy, he also has said that he attempted to head off a housing bubble while in office, but that "global forces" were working to keep mortgage rates low.

Does society really need rich people? (Monday, 9/17/07)
Perhaps it depends on what they do with their wealth. If they simply use it to support their own pleasures and an opulent life-style, maybe not so much.

On the other hand, people like Warren Buffet and Earvin "Magic" Johnson seem to have most of their wealth working everyday in ways that can influence a lot of lives. In these cases, it might be a good thing for society to have large amounts of money under the control of individuals who have demonstrated their ability to be very good with money. As New York Times writer Thomas Friedman has said, "socialism makes people equally poor, while capitalism makes people unequally rich."

Investment advisor and author Hunter Lewis addresses the general question in his new book, according to Lisa Von Ahn.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: BlackPast (Monday, 9/17/07)
It doesn't seem fair to hold against millions of Americans the fact that their ancestors were victims of the most heinous crimes ever perpetrated in the Americas, but many people still try to do this. BlackPast: Remembered and Reclaimed is a product of the labors of Professor Quintard Taylor and his colleagues at the University of Washington.

Mr. Jefferson! Guess what! (Sunday, 9/16/07)
Mostly for political cover, President Thomas Jefferson liked to say that he sent Lewis and Clark out to find the Northwest Passage, even though he seemed most interested in learning something about the vast land area that he had purchased from Napoleon. Many people of the time believed that the Northwest Passage remained to be discovered, but it hasn't existed--until now.

Jamey Keaten writes about how the melting of Arctic ice finally is making it possible for ships to go where none have been able to go before, a mixed blessing if there ever was one.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World's Transportation Commission (Sunday, 9/16/07)
The World's Transportation Commission is of historical interest, but that's okay, because history isn't dead, and it's certainly important. As we've said numerous times, we respond to things in terms of how they look to us, and historical context and perspective influence how they look.

At any rate, the World's Transportation Commission was developed by Joseph Gladding Pangborn around the time of the Columbian Exposition, or Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The Exposition was organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of when Christopher Columbus brought European civilization into collision with the Americas.

Greenspan implies that Bush really hasn't been a conservative, at least on fiscal matters (Saturday, 9/15/07)
Famed Washington Post author Bob Woodward has been reading former Fed Head Greenspan's new book, and reports that the Republican Mr. Greenspan is more enthusiastic about President Clinton's economic policies than those of President Bush II.

Meanwhile, Harriet Rubin writes that Ayn Rand's 50-year-old book, Atlas Shrugged, is still influential, particularly among people who are seeking intellectual justification for their own self-interest impulses. However, Rand's ideas have policy implications too, and many political leaders have been influenced by them, including Alan Greenspan.

How to avoid becoming poor again (Friday, 9/14/07)
While being poor when you're a young college student can be part of the adventure, it's a lot less fun to be poor when you're old and possibly sick. Your working years are the ones in which you can build a nest egg that can provide some degree of comfort during your middle years and security during the late ones. Once you've built it, you certainly won't want to lose it, and there are plenty of non-obvious ways of losing your wealth besides falling for scams. BusinessWeek's Karyn McCormack has some suggestions for "keeping your wealth intact."

Meanwhile, N.C. Aizenman and Pamela Constable write about the growing number of Americans who are delaying retirement, some perhaps until they can work no more.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: EU Reform (Friday, 9/14/07)
Following centuries of European wars, most Europeans of times past would be astonished at the extent to which European countries have relinquished national sovereignty in order to coordinate their activities and move toward becoming the "United States of Europe."

But, to what extent will European integration continue? In 2004, the European Union failed to ratify a treaty that would have established a constitution for Europe. Here's a new report on the question authorized by the British House of Commons: EU Reform: A New Treaty or an Old Constitution?

Japanese real estate sector also hit (Thursday, 9/13/07)
Following more than a decade in and out of recessions, the Japanese economy continues to grow now, but, recently, at a lower rate. Also, investment values have declined, particularly real estate stocks and funds. Moreover, the head of Japan's second-largest homebuilder sees a bubble about to burst. Here's more from Ian Rowley.

Speaking of real estate, Martin Crutsinger reports from Washington, that more mortgage applications were turned down last year than the year before, and John Leland reports that more of Americans' monthly paychecks were eaten up by housing costs last year than before.

Finally, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has acknowledged that he didn't anticipate that a flood of mortgages held by people with shaky credit histories could endanger the economy. Critics have been saying the Mr. Greenspan shares some of the blame for the current mortgage and lending crisis.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Medline Plus: Herbal Medicine (Wednesday, 9/12/07)
First, everybody should understand the power of the placebo effect. Approximately one-third of the time, people will report feeling better, no matter what substance they ingest, so long as they expect it to work.

This is to say that the effects of "herbal remedies," so-called "over-the-counter" or "patent medicines" are primarily cultural and psychological, not physiological consequences of the substances themselves. Culture is tremendously powerful. Witness the influence and persistence of language, political institutions, religions, etc.

If you want better to understand the most popular health food substances of recent years, including those that are widely-believed to make important contributions to human well-being, study modern research in neuroscience, psychology, cultural anthropology, and related specialties. A good place to start is Medline Plus: Herbal Medicine from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Online Ethics Center (Tuesday, 9/11/07)
Traditional religions have been declining in some parts of the world, while they have been surging in other parts. Each day's news brings additional stories about the political impact of religious belief systems, including those from Islamic or Christian traditions, and others.

At the same time, a growing number of individuals are rejecting the notion that traditional ideas are true simply because large numbers of people have believed them for long periods of time, or because they have been expressed in ancient manuscripts. Instead, there has been growing emphasis on what philosophers for centuries have called "epistemology." What does it TAKE to be right about anything?

Many religionists and non-religionists alike probably will agree that some actions are better than others. Disagreement often arises in relation to how one can distinguish ethical from non-ethical activities. The National Academy of Engineering addressees these issues in its Online Ethics Center.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Stories from the Heart of the Land (Monday, 9/10/07)
For several years, Peter Ostroushko's signature composition and recording probably was "The Whalebone Feathers." More recently, though, the Emmy Award-winning composer and mandolinist probably is best known for his composition and recording of "Heart of the Heartland." Peter Ostroushko's name is heard in many of the same sentences as that of Aaron Copeland when people are discussing music that best evokes the great American landscape.

However, once you want to move beyond music in your examination of nature, the Nature Conservancy can help you do so with profiles of major naturalists, as well as hour-long programs accessible through Stories from the Heart of the Land.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Capital Language Resource Center (Sunday, 9/9/07)
Nobody is likely to accuse Americans of being too multi-lingual. Moreover, the principal reason that we're still teaching a lot of French and German in American high schools and colleges probably has to do with the fact that it's relatively easy to find teachers of these languages, despite the desperate need for Americans who can function in Mandarin and Arabic.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Education is trying to help the overall effort to make more Americans competent in languages other than English by funding the National Capital Language Resource Center. The Department works closely with three leading organizations: Georgetown University, The George Washington University, and the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Statistics Online Computational Resource (Saturday, 9/8/07)
In modern life, we're surrounded by things that are inherently statistical, and one can't even describe or discuss these things intelligently without using statistical concepts. This is why we've thought for sometime that sadistics--er, statistics--should be an essential part of everybody's college and maybe even high school education. It wouldn't be easy to implement such a plan, of course, but UCLA's Statistics Online Computational Resource could help.

For the first time in four years, a net loss of jobs in the U. S. (Friday, 9/7/07)
The American economy must create about 150,000 new jobs each month, simply in order to compensate for population growth. Instead, 4,000 jobs were lost last month, and this is a serious indicator that is worrying economists. Jeannine Aversa writes from Washington about growing fears of a recession. If you have a headache now, it's probably time to buy some more aspirin. More is coming, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In fact, a top U. S. government official believes that problems in the financial markets haven't played out yet in their effect on the general U. S. economy, and the senior vice chairman of Citigroup said that it will be another several months before their full effects can be assessed. Meanwhile, even though it appears that the Federal Reserve will not be bailing out investors, it has pumped more than $31 billion into the financial markets.

The effects of the turmoil in the United States are still spreading around the world as well. For instance, the International Monetary Fund has revised its projections downward for the U. S. and eurozone economies, and the European Central Bank has decided to wait and see until things settle a bit. It has chosen to leave interest rates at 4 percent.

Still, if you're ready for a little GOOD economic news, worker productivity in the United States has been growing at its fastest rate in two years, according to data from the U. S. Department of Labor.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Encompassing the Globe (Thursday, 9/6/07)
How could such a little country as Portugal have such a profound effect on the entire world for the better part of two centuries? Among other things, it shows how little we really understand about the world and what it takes to play a significant geopolitical role, and this should encourage modesty about our forecasts for the future. The Smithsonian Institution presents Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Another chapter in the globalization story (Tuesday, 9/4/07)
It's probably safe to say that the United States has too many colleges and universities, particularly for a time when the cost of tuition, textbooks, etc., is skyrocketing, while many of the same ideas and much of the same information available in textbooks and on campuses is freely available from other sources. Years ago, the late Peter Drucker forecast a time not too distant when there would be only a handful of universities in the United States as we have known them.

Conventional higher education institutions are competing with the accredited for-profit online organizations for students, as well as with each other. For instance, Yale's plan to expand its enrollment is giving many other schools, including other famous universities, the chills. Meanwhile, Tamar Lewin reports that New York University not only is recruiting students from overseas, as most universities are doing, but will establish a fully-functioning branch in Abu Dhabi.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Human Rights Watch: Beijing 2008 (Saturday, 9/1/07)
When reading the China Daily or anything else that comes from the Xinhua news agency, it's important to remember that the most populous country in the world has the opposite of a free press.

However, Chinese government leaders, some of whom are extremely sophisticated, would say that the scolding that the Chinese often gets from the West on their human rights record is, not only frequently hypocritical, but also doesn't take into account China's particular situation or history.

For instance, China doesn't have the option of beginning as a British colony and having a Thomas Jefferson to write the first draft of a Declaration of Independence, and so on. There has been no opportunity for an American-style democracy to evolve in China.

Moreover, as the American experience in Iraq seems to have demonstrated, democracy works only if certain sociopolitical conditions are present. It's much like gardening. Simply tossing seeds on to the soil isn't enough. Preparation is key.

Nonetheless, many observers in the West have not been impressed with China's human rights record, thinking that the Chinese government could have done more to protect individual rights and liberties than it has. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, so China will be displaying itself in front of the world. Millions of people will be watching. Here's an examination as summer 2008 approaches: Human Rights Watch: Beijing 2008.