The Economist helps with the problem of raising children of the wealthy

Economist.com | The servant problem

Upper middle class americans have trouble finding child care at a price they want to pay. Fundamentally the problem is that legal outsourced high quality individual child care costs a substantial fraction of the after-tax income of an upper middle-class working parent.

The Economist suggests the one logical solution.

In the age of the global economy, the solution to the servant problem is simple: rather than importing the nanny, offshore the children.

Of course if one doesn't like that answer, one can do the work oneself. It's not easy work though ...

Aside from the social commentary, there's yet another aspect to this satire. Birth rates are far higher offshore than they are in wealthy nations. So, in a peculiar sense, wealthy nations have offshored more than raising children ...

The British Medical Journal publishes a unique case report

A precious case from Middle Earth -- Bashir et al. 329 (7480): 1435 -- BMJ

Sméagol (Gollum) is a single, 587 year old, hobbit-like male of no fixed abode. He has presented with antisocial behaviour, increasing aggression, and preoccupation with the 'one ring.'...

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The BMJ has always had a bit of a sense of humor. This case report was written up by a group of medical students and a psych professor, perhaps as an end-of-rotation assignment. The patient's history is obtained from a chap named Gandalf.

Disappearing in the sand

The New York Times > Science > Beware! Sand in This Physics Lab May Eat You Alive:

This physics experiment showed an peculiar configuration of sand could cause it to pass any weighted object with minimal resistance. I assume this was only a neat physics experiment, until this comment:

Dr. Lohse said the findings could explain reports of travelers' being swallowed up in the desert.

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Do the bodies every reappear?

Editing -- the secret to a happy life ...

The Onion | Local Woman's Life Looks Bearable In Scrapbook

Jane Hemmer's family scrapbook, prominently displayed on her coffee table at all times, gives the impression that her life is not only bearable, but even pleasant, sources not particularly close to the 58-year-old homemaker said Monday...

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The Onion's satire contrasts a cheer filled scrapbook to a darker reality.

But is the Onion again ahead of the curve? Is a life perhaps not so much well lived ... as well edited? Few live blessed lives, but in most lives there are happy intervals. With a bit of editing, a bit of contrast here and dimming there, cannot the Play be made lighter? There may be something to be said for the art of mastering the past.

I need the opinion of the elders on this ...

Satire is impossible in the Rovian Regime: The Onion can't get ahead of the Swift Boat curve.

WaPo: Anti-Kerry Group Is Not Done Yet

The satirical newspaper "The Onion" did a spoof reporting that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which harassed Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry during the campaign about his Vietnam War record, was continuing its campaign against the defeated Kerry because "John Kerry is a threat to every American he comes in contact with, whether he's running for president, getting his oil changed, or going to a movie with his wife." The Onion proposed two new ads for the group, one accusing Kerry of going bowling in street shoes and the other accusing him of cheating to get his 10th cup free at a coffee shop.

Then something really funny happened: Life imitated satire. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Thursday: "The end of the 2004 presidential election campaign doesn't spell the end of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the well-funded alliance of former servicemen that remains dedicated to preventing Sen. John Kerry from becoming president. The group . . . plans to convene next month to celebrate its successes and to consider speaking out further about Kerry's military service, his anti-war activities afterward, and other issues."

Meanwhile, the American Conservative Union has announced that it has chosen Sen. Zell Miller, the retiring Georgia Democrat who campaigned for Bush and angrily suggested that Kerry wished to arm American troops with "spitballs," to give a "Courage Under Fire" award to the Swift boat group at its Feb. 18 banquet. And we thought Valentine's Day was Feb. 14.

Who will replace Donald Rumsfeld?

After Outcry, Rumsfeld Says He Will Sign Condolence Letters (washingtonpost.com)

The Pentagon has acknowledged that Donald H. Rumsfeld did not sign condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq, but it said that from now on the embattled defense secretary would stop the use of signing machines and would pick up the pen himself.

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Emphasis mine. This is the kind of news story that emerges towards the very end, when the tip of the long knife is visible protruding from the victim's chest. I smell a Rove; this latest leak is a classic step in his staged, methodical and merciless method of (virtual) assassination. Hmm. Maybe Rove will be the next SecDef.

Winner -- best in 'Scared of Santa' series

Scared of Santa photo gallery

A great way to deal with holiday stress. Photo 2 is favored by many critics.

The evolutonary biology of acne

[Sorry - I had two typos in the title: ance for acne and evolutonary for evolutionary. Alas, if I fix the typos Blogger will create a new URL and break links to this posting. In this respect I consider Blogger's design to be, fundamentally, "stupid".]

IngentaConnect Article: Acne: A biopsychosocial and evolu...erspective with a focus on shame

Many years ago, it occurred to me that acne was far too common (80% of adolescents are affected) to not have some adaptive advantage. This thought came back to me while listening to a medical lecture.

A quick google scholar search didn't turn up anything interesting (this link, for example, is a particularly pointless article).

So why is it normal for humans to experience a (usually) transiently disfiguring condition of the face -- a condition that appears in women around the time of maximum fertility? A condition which, occasionally, causes long term scarring and decrease in physical attractiveness?

The condition must have large advantages to offset the impact on reproduction.

My guess is the advantage accrues to young adolescent females. It's a way to reduce their attractiveness, and defer age of first conception. Early conceptions may have high mortality for both infant and mother, and thereby increase the lifetime number of children. A condition that decreases the risk of early conception may actually have an adaptive advantage.

Any other theories?

John Glenn on the limited life expectancy of earth-based civilization

Slashdot | Astronaut: 'Single-Planet Species Don't Last'

Slashdot thread on a John Glenn article. The article references are good, the Slashdot commentary is feeble (I think the rise of blogs has killed Slashdot's commentary quality). The Economist had a good issue on this years ago -- they came to the same conclusion about the probability of a meteor annihilation vs. airplane crash.

Glenn exaggerates a bit. Sharks, for example, have been around a long time. Humans are pretty resilient rats and might survive a lot of harm. Our civilization, however, would not.

On the other hand, we have much bigger problems than meteors ahead in the next forty years.

The Mozilla firefox ad -- PDF where names are readable

nytimes-firefox-final.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Yep, I'm there. Probably the only time my name will appear in the NYT (I don't think they've printed any letters so far ...).

There was no nanny

The New York Times > Washington > Missteps Cited in Kerik Vetting by White House

... A major problem, law enforcement officials said, was that the White House did not have the benefit of any F.B.I. investigation into Mr. Kerik's past. Mr. Kerik, as New York City's police commissioner on Sept. 11, 2001, had been offered a high security clearance by federal officials so he could receive classified intelligence about the city's security, a law enforcement official said. But he failed to return a questionnaire needed for the F.B.I. to conduct a background check, and he never received that clearance, the law enforcement official said.

Mr. Kerik said on Tuesday night through his spokesman, Christopher Rising, that he could not remember receiving the questionnaire. Mr. Kerik still received classified information from the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. regarding security issues in New York, the law enforcement official said, although the police commissioner was not given the most sensitive intelligence about the sources of the data. He served as police commissioner through the end of 2001.

Mr. Kerik also failed to complete a required federal financial disclosure form in May 2003, when he left the country to spend three and a half months in Iraq trying to train Iraqi police officers, a law enforcement official said. The disclosure form, law enforcement officials said, might have turned up some of the financial problems that surfaced this month in connection with a condominium he owned in New Jersey.

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Bloggers have noted that no-one has found Kerik's "nanny". One suspects that if she exists, she was hired maybe two weeks and a day ago.

This says a LOT of interesting things about the FBI (hey, next time I get a request for a background check, I'll just "forget it" too), Giuliani, Bush, and the culture of the "Washington insider".

Bush had strong positive vibes about Putin. His tummy resonated with Kerik. Maybe he shouldn't trust his "instincts" quite so much? Nahhhh.

Shock. Shock. Unregulated herbal remedies maybe not utterly safe

Newsday.com - Health News/Science News

Lead, mercury and arsenic have been found in herbal preparations imported from India, some so laden with contaminants they were potent enough to cause serious poisonings, researchers report today.

The herbal remedies - many of them intended for children - which can be bought in health food stores and other venues, are sold for the practice of ayurvedic medicine, an ancient healing art. Dangerous heavy metals were found in 14 of 70 ayurvedic products, which are attracting a growing number of consumers in the United States, experts said yesterday.

I am soooo shocked.

The deregulation of herbal rememdies in America (the role of the Mormon church in that effort, btw, has always intrigued me) has always been one of my favorite examples of magical thinking.

Somehow, something created by nature is fundamentally safe?! Like, umm, tetrodotoxin? Somehow, companies that sell things that are "natural" are fundamentally trustworthy? Like, umm, the tobacco industry?

So they don't need regulation, unlike, ummm, pharmaceuticals? (The regulation of which has collapsed under Republican rule.)

At least the libertarians are happy. They probably consider this a way to "thin the herd". (Note, I am not a libertarian.)

Round 174 in the Great Game goes to ...

The New York Times > International > Middle East > The Elections: Iraqi Campaign Raises Question of Iran's SwayIran?

On a list of 228 candidates submitted by a powerful Shiite-led political alliance to Iraq's electoral commission last week, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's name was entered as No. 1. It was the clearest indication yet that in the Jan. 30 election, with Iraq's Shiite majority likely to heavily outnumber Sunni voters, Mr. Hakim may emerge as the country's most powerful political figure.

Mr. Hakim, in his early 50's, is a pre-eminent example of a class of Iraqi Shiite leaders with close ties to Iran's ruling ayatollahs. He spent nearly a quarter of a century in exile in Iran. His political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was founded in Tehran, and its military wing fought alongside Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq war. American intelligence officials say he had close ties with Iran's secret services.

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About a year ago the tin-hat brigade noted that many of the favorites of the Pentagon/Rumsfeld cohort had interesting connections to Iranian intelligence -- especially Chalabi. If Iran, which has a feared and "respected" intelligence service did manipulate the US into invading Iraq (not that Bush needed much encouragement), then we're now entering yet another stage in a plan they've been preparing for some time. (Note bin Laden's brother still operated freely in Iran last year, but we don't talk about that any more.)

On the other hand, the Economist had a solid review of Iran in this week's issue. It was one of the better recent pieces in a journal that's on the decline. Iran is an economic and political mess; it cannot be deterred from a nuclear weapon, but it's in no shape to "rule" Iraq. Getting too involved in Iraq could push Iran over the edge. Of course that may not deter them, like America they have strong beliefs in divine destiny.

BTW, for how many years have Sunnis ruled the land now called Iraq?

Military interrogation techniques repel even the CIA

INTEL DUMP - CIA memo: stay away from military interrogations

Comment: This provides a tiny glimpse inside the highly secretive world of interrogations, but an important one. Both the FBI and the CIA -- not agencies with a good historical record when it comes to civil liberties -- objected to the Pentagon's approved interrogation tactics. The FBI objected primarily for courtroom reasons; the CIA appears to be object for operational reasons. Yet, both were unable to sway the Pentagon through the policy vetting process, so they simply decided to abstain from these practices in the field. The natural inference here is that the tactics approved, adopted and used by the military really did go too far, as evidenced by the FBI and CIA's refusal to play ball. Clearly, I think, the FBI and CIA cared as much about squeezing HUMINT out of foreign prisoners as the military, especially when it came to Al Qaeda members plotting against the U.S. (as opposed to insurgents in Iraq.) And yet, they either saw these interrogation methods as counter-productive, inhumane, illegal, or all of the above.

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Maybe it's not good to turn very young men and women into professional torturers? I wonder if Bush will invite them to dinner.

Google vs. Amazon: The battle of the library

The New York Times > Technology > Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database

Whack. Thwock. Thwack.

Google and Amazon battle it out. We haven't seen anything this fun since the days of Gopher. Go Amazon. Go Google.

Sigh. Sooner or later Microsoft will kill the party, but we can enjoy it until then.