BUTLERS ARE BOOMING

BUTLERS ARE BOOMING FOR THE RICH

THE WEEK (2007) 6/29

The top need is for more butlers. There are now 8 million people with investable assets of a million dollars or more. As we get more butlers, this is a reflection of the 20’s, where the top got the most through thick and thin. For much of the 20th century, butlers were a dying breed. Now, they are back.

One third of the country needs water. This is from climate change. If it is related to global warming is subject to debate. The Midwest and the Southwest need water the most. A few cities are trying cloud seeding without much success.

BUSINESS WEEK (2007) 6/25

LINDEN 94

For all the news of possible new sources of energy, it may not come to pass. We may have already reached the peak. If that is the case, the world hits the spiral downward as we fight for resources of energy. Alternative energy is great, but it is too small to replace oil. Coal is great, but it is dirty unless there is a vast new technology that works like sequestration. Nuclear plants are a decade away. We also could use hydropower.

We import two thirds of our oil. So…. To slow down consumption, we need an oil tax.

It is very unpopular, but it will force consumers to watch their consumption and take less costly trips that may be fun, but not necessary. Consumers will also start really buying smaller cars with higher mileage per gallon.

SMITH 42

Trade is better than ever with Chavez and the 21st century socialism... The US is doing great. So it is a love-hate relationship.

HOLMES 34

The pentagon is buying more high tech weapons that put the power of weapons (at times) over soldiers.

THE WEEK (2007) 6/22/

Your food is not inspected and 76 million food related illnesses occurred in 1 year. We don’t pay for enough inspectors and therefore contaminated food gets in. The biggest culprit appears to be China. So why don’t stop China? Because we owe so much money to them. If they want revenge, they could dump their treasury bills on the spot market and we could have a USA dollar crisis and a significant recession.

New research strongly suggests that DOGS know a lot more than we think they do. Two groups of dogs (experimental and control) watch another dog push a wooden rod with her paw. The experimental group saw it and the control did not. Given the same task, experimental dogs could learn how to push a wooden rod significantly faster than the control group,

At this time, Paul McCartney’s ALSMOST FULL has gone to #3 and the Beach Boys’ THE WARMTH OF THE SUN is #40.

THE ECONOMIST (2007) 6/22

RNA is the next big bang of science and it is in biology. Like the DNA (and proteins), the RNA however appears to regulate of what goes on in a cell. It may have a tremendous impact on aging, food, and the brain.
Europe’s population is increasing and looking younger due to Muslim populations coming from immigration. Muslims have big families...

Flying is not what it used to be. It may settle out if the price goes up so that fewer take the plane and the system is reorganized by the market.

There are new rapid diagnostic tests to make quick decisions on some deadly diseases.
New vaccines are being grown from rice.
A new strategy is being developed for cloning.

TIME (2007) 6/25

KINGSLEY 22

It appears that gays will have an easier time 20 years from now. The revolution is quiet.

WALSH 31

Indonesia is the hot spot for avian-flu. People and chickens that carry the disease intermingle more than any other country.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT (2007)

LAVELLE 43 The energy bill is mainly the same with a small amount set aside for alternative energy.

FERKENHOFF 44

The Roman Catholic Church is going to return to the days when most Catholics went to mass. It appears that the Latin mass will return and women will be removed from power and the participation in the mass itself.

KINGSBURY 50-53

Women are being discriminated against in many colleges. Generally women are better students and get better grades. The entry level of females is 60% and for males 40%. Colleges want more males. The top Ivy League can get an easy 50/50 split. Lesser colleges are having trouble getting males and so strategies are discussed. Ironically, if a college has an abundance of the most talented (women) females will seek a college with more males. A person wants both a degree and a mate. College males are rare. Only 70% of both sexes graduate from high school. More women apply for college. Thus, attractive, successful potential fathers become rare and the competition increases. Not all women want to marry nor have children or both. However, most do. So the discrimination sets in.

Female English major is in for a tough time getting into top Ivy. It will also be harder for minorities to get top choices because affirmative action is gradually being rescinded. However, a female who wants into Engineering has a great chance and good mate choices. Males still have it better because there are so much less of them in postsecondary education.

NEWSWEEK (2007) 6/25

Male nannies are in big demand. They are called Mannies.
ALTER The Democrats need a new bumper sticker explaining who they are as they lose popularity. PULL AND STRIKE! Pull forces from Iraq and strike Al Queda. How many days has it been since 9/11 that Osma Bin Laden has gone free?

SAMUELSON 35 Most Americans are now using plastic credit cards

TIME (2007) 6/18

PARK 59

New super bugs that are highly resistant to antibiotics are now being attacked with a new strategy. That special new source is to borrow from the super bug, refine its poison, and then turn it on the superbug.In other words, the super bug turns on itself.

.HRDY & BATTER 60

Good dads are usually physically close to their children. They hold them and hear them. If that happens, they begin to produce high probating and cortisol. However, they must have contact. Casual dads don’t have that. In divorce, casual dads drift away from their kids and default on child payments.

NEWSWEEK (2007) 6/18

YABROFF 20

There is water shortage everywhere and drinkable water is even rarer. A new LIFE STRAW has been invented that a person can drink impure water and the straw deletes that toxins and related. It is just out. It costs 3 dollars and last about a year.

MORGENTHAU & TUERKHEIMER 24

65 Years ago, Rommel the German Nazi general was on his way to the Suez Canal. In an unpublished manuscript from Robert Patterson under secretary of war for procurement, Hitler and the grand mufti in the Berlin agreement of 1941 decided to kill all Jews. The agreement was to exterminate all Israelis even before they were a country in 1948. Thus, Truman’s decision essentially did not trigger the ongoing wars between Israel and other countries in the area. The plans were already there. Other reports from historian Weinberg and respected German radio station ZDF appear to support this scenario. (It is unclear in the article, what grand mufti of what country or countries made this agreement.)

BEGLEY 48

Psychotherapy is not good for everyone. In grief therapy, over 20% would have done better on their own. However, there are so many psychotherapies and the skills that are attached to each therapist that it is hard to judge. But that does not mean that an analysis down the road can not be done. It just appears that it has yet to be done.

BUSINESS WEEK (2007) 6/18

MANDEL 29-34

The economy looks great, but is it? Accounting measures are based on a country like the USA was when there was bilateral trade. After NFTA, the economy is globalized and it appears that Yanks on balance are making less not more even though the numbers look good. It has to do with import price data. It is used in the measure of productivity and numerous other areas. So the problem pops up in off shoring, intangibles, new goods, and cross country shifts. It appears that the U.S. is losing 66 billion dollars a year. All this is called the PHANTOM GDP. Stay tuned, this is not resolved. However, measuring a predominantly service economy and a manufacturing economy MAY be like measuring apples and oranges.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT (2007) 6/18

EWERS 50

If creativity does not come about alone, the group of like minded innovators really helps. Brainstorming is best for picking ideas not generating them.

HEALY 59

Most of the TB is comes from foreign born in a ratio of 10 to 1.

THE NEW REPUBLIC 6/18

Al Gore says that democracy is harmed by cable television. He is hoping that the internet will improve things. Especially, he believes that Web 2.0 will do the job.

ROSEN 16-22

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is a flipper and appears in decisive. Instead, he has a set of standards that may not reflect reality. Rosen calls it BLINK theory of jurisprudence.

LIZA 27-31

Governor Bill Richardson is not real smart.

COYNE 38

There is a new book on intelligent design that is factually wrong on those things that can be measured.

THE WEEK (2007) 6/15

There is a crackdown on Iranian women.

Porn dealers are losing money in movie sales and rentals. Folks can get it on the internet for free. Sales are down a billion dollars a year.

Whatever happened to Doris Day? She abruptly left the media in the 60’s and stood as an icon to 50’s pre-sex revolution. She became the person no girl wanted to be. After her husband died, she was left with huge bills that he had hidden from her. Her son died recently and was a member (of and on) of the Beach Boys Corporation. She is an ardent animal lover and remains out of the light of publicity.

THE ECONOMIST (2007) 6/9

The most efficient way to get rid of rubbish is to recycle it, compared to burning or dumping. However, don’t count on virtue. Rubbish that is paid for is still cost efficient.

Crime grows in smaller cities, but drops in big cities. Why? Neigherhood policing seems to work as well as the out migration of young people when big cities gentrify...

SPECIAL SECTION ON RECYCLING & RELATED

Wind farms can be put in the air if folks don’t like them cluttering the country side.
Researchers must look into geothermal heating.
An electronic retinal implant can improve blindness.
Diseases can be treated with micro bubbles in the blood stream.
Web 2.0 could overload the networks.
Robots can fight in wars. Can they do ethical things too?
Trees in areas where there are endangered species now have web cams.
You can gamble in virtual worlds.
Software needs to be shared. Data can be shared in Wikipedia’s new Freebase.
Technology that understands speech could be about ready to enter mainstream.
Make software easier to use.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

91 Drugs directed at a special cancer growths appear to help patients, but have yet to meet expectations.

92 New works on genes that cause illnesses bags some new trophies.

The universe appears to have a lithium imbalance.