Governors’ Races Offer Republicans an Opening

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Republicans in search of good news these days have had to rely on bad news for the White House: the latest setback for President Obama ’s health care plan; his sagging poll numbers; the failure of the Obama economic stimulus plan so far to reverse the rise in unemployment. But there is the potential for some tangible good news for Republicans just over the horizon: the 2010 elections for governor. For a variety of reasons, like the economic problems crushing governors across the country and term-limit laws forcing out otherwise formidable Democratic incumbents, Republicans have a good shot at making gains in what is shaping up as a free-for-all for 39 governors’ seats next year. And 2010 is not just any election year: it is crucial given that this class of governors will be in charge as their states draw Congressional and state legislative districts as part of the reapportionment process after the next census. And given historical trends in midterm elections and the lopsided majority Democrats enjoy in Congress, the possibility that Republicans could make gains in House races next year could give the party a psychological boost at the halfway point of Mr. Obama’s term. That would certainly offer a welcome break for Republicans after the resignation of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and the marital difficulties of Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina . “When I start looking at this chart, in some ways I’d sure rather be a Republican than a Democrat next year,” said Jennifer Duffy, who tracks governors’ races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report . “There were a bunch of Democratic states I wasn’t looking too seriously at for a while — Colorado , Iowa , Wisconsin — that I am taking new looks at because in the past several months, I have seen polling numbers for these governors tank,” Ms. Duffy said. “Let’s face it: Being governor is not the best job in America right now.” There are reasons for this. First, Democrats have more seats to defend next year: 21, compared with 18 for Republicans. (Over all, Democrats hold 28 governorships, and Republicans 22.) In addition, governors everywhere are struggling with huge budget deficits that are forcing them to cut services and raise taxes , enmeshing them in bruising battles with state legislatures and constituency groups. That is causing problems for governors like James E. Doyle of Wisconsin and Chet Culver of Iowa, both Democrats who are up for re-election next year; Republicans are tracking polls showing both men as unpopular. What is more, there are 17 open seats in 2010, mainly because of term limits, and Democrats hold 10 of them. Among the Democrats being forced out by term limits are Edward G. Rendell in Pennsylvania , Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan (where, given the economic situation, she might have had a tough re-election bid); Brad Henry of Oklahoma ; Bill Richardson of New Mexico; and Theodore R. Kulongoski of Oregon. And the Democrats can thank Mr. Obama for creating another big opportunity for Republicans in Kansas when he tapped the governor, Kathleen Sebelius , to be his secretary of health and human services. It is early, and to a certain extent the shape of these races will be dictated by who emerges from some crowded and competitive Republican primary fields across the country. As of now, officials from both parties said, Republicans could see a net gain of at least three governorships. Democrats face especially long odds in Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee and perhaps Wyoming . That list of highly competitive races could end up including Colorado, Illinois , Iowa, Maine , Massachusetts , Ohio , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, officials in both parties said. “We are mindful of the economic landscape, the historical trends for a president’s first midterm election and the sheer number of seats we need to defend,” said Nathan Daschle, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. “These are tremendous advantages for the other side. But the outlook is sunnier than we anticipated even a year ago.” Not that Republicans are not in danger of losing some seats of their own. With Gov. Charlie Crist running for the Senate, Florida could prove to be a high-profile and valuable gain for Democrats. The same is true for California , where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is barred by term limits from seeking re-election (though given his poll numbers, Democrats might wish he were on the ballot). Democrats are also in a strong position to challenge Republican governors in Georgia , Hawaii , Nevada and Rhode Island . Similarly, the decision by Gov. Tim Pawlenty , a Republican, not to seek re-election in Minnesota , as he prepares for a potential presidential bid in 2012, has created an opportunity for Democrats. Republicans, however, may not have to wait until 2010 to start posting victories. There are two elections for governor this November, in New Jersey and Virginia , both for seats held by Democrats. And both seem to be prime targets for Republicans.


Better Smartphone Typing Is Just a Tap Away

Abstract: TOUCH-SCREEN phones have become so astonishingly good at some tasks they have all but replaced landline phones, pocket cameras and printed maps. But there is one feature that they still struggle to get right — the keyboard. The flexibility of the full touch screen has won out over tactile, physical buttons, leaving us with a keyboard that is just an image on glass and small keys that sometimes get cranky around big thumbs. Still, users don’t have to settle for the default keyboard on their smartphone. The advantage to virtual keyboards is just that — they are virtual — and can be easily swapped or altered for one you like better. Sometimes all it takes is a change in your settings. At most, it requires buying an app. Here’s a sampling of tips and apps to help improve your typing experience on Apple iOS and Android, the two most popular operating systems for smartphones. FEWER TAPS Many smartphone users make the mistake of tapping out whole words one letter at a time. A quick way to speed up typing on almost all phones is through predictive text. Once the feature is turned on, the device will predict what word you are typing after filling in only a letter or two. Choosing the full word takes just a single tap. To turn on predictive text, you’ll have to dig through the menus, under settings. Look for the keyboard options and select “auto correction,” or whatever the similar name is on your phone. Then start typing, and when the complete word appears, usually in a list just above the keyboard, tap it. The best part is, the predictions usually improve over time, as the device learns which words you prefer. So the more you use it, the more time it will save you. Another option is using a nonstandard keyboard layout, like the one provided by Fast Keyboard, a free app for Apple products. With the app, you won’t need to keep switching the keyboard from letters to numbers — they all appear on the same screen. Symbol keys like hashtags appear on the screen, too, and cut, copy and other functions are also within reach. The downside of the app (and other auxiliary keyboards for Apple products) is that it doesn’t completely replace the default keyboard. It can be used for certain apps, like e-mail, text messaging and social media. Android replacement keyboards can work with all of its functions and apps. Fleksy, a free iPhone app meant to help the visually impaired, can help you type without looking at all. Just approximate tapping where you think letters belong on a keyboard. When you have completed a word, flick the screen to the right. Fleksy will read its guess aloud. Flick down for it to guess similar words. The sloppier you are the better it seems to work. But as with other auxiliary iPhone keyboards, it can’t completely replace the standard keyboard. HANDY CODE If you find yourself repeatedly using the same phrases over and over — and who doesn’t? — so-called typing expansion programs are for you. When using these programs, you assign an abbreviation like “omw” to automatically turn into “I’m on my way home, honey, need anything?” Typing expansion is built into Apple products and the free Android app Google Keyboard. For Apple products, go to Settings, then select General and then Keyboard. Click Add a New Shortcut, then enter the abbreviation and phrase you want it to become. In Google Keyboard, open the app and go to Personal Dictionary. Touch the plus sign and then add your abbreviation and phrase. Press done and the back button. One tip for all the devices: Make sure your shortcuts use unusual letter combinations so you don’t activate phrases at unwanted times. GESTURES Gesture keyboards figure out what you mean to type as you to trace your finger loosely over the keys. It is faster than single-letter typing, but before it becomes really accurate, it has to learn your patterns. Sometimes, the process can be exasperating. One keyboard developer said it takes at least 50 messages for these programs to learn your patterns. Swiftkey, a $4 app for Android, has an additional way to increase accuracy right off the bat. Give the app access to your Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail accounts and it will observe your vocabulary to better anticipate words you are likely to use. It has recently added a cloud backup service that saves your personal dictionary of often-used phrases in case your device is lost or dies. It also searches the Web for phrases coming into heavy use (like “sarin,” “twerking” or “Middleton”) to better guess what you are typing. Swype, a popular $1 gesture-based keyboard app for Android , can also check your Facebook, Twitter and Gmail accounts to improve accuracy, but it has long had a feature called “living language.” Activate it to anonymously collect new and unfamiliar words from across the Web and add them to the dictionary. Many phones already have gesture typing if you look in the settings. Usually it is under a heading like “Language and Keyboard” or “Language and Input.” For Apple products there are Swiftkey and Swype imitators but, like the previously mentioned Fleksy, they can be used only for writing text. PRIVACY SETTINGS There is a potentially alarming side to predictive technology. It is possible for an app to collect data that you would not want it to. Here is a warning that appeared when installing Google Keyboard: “This input method may be able to collect all of the text you type, including personal data like passwords and credit card numbers. It comes from the app Google Keyboard. Use this input method?” While reputable developers will tell you in their privacy policies that they don’t collect credit cards and passwords, you can take steps on your own. Turning off the option that shares to the cloud will increase your security (at the sacrifice of some accuracy), by keeping your personal dictionary on your phone only. Then be sure to lock your phone.

Mobile Apps
Smartphone
Text messaging
Computer keyboard


David Leonhardt, Washington Bureau Chief, Answers Readers’ Questions

Abstract: David Leonhardt, Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, answered readers’ questions on Thursday about the economic landscape and President Obama’s prospects to enact the ambitious legislative agenda he laid out in his State of the Union address. Mr. Leonhardt is the author of the e-book, “ Here’s the Deal: How Washington Can Solve the Deficit and Spur Growth ,” published by The Times and Byliner. Previously, he wrote the paper’s Economic Scene column. Below are answers to selected questions. Q. So presidents make their State of the Union speech then hit the road to sell it. Wouldn't it be more effective to just stay in D.C. and do the heavy lifting of pushing Congress off of square one? — HLB Engineering, Mt. Lebanon, PA A. My colleague Michael Shear writes from Georgia, where is he reporting on President Obama’s trip today: Recent presidents have made a habit of getting out of Washington to pitch their State of the Union ideas in front of largely friendly crowds who can -- the White House hopes -- put some political pressure on the lawmakers in Washington. Bill Clinton did it after proposing health reform (with little success). George W. Bush did it, too, after proposing Social Security changes (also with little success). For Mr. Obama, staying in Washington is exactly what he doesn't want to do. He and his aides became frustrated in his first year by the endless health care negotiations that made him feel trapped in the weeds of a political process for which Americans don't have good feelings. The White House staff and the president have concluded that more time outside Washington will actually help the gridlocked process of legislating, by potentially putting political pressure on legislators. There is a downside, though. The visits have a decidedly campaign-like feel that can lend credence to the accusation that the president is more concerned about political appearances than the business of governing. Mr. Obama has concluded that risk is worth it. But it's not clear from recent history that the trips have actually helped achieve a president's goals. Q. When the debt was the largest in history as a percent of GDP, in 1946, we had 27 years of mostly deficit spending. The debt in dollars doubled. But we had prosperity. Why don't we do that today? — Len Charlap, Princeton, NJ A. You're right that a country can have deficits and still pay down its debt, so long as the deficits are small enough and economic growth fast enough. And you're right that some government spending plays a crucial role in creating economic growth. The most important programs seem to be investments -- in education, scientific research, roads, bridges and the like -- that the private sector won't do on its own. The Internet, the radio, the jet engine, much of biotechnology and the technique for extracting a form of natural gas known as shale gas all owe their beginnings to federal spending. This history is a major theme in " Here's the Deal ." But government spending and debt most certainly do not ensure prosperity. Federal debt is already high. The projections showing that annual deficits will fall in the next few years depend on some assumptions that may prove rosy. And as more baby boomers retire and health costs keep rising, projected deficits are projected to rise again, sharply, in coming decades. As heartening as the recent progress on the deficit may be, the country still faces substantial long-term fiscal problems. If we don't deal with them, we are likely to have an economy that looks nothing like the prosperous economy after World War II. Q. Congressional Republicans recently decided against using the debt limit as a lever to force President Obama to enact spending cuts he wouldn't otherwise go along with. Is there any indication that Republicans will agree to a longer-term extension once the current limit is reached? — Eric, Washington, DC A. It's hard to know, but it's possible that the debt-ceiling fights will not continue. In the past, the extension of the debt ceiling tended to be an opportunity for the party that didn't hold the White House to grandstand about the deficit and debt. (President Obama, somewhat famously, did so in 2006 .) In the end, though, the extension tended to pass without any concessions from the president. In 2011, Congressional Republicans successfully negotiated such concessions from Mr. Obama. In recent months, he made clear that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling again, citing the economic damage from the uncertainty over the last extension. Republicans have gone along, at least temporarily. Polls suggest the last fight hurt Republicans more than Democrats, which suggests Republicans may ultimately agree to a long-term extension or simply a series of short-term extensions. On the other hand, they were indeed able to win some spending cuts in 2011, so some in the party continue to see the debt ceiling as a powerful tool. The most cliched last line in journalism -- the kicker, as we say -- is: Time will tell. I can't think of another kicker here. Q. Why has the administration given so much focus to gun control in the past few weeks? With a Republican majority in the House and the fact that many Democrats would also vote against advanced gun control measures, would this kind of legislation have a chance of passing the House or the Senate? — Matthew, Athens, GA A. Unlike past mass shootings, the killings in Newtown, Conn., shifted the national debate. Public opinion changed modestly, and Democrats who favor more gun control became more willing to push for it. As you note, most Republicans and some Democrats oppose sweeping new measures, which is why an assault-weapons ban still seems unlikely . But some other measures may be able to win overwhelming support from Democrats and enough from Republicans to pass both the House and Senate. The two leading candidates are an expansion of criminal background checks on people buying guns and a new federal trafficking law to block criminal purchases. Image A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 85 percent of Americans favor background checks. Support at so high of a level, combined with national attention to the issues, has the potential to create a majority in both houses of Congress. Q. The Wall Street macro indexes e.g. S&P500, DOW, are at or around historical highs. However I do not see corresponding growth in GDP let alone increase in employment rate to underpin this rally. What is driving this and where is the money coming from? How does this benefit "middle America"? — Arthur CHAN, Wilmington, DE A. First, the indexes themselves are not at or near record highs when viewed properly. When adjusted for inflation, the Standard & Poor 500 index was more than 30 percent higher in 2000 than it is today. Including the value of dividends, the S&P was still about 5 percent higher in 2000 than now. And taking into account investment costs, which nearly everyone pays, the gap would be substantially more than 5 percent. I say this not to be an inflation nerd ( though I am ) but to make the point that the stock market is not in fact more valuable than it’s ever been. When Wall Street proclaims, “record high!” and we in the media repeat the claim, we’re presenting a false picture of reality. Stocks are still not as valuable as they were at the peak of the dot-com bubble. Your larger point, though, is dead on. The S&P 500 (including dividends and inflation) is about 18 percent higher than it was five years ago, which is roughly when the recession began. The overall economy has not fared nearly so well. Gross domestic product was only about 2 percent larger at the end of last year than five years earlier. The unemployment rate is 7.9 percent, up from 5 percent five years ago. For a complex stew of reasons – including, but not limited to, government assistance for the financial sector since 2007 – American companies and financial firms have recovered more quickly from the crisis than most of the rest of the economy. Q. What are President Obama's plans to lure high-tech manufacturing back to the United States? He courts Silicon Valley and named Apple during his State of the Union, but Steve Jobs famously said manufacturing will never return for logistical reasons. Tim Cook, despite the return of a single Mac line, appears to have little desire to change the company's strategic plan. — Eric, Cupertino, CA A. My colleague Annie Lowrey responds: President Obama's White House is sold on the idea that high-tech manufacturing punches above its weight , economically speaking, by boosting American innovation and competitiveness. Thus, the White House has pushed hard for what amounts to an industrial policy for manufacturing, a policy shepherded by Gene B. Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council. The ideas are many . The White House has proposed billions of dollars of tax credits, an $8 billion "community college to career" fund, worker training initiatives, tax reforms and trade policy measures, all aimed at creating or keeping manufacturing jobs. But the implemented policies are few, given the need for Congress to pass and fund many of them. Still, the Obama administration has devoted federal dollars to promote promising nascent technologies and to developing industrial "clusters," for instance. Moreover, the 2009 stimulus bill contained billions of dollars of support for green-energy projects, often with manufacturing components. It's also worth noting that there are billions of dollars of pre-existing tax credits and programs that aid companies that make their products in the United States, at the federal, state and local levels. Q. Would increasing minimum wage be effective at raising the standard of living? Wouldn't costs just shift with it? — Veronica K. Hoffman, via Twitter A. History suggests pretty clearly that an increase in the minimum wage would help the great majority of workers now earning the minimum wage. Increasing the minimum wage may lead to some job loss, but it does not appear to lead to large amounts of job loss, research has found . Most employers instead absorb the costs of the higher wages. The higher wages may come out of a business’s profits (and, by extension, the income of the business’s owners or stock holders). Or, as your question suggests, the higher wages may come out of consumers’ pockets, via higher prices. The net effect is roughly the same, though. An increase in the minimum wage shifts some income now flowing to high- and middle-income workers to low-income workers instead. An increase in the minimum wage, in other words, seems to have a bigger effect on the distribution of the nation’s economic pie than on the size of it. But the increase proposed by President Obama, to $9 an hour, almost certainly would not erase the large shift in income away from low-income workers in recent years. Over the last 25 years, household income at the 10th percentile – that is, among those households earning less than nine out of 10 others and more than one out of 10 others – has increased only 2 percent, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Census Bureau . At the median, the increase has been 3 percent. At the 95th percentile, the increase has been 23 percent. And for the very rich, the increases have been larger still. Q. Has the atmosphere in Congress become any less toxic in the aftermath of President Obama's reelection? — Lewis, New York City A. I don’t know about toxicity, but it has become less predictably partisan. Some Republicans have become more willing to negotiate with the administration, rather than to stand on principle and oppose it. Why? In the first term, Republicans decided that they held veto power over perhaps President Obama’s central promise: to be a bipartisan bridge builder. As Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, told my colleagues Carl Hulse and Adam Nagourney in 2010 , a bill is “either bipartisan or it isn’t.” By uniformly opposing the president’s agenda, Republicans thought they could frustrate his liberal aims, make him seem ineffective and deny him a second term. Once he won a second term, the party’s strategy shifted somewhat. Republican leaders were well aware of polling showing that most voters viewed them as less willing to compromise than Mr. Obama. Some Republicans also came to lament that they did not negotiate more on the health-care overhaul and other bills, which would have allowed them to win more concessions. So on a couple of recent bills – an effective tax increase on the affluent, aid for the aftermath of the Sandy storm – some Republicans have become more willing to make a deal. Others in the party have continued to vote no but have allowed bills to pass. Will it continue? It depends how long Republicans see compromise as being in their interest – and whether Mr. Obama and the Democrats, newly emboldened, push so hard on various items that they leave Republicans no room to compromise comfortably. Immigration seems the most likely area for further compromise, given the Republican need to improve their image among Latinos. The budget is another possibility .


At Sold-Out Fenway, a Way In for Those Fans Willing to Wait

Abstract: BOSTON — Joan George was in the mood to treat herself to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, where every game since May 15, 2003, has sold out. So a few hours before a recent game, she went to the back side of the ballpark along Lansdowne Street, in the shadow of the Green Monster in left field, and stood behind a steel barricade. And she waited. “This is the first time I’ve been first,” she said, her rising Boston accent punctuating her excitement. “I want a Green Monster seat.” For every home contest, whether a weekday game in April or a Game 7 in October, the Red Sox set aside some tickets for fans who did not plan ahead. There may be a few dozen seats available, there may be a few hundred. The point is, they are available, every game, for those who waited too long but are willing to wait a bit longer. Starting five hours before the scheduled first pitch, fans can line up on the sidewalk near Gate E, around the corner from hectic Yawkey Way. There is a red-and-white sign reading “Game Day Ticket Sales,” and there are a pair of green roll-up doors. Two hours before the game, the doors are raised and tickets are sold at face value. There might be $12 seats in the deepest outfield bleachers. There might be $160 seats atop the Green Monster. There might be $20 standing-room-only tickets or $300 seats behind the dugout. There might not be two tickets together. There might be some obstructed views. But for those willing to arrive early and wait, all the tickets get you into Fenway Park for a Red Sox game, which is kind of the point for people who did not think about getting tickets until the last day, anyway. “This is kind of like our family’s season tickets,” said Grant Swisher, 29, a regular in the game-day ticket line, waiting alongside Daren, his 26-year-old brother in a matching Boston cap. The Red Sox, of course, do not have to do this. Other teams would love to be in Boston’s situation, sitting on the longest sell-out streak in Major League Baseball. The Red Sox could sell all the tickets well in advance, the way other teams hope to do, and tell all the late comers that they might want to act faster next time. But the Red Sox figure that a few hundred or a few dozen walk-up fans add a dash of pepper to the usual chowder of a game-day crowd. Boston is filled with college students, many with double majors in procrastination and frivolity. They enliven a game. Boston is also filled with tourists, who probably did not think about Red Sox tickets when booking travel plans months earlier. All these people want is a do-over on their to-do list. “To us, it’s part of a long-term strategy,” said Ron Bumgarner, the team’s vice president for ticketing. “We do not want every fan at Fenway Park to be a season-ticket holder with 81 games. We want as many different people in Red Sox Nation as possible to be able to come to the games.” Such a system comes with strict rules, and several copies of them are pasted near Gate E. First, five hours is deemed the perfect amount of wait time — too short to spend the night (which used to be allowed, but created the predictable unruliness) but long enough to make it a bit of a chore. Second, fans must stay in line and cannot save spaces for other fans. In other words, no sitting across the street at the Cask ’n Flagon, or under the center-field stands at the Bleacher Bar, draining beverages while a buddy reserves a spot until the last minute. Third, once the tickets are purchased — only one per person — fans must enter the ballpark. That means no scalping the ticket to the highest bidder, a temptation for big games. The tickets are part of a larger allotment for group sales or charities, a practice common among all teams. In Boston’s case, Bumgarner and his staff also project the likely demand of walk-up game-day tickets — more for warm-weather dates, weekends and games against rival opponents. They set these aside, adding in whatever tickets are returned at the last minute by opposing teams. In a perfect world, the Red Sox will have almost enough game-day tickets to cover the people who line up early. Too many tickets, and the sense of urgency fades. Too few (and there will be far more fans than tickets during the postseason) and people see it as a frustrating time waster. “We’re playing a little bit of poker on a nightly basis,” Bumgarner said. On a recent room-temperature afternoon, George walked up at about 3:10. When the roll-up doors rolled up two hours later, about 40 people were waiting. Just behind George was a young couple from Montreal. An older couple from Tacoma, Wash., stood about 10 people back. In between was Holger Gützkow, a 26-year-old from Germany on an eight-month trip around the world, which included a few days in Boston. He could not name any Red Sox players. “Everybody told me to see a Boston Red Sox game,” he said. “It must be a religion here in town.” Woven through the tourists were regulars, some young and some old, usually in pairs. The roll-up doors opened at about 5:15. Ticket officials whispered to one another that there were 26 tickets available, and an untold number of standing-room only slots. Joan George was welcomed to the first window. Those around her scooped up $26 seats in the outfield bleachers and $50 seats well behind home plate. Some listened to the options and walked away, unsatisfied with the selection and willing to take a chance with the circling scalpers. But George made a quick decision and walked into the ballpark with a big smile. A few minutes later, she could be seen from home plate, a speck hovering above left field. For $160, she had a front-row seat atop the Green Monster, another indication that, sometimes, good things come to those who wait.

Fenway Park (Boston)
Baseball
Boston Red Sox


Despite Fears, Affordable Care Act Has Not Uprooted Employer Coverage

Abstract: The Affordable Care Act was aimed mainly at giving people better options for buying health insurance on their own. There were widespread predictions that employers would leap at the chance to drop coverage and send workers to fend for themselves. But those predictions were largely wrong. Most companies, and particularly large employers, that offered coverage before the law have stayed committed to providing health insurance. As it turns out, health care remains an important recruitment and retention tool as the labor market has tightened in recent years. Desirable employees still expect health benefits, and companies are responding, new analyses of federal data show. “We’re more confident than ever that we’ll offer benefits,” said Robert Ihrie Jr., a senior vice president for Lowe’s Companies, the home improvement retailer. Companies get a sizable federal tax break from providing the insurance. And if they dropped the coverage, many workers would expect the money in their paycheck to increase enough to pay for outside insurance — or would look for a new job. The reversal in thinking about employer benefits is so stark that even government budget officials are singing an optimistic tune. They lowered the number of people they think will lose coverage because of the health law and now predict employers will remain the source of coverage for a majority of working Americans for the next decade. The surprise turnaround adds to an emerging consensus about the contentious health law: It has not upturned the core of the country’s health insurance system, even while insuring millions of low-income people. “The employer-based system is alive and well,” said Jeff Alter, the chief executive of the commercial insurance business for UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. Even among critics of the law, including the Republican presidential candidates, there has been virtually no debate about employer coverage. About 155 million Americans have employer-based health insurance coverage in 2016, according to an analysis released by the Congressional Budget Office last month. The number will fall to 152 million people in 2019, the C.B.O. estimates, but will remain stable through 2026. Slightly more than half of people under 65 will be enrolled in employment-based coverage. Employers seem to be staying the course even more strongly than they did before the law. The percentage of adults under 65 with employer-based insurance held firm for the last five years after steadily declining since 1999, according to an analysis of federal data released last month by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which closely tracks the health insurance market. The health plans employees get to choose from also look much the same as before the law went into effect. The industry remains dominated by familiar names, like nonprofit Blue Cross plans or for-profit companies like UnitedHealthcare and Anthem. “Employer coverage is much more stable than anyone anticipated,” said Larry Levitt, a senior executive at Kaiser. Companies say they are responding to the realities of the labor market, but they also say the online marketplaces where individuals can more easily buy plans, a creation of the health care law, have not been an enticing alternative for workers. Employers may feel differently if the economy turns down and the labor market is less robust or if there is a sudden spike in health care costs. Because workers can no longer be denied an insurance policy because of poor health, companies may be willing to drop coverage under the right circumstances, knowing that insurance is more available to everyone. Image Lowe’s offers health insurance plans with deductibles as low as $1,000. Credit Misha Friedman for The New York Times But there are no plans for a mass exodus. “The demise of employer-based coverage was definitely overstated,” said Michael Thompson, the chief executive of the National Business Coalition on Health, which represents employers and other buyers of insurance. The steepest declines in coverage have been in small businesses, which had been steadily dropping coverage before the law. The percentage of small employers offering health benefits decreased from 68 percent in 2010 to 56 percent in 2015, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation survey . But those companies now seem less likely to exit than just a few years ago. In 2013, as many as a fifth of employers with fewer than 500 workers said they were likely to drop coverage in the next five years, compared with 7 percent today, according to a survey from Mercer, the benefits consultant. Tracy Watts, a senior partner at Mercer, said the stabilization at small businesses was mostly a product of their health care costs staying the same or rising only modestly. “That will keep you in the game,” Ms. Watts said. The early tumult in the insurance marketplaces, including the troubled introduction of HealthCare.gov, the federally run insurance marketplace for the Affordable Care Act, also made dropping coverage less tenable, analysts said. The law has resulted in more coverage for low-income people, as expected. But the unexpected exit by some of the start-up insurers has limited options on the marketplaces. And the plans on the exchanges remain less generous than those offered by many employers, with significantly higher deductibles and a significantly narrower choice of hospitals and networks. Lowe’s, by comparison, said it has tried to keep employee costs low by contributing about 70 percent of the cost of the annual premiums. It offers plans with deductibles as low as $1,000, versus several thousand dollars for many of the exchange plans. “The exchanges have been less of a disrupter than I expected,” said Thomas Buchmueller, a business professor at the University of Michigan. Employers say there is less financial advantage to dropping coverage than first thought. The law penalizes large employers, about $2,000 per worker, when they do not offer health insurance. That is far less than the average cost of family coverage, now $12,600 a year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But those calculations do not figure in the sizable tax break that comes with providing coverage. In addition, if the employers do not provide insurance, they would almost certainly be pressured — especially in a strong labor market — to add enough money to workers’ paychecks to cover the cost of buying insurance on the marketplace. Some employers, particularly the smallest businesses and those who employ low-income workers eligible for a subsidy, clearly favor moving employees to the exchanges. Other employers do not. “The math really worked in favor of providing coverage,” Mr. Thompson said. While the C.B.O. predicts the employer market will be stable until 2026, 10 years is a long time and federal officials could be wrong . “They are taking their best guess, and I think it is a reasonable best guess,” said Loren Adler, a health policy analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “I wouldn’t take it as gospel.” If the cost of providing coverage spikes, as it did through much of the late 1990s and early 2000s, employers might start talking about dropping coverage again, Mr. Adler said. Congress could also take steps to diminish the tax preference for employer-provided insurance. But so far, employers like Mr. Ihrie of Lowe’s say they do not feel compelled to change. “People have concluded,” he said, “that it’s better to stay where we are.”

Health Insurance
Obamacare,Affordable Care Act
Employee Benefits
Jobs


Crackdown in Egypt Kills Islamists as They Protest

Abstract: CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities unleashed a ferocious attack on Islamist protesters early Saturday, killing at least 72 people in the second mass killing of demonstrators in three weeks and the deadliest attack by the security services since Egypt’s uprising in early 2011. The attack provided further evidence that Egypt’s security establishment was reasserting its dominance after President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster three weeks ago, and widening its crackdown on his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. The tactics — many were killed with gunshot wounds to the head or the chest — suggested that Egypt’s security services felt no need to show any restraint. “They had orders to shoot to kill,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman. The message, he said, was, “This is the new regime.” In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry called this “a pivotal moment for Egypt” and urged its leaders “to help their country take a step back from the brink.” The killings occurred a day after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched in support of the military, responding to a call by its commander for a “mandate” to fight terrorism. The appeal by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, who has emerged as Egypt’s de facto leader since the military removed Mr. Morsi from power, was widely seen as a green light to the security forces to increase their repression of the Islamists. In the attack on Saturday, civilians joined riot police officers in firing live ammunition at the protesters as they marched toward a bridge over the Nile. By early morning, the numbers of wounded people had overwhelmed doctors at a nearby field hospital. One doctor sat by himself, crying as he whispered verses from the Koran. Nearby, medics tried to revive a man on a gurney. When they failed, he was quickly lifted away to make room for the many others. With hundreds of people gravely wounded, the toll seemed certain to rise, and by Saturday evening had already surpassed the more than 60 deaths on July 8, when soldiers and police officers fired on pro-Morsi demonstrators. As the deaths have mounted, more than 200 since the government was overthrown, hopes have faded for a political solution to the standoff between the military and the Brotherhood, whose leaders, including Mr. Morsi, are imprisoned or preparing themselves for jail. In a televised news conference hours after the clash, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim absolved his men of any responsibility and made no mention of the high death toll. His officers, he said, “have never and will never shoot a bullet on any Egyptian.” He blamed Mr. Morsi’s supporters for the violence, saying they planned to disrupt traffic on the bridge. “We had to stop them,” Mr. Ibrahim said. The protesters threw rocks and fired weapons, he said, and a large number of officers were wounded, including two who were shot in the head. Mr. Ibrahim also suggested that further repression was imminent as the authorities prepared to break up sit-ins that thousands of Mr. Morsi’s supporters have held for weeks. “God willing, it will be dispersed in a way that doesn’t cause many losses,” he said. “But God willing, it must end.” Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is vice president in the interim government, added a rare note of support for the Brotherhood from the country’s new leaders, writing on Twitter that he condemned the “excessive use of force” and was trying to “end the standoff in a peaceful manner.” Mr. Kerry called on Egypt’s leaders to “respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression” and to open an inclusive political dialogue. “Over two years ago, a revolution began,” he said in a statement. “Its final verdict is not yet decided, but it will be forever impacted by what happens right now.” Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with General Sisi, urging him to exercise restraint and “take steps to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life,” according to a Pentagon statement. The violence broke out on Friday night after a day of large, competing marches by supporters of Mr. Morsi and his opponents expressing solidarity with the military. At least eight people died on Friday, but there was not the kind of widespread violence that many had feared after General Sisi’s speech on Wednesday calling for demonstrations in support of the military. That changed around 10:30 p.m., when groups of Mr. Morsi’s supporters left their vast encampment in Nasr City, marching toward the central October 6 Bridge, where police officers were stationed, according to witnesses. Several people said that the protesters had left the camp because it had become overcrowded, and that people had fanned out from the encampment along several boulevards. Others said they had planned to march through a nearby neighborhood. The group that came under attack walked down Nasr Street, past the reviewing stand where President Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated in 1981, and the pyramid-shaped memorial to the unknown soldier across the street, toward the bridge. “We didn’t have any weapons,” said Mohamed Abdulhadi, who said he had joined the march, which was “not violent.” More than 10 other witnesses confirmed his assertion. The Interior Ministry released a video after the killings that it said showed Morsi supporters firing birdshot at the police and damaging property. It showed protesters throwing rocks, unidentified people wandering into traffic, and one man pulling out what appeared to be a silver pistol and firing it, though it is not clear who the man was, or which side of the fighting he was on. Mohamed Saeed, an agricultural engineer, said he and some of the other protesters had started to exchange words with the officers before even reaching the bridge. “You know how it is,” he said. “Some of us said some provocative things, and the tear gas started.” The protesters threw rocks, and the confrontation quickly escalated, Mr. Saeed and others said. The Morsi supporters feared that the police were preparing to storm their encampment, so they started building brick walls on the road to “to prevent them from coming into the sit-in,” Mr. Saeed said. An hour and a half after the clashes started, the police and their allies started firing live ammunition and pellet guns, Mr. Saeed said. Other witnesses said they had seen snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings. Ahmed Hagag was there with his best friend, Ashraf. They had rushed to the front line bearing aid for their comrades, but it was useless given the kind of violence under way. “We went there with masks and vinegar,” he said, in preparation for the tear gas. Ashraf, who had been “yearning for martyrdom,” did not want to stand in the back, Mr. Hagag said. “So it happened, and a bullet ended up in his heart.” As the sun rose, a bullet struck Mr. Saeed’s right kidney. An hour later, a path that the protesters had cleared to the field hospital had become a highway for the wounded, who came in ambulances, on motorcycles and in the arms of friends. A taxi drove by with a shattered rear window, pierced by a bullet that struck the driver in the neck. He declined offers of help and kept driving, blood running onto his shirt. Before the police retreated around 8 a.m., a spray of gunfire had come from their positions, sending people scrambling for cover and setting off a new cavalcade of ambulances. In the makeshift morgue at the field hospital, 29 bodies lay in a row covered with white sheets. A medic, Mahmoud al-Arabi, said the wounds were disturbing for their accuracy: many of the dead had been shot in their head, chest or neck. Their shrouds were marked with names and sometimes the cities they had traveled from to join the Islamists in their square: Saadawy Mohamed from Beni Suef, Khaled Abdel al-Nasser from Qena. Later Saturday, the Health Ministry said 72 people had been killed. The Brotherhood said it had counted 66 dead and classified an additional 61 people as “clinically dead.” The violence left the Brotherhood in an increasingly dire position, facing the prospect of a ban of the kind it suffered before the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. Its options at this point are limited, said Samer S. Shehata, a professor of Arab politics at the University of Oklahoma and an authority on the group. “They really can’t resort to violence,” he said. “They don’t have a militia and it runs against all their rhetoric and recent history.” Mr. Ibrahim, the interior minister, raised the prospect of a new threat to the Brotherhood, saying Saturday that he was reconstituting a state security agency that under Mr. Mubarak was responsible for monitoring Islamists and known for carrying out torture and forced disappearances. Without security agencies that have a political focus, Mr. Ibrahim said, “the security of the country doesn’t work.”

Egypt
Arab Spring
Muslim Brotherhood Egypt
Mohamed Morsi
Cairo


Simpler, Cheaper Test for Illegal Steroids in European Cattle

Abstract: Baseball isn’t alone in having a steroid problem. The European beef industry has one, too — anabolic steroids have been outlawed there for two decades, yet they are still used to promote growth in cattle. (Steroids are not illegal in the United States and are used extensively by beef producers.) In Europe, mandatory testing for steroid use in cattle is performed on a tiny fraction of animals because it is costly and complicated, generally involving mass spectrometry and gas chromatogaphy to detect the steroids and their metabolites. But Rodat T. Cunningham of Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland and colleagues have now demonstrated the feasibility of a much simpler and cheaper approach to steroid testing in cattle. As described in the journal Analytical Chemistry , their technique applies statistical analysis to measurements of standard chemical blood markers associated with growth and muscle development, including total protein, cholesterol and bilirubin. In tests of cattle that received testosterone or estradiol versus controls, the researchers found that they could determine with an accuracy of 91 percent or higher which animals were getting the steroids. The researchers suggest that by allowing tests on a much higher number of animals, steroid abuse could be reduced.

Steroids
Cattle
Tests and Testing
Meat
Science and Technology


U.S. Gains More Control as It Fights Afghan War

Abstract: BRUSSELS — NATO defense ministers Thursday were putting the final touches on a new command structure in Afghanistan that would tighten America’s grip on military operations, reflecting the growing dominance of the United States in the alliance’s campaign there, diplomats said. The plans, expected to be approved Friday, the last day of the ministerial meetings here, would split military operations from training missions, putting three-star American generals in charge of both commands, said the diplomats, who would speak only anonymously, as is customary. The generals would report to the new overall military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal , who will be responsible for the overall NATO strategy and who has been given extensive leeway by the United States to pick his direct subordinates. To soothe European worries about an American takeover of the NATO campaign, General McChrystal will retain the British deputy commander of the alliance’s mission in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Jim Dutton. But diplomats say the reorganization of the Afghanistan command reflects the reality of United States dominance of the military campaign there. The United States currently supplies 28,850 troops of the 61,130-strong NATO mission in Afghanistan, according to the alliance. Those figures do not take into account a separate American contribution under Operation Enduring Freedom, the counterterrorism efforts that are concentrated mainly in the south and along the border with Pakistan. But when President Obama ’s surge in Afghanistan is complete, the United States will have about 68,000 troops there. “Any concerns should not be about too much America,” said James Appathurai, a NATO spokesman. “It should be about providing from other allies both militarily and in terms of civilian support.” Mr. Appathurai said that the command changes would help the cohesion of the campaign and make General McChrystal’s job more manageable. “It frees him up to do the fully strategic political-military activity that a commander has to do,” he said. The urgency of that task was evident Thursday in Washington, where Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that violence in Afghanistan had increased over the past two years and that last week, attacks were at their highest levels since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. General Petraeus predicts more violence as the number of American troops increases and they begin to engage militants more actively. “Some of this will go up because we are going to go after their sanctuaries and safe havens as we must,” General Petraeus said at a conference of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based research institution focused on the military. Lt. Col. Erik O. Gunhus, a spokesman for General Petraeus, said later on Thursday that there were more than 400 attacks last week in Afghanistan, compared with slightly fewer than 250 each week in June of last year. In January 2004, attacks in Afghanistan numbered fewer than 50 each week, Colonel Gunhus said. The new structure borrows from the one used in Iraq. Day-to-day military operations will be directed by Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, a friend and colleague of General McChrystal’s for more than 30 years. NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan will be led by Maj. Gen. Richard P. Formica, who is in charge of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, the American unit coordinating the training. Reconstruction activities will be the responsibility of General Dutton, the British deputy commander, a NATO diplomat said. NATO ministers also agreed Thursday to cut the peacekeeping force in Kosovo to about 10,000 troops from about 14,000, as part of a plan that could reduce the alliance’s strength to about 2,000 over two years. NATO’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the cut could be made by January.

United States Defense and Military Forces


In California, a Champion for Police Cameras

Abstract: RIALTO, Calif. — “Get on the ground,” Sgt. Chris Hice instructed. The teenage suspects sat on the curb while Sergeant Hice handcuffed them. “Cross your legs; don’t get up; put your legs back,” he said, before pointing to the tiny camera affixed to his Oakley sunglasses. “You’re being videotaped.” It is a warning that is transforming many encounters between residents and police in this sunbaked Southern California city: “You’re being videotaped.” Rialto has become the poster city for this high-tech measure intended to police the police since a federal judge last week applauded its officer camera program in the ruling that declared New York’s stop-and-frisk program unconstitutional . Rialto is one of the few places where the impact of the cameras has been studied systematically. In the first year after the cameras were introduced here in February 2012, the number of complaints filed against officers fell by 88 percent compared with the previous 12 months. Use of force by officers fell by almost 60 percent over the same period. And while Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg railed against the federal court, which ordered New York to arm some of its own police officers with cameras, the Rialto Police Department believes it stands as an example of how effective the cameras can be. Starting Sept. 1, all 66 uniformed officers here will be wearing a camera during every shift. William A. Farrar , the Rialto police chief, believes the cameras may offer more benefits than merely reduced complaints against his force: the department is now trying to determine whether having video evidence in court has also led to more convictions. But even without additional data, Chief Farrar has invested in cameras for the whole force. “When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better,” Chief Farrar said. “And if a citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better.” Despite concerns about privacy and cost, more citizens across the country will probably soon find themselves on camera when talking to the police. Image Sergeant Hice wore a camera as he detained two suspects. He said he viewed the camera as a kind of protection. Credit Jonathan Alcorn for The New York Times Albuquerque, Fort Worth and Oakland have all begun arming officers with tiny video cameras. And demand for the devices has exploded in recent years, according to Taser International , one of the companies marketing body cameras to law enforcement agencies. Experts increasingly say that body cameras are likely to become an industry standard over the coming years, just as cameras in patrol cars, which once prompted similar objections about privacy, have become commonplace in recent decades. William J. Bratton, who has led the police departments in New York and Los Angeles, said that if he were still a police chief, he would want cameras on his officers. “So much of what goes on in the field is ‘he-said-she-said,’ and the camera offers an objective perspective,” Mr. Bratton said. “Officers not familiar with the technology may see it as something harmful. But the irony is, officers actually tend to benefit. Very often, the officer’s version of events is the accurate version.” Still, the technology has proved divisive. Police officers and citizens alike have bristled at what they see as the latest incursion of Big Brother. In New York City, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called the equipment “an encumbrance.” Privacy advocates worry that video of police officers searching a suspect’s home could end up on the evening news. “The body camera issue opens up certainly more questions than it answers,” Raymond W. Kelly, the commissioner of the New York Police Department, said Sunday on “Face the Nation.” “ The only place that this has been implemented are cities that are much, much smaller.” Mr. Bratton acknowledged the difficulties that would be involved with phasing in body cameras in a large police department like New York’s, which employs about 35,000 uniformed officers. At up to $900 per camera, the cost of phasing in officer cameras in major cities promises to be immense. While he was police chief in Los Angeles, from 2002 to 2009 , Mr. Bratton pushed to have cameras installed in squad cars, after a recommendation from the federal monitor. But it took years, and $5 million, to outfit less than a fifth of the department’s fleet with cameras. Nonetheless, police officials from Oakland to Greensboro, N.C., all cited the swift resolution of complaints against officers as one of the primary benefits body cameras had offered. In some cases, citizens have come to the police station to file a complaint and decided not to after they were shown the video of the incident. In other cases, though less frequently, officials said, accusations of officer misconduct have been corroborated by video from body cameras. Image Chief William A. Farrar of the Rialto Police Department viewing video recorded during an arrest. Credit Jonathan Alcorn for The New York Times “It’s definitely not cheap,” said Paul Figueroa, an assistant chief with the Oakland Police Department. “But over the long term, just from a liability and management perspective, it’s definitely an investment that’s worth it.” Thus far, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has not received any complaints about police body cameras. And despite privacy concerns, the organization supports increased used of the technology. “Cameras hold real promise for making it easier to resolve complaints against police,” said Peter Bibring, a senior lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Southern California. “They do raise privacy concerns, but ones that can be addressed by strong privacy policies.” Mr. Bibring said that video should not be stored for prolonged periods, except in cases of alleged misconduct, and at least some video, like searches of private homes, should not be made available to the public. Thus far, though, almost every department has handled officer cameras differently. With about 450 cameras for 620 officers, the Oakland Police Department is one of the largest agencies using them; it stores video indefinitely. Next month, the Police Executive Research Forum will host a conference on officer body cameras, with the goal of developing best practices for departments across the country. Rialto’s experience offers other cities a lot to emulate. During the yearlong study, half of the city’s patrol officers were randomly assigned to wear body cameras each week, and instructed to turn them on whenever they made contact with a civilian. Officers used force 25 times, down from 61 over the previous 12 months. And those wearing cameras accounted for 8 of those incidents. Sergeant Hice said he has come to view the camera as a kind of protection. The video would show the two teenagers running through the field matching the description he was given, he said, and that he did not use excessive force while detaining them. “It captures what’s really occurring in real time,” he said. If the suspects later “think of a good story, with bits of detail thrown in to enhance a false story,” he added, “we can dispel it.”


A 239th-Ranked Player’s Faith in Qualifying Goes a Long Way

Abstract: MELBOURNE, Australia — Jennifer Elie had worked a long time to earn a spot at a Grand Slam event, so when there was even a glimmer of hope, she didn’t hesitate. When the entry list for this week’s Australian Open qualifying tournament was released in December, Elie, 30, was ranked 239th, which left her 25 spots out. The Brooklyn-born Elie got into the 2015 United States Open as a wild card but had never earned direct entry into qualifying at a Grand Slam event because of her ranking, which had lingered outside the top 300 for her entire career. While many in her position would not take the gamble of a flight across the ocean, Elie decided this chance was too good to pass up. “I mean, you have to make the trip,” Elie said. “You work hard for this, so you have to try. And you never know; sometimes people don’t show up, because it’s kind of far to come here, too, for a lot of the girls for just one tournament where they’re in qualies.” Elie was only 10 spots out when she, as well as her mother and sister, left for Australia, and she was only eight spots out when she landed. That number then fell to six, then four, and then two, before Elie’s faith was rewarded with a spot in the hours before the draw came out on Wednesday. Elie won her first match in qualifying on Thursday, her first win at any Grand Slam level, but lost in the second on Friday. Still, the result yielded the equivalent of $9,375, by far the biggest prize money check of her career. Grand Slams, particularly the Australian Open, have shifted more prize money to the earlier rounds of the tournaments, so even a first-round loss in qualifying can be one of a player’s biggest paydays. Craig Tiley, tournament director of the Australian Open, said his goal was “quite simple: more players making more money,” which includes offsetting the costs of travel and lodging. “We want to improve the overall appeal of being a professional tennis player and ensure the best athletes in world sport are attracted to the game,” Tiley said. Elie might have achieved her windfall with much less stress if she were a man: The Australian Open women’s qualifying draw is made up of 96 players, compared with 128 for the men. The numbers are the same at the French Open and Wimbledon. The United States Open equalized the size of its qualifying fields in 1998, but few players are aware of the differences at the other tournaments. Elie said she noticed it only when she realized that the field was smaller in Melbourne than in New York. ”I thought it was the same, because U.S. Open is 128, so I thought everything was the same — but it wasn’t,” she said. “But it should be 128, because a lot of the girls work hard all year to try to play the Slams. They should give everybody the opportunity.” Laura Robson, a British player ranked 222nd, also said she had not realized there was a difference until coaches more familiar with the men’s system pointed it out. “They asked me my ranking, and then they said, ‘I don’t understand how you’re not in,’ just numbers-wise,” Robson said. Even with his role at the Australian Open, Tiley was at a loss to explain the disparity in the size of the draws. “It has been this way as long as I can remember, and I am not sure as to how it even came about,” he said. He added, “It’s interesting, because the WTA has never raised it with us as a problem.” Steve Simon, the WTA’s chief executive, said “it hasn’t been an issue for us,” adding that he did not “know the history behind it.” Still, the inequality has financial consequences. With 32 fewer prize checks handed out to the women in Melbourne, their overall purse is the equivalent of $225,000 smaller, a contributing factor in the persistent gap between men’s and women’s pay in tennis. A 2014 study commissioned by the International Tennis Federation determined that a man could expect to break even from minimal expenses at a ranking of 336, while a woman would have to reach No. 253. The importance of the Grand Slam events can lead to farcical events like the one this week at the WTA tournament in Hobart, Australia, in a second-round match between 127th-ranked Elise Mertens and 135th-ranked Sachia Vickery. Both players were entered in Australian Open qualifying, but I.T.F. rules meant that whoever won the match would be withdrawn from Melbourne because qualifying was beginning while the Hobart tournament continued. The Hobart tournament, already beleaguered by withdrawals, reached a surreal moment when Mertens called for the trainer after just one game, possibly preparing to withdraw. But Vickery beat her to it, ending the match after just five minutes and keeping her spot in Melbourne. “It was the most panic I’ve ever felt in my whole life,” Vickery said, laughing. “I was like: Oh my God, this is it. It’s over. I don’t know what I’m going to do for the next three weeks in Australia.” Although Vickery “won the race,” as she put it, Mertens won the week, winning her next three matches in Hobart to win her first WTA title and debut in the top 100 — despite losing her chance to play in Melbourne. Vickery lost in the first round of qualifying.


Georgia Fired More Cluster Bombs Than Thought, Killing Civilians, Report Finds

Abstract: MOSCOW — Georgian military forces fired more cluster munitions during their war with Russia in August than originally thought, and some of the weapons may have malfunctioned, causing civilian casualties when they fell short of military targets and hit Georgian villages, according to new research by Human Rights Watch . The group said Tuesday that Georgia and Russia used cluster munitions extensively in the war, which began when Georgia launched a major artillery strike against South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian enclave, prompting Russia to invade large swaths of Georgian territory. Though Russia endured the brunt of international outrage for its conduct during and after the war, Georgia’s actions in the conflict have come under increasing scrutiny. While Georgia has strongly denied the findings, the new Human Rights Watch report, which was presented at the Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva on Tuesday, adds to a growing body of evidence of Georgian atrocities in the fighting. Cluster bombs, typically anti-personnel weapons that eject dozens of explosive bomblets when detonated, killed as many as 17 civilians during the brief, bloody war and wounded dozens more, Human Rights Watch said in a statement . In addition, many of the weapons on both sides failed, the statement said, scattering unexploded ordnance that has already caused casualties and poses a danger to civilians. In several Georgian villages, researchers from Human Rights Watch found wreckage from Israeli-supplied rockets with bomblets that had been used by Georgia, suggesting a “massive technical failure,” the report said. They were used in strikes and killed at least one civilian and wounded two in fighting in the Georgian towns of Tirdznisi and Shindisi. Beyond that, two people have been reported killed and three wounded by Georgian duds since the war, Human Rights Watch said. “There were so many duds in these fields that it looked like a catastrophic failure or malfunction,” said Giorgi Gogia, a Georgia-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, who worked on the report. Georgia has admitted to buying the cluster munitions from Israel and using them in the conflict, though officials insist that the weapons were used only against Russian military targets and not in civilian areas. Georgian officials criticized the Human Rights Watch report, saying the government had no information that missiles fired by Georgian forces had hit Georgian villages. “What we believe was completely misunderstood in the publication was that our cluster ammunition could have harmed the civilian population under Georgian control, which cannot be true,” said Kakha Lomaya, the secretary of Georgia’s State Security Council. Mr. Lomaya said Georgia’s cluster munitions had a self-destruct mechanism that would disarm any duds. Human Rights Watch disputed that. “We have found dozens and dozens of duds, and none of them had a self-destruct mechanism,” Mr. Gogia said. Though researchers found evidence of Russian and Georgian cluster munitions in more than a dozen towns and villages in the conflict zone, Human Rights Watch said that Russian weapons had caused most of the civilian casualties. Unlike Georgia, Russia has vehemently denied using cluster munitions in the war, despite strong evidence to the contrary. Human Rights Watch investigators found Russian AO-2.5 RTM bomblets from air-dropped cluster bombs in Georgian villages, the report said. And the Dutch Foreign Ministry said that a Russian cluster bomb killed a Dutch cameraman and four other people in an attack on the central square in Gori on Aug. 12. In a report released last month, the ministry said that an examination of forensic evidence, video and photographs indicated that a Russian SS-26 missile loaded with cluster munitions had caused the deaths. The use of cluster munitions has been condemned worldwide because of the devastating effects they can have on civilians. Unexploded bomblets scattered over broad areas can kill and maim people for years. More than 100 countries adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May, vowing to refrain from using, storing and selling cluster munitions. Georgia and Russia have not adopted the convention, nor have many of the heaviest users of cluster bombs, including the United States and Israel.

War Crimes Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity


Chambers Is Called a Heroin Addict

Abstract: Robert E. Chambers Jr. , who strangled Jennifer Levin, 18, during what he called rough sex 22 years ago, was addicted to heroin when he was arrested in October on drug charges, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Mr. Chambers had told doctors who treated him before his arrest that he was using 10 to 12 bags of heroin a day, as well as smoking cocaine and marijuana and abusing Dilaudid, a prescription painkiller, his lawyer, Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg, said. When he was jailed at Rikers Island after his arrest, he was given methadone, a heroin substitute, for two or three weeks, Ms. Van Leer-Greenberg said. “They were taking him down slowly.” She said that his drug addiction began when he was 14 and that he had tested positive for narcotic use during the 15 years he spent at 10 different correctional facilities after being convicted of manslaughter in 1988. “Throughout his incarceration, tests were performed, and they came back positive for various drugs,” Ms. Van Leer-Greenberg told Justice Edward J. McLaughlin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Ms. Van Leer-Greenberg said she was preparing a psychiatric defense, under the theory that Mr. Chambers was so addled by drugs that he did not know what he was doing. He is accused of selling cocaine to an undercover officer from the Sutton Place apartment he shared with his companion, Shawn Kovell. Ms. Van Leer-Greenberg said she planned to assert “as part of the psychiatric defense that he did not act knowingly.” Under pressure from prosecutors, she agreed to release Mr. Chambers’s welfare records. Prosecutors said that he had been on welfare for some time, and that the records would indicate whether he had received psychiatric or drug treatment.

Chambers Robert E Jr
Murders and Attempted Murders
Drug Abuse and Traffic


Tightening Siege by Syrian Rebels Stirs Anger

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebels have tightened their siege on government-held districts in the divided city of Aleppo, choking supply lines and depleting staple foods at the onset of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, traditionally a time of festive meals to break the daily fast. The tactic is controversial enough among supporters and opponents of the rebels that residents of the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood staged a protest on Tuesday at a rebel checkpoint. Rebels shot in the air to disperse the protests, local activists said. “This is not a revolution,” a sheik shouted at rebels in a video posted online. “This is injustice.” The Aleppo food shortage is just one episode in one of many war-torn cities across Syria. But it highlights how some elements of the armed opposition — especially in areas they control — are seen as oppressive even by their friends. Support for the rebels has frayed across Syria, and their battlefield successes have stalled, as President Bashar al-Assad has seen his position bolstered with help from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. Rebel behavior began to grate on residents of Aleppo soon after militants tried to take the city, the nation’s largest. The rebel offensive was never well orchestrated, the city was badly damaged and lives were upended. But now, complaints about the rebels have only accelerated with their use of blockades — long a government tactic to disrupt food supplies. Anas, a fighter with Liwaa al-Tawheed, one of the most well-organized, well-armed and prominent brigades operating in the northern province of Aleppo, supported the tactic. “Districts under regime control are considered military areas,” he said Wednesday over Skype. “We don’t want to force civilians to leave, but at the same time we’re afraid they might get hurt during the liberation of the city.” Aleppo is divided between government- and rebel-held areas — roughly the western and eastern halves. Where a person lives does not necessarily determine allegiance, and people regularly cross the lines for business or to visit family. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog that tracks the fighting through a network of activists in Syria, reported “intense food shortages” in some government-held areas, “compounded by the skyrocketing prices of whatever supplies can be found.” Rebels say their immediate aim is to cut off supplies from government troops, but it appears the blockade is also part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening support for the government and pressuring civilians in government-held areas to leave. If the western part of Aleppo, now home to two million Syrians, becomes empty of civilians, a ground assault by rebels would be easier to carry out and more morally defensible, rebels argue. Abu al-Haytham, a fighter whose unit is among those enforcing the siege, stressed that the Free Syrian Army’s aim was not to punish residents but to block government supplies and prompt civilians to seek refuge elsewhere, opening the way for a ground attack. “Our siege is not just about tomatoes and cucumbers. We want to storm security buildings, and the presence of civilians is obstructing our movement,” he said in a Skype interview. But for citizens trying to get by, it is more basic: it is about eating. Recently, a woman was trying to cross back into the government-controlled part of the city when she was stopped at a rebel checkpoint. Fighters refused to let her cross with the prize she had come for: bags of fruits, vegetables and medicine, hard to find near her home on the other side. A sheik allied with the rebels tried to mediate, suggesting she come to live on the rebel side. Incredulous, she replied, “Find me a house!” After fielding more pleas, in scenes captured on video and posted online, the sheik lost patience and confronted the fighters, saying the blockade was hurting “the simple people, the common people.” Eventually, the rebels relented, and opened the crossing to food.

Aleppo Syria
Military
Arab Spring
Shortages
Free Syrian Army
Syria
Islam
Ramadan


Don Oliver, NBC Correspondent, Dies at 76

Abstract: Don Oliver, who reached a nightly national audience as a correspondent covering major events for NBC News for more than 25 years, died on Tuesday in Spokane, Wash. He was 76. The cause was complications of Lewy body dementia , his wife, the former Shirley Humphrey, said. Mr. Oliver worked for NBC Nightly News from the mid-1960s until 1992. As a national correspondent, he covered the civil rights movement, including the assassination and funeral of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and nearly a generation’s worth of political conventions and campaigns . Image Don Oliver Credit NBC Mr. Oliver went abroad to report on conflicts in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam; the Middle East peace talks in 1977; and the Civil War in El Salvador. In the 1980s he focused on environmental issues in the United States, notably the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Donald Lynn Oliver was born on July 14, 1936, in Billings, Mont. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana’s School of Journalism and a master’s from Columbia University’s journalism school. He worked for local television stations until NBC made him its Midwest correspondent. Image Don Oliver in 1980. Credit NBC News After he retired from NBC he worked as a media consultant and taught journalism at the University of Montana. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter from a previous marriage to Sharon Nelson, Cherie Ash; a stepson, Jeff Humphrey; a stepdaughter, Claire Humphrey; a sister, Kate Oliver; four grandchildren and four stepgrandchildren. Mr. Oliver worried that the 24-hour news cycle was hurting television journalism. “The rush to be first on the air,” he said in a 1999 interview, “has robbed television news of its ability to reflect.”

NBC News
TV
Obituary
News media,journalism


The Demanding Off-Hour Escapes of China’s High-Tech Workers

Abstract: ZHENGZHOU, China — The hottest nightclub in this factory town is a neon-encrusted dive down the road from the industrial park where iPhones are made 24 hours a day. Tucked behind an open construction site, Through the Summer, as the nightspot is known, had it all on a recent Saturday night — plastic whistles, fruit plates, a toddler with a mohawk, counterfeit light sabers and a bawdy comedian who imbibed beer through his nose. Liang Yulong, 19, who tests iPhone motherboards at the Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park, arrived at the club with a single goal in mind: to obliterate his dreary daytime reality on the spring-loaded dance floor. “Dancing lets me vent my anger and stress,” he said, cigarette in hand. “When I’m here, I forget everything else.” Here on the gritty outskirts of Zhengzhou, the capital of central Henan Province, the nocturnal menagerie reveals a little-explored aspect of the global supply chain, the off-hour escapes that give the masses of workers the motivation to return to the assembly line. The hands that make the world’s electronics belong almost entirely to young people with dreams of their own, and a lifetime of contented industrial drudgery is not among them. Their precious time off is a rare chance to enjoy the present as they strive for a better future. “Everyone gets psyched for the weekend,” said Bai Sihai, 24, as he navigated open potholes on the way back to his dorm after work one afternoon. His plan? A video-game binge session at an Internet cafe followed by a long-distance phone call to his girlfriend. Image Thousands of young Chinese come to the city of Zhengzhou to work in electronics factories. To escape the monotony of the assembly line, many take up roller skating as a hobby, like at the outdoor roller rink. Credit Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times The captains of industry are beginning to see the merits of off-hours leisure. In recent years, a wave of riots and suicides in Henan Province have drawn attention to working conditions. In April and May, two workers and a prospective employee jumped to their deaths from dormitories that cater to workers at the Zhengzhou plant, which is owned by Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturing giant that produces electronics for Apple, Microsoft and other companies. Foxconn maintains that the suicides were unconnected to work at the factory. Also in May, a worker committed suicide at a Samsung plant in the southern province of Guangdong, where labor rights organizations had documented a string of violations like forced overtime and under-age workers. The industry has responded with carrots and sticks to save both the lives of their workers and their own corporate reputations. Under pressure, Foxconn has raised wages and cut overtime hours. At the Shanghai plant run by Quanta, which makes hardware for companies including Apple, Toshiba and Asus, workers can pay for yoga and tae kwon do classes. After the latest suicides at the Zhengzhou dormitories, the company instituted “silent mode,” which banned all talk about nonwork tasks on the factory floor. Although Foxconn later announced that it had rescinded the policy after a public outcry, workers say it remains in effect. In the high-tech Olympus of Silicon Valley, employees in ergonomically luxuriant offices can get subsidized massages and haircuts, scale rock-climbing walls, play foosball, meditate and do Pilates — all in the name of promoting creative innovation. The work environment is considerably more bare-bones here. Unlike Apple’s modernistic new campus in Cupertino, Calif., which will be surrounded by apricot trees, the Zhengzhou factory has all the charm of a penal colony. Employees, who must wear matching uniforms, say supervisors routinely curse and yell. In the residential compounds, rows of brick dormitories house up to eight workers in rooms filled with metal bunk beds, a combination shower-toilet, and not much else. Image The Free Rollers club. In-line and roller skating has developed something of a cult following among the Foxconn strivers. Credit Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times Perhaps that is why the world beyond the factory gates resembles a gigantic street fair. As dusk fell one night recently in Zhengzhou, Mandarin pop music blared from hair salons and couples strolled past stalls selling pirated DVDs, sliced watermelon and roses covered in silver glitter. A flatbed truck piled high with oversize stuffed animals drew a mob of young women like sharks to blood. “I want the green teddy bear,” cooed a teenage girl to her boyfriend, who dutifully handed over 10 renminbi, or $1.60. Down the block, a construction site played host to a parade of distractions, including a tattoo parlor set up in the back of a van, arcade games with metal claws that featured a pack of cigarettes as the big prize, and a beer garden of sorts, where hordes of young factory workers chugged watery beer and chain-smoked over plates of sliced pig knuckles. At some point, a troupe of dolled-up singers was supposed to take the nearby stage, though Luo Haojie, 20, and his friends were finding ample amusement in their shot glasses. In May, Mr. Luo quit his factory job making iPhone 5 parts, which earned him about $295 a month, including overtime. “Our supervisors are vicious,” and the cafeteria food is terrible, he said, to a round of applause from his drinking buddies. Eventually he will need to find another job, but for now he is content to bask in the joys of youth, which means meeting girls and getting drunk with his former co-workers. “I’m here for my bros,” he said. “Without them I’d be miserable.” Summer is the low season in China’s factory towns, so many workers get a day off on weekends, sometimes even two. There are numerous colorful characters on hand to keep them entertained. One evening, a band of itinerant performers dressed like Buddhist monks had set up shop across from a KFC-inspired eatery confusingly named Donut. Garbed in silken yellow robes, the “celebrity acrobatic snake-training talent team” worked the crowd of bored onlookers by whipping balloons and hawking blessed ornaments for rear-view mirrors. A monk with an earring blew fireballs. Off-Hour Escapes for China’s Workers 16 Photos View Slide Show › Image Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times “The circus that came around a few months ago was better,” said Li Yu, 19. “They had real lions and tigers.” Those looking for more athletic diversions can usually be found at the local roller rink. In the glow of swirling rainbow lights one Saturday, Zhou Pengzheng, 20, another iPhone 5 motherboard tester, narrowly avoided several neophytes as he spun to a halt on a pair of $160 in-line skates, which cost him roughly a third of his monthly salary. “It feels like I’m flying,” he said, before zooming once more into the throng of careening youths on tiny wheels. In-line and roller skating has developed something of a cult following among the Foxconn strivers. A half dozen teams with names like Rainbow, F-2 and Shadow gather for weekly group skating sessions across the city. Fang Xuema, 17, learned to skate not long after coming to work at Foxconn last spring and soon joined Team Shadow, which has around 100 members. The rink has since become her second home. A high school dropout, she quit the factory in May, because her age prohibited her from working lucrative overtime hours. “I used to come to the rink twice a week, but now I’m here every night,” said Ms. Fang, in a black miniskirt and matching nail polish. At 11 p.m., the street performers had vanished and the love hotels were getting busy. After a long day of making iPhones, Wang Puyan, 20, and his girlfriend were heading toward their rented apartment off campus, since factory dormitories are separated by gender. A romantic adventure was not in the cards, however. “We see each other every day at work,” he said. “Why would we go on a date?”

China
Manufacturing
Youth
Foxconn Technology
iPhone
bars,nightclubs
Apple
Quanta Computer


In Mississippi, Poor Lag in Hurricane Aid

Abstract: GULFPORT, Miss., Nov. 14 — Like the other Gulf Coast states battered by Hurricane Katrina , Mississippi was required by Congress to spend half of its billions in federal grant money to help low-income citizens trying to recover from the storm. But so far, the state has spent $1.7 billion in federal money on programs that have mostly benefited relatively affluent residents and big businesses. The money has gone to compensate many middle- and upper-income homeowners, to aid utility companies whose equipment was damaged and to prop up the state’s insurance system. Just $167 million, or about 10 percent of the federal money, has been spent on programs dedicated to helping the poor, mostly through a smaller grant program for lower-income homeowners. And while that total will certainly increase, Mississippi has set aside just 23 percent of its $5.5 billion grant money — $1.25 billion — for these programs. About 37 percent of the residents of the state’s coast are low income, according to federal figures. Mississippi is the only state for which the Bush administration has waived the rule that 50 percent of its Community Development Block Grants be spent on low-income programs, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development , which administers the program. It is also the only state to ask for such waivers. State officials, from Gov. Haley Barbour on down, insist that the state does not discriminate by race or income when it hands out aid to storm victims. “We feel like we have programs in place to address all walks of life,” said Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority , which administers the federally financed grant programs. Any delays in spending money on low-income projects have been caused by the complexity of creating the projects, said Donna Sanford, director of the disaster recovery program for the development authority. The state, Ms. Sanford said, “has done everything that we can to keep it on track and moving as fast as possible to meet the needs of everyone.” Nonetheless, resentment at being left out of Mississippi’s economic recovery has been stirring in poor communities along the coast, and nowhere more so than in this city, hit hard by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge, where the state plans to spend $600 million of the federal money to repair and improve its shipping port . Though the expansion will increase employment here, historically very few port jobs have gone to low-income residents. Some critics contend that the main interest of state leaders in spending community development dollars is to help big businesses like shipbuilders and casinos and the port. The state’s spending plan “moves business to the forefront and forgets about the people on the ground,” said Anthony Thompson, pastor at Tabernacle of Faith Ministries, whose spotless church (rebuilt by volunteers) is next to a moldering subsidized housing project that he says has not been touched since the storm. In his mostly black neighborhood in west Gulfport, Mr. Thompson said, “I see a lot of people waiting on help; I see a lot of houses still damaged.” State officials say that programs not limited to lower-income residents help them nevertheless. The aid to utilities helped everyone on the coast, including renters, officials say. And almost a third of the families who got money from the state’s main housing compensation program were low-income, which in Gulfport would mean an annual income of less than $39,000 a year for a family of four. The nature of that program helps explain the unhappiness in some neighborhoods. It provided grants of up to $150,000 to homeowners who lived outside of the federally defined flood plain and so did not have flood insurance to cover their losses when their houses were swamped by the storm surge. To be eligible, families had to have carried regular homeowners’ insurance, so that, as the governor said when he was selling the plan to Congress, “we’re not bailing out irresponsible people.” But advocates for the poor said that requirement barred many of the least affluent, especially retirees and the disabled, who live on fixed incomes. “The fact is, people who have no money choose food and medicine, and not insurance,” said Ashley Tsongas, a policy adviser for the aid group Oxfam America. “That moral superiority doesn’t recognize the reality people face.” Renters were also excluded from the program, as they were in Louisiana, and homeowners who had wind damage were also not covered. Some federal officials have said Louisiana’s decision to help cover wind losses is one reason its program almost ran out of money. Two-thirds of Mississippi’s block grants have not yet been spent. In fact, few of the coastal states have spent much of their grant money, with the exception of Louisiana, which has already used almost half of its original allotment and just received an additional $3 billion for its home-rebuilding program. Because fewer applicants than expected applied for Mississippi’s assistance program, the state still has almost $2 billion left, some of which it plans to use for community development projects and for the port expansion. The port, at the foot of Gulfport’s main street, flies a Chiquita banner under its American flag; fruit imports remain down but are bouncing back, though exports of frozen poultry have stopped since the storm destroyed the port’s refrigerated warehouses. The state says that the expansion will add about 1,000 jobs over the next five years, and that many of those will be reserved for low-income residents. But some community advocates are dubious, noting that before the storm only 10 percent of the port jobs went to low-income residents. They also think the cost per job will be too high. And they note that the port’s own master plan envisions a new tourist and casino development. “It’s not all about bananas,” said Reilly Morse, a lawyer for the Mississippi Center for Justice. Mr. Morse and many others who oppose the port plan say the state should first ensure that all the families now living in more than 10,000 government trailers have a permanent place to live, that rental housing gets built and that all homeowners can repair their houses. “I don’t have any problem with economic development and expanding the port, but not at the cost of people,” said James W. Crowell, president of the N.A.A.C.P. branch in Biloxi, just down the beach from Gulfport. Brent Warr, who became Gulfport’s mayor just months before the storm, called the port expansion “an incredible opportunity for the city,” and said he had been assured that the new facilities would be devoted to maritime use, not to gambling and cruise ships. “We don’t have to make this community about neon and chrome,” he said. Asked about the frustrations some residents have about the lack of aid in their communities, Mr. Warr said it would take time, because the development authority has to create programs all at once while making sure the money is well spent. “It’s like taking a funnel and packing it so full of money that nothing can come out,” he said. Dorothy J. McClendon fears that none of that money will reach her east Gulfport neighborhood, Soria City, where she leads a civic group with the modest motto, “Moving Toward a Drug-Free Community.” Because it is north of the railroad tracks which serve as a sort of levee, the neighborhood did not flood, so residents cannot get state grants, Ms. McClendon said. Few had insurance to cover their wind-damaged roofs; she is sleeping on a couch in her living room because she fears that the water-damaged ceiling in her bedroom is going to fall. Repairs to public works and economic development projects appear to happening elsewhere; Soria City’s main business is a tiny shop selling sodas and snacks and 25-cent cigarettes. Even the program to help small landlords does not apply to this neighborhood, Ms. McClendon said, because while there are plenty of properties that could be fixed up and rented out, few were occupied right before the storm, as the program requires. “But we’re here, we’re hurting,” she said. “We need help, too.”

Housing and Urban Development Department


Best Selling Science Books

Abstract: 1 BEING MORTAL , by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan/Holt. The surgeon and New Yorker writer on how doctors fail patients at the end of life, and how they can do better. (Last month’s ranking: 2) 2 THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS , by Rebecca Skloot. Crown. The story of an African-American woman whose cancerous cells were extensively cultured without her permission in 1951. 3 WHAT IF? by Randall Munroe. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Humorous answers to science questions, drawn in part on the author’s website, xkcd.com. (1) 4 ALAN TURING: THE ENIGMA , by Andrew Hodges. Princeton University. A biography of the brilliant mathematician who cracked the German Enigma code. 5 THE POWER OF HABIT, by Charles Duhigg. Random House. An examination of the science behind habits, how we form them and break them. (8) 6 QUIET , by Susan Cain. Crown. Introverts — one-third of the population — are undervalued in American society. (6) 7 A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME , by Stephen W. Hawking. Bantam. The classic primer for nonscientists on the origins of the universe. (5) 8 THINKING, FAST AND SLOW , by Daniel Kahneman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A Nobel Prize-winning economist discusses how we make choices and when we cannot trust our intuitions. (7) 9 THE SIXTH EXTINCTION , by Elizabeth Kolbert. Picador. The New Yorker writer examines the role of human influence in plant and animal loss. 10 THE INNOVATORS , by Walter Isaacson. Simon & Schuster. Studies of the people who created computers and the Internet, beginning in the 1840s. (3) 11 THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING , by Naomi Klein. Simon & Schuster. The author of “The Shock Doctrine” argues that the free market created and is worsening climate change. 12 IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE , by Hampton Sides. Doubleday. An 1879 polar voyage gone terribly wrong. (4) 13 THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING 2014 , edited by Deborah Blum and Tim Folger. Mariner. An anthology of science and nature reporting and essays. 14 THE MARSHMALLOW TEST , by Walter Mischel. Little, Brown. A psychologist explores the complicated neurological processes behind willpower. 15 UNDENIABLE , by Bill Nye. St. Martin’s. The “Science Guy” on how evolution shapes our lives. (10) 16 THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE , by Edward O. Wilson. Liveright. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist grapples with existential questions. 17 WHAT SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT? edited by John Brockman. Harper Perennial. Real scenarios that keep scientists up at night. 18 THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP , by David Adam. Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. A memoir of the author’s experience with obsessive compulsive disorder. 19 HOW WE GOT TO NOW , by Steven Johnson. Riverhead. A history of innovation focused on six key technologies; the companion volume to a PBS series. (9) 20 A GARDEN OF MARVELS , by Ruth Kassinger. Morrow/HarperCollins. How we discovered that flowers have sex and other plant secrets.