Some people can hold a
grudge until it dies of old age, then have it stuffed and displayed
on their mantle.
Probably has more to do
with current disputes that pre-war injuries.
China
Court Impounds Japanese Ship in Unprecedented Seizure
A Shanghai court
ordered the seizure of a Japanese ship owned by Mitsui
OSK Lines Ltd. (9104) as compensation for the loss of two ships
leased from a Chinese company before the two
countries went to war in 1937.
The 226,434-ton
Baosteel Emotion was impounded on April 19 at Majishan port in
Zhejiang province as part of a legal dispute that began in 1964, the
Shanghai Maritime Court and Mitsui OSK said in notices
on their websites.
What indeed.
Interesting article.
What
happens to the internet after the U.S. hands off ICANN to others?
This weekend, hundreds
of people from dozens of countries will gather in Singapore to
discuss the future of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a
multinational organization that oversees the address book of the
internet thanks to a contract issued by the U.S. government.
The contract expires in
September 2015 and the U.S. Commerce Department announced
last Friday that it would eventually transfer key internet
“domain name functions to a global multi-stakeholder community.”
Some Americans worry this will cede “control” of the internet to
nations that will impose regulations that change the basic open
character of the internet and make it less hospitable to American
interests.
Without vast research
we get half-vast legislation.
It's
Final -- Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use
… The United
Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released two of its
Working Group reports at the end of last month (WGI
and WGIII),
and their short discussion of biofuels has ignited a fierce debate as
to whether they’re of any environmental benefit at all.
The IPCC was quite
diplomatic in its discussion, saying “Biofuels have direct,
fuel‐cycle GHG emissions that are typically 30–90% lower than
those for gasoline or diesel fuels. However, since for some biofuels
indirect emissions—including from land use change—can lead to
greater total emissions than when using petroleum products, policy
support needs to be considered on a case by case basis” (IPCC
2014 Chapter 8).
The summary in the new
report also states, “Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses
risks to ecosystems and biodiversity” (WGIII).
Perspective. Can there
be such a thing as “Too good an idea?” (If you take a small loss
on each transaction, you can not make up for it with greater volume.)
Square’s
deal with Starbucks is costing the payments startup millions
Square lost at least
$20 million as a result of its partnership with Starbucks in 2013,
according
to a report in the WSJ, which doesn’t paint a very rosy picture
for the mobile payments company.
Two years ago, the
coffee king invested $25 million in the white-hot start-up, and
as part of the deal, Square was also able to handle all of its credit
card transactions.
All-in-all, the deal
seemed pretty good for Square, which was also getting free publicity
for its application. But it doesn’t seem so simple now. In
addition to the losses, the WSJ also reported that Square’s fee on
each Starbucks transaction amounted to 2 percent last year, which
falls below the 2.75 percent it charges many others.
In all, sources told
the WSJ that Square recorded a loss of roughly $100 million in 2013,
and that over the past three years, the startup has burned up more
than half of the roughly $340 million it has raised in venture
capital.
The report is
the second in recent weeks that suggests the company is running
out of time.
Square has reportedly
put its IPO plans on hold and is considering a sale. The WSJ says
Square has been in preliminary talks with Apple, Google and PayPal,
according to multiple sources.
This is also why you
can't easily buy wine/beer/liquor over the Internet. Perhaps we
should look at all the laws that assume some institution is
indispensable, and repeal them.
… I read James
Surowiecki’s recent
column about the regulatory barriers that geek chic car company
Tesla is facing as it tries to set up its own showrooms in New Jersey
and many other states, and I became a lot less confident that we in
the U.S. are doing a great job of letting innovation flourish without
counterproductive meddling and stonewalling.
Surowiecki quotes Yale
economist Fiona
Scott Morton as saying that “There isn’t a rational argument
for why a new company should have to use [existing] dealers. It’s
just dealers trying to protect their profits.” So why is it the
case in 48 states today that “direct sales by car manufacturers are
restricted or legally prohibited, and manufacturers are often
prevented from opening a dealership that would compete with existing
ones?” Because that’s how today’s auto dealers want it, and
they’re organized and affluent enough to sway the lawmaking
process. Opensecrets.org, for example, lists the National Auto
Dealers Association as #19 in
its list of ‘Top All-Time Donors’ to candidates, parties, and
leadership PACs.
… They’ll work
hard to, as my friend Tim
O’Reilly puts it, protect the past from the future.
For my student App
developers. People like to chat for free.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247789/NTT_launches_browser_to_browser_chatroom_with_avatars
NTT
launches browser-to-browser chatroom with avatars
… WebRTC Chat on
SkyWay makes use of WebRTC
(Web Real-Time Communications), a peer-to-peer communications
platform using HTML5 that allows video and audio conferencing if you
have an up-to-date version of Chrome, Firefox or Opera.
NTT's SkyWay chatroom
works with the Chrome and Opera browsers. Users have to point their
browser to the SkyWay site, create a chatroom and invite friends.
No registration or downloads are needed.
… NTT
Communications, which calls SkyWay the first service of its kind in
Japan, said the browser-to-browser service offers an encrypted,
private communications channel where only the start and end points of
a conversation are stored on a server. The company is offering the
website as a one-year free trial.
… Backed by major
players such as Google and Mozilla as well as startups,
WebRTC is being touted as a game-changer for Web-based communications
and a
threat to apps such as Skype.
This might also work
for my poetry writing students!
Need
Help Songwriting? Try These 4 Tools For Inspiration
… If you’re
feeling stuck and need a bit of help, these tools and apps may help
you get your muse back.
For the student tech
folder.
– is a new,
revolutionary keyboard, powered by patent pending technology that
makes typing on any device fast, accurate and so easy you can type
without even looking. Download and install Fleksy once and it will
automatically be available on all other Fleksy enabled apps. Long
tap or double tap on the screen from any Fleksy enabled app to switch
between keyboards.
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