Weekend Digest: The Cool Calculus Edition

Four our weekend business and political readers:

COOL CALCULUS
OK admit it. You hated it right? That boring calculus class, where lectures about secants and integrals interrupted your daydreams about that weekend’s date for the big game.

An Ohio State online-education assistant math professor, Jim Fowler, has made his calculus lectures cool…very cool. And they’ve gone viral, becoming a “global crowd-pleaser.”

The 33-year-old assistant math professor at Ohio State has always been on a one-man crusade to make secants sexy and integrals irresistible. After videoing a batch of calculus lectures over December 2012, Fowler won a go-ahead one month later to roll out his course via Coursera, a leading provider of massive open online classes, or MOOCs.

The man in the untucked plaid shirt doesn’t just write equations on a chalkboard, he also greets online students with a deep-voiced imitation of a Lord of the Rings character, declaring: “One does not simply walk into calculus!” Soon afterward, glowing images of curves and solids appear. Thanks to nifty video editing, these creations devour his desk and jump in front of his face.

Go to this link from Forbes to learn more about how Fowler has given his calculus instruction the “wow factor” for more than 100,000 students with the majority being non-college students.

‘BEST PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS CREATION PERFORMANCE IN AMERICAN HISTORY’
Who is responsible for that? President Reagan? Think again.

Despite the lower than expected August jobs number, America will create about 2.5 million new jobs in 2014.

And that is great news.

President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his sixth year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did. At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year.

So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration.

For additional analysis, click on this link from Forbes.

HEALTH-CARE SPENDING ON THE RISE
That according to The Wall Street Journal which reports, “The sprawling U.S. health-care industry saw revenue rebound last quarter, a sign that stronger spending at hospitals and medical offices could help boost U.S. economic growth to its highest level in eight years.”

Economists have predicted the rollout of the Affordable Care Act will lead to higher health-care spending as millions of Americans obtain insurance coverage and begin using it.

But that spending surge didn’t materialize in the first quarter, when revenue at health-care and social-assistance firms fell 2% from the fourth quarter.

So what happened in the last quarter to cause the spending surge and will it continue? Follow this link for the full story.

ANOTHER TWIST IN THE RAY RICE-NFL SAGA
The Wall Street Journal reports that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t pursue the Ray Rice domestic violence incident as vigorously as he might have out of respect for Rice’s now-wife, Janay, according to one NFL owner.

In conversations about the Rice case over the summer, the owner said, Goodell privately told other owners that during his investigation, in a meeting with the Rices in June, Janay Rice said she had struck her then-fiancée and that she believed she was partly at fault for the incident. Goodell also said he left the meeting believing that Janay Rice had become unconscious because she had fallen during the scuffle.

After Goodell suspended Rice for two games in July, this person said, Goodell told several NFL owners that he felt it would have been insensitive to question Janay Rice’s story because it would have come across as an indictment of her character.

But did Goodell and NFL executives actually see the video of Rice striking, his then fiance’ Janay unconscious in an elevator?

The Associated Press on Wednesday quoted an unnamed law-enforcement official who said he had sent a video of the incident to an NFL executive in April.

For details on this developing story, go to this link.

TAKEAWAYS FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ISIS SPEECH
On Wednesday night, President Obama outlined his strategy for dealing with the growing threat posed by the Islamic State. Chris Cillizza, with The Washington Post’s “The Fix,” writes:

It came upon growing criticism that the administration had been operating with a muddled approach to ISIS and that the president needed to take a more aggressive approach.

The speech will be picked through – and apart – for days and weeks (and maybe even years) but I jotted down a few of my immediate takeaways.

For Cillizza’s five takeaways, follow this link.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH OBAMA’S STRATEGY?
Theoretically…a lot says The Washington Examiner.

If there’s one thing America’s misadventure in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 taught everyone, it is that things can go terribly wrong when the U.S. intervenes in a foreign environment with deep sectarian divisions, an ineffectual government, armed factions, and the general complexities of the Middle East.

So now, Barack Obama plans to step up U.S. involvement in Iraq with more airstrikes and an effort to strengthen and better organize Iraqi and Kurdish military forces, as well as some Syrian rebels. In his address to the nation Wednesday night, the president laid out a multi-point proposal for action. He also had an opportunity, which he chose not to take, to warn Americans of some of the specific ways his new intervention could go wrong.

For five things that could “go horribly wrong” with Obama’s action in Iraq, click on this link.

GOP RAMPS UP ITS SENATE OFFENSIVE
As the midterm election approaches, POLITICO reports the GOP is moving past key red states.

The Senate Republicans’ campaign arm isn’t planning to devote any more significant resources to shore up key candidates in the red states of Kansas, Kentucky and Georgia. Instead, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is looking at going on offense in other states as the battle for the Senate nears the homestretch.

Which other states and how will the strategy evolve?  Go to this link for the complete story and analysis.

NEW ISSUES ON THE MINDS OF MIDTERM VOTERS
The Atlantic reports, “A new preoccupation with domestic and international security displaced economic worries at the top of voters’ minds in two swing-state focus groups.”

Less than two months before the midterm elections, American voters are frightened and unsettled by conditions in the U.S. and around the world. They crave stability, distrust politicians, and have little faith that changing control of Congress would accomplish anything. And while few are pleased with President Obama’s leadership, they don’t see the November elections primarily as a referendum on it.

These were the attitudes expressed in a pair of focus groups of swing-voting women on Tuesday night.

And where were these opinions expressed? In Des Moines and Little Rock.

The two panels of middle-income mothers in Little Rock and Des Moines revealed a political landscape that has shifted markedly since the last election, as economic anxieties appear to have ebbed and worries about physical security have risen to take their place.

What else are they concerned about? Go to this link for the full story.

NATION MARKS 13th ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11
All across the nation this past Thursday, 9/11 was in the hearts and minds of Americans. Honoring those who were lost, concerns for present-day security, and a look back from survivors.

USA Today chronicles its 9/11 coverage at this link.

TYPEWRITER ART
Paul Smith was born with severe cerebral palsy.

In his Oregon nursing, Smith types away with one finger tirelessly. However, he’s no author. In fact, he considers himself an artist, and once you see what he’s creating you’ll certainly agree.

Check out this fascinating story at this link.

RED MULE GRITS A BIG HIT
There’s nothing fancy about it. 71-year-old North Carolina farmer Tim Mills makes his grits the old-fashioned way.

Mills’ brand of grits, made with 19th-century techniques and a pair of mules, are now a hit in upscale Southern restaurants. Mills’ brand, Red Mule, is one of a slew of successful pre-industrial cornmeal companies that are seeing sales surge across the New South and beyond.

There are a number of trends that help explain the increasing appeal of Antebellum-style grits.

Fast Company has the “scoop” at this link.