Category: Need more MoPo? Check Out These Random Posts

IT IS perhaps a measure of America’s resilience as an economic power that its demise is so often foretold. In 1956 the Russians politely informed Westerners that “history is on our side. We will bury you.” In the 1980s history seemed to side instead with Japan. Now it appears to be taking China’s part.

Buoyed by these two forces, China will account for over 23% of world GDP by 2030, measured at PPP, Mr Subramanian calculates. America will account for less than 12%. China will be equally dominant in trade, accounting for twice America’s share of imports and exports. That projection relies on the “gravity” model of trade, which assumes that commerce between countries depends on their economic weight and the distance between them. China’s trade will outpace America’s both because its own economy will expand faster and also because its neighbours will grow faster than those in America’s backyard.

That sick, heavy, queasy feeling you get when you leave the movie theater may not have come from, say, realizing you paid good money to watch ‘Conan the Barbarian’ in 3D. It may come from having mindlessly shoveled handful after handful of stale popcorn into your mouth.

A new study conducted by scholars at the University of Southern California and published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that moviegoers can’t help themselves. If you make a habit of eating popcorn at the movies, you’ll keep eating and eating it throughout the picture, regardless of whether or not the popcorn is fresh or even tasty.

In the study, researchers gave movie patrons a bucket of popcorn just before a screening. Some contained fresh popcorn, some contained week-old popcorn. The study found that people who habitually ate popcorn consumed the same amount of popcorn whether fresh or stale, while those who didn’t were much less likely to eat the stale kernels. It didn’t matter whether or not the moviegoers were hungry before the film.

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Meet Boo the dog – a superstar among canines whose internet following is so great, he’s just signed his own book deal. Five-year-old Boo has been commanding an impressive fan base ever since he was old enough to look adorable (so, forever).

Recognising his potential as one of the cutest dogs ever seen, his owner opened up a Facebook page for the Pomeranian in 2009. Unsurprisingly, it was an instant hit, transforming Boo from an ordinary (albeit incredibly cute) pet into an overnight sensation with 1.4 million Facebook fans and counting.

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The company estimates the entire project will cost Y1.67 trillion – some £13.4 billion – of which Y560 billion (£4.5 billion) will be required to transport 70 tons of construction materials and pizza-making equipment to the moon aboard 15 rockets.

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The computer world has a rich history of hackers who steered the progress of computer science and gave shape to computers, the internet, and networking as we see it today – in some cases single-handedly. While the term “Hacker” today carries a negative connotation of an ill-intentioned computer genius, that’s only a small portion of what the word really means. Yes, there are the Black Hat hackers behind internet mayhem, thievery, and chaos, but there are also White Hat hackers who use their computer savvy for good.

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The impressive multi-functional business card you see above belongs to “Melvin,” a hacker who decided some years ago to design a piece of business identification that was both appropriate and unique. He scored on both fronts, but most impressive is the card’s dual purpose: as well as providing contact info for clients, the card can be easily dismantled – each individual tool can be popped out and detached – and cleverly used as a lock-picking kit. It’s a great idea.

Below is a similar example, this one belonging to legendary hacker-turned-security consultant Kevin Mitnick. He actually commissioned the design as a direct result of seeing Melvin’s.

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