Step Right Up and Take a Ride on Thomas Friedman’s Hamster Wheel to the Good Life
September 10th, 2012The truth is, if you want a decent life, make sure that you’re engaged in lifelong learning about how to avoid the hellish circle jerk described in this New York Times piece.
Check out the comments at the link if you need some comedy gold. Most people are telling Friedman where to insert it.
Via: New York Times:
The truth is, if you want a decent job that will lead to a decent life today you have to work harder, regularly reinvent yourself, obtain at least some form of postsecondary education, make sure that you’re engaged in lifelong learning and play by the rules. That’s not a bumper sticker, but we terribly mislead people by saying otherwise.
You Might Be a Terrosist If You Prepare for The Zombie Apocalypse
September 10th, 2012*chortle* One for your Mixed Signals file folder.
Via: Network World:
Homeland Security warned, “The zombies are coming!” FEMA says get your emergency preparedness kit ready, but the LAPD adopted 15 of the DOJ’s ridiculous lists regarding ‘Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities.’ The question morphs from how will we survive the zombie apocalypse, to how will we prepare an emergency kit without such “suspicious behaviors” and buying activities flagging us as potential domestic terrorists?
Government Motors’ Volt: The Ugly Math of Low Sales, High Costs
September 10th, 2012Via: Reuters:
General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn’t a good thing for the automaker’s bottom line.
Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.
Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.
And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.
IVF: Grandma Gives Birth To Her Own Grandchild
September 10th, 2012Via: Daily Mail:
A woman in her 50s has given birth to her own grandchild after becoming a surrogate mother for her infertile daughter.
Cindy Reutzel, 53, gave birth to a healthy baby girl a week ago who will now be brought up by her 32-year-old daughter Emily Jordan.
Shark Knives – Hand Made in New Zealand
September 10th, 2012Knives are VERY popular with Cryptogon readers, so I thought I’d let you guys know about my friend, Peter Griffiths. He makes a range of knives at his workshop and gallery out in Takahue: shark-knives.com.
I have the Big Chef and it’s awesome. Don’t miss the Parang.
Pete doesn’t use the computer much, but if you email or call, his wife, Sabrina, will be able to help you.
If you’re in the Far North of New Zealand, you can also drop in and check out the Long Flat Bottom Workshop and Gallery, where Pete makes the knives.
Wood Craft, Permaculture Gardens, Knife Sharpening, WWOOF Hosts.
274 Takahue Road
RD2
Kaitaia
09-408-3685 (Please call during daytime NZ hours)
longflatbottom@gmail.com
China Buys Australia’s Largest Cotton Producer
September 10th, 2012Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
CHINESE investment in Australia almost doubled last year as the world’s second-largest economy flexed its economic muscles abroad, according to new data from the Ministry of Commerce.
Recent Chinese investment in Australia includes the sale of Australia’s largest cotton producer, Cubbie Station, to a Chinese-led consortium, approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board on Friday.
Chinese companies – both private and state-owned – invested a total of $3.2 billion in Australia in 2011, an 86 per cent increase from 2010. Australia is the third-most-popular investment destination behind the European Union and the ASEAN countries.
U.S. Jobless Rate Drops for the Worst of All Reasons
September 10th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent, but that was only because 368,000 people left the labor force. The share of working-age people who are either working or looking for work—known as the labor-force participation rate—fell to its lowest level since September 1981.
Related: Real Unemployment Rate: 20+%
Even Government Admits Fracking Mess in Wyoming
September 10th, 2012“The one—and only—place in the nation where fracking is causing water contamination…”
Mmm hmm.
Via: Bloomberg:
Louis Meeks, a hay farmer in Pavillion, Wyo., holds a mason jar under a faucet in his house and turns on the water. It’s a demonstration he’s given to a slew of neighbors and government officials. The water, drawn from his backyard well, is cloudy and smells like diesel. “Would you want to drink it?” he asks.
Meeks blames the bad water on fracking, the process in which thousands of gallons of water are mixed with sand and chemicals and blasted underground to free natural gas.
After sampling and analyzing his water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last December issued a preliminary report citing the Pavillion area as the one—and only—place in the nation where fracking is causing water contamination. Far from thanking Meeks for raising the alarm, his neighbors in the town (population: 231) now say he’s responsible for driving real estate buyers and business away. “It was instantaneous, like the spigot was turned off,” says Ginny Warren, describing how sales at her restaurant dried up. “I’m stuck with a property that I couldn’t give away if I wanted to.”
Related:
Fracking Industry Executives Suggest Military PSYOP Techniques to Peers for Dealing with Public
Research Credit: almaverdad2
Sniffing Open WiFi Networks Is Not Wiretapping
September 9th, 2012I don’t know why anyone would use unencrypted wi-fi at this point, but it’s the privacy equivalent of standing on a soap box with a bullhorn.
Via: Ars Technica:
A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that intercepting traffic on unencrypted WiFi networks is not wiretapping. The decision runs counter to a 2011 decision that suggested Google may have violated the law when its Street View cars intercepted fragments of traffic from open WiFi networks around the country.
Rochester City Employees Don’t Have to Pay Fines When Caught by Red-Light Cameras
September 8th, 2012Via: Democrat and Chronicle:
Over the past 18 months, city of Rochester employees have committed at least 119 red light violations while driving city vehicles, records show.
But while employees can be disciplined for the violation, “payment of the related fine will not be required,” according to a newly adopted city procedure for handling the violations.
