Get ready for a *lot* more talk about the technological singularity. IEEE Magazine has several articles this month about what many believe will be the most profound change in the history of humans:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/singularity
Update: See, what did I tell ya? Singularity University at NASA Ames
Millions of kids in America and around the world are big Disney fans. So am I.
In fact I think that Disney may be doing more than *any other entity* to bring harmony and peace to the diverse and complex cultural landscape. Although they avoid some of the complex and probably unsolvable problems like wahabism vs western culture, they really do a great job promoting racial understanding and cultural understanding via the diversity in the programming . Simply *modelling cooperation and understanding* to a global audience is powerful,and when you add the huge appeal of Disney music and production values it works on more levels. More powerful are shows like the upcoming special filmed in India where fun trumps conflict.
Is Disney’s a childish vision of global harmony? Perhaps, but maybe that is the most effective path of all.
Yahoo’s not just turning down an internet king’s ransom for a Microsoft merger, but they even rejected a partial buyout from Microsoft that would have given them 35 per share for several of MY SHARES and also woud have added a cool billion or so to the bottom line in an MS advertising deal.
Kara Swisher has more details, and is looking great with a hip new hairdoo!
My guess is that rejecting this modifed Microsoft Merger offer will put a nail in the Yahoo board’s coffin. They had a case – albeit a weak one – that Yahoo unfettered with MS could have dug themselves out of a hole, but this makes it even more crystal clear that they weren’t even willing to do *anything* with Microsoft. I think that would suggest a level of corporate indifference to shareholders that is going to leave a lot of folks….well…..ticked.
Disclosure: long on YHOO
Thanks to Glenn for this story suggesting a new study making a possible connection between early life and meteors.
I’ve always been comfortable with the idea that life as we know it could emerge in slow and steady steps from the primordial soup that certainly existed on the millions of years ago, but it does not seem unreasonable to suggest that meteor material may have played a role as well, back when it was more common to have stuff raining down on the earth before our atmosphere formed which (thankfully) burns up most of that sh** before it crashes into the planet and ruins our sunny days.
Joe Duck 