Home Blog Page 150

Why Investors Should Be Worried About The Google Tesla Deal

superadmin
-
0
Why Investors Should Be Worried About The Google Tesla Deal

News broke this morning that Google and Tesla reached an acquisition agreement in 2013. Larry Page and Elon Musk reportedly had a handshake deal that would have seen Musk head the electric car maker for 8 years or until it produced its third vehicle. The deal is reported to have fell apart at the last minute due to haggling over small details.

This should be deeply worrying to Google investors for two reasons.

Google is showing a worrying lack of focus
Electric cars are completely unrelated to any of Google’s core businesses and core stengths. Creating cars is mainly a mechanical engineering / design / marketing challenge, which is unlike Google’s core software business that relies on software engineering almost exclusively to solve problems. In short, Google knows very little about building cars or building any physical products for that matter.

Why this is worrying is that good CEOs understand their company’s zone of competence. They know what they can and more importantly cannot do well and strive to build businesses around their strengths. Here Larry Page seems to be wildly ambitious without conceding what Google isn’t good at. Google as a culture is known for its arrogance and hubris. Built on the back of earth shattering success and ivy league pedigrees its understandable why this might happen. Page’s vaulting ambition to get into a business he knows little about underscores that this ‘we’re the smartest guys in the room’ mentality is a top down phenomenon. This creates a dangerous blind spot when making large acquisitions.

Larry Page has social issues
To have reached a large, $11 billion deal and have it fall apart at the last minute of seemingly minute details show Page’s known quirkiness is handicapping his ability to lead the company. Known for his awkward demeanor, abruptness and lack of respect for others, Page is used to being the king of the castle and answering to nobody. This is part of the reason he returned as CEO. He also exhibits great personal hubris, as illustrated above.

These personal issues are now starting to matter for the company. The easy days of search advertising dollars are over and the company has had no hit product (where it makes money) since. Even Microsoft found a second revenue engine, Office, by the time it was at Google’s level of maturity. The company seems to realize that in order to find this, it is likely going to have to pay to acquire. Despite trying hundreds of beta products, the company just can’t seem to generate market winning products internally.

When a company needs to make deals you need a CEO who is charming, friendly and humble. This type of CEO gives acquisition targets comfort in selling their ‘babies’, the inventions and companies they’ve spent their life creating. They trust not only their inventions but the team they’ve build over years or decades will have a good landing spot and a bright future.

A CEO who is arrogant, awkward and meddlesome is not the kind you sell to. It’s the kind you run away from and thank your lucky stars you spotted these quirks before you signed on the dotted line. Larry page is this type of CEO.

The revelations of a Google / Tesla deal should give investors in Google cause for concern. It’s becoming clear – through this, the anti-trust issues, the Glass failure and Google’s endless flirtation with strange ideas – that Google needs different management. Fast.

Swiss Postal Service Testing Drone Delivery

superadmin
-
0
Swiss Postal Service Testing Drone Delivery

Swiss Post, Switzerland’s equivalent to the United States Postal Service, has confirmed it is testing a delivery service that uses drones.

A spokesman for the national mail carrier confirmed a report in local media to Agence France Presse, detailing a partnership with US drone maker Matternet and the freight division of Swiss International Air Lines.

The tests will involve mail delivery to regional sorting centers and are expected to be conducted over the summer. Both the extent of the trials and carrying capacity of the drones is not known.

Matternet’s current flagship product, the ONE, is relatively small compared to the needs of a mail carrier. Its unique architecture makes it light and strong enough to transport 1 kilogram over 20 kilometers on a single battery charge, which while handy for some applications, like video photography, might not be so useful for transporting heavy bags of letters over long distances.

What could be more interesting to the Swiss is Matternet’s autonomous flight systems. The software on the ONE allows the drone to adapt to weather, terrain and airspace and thus allowing it to fly autonomously beyond line of sight, without the need for a human pilot.

For Switzerland this may be particularly important because Swiss towns and villages can be tough to reach in winter. Getting the mail through despite snow, ice or avalanche has obvious benefits.

Another key benefit would be the lack of human involvement. Swiss Post, like its peers in the United States and England is bleeding money as it tries to meet service obligations and revenue targets. Drone based delivery might help it overcome these financial challenges.

Swiss Post joins Amazon, DHL and Google in testing the waters.

Hacker Group Anonymous Fights For 4th Amendment Rights

superadmin
-
0
Hacker Group Anonymous Fights For 4th Amendment Rights

Activist hacker collective Anonymous has launched an online campaign to raise awareness about two controversial US information-sharing bills Americans.org has learned.

The first bill, CISA (Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act) is widely regarded to sacrifice privacy without improving security. Anonymous goes further, arguing that the measures threaten Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted searches and seizures, hence their decision to launch #OperationCISPA.

This CISA bill is an alternative of the CISPA [Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act] that failed to be passed in 2013. Key lobbyists behind the rejected bill, Sony Pictures and the MPAA, are the key pushers of the CISA legislation.

“The CISA and CISPA bills directly attack the Fourth Amendment by letting the NSA monitor your private information without a warrant,” a member of the group reportedly told The Register.

“This is a direct impact to our security and assault on our privacy. Our objective is to stop the CISA Bill, and all other future cyber security bills, that aim to diminish our rights on the internet.”

The controversial bill would allow organisations within the US government and corporate worlds to share data on ‘attacks’.While its supporters argue that better information sharing will help prevent against hack attacks the real target is likely file sharers. The legislation would help large and exceedingly wealthy movie studios to sue illegal downloaders and streamers. Despite piracy being linked to increased sales of content the Hollywood set seem fixated on attacking Americans with legal threats that amount to extortion rackets.

This operation marks a change in tactics for the hacker group, who have previously launched denial of service attacks against their targets. Participants in past operations have been jailed for their involvement.

In fighting CISA Anonymous is pushing a petition, attempting to build public awareness through media outreach and other common PR strategies. It’s tactics look like a conventional political campaign, which may be beneficial to the group’s long term viability and ability to achieve substantive change.

Latest Bank Earnings Show Nothing Has Changed

superadmin
-
0

Once bailed out Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley reported a much stronger than anticipated rise in quarterly profit, boosted by higher revenue from trading bonds and equities.

“This was our strongest quarter in many years with improved performance across most areas of the firm,” Chief Executive James Gorman said in a statement. The numbers reported by the #3 Wall Street bank mirror those reported a week earlier by another formerly bailed out bank, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman reported first quarter earnings that were up 41% to $2.75 billion.

To get a sense of the obscene amount of money being made, the average Goldman employee made $130,000 – for the quarter. Yearly earnings were on target to be an average of nearly $500,000 at both Morgan Stanley and Goldman. JP Morgan, who also received a bailout, reported similar numbers.

Both the level of compensation and the sudden rise in earnings should trouble regulators and investors alike.

bankcartoon
[courtesy of BsNews]

After their mismanagement had to be fixed by the average American taxpayer to the tune of 10s of billions of dollars, the banks sought to de-risk themselves. Or rather they were forced, reluctantly, to do so. Given the sudden spike in profits it appears this has not in fact taken place and that banks are once again playing high risk games and engaging in the moral hazard that got them in trouble around 2008.

The press release reads that “Morgan Stanley is focusing less on bond markets and more on managing money for the rich as a way to free up capital and comply with stricter regulatory requirements since the financial crisis”.

Yet the 60% spike in earnings came largely from trading, a high risk activity that has been aggressively regulated since the financial crisis. Banks are not longer allowed to bet their own money on securities (so called prop trading) and instead can only do so for clients. Yet its unlikely the dramatic rise in profits can be attributed to surge in client orders – clearly there is more going on deep inside the convoluted inner workings of the banks for these kind of results to materialize.

Specifically, the bank’s FICC (bonds and currencies) business, like those of its rivals, got a boost in the quarter after the Swiss central bank scrapped a cap on the franc, the European Central Bank announced its quantitative easing program and the U.S. Federal Reserve moved to tighten monetary policy. That’s the story anyway. What really happened is that the banks made the right bet on this outcome and it paid off. But they were still betting, taking risks that will inevitably come due and inevitably be covered by average Americans.

Investors ought to also take note of the extreme level of compensation at these firms. Despite being systemically important and highly regulated the banks still find elaborate and creative ways to pay themselves ever increasing amounts of money.

Would you want your wealth manager taking huge fees from your investment returns to pay themselves this handsomely? Or as an investor in these companies would you mind taking less dividends so that the managers of these companies can pay themselves like royalty? Food for thought both for main street Americans about to have an election and Elizabeth Warren, the sole crusader for accountability in the financial industry.

Shocking Street Violence Rocks South Africa

superadmin
-
0
Shocking Street Violence Rocks South Africa

South Africa was shocked this weekend by a stunning series of photos showing helpless Mozambican migrant Emmanuel Sithole pleading for his life as a gang of men brutally murder him in a Johannesburg street. A crowd of silent onlookers can be seen behind doing nothing.

The men stalked him along the street then one clubbed him with a wrench, while another stabbed him. The Mozambican fell bleeding to the ground and died minutes later The man became the latest victim in a rash of anti-foreigner attacks sweeping across South Africa.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS
sithole
The shocking series of photos that gripped South Africa this weekend [courtesy of The Sunday Times]

xenomurder
Emmanuel Sithole lies motionless after the vicious attack. [courtesy of The Sunday Times]

Nearly 5,000 migrants, mostly from African nations, have been forced from their homes because of violence in recent weeks, according to the United Nations. Many are residing in squalid makeshift camps, while others have travelled back home to Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa. So far at least seven people have been killed. Many foreigner owned shops have been looted as foreigners are blamed for unemployment and other economic and social problems.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s President, cancelled a trip to Asia on the weekend because of the crisis, while his cabinet ministers vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. “We will find you and you will be dealt with to the full might of the law,” they said in a joint statement released Sunday. They announced that 307 people had been arrested since the attacks began.

The story of Emmanuel Sithole has stirred more vows of action. Photos of the murder went viral after they were published on Sunday in the Sunday Times, a leading South African newspaper.

While police promised to use the photos to track down the killers history shows they usually walk free. In nearly all cases of anti-foreigner violence, dating back to 2008 nobody has been convicted of the murders. The assumption they will never be brought to justice has likely fuelled the attacking mobs.

It is estimated that more than 350 people have been killed in xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa over the past seven years.

Researcher Jean Pierre Misago told the Sunday Times that he found evidence of only one successful prosecution for any of those hundreds of murders. In most cases, the charges were withdrawn or witnesses were too afraid to testify.

This finding exposes the shocking reality: South African authorities almost never prosecute the perpetrators of violence, including vigilante killings of suspected criminals; labour violence by union members; political violence; and anti-government protests in the streets.

This likely owes to an attitude stemming from the struggle with the apartheid regime. Much of the violence of that era was seen as justified, but it has continued for illegitimate purposes after democracy arrived in 1994.

By allowing protesters and street mobs to take the law into their own hands and by allowing police brutality to continue, the South African government has made it easier for the xenophobic violence to gain momentum and made it far more difficult to stop.

Target Still Has The Magic

superadmin
-
0

Target showed this weekend that it still knows how to get the merchandise people want at prices people love. On Sunday Target’s collaboration with Lilly Pulitzer, the queen of American resortwear known for her bright, bold patterns, launched at 8am to great fanfare.

At stores, shoppers began lining up at 5am hoping to grab some of the hot items before they became sold out. Online, Target’s website promptly crashed due to heavy demand from shoppers who increasingly prefer to buy from the web and via mobile phones rather than shop instore.

Pulitzer designed a 250-piece collection featuring items in 15 exclusive prints at attractive prices compared to other retailers. Her signature sleeveless, collarless shift for adults currently retails from $180 to $300; the Target version is available for $38. Target’s Lilly bikinis are priced at $48 for the top and bottom, compared to $136 for the two pieces. Other items included tote bags, pillows and sandals and beach coverups, all retailing for significantly less than the designed versions.

While issues with a down website and a rush of buyers was inconvenient for some customers the launch is a positive validation of the brand’s strategy. Target, who’s entry and swift yet costly exit from the Canadian market, seems to be back on track with a formula that pleases online and instore customers yet can compete on price without looking cheap. As any marketing professional will tell you this is a fine line to walk and takes great skill.

On the heels of Friday’s announcement that Wal Mart is suddenly closing five stores for unknown reasons the news of solid weekend sales and customer love indicate Wal Mart’s fate may not be the same as Target’s.

Why Google’s open source strategy works

superadmin
-
0

This morning Matt Rosoff wrote an interesting piece, arguing that Google should stop offering an open source version of Android.

This is an interesting argument and Matt is one of the more knowledgeable writers on the subject. Yet there are valid reasons why Google maintains its open strategy that weren’t considered in the article.

The most significant is the rise of Xiaomi. Thinking of this issue as just Xiaomi grossly underestimates the scope of this problem – Huawei, Acer, Coolpad, Lenovo, ZTE, and even Alcatel sell mind numbing amounts of smartphones in the Chinese and international markets. They all run the Android operating system, usually forks of the open source platform localized to the Chinese market.

What is certain about these companies, given both their heft and their Chinese allegiances, is that they would not use Android if it were not open source. They have all dabbled (and continue to dabble) with competing operating systems of their own creation but have stuck with Android because Google saves them a ton of effort and requires nothing in return. Google creates a compelling economic case to use its compatible product versus something new and incompatible.

The result is a rich ecosystem of apps, the lifeblood of a successful operating system platform, that are compatible with versions of the platform Google makes more money from, as well as the open system which is makes nothing from. App makers, vital to Google’s success, aren’t in opposition to big G.

aosp
Better to make nothing than have all these players attack you as one, no?

If these phone makers switched away from Android Google would be facing a vast threat to their OS business. Switching to some other platform would create a unified front against Android which would be catastrophic to its business. Such a rival would then compete directly with Google for OS market share. It is better for Google to have a compatible platform it makes no money from than a well backed rival looking to take over the non-iOS market.

It’s also naive to think that Google will ever get its services onto Chinese mobile phones. Its stance towards China has been non-conciliatory and because of this homegrown rivals, notably Baidu, enjoy a commanding place in the market. Baidu is effectively state backed and enjoys numerous advantages Google will never replicate (for example, compare load times of Baidu Maps and Bing Maps in China – Baidu loads faster than any service you’ve ever seen).

Google is rightly not concerned about making nothing from these manufacturers as it understands the risks of a unified rival far outweigh any lost revenues it feels it should be entitled to. For this reason Google needs to hold the course and keep Android open running alongside the closed and paid version.

Why China’s new silk road plan is a pipe dream

superadmin
-
0

China Xi Jinping has grand dreams of new Asian trade routes but his ideas stand in stark contrast to his country’s political and military stance in the region and around the world.

Xi first proposed the concepts of the New Silk Road Economic Belt, which runs from China across Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, through the Malacca Strait to India, the Middle East and East Africa during overseas visits in 2013. The idea is to invest in infrastructure, a favorite investment of the Chinese, to alleviate bottlenecks that currently hamper trade between the communist state and its regional trading partners.

asia
Proposed New Silk Road trade routes [courtesy of World Bulletin]

Chinese academics, who are hardly impartial given they work for party sponsored think tanks, forecast a difficult path for the Silk Road initiatives but for the most politically correct of reasons. “The road ahead is paved with difficulties. The terrorist organisation Islamic State poses a great threat to the New Silk Road,” said Shi Ze, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

But this is nothing more than talking the party line. China constantly seeks international support for its oppression of minorities, specifically Tibet and the Southwestern Uyghurs. To see these populations as a legitimate threat to these ambitious trade initiatives is clear evidence of the communist party echo chamber at work.

The real threat to these projects is the increasingly belligerent stance China is taking in the region. We covered earlier this week its building of airbases in the South China Sea. These actions hit on both a political and military level and make neighbors and trading partners unwilling to trust China despite the massive sums of money they bring to the table.

Their actions have already caused closer military ties between the United States and Vietnam (no easy feat) while Japan, The Philippines and South Korea are all engaged in disputes that are likely to render game changing trade agreements impossible.

Meanwhile India is not just developing cutting edge cruise missiles and purchasing advanced jet fighters because of Pakistan. Increasingly India is viewing China as its largest military rival and is taken decisive steps to ensure it keeps pace with the rapid militarization of its Asian rival.

For Jinping to realize his lofty trade goals it will take more than just money. China still lacks refinement and sensitivity when it comes to international relations and until this is corrected it will have a difficult time achieving its ambitious objectives in the region.

Isolated Amazonian tribe found to have resistance to antibiotics

superadmin
-
0
Isolated Amazonian tribe found to have resistance to antibiotics

Despite having never been exposed to antibiotics, the common cause of resistance development, an isolated Amazonian tribe has been found to have the condition according to a paper from the New York University School of Medicine.

Researcher Maria Dominguez-Bello has been studying a remote tribe located deep in the jungle of Venezuela since their discovery in 2008. Upon hearing of the discovery she immediately contacted authorities, requesting permission to study the Yanomami tribe before they had been exposed to modern medicine.

“This information is important; because it will give us some light on what are the bacteria we are missing, what bacteria are we losing,” she says. “We need to get a better understanding of the microbiota in this community of hunter-gatherers before they are lost.”

E coli Ag Res Mag
Example gut bacteria

After 2 years spent getting the proper permits and an 11-month delay when Dominguez-Bello’s lab in New York City was closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, she and her colleagues eventually sequenced the Yanomami gut bacteria RNA in their labs to compare it with samples from industrialized Americans and rural Guahibo Amerindians of Colombia and farmers from Malawi.

When they compared the sequences, they found that the Yanomami have “significantly higher diversity than other populations,” including high amounts of Prevotella, Helicobacter, Oxalobacter, and Spirochaeta bacteria for example. These are absent or much reduced in industrialized humans. The medical workers also found that although the Yanomami had high levels of parasites, they were remarkably healthy and did not suffer from autoimmune disorders, diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease.

Microbiologist Gautam Dantas of Washington University in St. Louis also performed analysis on the Yanomami gut and oral samples, looking for antibiotic-resistance genes. The researchers cloned bacterial DNA from these samples and tested whether any of their genes could inactivate natural and synthetic antibiotics. Their findings from the Yanomami bacteria had nearly 60 unique genes that could turn on and rally to fend off antibiotics, including a six genes that could protect the bacteria from synthetic antibiotics. This is extremely worrying, Dantas says, because researchers have thought that it would take bacteria longer to evolve resistance to human produced antibiotics not found naturally in the soil.

The revelation is concerning because it indicates that “antibiotic resistance is ancient, diverse, and astonishingly widespread in nature – including within our own bodies,” says anthropologist Christina Warinner of the University of Oklahoma. “Such findings and their implications explain why antibiotic resistance was so quick to develop after the introduction of therapeutic antibiotics, and why we today should be very concerned about the proper use and management of antibiotics in both clinical and agricultural contexts.”

Microbiologist Justin Sonnenburg of Stanford University, co-author of the forthcoming book The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-term Health says “The big message is we in the Western world have lost the diversity in our microbiota. We have to study these groups to figure out what we lost, what these microbes do, and how we get back to a healthy microbiota.”

FBI caught lying about forensic matches for years

superadmin
-
0
FBI caught lying about forensic matches for years

Thousands of court cases could be up for review as the Department of Justice and the FBI made the shocking acknowledgement on Friday that virtually every case in which an FBI forensic expert testified on hair matches prior to 2000 contained inflated credibility numbers. The issue was found to be rampant, with over two decades of testimony affected.

26 of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors. This amounts to more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are helping the government with the country’s largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.

fbi_forensics
Evidence similar to that used in testimony under review [photo courtesy of FBI]

The revelations highlight a shocking disregard for due process and show a callous attitude within the Federal Bureau of Investigation towards fairness and justice. The agency was found to have an ‘ends justifies the means’ mentality, treating any suspects as criminals regardless of the fact sets behind the cases.

The cases examined, a small sample of those affected by the rampant fraud, include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. 14 of those individuals have been executed or died in prison, the groups said under an agreement with the government to publish the results after the review of the first 200 convictions.

The investigation is ongoing and is nearly certain to affect more than the small group of individuals currently being held to account. The revelations raise troubling questions about the impartiality of the FBI and accountability standards within the organization. On the heals of the string of scandals at the Secret Service perhaps it is time Americans ask more questions and demand more accountability from those sworn the serve and protect.

Army needs civilians to fight escalating cyberwar

superadmin
-
0
Army needs civilians to fight escalating cyberwar

The U.S. Army, in a move designed to attract talent cyber security professionals, will create a special civilian division according to a report released this week.

To better fill their ranks, “the Army created the Cyber Branch 17 [for Soldiers] and is exploring the possibility of creating a cyber career field for Army civilians,” Lt. Gen. Edward C. Cardon told senators.

Cardon, who is commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER), testified before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities during a hearing on April 14.

cardon_testimony
Lt. Gen. Edward C. Cardon delivers testimony to a senate subcommittee [photo courtesy of CSPAN]

Establishing a cyber career path for civilians will be easier than recruiting enough of them to fill the Army’s needs and also assist in retaining that talent, he said.

The poorly defined nature of cyber warfare rules and the multitude of state actors engaging in cyber warfare means demand for talented information security professionals is at an all time high for the Army. Countries like North Korea, Syria and Malaysia are investing significant sums into cyber armies, recognizing that they can never create effective physical armies and air forces on their limited budgets. Terrorist organizations like ISIS and Al Qaeda are other foes which the United States must defend itself against.

Cyberwarfare capabilities are not just being developed by small countries. The most notable threats come from countries with large standing armies like Russia and China. China’s Unit 61398 carried out attacks against American companies for years until they were exposed in a 60 page report by security firm Mandiant in early 2013. There are many such units operating in China and Russia and Army commanders are keenly aware of the need to counter such threats.

Recruiting and retaining Army civilian cyber talent “is challenging,” Cardon said, “given internal federal employment constraints regarding compensation and a comparatively slow hiring process.”

Current programs to attract and retain top civilian talent include “extensive marketing efforts, and leveraging existing programs and initiatives run by the National Security Agency, Office of Personnel Management, and National Science Foundation,” he said.

He also said that the “targeted and enhanced use of recruiting, relocation and retention bonuses, and repayment of student loans will improve efforts to attract, develop and retain an effective cyber civilian workforce. These authorities exist but require consistent and predictable, long-term funding.”

The General’s last comments underscore the need for political cooperation in Washington if America is to retain its dominant military position. Threats of sequestration and continued defence budget cuts limit the military’s ability to create new capabilities to deal with emerging threats like cyberwarfare.

Beautiful New Species Of Tree Frog Discovered in Costa Rican Mountains

superadmin
-
0

Brian Kubicki made the discovery of a lifetime this past February when he discovered the first new native frog species since 1973. Kubicki travelled deep into the Talamanca mountains where he found the tiny, semi-translucent frog lurking, despite more than a century of field work in the area.

“Costa Rica is a very well-studied area by herpetologists so this discovery was surprising,” Kubicki said. “We just needed some fieldwork in these areas that were poorly explored.”

Hyalinobatrachium dianae, named after his mother Diana, made its world debut in February in the taxonomy journal Zootaxa.

frog_underview
The delicate tree frog is a stunning shade of green. [photo courtesy of Brian Kubicki]

The frogs lack pigment in their skin and can only be found in parts of Central and South America. Some glass frogs, including H. dianae, are so see through that their organs are visible from their underside, hence the name.

costarica_frog
The frogs organs can be seen through its underside [Courtesy of Brian Kubicki]

Scientists are unsure as to why the frogs have such a see-through appearance, but a leading theory is that their translucence aids in camouflage. Costa Rica is home to 14 of the 149 species of glass frogs.

Kubicki’s team found six of the new frogs in higher elevations in the western provinces of Limón and Heredia. They are tiny, averaging just under an inch in length. They are characterized by unusually long and thin feet and bright white and black eyes.

They also have a very strange call which distinguishes it as a separate species.

“It’s advertisement call is quite unique,” Kubicki said. “It’s different than any other species that has been discovered.”

The unique call is used by male frogs to attract females for mating. Rather than using calls similar to other glass frogs, H. dianae’s call is a long metallic whistle with rapid fluctuations.

The call is similar to an insect’s call, which may assisted the frog in masking itself from field herpetologists for so long. The scientists also found genetic differences in H. dianae compared to other glass frogs.

The discovery marks the second time this year Kubicki has made a notable discovery in Costa Rica. He and fellow scientist Stanley Salazar discovered the first three Costa Rican specimens of the fringe-limbed treefrog, Ecnomiohyla bailarina.

This species was discovered in Panama in 2014. The specimens discovered by Kubicki and Salazar in Costa Rica were the first E. bailarina frogs seen outside of Panama.

After 100 Years Bald Eagles Return To New York!

superadmin
-
0
After 100 Years Bald Eagles Return To New York!

A young pair of Bald Eagles has been spotted in New York City! Despite the high rents, lack of green space and bad stroller traffic on the narrow sidewalks the enterprising couple have taken up residence on the South Shore of Staten Island.

The lovebirds appear to be incubating eggs, making their nest the very first New York City Bald Eagle nest reported in 100 years, New York City Audubon announced yesterday. Locals have named the male Vito and are expecting hatchlings within the next month – the egg incubation period for the birds is between 34 and 36 days.

Nobody is quite sure how many eggs are in the nest, given its height and difficult to access location.

2010-bald-eagle-kodiak

This marks the second pair of Bald Eagles spotted in the area this year. A tugboat captain spotted another pair on a little New York Harbor island off the coast. The young pair was observed shuttling nest material to the top of an unused dock. The birds hung around the island for a few weeks but eventually left the area. They were likely subadult Bald Eagles “playing house,” as is customary for young birds.

“We’re pretty excited that Bald Eagles are making New York City home.” the society said. “The presence of these eagles in such a densely populated human environment means two very encouraging things: the local ecosystem is a lot less polluted than it used to be, and the eagle population is getting large enough that some birds are actually getting crowded out of more remote habitats. That’s a big step for a species that appeared to be heading for extinction just a few decades ago.”

Affleck’s Family Owned Slaves and 6 Other Embarrassing Things We Learned From The Sony Leaks

superadmin
-
0
Affleck’s Family Owned Slaves and 6 Other Embarrassing Things We Learned From The Sony Leaks

The hacking of Sony this year by supposed North Korean sympathizers has been well documented – or so we thought. Earlier this week Wikileaks published over 20,000 pages of previously unseen documents stolen in the hack. They provided a convenient search tool so we could go through them without leaving the office or killing any trees.

Here’s the 10 most interesting things we learned:

(1.) The new Sony Xperia 4 looks like this and should be released this fall
Sony-Picture-hack-Xperia-Z4-leak-640x334

(2.) Amy Pascal, former co-chairman, spent $66,350 for a two day trip to Washington. She jetted in for the premiere of David Ayer‘s “Fury,” starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf. The tab included private jet travel, car services and a suite at the swanky St. Regis hotel.

(3.) Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t as green as he purports to be. The mega star took six private jet flights in just six weeks last year, spending more than $200,000 on private travel between LA and New York in such a short period of time. Perhaps he should consult his own website, Greenworldrising.org, to reduce his carbon footprint.

(4.) Harvey Weinstein is probably a bad guy. Sony accuses him of reneging on a 5 film distribution deal after only 3 films. Seems like a character fit with his latest allegations.

(5.) Angelina Jolie is a “Rampaging Spoiled Brat Living in Crazytown”. Another senior executive responded “Please kill me. Immediately.” when informed he could be working with the actress.

(6.) Snapchat is paying ex-Apple exec and iOS product head Scott Forstall 0.11% of the company to be an advisor. That’s a cool $15 million according the company’s last valuation.

(7.) PBS violated its reporting ethics rules and did not disclose Ben Affleck’s forefathers owned slaves. It’s unclear whether it was his great grandfather, a civil war mystic or his 6th great grandfather who was a revolutionary. The star aggressively sought to suppress the information and PBS finally acquiesced despite this being a clear violation of their ethical guidelines. An investigation has now commenced at the public broadcaster.

Major Concessions Needed In Comcast, Time Warner Cable Merger

superadmin
-
0

The Wall St Journal reports that representatives of Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc are preparing to meet U.S. Department of Justice officials to ‘discuss’ competition concerns the agency has regarding their planned $45 billion merger.

What this really means is that in order for the deal to go through there will need to be significant concessions which could render the deal uninteresting to either of the parties. The DOJ is concerned about specific markets where little competition exists already, usually in places where the option is either Time Warner or Comcast and nobody else. The agency has shown in the past it takes these type of issues seriously, even if they are in a relatively small number of markets compared to the overall deal size.

The DOJ may also be worried about the impact the merger has on competition for internet access. As we wrote about earlier this week the cable business is facing tough times. So the DOJ, in light of cable competitors like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Yahoo, may be willing to go a bit easier on this side of the business. The problem is that the Cable business and the internet business are closely tied. The DOJ’s specific concern appears to be that the combined company would have too much power in the Internet broadband market and would have unfair competitive leverage against TV channel owners and businesses offering online video programming.

The companies will meet with both the DOJ and FTC this Wednesday and remain open to potential remedies, according to their spokespeople. It will mark the first time they have had such meetings since the deal was announced over a year ago.

While the companies sound optimistic past experience suggests the DOJ will likely ask for substantial concessions in order to approve the deal.

America Now Leads World In Medical Marijuana Reform

superadmin
-
0

What a difference a decade makes. In 2005 only California had well defined medical cannabis reforms on the books, thanks to the impact of the Gonzales v. Raich ruling which seemed to separate state and federal laws. Oakland’s 2004 Proposition Z, which made “adult recreational marijuana use, cultivation and sales the lowest [city] law enforcement priority”, went further in recognizing that marijuana prohibition was a waste of taxpayer resources. Many cities across the state took, either formally or informally, the same approach. But as of 2005 the state was along in its progressive, rational view on the subject.

marijuana-269851_640 Sophisticated marijuana farm in Colorado

Fast forward to 2015 and America’s stance on the subject couldn’t be more different. In the last 18 months nearly half of all states have had ballot measures looking to end the prohibition in some form. Politicians are increasingly comfortable talking about the issue and many are seeing it as smart politics to get behind reform initiatives – a stance that ten years ago would have been political suicide. 2015 marks the first time a majority – 53% – of Americans support marijuana’s outright legalization and 73% are in favor of its use for medical purposes, according to a recent PeoplePress study.

This stands in stark contrast to a 1969 poll which found only 12% of Americans were in favor of legalization.

The fear, confusion and anger over our misguided (and racially motivated) anti-drug policies has been replaced by typical American optimism and ingenuity. Marijuana entrepreneurs are opening cafes, dispensaries, farms and distribution networks (in state of course!) to capitalize on the positive changes. Hope is in the air for those states still saddled with antiquated laws and relief permeates those who have joined the 21st century.

Marijuana reform has put our country on the forefront of good health policy. It has made our neighbor to the North, Canada, appear foolish and backwards.

Our old prohibition policies are a textbook example of what happens when government meddles in our beautiful economy. People lose their lives. Criminals prosper. Resources are allocated to where they ought not to be allocated (our massive police forces).

When our elected officials steer instead of dictate our society runs more smoothly. When they actually listen to the will of the people and to our finest minds good things happen.

This is something they should all keep in mind for the upcoming election. Our country is founded on people with similar but not identical values. Tolerance of these differences are what make our nation great. The marijuana reforms we’ve recently seen and will hopefully continue to see show what happens when we stick to the values that make our nation so great.

The Biggest Band You’ve Never Heard Of: Kidz Bop

superadmin
-
0
The Biggest Band You’ve Never Heard Of: Kidz Bop

Bloomberg has a fascinating piece on Kidz Bop, the preteen kids band that has more top 10 Billboard singles than all but 8 mega artists.

Carefully selected by industry veterans, the band is in its fourth iteration. The current lineup of Bredia (13), Grant (12), Ashlynn (13) and Matt (11) have been together since 2014 and recently released Kidz Bop 27 to a number 3 position on Bloomberg. In 2013 the band accounted for a massive 18.8 percent of all children’s music units sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Success like this requires near professional levels of both management and performance. Ashlynn is a notorious perfectionist who insists on doing take after take of radio promo snippets to make sure she gets it just right. Behind the kids are a fleet of handlers including two of their moms, one A&R guy, their manager, Kidz Bop’s COO and a full time teacher. It takes this level of support to maintain their Sirius XM radio show, their Youtube channel with over 18 million followers and their live tour (currently in full swing).

The idea for the group was something of an accident, the product of two former lawyers who got into direct marketed compilation albums. The duo, Balsam and Chenfeld, started by acquiring rights to 70s songs and putting them on compilations. They sold them via commercials aired on cheap TV channels like the Game Show Network. While moderately successful (remember Monster Ballads? It sold 3 million copies!) the pair stumbled on the Kidz Bop idea while raising their own children.

As their children grew up they became too old for Barney and Sesame Street yet too young, at least in their parents’ eyes, for Eminem and Britney Spears. The duo decided to record some songs with studio musicians and find 4 kids of similar age to their own to sing. The first album was a runaway success and the duo have been focused on Kidz Bop ever since.

They’ve even generated big name talent. Ross Lynch, star of Disney’s hit TV show Austin and Ally, is a Kidz Bop alumni and a talent sure to grace the big screen in the near future.

The future looks bright for Kidz Bop as well. Their mastery of both traditional and new media combined with a sustainable franchise means the business isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon.

Greece To Receive $5 Billion Bailout From Russia

superadmin
-
0

Der Spiegel is reporting that Greece is poised to sign a gas deal with Russia as early as Tuesday that could put up to €5 billion into the depleted Greek coffers, according to a senior figure in the ruling Syriza party.

A senior Greek official said the move could now “turn the tide” for the debt-stricken country, who risks defaulting on substantial IMF loans and possibly exiting the Euro.

During a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed interest in building in a pipeline that would bring Russian gas to Europe via Turkey and Greece, according to Reuters.

Under the plan, Greece would receive an advance of up to €5 from Russia based on expected future profits of the pipeline. Greece’s energy minister said last week that Athens would repay Moscow after 2019, when the pipeline is expected to be in service.

Greek officials were not immediately available to comment on the Spiegel report.

Given this is Greece the probability of actual repayment is negligible, given the likelihood of a Greek default is near certain and €5 billion is not enough to change the mechanics of Greek debt sustainability.

Putin very well knows this.

The Russian leader is not acting out of the kindness of his heart, but merely making another calculated move, one which accomplishes two things:

Russia gets to preserve its dominance over the European energy market by extending the Blue Stream all the way to Austria while leaving Ukraine in a complete bargaining vacuum. With Hungary and Serbia all eager to transit Russian gas to the Austrian central European gas hub, Greece was the missing link for a landline transit. This is no longer the case

Just as importantly, suddenly Russia will seem like the generous benefactor riding to Greece’s aid in a time of need. This will in turn even further antagonize the Eurozone and further cement favorable public opinion.

Several weeks ago it was reported that Russia already has a higher approval rating among the Greek population than the Eurozone. Russia has now just won a critical ally for the very low price of just €5 billion, without having to restructure the Greek balance sheet should Greece have exited the euro. This also means that all future attempts to impose further sanctions on Russia by Europe will fail thanks to the Greek veto vote.

Russia is hot on the tail of China looking to divide the spoils of the collapsing Eurozone: Beijing has sought to invest in Greece’s infrastructure and bought up €100m worth of short-term government debt last week the Telegraph reported.

The only remaining question following yet another master stroke by Putin is what will Europe do, now that Russia has, in just under one year, not only “annexed” Crimea but fully drawn Greece (and the Mediterranean courtesy of Cyprus) into its sphere of influence.

Experimental Drone Does Everything Human Pilots Can Do

superadmin
-
0

America’s drone programs took a major step forward on Friday after the US Navy announced the experimental X-47B unmanned aircraft demonstrator successfully carried out air-to-air refuelling from a tanker, the last of the milestone the X-47B project was intended to accomplish.

The test took place Thursday off the coast of Maryland. X-47B “Salty Dog 502” successfully plugged into a tanker aircraft, demonstrating that an unmanned, tailless and jet powered drone can not only take off and land on an aircraft carrier but can also refuel while airborne.

It had already been demonstrated that un-piloted aircraft can refuel air-to-air but it wasn’t known if a robotic combat-worthy carrier-based variant could do it too.

When the X-47B made its first debut, Captain Martin Deppe of the US Navy said “The X-47B will demonstrate how unmanned combat aircraft can operate from aircraft carriers […] extending the carrier’s reach and power projection from anywhere in the world.”

The X-47B had previously demonstrated that it could take off from – and, more notably – land on an aircraft carrier at sea. Such arrested landings have long been known to be one of the most difficult and dangerous feats for human pilots to master. US naval aviators are known to measure their manhood by the number of these “traps” in their logbook.

The original X-47B contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman back in 2004 by DARPA, alongside a similar land-based effort, the X-45. The US Air Force cancelled the X-45 but the Navy decided to carry the X-47B forward.

The two robot jets will now be retired, either to museums or the Pentagon’s famous desert aircraft boneyard in Arizona, which means there are more fearsome and highly top secret drones in the pipeline we don’t yet know about.

See Every Tree In New York City Mapped By Species

superadmin
-
0
See Every Tree In New York City Mapped By Species

Brooklyn-based designer Jill Hubley just made your weekend 1000x cooler. Despite New York City being about as urban as urban gets, Jill’s latest project shows that even concrete jungles harbor leafy life.

The talented designer used 2005 tree census data to map all 592, 130 trees in the Big Apple, creating a colorful interactive map you can play with for hours.

The map shows the distribution of trees, color-coded by species, throughout New York City’s five boroughs and allows users to zoom all the way down to their specific building (she has yet to figure out a way to map your house plants, sorry!).

Hubley even surprised herself, writing:

I would’ve thought the trees throughout the city would be fairly homogeneous in terms of the percentages planted. Instead, Brooklyn has more London Plane trees than any other species (23.6%), Queens has a ton of Norway maples (18.3%), the majority of Manhattan’s trees are Honey locusts (23.3%), and Staten Island has a high percentage of Callery pears (24.8%). The Bronx has the most evenly distributed assortment of trees—Honey locust, Norway maple, and London Plane tree are all popular (11-13% each).

Scroll down for photos of the site and definitely check it out yourself at http://jillhubley.com/project/nyctrees/

Happy Citizen Earth Day NYC!

Left, London Plane distribution, right, Silver maple distribution.
SilverMaple

Whole of NYC
treemap

Twitter Claims To Move User Accounts For Privacy But Is It Being Honest?

superadmin
-
0

Twitter claims to have taken drastic steps this week to shield it’s users from NSA spying, Americans.org has learned. In an update to its privacy policy on Friday Twitter created a two-lane service that treats US and non-US users differently. But is this what’s really going on?

If you live in the US, your account is still controlled by San Francisco-based Twitter Inc, but if you live anywhere else in the world your account is now handled by Twitter International Company in Dublin, Ireland. The changes also affect Twitter’s new live streaming app Periscope.

The significance is that Twitter Inc is governed by US law, it is obliged to comply with NSA-driven court requests for data. Data stored in Ireland is not subject to the same obligation.

The move comes after Facebook adopted the same tactic earlier this year. The change could also have implications for how advertising is handled in the future and is not necessarily good for users.

While the company gets to make headlines for protecting user privacy Ireland has the most relaxed privacy laws of any European country. This is important for any company looking to monetize user data through advertising. While data that is processed in Europe may in theory be beyond the reach of the NSA, the policy change makes for a convenient sidestep of future legislation which may make it more difficult for US-based companies to share data about European users with advertisers.

The reality is that the NSA has access to every single bit of data on every single user, regardless of where it is hosted. Its reach is unparalleled and its operations so sophisticated that few people can fully appreciate just how comprehensive their reach is. In short, they see absolutely everything. Twitter knows this which makes their claims about the NSA ring hollow.

The fact is that on social media, you and your information are the product. The company wants to ensure it is not limited by pesky laws – current or future – and so is taking steps to make sure it can continue to use you and your data as it pleases.

The changes kick in on 18 May 2015 and Twitter briefly explains them in a policy update post:

If you live outside the United States, our services are now provided to you by Twitter International Company, our company based in Dublin, Ireland. Twitter International Company will be responsible for handling your account information under Irish privacy and data protection law, which is based on the European Union’s Data Protection Directive.

If you live in the United States, the services will continue to be provided to you by Twitter, Inc., based in San Francisco, California, under United States law.

Of course avoiding the NSA or making advertising easier are not quite how Twitter explains the reason for the change:

As more people around the world use our services, we’ve expanded our operations to improve how we support our users globally.

Hollywood Rejoices As The Pirate Bay Reopens For ‘Business’

superadmin
-
0
Hollywood Rejoices As The Pirate Bay Reopens For ‘Business’

For the first time since it was raided late last year, Hollywood’s favorite website, The Pirate Bay, is allowing users to open new accounts again. Registrations had been closed for months due to security issues and to avoid flooding by fakes and spam.

After considerable downtime the site came back to life in late January but was still recovering from the raid. The notorious torrent site has gone through several hosting companies since its return but the site is now stable and once again sailing the high seas.

With many of the old moderators back on board the spam problems are also back under control. All this time, however, there was still one major feature missing from the site: the ability to register a new account. This meant new users were unable to publish new content.

This last barrier was removed a few hours ago when TPB formally reopened user registrations and can now be accessed at thepiratebay.org.

“The registrations remained closed as a security precaution. But now that the mods are back and stable, new accounts won’t flood the site with fakes,” Pirate Bay’s Winston was quoted as saying.

Executives from HBO, the RIAA and the MPAA were not available for comment but are no doubt displeased by the latest turn of events, despite numerous studies showing that piracy actually increases sales of media.

Wayback Playback: Vinyl Set To Outsell CDs On Record Store Day 2015

superadmin
-
0

Shoppers will be hitting their local indie music shops today for Record Store Day 2015 yet they won’t be buying CDs or mp3s. Instead they’ll be buying vinyl and even cassette tapes according to recent data.

Shoppers are viewing the CD format seems as outdated with retro modes of music winning favor with younger, hipper fans — at least the ones who still buy music instead of just streaming it off the web.

There’s a long list of limited-edition releases being funnelled to independent record stores for Record Store Day — the biggest shopping day of the year for such shops. Hundreds of vinyl LPs, EPs and 7-inch singles are being offered, yet only a handful of CDs at most shops.

CD sales are dropping at a rate of 15 percent per year in each of the past three years. While vinyl record sales have been climbing since 2007 and saw a 52 percent spike last year, with 9.2 million albums sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“A lot of our older shoppers still buy CDs, but we’ll have kids in here who say, ‘I haven’t bought a CD in five years.” Bob Fuchs, retail manager of Electric Fetus, an independent in the Minneapolis area retail manager, said.

Fuchs attributes Record Store Day to adding spark to vinyl’s massive resurgence. Vinyl, in turn, has helped indie stores not only stay in business but actually increase profits in recent years despite the popularity of streaming and downloading music sites.

Chris Brown, the man credited with the idea for the “holiday”, said the point was to prove that “things really weren’t as dire for independent record stores as the media made it out to be” in the early 2000s.

“Chain stores like Tower Records were closing in droves, but those of us at the independent level knew that most true music fans still wanted to get their hands on this stuff,” said Brown, who is VP of marketing at Bull Moose Records in Portland, Maine.

Brown said vinyl’s role in Record Store Day is common knowledge because “vinyl just sounds better.”

Even teen-centric clothing stores such as Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic have brought vinyl back to the malls that once housed record stores such as Musicland and Sam Goody. The trend looks set to continue as younger music listeners tune into the nostalgia and better sound that comes with vinyl.

Oklahoma To Execute With… Nitrogen?

superadmin
-
0

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill into law Friday that allows the state to perform executions using nitrogen gas should lethal injection be ruled unconstitutional or become unavailable.

According to Fallin’s office, nitrogen causes a quick loss of consciousness and then death from lack of oxygen. Research conducted by Americans.org found no record of nitrogen ever being used in an execution in the United States.

“The person will become unconscious within eight to 10 seconds and death a few minutes later. In other words, a humane, quick and painless death,” said Rep. Mike Christian, one of the bill’s authors.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the Washington Post that the same “painless” argument has been used before to advance the use of lethal injections.

“The hasty manner in which this bill sped into law reflects the same lack of care with which Oklahoma has managed its execution process historically,” he said.

Currently Oklahoma has put all executions on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews its use of lethal injections. The state came under scrutiny last year when it took 43 minutes to kill convicted killer Clayton Lockett.

Fallin remains unwavering in her support for the death penalty.

“Oklahoma executes murderers whose crimes are especially heinous,” Fallin said. “I support that policy, and I believe capital punishment must be performed effectively and without cruelty. The bill I signed today gives the state of Oklahoma another death penalty option that meets that standard.”

The governor’s office said the first choice for execution is lethal injection, followed by nitrogen gas, the electric chair and the firing squad.

America: Home Of The Truly Innovative

superadmin
-
0

Today the British government announced that Mole Solutions would be awarded funding for an underground transport system. The idea is to deliver goods on rails, buried below the ground, housed in a tunnel between 3 and 6 feet wide. The train carrying goods would be lifted above the tracks using magnetic levitation (maglev) and powered by electricity.

While the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in Britain have stumped up cash for a trial run in Northampton this is a great example of what makes our country so great.

Elon Musk, a modern day renaissance man, has proposed a very similar system that appears infinitely more thought out. His idea involves a similar system above ground, running parallel to already constructed highways. It would be self powered thanks to solar (impossible underground) and use negative pressure inside the above ground tunnels to reduce drag.

Amazon too is looking to solve the same transportation of goods problem using a fleet of drones which would not require any tunnels or tubes to be built and would instead deliver items to warehouses close to the end delivery point.

While we applaud Mole Solutions and wish them all the best their idea seems impractical given the cost of constructing subterranean railways. They have further problems given Britain’s age. Dig down 20, 30 or even 50 feet in England and you’ll find ancient graveyards, foundations and scores of other historical artefacts that require tedious excavation (in the UK you must by law report all such findings and allow the government to conduct thorough excavations before you proceed).

American innovation is second to none and the announcement today underscores the need to keep our markets competitive and open. By doing this we encourage the very best – in the world – to rise to the top with solutions to problems that make sound economic sense. We must be careful not to play to our competition and instead continue to do what we do best – compete and innovate.

While America Struggles NFL Gets Full Patient Health Records

superadmin
-
0

We have every piece of technology we need to share patient health records, reports NFL Chief Information Officer Michelle McKenna-Doyle. Instead, the issue is bickering amongst the network of hospitals, doctors, HMOs, insurance companies and technology providers that all have a stake in your electronic health records.

While us regular Americans have our health compromised by greedy companies looking to lock down the market or drag their feet on integration to the direct detriment of our health, the NFL is blazing a trail. The NFL’s current system could in fact be used as the model for Electronic Medical Records going forward.

Right now team doctors and the league have access to player medical records on desktop, tablet and mobile phone. The records contain every checkup, doctor’s note, prescription, MRI and medical procedure the player has had going all the way back to highschool.

But it wasn’t easy, says McKenna-Doyle. The league has had to repeatedly bully various parties into opening up their systems. In one case commissioner Roger Goodell called a hospital CEO and personally admonished them for holding back a player’s medical records.

This shows just how many obstructions remain in the quest to share your medical records electronically and get the benefits of near perfect information regardless of which doctor you visit.

While we’re all for small government, this feels like an area where your elected representatives ought to get involved. Not everyone can have the commish call on their behalf but everyone is certainly entitled to the best healthcare possible.

Radioactive WWII Aircraft Carrier Found Off California

superadmin
-
0
Radioactive WWII Aircraft Carrier Found Off California

NOAA, working with private industry partners and the U.S. Navy, has confirmed the location and condition of the USS Independence, the lead ship of its class of light aircraft carriers that were critical during the American naval offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

Resting in 2,600 feet of water off California’s Farallon Islands, the carrier is “amazingly intact,” said NOAA scientists, with its hull and flight deck clearly visible, and what appears to be a plane in the carrier’s hangar bay.

Independence (CVL 22) operated in the central and western Pacific from November 1943 through August 1945 and later was one of more than 90 vessels assembled as a target fleet for the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in 1946. Damaged by shock waves, heat and radiation, Independence survived the Bikini Atoll tests and, like dozens of other Operation Crossroads ships, returned to the United States.

While moored at San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Independence was the primary focus of the Navy’s studies on decontamination until age and the possibility of its sinking led the Navy to tow the blast-damaged carrier to sea for scuttling on Jan. 26, 1951.

“After 64 years on the seafloor, Independence sits on the bottom as if ready to launch its planes,” said James Delgado, chief scientist on the Independence mission and maritime heritage director for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “This ship fought a long, hard war in the Pacific and after the war was subjected to two atomic blasts that ripped through the ship. It is a reminder of the industrial might and skill of the “greatest generation’ that sent not only this ship, but their loved ones to war.”

NOAA’s interest in Independence is part of a mandated and ongoing two-year mission to locate, map and study historic shipwrecks in Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and nearby waters. The carrier is one of an estimated 300 wrecks in the waters off San Francisco, and the deepest known shipwreck in the sanctuary.

Why (Verizon) Cable Is A Dead Duck

superadmin
-
0
Why (Verizon) Cable Is A Dead Duck

News broke today that Verizon is launching FiOS Custom TV, a package of basic cable channels plus two ‘addon packs’ that will retail for $55. The news was heralded as Verizon heading off cord cutters.

The notable piece of the announcement was that of the 2 packs offered there were Sports and Sports Plus. Sports will carry ESPN, Sports Plus will carry regional sports.

This is interesting because analysts have been pegging ESPN’s value alone at about $35 per month and the regional sports channels as a group would be worth something similar.

If that’s true, Verizon is now essentially giving away other cable channels AND allowing their subscribers to take ESPN alone (basically – they include some other channels in there too but by pricing its just ESPN plus others for free).

Verizon is uniquely positioned, offering wireless and internet, so it needs less cable revenue than say Comcast or Dish or DirectTV.

The move to price such valuable channels so aggressively should be a big wakeup call for the cable industry. While it will probably slow subscriber loss in the long run how long will it be before people say $35 for ESPN on a TV isn’t worth it, instead wanting it on their phones and laptops instead (where they can Chromecast or screen share to a big TV)?

The cable business needs to figure out an online model for live sports immediately, before someone else comes over the top and reduces them to mere providers of internet access.

Former Goldman Banker To Be Clinton’s Treasury Secretary

superadmin
-
0
Former Goldman Banker To Be Clinton’s Treasury Secretary

Fresh on the heels of former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke landing at Citadel, the world’s most leveraged hedge fund, the revolving door continues as rumours were confirmed last night by Bloomberg that Hillary Clinton will name Gary Gensler as her pick for Treasury Secretary.

This should come as little surprise given recently this position was occupied by another Goldmanite, Timothy Geithner.

Gensler was most recently head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (2009 until 2014) where he allowed Wall Street firms to manipulate, rig, and otherwise abuse the US commodity market which he was supposed to supervise.

Many would argue Gensler was just simply protecting his former colleagues from civil or criminal investigation and prosecution. After all Gensler is far better known for not only having worked at Goldman Sachs for 18 years most recently as co-head of finance, prior to joining the CFTC, but for becoming the youngest ever Goldman partner, at the tender age of 30.

Gensler also holds the title of being the wealthiest member of the original Obama administration with 2009 reported net assets of between $15,533,000 and $61,745,000. From these massive number it appears that because he had been paid well at Goldman he now has a duty to his former employer: to keep Goldman (or any other Wall Street bank) off the hook of any regulatory investigation.

It will be interesting to see how Clinton’s “grass roots” campaign centered around Hillary as everyday American spins this choice.

Hair Regrowth Study Suggests Skin Cells Communicate

superadmin
-
0

Bacteria communicate among themselves. A chemical system called ‘quorum sensing’ allows those single-celled bugs to tell when their numbers have multiplied enough to mount an effective attack or emit glowing light.

The team of scientists who learned about this brainless bacterial coordination some 20 years ago has uncovered new evidence indicating animal cells may speak the same lingo.

Their findings were revealed through an unexpected approach: plucking hairs. When a researcher at the University of Southern California and his colleagues plucked 200 hairs from mice in a specific pattern in a confined area, ensuring that many neighboring hairs were pulled, more than 1,000 hairs grew back in their place, including some beyond the plucked region. The results were published April 9 in the journal Cell.

The study begged the question: Why don’t the same number of plucked hairs grow back to replace their fallen kin? It appears that hundreds of affected hair follicles released chemical signals relaying distress. Then, once enough neighboring cells sent out similar chemical flares, sensors on the skin detected the messages and took collective action: Incredibly, those messages induced the regeneration of as much as five times the amount of replacement hair.

If ‘quorum sensing’ was behind this action, as the research suggests, it would represent some of the first proof to date that this phenomenon doesn’t just occur in bacteria cells but also animals cells.

“It’s a pretty new field, but if cells can signal to bacteria in the gut, as research has shown, you would think they could signal amongst themselves as well,” so these findings make sense, says Julia van Kessel, an assistant research scientist at Indiana University Bloomington.

Just don’t go thinking the hair plucking reaction means that if you start to go bald, plucking a few surrounding hairs will trigger a massive resurgence or that irritating the scalp will be the key to luscious locks, according to lead author Cheng-Ming Chuong, a professor of pathology at USC.

To combat male pattern baldness, which is triggered by genes and hormones and involves changes in the hair follicles themselves, much more study would need to take place before researchers can understand how or even if these findings can be translated into a treatment.

Still, something was clearly occurring beyond individual hair regeneration, Chuong says. This should give hope to all the follicle challenged men out there.

1...149150151152Page 150 of 152
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv