Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Inside DuckDuckGo, Google’s Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor
February 20th, 2014Via: Fast Company: “Every year, we’ve grown 200-500%,” Weinberg says. “The numbers keep getting bigger.” As of early February, DuckDuckGo was seeing more than 4 million search queries per day. One year ago, that number had just barely broken 1 million. Surprisingly, the sudden success didn’t send the site crashing down. Nor did it change […]
“Smart Cities”
February 20th, 2014Via: Fast Company: Tech giant Cisco thinks there’s something to all this talk of ”smart cities”–and that connecting roads or license plate readers to the Internet is going to be big business. In the latest installment of their ongoing expansion into the Internet of Things, Cisco recently announced an agreement with Swiss security firm AGT […]
Cambodia: Homemade Bamboo Trains
February 20th, 2014Via: YouTube: Cambodia has one rail line. It is not well built, not maintained, and generally unsafe. For that reason, Cambodia no longer operates heavy trains. The people, however, have created an inexpensive and lightweight system to travel safely on the rails. These bamboo trains are pushed by small gasoline engines, and roll on two […]
Wal-Mart Earnings Miss; Weak Outlook
February 20th, 2014Ahh, the recovery seems to be continuing apace… Via: AP: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offered a weak profit outlook, signaling that it expects economic pressures to keep weighing on its low-income shoppers around the world. The world’s largest retailer also said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit, which covers the crucial holiday season, dropped 21 percent. Its […]
Capital One Says It Can Show Up At Cardholders’ Homes, Workplaces
February 18th, 2014Yeah, well, maybe people should call Capital One and cancel their accounts. Via: Los Angeles Times: Ding-dong, Cap One calling. Credit card issuer Capital One isn’t shy about getting into customers’ faces. The company recently sent a contract update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases. The update specifies […]
Plutocrats in Drag Joke About Financial Crisis at Private Party
February 18th, 2014Via: New York Magazine: “Good evening, Exalted High Council, former Grand Swipes, Grand Swipes-in-waiting, fellow Wall Street Kappas, Kappas from the Spring Street and Montgomery Street chapters, and worthless neophytes!” It was January 2012, and Ross, wearing a tuxedo and purple velvet moccasins embroidered with the fraternity’s Greek letters, was standing at the dais of […]
Symphony of the Soil
February 16th, 2014Via: Symphony of the Soil: Drawing from ancient knowledge and cutting edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance soil. By understanding the elaborate relationships and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. The […]
Ryan Crane, JPMorgan Equities Trading Executive, Dies at 37
February 15th, 2014Another one. Via: Bloomberg: Ryan Crane, a JPMorgan (JPM) Chase & Co. employee who in a 14-year career at the New York-based bank rose to executive director of a unit that trades blocks of stocks for clients, has died. He was 37. He died on Feb. 3 at his Stamford, Connecticut, home, according to the […]
Push for Legal Pot Worldwide
February 15th, 2014Via: AP: In a former colonial mansion in Jamaica, politicians huddle to discuss trying to ease marijuana laws in the land of the late reggae musician and cannabis evangelist Bob Marley. In Morocco, one of the world’s top producers of the concentrated pot known as hashish, two leading political parties want to legalize its cultivation, […]
‘American Dream Seen as Out of Reach’
February 13th, 2014Any excuse to post this clip… Via: McClatchy: Racing into a new century in which many of the old rules don’t seem to apply anymore, Americans are overwhelmingly pessimistic about their chances of achieving and sustaining the American dream, according to a new Marist-McClatchy Poll. They see an economic system in which they have to […]
