Clipmarks | rmowery's clips

Dell accidentally sells 19-inch monitors for $15 in Taiwan

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:01:05 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I guess the power of the Tweet didn't help in this case, though it did generate quite the traffic stream in a very short amount of time.

Clip Source: www.techspot.com

Dell accidentally sells 19-inch monitors for $15 in Taiwan

Taiwan consumer regulators have ordered Dell to honor a pricing slip-up on their website that offered 19-inch LCD monitors for only NT$500 (around $15). The pricing mistake was posted late Thursday, and while it has been fixed since, news of the supposed bargain spread quickly via email, blogs and sites like Twitter. In the eight hours before Dell corrected the listing to the intended price of NT$4,800 ($148), 26,000 people had placed orders for nearly 140,000 displays.

Dell apologized and promised to offer “reasonable discounts” to those who ordered the incorrectly-priced monitors. Naturally, people were not happy. Taiwan’s Consumer Protection Commission said it has received 471 complaints about the mix-up and ordered Dell to complete orders for customers who had only ordered one monitor. Those who had ordered more than one should receive discounts on the second and further units.

Tags: ad error, advertisement, computer monitor, dell, taiwan

PITT STUDY: Accidental release blamed in swine flu outbreak

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:29:01 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Well, at least it's one theory. So if they know where it came from, then it should be feasible to stop it, right?

Clip Source: www.pittsburghlive.com

PITT STUDY: Accidental release blamed in swine flu outbreak

Sick pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa and scientists' accidental release of an "extinct" flu virus in 1977 played key roles in creating a strain that has swept the globe and sparked fear of a more deadly flu season this winter.

University of Pittsburgh infectious disease experts reviewed nearly a century of epidemiology reports to trace the origins of swine flu, the H1N1 virus, that emerged in Mexico this spring. It has sickened at least 27,000 people and killed more than 100 in the United States.

"Our review is the perfect combination of history, public health, science and politics, really," said Dr. Shanta Zimmer, an assistant professor at Pitt's School of Medicine and lead author of the research paper, which will be published in the July 16 issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

Tags: epidemic, flu, pandemic, pitt

Cities Grow at Suburbs' Expense During Recession

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:35:05 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: The recession might have been just the thing to drive people back to city living. I still think the biggest issue with most cities (albeit some exceptions) is public school systems are have not been so good. Perhaps with migration back to the city lifestyle we will see more push for better schools, etc.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

JULY 1, 2009

Cities Grow at Suburbs' Expense During Recession

U.S. cities that for years lost residents to the suburbs are holding onto their populations with a mix of people trapped in homes they can't sell and those who prefer urban digs over more distant McMansions, according to Census data released Wednesday.

Growing cities are growing faster and shrinking cities are losing fewer people, reflecting a blend of choice and circumstance.

In Chicago, Matthew Sessa and his wife sold their townhouse and decided against buying a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. They bought a three-bedroom in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood instead, with a yard not much bigger than their garage.

"What we ended up getting in the city was just as nice, and the neighborhood that we moved into also has a very good elementary and junior high," said Mr. Sessa, a commercial banker who is 37 years old and has a baby due any day.

Tags: arizona, chicago, cities, real estate, suburbs, texas

E.P.A. Lists ‘High Hazard’ Coal Ash Dumps

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:29:38 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I am actually surprised that Pennsylvania did not have more on the list. Coal burning and the ash are such terrible pollutants. If it weren't for all the lobbying firms out there, it might be feasible to shut down 85% of them. The pollution they cause is terrible. We need to find better methods and stop letting those with the $$$ tell us that coal is a clean and renewable energy, since it is not. It is like oil, something we are killing the planet earth extracting from the ground and poluuting our air and water.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

E.P.A. Lists ‘High Hazard’ Coal Ash Dumps

The Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of 44 “high hazard potential” coal ash waste dumps across the country. The “high hazard” rating applied to sites where a dam failure would most likely result in a loss of human life, the environmental agency advisory said, but did not assess the structural integrity of the dam or its likelihood of failure.

The list, released late on Monday, was compiled as part of the agency’s inventory of coal ash sites after more than a billion gallons of ash broke through a dam at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant west of Knoxville last December. An engineering analysis of the failure, released last week, cited design problems like the height of the ash, among other factors.

Tags: ash, coal, coal ash, energy, epa, pollution

Engineers Are The Best Deal - So Stock Up On Them

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:33:14 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Good perspective.

Clip Source: www.techcrunch.com

Engineers Are The Best Deal - So Stock Up On Them

Productivity gains in software engineering are powering innovation. Everyone is more productive these days. This has been a consistent trend for at least the past decade, where productivity gains have been particularly strong within the business sector. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, today’s business industry workers are on average 30% more productive than their 1998 counterparts (productivity growth of roughly 2.6% per year).

The most dramatic gains, however, have occurred within software development.

Software engineers today are about 200-400% more productive than software engineers were 10 years ago because of open source software, better programming tools, common libraries, easier access to information, better education, and other factors. This means that one engineer today can do what 3-5 people did in 1999!

Tags: computer science, engineer, engineering, opensource, startups

Iran ex-monarch's son urges Israel to back rioters

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:59:38 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Some sound advice, as long as Israel is invited by the groups trying to overthrow the current dictatorship in Iran. Israel also needs to get in and get back out, otherwise trouble would arise.

I really feel for the people of Iran. Good people being surpressed, controlled, and even killed by an Evil Government. The government wants to speak for the people, the people want to speak for themselves.

Clip Source: www.presstv.ir

Iran ex-monarch's son urges Israel to back rioters

The ousted Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi's son urges Israel to support post-election riots in Iran to bring down the government of Tehran.

Reza Pahlavi, who is seen as a promising figure in pushing for a change of the government in Iran, told Maariv that Israel should back up recently sparked riots in Iran following the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the next president of the country.

The very existence of the ruling government in Iran could lead to a nuclear Holocaust, the former crown prince said but warned against an Israeli attack on the country.

Under the accusation that Iran poses an 'existential threat' to Israel, Tel Aviv, the Middle East's sole possessor of nuclear warheads, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with a military attack over its nuclear work.

Tags: democracy, freedom, iran, mohammed-resza, shah

Iranian authorities scramble to negate Neda Soltan 'martyrdom'

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:07:14 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: The world really needs to extend a hand to help these people. Let's NOT let this get to the point of all these government executions evolving to genocide, before the international community steps in and tells this dictatorship to cease attacking its own people. Action is needed now, not just from the US, but all the international powers.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Iranian authorities scramble to negate Neda Soltan 'martyrdom'

The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of a student shot dead in Tehran to take down mourning posters as they struggle to stop her becoming the rallying point for protests against the presidential election.

Neda Salehi Agha Soltan, 26, was killed as she watched a pro-democracy protest, and mobile phone footage of her last moments have become a worldwide symbol of Iran's turmoil.

The authorities had already banned a public funeral or wake and have prevented gatherings in her name while the state-controlled media has not mentioned Miss Soltan's death.

Today it was reported that they had also told her family to take down the black mourning banners outside their home in the Tehran suburbs to prevent it becoming a place of pilgrimage. They were also told they could not hold a memorial service at a mosque.

Tags: community, genocide, iran, martyrdom, neda soltan

D.C. trains collide, at least 6 dead

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:46:44 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Wow!

Clip Source: www.upi.com

D.C. trains collide, at least 6 dead

22 (

WASHINGTON, June UPI) -- One Metrorail commuter rear-ended another in the Washington metro area Monday, killing at least six people, officials said.

Scores of others were injured in the 5 p.m. EDT collision of two six-car Red Line trains between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations near the D.C.-Maryland line, The Washington Post reported.

The trains were both headed in the same direction and collided with such force that the front end of one ended up atop the rear of the other, officials said. One of the fatalities was the operator of the trailing train, the newspaper said.

Tags: collision, dc, technology, trains

Raw Cookie Dough: So Tasty, So Dangerous

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:47:21 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Oh No....say it isn't so.....

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Raw Cookie Dough: So Tasty, So Dangerous

It's not known for sure yet whether Nestle Toll House cookies are to blame for an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened at least 66 people in 28 states, but it seems likely. "Many" of the afflicted people had eaten raw Toll House cookie dough, according to ABC News.

Nestle has recalled the refrigerated product and warned people against eating it raw, as incredibly delicious as it might be. They shouldn't eat it cooked either, the company said, until the source of the outbreak has been discovered. Cooking would normally kill the bacteria, but, of course, Nestle is taking no chances.

The E. coli strain "has not been detected in our product," Nestle said in a statement announcing the recall. But people "who have purchased these products should not consume them. Instead, we are asking that consumers return these products to their local grocer for a full refund."

Tags: cookie dough, ecoli, food, poisoning, recall

Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:36:15 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: That's is just unbelievable. How the heck did they even get that much in bonds pulled together and jammed into a suitcase? I am just stunned.

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- It’s a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.

Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.

Tags: agents, bonds, economy, japanese, korea, us dollar

Thomas L. Friedman: The Winds of Change

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:58:52 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Some very good points. Especially on techology as one major disruptive force.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Winds of Change?

Twenty years ago, I wrote a book about the Middle East, and recently I was thinking of updating it with a new introduction. It was going to be very simple — just one page, indeed just one line: “Nothing has changed.”

It took me two days covering the elections in Beirut to realize that I was dead wrong. No, something is going on in the Middle East today that is very new. Pull up a chair; this is going to be interesting.

First is the diffusion of technology. The Internet, blogs, YouTube and text messaging via cellphones, particularly among the young — 70 percent of Iranians are under 30 — is giving Middle Easterners cheap tools to communicate horizontally, to mobilize politically and to criticize their leaders acerbically, outside of state control. It is also enabling them to monitor vote-rigging by posting observers with cellphone cameras.

Tags: arabs, blogs, change, facebook, middle east, technology

Participative dining experiences

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:35:40 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Old article, but probably more relevant. Creating niche and limited seating venues for dining seems to be a viable trend. Also allows for a more meaningful social dining experience.

I only wish I could remember the name of the small venue that is in NYC and the two people that host it only have it once a month. Just can't find my bookmark to that site.

Clip Source: www.impactlab.com

Participative dining experiences are redefining the way we think about food

Underground restaurants have found their niche. Stringing together the farm-to-table movement and a bloggy kind of interactivity, they have gained a following among food lovers, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who have an opinion on local versus organic, prefer intimate and casual to grand and ceremonial, and are open to

On a beautiful Saturday morning in this village of 6,000 about half an hour from Ithaca, a group of friends and acquaintances gathered at Cold Brook Farms, which specializes in wild game and doubles as a hunting preserve. Most had driven up from Brooklyn late the night before, and now, at an hour that was way too early for brunch, they were in a low-slung outbuilding decorated with taxidermy, groggily joking about the décor and awaiting coffee and doughnuts. “All right,” announced Michael J. Cirino, one of their hosts, “we’re going to butcher a boar, if anyone wants to watch.”

Tags: cooking, food, participative dining, underground restaurants

Obama Tells American Businesses to Drop Dead: Kevin Hassett

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:54:20 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I am not even sure what to think of this opinion piece. I do agree from the aspect corporate tax is too high, but to blame Obama for that is ludicrious, since that happened over many many years.

This whole economy thing is such a huge mess!

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

Obama Tells American Businesses to Drop Dead: Kevin Hassett

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- I’ve finally figured out the Obama economic strategy. President Barack Obama and his team have been having so much fun wielding dictatorial power while rescuing “failed” firms, that they have developed a scheme to gain the same power over every business. The plan is to enact policies that are so anticompetitive that every firm needs a bailout.

Once that happens, their new pay czar Kenneth Feinberg can set the wage for everybody and Rahm Emanuel can stack the boards of all of our companies with his political cronies.

“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said, “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S.” If Microsoft, perhaps our most competitive company, has to abandon the U.S. in order to continue to thrive, who exactly is going to stay?

Tags: economy, government, obama, offshore, taxes

Pentagon Developing Shape-Shifting 'Transformers' for Battlefield

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:44:45 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Way Cool stuff. The medical applications for this type of thing could be incredible. Granted that this is more material science than Tissue ReEngineering, but similar principles. Imagine the potential for transportation, where vehicles could expand or contract based on the need of the driver (small size for 1 person) or it's soccer night and a SUV size is needed, presto - all from the same block of "stuff". Sooo much postive stuff. So long as they don't turn into The Replicators as on Stargate SG-1

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Pentagon Developing Shape-Shifting 'Transformers' for Battlefield

Real-life "Transformers" could soon be used by American soldiers on the battlefield.

The Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is well into the second phase of a project to develop "programmable matter" that could reshape itself to fit any situation, reports SIGNAL magazine.

Program manager Dr. Mitchell R. Zakin give the example of a soldier needing a tool. He commands a bucket of programmable matter to form a wrench, and it does. Then he needs a hammer, and the wrench dissolves and reforms into a hammer.

Other applications of the technology would be robots that reshape themselves to adapt to specific jobs or conditions, aircraft wings that morph for more efficient airflow, uniforms that change density and coloring according to environment, and even "Terminator 2"-style liquid-metal robots that flow through cracks and small openings.

Tags: darpa, energy, material science, robots, shape shifting

Meteorologist trying to name new Cloud Formations

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:10:24 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Leave it to Mother Nature to paint the world with something unique and awe inspiring.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

The cloud with no name: Meteorologists campaign to classify unique 'Asperatus' clouds seen across the world

Whipped into fantastical shapes, these clouds hang over the darkening landscape like the harbingers of a mighty storm.

But despite their stunning and frequent appearances, the formations have yet to be officially recognised with a name.

They have been seen all over Britain in different forms - from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands - and in other parts of the world such as New Zealand, but usually break up without producing a storm.

Tags: clouds, meterology, nature