Customers look at laptops at a Wal-Mart store in Mexico City.
The middle class is fast becoming the majority in Mexico, breaking down the rich-poor divide in a profound demographic transformation that has far-reaching implications here and in the United States.
Continue reading… “Middle class in Mexico becoming its majority”
The CIA’s notorious MK-ULTRA program got huge quantities of LSD distributed throughout the US.
Newly released documents shed light on the San Francisco edition of the CIA’s notorious MK-ULTRA program (through which people were unwittingly given massive doses of LSD to see if the drug would be useful for brainwashing), which ran from 1953-1964. There’s lots of detail about MK-ULTRA’s work in NYC and Montreal, but the San Francisco operation has been shrouded in mystery. The newly declassified documents form the springboard for a good investigative piece in SF Weekly, in which Troy Hooper speaks to Wayne Ritchie, one of the survivors of MK-ULTRA’s San Francisco operation…
Continue reading… “Midnight Climax: CIA’s MK-ULTRA LSD experiments in San Francisco”
The genetically modified fish were originally bred to help detect environmental pollutants.
The latest must try food craze to hit America is sushi that glows in the dark. The sushi was inspired by genetically modified fish first bred for scientific research, a video showing how to make the glowing sushi has become a huge hit online. (Pics and video)
Continue reading… “Glow in the dark sushi the latest food craze to hit America”
Health experts are cautioning people not to attempt a dare that is catching on due to a viral video.
Don’t expect any great culinary creation when your kids go digging into the spice drawer. They may be looking for the cinnamon, which they want to attempt to swallow, without water.
Lego
We’ve seen some pretty awesome Lego creations in the past, including a Volkswagen van, Angry Birds, and even the heart of the Large Hadron Collider. But what about Lego inventions that actually work? Here are some of our favorite, fully functional Lego creations. (pics and videos)
There can be years of decisions, learning, analysis, thought and effort to become an “overnight success”.
Rovio spent eight years and almost went bankrupt before finally creating their massive hit Angry Birds. It was their 52nd game they had created. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing websites in history, but struggled for a long time. Pinterest’s CEO recently said that they had “catastrophically small numbers” in their first year after launch, and that if he had listened to popular startup advice he probably would have quit.
58% of college students prefer digital over print for textbook reading.
According to a new survey from the Pearson Foundation, the majority of U.S. college students now prefer digital formats whether they’re reading textbooks or “fun” books.
Continue reading… “Most college students in the U.S. prefer digital over print when reading”
Futurist Thomas Frey: In the late 1980s, I spent some time as a mainframe programmer at IBM. Conversations around the water cooler often had to do with some of the cryptic code written 2-3 decades earlier, buried deep within the system, that was incomprehensible to what anyone was writing at the time.
Today’s young Americans are less environmentally conscious—and often less civic-minded overall—than previous generations.
Are today’s Millennial generation altruistic and civic-minded or materialistic and self-absorbed? In the latest installment: a study that says the popular view of young adults as more caring, interested in social issues and concerned about the environment compared to previous generations is mostly false.
Continue reading… “Study finds Millennial generation might not be so special after all”
U.S. income, while solid among its peers around the world, still leaves many grappling to make ends meet.
An “average” American earns close to $40,000 a year. That’s pretty good money compared with the rest of the world.
Continue reading… “Income gap growing faster in the U.S. than the rest of the world”
Upside-down house in Malaysia.
Did you ever wonder when you were a child what it would be like to walk on the ceiling? If you did, you are probably among the millions who, even as adults, continue to be enchanted by the idea of an upside-down house. (Pics)
Tweet-friendly media can now be shared by musicians.
As South by Southwest transforms from a massive tech party to a massive music festival, Twitter has unveiled Twitter for Musicians and Artists, a page offering tips on how musicians can use the service to connect with their fans.
Even if you’re not a world-famous musician, many of the suggestions will be pretty familiar…
Continue reading… “Twitter to musicians: share Tweet-friendly media, and skip the publicists”