On Oct. 11, 1958.
Pioneer I Launch
NASA – Thor-Able I with the Pioneer I spacecraft atop, prior to launch at Eastern Test Range at what is now Kennedy Space Center. Pioneer I launched 54 years ago on Oct. 11, 1958, the first spacecraft launched by the 11-day-old National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Although the spacecraft failed to reach the Moon, it did transmit 43 hours of data.
By Amie Parnes and Justin Sink – President Obama and Mitt Romney traded heavy verbal blows Tuesday (Oct 16) night in their second face-to-face confrontation, repeatedly approaching each other like prize fighters and trying to talk over each other’s answers.
The 90-minute presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York state was intensely aggressive and more closely matched than their first debate two weeks ago, largely because the president was more animated and assertive. more> http://tinyurl.com/9d7tgkn
Posted in Business, Economy, Leadership
Tagged Barack Obama, Government, Hofstra University, Industrial economy, Leadership, Mitt Romney, New York, United States
BOOK REVIEW
Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, Author: Chrystia Freeland.
By Ryan Avent – Today’s plutocracy, as described by Chrystia Freeland, can make for an ugly spectacle. It is an increasingly stateless and distant class. The very rich may sometimes dress scruffily or express an affection for common tastes, but their wealth naturally separates them from the rest of the public. It isolates them physically, as they flit from palace to palace in private jets. And it isolates them psychically, as they grow comfortable with the view that their wealth is not merely the fruit of talent and work but the mark of superiority.
The difference now, as in the Gilded Age, is in the enormous wealth those especially talented, or lucky, or ruthless few at the top have been able to accumulate. The share of national income in the United States that flows to the top 1% has reached approximately 20%, about where it was in the 1920s, with a long period of relative equality in between. The most interesting thing about today’s plutocrats is not necessarily their personal views and habits but the conditions that allow them to earn so very much more relative to the average worker than at other times in history. more> http://tinyurl.com/d8g22ft
Posted in Book review, Business, Economy
Tagged Capital, Chrystia Freeland, Gilded Age, Industrial economy, New Global Super-Rich, Plutocracy, Super regions
SemiMD – The University of Pennsylvania has devised a manufacturing technology based on the structural color and superhydrophobicity found in butterfly wings.
Based on holographic lithography and directed self-assembly (DSA), the technique could enable new materials for semiconductors, coatings for solar panels and other products.
“A lot of research over the last 10 years has gone into trying to create structural colors like those found in nature, in things like butterfly wings and opals,” said Shu Yang, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the university’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, on the school’s Web site. “People have also been interested in creating superhydrophobic surfaces, which are found in things like lotus leaves, and in butterfly wings, too, since they couldn’t stay in air with raindrops clinging to them.” more> http://tinyurl.com/c9hzc89
By George Bradt – Vikram Pandit was CEO one day, discussing earnings that were surprisingly better than expected. The next day he was out and Michael Corbat was in – as detailed in The Wall Street Journal’s article, “Pandit Is Forced Out at Citi”. There are advantages to the abruptness of this approach. No gap between announcement and ascension. No overlaps. No confusion. It helped a lot to have a 30-year veteran in the wings, ready to go. more> http://tinyurl.com/cp42yzn
Posted in Banking, Business, Leadership
Tagged Citigroup, Jobs, Michael Corbat, Organization, United States, Vikram Pandit
