Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Japan: Fingerprints To Be Tested As ‘Currency’
April 8th, 2016Via: The Yomiuri Shimbun: Starting this summer, the government will test a system in which foreign tourists will be able to verify their identities and buy things at stores using only their fingerprints. The government hopes to increase the number of foreign tourists by using the system to prevent crime and relieve users from the […]
Venezuela: Three Day Weekends for all Workers Due to Power Shortages
April 7th, 2016Via: Independent: Venezuelan workers will get Fridays off in the months of April and May, in a bid to save energy in the black-out hit country, the president said. President Nicolas Maduro said Venezuelans will have “long weekends” in an appearance on state television on Wednesday night, announcing the measure as part of a 60-day […]
The Sugar Conspiracy
April 7th, 2016Via: Guardian: In 2008, researchers from Oxford University undertook a Europe-wide study of the causes of heart disease. Its data shows an inverse correlation between saturated fat and heart disease, across the continent. France, the country with the highest intake of saturated fat, has the lowest rate of heart disease; Ukraine, the country with the […]
More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments
April 6th, 2016Via: Wall Street Journal: More than 40% of Americans who borrowed from the government’s main student-loan program aren’t making payments or are behind on more than $200 billion owed, raising worries that millions of them may never repay. The new figures represent the fallout of a decadelong borrowing boom as record numbers of students enrolled […]
Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels
April 6th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Bloomberg: Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable. While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as […]
New Zealand: Hawaiki 30Tbps Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable Commences Construction
April 3rd, 2016Finally. Via: ZDnet: The 14,000km subsea cable connecting Australia and New Zealand to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States has finally commenced construction, almost three years after first being announced. The cable will be jointly constructed by Hawaiki Submarine Cable, based in Auckland, and TE SubCom, a company from Eatontown, New Jersey. […]
The Panama Papers: Massive Leak About Shell Companies Operated Through Law Firm Mossack Fonseca
April 3rd, 2016The media organizations involved with this story want to present it as an endless drip of information for as long as possible. Here are a few portals to begin with: Süddeutsche Zeitung Guardian The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists If you want a single story summary of what this is, see, What Are the Panama […]
New Zealand: Council in Drought Prone Canterbury Consents to Foreign Company Extracting 40 Billion Litres of Water
April 3rd, 2016Meanwhile, west of Whangarei, Golden Bay and Hastings… Now that the New Zealand milk bubble has busted: How about water? Via: Stuff: A council in the drought-prone Canterbury plains is selling the right to extract 40 billion litres of pure, artesian water to a bottled water supplier. The Ashburton District Council is selling a section […]
Where’s the Lane? Self-Driving Cars Confused by Shabby U.S. Roadways
April 2nd, 2016*har* Via: Reuters: Volvo’s North American CEO, Lex Kerssemakers, lost his cool as the automaker’s semi-autonomous prototype sporadically refused to drive itself during a press event at the Los Angeles Auto Show. “It can’t find the lane markings!” Kerssemakers griped to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was at the wheel. “You need to paint the bloody […]
America’s Million-Doctor Shortage Is Right Around the Corner
April 2nd, 2016Via: MarketWatch: The doctor is disappearing in America. And by most projections, it’s only going to get worse — the U.S. could lose as many as 1 million doctors by 2025, according to a Association of American Medical Colleges report. Primary-care physicians will account for as much as one-third of that shortage, meaning the doctor […]
