The early brains of a better world...

[elfs]

How Goldman Sachs gambled on starving the world's poor - and won. Johann Hari explains how Goldman Sachs pressured legislatures to deregulate futures trading in food commodities, and then used those commodities markets as a reliable retreat from collapsising real estate markets, in the process jacking the price of bulk foods up by as much as 320%, causing mass starvating and death. Futures trading is a way of managing risk; bundling those futures as derivatives created even more risk than a market without futures trading. Goldman Sachs exploited that "flaw" for its financial benefit.

The strong do what they will, the weak endure what they must - Thucydides.

How to make an American job before it's too late. Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel, explains how the disconnect between startup and manufacturer threatens the future of American prosperity, and how we need to stop thinking about "China strategies" and start thinking about "America strategies" for our companies when they get big enough to need mass-production.

Many Poisoned Rivers. Jonathan Mirsky reviews Jonathan Watts's new book, When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind - Or Destroy It. Watts outlines how China's manufacturing zones are becoming toxic wastelands, the rivers are contributing to the Pacific Ocean's degredation, the water is undrinkable and the air unbreathable.

After you've read about fifty pages you will find his occasional attempts at fairness bizarre, as in his clichéd conclusion that, faced with two 'extremes', 'the truth was probably somewhere in between'. But there is no 'in between'. China is destroying itself and threatening the rest of us. And, like useful idiots, we are helping the Chinese do it.

Proportional Leading For Fluid Web Designs. White space between rows of text must be proportional to the width of the text. This article shows you how to lead (that's "led", not "leed") your line-heights properly so your pages show up great on both your 1920x1080 monitor and your 320x480 smartphone.

How to use Starbucks as your office. Now that Starbucks offers free wi-fi, learn how to use it well.

Very Scary Fireworks. In 1962, the United States exploded a fusion bomb over Hawaii. Here's the video of that event.

Wonder Woman's new costume. Woah. No heels. No excess skin. What is the world coming to? (Apparently, JM Strazynski is coming to Wonder Woman, that's what.)

Comments

Demonstration of EMP

[lemur123.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, this was one of the first major EMP incidents. Nuclear weapons do generate electromagnetic interference, but to get major damage you need to trigger a cascade event in the upper atmosphere.

If a similar device was detonated 500 km above Kansas today, it would wipe out most commercial and military electronics in the US and Canada. Telecom backbone service would still work, as optical isolators and EMI shielding are required by IEC 60950 (and third-party registrars such as UL audit manufacturing sites quarterly to ensure they're included).

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse