Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Electronics Retailer Checks Customers’ Names Against U.S. Watch List
February 25th, 2014Via: EEV Blog: If your name happens to be fairly common like mine, then you may end up having your orders flagged and put on hold by Element 14, at least here in Australia. Because, well, their system sucks arse, and it seems like they are licking the arse of the United States government to […]
Comcast’s Deal with Netflix Makes Network Neutrality Obsolete
February 23rd, 2014Via: Washington Post: For the past two decades, the Internet has operated as an unregulated, competitive free market. Given the tendency of networked industries to lapse into monopoly—think of AT&T’s 70-year hold over telephone service, for example—that’s a minor miracle. But recent developments are putting the Internet’s decentralized architecture in danger. In recent months, the […]
Use of Prescription Drugs in Kentucky and West Virginia [???]
February 23rd, 2014I was reading this piece about the most miserable states in the U.S. when I came across this sentence in the section on Kentucky: The state’s population was the nation’s most reliant on prescription drugs, with 19.3 prescriptions filled per capita in 2011, tied with West Virginia. 😯 Would that be a world leading statistic? […]
St. Mary’s College Considers Basing President’s Salary Off That of Cleaning Staff
February 22nd, 2014My position on this is here. Via: Washington Post: How much should a college president make compared to the worker who cleans his office? According to a proposal put forward by students and faculty at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, the answer is: no more than 10 times as much. On Thursday afternoon, the faculty […]
This Man’s $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is a Warning for All Small Businesses
February 22nd, 2014I figured this out after blowing only $10 on Facebook advertising. It’s incredible that companies are wasting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on this breathtaking scam. Via: Business Insider: Recently, however, Brar has fallen out of love with Facebook. He discovered — as Business Insider reported recently — that his Facebook fanbase was […]
Chevron Gives Residents Near Fracking Explosion Free Pizza
February 21st, 2014Via: Newsweek: After a Chevron hydraulic fracturing well exploded in rural Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania, last Tuesday, and burned for four days straight, the energy company knew just the way to soothe nearby residents: free pizza.
Greece Intercepts Israeli Arms Shipments to Iran
February 21st, 2014Your what hurts? Via: Telegraph: Israeli arms dealers twice tried to send spare parts for fighter planes to Iran, The Telegraph has established, flouting an international arms embargo and openly contradicting the bitter enmity between the Jewish state and the Islamic regime. The illegal shipments are now being investigated by the US Homeland Security Department […]
In 2013 The Fed Bought 150% More Treasurys Than All Foreigners Combined
February 21st, 2014Via: ZeroHedge: In the past year, courtesy of the Fed’s $1 trillion in TSY and MBS purchases, Ben Bernanke purchases some $552 billion in Treasurys, or about 150% more than all foreigners combined!
Tesla to Start Manufacturing Their Own Battery Packs
February 21st, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: “[The Gigafactory] will allow us to achieve a major reduction in the cost of our battery packs and accelerate the pace of battery innovation. Working in partnership with our suppliers, we plan to integrate precursor material, cell, module and pack production into one facility. With this facility, we feel highly confident […]
Google’s Project Tango: Indoor 3D Mapping and Tracking
February 20th, 2014Because tracking you outside is so 1990s. It’s not enough for the Legion of Doom to be able to track your every move outside. It now wants to map your indoor world, in 3D, and where you are in it. NSA/NGA will love this. Coincidence: Tango: Tango (U.S.) NATO phonetic alphabet for the letter “T” […]
