How come I’m always the guy who knows someone, who knows someone famous? RIP Don Cornelius.

Rethinking Facebook: I’ve always wondered how it could possibly be worth $100 billion, but when you consider they have almost a billion customers (as the link points observes, they are technically products not customers) they only need to make a couple bucks off each one per year to deserve that valuation. The sad part is that this whole enterprise does nothing to benefit humanity.

According to this, Goldman Sachs, et al., have flocked to Romney because they’re so mad at Obama:

“Obama raised almost $16 million from employees in the securities and investment industry and their families for the 2008 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“After Obama championed new regulations designed to curb abuses blamed for the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Wall Street put its money elsewhere.”

LINK.

I’ve found that the financial blogosphere has smarter commenters than posters

… with some notable exceptions.

Good grief! 73 people have been killed during a melee following a football game in Port Said, Egypt. It may be more a political action, however, than just male football fans running amok.

Good on you, allan, and well done! Here’s one that made me think of you in particular:

Nobel peace prize jury under investigation

LINK.

(Too bad they didn’t begin that investigation after the Nobel went to Henry the K. back in 1973. Grumble grumble.)

Don’t know whether this had anything to do with the WH clamming up about drones, but the ACLU is busy trying to get more info.

ACLU sues to force release of drone attack records

LINK.

Mmmmm-hmmmm.

DEA investigates Montana state legislator [Diane Sands] for medical marijuana views

‘”So now, if you’re a state legislator who has been working on medical marijuana laws, you are somehow part of a conspiracy,” said Sands. “It’s ridiculous, of course, but it’s also threatening to think that the federal government is willing to use its influence and try to chill discussion about this subject.”‘

LINK.

The meanings of “promoting”, “world” and “peace”, like the meaning of “is”, are flexible.

A scary thought: just imagine if Henry K. had had drones to work with.

Has anyone heard about the Colbert SuperPAC’s total numbers yet?

The big news on all the transportation and cycling blogs is that the Transportation Bill, which is being marked up tomorrow, has a whole bunch of programs for biking and walking taken out of it. There’s an amendment, Petri-Johnson, to add some of the programs, like Safe Routes to School, back in.

http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/01/horrible-surface-transportation-bill-unveiled-today-bicycle-programs-eliminated/

E-Mail on ‘Rife’ Hacking Deleted From James Murdoch Computer, Lawyers Say

An e-mail to Rupert Murdoch’s son James that referred to “a nightmare scenario” of legal repercussions from widespread phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid was deleted from his computer less than two weeks before the police opened their current investigation into phone hacking, lawyers said Wednesday.

http://radioactive.eu.com/

Hamaoka N-Plant Costs Higher than Thermal: Panel

Hamaoka N-Plant Costs Higher than Thermal: Panel
Shizuoka, Feb. 1 (Jiji Press)–Power generation at Chubu Electric Power Co.’s Hamaoka nuclear plant costs more than that at its thermal power plants, a third-party panel of experts has estimated.The cost of power generation comes to an estimated 9.78 yen per kilowatt-hour for the nuclear plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, compared with 9.37 yen for thermal power plants and 7.74 yen for hydroelectric power plants, according to a report released by Wednesday by the panel of the central Japan prefecture.

In case ya didn’t see it elsewhere…

Deadline for States to Accept Foreclosure Deal With Banks Moved to Feb. 6
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-01/deadline-for-states-to-accept-foreclosure-deal-with-banks-moved-to-feb-6.html

“States were given more time to evaluate the proposal, which may total $25 billion, after at least one asked for a delay, Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, said today in a phone interview.”

That would be Nevada’s Catherine Masto, and her 38 Question list.

The title of this NYT article is going to needlessly freak a lot of people out (“OMG Alzheimer’s is like a virus!”). In reality–I work in this area–it’s a fairly huge breakthrough in understanding Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and numerous other bad brain diseases. The study suggests that the reason these diseases are progressive is because the sick cells export their bad juju (in the form of a protein called tau) to adjacent cells, and so on and so on. If a way can be found to stop the tau protein from being spread, it could be possible to prevent these diseases from worsening. Alzheimer’s disease alone costs the economy at least $200 billion a year.

Faulty Protein Is Like a Virus in Alzheimer’s

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/health/research/alzheimers-spreads-like-a-virus-in-the-brain-studies-find.html

Who could have imagined?

Alabama immigration crackdown costs state up to $11 bln: study

“The study added in the costs of healthcare and social services to undocumented people that would be saved. However, it found these savings to be negligible when compared to the increased costs of law enforcement and businesses that now have to run checks on citizenship.”

LINK.

They’re learning this the hard way, if their prejudices will let them learn at all.

The White House claims that Medicare Advantage remains viable and cost for consumers has reduced in the wake of the Affordable Care Act.; here in the San Diego ,CA area there are 6 ‘advantage’ plans that cost nothing more than enrollment in Parts A and B. (Wish people would start referring to it as the ‘Plan C’ that is how it’s presented on the Medicare site and by Medicare enrollment.)

And one $0 monthly cost plan has an ‘optional’ add on for less than $20 a month that includes gym membership and some real dental insurance(not a ‘plan).

There are also 10 other Plan C plans that range in monthly cost from $20 to $192 with most in the $29 and $69 groupings.

It’s as close to single payor(“socialized medicine” /s) as could be reasonably expected in this country given that it involves the government subsidizing private industry profits; from $500 to $800 a month from those who have answered my question of ‘how are these companies making money’? In return, the government got to have more say in how they run the business (/s); the whole point surrounding how much may be spent on actual medical efforts and the resulting pushback to expand the definition of medical treatment is how ACA is affecting Plan C( medicare advantage plans).

It’s as close to single payor(“socialized medicine” ) as could be reasonably expected in this country

It depends what you think is reasonable. Medicare Advantage for all would be a huge improvement over Obamacare but the U.S. has such a horrible cost problem that even that wouldn’t solve everything. In addition MA doesn’t work well in rural areas and areas where medical personnel are in short supply.

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/issue/

America Already Runs More Drill Rigs than Rest of World Combined

“the House Republicans’ version of the transportation bill would throw open protected pristine places for dirty petroleum production. One proposal opens Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Another measure opens the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to be drilled and mandates more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The third proposal makes available millions of acres in the western U.S. to oil shale development. Despite Boehner’s characterization of the measure as a “job creation package,” it seems to be little more than another Republican giveaway to Big Oil.”

That’s wonderful news, bmull. And on the other side of the age spectrum comes this, which hopefully opens up the possibility for all types of this terrible illness.

Drug approved to treat [a rare form of] cystic fibrosis’ root cause

LINK.