On Ellis Island, an Effort to Bring Its Long-Hidden Side Into Public Light (Los Angeles Times)
Grok Headline matches for On Ellis Island, an Effort to Bring Its Long-Hidden Side Into Public Light (Los Angeles Times)
Army Takes Its War Effort to Task (Los
Angeles Times)
Army Takes Its War Effort to Task (Los
Angeles Times)
07/03/2004 05:31 AMLos Angeles Times - FT. LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — American soldiers
who defeated the Iraqi regime 15 months ago received virtually none of
the critical spare parts they needed to keep their tanks and Bradley
fighting vehicles running. They ran chronically short of food, water
and ammunition. Their radios often failed them. Their medics had to
forage for medical supplies, artillery gunners had to cannibalize
parts from captured Iraqi guns and intelligence units provided little
useful information about the enemy.
Terrorists' Surveillance Effort May Be
Broader (Los Angeles Times)
Terrorists' Surveillance Effort May Be
Broader (Los Angeles Times)
08/08/2004 05:20 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda surveillance experts
personally cased financial targets in New York and probably Washington
and New Jersey in 2001 for potential terrorist attack, and were helped
by facilitators who may still be hiding in the United States, U.S.
officials said Saturday.
State Dept. Criticizes Focus of Iraq
Effort (Los Angeles Times)
State Dept. Criticizes Focus of Iraq
Effort (Los Angeles Times)
07/22/2004 04:45 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's
$18.4-billion Iraq reconstruction plan puts too much emphasis on
big-ticket construction projects and not enough on creating jobs for
Iraqis, State Department officials who have taken control of the
program have concluded.
House GOP Leaders Kill Effort to Limit
Patriot Act (Los Angeles Times)
House GOP Leaders Kill Effort to Limit
Patriot Act (Los Angeles Times)
07/09/2004 05:15 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Bowing to a veto threat from
President Bush and heavy pressure from its Republican leaders, the
House on Thursday barely defeated an effort to scale back the USA
Patriot Act, the controversial, administration-backed law to combat
terrorism on the home front.
Hearing Focuses Harsh Light on FBI (Los
Angeles Times)
Hearing Focuses Harsh Light on FBI (Los
Angeles Times)
04/10/2004 05:07 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Despite a sudden burst of
intelligence in the summer of 2001 pointing to an imminent Al Qaeda
attack, including indications of a major event within the United
States, the FBI never passed that threat information to its thousands
of field agents across the country.
At Beloved Artists Retreat, Nature Shows
Its Dark Side (Los Angeles Times)
At Beloved Artists Retreat, Nature Shows
Its Dark Side (Los Angeles Times)
05/09/2004 04:34 AMLos Angeles Times - Dorland Mountain Arts Colony always lived on
borrowed time. Tucked in a majestic grove of live oaks in the hills
above Temecula, the retreat repeatedly fended off both modernity and
the threat of flames.
A Long Look at Response to Brief (Los
Angeles Times)
A Long Look at Response to Brief (Los
Angeles Times)
04/12/2004 04:53 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — One day after the release of a
top-secret report delivered to President Bush only five weeks before
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the spotlight shifted to a pair of new
questions: How did the president respond? And what did the FBI do?
Border Agents Assail Bush's Plan to
Bring in Guest Workers (Los Angeles
Times)
Border Agents Assail Bush's Plan to
Bring in Guest Workers (Los Angeles
Times)
01/23/2004 02:22 PMLos Angeles Times - HOUSTON — U.S. Border Patrol agents, charged
with enforcing the nation's border laws, are furious about President
Bush's proposal to create a guest worker program for millions of
illegal immigrants, union leaders say.
Schwarzenegger Has Long To-Do List to
Boost Business (Los Angeles Times)
Schwarzenegger Has Long To-Do List to
Boost Business (Los Angeles Times)
04/20/2004 04:43 AMLos Angeles Times - After signing a massive workers' compensation
insurance overhaul bill Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now is
turning his persuasive powers to the next steps he deems necessary to
bring clear skies to California's business climate.
Firms Have a Long List of California
Turnoffs (Los Angeles Times)
Firms Have a Long List of California
Turnoffs (Los Angeles Times)
04/12/2004 07:28 AMLos Angeles Times - Victor Monia is pleased that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger is wrapping his arms around the California workers'
compensation problem. That doesn't mean the president of Visa
Technologies, an electronics manufacturer in San Jose, is canceling
his plans to move the 23-year-old business to Reno.
Tough New Smog Rules Get Long Deadlines
(Los Angeles Times)
Tough New Smog Rules Get Long Deadlines
(Los Angeles Times)
04/16/2004 05:04 AMLos Angeles Times - The Bush administration's new air quality standard
will impose tougher requirements on the nation's smoggiest regions
— Southern and Central California — but postpone the
compliance deadline for so many years that local air officials worry
that the regulations could be rendered ineffective.
Porn Actors' Struggles Began Long Before
HIV (Los Angeles Times)
Porn Actors' Struggles Began Long Before
HIV (Los Angeles Times)
05/05/2004 05:25 AMLos Angeles Times - MONTREAL — He's a middle-aged black porn
actor who had wanted to be a policeman. Known for his
conscientiousness, he'd ask costars to refrain from smoking even as
they were having unprotected group sex.
The Private Ambition of a Very Public
Man (Los Angeles Times)
The Private Ambition of a Very Public
Man (Los Angeles Times)
07/25/2004 05:38 AMLos Angeles Times - From his boarding school days to the grind of the
campaign trail, John F. Kerry has worn his ambition like a badge
— almost always on display, yet rarely acknowledged. Over the
course of a carefully crafted public life brimming with accomplishment
and wrenched by war and loss, he has discreetly kept his distant
prize, the presidency, in clear sight.
Adoring Public Says Goodbye (Los Angeles
Times)
Adoring Public Says Goodbye (Los Angeles
Times)
06/08/2004 06:12 AMLos Angeles Times - Under mournful skies, a motorcade carried former
President Reagan along miles of cleared freeways from a Santa Monica
funeral home to his presidential library near Simi Valley on Monday,
the first step in a weeklong journey to the nation's Capitol and back.
Private Moments in the Public Eye (Los
Angeles Times)
Private Moments in the Public Eye (Los
Angeles Times)
08/05/2004 05:30 AMLos Angeles Times - A full year had passed and it was time for a final
visit to the Muslims of Las Vegas. April to April, spring to spring,
the world had coughed up one arresting image after another, from the
fire-streaked thunderclouds of shock and awe to the charred body parts
of Americans dangling from a bridge in Iraq.
Long a Republican Bulwark, a Growing
Arizona Is in Play (Los Angeles Times)
Long a Republican Bulwark, a Growing
Arizona Is in Play (Los Angeles Times)
09/16/2004 05:13 AMLos Angeles Times - PHOENIX — Louie Gomez lives in the new
Arizona — the nation's second-fastest-growing state, where
transplants from other regions are altering an entrenched conservative
political culture.
Private Spaceflight Is a Public Success
(Los Angeles Times)
Private Spaceflight Is a Public Success
(Los Angeles Times)
06/22/2004 06:00 AMLos Angeles Times - MOJAVE — A rocket powered by a mixture of
rubber and laughing gas soared 328,491 feet Monday to become the first
privately funded vehicle to carry a person into space.
Beach Town Catches a Public-Art Wave
(Los Angeles Times)
Beach Town Catches a Public-Art Wave
(Los Angeles Times)
07/09/2004 05:15 AMLos Angeles Times - Some might say Hermosa Beach's newest public arts
project is totally gnarly.
Cardiologist Criticizes Drug Ads Aimed
at the Public (Los Angeles Times)
Cardiologist Criticizes Drug Ads Aimed
at the Public (Los Angeles Times)
12/29/2004 06:12 AMLos Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — The government should reassess
its policy of allowing prescription drugs to be advertised directly to
consumers, a prominent cardiologist urged Tuesday in the Journal of
the American Medical Assn.
In Aristide's Wake, a Land Long Divided
by Class, Color Explodes (Los Angeles
Times)
In Aristide's Wake, a Land Long Divided
by Class, Color Explodes (Los Angeles
Times)
03/06/2004 02:06 AMLos Angeles Times - PETIONVILLE, Haiti — From the palm-shaded
swimming pools and marble terraces of this wealthy suburb's hillside
villas, the distant squalor of Port-au-Prince looks like a tranquil,
opalescent coastal setting.
Two little letters bring riches,
questions to island nation
Two little letters bring riches,
questions to island nation
07/07/2004 09:51 AMUSA Today Jul 7 2004 2:17PM GMT
Google's Long Island Froogle fight
Google's Long Island Froogle fight
04/16/2005 03:00 PMCorante Apr 16 2005 6:51PM GMT
New Houses to Be Friendlier to Long
Island Sound
New Houses to Be Friendlier to Long
Island Sound
04/17/2004 09:51 PMFollowing an environmental approach developed in Maryland, developers
agreed to strict guidelines for 15 luxury homes on New Rochelle's
waterfront.
A Fork In Path To The Light Side
A Fork In Path To The Light Side
09/16/2004 07:07 AMAs
Star Wars Galaxies players well know, on September 1st
publisher LucasArts and developer Sony Online altered the path to
becoming a Jedi. Games Domain has a concise, high level look at how
things have changed in the online multiplayer title
right over here.
Sounds like big improvement for the better...
Newsday.com - Business: Long Island and
New York City
Newsday.com - Business: Long Island and
New York City
01/06/2005 02:39 PM"Caa ao vdeo da desgraa" .. TV news ..
sources
newsday.com/business/ny-bzvid304099352dec30,0,3391566.story<
br />track this
site | 3 links
Study: Atkins Diet May Bring Side
Effects (AP)
Study: Atkins Diet May Bring Side
Effects (AP)
09/02/2004 07:02 PMAP - Dieters on the popular high-fat, low-carb Atkins approach lose
just as much body fat as those on low-fat diets, but the annoying
low-carb side effects could mean problems down the road, according to
a scientist who reviewed five dozen diet studies.
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist
Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist
Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
04/11/2005 08:45 AMTwo years ago, Stephen Dubner wrote
an article for the
NY Times Magazine on Steven Levitt, an
economist with a knack for tackling odd sorts of problems. Last year,
Dubner and Levitt collaborated on an article called What the Bagel Man
Saw about the economic lessons gleaned from a man who's been
successfully selling bagels on the honor system in offices for more
than 20 years. Now Levitt and Dubner are out with a new book called Freakonomics: A Rogue
Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Nearly Everything, an
overview of Levitt's work and collaborations with other
economists.
Dr. Levitt was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about
the book:
jkottke: In Freakonomics, you state that you're interested
in applying economic tools to "more interesting" subjects than what
one may have learned about in my high school economics class. What's
your definition of economics? Is it a tool set or a science or
what?
Steven Levitt: I think of economics as a worldview, not a
set of topics. This worldview has a few different pieces. First,
incentives are paramount. If you understand someone's incentives, you
can do a pretty good job of predicting their behavior. Second, the
appropriate data, analyzed the right way are key to understanding a
problem. Finally, political correctness is irrelevant. Whatever the
answer happens to be, whether you think it will be popular or not,
that is the answer you put forth.
jkottke: Your talent for ignoring seemingly applicable but
ultimately irrelevant information (not that different from a
professional-grade batter taking cues from certain aspects of a
pitcher's mechanics and ignoring the extraneous ones in order to hit
well), where does that come from? Good genes or was it all the books
in your childhood home?
Levitt: If nothing else, I had an unusual home environment.
My father is a medical researcher whose claim to fame is that he is
the world's expert on intestinal gas (he's known as the King of
Farts). My mother is a psychic who channels books. From an early age,
my life was different from that of other kids. For instance, when I
was in junior high, my father would wake me up at night to drill me
with questions in hopes that I would be the star of the local high
school quiz show.
jkottke: In looking at the world through data, you've
investigated cheating schoolteachers, falling crime rates due to
abortion, and the parallels between McDonald's corporate structure and
the inner workings of a crack-dealing gang. What's the oddest or most
surprising thing you've uncovered with this approach? Maybe something
you still can't quite believe or explain?
Levitt: It's not the oddest result I've ever come up with,
but there is one finding I have always puzzled over: when cities hire
lots of Black cops, the arrest rates of Whites go up, but no more
Blacks get arrested. When cities hire White cops, the opposite
happens (more Black arrests, no more White arrests). It was an
amazingly stark result, but I'm not quite sure what the right story
is.
jkottke: In the chapter on the effect of abortion on crime
rates, you and Stephen take care emphasizing what the data says and
the strong views that people in the US hold on the issue of abortion.
Still, if someone wants to twist your observations into something like
"abortion is good because it lowers crime", it's not that difficult.
Have your observations in this area caused any problems for you? Any
extreme reactions?
Levitt: I have gotten a whole lot of hate mail on the
abortion issue (as much from the left as from the right, amazingly).
What I try to tell anyone who will listen -- few people will listen
when the subject is abortion -- is that our findings on abortion and
crime have almost nothing to say about public policy on abortion. If
abortion is murder as pro-life advocates say, then a few thousand less
homicides is nothing compared to abortion itself. If a woman's right
to choose is sacrosanct, then utilitarian arguments are
inconsequential. Mainly, I think the results on abortion imply that
we should do the best we can to try to make sure kids who are born are
wanted and loved. And it turns out that is something just about
everyone can agree on.
jkottke: In the book, you say "a slight tweak [in
incentives] can produce drastic and unforseen results". If you were
the omnipotent leader of the US for a short time, what little tweak
might you make to our political, cultural, or economic frameworks to
make America better (if you can forgive the subjectivity of that
word)?
Levitt: I would start by increasing the IRS budget ten-fold
and doing a lot more tax audits. If everyone paid their taxes, tax
rates could be much lower and otherwise honest people wouldn't be
tempted to cheat. For some reason, everyone hates the idea. But we
can't all be cheating more than average on our taxes. I think it would
be for the better. And after I got done with that, I'd legalize sports
betting, and I would also do away with most of the nonsense and hassle
that currently goes into airport security.
jkottke: In the war between the film and music industries
and their customers, there's an argument over how much the explosive
increase in Internet piracy affects sales of CDs, movie tickets, and
DVDs. Using the same data, the music/movie industry argues that sales
are down because of piracy (or at least diminished from what they
"should" be in a piracy-free marketplace) while the other side argues
that sales are up and that piracy may actually have a beneficial
effect. The question of "how does piracy affect record/movie sales?"
seems well suited to your particular application of economic tools.
Have you looked at this question? And if not, do you have sense of
which special view of the data might reveal an answer?
Levitt: I have not myself studied the issue. I have a former
student who has studied this issue. Alejandro Zentner. He argues that
music sales are way down as a consequence of downloading. He uses the
availability/price of high-speed internet across areas and relates
that to patterns of self-reported music buying.
But on the other hand, I have a good friend Koleman Strumpf who has
also written on this and comes to the opposite conclusion using a whole bunch of clever
arguments.
This is a great issue - an important one and a tough one. Having
studied both of these papers, I don't know which one to believe.
---
Thanks, Steven. For more information on Freakonomics, check out the book's web site --
which includes a
weblog written, in part, by the authors -- or buy the book on Amazon. Check out also this email
conversation between Levitt and Steve Sailer on the connection
between legalized abortion and reduced crime in the 1990s, a short profile in Wired, and this profile in Esquire (free subscription required).
(
View @ Amazon)
N.Y. Court Throws Out Death Sentence in
Long Island Case
N.Y. Court Throws Out Death Sentence in
Long Island Case
06/24/2004 11:43 AMNew York's highest court said that a sentencing provision of New
York's capital punishment statute violates the state constitution.
China Abandons Long-Distance Maglev
Effort
China Abandons Long-Distance Maglev
Effort
01/18/2004 08:12 AM"ISP, NY, Long Island,
T1, T3, 56K,
ASDL,
XDSL, SDSL,
Co-location,
Dedicated
Servers, Web-Sites,
Web
Hosting, Dial-Up"
"ISP, NY, Long Island,
T1, T3, 56K,
ASDL,
XDSL, SDSL,
Co-location,
Dedicated
Servers, Web-Sites,
Web
Hosting, Dial-Up"
04/03/2005 03:59 PMAsymmetrical Information: A really,
really, really long post about gay
marriage that does not, in the end,
support one side or the other
Asymmetrical Information: A really,
really, really long post about gay
marriage that does not, in the end,
support one side or the other
04/04/2005 01:45 AMMegan's very articulate arguments .. This long but very good essay ..
thoughts on marriage
janegalt.net/blog/archives/005244.html
track this
site | 3 links
Electronic Town Crier would bring public
notices online
Electronic Town Crier would bring public
notices online
06/01/2004 05:29 AMProjo.com - Tue Jun 1, 09:03 am GMT
"When the kids bring them home and open
them up, it's the brightest light source
in the home," said Negroponte. "Parents
love it."
"When the kids bring them home and open
them up, it's the brightest light source
in the home," said Negroponte. "Parents
love it."
04/05/2005 04:08 AMSomewhat amazing story about $100 laptops for children in developing
nations .. 100 dollar laptop ..
laptops
cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/04/04/hundred.dollar.laptops.ap/inde
x.html
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site | 5 links
Is Google making a long-term mistake in
going public?
Is Google making a long-term mistake in
going public?
05/05/2004 12:53 PMGoogle's initial public stock offering, which will probably take place
within three months, is a strange brew of optimism, idealism, and
pragmatism – all of which reinforces the adage that "the more things
change, the more they stay the same."
At long last: The first column from the
NYT's new ombudsman/public editor
At long last: The first column from the
NYT's new ombudsman/public editor
12/07/2003 08:17 AMintroduced himself to
readers
nytimes.com/2003/12/07/weekinreview/07BOTT.html?hp
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The New York Times > Technology
> Circuits > The Internet's
Wilder Side
The New York Times > Technology
> Circuits > The Internet's
Wilder Side
05/07/2004 07:42 AMThe New York Times has an article about how evil IRC is .. "The
Internet's Wilder
Side,"
nytimes.com/2004/05/06/technology/circuits/06chat.html?ex=139
9176000&en=af9c4d7079c4aa04&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
track this
site | 5 links
Nashville Selected to Host Town Hall on
Reproductive Genetic TestingResidents’
Views Sought as Part of National Effort
to Inform Public Policy
Nashville Selected to Host Town Hall on
Reproductive Genetic TestingResidents’
Views Sought as Part of National Effort
to Inform Public Policy
06/14/2004 02:01 AMThe Genetic Town Hall: Making Every Voice Count, Nashville, TN, August
4. Free, public, town hall forum hosted by Johns Hopkins Genetics &
Public Policy Center to promote discussion of reproductive genetic
testing issues within the general public and by community leaders to
help generate public policy on the important issue. [PRWEB Jun 14,
2004]
SHAME OF THE CITY / HOMELESS ISLAND /
They live - and die - on a traffic
island in the middle of a busy downtown
street, surviving by panhandling drivers
or turning tricks.
SHAME OF THE CITY / HOMELESS ISLAND /
They live - and die - on a traffic
island in the middle of a busy downtown
street, surviving by panhandling drivers
or turning tricks.
12/02/2003 12:28 AM"Dazzling, full-color shots of people
long since dead, landscapes long since
paved, and an empire long since
overthrown."
"Dazzling, full-color shots of people
long since dead, landscapes long since
paved, and an empire long since
overthrown."
01/17/2004 11:07 PMGrok Description matches for On Ellis Island, an Effort to Bring Its Long-Hidden Side Into Public Light (Los Angeles Times)
GrokA matches for On Ellis Island, an Effort to Bring Its Long-Hidden Side Into Public Light (Los Angeles Times)
On Ellis Island, an Effort to Bring Its Long-Hidden Side Into Public Light (Los Angeles Times)
