Google News Blog: “There are more than 25,000 publishers from around the world in Google News today. [With] the new Google News web crawler publishers [can]…keep their content out of Google News and still remain in Google Search…if a publisher wants to opt out of Google News, they don’t even have to contact us – they can put instructions just for user-agent Googlebot-News in the same robots.txt file they have today. In addition, once this change is fully in place, it will allow publishers to do more than just allow/disallow access to Google News. They’ll also be able to apply the full range of REP directives just to Google News. Want to block images from Google News, but not from Web Search? Go ahead. Want to include snippets in Google News, but not in Web Search? Feel free…All this will soon be possible with the same standard protocol that is Robots Exclusion Protocol (or REP).”
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Daily Archives: December 2, 2009
Large Foreign Ports Scan No More than 5 Percent of Cargo
News release: “Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., reacted Wednesday to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found that large foreign ports have been unable to scan anywhere near 100 percent of freight passing through those ports, as Congress has required. GAO found that… Continue Reading
CBO: Promotional Spending for Prescription Drugs
Promotional Spending for Prescription Drugs, December 2, 2009 “Pharmaceutical companies efforts to promote prescription drugs have attracted the attention of policymakers because such activities may affect the rate at which different drugs are prescribed and consumed, the total amount spent on health care, and, ultimately, health outcomes. Those promotional activitiesusually undertaken on behalf of brand-name,… Continue Reading
New FDIC Study Shows One in Four U.S. Households Currently Unbanked or Underbanked
News release: “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today released the findings of its FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, breaking new ground in gaining understanding of which Americans remain outside the banking system. The survey, conducted on behalf of the FDIC by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, was a supplement to… Continue Reading
CRS: The Market Structure of the Health Insurance Industry
The Market Structure of the Health Insurance Industry, D. Andrew Austin – Analyst in Economic Policy, Thomas L. Hungerford – Specialist in Public Finance. November 17, 2009 “Congress is now considering several proposals to reform the U.S. health care system and address the twin challenges of constraining rapid growth of health care costs and expanding… Continue Reading
Federal Reserve Beige Book, December 2, 2009
Full Report – Beige Book, December 2, 2009 – Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District, and link to reports by Districts. “Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicate that economic conditions have generally improved modestly since the last report. Eight Districts indicated some pickup in activity or improvement in… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: Chemical Regulation, Commercial Space Transport, Disaster Assistance, Nuclear Waste Management
Chemical Regulation: Observations on Improving the Toxic Substances Control Act, GAO-10-292T, December 02, 2009 Commercial Space Transportation: Development of the Commercial Space Launch Industry Presents Safety Oversight Challenges for FAA and Raises Issues Affecting Federal Roles, GAO-10-286T, December 02, 2009 Disaster Assistance: Improvements in Providing Federal Disaster Case Management Services Could Help Agencies Better Assist… Continue Reading
BIS Working Paper: Unconventional monetary policies: an appraisal
Bank for International Settlements Working Papers No 292 – Unconventional monetary policies: an appraisal, by Claudio Borio and Piti Disyatat, November 2009 “The recent global financial crisis has led central banks to rely heavily on “unconventional” monetary policies. This alternative approach to policy has generated much discussion and a heated and at times confusing debate.… Continue Reading
FlyOnTime.us
“FlyOnTime.us is a free resource for air travelers and anyone else interested in the on-time performance of the commercial air system in the United States. The flight and weather information presented on this website is derived from data provided by the United States federal government, while the security line times are submitted by visitors like… Continue Reading
BIS Working Paper: Ten propositions about liquidity crises
Bank for International Settlements Working Papers No 293 – Ten propositions about liquidity crises by Claudio Borio, Monetary and Economic Department, November 2009. “What are liquidity crises? And what can be done to address them? This short paper brings together some personal reflections on this issue, largely based on previous work. In the process, it… Continue Reading
