NEW YORK TIMES FRONT PAGE PROJECT
Obama Pushes Health Law but Concedes Web Site Problems
President Obama is only one of the people that is mad about the failures of the governments health care web site. He reminds us that the technical problems do not indicate a failure of the Affordable Care Act. Pres. Obama says that HealthCare.gov had not provided the easy opportunity to sign up for health insurance that White House officials promised for months. But he said that some people had managed to get insurance, and he urged critics of the law to support it. The entire war on healthcare was not about the website. It was about the healthcare of the people of the United States.“It’s time for folks to stop rooting for its failure, because hard-working, middle-class families are rooting for its success,” he said. There is no excuse for the problems but there is also no repercussions.
Cat on a Hot Stove
At his victory scold in the State Dining Room on Thursday, the president who yearned to be transformational stood beneath an oil portrait of Abraham Lincoln and demanded . . . a farm bill. He also couldn’t resist taking a holier-than-thou tone toward his tail-between-their-legs Tea Party foes. He assumed his favorite role of the shining knight hectoring the benighted: Sir Lecturealot. Obama says he will now work for an immigration bill and a budget deal with deficit cuts. But as Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee pointed out in The Wall Street Journal, the president did not mention his more ambitious goals: hiking the minimum wage, widening access to preschool education, and shoring up bridges and road.
A Subway Car With Fewer Doors, but More Ways Out
For decades, the New York City subway car has been a predictable space. Some have seats; some have benches. Graspable pole options vary only slightly. This month, in a 142 page document outlining needs for the next 20 years, the authority noted the benefits of articulated trains — similar to accordion-style buses — that have no doors between cars, allowing unrestricted flow throughout the length of the subway.
The inclusion of full train cars in the report does not guarantee that the cars will reach the rails anytime soon, or even at all. It is clear that the cost of the cars is much higher than non combined cars. That being said it is a good idea that the mta wants to put in motion.
Why We Make Bad Decisions
Physicians do get things wrong, remarkably often. Studies have shown that up to one in five patients are misdiagnosed. In the United States and Canada it is estimated that 50,000 hospital deaths each year could have been prevented if the real cause of illness had been correctly identified.If we are to control our own destinies, we have to switch our brains back on and come to our medical consultations with plenty of research done, able to use the relevant jargon. If we can’t do this ourselves we need to identify someone in our social or family network who can do so on our behalf.
Anxiety, stress and fear which are emotions that are part of serious illness can distort our choices. Stress gives us tunnel vision, less likely to take in the information we need. Anxiety makes us more risk-averse than we would be regularly and more deferential.
Tablet Makers Gear Up for Latest Skirmish
Apple is expected to announce significantly upgraded versions of its iPad and iPad Mini devices on Tuesday. The iPad Mini is expected to have a higher-resolution display, while the bigger iPad is expected to have a slimmer design, weighing about a pound. Both iPads will also most likely get Apple’s new processors, but not the fingerprint sensor that is in the latest high-end iPhone.
On the same day, Microsoft will release new versions of its Surface tablets. Nokia, the mobile device maker Microsoft is in the process of buying much of, is expected to introduce a new tablet in Abu Dhabi.
Amazon offers low-priced tablets to get people to buy content from its stores Amazon’s Kindle Fire costs as little as $140, and Google’s Nexus tablet starts at $230. Apple’s iPad Mini starts at $330.
Student Nathan Weinberg, 22, passes away
Baruch College Macaulay Honors scholar, Nathan Uri Weinberg, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 22-years-old. The senior transferred to Baruch from the City College of New York his freshman year. Nathan was a promising and young student who served in the Actuarial Science Society and he earned many key internships throughout his years. Actuarial science is where students use mathematics and statistics to assess risks in insurance and finance in industries and professions. Nathan wanted to be an actuary and he had already passed 3 of his exams. It is sincerely a tragic loss to our Baruch community and he will be greatly missed.