Know The Laws, Know Your Rights: Chatter

Scott A. Barshay, head of the corporate department at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law firm on Wall Street. With markets buoyant, the bankers and lawyers who advise companies on mergers and acquisitions are more optimistic than they have been in years.

“Luxury is not a dirty word anymore.”

Robert Ross, an automotive consultant with Robb Report, a lifestyle magazine for wealthy readers. Legions of buyers, buoyed by a growing economy and a soaring stock market, are shedding whatever reluctance or self-imposed restraint they had during the recession by entering showrooms and leaving with trophy cars.

“I don’t like it — the euro is not my money.”

Dr. Dace Utinane, who lives in Latvia. Last week, Latvia became the 18th country use the euro as its currency.

“If you don’t code properly, you don’t get paid.”

Dr. W. Jeff Terry, a urologist in Mobile, Ala. Next fall, a transformation is coming to the arcane world of medical billing. Virtually the entire health care system will switch to a new set of computerized codes used for determining the ailments that patients have and how much they and their insurers should pay for a specific treatment.

Monday, December 30, 2013

The Chatter: The Chatter for Sunday, Dec. 29

“I feel like Christmas is incomplete.”

Dennis Yslas of Fort Worth, who bought a present that did not arrive via U.P.S. in time for Christmas. U.P.S. attributed a problem with late packages to a short holiday shopping season, a rise in online shopping and bad weather.

“They jam their knee into the back of your seat as hard as they can, and they’ll do it repeatedly to see if they can get a reaction.”

Mick Brekke, a businessman who flies for work a few times a month, talking about reactions he sometimes gets when he reclines his seat on an airplane.

“What writer would pass up the opportunity to peer into the reader’s mind?”

Quinn Loftis, a writer of young-adult paranormal romances, talking about new technology that can analyze people’s e-book reading behavior, including how fast they read a book and whether they finished it.

“We’re just trying to make every possible use of cheese.”

Tony Zielinski, an alderman who represents the Bay View district in Milwaukee. The city has begun a pilot program to repurpose cheese brine for use in keeping roads from freezing, mixing the dairy waste with traditional rock salt as a way to trim costs and ease pollution.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Chatter: The Chatter for Sunday, Dec. 1

Editorial Observer: Years of Mourning in Mumbai

A TV show’s name is not meant to be seen as an invitation to seek culinary success through bodily harm.

For those with humanistic and artistic life interests, our economic system has almost nothing to offer.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Chatter: The Chatter for Sunday, Nov. 24

At the Ballet, Nosebleed Seats Have Perks

A novel, nonprofit supermarket sets up shop in the middle of a food desert.

The loss of native vegetation across the United States has led to a dramatic decline of insect populations.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Chatter: The Chatter for Sunday, Nov. 3

Review: Field Museum Looks Back at World’s Fair

States shouldn’t be allowed to register anonymous shell companies, which can be used for tax evasion and other bad deeds.

YouTube Music Awards Are Readied for Webcast

The epic Douglas firs that rule the Oregon woods grow from something small. So does a song, Eric Earley writes.

Monday, October 28, 2013

The Chatter: The Chatter for Sunday, October 27

President Obama, speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, about the computer problems that have plagued the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

“Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right.”

Daniel I. Werfel, the acting I.R.S. commissioner, on plans to delay the start of the tax-filing season.

“We do our best to ignore the volatility in our stock.”

Reed Hastings and David B. Wells, chief executive and chief financial officer of Netflix, writing about the surge in the company’s stock price this year.

“The regulations that were put in place have created a market that is too complex.”

Oyvind G. Schanke, global head of stock trading for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, on changes in the American stock market.

“I haven’t heard one of you apologize to the American public on behalf of your company for the problems.”

Representative David B. McKinley, Republican of West Virginia, addressing government contractors at a hearing about the glitches in the new federal health insurance marketplace.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Chatter for Sunday, October 6

Doctors lament how difficult it is to get patients to change, but they are equally intransigent when it comes to changing their behavior as caregivers.