Unlike Victims, Ruth Made Off With Millions

Bankers should follow the Madoff money trail through Mrs. Madoff. Ruth Madoff's plea of innocence (in this article)with respect to her husband's fraud comes off as disingenuous and predictable.

She should be stripped of all her money as many victims were and followed. I suspect she's hidden a lot in secret stashes in foreign places. Of course.

Introducing Angelle L. Brook, A Computer-Generated "Dream Woman"

According to a new study in the June, 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology linked here, men can agree they prefer women who are "thin, seductive and confident" -- Maybe like this?



Dream woman: Angelle L Brook is a computer-generated composite featuring Kelly Brook's hair and body, Halle Berry's eyes, Jennifer Lopez's nose and Angelina Jolie's mouth
Courtesy of "this is london"


Alas, such perfection's likely a computer model!

This study confirms that while men can agree on what characteristics they prefer in a woman, women can't agree on what they prefer in a man.

The study rated images for being:

• thin
• seductive
• confident
• sensitive
• stylish
• curvaceous (women)
• muscular (men)
• traditional
• masculine/feminine
• classy
• well-groomed, or
• upbeat

and then rated them for attractiveness.

Men chose "thin, seductive and confident" characteristics for women, whereas women couldn't agree on ideal traits in men. "One size fits all" appears to apply more to men than women. A friend of mine wonders whether women could have agreed on "wealth" in men had it been a choice.

Probably the ideal fantasy picture of a woman is separate from men's reality and social circumstances. Do you agree with this study, or do you think it's superficial and irrelevant? The model above isn't exactly skinny and maybe some men prefer blondes, Caucasians or Asians.

Wouldn't you expand ideal traits to include other deeper considerations such as friendliness and warmth, compassion and empathy, financial resources, culture, age, experience, family, health and work history, food and spiritual preferences and so on?

This male consensus is leading some psychologists to warn that handsome men more than "thin, seductive, confident" women need worry about their partners straying, contrary (no doubt) to male expectations.

There is an interesting article in the same journal proving that alternative availabilities of partners tend to increase partner choice at the college level, but then we already could guess that, couldn't we?

Wonder how it squares with John Money's Lovemap theory on unique interpersonal relationships.

Medical Record Access Could Improve Medical Care For All

Let's not squander this great opportunity! Medical outcomes are unknown for each of us and collectively, they are impossible to predict.

As Americans consider taking control of their health care records and ponder the future of medicine, the President is seeking to allay fears of the unknown future costs of medical care.

As the President says, if Americans can pay less with a public health care system, then they "need to know that". If health care insurance companies are saying they have nothing to fear from public health care alternatives, then they should welcome the competition. Let's call their bluff!

Yet, at the same time:

"- 46 million Americans remain uninsured;
- 20 thousand people continue to die each year because they are uninsured;
- Elderly Americans continue to make the choice of whether they should eat or buy medicine;
- Health care costs continue to bankrupt American families."
Huffington Post

It stand to reason that health care in a single-payer public system could become as popular as public schools. There are still private schools all over the place, but public alternatives are useful to the vast majority. I think the change would be welcome. As this doctor says in the Huffington Post in favor of a public alternative:

"I challenge the AMA leadership to cite a single example of an industry where involvement by the government has lead to the elimination of private enterprise. This has not been the case with the creation of public police forces in the second half of the 1800's (private security companies still exist), we have a robust system of public and private colleges existing the same market, and bookstores still sell books despite the presence of public libraries."
Huffington Post

And as for modernizing medical records, according to Esther Dyson, the well-known internet advocate:

"a typical thief would much rather get into your bank account than into your health record (despite some recent health care/identity theft stories. most medical fraud is not at the expense of individuals)."
Huffington Post

Being able to access records quickly could help doctors coordinate care. It could prove very useful for doctors and hospitals, making them more competitive and improving medical standards. That would benefit everyone.

Here's an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about current healthcare plans in America.

Evidence Prompts ACLU To Take Rights Case -- In St Louis!

Air travelers in America have reason to be more vigilant and careful than ever.

The ACLU's involvement in the case of an American passenger who recorded a harrassment by civil authorities in St. Louis is most welcomed. The authorities are clearly abusing their power again, and I believe this article in the New York Times. Why would a passenger make up a charge like this?

An experience of my own corroborates this. Unfortunately, I did not have a telephone recording as proof to back me up. I was a defenseless, exhausted traveling 24-year-old when it happened. I was taken away from my husband and left in a windowless bare office at JFK Airport for at least two hours, probably longer, with only a police officer carrying lots of major weapons checking on me every hour. There was no bed, bathroom or food. This after a punishing flight.

Finally, I was released and found that my husband, well-educated, even then a top scientist hired to fill an educational gap here had been detained against his will for hours as well and then allowed to leave. My husband and I were both entering the country from England to live in the United States. I'm from Canada, and I don't think such flagrant disregard for human rights would happen there. Both of us had already received long-awaited elite American "Green Cards". No reasons or apologies were ever offered for the shocking treatment and staggering lapse in courtesy similarly given to both of us. We were obviously supposed to forgive and forget this inhuman treatment, having been pushed into those offices like criminals or dogs. It made me like America less.

Have I ever forgiven America for this? A resounding, definite NO! Of course, not. That was inexcusable treatment. Why bother going through paperwork for citizenship if that's the treatment I might get?

When did it happen? Oh, 1980! Have I ever to this day been given a rational explanation for it? No! Do I think it's any better now? Don't know, but this story has me thinking about it again and doubtful.

It saddens me if this is still happening, and if it's spread within America now. Good luck to the ACLU. If only there could have been a happy ending to my story.

Diet Excuses

“I will be able to diet tomorrow when I have time and money.”

Five "diet excuses" are hiding in that innocent-sounding sentence.

• “I” – She/he can diet but I can’t, at least, right now.
• “will be able to” – it’s too hard now to diet
• “tomorrow” – it’s always in a plan for tomorrow, not today
• “time” – don’t have time to diet today
• “money” – can’t afford to diet today.

Daily bread is always food for thought, isn't it?



Courtesy FitShack

Can President Obama Inspire Responsible Health Care?

Let's hope the President whips the AMA today into at least a better attitude. In a general letter protesting against the creation of a single-payer system, the AMA "couldn't get through the second paragraph before bringing up the issue of physician reimbursement."

In his so-called "magisterial" article in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande says that health care professionals of all stripes must unite to pull down health care costs for "all" consumers. He says,

"The overarching goal of health-care reform is to establish a system that has three basic attributes. It should leave no one uncovered—medical debt must disappear as a cause of personal bankruptcy in America. It should no longer be an economic catastrophe for employers. And it should hold doctors, nurses, hospitals, drug and device companies, and insurers collectively responsible for making care better, safer, and less costly." [New Yorker].

Who wants the current pattern of "routine cruelty"? Why not strive for compassion and focus? How will doctors at the AMA ever be able to make it up to the President for the pain and suffering he saw his sick mother experience?

GOOGLE RULES

In case the next table is illegible, here is a summary of tips to help fine tune searches. Try changing search words from:

"how 2"-----to-----"how might one"

"when was"-----to-----"in which year"

"when do"-----to-----"under what condition(s)"

"how did the"---to-----"in what way did the"

"why"--------to--------"for what reasons"



Courtesy, Digg.com

Maybe a directory of search tips is what's needed, or maybe Google could help suggest stock search phrases the way it offers spelling corrections with each search. What search has to do with "intelligence" is not clear. Perhaps saying "faster" and "slower", or "more" and "less" effective would have conveyed the same point without controversy. For example, when we want a phone number, usually we just want the quickest and easiest way to get it.

Sometimes searching brings many interesting results to focus that wouldn't ever have been found except by accident. Who knows how many innovations of the future will be discovered on search engines?

The Impressive Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett, Wikipedia

Valerie Jarrett appeared today on the "Conversations with Judy Woodruff" Show on Bloomberg TV and I want to say I am very favorably impressed with her intelligence and education and smooth looks. Jarrett has held a series of important, high-paying positions and directorships and is a smart choice as Oval Office adviser.

Valerie Bowman Jarrett (born November 14, 1956) is a Chicago lawyer, businesswoman, and civic leader. She is best known for her role as an advisor to President Barack Obama. Jarrett is a Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration. Prior to that she served as a co-chairperson of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.

Early Life: Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran, to American parents James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman, where her father, a pathologist and geneticist, ran a hospital for children...

As a child she spoke Persian and French.

Education: Jarrett graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon, a New England boarding school, in 1974. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1978, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.

Personal Life: In 1983 Jarrett married Dr. William Robert Jarrett, son of famed Chicago Sun-Times reporter Vernon Jarrett and has one daughter....separated in 1987, and divorced in 1988. Jarrett died of a sudden heart attack in 1993".

Professional Career: "She was the CEO of The Habitat Company, a real estate development and management company which she joined in 1995....Jarrett was a member of the board of Chicago Stock Exchange (2000–2007, as Chairman, 2004–2007). She is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Medical Center, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago and a Trustee of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.Jarrett serves on the board of directors of USG Corporation, a Chicago based building materials corporation." (Wikipedia)

Having to work with Larry Summers must be a challenge after he famously "said that women may somehow be innately less able in science and maths than men are".

Her obvious ability to be very articulate and battle through sexism and stereotypes are proving useful.

"Manhattanhenge"

Gawker.com

The view from 42nd and 3rd yesterday evening, when the setting sun aligned with streets in Manhattan to create the yearly event known as "Manhattan Solstice" or "Manhattanhenge". [Image via jonbell has no h's Flickr.]

My question is: If it happens to be cloudy, is that it for entire year?

So Much For America's Ideal Medical System!

Americans are afraid both that they won't be covered by private medical insurance, and they are also scared that others won't be able to afford medical care. That would be laudable if only the current quality of care were more successful. But there are a great many inefficiencies in the system. It's far from perfect.

For the AMA status quo to be against a public plan (in HuffPost) without caring about all those millions of uninsured smacks of elitism. Doctors are paid to care, but they officially don't have to care for the uninsured. How contradictory is that? They certainly appear to be advocating a class of "untouchable" uninsured!

If you don't trust what I am saying, read this article by uninsured writer, Bob Cesca, and how he got there. Compare that to the wages of the medical "insurance company" CEOs. Have to keep those CEOs paid, huh, or else they might not "work"...

Speaking of "work", there is an article from CNN today that details a student's ability to diagnose her own disease. As it happens, it was part of a high school biology class. She learned how to appreciate her abnormal slide of her own self as her pathologist had failed to notice. How revealing is that? Of course, doctors fudged it, saying it's just a normal mistake. Happens all the time, or so doctors would have us think. Exactly!

How many other times has misdiagnosis happened, or that pills have been incorrectly dispensed with fatal results in America? How many patients die as "unknown consequences" of physician mistakes? If doctors are human, and make mistakes, then why aren't methods and controls and accountability important, as part of the larger medical system? Then again, who says doctors and the AMA even care for the sick and uninsured, or have good between-doctor communication and oversight? It's just a rosy domestic mainstream fantasy. American doctors and insurance companies have the power; the uninsured and the sick have clarity and bear all the pain. Tell me that's fair. Tell me that's "caring for the sick." Just don't even think it's the best medical system in the world!

Italy's New High Speed Rail Line

"Company officials estimate that a trip from Rome to Milan, about 350 miles by rail, will last three hours and that trains will be able to travel up to speeds of 225 miles an hour. The billion-euro project, spearheaded by the head of Fiat and Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, includes investors like the French rail company S.N.C.F., and hopes to produce trains that are mostly constructed from recyclable materials and consume 15 percent less energy than current high-speed trains.

Italo’s fares will be competitive with those of Trenitalia (www.ntvspa.it), which charges $58 for a ticket from Rome to Milan."
NY Times.

Why can't North America get its act together and build this? Having long admired Italy's admirable new rail lines, like one we were in from Rome to Venice, we know they would be more popular if available here.

Best Hubble Space Telescope Photos

The online site of the Smithsonian Museums has made a photo site of best pictures now that the Hubble space trip is over. These photos show nature at its perfect best. A rare sight of heaven to behold!

smithsonian.com. Click for more photos.

Here is another link to Hubble photos at Boston.com

Of course, here is my earlier blog entry on the same topic. Can't get enough of these pictures!

Contraception And Abortion Rights In America Aid Women

Contraception and abortion are still hot-button topics in America, thirty-six years after Roe v. Wade legislation passed legalizing early abortions in 46 states. Men especially need to chill out when it comes to abortion, understand it and have fewer emotional conflicts about it. They could learn why, when, how and which women get abortions.

Most women are surprised to hear that men have those inner conflicts because having a baby is of immediate importance to women's lives and their futures, both collectively and individually. Couples usually do find abortion difficult despite having consensually taken part in unprotected sex (although sometimes pregnancy can be a failure of prescription contraceptives.)

Women get abortions when they feel they have no choice. They may not have the energy, the internal emotional makeup, or the money, to carry a baby to term or to raise another child. They may not feel old and established enough to care for it. They might have been abused. Some, if not most women carrying babies, will want to carry their babies to term, or will provide prospective adoptive parents with a child as a surrogate mother. But these are all personal experiences and choices. The constant, daily experience of pregnancy determines a mother's right to choose and she should prevail. Her life should always be considered more valuable than that of an unborn baby.

Here, then, is a guide that I, as a woman and mother, have listed to try to help men especially, and women, understand the thoughts and emotions women generally experience at one time or another about the controversial topic of contraception and abortion:

1) Women want and need to be able to make personal choices as far as how they use their own fertility, for their own health and careers and lives.
2) Fertile women create ova every month, can therefore create babies every month. They all are aware of this if they are fertile, as most women are.
3) They cannot raise all the babies they could theoretically make.
4) Men sometimes threaten abortion to frighten women, like a weapon.
5) There are many children who could be adopted by those needing to raise a child.
6) There are many children living in families who cannot afford to raise them already.
7) A baby is a gift, and it must be treated well by a responsible adult.
8) Children are expensive to raise and educate.
9) Children are physically demanding and difficult to raise.
10) Children need a parent to raise them, when they are young.
11) Women who have been victimized by men and will not have the resources to raise a child need to be able to abort, if necessary for the health of the mother.
12) Anyone who thinks a raped woman should be forced to carry a child to term is inhuman. If she does so, it should be 100% her own choice. In this case, she might not know and approve of the composition of the father's genetic background.
13) Babies can incur health and education costs that even responsible, working parents cannot afford.
14) Abortion is a serious operation that a woman(or a couple)decides heavily. Abortion is not always a decision of "the couple." Since up to a third of babies are born to single women, it can be up to a woman to decide if she can raise a child and wishes to continue the pregnancy.
15) Assuming a woman takes an abortion lightly diminishes a woman's intelligence and her vision of her future.
16) Some babies are faceless, brainless, would be born dead, or could endanger the mother's life. There is no reason then for a mother to carry the baby any longer than she wants to.
17) Women will always want abortions for one reason or another, and if they can't get them safely and legally, they will, nevertheless, still have the need for them and get them done somewhere.
18) "Plan B" is an over-the-counter drug to prevent pregnancy (and possibly an ensuing abortion) in America if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. It costs about USD$44.99 at Target (request at prescription counter), WalMart, drugstore.com, and free at Planned Parenthood. "Plan B", also known as the "morning after" pill, is not the same as RU-486, a pill that causes an abortion. Here's a good slideshow of sex myths at Health.com linked here.
19)Contraceptives (to control the frequency of pregnancies) are popular prescription-based drugs, and should be available from your doctor and bought in any pharmacy, regardless of personal views held by your doctor or those behind the front counter (who have no part raising and paying for the children of buyers. In my view, one shouldn't judge the morals of women and deny them of prescription-based drugs to prevent pregnancies.)
20)"The purposeful lying done under the name of “abstinence education” in American schools is no help, either. European young people are about as active sexually as Americans, but they are not lied to about contraception in school. Teenage American girls are seven times as likely as French girls to have an abortion, for instance."
The Daily Beast, Alterman, E. "The Truth About Abortion"

Once a man has successfully impregnated a woman, he must have respect for the fact that the baby's future is the mother's prerogative. She is carrying and feeding that fetus from the first moment of conception, and making daily sacrifices and changes in her life. It is usually, in most cases and universally, the mother with primary responsibility for physically raising a baby for many years.

There are many children in need of foster care and adoption. Mothers carrying babies are well aware, and need not be lectured on abortion if they so choose. That's a bit late, very insulting and sometimes misinformed.

Whoever thinks a mother is anti-life needs to be realistic, and have more compassion and consideration for the value of her life. The lives of women have been profoundly changed and improved with family planning legislation, and American women should be proud of gaining more control over their own futures and their own choices.

In conclusion, there aren't any good cases against contraception and abortion if those choices are made, in my view, and these are my views. If I still haven't persuaded you and you think differently, please make your views known in a blog, or comment.

Cider House Rules, by John Irving, a novel on the same topic is very moving. It's also a great movie.

Credit Is Due, If True

"After months of complaints by university groups and scientific organizations, the State Department is acting to speed up the delay-plagued visa process for foreign graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, an official said Tuesday.

The official, David Donahue, the deputy assistant secretary of state for consular services, said the department started attacking the backlog of requests on Friday. “I am not sure when we will get all of them cleared up,” he said, but eventually routine requests should be dealt with in two weeks.[mine] He said the department had brought in extra staff to handle the applications and had revised procedures to speed reviews."

The New York Times, June 2, 2009

Pelosi wins "Legislator of the Year" Award

Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Speaker of the House, fresh back in Washington from a trip to Shanghai was honored today, June 2, 2009, with the well-deserved "Legislator of the Year" award.

Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation, and a leader of the Task force on American Innovation presented her with the award "in honor of the Speaker's outstanding leadership, commitment and vision in the increase of federal funding of basic research in the physical sciences."

In addition to Speaker Pelosi and Craig Barrett, confirmed guests included U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, Chairman of the House Science & Technology Committee, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-14th), and Norman Augustine, retired CEO and Chairman of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Overwhelmingly elected by her colleagues in the fall of 2002 as Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi is the first woman in American history to lead a major party in the U.S. Congress.

Nancy Pelosi, Wikimedia

"The Pelosi Amendment" has linked bank funding internationally with environmental impacts of development projects. She has drawn attention to security threats associated with terrorism, attempted to link trade with China to increased human rights standards, voicing concerns on freeing the people of Tibet. Her influence has increased funding for international family planning programs.

Within America, she has successfully increased access to health insurance for the disabled, for those with HIV/Aids, and has assisted nonprofits create affordable housing, and many other rulings.

Here is an excerpt of her acceptance speech in the Capitol, courtesy of CNBC:

"Wherever I go, I tell people that if you want to know the agenda for this Congress, think of four words: science, science, science, science...

"In just the last two years we: -- Enacted comprehensive innovation legislation, the COMPETES Act -- Put America on a path doubling funding for basic scientific research -- Made college more affordable with the largest college aid expansion since the GI Bill -- Helped to provide more highly qualified teachers in the fields of mathematics, science, engineering, technology -- Established a public-private partnership to educate and train the next generation of mathematicians, scientists and engineers -- Extended the R&D Tax Credit -- Created a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) to encourage high-risk, high-reward clean energy research "And that is just the beginning.

"Because innovation is essential to rebuilding our economy, the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included: -- $3 billion for NSF to expand employment opportunities, improved facilities and equipment, and bolster math and science instruction -- $2 billion for the Department of Energy for basic research, laboratory improvements, and to support the mission of ARPA-E -- $360 million for the National Institutes of Standards and Technology for grants to help improve research science buildings at colleges and universities and $220 million for research fellowships, equipment and competitive grants -- A $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant that will help make college more affordable for approximately 7 million students."

Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi!