Over 1,500 newspapers, 1,100 magazines, 9,000 radio stations, 1,500 YV stations and 2,400 publishers are owned by these six US corporations:
GE, NEWSCORP, DISNEY, VIACOM, TIME WARNER, and CBS

Bradley Horowitz, a longtime Google+ product VP, has taken over at Google+ from David Besbris.

According to Forbes there are a record 1,826 billionaires in the world, an increase of 181 in the past 12 months.

Bill Gates (Microsoft) has now been top of the list for 16 of the last 21 years with $79.2bn. In second place is Carlos Slim Helu $77.1bn (Phones and construction in Mexico). Warren Buffett (Global Investor) regained third place in the list with a net worth of $72.7bn, from Amancio Ortega, the founder of Spanish fashion chain Zara, with $64.5bn to his name.

The European Central Bank has been printing money at such a fast rate that the price for the Euro has fallen from $1.40/Euro a year ago to $1.08/Euro. Parity is predicted to follow soon.

I wonder if that will lower the price of one of those fancy Audis by 30%?

I bought some Danish butter at a real low price the other day, however the stuff tasted awful compared to California butter. Propably an item caught in the European food sanctions, old and stale.

In Finland Valentine’s Day is called Ystävänpäivä, which translates into “Friend’s day”. It's more about remembering your buddies than your loved ones.

Ostriches can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions.

In Alaska it is illegal to whisper in someone’s ear while they’re moose hunting.

Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the Sun every year.

Ludwig van Beethoven's mother already had 8 children, three were deaf, two were blind and one was mentally retarded. She also had syphilis when she gave birth to him.

Winston Churchill used to sleep till noon and drink a quart of whiskey every evening.

And obviously those 2 things are related.

In the United States (and probably also in Canada and Great Britain), when a corporation is forced to pay punitive damages, those damages can be claimed as a cost of doing business whereas those people receiving the payout must claim the money as taxable income. For example, BP was whacked with over $42 billion in fines for the Gulf oil spill. It can claim 80% of that as a tax deduction which means that the taxpayer is on the hook for most of it.

If you can't be replaced, you cannot be promoted!

The UK is facing a significant skills shortage, with 1.4 million "digital professionals" estimated to be needed over the next five years.

To introduce digital knowledge to younger children, the BBC is giving 1 million "Micro Bit" computers to schools in the UK. When it launches in September it will be compatible with three coding languages - Touch Develop, Python and C++.

In the US, bottled water is regulated by the FDA and is not bound by EPA standards (which are more stringent). Tap water is regulated by the EPA and must undergo regular testing for microbes, bacteria and other contaminents. The EPA requires that public water suppliers use certified labs to test their water. Bottled water suppliers are under no such requirement. Public water suppliers must issue notifications when problems are detected. Again, this is not required of bottled water suppiers.

And yet, people have been suckered into paying up to 2000 times the cost of tap water for water which is no better, and in many cases worse, than that available from public utilities.

friggatriskaidekaphobia

the fear of friday the 13th

All Friday the 13th for 2015:
13Feb2015
13Mar2015
13Nov2015

Wei-Hock Soon, is an aerospace engineer who has published several papers that question the link between human emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming. It was recently discovered that Soon had received more than $1.2 million over the last decade from the fossil fuel industry.

More than four million US citizens live at an elevation of four feet or less above sea level.

A jumbo jet uses about 4,000 gallons of fuel to take off.

The voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Porky Pig were all done by one man, Mel Blanc.

And Sylvester, Tweetie Pie, Speedy Gonzalez, Marvin the Martian, Pepe Le Pew and many more.

Earth's ten richest folks 2015:
+---------------------+----------------+-----+---------------------+
| Name                |  Wealth($)     | Age |        Source       |
+---------------------+----------------+-----+---------------------+
| Bill Gates          | 79,200,000,000 |  59 |      Microsoft      |
| Carlos Slim         | 77,100,000,000 |  75 | Telmex, Grupo Carso |
| Warren Buffett      | 72,700,000,000 |  84 |  Berkshire Hathaway |
| Amancio Ortega      | 64,500,000,000 |  78 |    Inditex Group    |
| Larry Ellison       | 54,300,000,000 |  70 |  Oracle Corporation |
| Charles Koch        | 42,900,000,000 |  79 |   Koch Industries   |
| David Koch          | 42,900,000,000 |  74 |   Koch Industries   |
| Christy Walton      | 41,700,000,000 |  60 |       Wal-Mart      |
| Jim Walton          | 40,600,000,000 |  66 |       Wal-Mart      |
| Liliane Bettencourt | 40,100,000,000 |  92 |       L'Oreal       |
+---------------------+----------------+-----+---------------------+

Most common names for baby girls in the USA:
Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella and Ava

Most common names for baby boys in the USA:
Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob and William

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles issued the first license for an autonomous car in May 2012, to a Toyota Prius modified with Google's experimental driverless technology.

Electric carmaker Tesla is building the world’s largest lithium ion battery factory, called “Gigafactory I” just east of Reno, Nevada. When completed in 2017 it will produce more lithium ion power packs then the combined present worldwide production of such devices. Customers will be Tesla and other electric car makers, and Electric Power companies.

U.S. President James Buchanan regularly bought slaves in Washington DC and took them to Pennsylvania to free them.

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