Gerald Bull’s Supergun
March 19th, 2016Via: BBC:
But Big Babylon was never built, and no-one has got close since. So what happened? The answer is a tale of hubris, thwarted ambitions and military secrets. At a time when Bull’s expertise should have been in high demand by all of the world’s superpowers, he chose to make his supergun for Saddam Hussein instead, a decision that would end in murder.
Corporate Lucre for Doctors Results in More Prescriptions for Name Brand Drugs
March 19th, 2016Via: ProPublica:
The more money doctors receive from drug and medical device companies, the more brand-name drugs they tend to prescribe, a new ProPublica analysis shows. Even a meal can make a difference.
Face2Face: Real-Time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos
March 19th, 2016Woh.
Via: Stanford:
Chinese Buying Starwood Hotels (Sheraton and Westin)
March 18th, 2016Via: Reuters:
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc on Friday said a $13 billion cash offer from China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co was superior to one from Marriott International Inc , setting the stage for the largest ever deal by a Chinese company in the United States.
The operator of Sheraton and Westin hotels said the Chinese insurer’s offer beat Marriott’s previously agreed cash and stock offer by nearly 15 percent, and that it planned to scrap the proposed deal with the rival hotel chain.
Anbang has been on a U.S. hotel buying spree as Chinese insurers rush to acquire high-yielding assets as they struggle to keep up with the policy liabilities of the country’s aging population. U.S. assets are also seen as a good hedge against weakness in the Chinese yuan.
U.S. General Lori Robinson to Become First Woman to Lead Combatant Command
March 18th, 2016For big false flags in the U.S…
Via: Reuters:
President Barack Obama will name the first woman to head a U.S. combatant command, selecting Air Force General Lori Robinson as the next head of the military’s Northern Command, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday.
The position, which is subject to Senate confirmation, is one of the most senior in the U.S. military and would make Robinson – who now leads U.S. air forces in the Pacific – the top general overseeing activities in North America.
“General Robinson, it just so happens, would also be the first ever female combatant commander,” Carter said, disclosing Obama’s plans to nominate her.
Carl’s Jr. CEO Wants to Try Automated Restaurant
March 18th, 2016Seattle Hikes Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour:
Enjoy any higher minimum wages while you can because the Rise of the Machines grinds steadily onward, and the goal is to eliminate as many human workers from corporate payrolls as possible.
Via: KFOR:
A CEO of a fast-food company is causing a stir on social media after claiming that he wants to create a fully automated restaurant.
“We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person,” Carl’s Jr. CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider.
Puzder says the automated restaurant would be cheaper since he wouldn’t have to worry about rising minimum wage.
“If you’re making labor more expensive, and automation less expensive- this is not rocket science,” Puzder said.
“They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” says Puzder of swapping employees for machines.
Domino’s to Trial Pizza Delivery by Robot in NZ
March 17th, 2016Via: New Zealand Herald:
Domino’s says it’s working with the Government on a plan to permit robot pizza delivery to hungry New Zealanders.
The government and Domino’s Pizza are working to explore and test driverless pizza delivery options with a four-wheeled unit named DRU (Domino’s Robotic Unit).
Minister of Transport Simon Bridges said the use of the robot is an exciting opportunity for New Zealand, which is one of the first countries in the world being considered for testing autonomous pizza delivery.
Related: Ground Delivery Drones Ready to Roll in England
Google Wants to Sell Boston Dynamics
March 17th, 2016Via: Bloomberg:
Executives at Google parent Alphabet Inc., absorbed with making sure all the various companies under its corporate umbrella have plans to generate real revenue, concluded that Boston Dynamics isn’t likely to produce a marketable product in the next few years and have put the unit up for sale, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.
Possible acquirers include the Toyota Research Institute, a division of Toyota Motor Corp., and Amazon.com Inc., which makes robots for its fulfillment centers, according to one person. Google and Toyota declined to comment, and Amazon didn’t respond to requests for comment.
We Choose the Nominee, Not the Voters: Senior GOP Official
March 16th, 2016It’s the same with the Democrats.
With regard specifically to Trump, I’m going with the same guess as I’ve had all along.
Trump becomes the candidate for the Republicans, and Hillary becomes President.
Alternate scenario, the Republicans shit the bed over Trump, some manner of a third party candidate situation results, and—that’s right—Hillary becomes President.
All this nonsense with the counter-Trump protests is the CIA/NGO script for color revolutions applied inside the U.S. One more time, Hillary becomes President.
(I hope my site doesn’t go down for three days again…)
Via: CNBC:
Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.
“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,” Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.
Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don’t hold primaries or caucuses.
Even with Trump’s huge projected delegate haul in four state primaries Tuesday, the odds are increasing the billionaire businessman may not ultimately get the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination before the convention.
This could lead to a brokered convention, in which unbound delegates, like Haugland, could play a significant swing role on the first ballot to choose a nominee.
Apple’s iCloud to Run on Google’s Cloud
March 16th, 2016Via: Business Insider:
It’s been only four months since Google convinced enterprise queen Diane Greene to lead its fledgling cloud-computing business, but she’s already scored a second huge coup for Google: landing Apple as a customer which is not good news from Amazon.
Apple has reportedly signed a contract worth between $400 million and $600 million to use Google’s Cloud Platform, reports CRN’s Kevin McLaughlin and Joseph Tsidulko.
It’s not clear if that’s the annual or total value of the contract, or if the money will be taken directly away from what Apple spends on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or not. While Apple won’t quit using AWS altogether, if it is a shift in budget, this could cut Apple’s spending on AWS by as much as half.
The secretive Apple has never publicly talked about being an AWS customer, but its use of it, as well as Microsoft’s cloud, Azure, has been widely reported since at least 2011 and was confirmed by Apple in a security document. Apple uses AWS and Azure for parts of its iCloud services, The New York Times reported.
