Archive for the 'Economy' Category
The Perils of Plastic: The Problems With Debit And Credit Cards Are Deeper Than We Thought
December 31st, 2013Via: ReadWrite: I called the regional Secret Service office—that agency is involved in both protecting the President and investigating financial crimes—and talked to the agent that was handling the investigation. He confirmed my suspicions: The problem is far worse than we imagined. While there are no real answers yet in our area, it appears that […]
Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox
December 30th, 2013Via: Spiegel: A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry — including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such […]
Japan’s Homeless Recruited for Murky Fukushima Clean-Up
December 30th, 2013Via: Reuters: Seiji Sasa hits the train station in this northern Japanese city before dawn most mornings to prowl for homeless men. He isn’t a social worker. He’s a recruiter. The men in Sendai Station are potential laborers that Sasa can dispatch to contractors in Japan’s nuclear disaster zone for a bounty of $100 a […]
Recovery: One Million U.S. Jobless to Lose Financial Aid
December 28th, 2013Via: BBC: More than a million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits after an emergency federal programme expires on Saturday. Lawmakers failed to agree on an extension of the scheme before the US Congress began its winter recess. Former President George W Bush introduced the assistance plan in 2008 at the start of the recession. […]
Recovery: New York City Homeless Shelters Fill as Rent Aid Disappears
December 28th, 2013Via: Wall Street Journal: New York City homeless shelters—swelling with record-high populations not seen since the Great Depression—are increasingly being sought out by people who participated in a now-defunct rent-subsidy program designed to reduce homelessness, according to a report to be released Saturday. The author of the report, the Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit […]
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience
December 28th, 2013Here’s one for your Omni-Magazine-Déjà-vu-Moments file folder. Via: New York Times: Computers have entered the age when they are able to learn from their own mistakes, a development that is about to turn the digital world on its head. The first commercial version of the new kind of computer chip is scheduled to be released […]
Michigan: Cars with Self Drive Mode Allowed on Roads; On Board Human Supervision Required
December 28th, 2013Via: CBS: Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a law allowing companies to test driverless cars on Michigan roads. But there’s a key point: Someone must be in the car. In a statement Friday, Snyder says the law is important to keep Michigan involved in research and development of car technology. He also mentioned a need […]
Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap 2013-2038
December 28th, 2013Via: U.S. Department of Defense: 4.1.5 Autonomy and Cognitive Behavior Nearly all unmanned systems require active control of basic vehicle operations and behavior that affects communications, manpower, and system effectiveness. One of the largest cost drivers in the budget of DoD is manpower. A significant amount of that manpower, when it comes to operations, is […]
“The bodies of the poor, when they are not captive, are worth little to corporations. But bodies behind bars can each generate $40,000 to $50,000 a year for corporate coffers.”
December 27th, 2013Via: Truthdig: Shares in the Philadelphia-based Aramark Holdings Corp., which contracts through Aramark Correctional Services to provide the food to 600 correctional institutions across the United States, went public Thursday. The corporation, acquired in 2007 for $8.3 billion by investors that included Goldman Sachs, raised $725 million last week from the sale of the stock. […]
‘We Are Creating Walmarts of Higher Education’
December 27th, 2013Via: The Atlantic: Universities in South Dakota, Nebraska, and other states have cut the number of credits students need to graduate. A proposal in Florida would let online courses forgo the usual higher-education accreditation process. A California legislator introduced a measure that would have substituted online courses for some of the brick-and-mortar kind at public […]
