Recently in News Category

"If I were locked inside the bathroom all day, I'd swallow the shampoo, too. Although most animal-behavior problems are believed to have genetic roots, their expressions are typically triggered by the unnatural lives that people force their pets to lead."

The NYT has a great article for this weekend's magazine section on pharmaceuticals for pets. Dog diet pills may be a joke, but other pharmaceuticals are definitely merited; it's unfortunate though that some people will choose pills as a shortcut for proper training, exercise and discipline.

As for Mochi, he stays off the drugs. That leaves at least one kind of small object that he doesn't continually have in his mouth...

"Should the applicants decide to apply again, they must make appointments using our on-line appointment system."

- Debra Heien, chief of the consular section for the U.S. in Nigeria

Three West African bushmen recruited to build an authentic mud-hut village at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia were denied visas because they are too poor and inarticulate. Consulate officials noted that the bushmen (who were recruited specifically for their knowledge of how to build traditional native mud housing) could not demonstrate a bank account and e-mail address, mortgage, or lease agreement that would demonstrate residence in Western terms, and they could reapply using the consulate's web page.

I'm guessing they're probably not heavy web users. But who knows.

Frustrated emergency-room doctor Paul Hochfeld explores why U.S. health care costs so much and argues that a single-payer system is a good solution.

"The majority of Americans want some form of a national health plan. Lobbyists continue to foster the political wisdom (myth?) that embracing anything that resembles a single payer system is political suicide. Reality check: our health care system will remain broken until the focus shifts from profits to health. That won't happen until somebody, other than insurance companies, takes control. This is now a political problem. Our citizens need to make enough noise and put enough pressure on our politicians to get them to listen to us, instead of the lobbyists."

Too funny to pass up: WolfpacksforTruth.org: The Real Story on George Bush's "Wolves" Commercial

George W. Bush incorrectly labelled my wolfpack as a terrorist threat. We are NOT terrorists. We do not associate with terrorists (unless you count that pesky wolverine) and FRANKLY, we don't even like terrorists!"

(Update) There's another funny send-up at The Poor Man.

On a more serious note, here's the FactCheck analysis of the Bush "Wolfpack" advertisement.

David Brooks examines the state of nation's work culture and ethic in his essay A Nation of Grinders, which ran in today's Times magazine.

"Four-fifths of American college students, according to a Jobtrak.com study, believe it will take them 10 years or less to achieve their career goals. Three-quarters of U.S. college students expect to become millionaires, and 52 percent expect to have achieved this stratospheric status by the time they are 50. "

If that's a current survey, I can only imagine what the numbers would have looked like back in 1997, when I left college. The generation now about to turn 30 has felt this crash more than anyone. We graduated from college at the height of the bubble, when hopes (and expectations, too) were at their highest. Five to ten years, and often several jobs later, many of us are still looking for the success and security that felt somewhat closer before we even began our career paths.

At the same time, I have to say I prefer the sentiment that success should be the actual result of work and execution rather than luck, which so much of late 90's success seemed to revolve around. I figure it's better for me: I'm not the type to ever win the lottery, but if it's about work, at least I have a fair chance.

The real problem our culture has with the idea that success should be based on hard work, integrity, consistency? It doesn't play well to the masses, and it doesn't make for good television. Ever notice in most of our television shows, nobody really seems to have a job? Do the characters in "Friends" ever miss dinner because they have to work late, or fly to three cities in a week so they can make enough to pay for an apartment half the size of the one on the show? Of course not. That's no fun.

I was sitting around having beers this week with a couple of guys who are, by all measures, immensely successful in their careers. They were trying to figure out how real people live in New York in their twenties, work a casual job and still pay their rent without going massively into the red. I have to admit, I'm not sure either how it works. Can anyone explain? Maybe I just need to watch more television.

"...people who live in Manhattan or Los Angeles or San Francisco or even Dallas have to keep reminding themselves that their experience is not typical. In most places in America, there are no massive concentrations of rich people and hence no Madison Avenue boutiques, no fine art galleries, no personal shoppers. There is just the country club, and certain social pressures to be just this affluent, to prove you are a success, and no more so."

Fortune replies to the Harvard Business Review's argument that high-tech is becoming another factor of production. It covers most of the points that I raised previously. It's always to know you're not just a ranting lunatic (or at least, there are others ranting from the same perspective.)

First off, a big congratulations to my sister Vanessa, who will be getting her undergraduate diploma from Barnard today (campus-wide graduation is tomorrow), as well as my buddies in the business school who are getting their degrees -- including my high school buddy Jeremy.

Jeremy's lucky enough to already have a job lined up (and a nice one at that) but the Times is reporting that despite many new graduates wanting to go on to grad school rather than try to find a job, "the market value of advanced degrees is unlikely to rise enough to make the investments worth it." They're particularly highlighting medical and law degrees, but I can tell you that the number of people applying to business school has been up for the last 2-3 years as well (although I don't know if the number of graduates will rise.)

I'm halfway through my second post-graduate degree (years ago I earned a masters from Columbia in journalism, an industry that always has an oversupply of labor.) If the value of advanced degrees is declining, does that mean I'm losing value twice as fast?

The Times today published an extensive article detailing how Jayson Blair, 27 fabricated multiple stories over a four year career at the paper. Not only did Blair concoct quotes and details, in many cases he wasn't even in the location his dateline said he was.

"The reporter, Jayson Blair, 27, misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services. He selected details from photographs to create the impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not."

Provably fabricating a quote or story detail is enough to justify a reporter losing their job, even at a lesser page. It's stunning that Times editors tolerated multiple instances of such behavior from this reporter.

It's also stunning that the fact that a reporter was not submitting travel expenses didn't throw up immediate red flags. Did they think he was just paying for it out of his own pocket when his datelines were from all over the country?

Any good editor knows that the biggest product of a newspaper isn't the printed edition. It's the credibility of the organization. The Times' credibility has suffered a huge blow from this, and the editors are to fault as well as the individual. Certainly, there is no shortage of capable and willing reporters who would love to have filled that job if they had fired Blair earlier.

The story is all the more disturbing given how many of the stories they relate I can remember reading. Even though I worked as a reporter, and know errors happen, I still tend to regard what's reported in Times stories as the gospel truth, or at least a best-faith effort at it. Unfortunately, I guess the editors at the Times, like most of us, don't expect outright fabrication by the people we deal with. Especially given that even when you write a completely true story, people will often complain about misquotes and errors, making it harder for editors to detect inaccurate reporting. (I've had complaints about misquotes from interviews I taped recorded, where clearly they said exactly what I wrote.)

The Times article dances around the issue of race with regards to Blair's rapid rise at the paper, despite consistently erratic performance. There's no shortage of great reporters out there who have trouble finding work. Blair clearly what immensely charismatic, but it's apparent there was more going on than simple charm. I appreciate the concept of the diversity program, but it should be about finding more qualified minority employees (which is not so hard in the reporting business), rather than protecting unqualified ones.

Interestingly enough, the San Antonio Express-News reports that Blair had previously crossed paths with Macarena Hernandez. Blair's plagiarism of Hernandez's article eventually led to his downfall after the Express-News contacted the Times to demand she be credited properly.

More reporting from the Times: Accounting of the Deception.

Also:
Gothamist summarizes the Times article and links to other coverage.
Coverage in The Washington Post.

New Hampshire's state symbol, The Old Man of the Mountain, apparently collapsed this week. That's a tough break for the state, which has the symbol on their quarter and used it as a tourist attraction. I was able to see it a few times in college when we went hiking up in New Hampshire, and it was pretty neat. Franconia State Park is one of the most beautiful areas in New England, and even without the face it's still a great fall destination for hiking.

Apparently they're going to try to build a replacement, although the original "face" was a natural formation, not something carved into the mountain.

Update: CNN has a somewhat more well reported account.

[Via Megnut]

The New York Times has a great article by Paul Krugman on the illogic of Bush's tax cut proposal.

"The average American worker earns only about $40,000 per year; why does the administration, even on its own estimates, need to offer $500,000 in tax cuts for each job created? If it's all about jobs, wouldn't it be far cheaper just to have the government hire people?"

Krugman wrote The Return of Depression Economics in the late 90's. It's still the best, most clearly written book on macroeconomics I've ever encountered.