Adeo Ressi

An interesting article on biodegrading plastic is available here.

PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16-year-old finds the answer.

The New York Times talks about a German town withut cars… Is it the city of the future?

My friend, Elon Musk, sent me this as a reminder:

In his later years, film-maker Walt Disney became obsessed with futurism, and in particular how cities should be designed.

He tried to bring his ideas to fruition in the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). His community was intended to be a carefully designed city, with a population of 20,000. The city would incorporate all the newest technologies, and would change constantly in a bid to test and discover the best way for a city to be.

Disney’s dream was never realised. He struggled to find financial backing, and his company’s board saw little profit in it. The Epcot theme park at Disney World that was eventually built is devoted to technology and world cultures, but bears little resemblance to Disney’s imagined utopia.

Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s highest court has ruled in favor of Internet anonymity, saying Web sites involved in defamation suits don’t have to reveal the identity of readers who post comments on their site.

The ruling Friday by the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision and said NewsZap.com, an online forum run by Independent Newspapers Inc., doesn’t have to disclose the identities of participants in a 2006 online exchange about the cleanliness of a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in Centreville, Md.

The company’s attorney argued that disclosing the names would have a “chilling effect” on the First Amendment right to speak anonymously. Businessman Zebulon Brodie argued that freedom of speech doesn’t extend to defamation.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Press

Admittedly, this is fairly biased video material, but it is very interesting and explanatory, especially in the current crisis. Part 1 and Part 2 are the best and most informative. At the bottom is a great video explanation of sub-prime.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Explanation of Sub-prime:

“It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy”

The world has changed because it was broken. It could not continue. We spent money wrong. We ate wrong. We built wrong. We lived wrong. We have wreaked catastrophic environmental devastation that rivals multi-million year mega-events. A correction was overdue.

Everything that we took for granted just a few weeks and a few months ago has changed. Now, the world is in shock. We are still fighting to revive a failed system. Soon, it will change. Many are betting that lives will “return to normal.” They will not. Everything will be different. It will be better.

The real question is how difficult will the transition be.

Thankfully, the days of big spending and equally big tax cuts are gone. The hard line, lassie fare, faux religious, and ignorant qualities of Bush are also gone.

I said it before, and I will say it again now: SELL YOUR STOCKS.

A giant economic reset is taking place that will bankrupt thousands of companies worldwide. Millions of terminated employees will be selling their stocks and demanding benefits that will cause the Niagra Falls of equity liquidation. Governments worldwide will continue to spend like drunken sailors piloting barrels over the precipise, and that stream of money will buy inflated food and other key staples, not equities. Worse, the firehouse of cash will likely be spent in all the wrong ways, fattening overpaid union “sweepers” and mid-level bankers who collectively sell no products to no customers. Meanwhile, the average person will be slammed with spiralling taxes and declining personal wealth.

Owning stock is fast becoming a luxury of the few, versus a money management strategy of the masses. Get ahead of the curve before the DOW makes 8,000 look like a high water mark.

This image was sent to me by a friend of mine based out of Israel who works in the image business. His quote, when I asked him how he was holding up, was:

I’ll let this picture talk ( that’s my business… )

I had just returned from Israel a few days before the war broke out, speaking at a conference. There was definitely tension in the air. For example, my guide was packing. Here are a couple other photos from the trip:

Happy Holidays!

We all know that fundamental change is long overdue. For many of us, we thought that 1999 and 2000 would bring about this change.

The reality is that the abusive power structures were both healthy and in control during these previous troubling times. The greed and abuses at the top brought about the 2009 collapse, and those who control the system are now suffering. It’s about time.

Let’s raise our glass and toast to a new beginning that is log overdue. We know better than abuse our potential.