CLibertyC

The Secret Plot to Prop Up the Municipal Bond Market

"Not only are capital regulations, written as parts of Basel II and Basel III, driving banks to hold government instruments such as US Treasury securities, but it is also driving banks to buy junk municipal debt. The disclosure that European banks are holding bad Detroit paper confirms my suspicions as to the true principles of the so-called safety guidelines capital requirements. They are no such thing, they are crony rules designed to prop up risky government paper. In time, as more government regions from Puerto Rico to Chicago and Los Angeles go into a financial crisis stage, we will learn of even more global bank exposure to debt from these sectors." Continue reading →

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That Which Is Incapable of Reforming Itself Disappears

"In Nature the ability to reform is called adaptation. Organisms and species that are unable to adapt when selective pressure is applied vanish from the Earth. Humans and human organizations are no different; individuals and organizations that are unable to respond to selective pressure with real self-reform/transformation will also fail and disappear. The political and financial Status Quo is incapable of true reform, because real reform threatens the perquisites and power of entrenched vested interests, what I call fiefdoms. That leaves breakdown as the only possible endpoint." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThat Which Is Incapable of Reforming Itself Disappears

New IRIS telescope sends stunning images of sun to befuddled scientists

"A new solar observatory is revealing remarkably fine details about a little-explored region of the sun's atmosphere, where temperatures leap from tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit at the sun's surface to to millions of degrees in its extended atmosphere. Dubbed the interface region by the observatory's science team, this first 2,000 to 3,000 miles of the sun's atmosphere is thought to play a key role in a range of processes, including those that power solar flares and even more potent coronal-mass ejections. These events can endanger satellites, disrupt radio communication and GPS navigation, as well as disrupt the power grid on Earth." Continue reading →

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‘Mini Lisa’: Georgia Tech researchers create world’s tiniest da Vinci reproduction

"Using a tiny heated probe, a team of scientists have 'painted' a grayscale replica of the Mona Lisa that is more than 25,000 times smaller than the original. The 'Mini Lisa,' as it is known, is just 30 millionths of a meter wide. That's roughly 0.001 inches, or one third of the width of a human hair. The team created it using a powerful microscope and a process known as ThermoChemical NanoLithography, or TCNL. Each 'pixel' was 125 billionths of a meter wide – smaller than the smallest known bacteria – and Carroll and the rest of the research team went pixel-by-pixel to create the reproduction." Continue reading →

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The mysterious company that just bought Newsweek

"Uzac, the CEO, turns 30 on August 7. He grew up in France and South Africa, carries a French passport, and studied geography and economics at the London School of Economics. His partner and IBT's chief content officer is Johnathan Davis, a 31-year-old American who studied computer engineering at UCLA and did time in Silicon Valley.Together they launched what became IBT Media in 2006, with personal savings, a SBA bank loan, and no input, financial or advisory, from VCs. They say they've been profitable since 2010. Headquarters are in New York, with offices in Bangalore, Shanghai, and Sidney. Total editorial employees: about 150." Continue reading →

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Bezos Paid a ‘Friendship Premium’ for the Washington Post

"The founder of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) plunked down $250 million for the Post newspaper division, about 17 times adjusted profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That multiple implies a valuation for the New York Times of about $4 billion -- more than double its current market value. The value of newspapers has been cratering since Rupert Murdoch paid $5.2 billion for Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. six years ago. The New York Times, the last major U.S. family-owned newspaper, has seen its market value fall 50 percent to $1.8 billion as print advertising dropped and readers migrated to the Internet for news." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBezos Paid a ‘Friendship Premium’ for the Washington Post

Android nears 80 percent market share as iOS plummets

"Google's Android mobile operating system now accounts for almost 80 percent of the global smartphone market while Apple's slice has shrunk to 13 percent, the latest numbers from market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) have revealed. According to IDC's figures for the global smartphone market during the second quarter, Android's popularity is not slowing with Google's mobile operating system now accounting for 79.3 percent of the smartphone market." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAndroid nears 80 percent market share as iOS plummets

The real Elysium: Send your dead loved one into space for $2K

"A startup called Elysium Space is offering an easier, cheaper way to get into space – and it will have you there by next year. There is, however, a slight catch. First, you have to die. For $1,990, Elysium Space, which is today announcing itself to the world, will send a portion of your cremated remains – or those of your loved one – into space on a CubeSat that will then orbit the Earth for several months before ultimately re-entering the atmosphere and burning up in in a spectacular blaze. With that entry fee, you’ll also get the opportunity to watch the launch live, and you can track the satellite’s movements via a mobile app." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe real Elysium: Send your dead loved one into space for $2K

10 Awesome Startups That Are Looking To Profit From A New Space Race

"In recent years, some of the most famous names in tech, like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been founding and investing in companies that are looking to the stars. Whether for personal dreams of adventure or for profit, these companies are doing the engineering and basic science needed to get humans into space. They're also looking at other opportunities that space provides, like access to resources that are hard to get on Earth and the ability to collect information about our planet from a different perspective." Continue reading →

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