Category: Business

Pork Producer Says It Plans to Give Pigs More Room

Pork Producer Says It Plans to Give Pigs More Room – New York Times
The processor, Smithfield Foods, which raises sows at 187 farms in eight states, said it would replace individual metal cages with pens where the sows would be housed in groups, allowing more mobility. Smithfield, which had revenue of $11.4 billion in 2006, raises 14 million hogs in the United States each year and processes 27 million hogs into pork products, for a 26 percent share of the market.

Animal welfare activists praised the move. “This is perhaps the most important moment in animal welfare in the agribusiness sector in 50 years,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.

The Humane Society and others have long criticized the use of gestation crates. The sows spend up to three years continuously reproducing — much of the time confined in stalls where they cannot turn around — before being slaughtered. Veal cows are confined to two-foot-wide crates for four months and then slaughtered. Hens spend about a year laying eggs in “battery cages” — where they do not have room to flap their wings — before they are slaughtered.

Don’t fall victim to the ‘Free Wi-Fi’ scam

Don’t fall victim to the ‘Free Wi-Fi’ scam
The next time you’re at an airport looking for a wireless hot spot, and you see one called “Free Wi-Fi” or a similar name, beware — you may end up being victimized by the latest hot-spot scam hitting airports across the country.

You could end up being the target of a “man in the middle” attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen, end up with a spyware-infested PC and have your PC turned into a spam-spewing zombie. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.

Security company Authentium Inc. has found dozens of ad hoc networks in Atlanta’s airport, New York’s LaGuardia, the West Palm Beach, Fla., airport and Chicago’s O’Hare. Internet users have reported finding them at LAX airport in Los Angeles. This article will teach you how to protect yourself.

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates With Hooter Girls

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Say Cheese With Hooter Girls at Digital Inspiration
Bill and Warren at Hooters Hooters recently presented their VIP card to Bill Gates of Microsoft and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. Now the duo can now walk inside any Hooters Restaurant worldwide to enjoy free food but they will still have to pay for the drinks.

Not sure if this free Hooter card will be of any use to these philanthropists but their group photo with the Hooters’ Waitresses is quite interesting. Especially compared to this picture of Bill Gates in 1978, just before Microsoft moved to Seattle.Urban Legends Reference Pages: Would You Have Invested?
In December 1978, Microsoft had just completed its first million-dollar sales year, and the decision was made to decamp from the company’s Albuquerque, New Mexico, headquarters and relocate to bigger and better digs in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington. The formal studio photograph displayed above was taken on 7 December 1978, shortly before that move, and captured all but a couple of the current Microsoft staff. While this picture has been around the Internet for awhile, snopes.com has the stories of what happened to those pictured. Just click on the link above this photo.

Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs

Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News
European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren — by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs.

A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende.

In other words, it is only when the road is made less predictable and less certain that drivers will stop looking at signs and start looking at other people.

Recalling his first project, Monderman said, “When we do traditional traffic calming with speed bumps we typically expect about a 10% drop in speed. But with no disincentives, the speed was down by almost 50% – down from 57 km/h to under 30 km/h. I could not believe my eyes. All we had done was make a village look more like a village.” Thanks to Maria for this one.

15 million Workers with IQ 120+

OpinionJournal – Extra
In professions screened for IQ by educational requirements–medicine, engineering, law, the sciences and academia–the great majority of people must, by the nature of the selection process, have IQs over 120, or about 15 million people in today’s labor force-. Evidence about who enters occupations where the screening is not directly linked to IQ indicates that people with IQs of 120 or higher also occupy large proportions of positions in the upper reaches of corporate America and the senior ranks of government. People in the top 10% of intelligence produce most of the books and newspaper articles we read and the television programs and movies we watch. They are the people in the laboratories and at workstations who invent our new pharmaceuticals, computer chips, software and every other form of advanced technology.

Thumb-Print Banking Takes India

Wired News: Thumb-Print Banking Takes India
There are 35,000 non-biometric ATMs in India today. In three years the number of machines is expected to triple to more than 100,000. Officials hope the plan will bring billions of rupees currently being held in private hands into the banking mainstream, and that it might even shelter the country’s poor from the ravages of inflation, theft and widespread corruption.

For example, some believe e-banking will help eliminate several layers of middlemen who manage, and often siphon off, government-allocated funds earmarked for low-income workers.

Under the current system, money gets sent from the government coffers and passes through the desks of dozens of bureaucrats and private contractors. Each tends to take a cut along the way so the money that reaches workers is usually only a fraction of what was allocated. Electronic banking will eliminate the middlemen, and provide a real increase in rural wages

Foreigners Don’t Tip.

I WAS SERVED A FRENCH DI$$ IN N.Y. CAFE By JENNIFER FERMINO – New York Post Online Edition: Seven
A French-born Manhattan resident claims a trendy SoHo restaurant tacked a gratuity on his bill without telling him – then said it was to “protect” the waiters because foreigners don’t tip.

Everyone ordered their meals in accented English, then sat back and gabbed in their native tongue. They enjoyed a leisurely, two-hour meal, complete with a bottle of white wine, some raw-bar shellfish, four fish entrees and three side orders. The bill was $247.32 – including an 18 percent tip.

Audesson, a hair colorist at Pierre Michel, said when they asked the manager why the gratuitous gratuity was tacked on, he was told, “We do that because you’re foreign, and foreigners don’t tip.”

Why do they Spam Us?

O’Reilly Radar > Spamonomics 101
Spammers have to get out a high enough volume of spam that the small sliver of profit is greater than the cost of sending it.

These economics drive the patterns of spam we receive. Traditionally porn advertisements have the highest click-through rate, followed by pharmaceutical advertisements, though penny stock spam is gaining popularity. And the spam messages that aren’t advertisements, scams, or virus attacks, but just random strings of text? Ken Simpson comments, “Those messages are sent by spammers to poison the spam filters. When someone receives a message full of gibberish and reports it as spam, the spam filters tune themselves to recognize gibberish as spam—which reduces their overall accuracy.”

Rich Russians ditch vodka for ‘aspirational drinks’

Guardian | Rich Russians ditch vodka for ‘aspirational drinks’
According to a survey by the firm Euromonitor, vodka sales in Russia have fallen by 15% since 2000, with upwardly mobile Russians switching to brandy, cognac and tequila. Sales of beer and wine have also gone up, the survey said.

Originally sold in taverns, taxes on vodka played a key role in the economy of Tsarist Russia, at times providing up to 40% of state revenue. The drink remained popular in the 20th century – often knocked back with a plate of dried fish or delicious pickles. Even in 2001 vodka amounted to 70% of all alcohol sold in Russia.

Mikhail Kalashnikov – famous for designing the AK-47 – raises a vodka toast, but many aspiring young Russians find his choice of tipple dated. Photograph: John D McHugh/AP

Actual English Menu Translations in China

rahoi.com
It was a night like any other – people inviting us out to a steakhouse. We get there, we are seated in a private room. All was well. Niceties aside, we prepare to order. I ask my wife what I should get. She says, “Go ahead and look at the menu – it’s in English.”

“Oh Really?” Click on the link above for more.