Jan 01
State of the Workers’ State in China
China’s communist capital is concerned that their communist Workers’ State is making a statement re the State’s treatment of the labour movement. Only time will tell who is going to capitalize on this new twist.
Related Statistic: With 190 billionaires and more than two million millionaires, China tags just behind the US in number of high-net-worth individuals. — Forbes magazine and Boston Consulting Group.
Jan 01
SUSIBA2: Rice That Fights Global Warming
More than half the global population relies on rice as a regular part of their diet. But rice paddies have a downside for the planet too: They produce as much as 17 percent of the world’s total methane emissions. SUSIBA2 is a genetically modified rice plant that emits almost no methane. Instead of sending carbon to the roots to feed the bacteria that produce methane, the plant directs it toward the grain and leaves increasing the starch level and yield. “It’s a win-win”.
Honourable mention:
Robotic Hand by Open Bionics: This 3D-printed robotic hand that can be made faster and more cheaply than current alternatives was this year’s UK winner of the James Dyson Award.
Ref: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34044453?ocid=global_bbccom_email_25082015_technology
See the rest of the field at: http://www.popsci.com/100-greatest-innovations-2015
Jan 01
In another year dedicated to remakes, sequels and blatant cash grabs in the form of final instalments of bestselling trilogies that were arbitrarily split into parts, this was a different, entertaining and semi-serious spy spoof.
What everyone else liked: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2015&p=.htm
Jan 01
Jan 01
A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall
The inaugural instalment of a sword and sorcery epic of Game of Thrones proportions. Non-conformity abounds with unexpected plot twists and intrigue suffered and/or instigated by a rogues gallery of imperfect men and women. If you think you know what comes next, think again.
What the other guys liked:: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2015-12-28/trade-fiction-paperback/list.html
Jan 01
“I escaped one war in my homeland only to fight another one here.”
— random 20-30 something refugee guy on BBC after being told he cannot cross the Hungarian border
Runner up:
“In America, we’ve begun to view mass shootings like we do hurricanes or earthquakes – tragic but inevitable. Our lens is all fucked up.”
–Deborah Roseman
Jan 01
Photography is still the only hobby where you can shoot people and cut their heads off without going to jail.
Jan 01
Friends Furever by Google
This ad for Google’s Android operating system sends the message, “we shouldn’t have to be the same to get along”. Take that Apple and you other organizations focused on conformity, hatred and/or global domination.
See the commercial at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVuqfXohxc
Runners Up:
Make it Happy by Coca Cola: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibgvkXm9Qkc
Golf Commentator Kraken by Geico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaJWYjWt9c0
Jan 01
Things get serious when Playboy magazine calls their readers’ bluff by announcing plans to no longer publish nude photographs. Commencing next spring their subscribers can prove once and for all that they just buy the magazine for the articles.
The Canadian-based online dating service for persons who are married or in committed relationships, feels betrayed after the personal information of 33 million clients is stolen by hackers. The righteously indignant owner of the website is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of whoever cheated on him/her. The irony and affairly alarming moral of this story is that the company’s official slogan is: “Life is short. Have an affair.”
On the one hand, our hearts go out to all of the families fleeing a combat zone, on the other hand, if you try to find the women and children boarding this train in Croatia you might have a couple of fingers left to count something else.
Ref: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34307014
It’s hi tech’s dirty little BIG secret. A 10 square kilometre man-made lake of toxic sludge that would make the architects of the Alberta Oil Sands blush continues to grow outside Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. All those smart phones and other shiny new consumer electronics that we are encouraged to upgrade to new improved models every other payday create more than jobs in China.
Ref: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth
Related Quote: It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. –ALBERT EINSTEIN
Related Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOBRH56Ic0
Even as headlines scream, “President Obama to Raise Concerns that Chinese are Hacking US State and Trade Secrets” in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Xi and US Aviation giant Boeing announce a mega billion dollar deal for sales of Boeing Aircraft to China that is predicated on Boeing opening factories in China.
Ref: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/23/china-buy-300-boeing-planes/72681578/
The CEO of Volkswagen was applauded by the disgraced carmaker’s board of directors when he magnanimously fell on his rubber sword after losing 1/3 ($30B and counting) of the company’s market value. His severance package is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $69M US plus an annual $1m pension.
Related Quote: “I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group…. I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.”
— resignation speech of CEO of Volkswagen (one of Europe’s highest-paid executives)
In addition to the human tragedy of more than 8500 lives lost, Chinese authorities have indicated that this 7.8-magnitude quake actually moved Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, three centimeters to the southwest. Later in the year a larger 8.3 magnitude earthquake moved parts of Chile more than 1 meter.
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Earthquakes by Magnitude in 2015 |
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| 8.0–9.9 | 7.0–7.9 | 6.0–6.9 | 5.0–5.9 | 4.0–4.9 | Total |
| 1 | 19 | 123 | 1,304 | 12,497 | 13,944 |
Runner Up: 1,000,000 Migrants Demanding Entry to Europe.