Incredible Technology: How Astronauts Could Hibernate On Mars Voyage

By the time humanity is ready to put boots on Mars, the long cruise to the Red Planet may be as easy as a dream.
NASA-funded scientists are investigating ways to induce a hibernation state in astronauts.Read more...

How Technology Wrecks the Middle Class

In the four years since the Great Recession officially ended, the productivity of American workers — those lucky enough to have jobs — has risen smartly. But the United States still has two million fewer jobs than before the downturn, the unemployment rate is stuck at levels not seen since the early 1990s and the proportion of adults who are working is four percentage points off its peak in 2000.

This job drought has spurred pundits to wonder whether a profound employment sickness has overtaken us. And from there, it’s only a short leap to ask whether that illness isn’t productivity itself. Have we mechanized and computerized ourselves into obsolescence? Read more...

Stagnant Wages Are Crimping Economic Growth

Read the article...

Silicon Valley can’t save America’s dying economy

These headwinds are making it virtually impossible for our best ’n’ brightest innovation and technology geniuses to save America from becoming a second-rate superpower trapped in a no-growth economy.

OK, so you don’t believe it? You’re a Silicon Valley superoptimist? Got lots of tech stocks? Believe technology is already building a new world? Saving the future? You’re convinced our best ’n’ brightest innovators, entrepreneurs and capitalists will save us, the whole world, civilization, the planet?

Wrong. High-tech solutions cannot and will not prevent America’s economic growth’s collapsing from an average of greater than 2% GDP growth beginning in 1750, with the Industrial Revolution, but ending a generation ago. America’s GDP is already collapsing. Now, growth is a weak 1.8% on average. Worse, America’s GDP is predicted to sink much further — down near the no-growth 0.2% GDP common on the planet for the years and centuries prior to 1750. Read more...

China economy showing clear signs of stabilization: statistics bureau

(Reuters) - China's economy is showing clear signs of stabilization, helped by policy support and some improvement in global demand, and is on track to meet the government's 2013 growth target of 7.5 percent, the state statistics bureau said on Monday.
The issue of local government debt also remained under control, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a briefing organized by the foreign ministry that may have been aimed at allaying global concern about China's slowdown.
"We are confident that the economy is sustaining the positive momentum in the second half and confident of meeting the economic growth target," said Sheng Laiyun, the NBS's spokesman.
"The economy is showing some positive changes. Signs of growth stabilization are becoming more obvious," he said. Read more...

Business term of the day - Term for August 26, 2013: "Captive Service"

Captive Service is a portion of Business Process Outsourcing where an organization will use a wholly owned subsidiary instead of a Third Party Vendor. The benefit of doing such an arrangement would be to leverage the cost savings of using offshore resources, while maintaining complete control over process and delivery. The costs of such an arrangement are generally higher than using a vendor.

Captive Service Units have been in the media lately because of large financial firms tied to the Subprime mortgage crisis. Many of the firms had captive service units and as they file for bankruptcy, these units are being sold separately. Specifically, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, AIG and Merrill Lynch all have captive units that are being considered or have already been sold off.

Nigeria: Disaster Management Misunderstood

"Workshop exposes weak responses to disasters in Nigeria," was the title of an article in the SUNDAY TRUST of August 18, 2013. The writer, Femi Akinola, based his opinion and conclusion in the article on presentations by "experts" at a "two-day media workshop on Conflicts, Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Risk Reduction and Communication," held between August 13 and 14 at the International Press Centre, Lagos.

Femi Akinola's disaster management experts included Olugbenro Olajuyigbe of Action Aid Nigeria and Lanre Arogundade of International Press Centre.

The writer raised many issues which exposed his lack of understanding of disaster management structure and practice.

In this reaction to the article, I shall be attempting to correct the misrepresentations and at the same time educate readers on some of the achievements of the National Emergency Management Agency that have earned the Agency international recognition as a centre of excellence in disaster management in Africa as well as praises from...
Read more...