[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]
- Social Security Finances
- [Paul Krugman]
…there are two ways to look at Social Security…
If you want to know when Social Security, per se, will have a crisis, requiring either benefit cuts or new funding, you want to take the standalone view. If you want to think about the broad direction of the federal budget, you want to just fold Social Security into the total.
But here’s what you can’t legitimately do: you can’t switch views in midstream. You can’t say that Social Security is just part of the federal budget, so the trust fund is meaningless — then say that because there’s no real trust fund, Social Security is in crisis when payroll receipts fall short of benefits…
…there’s no valid approach under which Social Security surpluses don’t count but Social Security deficits do.
All of which makes it alarming that the co-chair of the deficit commission is making that very claim.
- Meanwhile, Womb-Bearers Get Rights Too!
- [Firedoglake - emptywheel]
While everyone has been focused on the hope that gays and lesbians may soon get the rights straight people enjoy, in Florida a court ruled that womb-bearers have some rights too, specifically to decide their own medical treatment when pregnant. From the ACLU press release…
- PayPal to Offer Micropayment Service by Year’s End
- [ReadWriteWeb - Mike Melanson]
[Which, alas, does not change the fact that PayPal is evil. -L]
- Tide turns against million-dollar maths proof
- [New Scientist]
Hailed as a solution to the biggest question in computer science, the latest attempt to prove P ≠ NP now seems to be in trouble
…Even if these criticisms stand, the whole incident might still help galvanise mathematical discovery indirectly. Following the Deolalikar claim, a wiki was set up where people could post opinions on Deolalikar’s proof. Comments range from corrections of minor typos to detailed mathematical critiques of his methods.
…”The internet is making a huge difference to the way mathematicians operate” says Timothy Gowers of the University of Cambridge . “A process that might have taken weeks and weeks has taken place extremely quickly.”
- “Plug and Play” Solar Panel Kits Offer Homeowners Affordable Alternative Energy Source
- [Scientific American]
Imagine a modular solar array that you can install –without too much fear of electrocuting yourself–at a relatively low price. That’s the vision of Chad Maglaque and Clarian Technologies , and one that hopes to become a reality by spring 2011.
- A toothpaste-like gel that can heal wounds six times faster than normal
- [io9 - Annalee Newitz]
A gene therapy in the form of a thick gel is about to revolutionize wound treatment. The gel is called Nexagon, and when you apply it to a wound, it reprograms the cells to heal more quickly and efficiently.
- Who Is Us?
- [Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall]
…We don’t demonstrate our values by disgracing them. The whole episode is really far beyond the particulars of the identities of the organizers of the project…
…the opponents of the project have more or less given up on the idea that [Imam] Rauf et al. are some sort of crypto-terrorists… The core of their argument now is simply that there shouldn’t be any mosque anywhere in the vicinity of the Trade Center Complex. (Set aside for the moment that this mosque isn’t really a mosque; it’s more like a YMCA, perhaps YMMA. And there’s already at least one mosque already there.)…
The only way this makes sense is if you imagine we’re actually involved in a sort of global half-racial holy war against Islam.
The Link(s): Fri, Aug 13th, 12pm by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.