Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Company Wants to Mine the Moon’s Resources and Leave Trash Behind
December 12th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: Most people don’t take it literally when they’re told to shoot for the moon — but thinking small isn’t Naveen Jain’s way. The 52-year-old Internet entrepreneur is a co-founder of Moon Express Inc., one of several companies in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, in which privately funded teams will try […]
Sound-Triggered Smartphone Ads
December 10th, 2011The really terrifying aspect of this is not the technology itself, but that some group of troglodytes will actually install this on their phones on purpose. Related: shewhomeasures.com: How about genitalia couplers (like in the video above—yes, watch closely) that communicate with the phone via Bluetooth? You know, for those extra special notifications, like when […]
Australian Journalist Wins Prestigious Award for Exposing Flu Vaccine Scandal
December 8th, 2011Via: The Refusers: Natasha Bita, a journalist for The Australian has just won a Walkley Award (the Australian equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize) for an in-depth article series on the CSL Afluria flu vaccine, a shot that caused convulsions in one percent of Australian infants who received it. To put this vaccine scandal in perspective, […]
Deutsche Bank CEO Target of Suspected Letter Bomb
December 8th, 2011I don’t know how, or even if, this fits in at all, but remember this little tidbit from my 2006 piece about the Wall Street Chop Shop: I handled some issues for the secondary marketing department, even, would you believe, for the person who pulled the trigger on these paper dumps at the end of […]
Afghani$cam: $400-a-Gallon Gasoline
December 7th, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal: Parachuting a barrel of fuel to a remote Afghan base takes sharp flying skills, steady nerves and flawless timing. It also costs a lot of money—up to $400 a gallon, by military estimates. But the Pentagon is stuck with the expense for the foreseeable future, especially given the recent deterioration in […]
Class of Homebuyers Claims BofA Found a New Dirty Trick
December 7th, 2011This one will take your breath away. Via: Courthouse New Service: Bank of America found a new way to illegally extract money from customers, according to a federal class action: deduct taxes and insurance from mortgage payments, even though the homebuyers make those payments themselves, then call the mortgage in default for the unauthorized deductions, […]
Harnessing Desert Sun to Power Europe
December 7th, 2011Is it just a coincidence that several of the countries that will be supplying Europe with power derived from the sun are experiencing regime change and riots? Via: BBC: It is a beguiling idea – harvest sunshine, and a little wind, from the empty deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and use it […]
Alabama: Inmates Can Replace Hispanic Farmhands
December 7th, 2011Via: Politico: Alabama farmers frantically looking for workers to replace those that have fled the state in the wake of its tough new immigration law should just stop by their local prison, according to the head of Alabama’s agriculture department. John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, told the Montgomery Advertiser […]
BP Claims Halliburton Destroyed Gulf of Mexico Spill Evidence
December 6th, 2011Via: BBC: Oil giant BP has accused oilfields services firm Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence relating to last year’s oil well blast in the Gulf of Mexico in which 11 people were killed. At a hearing in a New Orleans’ court, BP said Halliburton had “intentionally” destroyed test results on its cement product used at […]
S&P Places 15 Euro Nations on Warning for Downgrade
December 5th, 2011Via: Bloomberg: Standard & Poor’s said Germany and France may be stripped of their AAA credit ratings as the debt crisis prompts 15 euro nations to be put on review for possible downgrade. The euro area’s six AAA rated countries are among the nations to be placed on a negative outlook, and their credit ratings […]
