President Obama with his niece Sevita. Courtesy: The White House

President Obama’s diverse family is spread around the world. His remarks at a Nov. 16 town hall meeting in Shanghai captured his unique background: “In my own family, I have a father who was from Kenya; I have a mother who was from Kansas, in the Midwest of the United States; my sister is half-Indonesian; she’s married to a Chinese person from Canada. So when you see family gatherings in the Obama household, it looks like the United Nations.” Early next year his half brother, George Obama of Kenya, is publishing his autobiography. New York magazine assesses how the president’s far-flung relatives are responding to having the leader of the free world in the family.

Read article:
New York: The Obama Diaspora

The New Oxford American Dictionary announced its 2009 Word of the Year is “unfriend.” The verb means “to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” Bloggers, social networkers and commenters across the Internet wondered why the choice wasn’t “defriend.” Every year as the holidays approach, the dictionary names its word of the year. Other contenders were related to technology, news and politics, and the environment, and included “hashtag,” “sexting,” “birther,” “death panel,” “ecotown,” “green state” and “brown state.” Oxford’s lexicographer’s monitor the evolving vocabulary of the English language and choose a word that is both a reflection of the year’s trends and is likely to have lasting cultural relevance. “Hypermiling,” which means “to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques,” was the 2008 selection (never heard of it). Previous year’s words included “locavore” (heard of it, never use it); “carbon neutral” (commonly used); and “podcast” (commonly used by regular people).

Coverage:
‘Unfriend’ is New Oxford dictionary’s Word of the Year
CNN.com: Dictionary word of the year: Unfriend

Listen to NPR interview:
ATC: Dictionary Picks ‘Unfriend’ as Word of the Year

Read Oxford blog:
Oxford Word of the Year 2009: Unfriend

Like inmates throughout the country, South Carolina prisoners play a lot of cards. Often the decks they use feature victims of unsolved crimes. The South Carolina Department of Corrections started selling the cards about a year ago in prison canteens for $1.72. More than 10,000 decks have been sold. Each card includes a photo and the basic facts of a case, along with a toll-free number to call and report tips. The cards were created by Tom Lucas whose 29-year-old son was killed in 2003. The murder remains unsolved. The theory behind the cards is that prisoners know a lot of criminals and are aware of crimes that have never been prosecuted. Tips prompted by the cards have yet to solve a case, but have resulted in a number of viable leads that are being pursued.

Read article:
NYT: In Prison, Playing Just to Kill Time and Just Maybe to Help Solve a Murder

Nelson Mandela turned 91 in July. While maintaining an increasingly low public profile, South Africa’s former president remains an enduring symbol of change—the iconic founding father of the new South Africa. As he makes fewer appearances, speculation about the health of “perhaps the world’s most beloved statesman,” and a longing for the promise his leadership awakened, increases.

Read article:
NYT: Mandela Endures as South Africa’s Ideal

Related Coverage:
Telegraph: UN declares July 18 Nelson Mandela Day

The Chronicle of Higher Education has released its list of salaries for university presidents. Theoretical Physicist Shirley Anne Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., topped the list with a salary and benefits of $1,598,427. The next four presidents on the list made $1.4 million, including Cornelius M. Kerwin, president of American University in Washington, D.C., who was No. 5 on the list at $1,419,339.

The Chronicle compiled its list using fiscal year 2007-8 data from private institutions. Among the 419 private colleges and universities surveyed, 23 reported millionaire compensation and the median presidential salary was $358,746 at 6.5 percent increase over last year.

Jackson has led RPI since 1999. She previously served as chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In April 2009, President Obama appointed her to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In a January speech about the future of science education Jackson said: “The United States has a ‘new majority’ now, comprising young women and the racial and ethnic groups that, traditionally, have been underrepresented in our advanced science and engineering schools — as teachers, researchers, and practitioners. It is to these ‘nontraditional’ young people to whom we, now, must turn for our future cohort of scientists and engineers. We must find ways to interest them in careers in science and engineering, to mentor them through the rigors of these disciplines, and to see that they continue on — through advanced study — to full careers.”

Read article:
Chronicle: Paychecks Top More Than $1-Million for 23 Private-College Presidents
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Related coverage:
NYT: 23 Private College Presidents Made More Than $1 Million
WSJ: More College Presidents Get Million-Plus
MSNBC: Ranks of millionaire college presidents up again

RPI statement on Jackson’s compensation

More on Shirley Ann Jackson:
RPI Biography
RPI Speeches
Watch Video: Charlie Rose Science Series: The Imperative of Science

CSPAN: The Future of U.S. Energy Policy
National Press Club: Sept. 9, 2008

Apparently Sonia Sotomayor, the U.S. Supreme Court’s newest justice has received a number of interview requests and has turned them all down—a standard response, as members of the high court don’t generally speak to the media. She didn’t grant Latina an interview, but she did agree to be photographed for the magazine’s cover story and gave her blessing to contributing editor Sandra Guzman to write about her based on their “history together.” They met in 1998 when Sotomayor was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Guzman was editor-in-chief of Latina. In the years since, they’ve “been to each other’s homes for dinner and shared many sweet, honest and confidential conversations.” Sotomayor is featured in the December/January issue which is on newsstands Nov. 17.

View partial excerpt:
Latina.com: Her Honor: A Portrait of Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Related coverage:
NYT: Sotomayor Poses in Court for Latina Magazine Cover

Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner thrilled readers with their interesting, well-researched takes on why drug dealers live with their mothers and the U.S. crime rate plummeted in the 1970s in their 2005 book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Their second installment, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, promises to be just as entertaining and thought-provoking.

Related coverage:
Bloomberg: Freakonomics Boys Study Hookers’ Demand Curves, Suicide Bombers
Portfolio: Freakonomics, Inc.
WPost: The Shoddy Statistics of Super Freakonomics

Listen to excerpt:
Harper Audio: Freakonomics

Visit authors’ blog:
NYT: Freakonomics, The Hidden Side of Everything