A biggie Bank Failure Friday

Eight banks were seized by the FDIC today.

I hope my competition turns on all Facebook privacy settings

Robert Scoble, uber-tech blogger and geek, has always maintained a completely public profile on the Net, including home address and phone number. He continues this with the new Facebook Places, and hopes the competition locks themselves down totally – while he gains new friends and contacts by being public.

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Forget the Generals, Americans are committed to Ending War

The propaganda tour has failed – 6 in 10 Americans want an end to the war in Afghanistan. Will Obama stick to his timeline, or will congress be forced to take drastic measures? [...]

Canadian marijuana growers use bears as guards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NMtSQQ9yBM

They apparently fed the bears to keep them around the house and grow operation. But this might not have worked after all, because the bears were quite docile and just wanted to play, police said.

Russian weapons dealer Viktor Bout to be extradited to US

Douglas Farah

Bout not only supplied the Taliban and the FARC in Colombia, both designated terrorist organizations. He also helped arm some of the most murderous regimes and groups in Africa (Charles Taylor, Mubut Sese Seko the RUF, UNITA etc.) and the genocidal regime in Sudan. These actions are detailed in my book, with [...]

Niche businesses. I have one. Do you?

In this difficult economic times, a niche business can be a good thing to have. Recently spoke with some folks in Parowan Utah who have a thriving niche business selling certain horseshoeing supplies. It’s apparently a small niche, and they’ve filled it well. They don’t need to advertise, word of mouth does it for them.

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Gulf spill not over

BP and the government are underplaying the difficulty of stopping the oil leak

Major study charts long-lasting oil plume in Gulf

Top oil expert says geology is “fractured”, relief wells may fail and oil may leak for years … BP is using a “cloak of silence”, and refusing to share even basic data with the [...]

California water bond proposition postponed until 2012

“The making of laws is like the making of sausages-the more you know about the process the less you respect the result.”

The California legislature recently voted to postpone Proposition 18, the $11 billion water bond, until the 2012 ballot. They drop-kicked it into the future after serious outcry arose over the enormous amount [...]

Windstalks. Renewable energy via kinetic energy from wind

This concept is planned for Abu Dhabi

The 55 meter-high stalks, which are made of carbon fiber-reinforced resin poles, contain piezeoelectric discs and electrodes that generate current. The current is stored in two chambers that act as a battery.

Pakistan floods

TED reports on efforts to help flood victims, including using crowdsourcing tool Ushahidi to create Pakreport.

The platform collects eyewitness accounts of flood-related incidents via SMS, email and the web. It then verifies them for accuracy and plots the data points on a map, providing up-to-date information to aid workers — an invaluable service [...]