09 Friday May 2014
Police arrested 27-year-old Yoshitomo Imura, a university official from Kawasaki City, after he posted a video of himself firing a 3D-printed six shooter called the Zig Zag revolver. Imura was employed at the Shonan Institute of Technology and owned a $500 home 3D printer.
Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/08/japanese-man-arrested-for-printing-his-own-revolvers/
09 Friday May 2014
Posted in Markets
The US has been the global leader since overtaking the UK in 1872. Most economists previously thought China would pull ahead in 2019. The figures, compiled by the International Comparison Program hosted by the World Bank, are the most authoritative estimates of what money can buy in different countries and are used by most public and private sector organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund.
~ Financial Times
09 Friday May 2014
National Safety Council’s annual report found 26 percent of all crashes are tied to phone use … headsets do not reduce drive distraction.
Read more: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/03/27/survey-more-than-1-in-4-car-crashes-involve-cellphone-use/
09 Friday May 2014
That’s the provocative question being debated in antitrust circles in the wake of revelations that Mr. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who is deeply revered in Silicon Valley, was the driving force in a conspiracy to prevent competitors from poaching employees. Mr. Jobs seems never to have read, or may have chosen to ignore, the first paragraph of the Sherman Antitrust Act: Every “conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce” is illegal, the act says. “Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine” or “by imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments.”
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/business/steve-jobs-a-genius-at-pushing-boundaries-too.html
09 Friday May 2014
Posted in Politics
Nuclear Armageddon. …the entire stockpile of U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) — 448 active — is essentially aimed squarely at Russia. Russia’s hundreds of ICBMs are probably returning the favor. In all, the U.S. has about 7,700 nuclear warheads, including 1,950 warheads ready to deploy via ICBM, submarine, and airplane, plus thousands more in mothballs or waiting to be dismantled, according to the latest tally by the Federation of American Scientists. Russia has slightly more warheads overall — about 8,500 — but a slightly fewer 1,800 of them operational.
Read more: http://theweek.com/article/index/257406/what-would-a-us-russia-war-look-like
09 Friday May 2014
Posted in Politics
Eye-tracking device (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
John Hibbing and his colleagues are pioneering research on the physiological underpinnings of political ideology… One of Hibbing’s pioneering papers on the physiology of ideology was published in none other than the top-tier journal Science in 2008. It found that political partisans on the left and the right differ significantly in their bodily responses to threatening stimuli…
Shutterstock.com
In a 2012 study, Hibbing and his colleagues showed as much through the use of eye-tracking devices like the one shown above. Liberals and conservatives were fitted with devices that tracked their gaze, and were shown a series of four-image collages containing pictures that were either “appetitive” (e.g., something happy or positive) or “aversive” (showing something threatening, scary, or disgusting)… Hibbing and his team have even found that preferences on such matters appear to have a genetic basis.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/inquiring-minds-john-hibbing-physiology-ideology
09 Friday May 2014
… Cyber Command, currently staffed by 1,100 people … The main concerns are cyber attacks from nation states such as China or Russia that could create massive power outages in the United States, or an attack on U.S. financial networks, such as stock exchanges and financial institutions, that could cripple the economy… U.S. military personnel also lack training and readiness needed to confront advanced cyber threats, Alexander added, and military commanders lack confidence about what levels of risk are acceptable in the cyber domain. They also lack a “reliable situational awareness”—military jargon for knowing what is in the battle space, globally or in U.S. military systems, he said… Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of Cyber Command, also testified at the hearing that cyber threats are increasing… Haney said plans call for creating 133 “cyber mission teams” staffed by over 6,000 people by the end of 2016. So far 17 teams are deployed in a variety of missions within combatant commands and at Cyber Command headquarters at Fort Meade, Md.
~ Gen. Alexander tells Senate threat of major cyber attacks is growing By Bill Gertz, The Washington Free Beacon.
09 Friday May 2014
Under normal operation (not the end of the world), I collect used engine oil and fuel from changed filters off Peterbilt trucks I service (roughly 120 trucks). I filter and blend this used oil with a setup at my house that I will detail later. However, in a SHTF scenario, the theory would be collecting the engine oil and automatic transmission fluid or even power steering fluid from abandoned vehicles, which will have run out of fuel on the road, to make a custom blend of usable emergency fuel for your diesel… The proper vehicle to run this fuel would be one with a mechanically-injected older diesel engine, pre-1997 would be safest. All older IDI Fords, 6.9 l and pre-powerstroke 7.3 l engines do well on it.
By Matt Conner
09 Friday May 2014
… I had pitched 15%, our standard. Steve pointed at it and said, “15%? That is ridiculous. I want 50%.” I was stunned. There was no way I could run my business giving him 50% of my product revenues… I had to make the business make sense financially. I just needed to make my 15% look like his 50%. To do so, I reduced the nut to split by first deducting the cost of packaging, of technical support, the salaries for some developers on my side of the business to implement fixes, and when I still couldn’t get the math to pencil out, I added a $6 per unit ‘handling fee’ thanks to some inspiration from an infomercial on the Home Shopping Network. My new “Hollywood net” number read 50%, but fully-loaded it was pretty close to the 15% of gross I needed to make the deal work. Magic! Steve was happy with his 50% contract and the deal got inked…
What I Learned Negotiating With Steve Jobs by Heidi Roizen
See also: Five Business Lessons From Steve Jobs by Kevin O’Leary.
09 Friday May 2014
65 percent of Americans do not think the U.S. should provide military aid and equipment to Ukraine in response to Russia’s actions, while only 26 percent think the U.S. should. Majorities of Republicans (59 percent), Democrats (67 percent), and independents (69 percent) are opposed to providing military aid and equipment to Ukraine.
~ CBS News Polls
09 Friday May 2014
The estimated total number of guns (both licit and illicit) held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,0001 to 310,000,0002
~ gunpolicy.org
~ Support for stricter gun laws in general is lowest Gallup has measured by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup Inc.
09 Friday May 2014
NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time, U.S. Internet advertising revenue has surpassed that of broadcast television thanks to sharp growth in mobile and digital video ads… Internet advertising revenue rose 17 percent to a record $42.8 billion in 2013. Broadcast TV ad revenue, in comparison, was $40.1 billion in 2013. Mobile advertising revenue more than doubled to $7.1 billion from $3.4 billion in 2012 … The report is based on a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
09 Friday May 2014
Posted in Markets
The highest beef prices in almost three decades have arrived just before the start of grilling season, causing sticker shock for both consumers and restaurant owners — and relief isn’t likely anytime soon. A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.
09 Friday May 2014
09 Friday May 2014
Posted in Religion
Among all adults %
Christian 78.4
Catholic 23.9
Mormon 1.7
Jehovah’s Witness 0.7
Orthodox 0.6
Other Christian 0.3
Other Religions 4.7
Unaffiliated 16.1
08 Thursday May 2014
For all the attention focused on Amazon’s new TV-streaming deviceand expanding selection of Prime Instant TV and movies, the company’s next big money-maker could be something scarcely talked about and entirely less sexy: wholesale distribution. AmazonSupply — which is still listed as a beta product — … prices were about 25% lower than others in the industry… the potential market is enormous: Wholesalers made $7.2 trillion in revenue in 2012
Amazon Is Attacking A Potential Trillion-Dollar Industry … Jillian D’Onfro, Business Insider.
See also: Amazon’s Wholesale Slaughter: Jeff Bezos’ $8 Trillion B2B Bet. By Clare O’Connor, Forbes.
19 Saturday Apr 2014
Posted in Tech
… when asked why Robert Cailliau wasn’t credited with co-creating the Web, Berners-Lee said this was because he hadn’t.
“Robert didn’t invent it. I invented it by myself, and coded it up on a NeXT, but Robert was the first convert to it, and a massive supporter,” he explained. “He got resources together at CERN, helped find students, gave talks. He also later wrote some code for a Mac browser called Samba. He also put a lot of energy into persuading the CERN directorate that CERN should declare that it would not charge royalties for the WWW, which it did in April 1993.”
Web inventor Berners-Lee: … By Iain Thomson. The Register
See also: Birth of the World Wide Web Netvalley.com
opinions 101 