Philippine flood death toll rises
Thank you, BBC. Keep it coming.
Public health is my thing, and it was my first response: THIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER. Diphtheria, cholera, dengue… OH GOD. Clean water and CLEAN STILL WATER POOLS. Oh god. =\=\=\
Philippine Floods: Why Wasn’t Manila Prepared?
“What we are seeing is a phenomenon that will affect many major cities in Asia,” says Neeraj Jain, country specialist for the Philippines at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is headquartered in Manila. “Urbanization has been so rapid, yet the planning processes have lagged.”
Many impoverished Manila residents live in makeshift settlements by rivers and creeks — the source of their drinking water — that overflowed and carried off their homes. “People have always been living on the edge,” says Carlos Celdran, a popular Manila historian and performing artist. “It’s amazing the city has actually managed to make it this far.”
Thanks, TIME.com. Let’s keep up the reporting.
Philippines Assesses Typhoon’s Damage
C’mon, international news agencies, it’s not all dollars and cents. But this is the WSJ. Thanks for picking up on the story..
Recession barely dents ‘eco-debt’
Calling for an end to the consumption explosion, he said that while billions in poorer countries subsist, “we (in the rich West) consume vastly more, and yet with little or nothing to show for it in terms of greater life satisfaction.”
In section last week, one girl said that the recession was curbing the consumerism attitude. I said that so many past economic crises have occurred, and that there has been no change in this attitude. I feel validated, and saddened.
Some economists have come up with a simple solution: a market allowing the buying and selling of organs. Because people have two kidneys and need only one to live, a robust market could greatly increase supply.
The idea may have some merit, but it is spectacularly unpopular. As the Harvard economist Alvin Roth has noted, many people consider it “repugnant,” mainly for two reasons. First, they object to the possibility of rich people buying their way to the front of the line. (The hospital where Mr. Jobs’s procedure took place said he received the liver transplant because he was the sickest person on its waiting list who matched the donor’s blood type.) Second, they object to incentives that would induce the poor to sell their kidneys.
Exactly… Mr. Jobs… Anyways, the forced option is an interesting idea.
Looking Past Health System to Explain Longevity Gap in U.S.
Americans are more ethnically diverse. They eat different food. They are fatter. Perhaps most important, they used to be exceptionally heavy smokers. For four decades, until the mid-1980s, per-capita cigarette consumption was higher in the United States (particularly among women) than anywhere else in the developed world. Dr. Preston and other researchers have calculated that if deaths due to smoking were excluded, the United States would rise to the top half of the longevity rankings for developed countries.
I had not thought about that before. Smoking!