Back of the frig, 28/9/05

Well, it's time to clean out the frig. These are items that I tagged to go into the Stew, but I planned to spice them up first, and they just got shuffled to the back of the refrigerator. So, before they go completely stale, let's eat 'em up and tip out those leftovers.

> "China reveals limits to transparency on death tolls": This is a report on China's new policy to be more transparent with the details of and damages from natural disasters (good thing), which will not be retroactive (bad thing). http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK93244.htm

> "Latham’s Diaries reviewed": This is the trip to Damascus for a Latham agnostic, nay, critic, who finally read the good book and became converted.

> "Pakistani girl begs Musharraf’s protection from honour killing": " A 15-year old Pakistani girl living in fear of becoming an honour killing victim...." http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/September/subcontinent_September778.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

> "Eggheads and Bookies: How `Scientific' Wagers Beat Wall Street": A book review. "Almost 50 years ago, two scientists at AT&T Corp.'s Bell Labs discovered a formula for beating the odds in Las Vegas and on Wall Street...." http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=aGjXiPnVmctk

> http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1887002005 This is the best overseas report I read in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

> "Overpaid CEO? Here's how to find out": http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P127490.asp

> "Having private insurance and being willing to pay cash may not eliminate the difficulty in obtaining urgent follow-up appointments.": http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/10/1248 And, "Private insurance gives patients a far better chance of getting appointments within a week of treatment than does Medicaid or no insurance, according to the study of 430 clinics in nine U.S. cities. Most clinics inquired about patients' insurance status but not their conditions, the researchers found.": http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-insurance-timely-treatment,0,6295486.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

> "Health-insurance premiums grew at a rate far exceeding inflation and wage growth again this year, but 2005 ended four years of double-digit premium increases, according to a new survey.": http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?dist=&param=archive&siteid=google&guid=%7B17FF4D7B%2D910C%2D499A%2DA88A%2D9E11354868DE%7D&garden=&minisite=

> "Fewer US firms offer health insurance, cite costs": "mostly among smaller companies that said they could not afford the coverage...." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14335512.htm

> "Investors are mad for risk-appetite indices. What do they actually tell us?" "...Investor sentiment seems to be most predictive when it is near historical extremes, and then only in the short term. In the longer run it has less to say, for returns should reflect the business cycle and corporate earnings. The big question now is what the impact of sharply higher oil prices will be. If they act as a brake on global economic growth, as seems likely, it will knock investor sentiment and returns, both short-term and long-term, for six." http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4339079

> "http://www.thestalwart.com/the_stalwart/2005/09/howd_you_feel_i.html": "Don't Think 1218: The S&P is at 1080".

There's more, but I've lost my stomach for it.