Max Kalehoff of Attention Max writes about his pregnant wife Laura's obsession with getting information regarding parenthood. That's normal for any woman pregnant for the first time. (Yes it hurts, yes you forget, and yes you will love your baby.) What isn't normal is both the amount of information and the narrowness of the information. And even more striking is how trusted this information is. Max says: What’s fascinating to me is that media technologies are enabling time-shifted consumption of extreme-niche reality programming. Not reality programming in the electric deep fryer pirit of cheesy game shows like Fear Factor and Survivor, but reality programming in the spirit of real people sharing their experiences, devoid of artificiality, commercial agenda and formality. I’ve been witnessing engagement and trust with media programming that I’ve never seen before in my life . That’s a big deal, given that I work in marketing and media research. Is my wife falling into just another marketer-coveted affinity group, or is she at the forefront of a major shift in how consumers select, consume, engage in and trust super-niche programming and content? I'm betting she's at the forefront of a major shift. Laura even wants to start her own podcast: She noted there are no newborn or pregnancy podcasts produced by professional women living in Brooklyn, NY, where we live. Because there is no existing programming that fits her profile with such extreme specificity, she considered creating it herself.

James Heckman, Nobel laureate in economics in 2000 and a professor at the University of Chicago makes the case for early childhood intervention: Catch 'em Young, by James J. Heckman, Commentary, WSJ : It is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and, at the same time, promotes productivity in the economy... Investing in disadvantaged young children is such a policy. The traditional argument for providing enriched environments for disadvantaged young children is based on ... fairness and social justice. But another argument can be made that ... is based on economic denon avr 2805 fficiency, and it is more compelling than the equity argument, in part because the gains from such investment can be quantified -- and they are large. There are many reasons why investing in disadvantaged young children has a high economic return. Early interventions ... promote schooling, raise the quality of the work force, enhance the productivity of schools, and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency. They raise earnings and promote social attachment. Focusing solely on earnings gains, returns to dollars invested are as high as 15% to 17%. ... Families are the major source of inequality in American social and economic life. The accident of birth has substantial lifetime consequences. Adverse early environments are powerful predictors of adult failure on several social and economic dimensions. ...

At Winds of Change, Marcus Cicero has a crucial, chilling insight into what Iran's nuclear ambitions really mean. Listen! I believe we are already at a historical threshold. The first indication is utter confusion. The secular world's response to Shi'a Islam's nuclear ambition is confused, on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific. There really is no cogent consensus on what to do, because Iran's challenge is a square peg that will not fit in our round hole. [ . . . ] It is clear that the crisis is upon us and all roads lead to a very different world. We may not realize it, but we are not really talking about a country that is seeking nuclear arms. We are talking about a fundamentalist, ancient Islamic cult seeking nuclear arms as its ultimate sacrament. While it is necessary for a 'country' called 'Iran' to exercise its sovereignty in order to achieve the making of nuclear weapons, once achieved those weapons will respect no borders. They are being constructed to defy and nullify sovereign borders as we know them. Shi'a's nukes will proliferate like smoke in the wind; their very being is meant to unravel our world, which we have slowly conceived over centuries, at the expense of the Mullahs' world. The headlines in our papers betray our fundamental cellulite eraser isunderstanding of the crisis, referring to the 'Iranian nuclear program' [ . . . ] Therein lies the guise -- the mask about to be lowered. [ . . .

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Max Kalehoff of Attention Max writes about his pregnant wife Laura's obsession with getting information regarding parenthood. That's normal for any woman pregnant Old Bethpage or the first time. (Yes it hurts, yes you forget, and yes you will love your baby.) What isn't normal is both the amount of information and the narrowness of the information. And even more striking is how trusted this information is. Max says: What’s fascinating to me is that media technologies are enabling time-shifted consumption of extreme-niche reality programming. Not reality programming in the spirit of cheesy game shows like Fear Factor and Survivor, but reality programming in the spirit of real people sharing their experiences, devoid of artificiality, commercial agenda and formality. I’ve been witnessing engagement and trust with media programming that I’ve never seen before in my life . That’s a big deal, given that I work in marketing and media research. Is my wife falling into just another marketer-coveted affinity group, or is she at the forefront of a major shift in how consumers select, consume, engage in and trust super-niche programming and content? I'm betting she's at the forefront of a major shift. Laura even wants to start her own podcast: She noted there are no newborn or pregnancy podcasts produced by professional women living in Brooklyn, NY, where we live. Because there is no existing programming that fits her profile with such extreme specificity, she considered creating it herself.

by emptywheel Hey, I was right! In my summary of the profiles of courage among the GOP Senators the other day, I suggested that Ted Stevens was voting "present" because DOJ is closing in on an indictment of him. I'm going to make a wildarsed guess and suggest he did so to express his displeasure with the fact that DOJ has decided goldmine software e is the only Republican worth indicting. What else must he think? After all, Alberto Gonzales fired Carol Lam for indicting Duke Cunningham. And may have fired Paul Charlton for getting too close to Rick Renzi. But rather than allowing Ted Stevens to name his own pick for US Attorney in Alaska, Gonzales' newly hyper-politicized department picked someone else , Nelson Cohen. I suspect Cohen was a mistake. He was suggested by Mary Beth Buchanan, who herself is reputed to have a fondness for indicting Democrats. But Cohen has pursued Alaska's corrupt lawmakers, including Ted and his son, quite single-mindedly. And Ted looks to be going the way of Duke "free renovations to your house" Cunningham, shortly. So Stevens votes "present." The one hardcore Republican who wouldn't vote for Gonzales, yet still not willing to screw Gonzales in any real fashion. Well, that's pretty much what he claims now (hat tip Edward Teller ). When asked by reporters why he abstained, Stevens said: "I did so because I have a conflict of interest in terms of the investigation that is on going.

James Heckman, Nobel laureate in economics in 2000 and a professor at the University of Chicago makes the case for early childhood intervention: Catch 'em Young, by James J. Heckman, Commentary, WSJ : It is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and, at the same time, promotes productivity in the economy... Investing in disadvantaged young children is such a policy. The traditional argument for providing enriched environments for disadvantaged young children is based on ... fairness and social justice. But another argument can be made that ... spyware removal program s based on economic efficiency, and it is more compelling than the equity argument, in part because the gains from such investment can be quantified -- and they are large. There are many reasons why investing in disadvantaged young children has a high economic return. Early interventions ... promote schooling, raise the quality of the work force, enhance the productivity of schools, and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency. They raise earnings and promote social attachment. Focusing solely on earnings gains, returns to dollars invested are as high as 15% to 17%. ... Families are the major source of inequality in American social and economic life. The accident of birth has substantial lifetime consequences. Adverse early environments are powerful predictors of adult failure on several social and economic dimensions. ...