Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Canada: Bill C-22, Nuclear Companies Win the Jackpot
March 26th, 2014Update: Current Liability Is Only $75 Million J sent this piece in from HazMat Management: The federal government has introduced legislation that will dramatically boost the civil liability ceiling for nuclear operators from $75 million to $1 billion. — Via: Huffington Post: Imagine you could go to Las Vegas, and it didn’t matter how much […]
Facebook Buys Virtual Reality Co. Oculus for $2 Billion
March 25th, 2014Reality 1440×900 by EranFolio on deviantART Via: AP: Facebook has agreed to buy Oculus for $2 billion, betting that its virtual reality technology may be a new way for people to communicate, learn or be entertained. “This is a long-term bet on the future of computing,” said Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg Tuesday on a […]
Sinkhole of Bureaucracy
March 24th, 2014Via: Washington Post: The trucks full of paperwork come every day, turning off a country road north of Pittsburgh and descending through a gateway into the earth. Underground, they stop at a metal door decorated with an American flag. Behind the door, a room opens up as big as a supermarket, full of five-drawer file […]
Apple and Google’s Wage-Fixing Cartel Involved Dozens More Companies, Over One Million Employees
March 23rd, 2014Via: Pando Daily: Back in January, I wrote about “The Techtopus” — an illegal agreement between seven tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Intel, to suppress wages for tens of thousands of tech employees. The agreement prompted a Department of Justice investigation, resulting in a settlement in which the companies agreed to curb their restricting […]
Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It
March 18th, 2014Via: Wired: One of agricultural biotechnology’s great success stories may become a cautionary tale of how short-sighted mismanagement can squander the benefits of genetic modification. After years of predicting it would happen — and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators — scientists have documented the rapid evolution of […]
New York: Investment Banker Found Dead on Sidewalk Outside East Side Apartment Building
March 18th, 2014And another one. Via: New York Post: A 28-year old Manhattan investment banker has died after an apparent suicide, police sources said. Kenneth Bellando, who worked at Levy Capital since January, was found dead on the sidewalk outside his East Side building on March 12, after allegedly jumping from the sixth-story roof, sources said. Bellando, […]
The One About Satellites Beaming Power Down to Earth Is Making the Rounds Again
March 17th, 2014*roll eyes* Via: Wired: For decades, the Pentagon has been the world’s largest oil consumer, and as global petroleum prices continue to rise, the military has been searching for feasible energy alternatives. Now they’re looking in space. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is building technology that will allow the military to capture solar power […]
A Tale of Two Internets
March 15th, 2014It sounds a lot like U.S. politics: “A world where you think you are making choices, but in reality, your options are narrowed and refined until you are left with merely the illusion of control.” Via: Scientific American: Imagine an Internet where unseen hands curate your entire experience. Where third parties predetermine the news, products […]
Bill Gates on Automation Eliminating Jobs: “Labor Demand for Lots of Skill Sets Will be Substantially Lower”
March 15th, 2014Via: Business Insider: Big changes are coming to the labour market that people and governments aren’t prepared for, Bill Gates believes. Speaking at Washington, D.C., economic think tank The American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, Gates said than within 20 years, a lot of jobs will go away, replaced by software automation (“bots” in tech slang, […]
Drones Will Cause an Upheaval of Society Like we Haven’t Seen in 700 Years
March 13th, 2014Via: Quartz: The human race is on the brink of momentous and dire change. It is a change that potentially smashes our institutions and warps our society beyond recognition. It is also a change to which almost no one is paying attention. I’m talking about the coming obsolescence of the gun-wielding human infantryman as a […]
