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The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Egypt: Lack of a Living Wage Desperate Measures (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: Could you live off a basic monthly minimum wage of $6.35? (I had to check a couple of sources to verify there wasn'(TM)t a typo) No joke. That's what the minimum wage is in Egypt and has been since 1984. Rioting in the streets in Egypt today did not suddenly emerge as an idea tossed around the social networking sites. It’s been simmering for decades.
Privacy

Submission + - Internet in Egypt mostly down (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: But some people still can get access using dial-up accounts. Basically DSL and other broadband are shut down by the government to stop revolts.

The recent news about the "Twitter Revolts" in Tunisia are making some governments uneasy about the way people communicate.

In some developing countries the proliferation of cell phones and mobile internet have made possible for people to organize beyondgovernmentcontrol, and now they are trying to stop it.

Do you think something similar could happen in our societies? Do you think is is right for any "state" to cut communication in case of emergency?
Facebook

Submission + - Social Media as a Weapon Against Governments (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: Twitter and tweeting and that cute little bluebird of happiness trademark conjure up a feel-good, fun, high-tech, decidedly Western cultural icon. No one would have imagined Twitter and Facebook, or any other popular social media sites, used as a control center for the common man, a tool to organize movements against governments as happened in Tunisia, Iran, Moldova and as feared in Egypt and half a dozen other troubled nations.

Submission + - Smokers Feel the Pain in Spain (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: On January 2nd, as if imposing seriously sobering New Year’s resolution on everyone, the government of Spain banned smoking in almost all public places —including bars and restaurants— imposing hefty fines for non-compliance.

Submission + - College Students Lack Scientific Literacy

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Most college students in the United States do not grasp the scientific basis of the carbon cycle – an essential skill in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, according to research published in the January issue of BioScience. The study, whose authors include several current and former researchers from Michigan State University, calls for a new way of teaching – and, ultimately, comprehending – fundamental scientific principles such as the conservation of matter.
Facebook

Submission + - Social Networks Race to IPO to beat Facebook (technorati.com)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: According to Reuter's "Some of these companies want to go public because they want to beat Facebook and others out," said one of their sources. "If Facebook went public before LinkedIn, do you think anyone would pay that much attention to LinkedIn?" You might want to surpass the beast."
Government

Submission + - Male birth rates declining? why? (thehalsreport.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: One of the best articles I have come across all week. It discusses how chemicals have effects the birth rate of baby boys. Good content and a few things I didn't know which are pretty interesting. I would definitely recommend.
Google

Submission + - Is Apple Stock the Next Bubble? (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: The latest iPhone had several flaws when was released, most embarrassing was the antenna problem, but loyal Apple customers rushed to the stores to get one (and to get the rubber "bumper" that was the Apple fix for the problem). If Verizon launches the iPhone over CDMA in the U.S. Apple’s stock will have probably the last jump in value before declining. I would suggest holding until the Verizon announcement and offloading APPL after that.
Crime

Submission + - 2010: The Year We Lost Free Use of Our Money (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: I can’t believe that in a free society we can no longer use our money to support an organization that promotes free speech and abhors secrecy.

I’m really concerned with the public complacency about the recent blocking of donations to Wikileaks by the biggest bank in the US: Bank of America, one of the leading credit card companies: Mastercard and the largest online payment provider: PayPal.

I don’t completely agree with Wikileaks' actions but, as of today, no lawsuit has been filed against the organization in any court of law, it has not been declared by any country or international organization as a terrorist group, and there is no court order anywhere in the world to freeze their bank accounts. But if I try to go to BoA with my money, and I ask them to make a wire transfer to Wikileaks account in Switzerland, they will refuse to do it.

Their PayPal account has been suspended, and Mr. Osama Bedier, a PayPal Vice President, explaining his company’s decision, said, “on Nov. 27, the State Department — the U.S. government, basically — wrote a letter saying the WikiLeaks activities were deemed illegal in the United States.” However that letter from the State Department did not argue that publication of the documents by WikiLeaks, or any media organization, would be illegal. Instead, it says that the documents “were provided in violation of U.S. law” to WikiLeaks, which means that the State Department considered the original leak of the documents to Mr. Assange’s organization to have been a criminal act.

"We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty." — John F. Kennedy
User Journal

Submission + - A Kinder Solution for the New Year’s Resolut (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: The New Year, 2011, is just around the corner and, now that Christmas is over, a lot of people are beginning to contemplate a New Year’s resolution.

Success happens when large, not clearly defined goals, are broken into small enough steps, like a marathon training plan—with daily goals and weekly goals. And probably most importantly, I always make room for failure, as long as I stay the course 90% of the time, the occasional failure doesn’t matter and maybe it’s critical to a goal’s success to realize that.
Books

Submission + - E-Book to Eliminate Brick and Mortar Bookstores? (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: Reading to me is a warm experience—paperback or hard cover book in my lap, a cup of tea or coffee on a side table, and an opportunity to unplug from the glare of electronic devices. If a novel is enthralling, I can imagine reading it for hours on paper. Electronic screens are irritating to me.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Bad Economy Breeding Better Consumer Habits? (frontwave.eu)

Submitted by frontwave
frontwave writes: This shift in habits is very good in the long run for all of us. In our consumer culture of the past decades, we have consumed new products at an embarrassing rate, leaving mountains of cast-off items in landfills and junkyards and, regrettably, basements and closets filled with discarded junk.

Pickier consumers, I hope, will also equal better quality goods in the long run. Too many products hit the market at an attractive price but with disappointing long-term performance. How many times have you had to replace appliances in the last 10 years—the kind of items that used to last for decades? Vacuum cleaners are a good example.

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