SoCal Minds

How to Share in Bounty of a Global Conference

From the Milken Institute

Got five full days to make yourself smarter and well-informed? That's the equivalent amount of video content, actually packaged in one hour sessions, now available for viewing from the recent global conference. The topics to be seen launch with "The Evolution of Islamic Finance" and trek through days of sessions to the "Outlook for the Entertainment Industry," with appearances by leading lights and experts across a vast range of fields. You may have gotten a whiff of the happenings involving an audience of 3,000 elite participants from media coverage, from the always excellent Patt Morrison on KPCC to reporting on the Hollywood moguls' comments in the Times. If you want the gourmet's choice, though, there's quite the menu, with not only more than 100 recorded sessions but also interviews with more than a dozen major policy-makers and -shapers.

Click Here for Index to Global Conference Video Sessions

Little Las Flores Canyon to be Protected

From Pepperdine
Working with conservation groups and government agencies, the university has offered good environmental news to its Malibu neighbors: It has agreed to dedicate the 72-plus acre site known as Little Las Flores Canyon for conservation and preservation. The site is part of the watershed and environmentally important and sensitive Tuna Canyon area. For habitat protection, public access to Little Las Flores Canyon will be limited, with a designated trail that will link to the Backbone Trail.

A Key Enclave to be Dedicated, Protected

Getting a Snapshot of Where LA's Buzz Lies

From USC
Well, it's one way to get a picture of places that might be hot, hip, happening and so trendy they create a buzz. Based on their study of 300,000 photographs archived by Getty Images between March 2006 and March 2007, researchers concluded that Beverly Hills and the Hollywood part of the Sunset Strip constitutes the ne plus ultra of L.A., the "buzziest" portion of one of the most "buzz" worthy places on the planet. Whether the flocking of papparazi and media and cool cats to spots like these -- and to Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Plaza, SoHo and Broadway -- amount to an ephemeral coverage of screenings, concerts, fashion shows, gallery and theater openings or something more, well ....There are economic underpinnings and social promotion aspects to it all, of course ... And ...

Finding the Geography of 'Cool'

U.S. Urged to Partner with Mexico on Security

From RAND & Milken Institute
Mere mention of certain aspects of foreign policy provokes either huge yawns or irrational fury. So it is with the ideas of nation- and institution-building, which either are anathema or crucial to what the U.S. ought to be doing outside its borders, including and especially, researchers say, with our neighbor Mexico. While there's been a recent emphasis by some in U.S. policy powers on military might and crackdowns with national law enforcement authorities, these, too, have their limits. And in Mexico, while big steps are needed on both sides of the border to attack narco-terrorism and prevent its growth or spread, for the longer term, the U.S. should partner better with its neighbor build a security strategy and wider institutions that might support it, researchers argue. Meantime, top experts at a global conference call for even greater focus, attention to U.S. relationships in Latin America.

An Altered Emphasis in U.S. Support for Mexico
Click Here to Get the Full RAND Study

Even More Focus Urged for U.S. on Latin America

Modernizing Measures of Fetal Development

From UCI

What exactly is a big baby, anyhow? Though new technologies, like ultrasound, let parents and physicians keep unprecedented track of fetal growth, it turns out that the standards and norms for this are at least three decades old -- and may be outdated or less applicable due to factors such as the mother's age, ethnicity or even where she lives. To modernize these measures and potentially alter in a major way the practice of obstetrics, researchers say, they're undertaking a two-year, four university study of thousands of white, black, yellow and brown moms across the country to better track fetal development.

New Measures to Determine 'Normal' Fetal Development

Kids Feel Bias, Its Harm on Their Mental Health

From UCLA

Children of color, as early as the fifth grade, perceive or experience racial discrimination, mostly at school, and this can have detrimental effects on their mental health, prompting upticks in reported symptoms of depression, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity and other forms of acting up or out, researchers say. Analyzing data from a two-year study of more than 5,000 youngsters and their parents in three cities, including Los Angeles, they found that 15% of the children said they had perceived or experienced race bias. And those with this exposure -- African-American, Latino and "other" children -- were more likely to report symptoms of mental health woes.

Mental Health Woes for Kids Who Feel Race Bias    

Thirsty Campus Really Could Conserve Water

From Harvey Mudd College

A thirsty campus could significantly cut its import and use of precious water resources by putting in place a stringent conservation effort, replacing guzzling turf with other landscaping, figuring how to capture rain water and employ re-used or "gray supplies," and, perhaps even investigating a future installation of its own treatment plant, a student researcher concludes after taking on the question of what would be her college's sustainable water use? Great to see a pragmatic consideration of others' excellent research on the topic, especially since the school says it spends $100,000 annually for 39 million gallons of water. Many potential conservation steps, while good in intention, still may not cost out, considering that relatively cheap water supplies continue.

How Feasible Would Water Conservation Really Be for a College?

Even After Recovery, Worries on U.S. Economy

From the Milken Institute

The 2009 Global Conference gets under way with bracing analysis of the economic collapse from two blue-chip panels, one tackling the question of when and how the recovery will occur and the other on when the economy might begin growing again. The panelists, at best, see the economic dive leveling off some, at present, with continued contraction, perhaps until the end of 2010 before renewed and constrained growth thereafter. But what will the new "normal" economy look and be like? And, as might be expected from corporate leaders, there are big concerns about government playing too large a role in the economy, the burgeoning deficit and its potential negative, boomerang results later, and whether U.S. capitalism will be so fettered by new regulation so as to lose its innovative edge. 

When, How of Financial Recovery

A Resumption of Growth?

Grim Outlook on Curbing Afghan Opium Trade

From the Milken Institute

As if the news from Afghanistan weren't glum enough, a new report underscores the frustrating, intractable and destructive effect of poppy growing and opium production in the poor, strife-ridden nation where the United States can't seem to find a way forward, back or out. The options to reduce this illicit trade -- Afghanistan is said to produce 90% of the world's opium supply now -- are neither easy nor swift and none seems especially alluring, whether to try to swap crops, offer alternative employ and economic development or an out-and-out crackdown. Without some curbs on the narcotic industry, however, criminality and chaos will be a challenge -- even as the combat goes on against the Taliban, which is financed by opium dealing.

Grim News on Opium Trafficking in Afghanistan
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Resources to Help Ride Out a Rough Recession

From Pepperdine

For alums and members of this university's community who are feeling cranky, depressed or otherwise out of sorts due to job losses or other stresses related to the diving economy, there's help in the form of low-cost counseling, the school reminds. It also says that it is creating a new scholarship for its education and psychology school for those who might wish to ride out the downturn or survive a job loss by seeking more training, skills and knowledge. The Malibu U reminds further that it offers career counseling and assessment, job listings, resume reviews and other assistance to alums, and in some cases others, in its various schools.

Resources for Alums, Others to Ride Out the Crash