d2s > web

Clad in a brown T-shirt with golden print, Neij appeared awkward in court as he struggled to explain the community nature of Pirate Bay to a prosecutor who seemed unfamiliar with non-hierarchical organization.

The prosecutor became visibly frustrated when he tried to get Neij to identify the kingpin who is ultimately responsible for Pirate Bay and the text and graphics on the site. Neij explained that an extended group of people have privileges on the server, and contribute haphazardly as they see fit.  The prosecutor seemed not to grasp the concept.

"But someone must ultimately decide whether to put up a certain text or graphic," he protested.

"No," Neij answered. "Why? If someone believes a new text is needed, he just inputs it. Or if a graphic is ugly, someone makes a better one. The one who wants to do something just does it."

This tells much about structure of organization inside service that itself is spread to different parts of world. BitTorrent-like model of company structure or something similar…

These statements now appear to be pure fantasy. According to the regulatory body which overseas US securities firms Madoff's investment fund may not have made even a single trade.

Someone had to generate all that paperwork which is why Richard Rampell isn't convinced by Madoff's assertion that he acted alone: "To me, that doesn't pass the smell test."

What if two men, in the year 2006, said “Hey, America’s financial system is running up a dangerous amount of risk. Loose credit is creating a bubble in the housing sector. This bubble is certainly going to burst, and it will drag America’s economy into a deep recession.”

You might think that these two men were very smart. You might think that they deserve a great deal of respect for their foresight.

The two men in question are  Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb. They were just on CNBC -  I found this clip quite surprising. The 5 journalists who interview them greet them with a fair amount of hostility.

Roubini and Taleb are both fairly negative. They have a dark view of where the economy will be over the next 3 or 4 years. Their negativity seems to get in under the skin of the journalists. The journalists run a financial show, what they seem to want most is good news, a reason why their viewers should start investing in the stock market again. Neither Roubini  nor Taleb give them what they want.

We can learn a lot by studying Apple and Google and 37 Signals, but in the end, we have to come up with something unique.

Some analysts say the crisis is likely to have long-lasting effects on the seven-member emirates federation, where Dubai has long played rebellious younger brother to oil-rich and more conservative Abu Dhabi. Dubai officials, swallowing their pride, have made clear that they would be open to a bailout, but so far Abu Dhabi has offered assistance only to its own banks.

“Why is Abu Dhabi allowing its neighbor to have its international reputation trashed, when it could bail out Dubai’s banks and restore confidence?” said Christopher M. Davidson, who predicted the current crisis in “Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success,” a book published last year. “Perhaps the plan is to centralize the U.A.E.” under Abu Dhabi’s control, he mused, in a move that would sharply curtail Dubai’s independence and perhaps change its signature freewheeling style.

Alexander Lebedev: read the Evening Standard when he was a young KGB agent. Photographs: AP/Public domain

The billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev is to buy London's Evening Standard tomorrow, in a dramatic move that would see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

The East L.A. Skills Center offers a night class in photovoltaic installation (the official name of solar-panel installation) that is open to the general public, but there's a long waiting list. That's why some "regular folks" have been clamoring to get into the Homeboy class, says Ed Ruiz, the instructor. "Most of them take one look and say 'no thanks,' " he says.

Doug Lincoln, 61, who once managed luxury-car dealerships, was offered admission to the Homeboy course after he inquired about a faster-paced class. On hearing it was mainly for ex-cons, "I thought it was a joke," he says.

Now, Mr. Lincoln is about to graduate. He plans to start a solar-panel-installation firm, he says, and hire some of his former Homeboy classmates. "These guys are more motivated than hundreds of employees I've managed," in the car business, he says.

Interesting to see that there are new possibilities for better future.

Invented at the famed Los Alamos National Laboratory, Hyperion small modular power reactors make all the benefits of safe, clean nuclear power available for remote locations. For both industrial and community applications, Hyperion offers reliable energy with no greenhouse gas emissions. Hyperion power is also cheaper than fossil fuels and, when you consider the cost of land and materials, watt to watt, Hyperion’s innovative energy technology is even more affordable than many developing “alternative” energy technologies.

Small enough to be transported on a ship, truck or train, Hyperion power modules are about the size of a "hot tub" — approximately 1.5 meters wide. Out of sight and safe from nefarious threats, Hyperion power modules are buried far underground and guarded by a security detail. Like a power battery, Hyperion modules have no moving parts to wear down, and are delivered factory sealed. They are never opened on site. Even if one were compromised, the material inside would not be appropriate for proliferation purposes. Further, due to the unique, yet proven science upon which this new technology is based, it is impossible for the module to go supercritical, “melt down” or create any type of emergency situation. If opened, the very small amount of fuel that is enclosed would immediately cool. The waste produced after five years of operation is approximately the size of a softball and is a good candidate for fuel recycling.

Perfect for moderately-sized projects, Hyperion produces only 25 MWe — enough to provide electricity for about 20,000 average American sized homes or its industrial equivalent. Ganged or teamed together, the modules can produce even more consistent energy for larger projects.

Interesting to see if these kind of energy sources get more acceptance around the world.