Thursday's News & Ideas
Haiti earthquake: orphans for sale for $50
The (London) Telegraph: Up to a million children in Haiti left vulnerable to abuse and trafficking in the wake of the earthquake.
The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer: Church seeks waiver to bring orphans to N.C.
Optimize transition time (And stop being late)
Harvard Business blogs: Five minutes of planning can shave 30 minutes off a meeting.
Another anonymous check buoys spirits at church
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: For the third time in 16 months, Pittsburgh church receives cashier’s check from an anonymous donor.
Bill: Clergy could refrain from marrying gays
San Francisco Chronicle: Clergy and churches would not face legal consequences for refusing to perform same-sex marriages, under a state bill being pushed by supporters of gay marriage.
Mutual hospitality
Daily Episcopalian: What is the basis for any community to be considered a community at all?
The Spark
The minds behind the meltdown
A small group of brainy math whizzes known as “The Quants” are emerging as the unlikely group who nearly brought down the finance industry. As Wall Street Journal reporter Scott Patterson explains in his new book, named for the group, the Quants developed complex systems to trade securities such as mortgage derivatives, which were at the heart of the crisis. As a result, this new swashbuckling new breed of mathematicians and computer scientists took over much of the financial system, nearly destroying Wall Street in the process.
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