Category: government

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Agriculture, Architecture, Big Problems, Corporate Manipulation, Ecological Products, Energy, government, Green Friendly, Hot Issues, Latest News

It’s Illegal to Live off the Grid in the State of Florida

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Robin Speronis lives off the grid in Florida, completely independent of the city’s water and electric system. A few weeks ago, officials ruled her off-grid home illegal. Officials cited the International Property Maintenance Code, which mandates that homes be connected to an electricity grid and a running water source.

That’s like saying our dependency on corporations isn’t even a choice. The choice to live without most utilities has been ongoing for Robin, the self-sufficient woman has lived for more than a year and a half using solar energy, a propane camping stove and rain water.

In the end, she was found not guilty of not having a proper sewer or electrical system; but was guilty of not being hooked up to an approved water supply.

Continue reading… “It’s Illegal to Live off the Grid in the State of Florida”

Business, government, Hot Issues, Latest News, Money Talk

Google sues Visa and MasterCard

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With little ceremony and only two days before Christmas, Google filed an antitrust law against Visa and MasterCard for setting “supracompetitive” interchange rates from 2004 to 2012. This is but one more volley in the Battle Royale between big companies like Wal-Mart, Target, and Macy’s and major players in the payments industry.

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Business, Coding Schools, DaVinci Coders, DaVinci Institute, Education, government, Hot Issues, Technological Unemployment

Once again Government’s fuzzy math is confusing the true cost of college

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College is stressful enough without being blindsided by the true cost of attending

Many of the students now applying to U.S. colleges and universities have almost no idea what it will really cost to go there, if they get accepted. Save the jokes about these kids needing to do their homework. This is not the fault of prospective students—or their families.

If transparent pricing is the key to a healthy market, the U.S. higher education industry should be in an iron lung. Sticker prices for university tuition and fees have surged roughly 1,200 percent since 1978, far outpacing the overall 280 percent inflation over the same period. The average cost of a year of private school tuition is $25,000, with the full cost of many top schools topping $60,000.

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App, Breakthrough Thinking, Culture, Current Events, government, Great New Product, Hot Issues, Latest News, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Iowa is Creating the Digital Drivers License for Smart Phones

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Iowa residents may become the first in the U.S. to use a smartphone mobile app as their driver’s license.

The Iowa Department of Transportation wants to let drivers keep an electronic version of a license on an app, in addition (or in lieu of) the traditional plastic one you’d keep in a wallet.

Continue reading… “Iowa is Creating the Digital Drivers License for Smart Phones”

Artificial Intelligence, Business, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Economy, government, Hot Issues, Latest News, Report, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News, Upcoming Events

FAA Drags Feet on Drone Rulings

Many new drones are now making their debut – Image by media.salon.com

In August, the Federal Aviation Administration missed a key deadline for developing rules for small commercial drones. That failure has infuriated businesses that want to test and use drones for delivering goods, monitoring crops and doing other awesome things. Some have even threatened to move their drone research overseas if they can’t get permission to operate in the United States.
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Economy, government, Money Talk

The Future of Cryptocurrency

 Matt Bernier at the DaVinci Institute’s “Night with a Futurist” talking about the future of cryptocurrencies

The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created in 2009 by a mysterious developer using the pseudo-name Satoshi Nakamoto. In 2010, the secretive Satoshi handed the reigns of Bitcoin over to Gavin Andresen, a like-minded developer who now manages the operation along with a team of five senior developers.

Less than a third of the original Satoshi code still exists. The rest has been rewritten by Gavin and his team to plug security holes, improve usability, and make it operationally more efficient. Andresen is the one who conceived of the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation—established in 2013—which is the closest thing to a central authority in the world of Bitcoin.

While we hear a lot about Bitcoin there are many other cryptocurrencies entering the startup arena.

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Analysis, Business, government, Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend

Not since 1966 has the federal government’s workforce been so small

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The shrinking government workforce doesn’t mean that government spending is at record lows.

It’s hard to believe the federal government now employs the fewest people since the mid-1960s. Yet according to jobs report earlier this month, the federal government now employs 2,711,000 people (excluding non-civilian military). Among the economy’s largest job sectors, it was the only one to shrink over the past year.

 

 

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Analysis, government, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Will Bitcoin become a policy issue for the U.S. Congress?

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Digital currency may soon become an issue that could unite US politicians.

Recent US Congresses have been some of the least productive in the country’s history, and the 113th Congress has been no different. The sheer number of policy-related issues tabled since January 2013 has put the current Congress on pace to become the least productive in the nation’s history, rivaling the 112th Congress in how few laws it could ultimately pass.

 

 

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Analysis, Energy, government, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

India to boost demand-side energy efficiency by selling $6 LED lamp for $0.16

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India plans to offer subsidized LED lamps to households to reduce power demand and improve energy efficiency.

Measures have been initiated by the ministry of power in India to keep the promise of Prime Minister Modi to provide electricity supply and lamps to all households in the country by the end of the decade. The latest measure is aimed at households and energy efficiency.

 

 

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Education, government, Latest Trend

You can go to college in Germany for free no matter where you are from

college in germany

Germany didn’t just abolish tuition for Germans, the ban goes for international students, too.

Lower Saxony has made itself the final state in Germany to do away with any public university tuition whatsoever. As of now, all state-run universities in the Federal Republic—legendary institutions that put the Bildung in Bildungsroman, like the Universität Heidelberg, the Universität München, or the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin—cost exactly nothing.

Analysis, government, Robots, Science & Technology News

U.S. Navy develops robot boats that can swarm enemy forces

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The swarm detects the enemy vessel with radar and infrared sensors.

The U.S. Navy has been testing a large-scale swarm of autonomous boats designed to overwhelm enemies according to reports from Jeremy Hsu. In the test, a large ship that the Navy sometimes calls a high-value unit, HVU, is making its way down the river’s thalweg, escorted by 13 small guard boats. Between them, they carry a variety of payloads, loud speakers and flashing lights, a .50-caliber machine gun and a microwave direct energy weapon or heat ray.

 

 

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