Bankocracy

Flamboyant Australian tycoon unveils plan for Titanic replica

"Flamboyant Australian tycoon Clive Palmer unveiled his plan Tuesday for building a perfect replica of the Titanic — plus a lot of extra lifeboats. More than a century after the original, supposedly unsinkable ocean liner hit an iceberg and went down in the North Atlantic, Palmer thinks the time has come to complete the unfinished journey to New York. Featuring the same rigid divisions as in 1912 between first, second and third class, passengers will eat either in an ornate dining room or at a long common table. Passengers in the luxury section will enjoy the identical grand staircase and reproductions of the original Titanic’s Turkish bath and swimming pool." Continue reading →

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How Inventor Paul Vo Created a Little Black Box That Could Change Guitars Forever

"The Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer is one of the most innovative musical instrument products created in years. Strap one onto any acoustic guitar and you can transform the way it sounds by breaking—or at least manipulating—the laws of physics. Here's the story of how inventor Paul Vo made a device that sounds like magic. The Vo-96 changes the very physics of how a guitar makes sound to begin with. How do you do that? The device has what Vo calls a 'two-way conversation' with the guitar strings. It listens to the strings and then applies a precisely calculated magnetic energy back to the strings to change how they sound." Continue reading →

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How the Taxman Cleared the Dance Floor

"Clubs that provided strictly instrumental music to which no one danced were exempt from the cabaret tax. It is no coincidence that in the back half of the 1940s a new and undanceable jazz performed primarily by small instrumental groups—bebop—emerged as the music of the moment. How differently might bebop have been expressed if it had been allowed to develop organically instead of in an atmosphere where dancing was discouraged by the taxman? The cabaret tax was finally eliminated in 1965. By then, the Swing Era ballrooms and other 'terperies' were long gone, and public dancing was done in front of stages where young men wielded electric guitars." Continue reading →

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Special Privilege: Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba trip was OK’d by US Treasury Dept

"Beyonce and rapper husband Jay Z visited Havana last week on a trip that was fully licensed by the United States Treasury Department, according to a source familiar with the trip, reports Reuters. The longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents most Americans from traveling to the island without a license granted by the U.S. government." Continue reading →

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Legendary Havana bar ‘Sloppy Joe’s’ reopens

"Mythic Cuban bar Sloppy Joe’s, a watering hole for a who’s who of Hollywood stars during Prohibition, reopens its doors Friday in Havana. The revived bar is in the center of old Havana, just steps away from Central Park and some of the city’s grand hotels. Founded in 1920 by Spanish immigrant Jose Garcia, Sloppy Joe’s was restored exactly the way it once stood, down to its long, black mahogany bar, which was immortalized in the 1959 British film 'Our Man in Havana' with Alec Guinness and Maureen O’Hara. In its heyday, it was frequented by Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy and even Clark Gable." Continue reading →

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‘World’s greatest chef’ building massive recipe and gastronomic database

"Two years after closing the beachside Spanish restaurant — repeatedly lauded as the world’s best by those lucky enough to have dined there — Adria says he is now focused on preserving its legacy for future generations. Widely regarded as the world’s best chef and credited with having changed culinary history by reworking familiar ingredients into unfamiliar dining experiences, Adria, 50, is now turning his attention to cyberspace. He plans to impose a sense of chronology to food online with his 'La Bullipedia' project, a curated database into which he aims to incorporate every piece of gastronomic knowledge available." Continue reading →

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3D technology brings medieval books to life

"Precious mediaeval books, usually displayed in glass cases and touchable only with gloves, can now be read in glorious 3D, thanks to a system unveiled Tuesday at the world’s top tech fair. With the 3D interactive book explorer, users browse through the sinewy Latin text and colourful illustrations penned centuries ago but in a distinctly up-to-date manner. The text is scanned in and displayed on a flat-screen display and readers, standing a couple of metres (feet) back from the screen, scroll through the pages just by waving their hands in the air to operate motion sensor cameras. The reader can flip the book through 360 degrees and in 3D." Continue reading →

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Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

"What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work. (Filmed at TEDxRiodelaPlata.)" Continue reading →

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Security audit finds developer outsourced his 9-5 job to China to goof off at work

"The analysis of his workstation found hundreds of PDF invoices from the Chinese contractors. The scheme worked very well for Bob. In his performance assessments by the firm's human resources department, he was the firm's top coder for many quarters and was considered expert in C, C++, Perl, Java, Ruby, PHP, and Python. Further investigation found that the enterprising Bob had actually taken jobs with other firms and had outsourced that work too, netting him hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit as well as lots of time to hang around on internet messaging boards and checking for a new Detective Mittens video." Continue reading →

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Princeton University gives away free houses to anyone willing to haul them away

"Princeton University is giving away seven houses along Alexander Street that would be otherwise slated for demolition, for free. The catch? You have to haul them away yourself. The seven available structures are located from 106 to 194 Alexander Street. University spokesman Martin Mbugua said the idea to give the houses away came up during project plan discussions for the $330 million Arts and Transit project. The university-owned structures previously used as offices and are available in as-is condition, he said. The conditions aren’t exactly move-in though, with the houses having undergone remediation and some construction." Continue reading →

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