Design Info

“White-nose Syndrome was first seen in New York during the winter of 2006. Since then, populations of cave-hibernating bats have been drastically declining in Connecticut, Maine, New York and Vermont. Affected species include little brown bats, northern bats, tricolored bats, Indiana bats, small-footed myotis and big brown bats. Worldwide, bats play critical ecological roles in insect control, plant pollination and seed dissemination, and the decline of North American bat populations would likely have far-reaching ecological consequences, the researchers wrote.”

from Speak Up

“Through five psychological experiments, Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology, and Daniela Niesta, post-doctoral researcher, demonstrate that the color red makes men feel more amorous toward women. And men are unaware of the role the color plays in their attraction.”

“In his endorsement, Mr. Powell added that an Obama election “will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.” You can already see that. A 22-nation survey by the BBC found that voters abroad preferred Mr. Obama to Mr. McCain in every single country — by four to one over all. Nearly half of those in the BBC poll said that the election of Mr. Obama, an African-American, would “fundamentally change” their perceptions of the United States.

Europe is particularly intoxicated by the possibility of restoring amity with America in an Obama presidency. As The Economist put it: “Across the Continent, Bush hatred has been replaced by Obama-mania.”

Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama’s rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama’s rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.”

via nytimes

“TIAA-CREF, a huge retirement system with $420 billion in assets under management, started out serving college professors. It has branched out over the years to include people in other nonprofit fields…

“He also says TIAA-CREF managed to avoid the subprime crisis because its subprime exposure was “really insignificant and miniscule.”

That’s because the company’s risk management and asset management professionals decided the return wasn’t high enough for the underlying risk for those securities, he says.”