FT has lunch with Bill Bratton

In the case of the British police, he thinks reform needs to incorporate several strands. First, he believes that police forces need plenty of bodies: in LA, for example, he campaigned successfully to hire another 1,000 police, in the face of severe political opposition. Second, he is strongly committed to the so-called Compstat technique of policing, which he helped develop. This involves using intensive data collection and intelligence to track detailed movements of groups in small neighbourhoods, and then follow up repeatedly, with so-called “predictive policing”.

But, contrary to his “supercop” tag, he also believes in community involvement: the police need to be constantly visible and accessible, and create community pride through small steps. This last policy is often referred as the “broken windows” policy, referring to the idea, put forward in the early 1980s by social scientists James Q Wilson and George L Kelling, that you must address minor offences on the street in order to build morale and uphold a sense of order. Or as he says, the police must “address the little things as well as the big things”; cutting the murder rate will not have impact if residents still see graffiti and prostitutes.

“American and British policing to this day tends to be very exclusive and exclusionary, but my style of policing has always been very inclusive – I bring a lot of people together from different backgrounds, who might not always want to work together. Being a successful police chief today is like being in a circus: a centre-ring with lions, tigers and bears – you have these animals which would normally kill each other, but through your control and influence they perform. A successful police chief has to work with the good, bad and ugly.” he explains. ...

Instead, he talks about poverty and social responsibility. “Policing and society in both your country and mine in the 1960s and 1970s excused a way of behaviour and created entitlement programmes around the idea that crime was caused by racism, poverty, demographics and so on.

“But as a policeman I always had a different perspective. Crime can be influenced by poverty but it’s always caused by human behaviour ... Police are charged with controlling that behaviour. It is crucial to maintain social order,” he argues. Similarly, he does not want to blame the gang culture just on economics; what is also going on is the “distintegration of the family ... Humans are social animals, they want to belong to something.”

Bill Bratton says he can lead police out of 'crisis' despite budget cuts
Bratton said US police chiefs had shown their British counterparts the way, securing large falls in crime despite facing falling budgets. In LA, where he stepped down as police chief in 2009, despite high unemployment and a 15% budget cut, crime is down by 10%.

Bratton said: "You can run around saying, 'The sky is falling in, the sky is falling in,' or you actually do something about it. You have to play the hand you're dealt. I've always dealt initially with budget cuts.

"Out of crisis come opportunities. If you want to speed up the process of change, nothing does it better than a good old crisis."

Exlporing one's spirituality

Advice of the Day-

For me, having a clear purpose in my life has been essential. But it was something I had to think long and hard about before I understood it. When I was a Rhodes scholar, I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth. That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it—and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.

Had I instead spent that hour each day learning the latest techniques for mastering the problems of autocorrelation in regression analysis, I would have badly misspent my life. I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day. It’s the single most useful thing I’ve ever learned. I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS. If they don’t figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life. Clarity about their purpose will trump knowledge of activity-based costing, balanced scorecards, core competence, disruptive innovation, the four Ps, and the five forces.

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The myth about being 'technical' virigins and oral sex

"There is a widespread belief that teens engage in nonvaginal forms of sex, especially oral sex, as a way to be sexually active while still claiming that, technically, they are virgins," Laura Lindberg of the Guttmacher Institute in New York, who led the study, said in a statement.

"However, our research shows that this supposed substitution of oral sex for vaginal sex is largely a myth. There is no good evidence that teens who have not had intercourse engage in oral sex with a series of partners."...

About one in 10 of the teens said they had engaged in anal sex. These teens were far more likely to have also engaged in vaginal sex.

"Teens of white ethnicity and higher socioeconomic status were more likely than their peers to have ever had oral or anal sex," the researchers wrote.

Lindberg said the new findings illustrate that the Bush administration's emphasis on school programs teaching sexual abstinence until marriage "does not give teens the skills and information they need to be safe."

Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March showed that more than one in four U.S. teen girls was infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease. The CDC said in December the birth rate for U.S. teens rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991.

Lindberg said the Guttmacher Institute's findings have health policy implications.

"While oral and anal sex carry no risk of pregnancy, engaging in these behaviors can nevertheless put teens at risk of sexually transmitted infections," she said.

"Counseling and education should take into account total STI risk by addressing the full range of behaviors that teens engage in, including oral and anal sex."

-Teen sex study doubts "technical virginity"

Branding

Brand Names Before the Industrial Revolution;

In medieval Europe, manufacturers sold durable goods to anonymous consumers in distant markets, this essay argues, by making products with conspicuous characteristics. Examples of these unique, observable traits included cloth of distinctive colors, fabric with unmistakable weaves, and pewter that resonated at a particular pitch. These attributes identified merchandise because consumers could observe them readily, but counterfeiters could copy them only at great cost, if at all. Conspicuous characteristics fulfilled many of the functions that patents, trademarks, and brand names do today. The words that referred to products with conspicuous characteristics served as brand names in the Middle Ages. Data drawn from an array of industries corroborates this conjecture. The abundance of evidence suggests that conspicuous characteristics played a key role in the expansion of manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution.

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Message Force Multipliers

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration “themes and messages” to millions of Americans “in the form of their own opinions.”

Though many analysts are paid network consultants, making $500 to $1,000 per appearance, in Pentagon meetings they sometimes spoke as if they were operating behind enemy lines, interviews and transcripts show. Some offered the Pentagon tips on how to outmaneuver the networks, or as one analyst put it to Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, “the Chris Matthewses and the Wolf Blitzers of the world.” Some warned of planned stories or sent the Pentagon copies of their correspondence with network news executives. Many — although certainly not all — faithfully echoed talking points intended to counter critics.

“Good work,” Thomas G. McInerney, a retired Air Force general, consultant and Fox News analyst, wrote to the Pentagon after receiving fresh talking points in late 2006. “We will use it.”

Again and again, records show, the administration has enlisted analysts as a rapid reaction force to rebut what it viewed as critical news coverage, some of it by the networks’ own Pentagon correspondents. For example, when news articles revealed that troops in Iraq were dying because of inadequate body armor, a senior Pentagon official wrote to his colleagues: “I think our analysts — properly armed — can push back in that arena.”

The documents released by the Pentagon do not show any quid pro quo between commentary and contracts. But some analysts said they had used the special access as a marketing and networking opportunity or as a window into future business possibilities.

John C. Garrett is a retired Marine colonel and unpaid analyst for Fox News TV and radio. He is also a lobbyist at Patton Boggs who helps firms win Pentagon contracts, including in Iraq. In promotional materials, he states that as a military analyst he “is privy to weekly access and briefings with the secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high level policy makers in the administration.” One client told investors that Mr. Garrett’s special access and decades of experience helped him “to know in advance — and in detail — how best to meet the needs” of the Defense Department and other agencies.

In interviews Mr. Garrett said there was an inevitable overlap between his dual roles. He said he had gotten “information you just otherwise would not get,” from the briefings and three Pentagon-sponsored trips to Iraq. He also acknowledged using this access and information to identify opportunities for clients. “You can’t help but look for that,” he said, adding, “If you know a capability that would fill a niche or need, you try to fill it. “That’s good for everybody.”

At the same time, in e-mail messages to the Pentagon, Mr. Garrett displayed an eagerness to be supportive with his television and radio commentary. “Please let me know if you have any specific points you want covered or that you would prefer to downplay,” he wrote in January 2007, before President Bush went on TV to describe the surge strategy in Iraq.

Conversely, the administration has demonstrated that there is a price for sustained criticism, many analysts said. “You’ll lose all access,” Dr. McCausland said.

Q. I am wondering if you have any statistics concerning the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on these so-called analysts?
— NHD, Ann Arbor, Mich.

A. It is difficult to assess the total amount of tax money spent on this effort. Significant sums were spent taking military analysts on trips to Iraq and Guantanamo. For example, when a group of analysts were taken to Iraq in 2003, they were flown each morning on military transport planes from their hotel in Kuwait to Baghdad, and then back to Kuwait at day’s end. They traveled around Iraq in heavily guarded convoys. In recent years, the Pentagon has paid the commercial airfare of some analysts who participated in trips to Iraq. The Pentagon also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a private contractor to monitor their news media appearances.

GAO's view on fighting terrorism

Combating Terrorism: The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Since 2002, destroying the terrorist threat and closing the terrorist safe haven have been key national security goals. The United States has provided Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terror, more than $10.5 billion for military, economic, and development activities. Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which border Afghanistan, are vast unpoliced regions attractive to extremists and terrorists seeking a safe haven. GAO was asked to assess (1) the progress in meeting these national security goals for Pakistan's FATA, and (2) the status of U.S. efforts to develop a comprehensive plan for the FATA. To address these objectives, GAO compared national security goals against assessments conducted by U.S. agencies and reviewed available plans.

The United States has not met its national security goals to destroy terrorist threats and close the safe haven in Pakistan's FATA. Since 2002, the United States relied principally on the Pakistan military to address U.S. national security goals. Of the approximately $5.8 billion the United States provided for efforts in the FATA and border region from 2002 through 2007, about 96 percent reimbursed Pakistan for military operations there. According to the Department of State, Pakistan deployed 120,000 military and paramilitary forces in the FATA and helped kill and capture hundreds of suspected al Qaeda operatives; these efforts cost the lives of approximately 1,400 members of Pakistan's security forces. However, GAO found broad agreement, as documented in the National Intelligence Estimate, State, and embassy documents, as well as Defense officials in Pakistan, that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven in Pakistan's FATA. No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in the FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (2003), called for by an independent commission (2004), and mandated by congressional legislation (2007). Furthermore, Congress created the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in 2004 specifically to develop comprehensive plans to combat terrorism. However, neither the National Security Council (NSC), NCTC, nor other executive branch departments have developed a comprehensive plan that includes all elements of national power--diplomatic, military, intelligence, development assistance, economic, and law enforcement support--called for by the various national security strategies and Congress. As a result, since 2002, the U.S. embassy in Pakistan has had no Washington-supported, comprehensive plan to combat terrorism and close the terrorist safe haven in the FATA. In 2006, the embassy, in conjunction with Defense, State, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and in cooperation with the government of Pakistan, began an effort to focus more attention on other key elements of national power, such as development assistance and public diplomacy, to address U.S. goals in the FATA. However, this does not yet constitute a comprehensive plan.

How Medical Innovation Happen

Charlie Rose talks to Dr. Patrick Walsh- Dr. Walsh was honored as the 2007 National Physician of the Year for Clinical Excellence by America's Top Doctors and authored the best-selling book Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer

Excerpts from the book on anatomy crash course;

The testes: The testes, or testicles, are a man's reproductive organs: They make the hormone testosterone, as discussed above. They also make sperm, in hundreds of tiny tubes and threadlike, winding tubules. (If these miniature pipes were straightened out, each would stretch to a length of two feet.) There are two testes, each less than two inches long and about an inch wide. The testes, attached to blood-supplying lifelines called spermatic cords, are covered by the scrotum. Have you ever wondered why the scrotum is suspended in such a vulnerable position, below the body? Wouldn't it make more sense-and provide better protection—if the testicles were inside the body? Yes and no. If the testes were tucked away inside the pelvis, they would indeed be better protected-but there wouldn't be much to protect. The testes are located in the scrotum for the simple but expedient reason that it's a more temperate climate down there, by a couple of degrees. Sperm are delicate; they fare poorly when the temperature is too warm. The scrotum, in effect, is nature's cooler. (In fact, men who have undescended testicles-which are located inside the abdomen—cannot develop sperm because the normal body temperature is just too hot.)

The epididymis: The sperm-making tubules in each testis converge to form the epididymis. Compared to the tubules, this is a river, as large and serpentine as the Amazon: Each tubule (one on each side), though only a millimeter wide, could be uncoiled to reach a remarkable length of fifteen to twenty feet. This is one continuous tube—thus, it's easy to see why an infection here could cause scar tissue and blockage that would result in infertility. These tubules are packed side by side, top to bottom, to form the epididymis, an elongated structure about the size of a woman's pinky finger. This is the greenhouse where sperm mature until orgasm, when they shoot from the tail of the epididymis during a series of powerful muscle contractions. The epididymis clings to one side of each testis before turning yet again and heading upward to meet still another tube, called the vas deferens.

The vas deferens: This impressive tube (again, one on each side; together they are called the vasa deferentia), now grown to 3 millimeters in diameter, is a hard, muscular cord, about 18 inches long. Its job is to pump sperm to the part of the urethra that lies within the prostate (the prostatic urethra). Because it is so thick, it can easily be palpated through the scrotum. (It can also be cut easily, in an outpatient procedure—a form of male birth control-called a vasectomy. When the cord is cut, sperm cannot exit the penis through ejaculation, and instead are reabsorbed by the body.) The vas deferens travels to a space between the bladder and rectum, then courses downward to the base of the prostate, where it meets with the duct of the seminal vesicle to form the ejaculatory duct.

The seminal vesicles: The lumpy seminal vesicles, each about 2 inches long, sit behind the bladder, next to the rectum, hanging over the prostate like twin bunches of grapes. Arching still higher over them, on either side, are the vasa deferentia, which meet the seminal vesicles at V-shaped angles; these form the ejaculatory ducts, slitlike openings that feed into the prostatic urethra. The seminal vesicles are made up of caves called alveoli, which make sticky secretions that help maintain semen's consistency. (The vesicles got their name because scientists used to believe they stored sperm; they don't.) Like the prostate, the seminal vesicles depend on hormones for their development and growth, and for the secretions they produce. However: Although the seminal vesicles are strikingly similar to the prostate in many ways, they're almost always free of abnormal growth-benign (as in BPH) as well as malignant.

The penis: The penis-an engineering marvel built of nerves, smooth muscle, and blood vessels—has two main functions—sexual intercourse and urination. (Note: There is no bone in the human penis, although this is not the case in dogs and some other animals.) The penis works like a water balloon. Its basic structure is that of a rounded triangle; all three corners have cylinders of tissue (called the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum) that fill and become engorged with blood. In erection, as arteries pump a steady supply of blood into the penis, the veins (which normally pump it back out again) clamp down—so the blood can't recirculate, thus keeping the penis "inflated" during sexual activity. All of this is made possible by the delicate nerves that lead to and from the penis. For years, these tiny nerves were poorly understood. The sad result was that removal of the prostate almost always meant impotence. That is no longer the case.

The kidneys are the body's main filters. With each heartbeat, they cleanse the blood of toxic wastes, excess water and salts, and (among many other chores) help maintain the body's balance of fluids and minerals. With more than a million tiny, wadded-up filters called nephrons, the kidneys sift through an incredible volume of fluid—about 45 gallons a day for a 150-pound man. (See Fig. 1.5.) Every sip of water we drink is refined, reabsorbed, and then processed again. (If the water and minerals weren't reabsorbed, our bodies would become seriously dehydrated within hours.) Not all of this material returns to the body, however; much of it passes out as urine. Every day, the average man excretes about two quarts of urine (a concentrated mixture of water, sodium, chloride, bicarbonate, potassium, and urea, the breakdown product of proteins).

Urine exits each kidney through a pipeline called the ureter. The ureters work like toothpaste tubes, squeezing or "milking" urine from the kidneys. Each ureter is about a foot long, and narrow—less than a half-inch wide at its broadest point. Ureters are one-way streets: Urine always flows the same way through them—straight toward the bladder.

The bladder is a big bag. Stretched to its fullest, this muscular tank can hold about a pint of urine. Unlike the kidneys and ureters, the bladder-in normal circumstances-allows us some voluntary control; it generally obeys our decision to eliminate or hold urine. (The inability to control urination is called incontinence.) With intricately woven layers of muscle and connective tissue, the bladder can collapse or expand, depending on the amount of fluid it's asked to hold at a given time. A sophisticated backup system protects the bladder from extreme distention and the risk of rupture: When the bladder is very full, it signals the kidneys to slow down the production of urine. At the neck of the bladder is a gate called the trigone. The purpose of the trigone is to make sure urine flows only one way-downward, away from the ureters and kidneys. The trigone's valve makes a tight seal that prevents urine from backing up into the kidneys, even when the bladder is distended.

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Memo to the Next President on Education Reform

Lawrence Summers on education reform;

Q: ...As I told you I’m writing an essay for the next president of the United States with recommendations for federal higher education policy. Would you give me three major recommendations you would like to have in the book to be presented to her?

LS: I’ll make you a deal. You tell me for sure who is going to read it and I’ll give you three very good recommendations. First, there needs to be a substantial increase in reform in the availability of financial aid. It’s great that Harvard is able to do the kinds of thing that it is able to do with its $38 billion endowment, but it is really a tragedy that if you look in the United States today, as somebody put it very directly, rich dumb kids are much more likely to go to good universities than poor smart kids. You can just see it in the statistics and it’s wrong and it’s about financial aid and effort. That is the first thing I would say. The second I would say is that, much as my colleagues in higher education don’t like these ideas, it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about ways of, at least on an informal basis, evaluating what happens in universities and trying to come to judgments about the effectiveness in education and research of different universities. I’m going to give you four. Third, to take one that will be sort of universally popular but difficult, it is nuts that at the beginning of the century, the beginning of the life science century, we are cutting the NIH for the first time in history, and people under 40 basically can’t get grants. It is just crazy, with all the progress that is possible. Last and not unimportant, there are few things that are crazier than the combination of tenure and mandatory retirement. It is sort of beyond belief that you have science departments in great universities where the decisions as to who the next generation is going to be made are being made by people in their 70s. Not only are they occupying larger amounts of laboratory space, filling slots that could be given to other people, they are also the decision makers with veto power as to who the scholars of the next generation are going to be, and it is just crazy. It would make a very substantial contribution to at least the leading institutions of higher education if an exemption were crafted for mandatory retirement. It should say something about how weird this is in a way that the professors who are least likely to retire are in the sciences. Something should be done.

The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) of US Government

A brown bag at World Bank on US performance budgeting;

One of the U.S. Government's main initiatives to strengthen its performance is the Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART). This is managed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The PART provides a standardized methodology for rating all 1,000 government programs, and for identifying needed improvements to these programs. The PART also provides an information base to assist government decisions on program budgets.

Assessing Program Performance

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