Empowering oil rig workers to stop operations not a fail-safe plan

By David S. Hilzenrath

Washington Post

Overlooked among the systems that apparently failed in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is what could be the most crucial safety device of all: the human blowout preventer.

[As I read this article it reminded me of a management case study, a classic, that we covered in my graduate management program. It is entitled, "Case Study 1: The Blast in Centralia No. 5: A Mine Disaster No One Stopped in Richard J. Stillman II's Public Administration: Concepts and Cases, 9th Edition. It is the first case study in the book going back many editions. Over 100 men died in that disaster and it is still considered one of the worst industrial tragedies ever. This article on the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe reads just like it. It prompts the question, "Are we learning anything?"]

Technological advances usher in the future of reading

By Alex Pham and David Sarno
(Los Angeles Times)
Seattle Times

Emma Teitgen, 12, thought the chemistry book her teacher recommended would make perfect bedside reading. Perfect because it might help her fall asleep.

Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics fight over $28B Navy contract

Littoral Combat Ship (Slide Show)

What Americans Do Online: Social Media And Games Dominate Activity

Nielsonwire

Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (43 percent increase) according to new research released today from The Nielsen Company. The research revealed that Americans spend a third their online time (36 percent) communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal email and instant messaging.

Peak Water

Wall Street Journal

Harry Reid has decided that Senate Democrats will put off their cap-and-tax energy ambitions for now, focusing on smaller-scale subsidies and mandates. Anyone who thinks this counts as a "compromise" might visit Arizona, where the green campaign for renewable energy is forcing the state to confront the limits of a nonrenewable resource—water.

Ignorance By Degrees

By Mark Bauerlein
Wall Street Journal

Higher education may be heading for a reckoning. For a long time, despite the occasional charge of liberal dogma on campus or of a watered-down curriculum, people tended to think the best of the college and university they attended. Perhaps they attributed their career success or that of their friends to a diploma. Or they felt moved by a particular professor or class. Or they received treatment at a university hospital or otherwise profited from university-based scientific research. Or they just loved March Madness.

What They Know: A Glossary

Key Tracking Terminology
Wall Street Journal

Too many laws, too many prisoners

The Economist

THREE pickup trucks pulled up outside George Norris’s home in Spring, Texas. Six armed police in flak jackets jumped out. Thinking they must have come to the wrong place, Mr Norris opened his front door, and was startled to be shoved against a wall and frisked for weapons. He was forced into a chair for four hours while officers ransacked his house. They pulled out drawers, rifled through papers, dumped things on the floor and eventually loaded 37 boxes of Mr Norris’s possessions onto their pickups. They refused to tell him what he had done wrong. “It wasn’t fun, I can tell you that,” he recalls.

Trading Karate Kicks for Deadly Force (Krav Maga)

By Lynnley Browning
New York Times

CHESHIRE, Conn.

“The groin!” exclaimed Madison Schiavi.

Madison, an 8-year-old with a reddish-brown ponytail, had minced no words with her quick (and correct) response to the suggestion that she “talk about some vital spots we can hit.”

How to Avoid the Prying Eyes

By Jennifer Valentino-Devries

Wall Street Journal

Visitors to almost every major website are tracked online, a Journal investigation has found. But there are ways to limit the snooping.

New Survey Shows Significant Local Government Jobs Losses

National League of Cities

Washington, DC – New survey research announced today shows that local governments are now facing a fiscal crisis that will force job losses approaching 500,000 and significant cuts in much needed public services. Representatives from the National League of Cities (NLC), United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) jointly released the survey results at a press conference on Capitol Hill earlier today and were joined by several members of Congress offering their support to cities and counties during these difficult economic times.

Study Calls Google ‘King Of Malware’

By Matt McGee
Search Engine Land

Google has twice as much malware in its search results as Yahoo, Bing, and Twitter combined. That’s one of the findings in the Barracuda Labs 2010 Midyear Security Report, which will be presented tomorrow at the DEFCON 18 hacking conference tomorrow in Las Vegas.

The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets

By Julia Angwin
Wall Street Journal

Hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty's computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny. Interactive Graphic

For Most, Implants Beat Dentures, but at a Price

By Lesley Alderman
New York Times

MARK PANKO still gets riled when he recalls the two years he suffered with traditional dentures.

“They fell out when I talked,” Mr. Panko, 56, a small-business owner in Woodridge, Ill., recalled. “I couldn’t taste my food — in fact, I could hardly chew. It was the most miserable time of my entire life.”

Plus-Size Wars

By Gina Bellafante
New York Times

Earlier this year, the editors of V, a magazine so recherché it can make Vogue seem like Redbook, published an issue featuring large models in expensive body-baring clothes. In one photograph, a woman in a strapless bathing suit, cut to reveal three rolls of flesh, grabs at her platform stilettos. In another, Tara Lynn, a size 16 model, is clad in nothing but a pair of Dior sandals.

Fashion Nation: What Retailers Know About Us

Luxury-spending data can tell us a lot about the state of the nation—and our own neighborhoods.

Take Detroit—not the city where one might expect to see the strongest recovery. Yet when American Express Co. looked at luxury spending in top and midsize cities around the country, Detroit led the list, with growth of 18% in the first quarter of 2010 from the year-earlier quarter. Lo and behold, Ford stock is up, too, suggesting that Detroit's local investors are feeling more optimistic than they were when auto executives were driving hybrids down to Washington to beg for bailouts.

Flying by the seat of his seat

Scientist Challenges the Conventional Wisdom That What You Can’t Hear Won't Hurt You

Salt AN, Hullar TE.
Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University School of Medicine

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

National Institutes of Health

A wind turbine is a rotary device with a gigantic propeller as big as a football field that turns in the wind to generate electricity. Although wind turbines are more often found in Europe than in the United States, they’re rapidly becoming more popular here as a “green” energy source. Most people consider that a good thing, except the rotors of wind turbines also generate noise, particularly in the infrasound range, that some people claim makes them feel sick.

E-Books Fly Beyond Mere Text

By Julie Bosman
New York Times


E-books of the latest generation are so brand new that publishers can’t agree on what to call them.

Increased Risk of Violence Among Unsupervised Teen Groups

healthfinder.gov
Department of Health and Human Services

THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Even in so-called "good" neighborhoods, there's a significantly increased risk of violence if teens gather with nothing to do and no adult supervision, a new study suggests.

The Technology for Monitoring Elderly Relatives

By Eric A. Taub

New York Times

“IF I ever need to go to a nursing home, kill me first.”

That was what my mother had said to my brother and me from time immemorial. Of course, we never carried out her wish, but at 98 — her mind still sharp, but her muscles failing (after several serious falls) — she reluctantly agreed to enter her worst nightmare: assisted living. Until her death at 100 last July, she was convinced that she had made a mistake.

Learning a Language From an Expert, on the Web

By Peter Wayner
New York Times

The message from the 14-year-old Tunisian skateboarder was curt. “Totally wrong,” he said of my French. My conjugation was off and I should study spelling. On a scale of one to five, he said, my French practice essay was worth a one. Then he disappeared into the anonymity of the Internet.

Comparing the Costs of America’s Wars

Congressional Research Service (costs); Department of Defense

FCC Consumer Help Center

Level of Parent-Child Conflict Seems to Differ Among Nations

healthfinder.gov

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

WEDNESDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- American parents are more likely than European parents to have conflicts with their adult children, finds a new study.

Videos Rouse Russian Anger Toward Police

By Clifford J. Levy
New York Times

NOVOROSSIYSK, Russia — One day last fall, a police officer here put on his uniform and sat on a drab tan couch before a video camera. In a halting monotone, he recorded two video appeals toVladimir V. Putin, 13 minutes in all.

Google Develops a Facebook Rival

By Amir Efrati

Wall Street Journal

Google Inc. is in talks with several makers of popular online games as it seeks to develop a broader social-networking service that could compete with Facebook Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Top Consumer Complaints in 2009

By Jennifer Saranow Schultz

New York Times

The fastest-growing consumer complaint in 2009 was about bogus offers to help save homes from foreclosure, according to a new survey of state and local consumer agencies released Tuesday.

New health policy: encouraging friendships?

By Maggie Fox
Reuters

(Reuters) - Having good social relationships -- friends, marriage or children -- may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Lights, Camera, Barbie?

By Warren Buckleitner
New York Times

You can make a movie with a phone, so why not with a doll?

The Barbie Video Girl Doll ($50, Mattel, for ages 6 and up) looks just like a regular Barbie, but a closer look reveals a camera in her pendant, and a postage-sized color screen on her back, peeking through her blouse.

Antarctic octopuses found with cold-resistant venom

By Tan Ee Lyn
Reuters

(Reuters) - Researchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures.

Educated people cope better with dementia

By Kate Kelland

Reuters

(Reuters) - Educated people are better able to cope with the physical effects of dementia, and even one extra year of education can significantly cut the risk of developing the brain-wasting disease, scientists said on Monday.

What Do You Lack? Probably Vitamin D

By Jane E. Brody

New York Times

Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.

Fighting Happily Ever After

If you fought with your sweetheart last night, does that mean that your relationship is on the rocks?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Research shows it's how we fight—where, when, what tone of voice and words we use, whether we hear each other out fairly—that's critical. If we argue poorly, we may end up headed for divorce court. Yet if we argue well, experts say, we actually may improve our relationship.

Finding Fixes for Your Computer From Afar

By Alina Dizik

Wall Street Journal

Fixing the hiccups of a home computer is an annoyance—lugging it to a store is time consuming and following directions over the phone can get frustrating. But a host of repair services say they solve computer woes by connecting virtually to your machine.

Designer Drugs Baffle Europe

By Jeanne Whalen

Wall Street Journal

Europe is grappling with a flood of powerful and sometimes lethal new narcotics that are often legal when they first appear because authorities have never seen or banned them before.

Jane Austen's Fight Club

This is supposedly the work of some anonymous Mormon girls in Utah.

Entertaining Legal Opinions

Google Scholar Blog

Judicial opinions in common law countries, like the United States, clarify and refine the law of the land. They consider weighty issues, weigh conflicting requirements and carry much weight among all who read them. Here are some opinions for your summer reading.

Lost in Translation

By Lera Boroditsky
Wall Street Journal

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?

Floatopia's Last Hurrah in San Diego?

By Conor Dougherty
Wall Street Journal


SAN DIEGO—Consuming alcohol is illegal on this city's famous beaches. But, thanks to a loophole authorities are now trying to close, drinking a few feet from shore is not. Slideshow

Goodbye, Girdle: Curvy Stars Spark A Raid on Padded Panties

By Rachel Dodes
Wall Street Journal


When Tara Rachel Benson went out on a recent night to an album release party in Los Angeles, she put on her makeup, a tight-fitting Herve Leger dress, stiletto heels—and a pair of padded panties. Slideshow "A History of Underwear."

Drivers on Prescription Drugs Are Hard to Convict

By Abby Goodnough and Katie Zezima

New York Times

The accident that killed Kathryn Underdown had all the markings of a drunken-driving case. The car that hit her as she rode her bicycle one May evening in Miller Place, N.Y., did not stop, the police said, until it crashed into another vehicle farther down the road.

Credit Score Is the Tyrant in Lending

By Joe Nocera

New York Times

The other day, a mortgage broker named Deb Killian called me, more or less out of the blue. Ms. Killian has been in the business since 1994. She and her husband run Charter Oak Lending Group, a small firm based in Danbury, Conn., that they founded in 1996. She is a member of the board of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. By her estimate, she has closed more than 3,500 loans during her career.

The Web Means the End of Forgetting

By Jeffrey Rosen

New York Times

Four years ago, Stacy Snyder, then a 25-year-old teacher in training at Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, Pa., posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed her at a party wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption “Drunken Pirate.” After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was “unprofessional,” and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder’s scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree. Snyder sued, arguing that the university had violated her First Amendment rights by penalizing her for her (perfectly legal) after-hours behavior. But in 2008, a federal district judge rejected the claim, saying that because Snyder was a public employee whose photo didn’t relate to matters of public concern, her “Drunken Pirate” post was not protected speech.

A Museum Display of Galileo Has a Saintly Feel

By Rachel Donadio
New York Times

FLORENCE, Italy — The Galileo case is often seen starkly as science’s first decisive blow against not only faith but also the power of the Roman Catholic Church. It has never been quite that simple, though. Galileo was a believer, devastated at being convicted, in 1633, of heresy for upending the biblical view of the universe.

Raising the Bar on Pet Décor

By Sonia Zjawniski
New York Times

THERE was a time when pets were pets. They had bowls and beds, and that was about it. Then something changed. Slideshow

The Moral Naturalists

By David Brooks
New York Times


Where does our sense of right and wrong come from? Most people think it is a gift from God, who revealed His laws and elevates us with His love. A smaller number think that we figure the rules out for ourselves, using our capacity to reason and choosing a philosophical system to live by.

There’s Only One Way to Stop a Bully

By Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom

New York Times

HERE in Massachusetts, teachers and administrators are spending their summers becoming familiar with the new state law that requires schools to institute an anti-bullying curriculum, investigate acts of bullying and report the most serious cases to law enforcement officers.

Top Secret America

A Washington Post Investigation
[This investigation is extensive and is heating up the airwaves.]

101 Best Websites of 2010

By David A. Fryxell

Family Tree Magazine

From state vital records and censuses to historical books and immigration data, this year’s 101 Best Websites list features tools that can bust your brick walls -- but not your budget.

Proposition 8: Who gave in the gay marriage battle?

Los Angeles Times
(Includes a database)

Adopting a Child

By: Ginger | July 23, 2010 | Category: Home and Family

GovGab: Your U. S. Government Blog

Years ago, after a period of struggling with infertility and failed attempts to get pregnant, my husband and I began exploring the option ofadopting a child. We eventually decided to not pursue adoption, but for many couples unable to have a child, adoption is an excellent alternative. There are tens of thousands of children adopted every year in the U.S.

Death Does Not Deter Jellyfish Sting

Death Does Not Deter Jellyfish Sting
By Katie Zezima

New York Times

RYE, N.H. — The culprit sat in an open trash bag baking in the hot sun, raked to shore by a pitchfork-wielding lifeguard who paddled out on a surfboard.

How to Cook Camel

By Dustin Rubenstein

New York Times

When we asked for some goat meat from the butcher, we were instead delivered camel meat. For about $4.00, we were given more than four pounds of what looked like quite tender camel meat. Wilson cooked about two pounds the first night and it was indeed quite tasty. He cut the pieces very small and cooked them for a long time. I decided to try something a bit different the following night and cut the pieces a bit bigger and cooked them for less time, as I like my meat rarer than he does. This was a bad idea. It seems that the more you cook camel, the more tender it becomes. So we had what amounted to two pounds or more of rubber for dinner that night.

Pet therapy: How animals help us heal

By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

Mayo Clinic

I'm part of a palliative medicine program at Mayo Clinic. Palliative medicine is an emerging specialty that focuses on quality of life and symptom control for patients with life-altering conditions. It's closely related to the hospice movement.

Kitchen land mines: 10 foods to avoid

By Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.

Mayo Clinic

The news is awash with lists of restaurant items that are extremely high in calories, fat, sugar and salt. But what about the contents of your own cupboards and refrigerator? Do they hold land mines — foods that can blow up your healthy eating plan?

Decline in smoking means decline in state revenue

By Ali Eaves

Special to Stateline

Stateline.org

Americans are smoking less and less. That’s good news for public health, but it creates an ironically nasty side effect for many state budgets. They have grown dependent on an annual stream of money from tobacco companies, and that money is itself dependent on the number of people who consume cigarettes.

New Spice | Study like a scholar, scholar

How Green Is My Sneaker?

By Christina Brinkley
Wall Street Journal

Are your Nikes greener than your Adidas?

There will soon be an answer to this question, if the manufacturers have their way.

A group of roughly 100 well-known apparel brands and retailers have developed a software tool to help them measure the environmental impact of their apparel and footwear, from raw material to garbage dump. Ultimately, the companies hope to display an eco-value on a tag or package, much like the Energy Star rating of appliances. Interactive Graphic

In a Climate Quest, the Roof as White Knight

By John Collins Rudolf

New York Times

Since he took over as energy secretary last year, Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics, has urged Americans to help cool the planet by painting their roofs a lighter color that reflects sunlight.

Gray wolf comeback worries Midwest
By Richard Mertens, Correspondent

Wall Street Journal.


For a long time Jim Heintz, an octogenarian farmer in Bruce, Wis., gave little thought to the wolves reoccupying his state. Then his calves started disappearing. Graphic.

Traveling with Pets: Airlines With the Most Dog Deaths
These Airlines Had More Dog Deaths and Injuries Than Any Other Carrier
By Scott Mayerowitz

ABC News

When Kendra and Travis Parks moved last month from Hawaii to Seattle, they sent their 6-year-old Great Dane Tucker in a custom-made kennel in the cargo hold of a Continental Airlinesplane. Unfortunately for Tucker, it wasn't a smooth trip.

Smoking & Tobacco Use
State Data: Tobacco Control State Highlights 2010
Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)

Select a state from the drop-down menu or select a state from the map to see that state's highlights.

Meet the 'Modern' Crib
By Anjali Athavaley

Wall Street Journal

After the recall last month of 2.2 million cribs from seven manufacturers—the latest in a three-year wave of crib-safety recalls by the Consumer Products Safety Commission—parents-to-be may wonder: What exactly makes a safe crib?

A Water Fight Over Luxury Showers
By Stephen Power

Wall Street Journal

Gene Goforth sells showerheads—big ones, like the Raindance Imperial 600 AIR. Selling for as much as $5,457, it has a 24-inch spray face, 358 no-clog channels and a triple-massage option. "You can just stand under it, and it helps your psyche," says Mr. Goforth, who has one in his home.

What's the Right Way to Teach Teens to Drive?
By Joseph B. White

Wall Street Journal

I don't remember my high school drivers' education class being very exciting and fun. Excitement meant trouble. We didn't want trouble. We wanted a license.

Most Arguments in the Car Are Over Directions, Says Survey

By John R. Quain

New York Times

In the so-called war between the sexes one of the biggest sources of contention is the automobile — at least, according to a couple of recent surveys.

Study Suggests Painters Face Increased Risk of Bladder Cancer
More years spent in profession meant higher chances of developing disease.

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

MedlinePlus

TUESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Professional painters may face an increased risk for bladder cancer and that risk seems to rise with the number of years they work, a new study suggests.

What Your Mail Services Won't Tell You
Edited by Nikki Waller

Wall Street Journal

Here are a few facts your various mail services won't tell you.

Surf's Up: The Rise of Stand-up Paddle Boards
Far From the Ocean, Fitness Craze Appeals to Those Wanting a Total Body Workout on the Water, Minus the Waves
By Kevin Helliker

Wall Street Journal

When Chris Krause hops on a board each morning to surf Lake Michigan, the water is usually flat. But who cares? Instead of catching a wave, Mr. Krause is catching a workout, by standing on his board and paddling for 60 minutes.

Assessment of the Potential for Cross Contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags
Charles P. Gerba, David Williams, and Ryan G. Sinclair

Loma Linda University

School of Public Health

Fact Sheet | Workplace Shootings | July 2010
Bureau of Labor Statistics
U. S. Department of Labor

Ice Cream: July is National Ice Cream Month

Ice Cream Sales and Trends
What's in the Ice Cream Aisle?: Definitions of Frozen Dessert Products
Ice Cream Labeling
From the Cow to the Cone: How Ice Cream is Made
The History of Ice Cream
The History of the Ice Cream Cone

Kids Who Do Poorly in School More Likely to Become Bullies
Youngsters who have trouble resolving problems with others also at risk of becoming bullies, victims or both, researchers say
By Robert Preidt

MedlinePlus

FRIDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- Youngsters and teens who lack social problem-solving skills are more likely to become bullies, victims or both, while those who also do poorly at school are even more likely to become bullies, according to a new study.

Flu Vaccine Via Skin Patch Shows Promise in Mice
New technology uses painless 'microneedles' to deliver immunization
Medline Plus

SUNDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Wouldn't it be nice if you could get the flu vaccine through a stick-on skin patch instead of a shot?

Experiments in mice show that using skin patches containing tiny, painless "microneedles" to deliver the influenza vaccine may someday be a viable alternative to traditional shots.