Business
This was the week of the Goldman Sachs hearings before the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Goldman Sachs is the embodiment of the Wall Street big swinging dick and everyone agrees that Goldman’s traders are the smartest. The entire hearings, and the likely demise of Goldman, can be summed up in the following exchange:
Susan Collins (R-Maine): “Do you have a responsibility to act in the best interest of your client?”
Daniel Sparks (Goldman Sachs’ former head of mortgage trading): “I believe we have a duty to serve our clients.”
ESRD
A 52-year-old dialysis patient in Derby, UK died four weeks after six to eight litres of saline were pumped into his body over a 45 minute period; the result of a defective dialysis machine. Medical professionals were surprised that the heart strain caused by the excess fluid didn’t cause immediate death. Dr. Martin Mansell, kidney expert at the Royal Free Hospital in London told the Daily Mail he “suspected the reason it had not caused instant death was because kidney patients often built up tolerance to extra fluids in their bodies.” An inquest found the cause of death to be scarring of the heart. A dialysis technician once accidentally ran a one-litre saline bag into me at the start of a dialysis session. I can’t imagine what eight would do; that’s eight kilograms of fluid, or 17.6 pounds. The Derby Evening Telegraph reported the coroner as saying, “Had the dialysis machine been stopped when the countdown clock was noted not to be operating, as opposed to allowing the machine to continue running, then the infusion would not have occurred and, on the balance of probability, Mr Brailsford would not have died at the time he did.” Hospital administration refuse to disclose if any staff “had or would be disciplined or sacked….”
DaVita announced its first-quarter 2010 profit rose 14 percent, or US$109.4 million, up from US$96.2 million in the first quarter of 2009. The dialysis provider attributes its gains to delivering more treatments, a total of 4.294 million in the first quarter.
Law
I don’t know what planet the Ramsey County (Minnesota) tax assessors are on. Please explain this to me:
2 Jan 2005 assessment: US$253,600 (payable 2006)
2 Jan 2006 assessment: US$277,600 (payable 2007)
2 Jan 2007 assessment: US$230,200 (payable 2008)
2 Jan 2008 assessment: US$230,200 (payable 2009)
2 Jan 2009 assessment: US$260,200 (payable 2010)
2 Jan 2010 assessment: US$255,000 (payable 2011)
This is the only explanation I can find for the bump (from the notice of valuation and classification): “The phase out of limited market value may result in an increase in taxable market value, even in a period of declining estimated market values. All properties will now be taxed at their full estimated market value for the 2009 assessment for taxes payable in 2010.”
So, did the housing bubble and collapse pass Saint Paul by? I don’t think so. Nonetheless, our property taxes rose ~25% this year over last. This is neither viable nor sustainable; especially in this economy.
New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Judge Anthony J. Parrillo may have set a dangerous precedent when he wrote, “Simply put, new media should not be confused with news media,” in a ruling. The case involved what Kim Zetter, writing for Wired, called “an aspiring blogger who says she was investigating a company for possible fraud….” Here in Minnesota, the shield law (MINN. STAT. ANN. Sections 595.021-.025; “Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act”) specifically protects anyone “directly engaged in the gathering, procuring, compiling, editing, or publishing of information for the purpose of transmission, dissemination, or publication to the public” from revealing sources of unpublished information. Minnesota courts have stretched so far as to protect unpublished information from a non-confidential source (Aerial Burials, Inc. v. Minneapolis Star and Tribune Co.).
With regard to cases like Gizmodo claiming California shield law protection, Minnesota spells it out clearly: Journalists can be forced to reveal sources and unpublished information if the material sought is clearly relevant to a crime so long as the source can’t be identified; and cannot be otherwise obtained; and is necessary to prevent injustice.
Politics
Here in Minnesota we don’t have a Democratic party, we have the Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party. The DFL held its convention last Saturday in Duluth. There were all sorts of fascinating machinations at this convention but one struck especially close to home, even though I’m a member of the Green party, and didn’t have a horse in this race. John Marty campaigned virtually on a single issue: Bringing a universal-coverage, single-payer healthcare system to the state. That’s right, socialized medicine for Minnesota. At the last minute, Marty saw the writing on the wall, withdrew just before the sixth ballot, and endorsed Margaret Anderson Kelliher. In exchange, Kelliher reportedly promised to support Marty’s single-payer healthcare plan. But Kelliher’s letter to Marty is nothing but a hedge, and a painfully political one at that: “Sen. Marty, with your support, I will do all that I can as Governor to reach the ideal that you and thousands of Minnesotans have tirelessly worked for. I look forward to signing the Minnesota Health Plan into law within the next two years. Your leadership on this issue will continue to inspire and I pledge to work closely with you in the future to obtain our shared goal of quality, affordable and accessible health care for all.” As Steve Perry writes in his excellent analysis for Politics in Minnesota, “What Democrat—for that matter, what Republican? — doesn’t profess to seek ‘quality, affordable and accessible health care for all?’” John Marty was had. [Disclosure: I’ve met with John Marty several times about universal-coverage, single-payer healthcare.]
Technology
If you buy Apple products, this will make you cry. Berkeley junior Kyle Conroy has ciphered what would have happened if you had bought Apple stock instead of that happy shiny Apple product. If, for example, you had purchased US$4,599 worth of shares of Apple stock on 6 May 1998 instead of—like me—that Apple PowerBook G3 (Wallstreet), your stock would be worth US$164,320. How much is that PowerBook G3 worth, bucko? Take heart. At least I didn’t buy the original PowerBook G3 for US$5700 in mid-November 1997 (I was still using a MacBook 180c then). That same amount in Apple shares today would be worth US$330,563.
User experience
Web Directions has released the results of its State of Web Development 2010 survey. Only 2% cite any version of Internet Explorer as a browser of choice, but it’s by far the most tested browser. A whopping 66% prefer XHTML and 51% prefer Mac OSX. What’s hot? Mac OS X, Mobile Safari, Google Chrome, CSS3, jQuery, webfonts, and CodeIgniter.
Joshua Porter has published a pretty good overview of user experience engagement metrics. Hits and pageviews are virtually meaningless as engagement metrics. Frequency, time on site, and daily active users are much more meaningful.
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