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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The Headless Organization

May 1, 2011

“The closest thing to a law of nature in business is that form has an affinity for expense,
while substance has an affinity for income” – Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa

Futurist Thomas Frey: Disintermediation is a term that sprung to life in the mid-1990s during the formative years of the Internet. Enterprising people learned very quickly that this new communication system could disintermediate, or bypass, many different layers of the business food chain and eliminate entire categories of decision makers both inside and outside of corporations.

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Analysis, Brain, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Left Handed People are More Affected by Fear than Right Handed People

May 1, 2011

“The prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder is almost double in left handers compared to right handers.”

People who watched an eight minute clip from a scary movie suffered more symptoms associated with post traumatic stress if they were left handed than if they were right handed, phsychologists find.

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Crazy Photos, Historical Perspectives, New Viewpoints

The Stunning Tulip Fields Of The Netherlands

April 30, 2011

Tulips, tulips everywhere.

A vast patchwork of kaleidoscopic colour, the tulip fields of the Netherlands are clearly nothing to be sneezed at. From the air it looks as though a giant toddler armed with a box of super-sized crayons has been let loose on the Dutch countryside… if the lines weren’t quite so perfect. The vibrant blues, reds, pinks and yellows sprawl as far as the eye can see…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior

Nose Stylus for Hands-Free Smartphone Usage

April 30, 2011

What an idea!

Dominic Wilcox finds it difficult to use his smartphone while taking a bath, so he invented this simple but brilliant solution: the Finger-nose. He can strap this plaster attachment onto his head and navigate his phone without using his hands…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues

Nancy Conrad On Education Innovation: Turning Geeks Into Rock Stars Is A Game Changer

April 30, 2011

Nancy Conrad is a firm believer in education innovation.

Last week President Obama spoke at Facebook, emphasizing during the townhall that the US needs to be bullish on Science and Math education if we are to pull out of the recession, “We want to start making Science cool. I want people to feel about the next big energy breakthrough and the next big Internet breakthrough the same way they felt about the moonwalk,” he said.

Taking off on that idea, Nancy Conrad, the wife of late astronaut Pete Conrad, has founded the Conrad Foundation in the memory of her husband. Pete Conrad was expelled from one school in the 11th grade because he had dislexia and then went on to graduate from Princeton and walk on the moon because he was taken under the wing of an educator who saw promise in the young man…

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Analysis, Education, Latest Trend

Where the Books Used to Be

April 30, 2011

Futurist Thomas Frey: Last weekend I spent a couple days in the very impressive city of Carmel, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis. My hosts for this trip were Wendy Phillips, Director of the Carmel Clay Public Library, and her husband Greg, a Senior Business Analyst at FFA.

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Analysis, Economy, Latest Trend, Money Talk

1 in 5 Americans are Raiding Their Nest Eggs

April 30, 2011

Raiding retirement accounts can have significant consequences.

Many Americans struggle to pay the monthly bills and are feeling less secure about their finances. A Bankrate.com study released this week shows nearly one in five Americans (19 percent) admit raiding their retirement accounts during the past 12 months to cover expenses.

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend

Fastest Growing Cities in the U.S., 2011

April 30, 2011

No. 1 – Olive Branch, MS

Over the last two decades Janice Turner has seen Olive Branch flourish. A small town became Mississippi’s ninth-largest city as thousands of people relocated across the state line from Memphis.

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Analysis, Brain, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Five Minute Questionnaire is Accurate Enough to Diagnose Autism in 1 Year Old Children

April 30, 2011

Parents are asked about a child’s eye-gaze and other forms of age-appropriate communication.

Parents can fill out a five-minute questionnaire that is accurate enough to diagnose autism in children as young as one in three-quarters of the cases, claims study.

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Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

One of the Secrets of MRSA Superbug’s Resistance to Antibiotics Has Been Cracked

April 30, 2011

The MRSA bug is resistant to seven types of antibiotic.

MRSA superbug resistance secret has been cracked by scientists, paving the way for new drugs to fight infections.

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Analysis, Big Problems, Corporate Manipulation, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, Money Talk

How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis

April 29, 2011

The word again today is GREED.

Frederick Kaufman’s piece for Foreign Policy examines how the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) is responsible for the increase in food prices.

[T]he boom in new speculative opportunities in global grain, edible oil, and livestock markets has created a vicious cycle. The more the price of food commodities increases, the more money pours into the sector, and the higher prices rise. Indeed, from 2003 to 2008, the volume of index fund speculation increased by 1,900 percent. “What we are experiencing is a demand shock coming from a new category of participant in the commodities futures markets,” hedge fund Michael Masters testified before Congress in the midst of the 2008 food crisis…

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Art, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Corporate Manipulation, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Humor, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

South Park Scares You Into Reading Apple’s Terms And Conditions

April 29, 2011

Do you to agree to Apple’s Terms of Service?

You know the drill … You open iTunes and there’s a popup that asks you to download a new version. You download the newest version and there’s another popup asking you to agree to Apple’s Terms of Service. But it’s over 55-pages long! You scroll to the bottom and hastily click “Agree,” because what’s the worst that can happen right? Right?

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