CLibertyC

The Food-Truck Business Stinks

"In the ’80s, the city capped the number of carts and trucks at 3,000. Technically, a permit for a food cart or truck is not transferable, but vendors regularly pay permit holders something like $15,000 to $20,000 to lease their certificates for two years. I was reminded of corrupt countries that I’ve visited, like Iraq and Haiti, where illogical and arbitrarily enforced rules create the wrong set of incentives. Perhaps the biggest winner in our current system is an obscure type of business known as an authorized commissary. By city law, every food cart and truck must visit a licensed commissary each day, where a set of mandated cleaning services can be performed." Continue reading →

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The Startup Yahoo Won’t Be Buying

"Stamped, On The Air, SnipIt, Jybe, Alike and Summly: Yahoo's six acquisitions in recent months under Marissa Mayer's new leadership. The French video-sharing platform Dailymotion was to have been the seventh. Over 20 million videos, 112 million monthly unique visitors, a valuation around $300 million: a crown jewel for Mayer's content strategy and an inspiring success story for French tech entrepreneurs. But it won't be. Yahoo backed out of its deal to buy 75% of the company from main owner Orange/France Telecom after French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg intervened to stop the sale." Continue reading →

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CFTC’s Chilton Talks Bitcoin Regulation

"Bart Chilton, Commodities Futures Trading Commission commissioner, tells CNBC, 'I’m not 100% saying we should regulate it, but if anyone is going to, it seems like it’s something we should consider.' The volatility in prices, he noted, 'is amazing.' The CNBC anchors grilled him pretty aggressively but I don't think he was showing all his cards during the interview. It looks to me like the CFTC is looking at bitcoins very closely. It was instructive that Chilton was able to provide the penname of the founder of bitcoins, Satoshi Nakamoto, off the top of his head." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin: The Tyranny Test

"Bitcoin is a test for 'the powers that be.' The way they deal with this new method of exchange will reveal their true nature. If they ignore Bitcoin, they refute the charges of tyranny. If they attack it, they verify those charges. After all, what honest reason could there be to attack an inherently peaceful tool for transferring value? Reasons to attack Bitcoin have recently appeared in the 'public square.' Here are the three most popular ones, each followed with some analysis." Continue reading →

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Medical breakthrough: Antibiotics could cure 40% of back pain patients

"Up to 40% of patients with chronic back pain could be cured with a course of antibiotics rather than surgery, in a medical breakthrough that one spinal surgeon says is worthy of a Nobel prize. The shock finding means that scores of patients with unrelenting lower back pain will no longer face major operations but can instead be cured with courses of antibiotics costing around £114. Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark found that 20% to 40% of chronic lower back pain was caused by bacterial infections. The NHS spends £480m on spinal surgery each year, the majority of which is for back pain." Continue reading →

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105-year-old woman says eating bacon every day is her key to long life

"A 105-year-old woman from Richland, Texas says that the key to long life is bacon. Pearl Cantrell’s love of bacon is so strong that the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile made a stop through town last week to wish her a happy birthday, all because she told a local news station her amazing secret. 'I love bacon, I eat it everyday,' she told a reporter for Abilene-based Big Country Homepage in April. 'I don’t feel as old as I am, that’s all I can say.'" Continue reading →

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Cheating to Learn: How a UCLA professor gamed a game theory midterm

"Morally, of course, games can be tricky. Theory predicts that outcomes are often not to the betterment of the group or society. Nevertheless, this case had an interesting result. When the students got carte blanche to set the rules, altruism and cooperation won the day. How unlike a 'normal' test where all students are solitary competitors and teachers guard against any cheating! What my class showed was a very 'human' trait: the ability to align what is 'good for me' with what is 'good for all' within the evolutionary games of our choosing." Continue reading →

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Lawyers say case against Kim Dotcom threatens Internet freedom

"Lawyers for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom accused the US government Wednesday of launching a flawed prosecution against their client with 'frightening' implications for all Internet users. The New Zealand-based Internet tycoon’s legal team released a 'white paper' to coincide with a visit to Auckland by US Attorney General Eric Holder, which argues that online piracy allegations against Dotcom are baseless. The 38-page document says that while copyright issues are normally treated as a civil matter, US prosecutors are trying to use anti-racketeering criminal statutes normally used against gangsters to press their case." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox hit by $75 million lawsuit

"A lawsuit against Bitcoin’s main trading exchange Mt. Gox was filed this week regarding rights to the North American market. And no, the plaintiff is not seeking damages in Bitcoins. CoinLab, backed by venture capitalist Peter Vessenes, said it entered into an agreement with Mt. Gox in November that gave CoinLab access to Mt. Gox’s technology – its computer servers and the 'exclusive right to certain intellectual property' – so that CoinLab could provide exchange services to North American customers as Mt. Gox’s exclusive partner in the region. Mt. Gox is based in Japan. The suit alleges that Mt. Gox beached its contract with CoinLab." Continue reading →

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A Push for a Bitcoin Buttonwood

"Amid the incense, cheap art and herbal remedies for sale in Union Square in Manhattan on Monday, a very different kind of product was changing hands: bitcoins. Just feet from the park’s statue of George Washington, a crowd of young men gathered on Monday afternoon to buy and sell the digital, crypto-currency. The men – and there were only men – were brought together by an online posting from Josh Rossi, 31, a bitcoin aficionado who works in technology at the World Trade Financial Group. He had proposed what he called Project Buttonwood, a reference to the where the New York Stock Exchange had its beginning in 1792." Continue reading →

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