GROWING UP WITH bin LADEN

ROWING UP WITH bin LADEN

THE WEEK (2009) 11/20/09

NAVIA AND OMAR BIN LADEN/43-44

Our father was always busy and always distant. He was tall and brilliant. He had

a photographic memory knew numerous details and as well he had a general oversight that made him a superb thinker and leader.

Our father though, was never there. Nor did he value us very much. A number of times,

he would make those life lessons at a cost to us. He liked us, but the idea of love was

something remote to us.

My father hated his enemies more than loving his sons.

HEALTH AND SCIENCE/24

The blues or mild depression can sometimes help in decision making. There are times when making choices is not

clouded with happiness. Judgment is not clouded in terms of interpreting and critically analyzing urban myths.

There appears to be a gene that impacts one’s ability to drive a car.

Fruit bats engage in oral sex. Female’s use the saliva on the male’s genital to help in

intercourse. This is the first observation of non-primates.

E-MAILING MONEY/

BUSINESS WEEK (2009)

FELDMAN/ 68

Money transfers from one person to another are now easier and the interaction is described in this article. It is similar to PAY PAL on E-Bay.

DARK SIDE OF INCENTIVES/64

SCHWARTZ/84

Very few deny the importance of incentives. However, there are instances when incentives cheapen the activity. If you are helping someone and then money and a contract emerge, it is not the same and the attitude of all parties’ changes.

NEWSWEEK (2009) 11/16

KELLEY/ 24

A new theory of murder suggests that all the reasons given for killing are intervening variables and not the primary one. That is how you feel relative to your society. If you feel part of the country, if you feel alienated in some way, you are more likely to kill.

This may be a remake of strain theory in criminology books, but it is presented here again. Those folks who feel accepted and in place in their society are less likely to kill.

Those who kill do not trust their government and feel out of the mainstream, kill. 

GROSS/22

This is not the time to be a deficit hawk. As highly moral that may be, the economy

appears to not be toppling, but the fundamentals are not solid. We have so much more

to grow. Being obsessed with deficits during a downturn is like being obsessed with water conservation when your house is on fire.

FOREIGN POLICY (2009) 11/

Bueno de Mesquita /77-81

According to this author, politics is predictable if you use a variation within Game Theory. In terms of Global Warming, what is in it, for emerging third world countries?

To worry about global warming when there is so much money to be made by not

paying for carbon reduction, that strategy is foolish. Trying to regulate countries like that are foolish.

Or, do you want to go to wars? That is a lot of money spent and lives lost for carbon reduction.

If new technology can make more money than carbon producers, all the sinners will

want to dump carbon production.

What the author does not say is this. By passing symbolic legislation, that appears to be cap and trade with loopholes, much can be won. There is something for everyone.

TIME (2009) 11/23

THE NEW BUS RIDE/102

Taking the bus is usually thought of as a hassle. Nor are they very pleasant. However, new bus lines have cut costs and added amenities. They are a lot cheaper and easier

if you are going 300 miles or less. When you have a full bus, it is 4 times more energy efficient than cars or planes.

WHEN WATER WINS? global 4

PARIS

Holland is finding that it is harder to deal with water. For whatever reason, say Global

Warming, more water needs to be held back with dams. So they are trying to form new

lakes in the countryside so that water fills where there was land and then through osmosis, leaves the lake. Further, they are creating wetlands. In other words, they are giving some of the land back.

HAPPINESS PARADOX/ 136

GIBBS

It appears that when times are tough, a happiness index created by a polling company

appears to increase. We are happier when things get worse. Gibbs suggests that the inflation of expectations begins to diminish. We can’t have it all and there are good reasons that this thrust upwards in material goods won’t happen and we are a lot happier

that it is happening.

NEWSWEEK (2009) 11/23

LYONS

Scientist at Liver More Lab is trying to create nuclear fusion. Let’s say that again. Nuclear fusion and the article details all the problems related to doing this. So?

Some experts say this is snake oil science or junk science. At any rate, the lab

has received close to 3.5 billion for huge lasers to blast a pellet the size of a vitamin pill.

The first real lift off is the fall of 2010.