economy

A data leak has resulted in around a million dollars worth of Woolworths gift cards needing to be cancelled. When Jason Wang checked the balance on his gift cards he found some had already been spent in Sydney stores.

*update* 11 August 2015
WashingtonPost - By breaking into the wire services, some of Wall Street's most vital and unnoticed information hubs, investigators said the hackers and traders were able to defraud investors on a massive scale while leaving no public trace, a worrying development for the increasingly intricate networks that keep the financial world online. With advance details on financial performance and corporate mergers from dozens of companies — including Bank of America, Boeing, Ford Motor, Home Depot, defense contractor Northrop Grumman and Smith & Wesson — the team made rapid and lucrative trades from shared brokerage accounts, funneling the money through shell companies and offshore bank accounts in Estonia and Macau... the sophisticated hacks targeted not just people's identities, but corporate intelligence, targeting a core vulnerability of the financial system in one of the digital age's most sprawling insider-trading schemes, and some hackers and traders were even aided by former broker-dealers. “The traders were market-savvy, using equities and options … to maximize their profits”, ...pocketed more than $100 million from illicit trades.

*update* 4 August 2015  read more »

source/full size image at ucsusa.org

source/full size image at ucsusa.org

source/full size image at onelectriccars.com

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*update *
bloomberg.com - electric vehicle sales quintupled in 4 years with global sales of 288,500 units last year, more than five times the number in 2011, and manufacturers are preparing for more.

Huffington Post: 8 Things We Bet You Didn't Know About Electric Cars  read more »

Lucky you
if you’re not
data hacked
data tracked
data stolen
(when the innocent enjoy sharing,
some are busy sneaking, stealing)
data harassed:

Forbes: Expect Hackers To Crack More Retailers This Holiday Season

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*update 06March2015*  read more »

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150 Years Of "Real" Oil Prices
In real terms, the price of crude oil has not been more expensive since the Pennsylvania Boom over 150 years ago...

Galloping inflation in American college fees
For decades, college fees have risen faster than Americans' ability to pay them. Median household income has grown by a factor of 6.5 in the past 40 years, but the cost of attending a state college has increased by a factor of 15 for in-state students and 24 for out-of-state students. The cost of attending a private college has increased by a factor of more than 13 (a year in the Ivy League will set you back $38,000, excluding bed and board). Academic inflation makes most other kinds look modest by comparison.

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Image courtesy Oil Prices and The Economist / BLS / FHFA / Thomson Reuters

Skip the plastic, save a fish. Texas-sized ocean garbage vortex found in Pacific, plastic sea trash doesn't biodegrade

More Ocean Graphics on PInterest

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June 8th is World Oceans Day

Oceans are the largest ecosystems on Earth, they are the Earth’s largest life support systems. To survive and prosper, we all need healthy oceans. Oceans generate half of the oxygen people breathe. At any given moment, more than 97% of the world’s water resides in oceans. Oceans provide a sixth of the animal protein people eat. They’re the most promising source of new medicines to combat cancer, pain and bacterial diseases. Living oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce the impact of climate change.  read more »

Colorado lawmakers unsure how to spend marijuana tax revenue

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"Saving Grace":
In this Sundance Audience Award-winning comedy from director Nigel Cole, newly widowed Grace (Brenda Blethyn) finds herself in financial ruin when she discovers that her dearly departed husband has left her deep in debt. With the help of her gardener, Matt (Craig Ferguson), Grace applies her green thumb to ganja plants -- and soon, everyone in her small English town is getting high on more than life.

Critical reaction to the film was generally positive and it received favorable notice for an independent British comedy film, eventually grossing $24,325,600 worldwide, following its theatrical release in the United States.

[2013] Reuters: Uruguay becomes first country to legalize marijuana trade  read more »

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*Update Oct 19 2013* - U.S. debt jumps a record $328 billion — tops $17 trillion for first time

Ryan Links Budget Impasse to Debt Ceiling Fight, suggested on Tuesday that the government shutdown may not be resolved for more than two weeks. That would come, he said, when the country reaches its debt limit.
WASHINGTON - Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, suggested on Tuesday that the government shutdown may not be resolved for more than two weeks.
That would come, he said, when the country reaches its debt limit.

Noting that previous agreements over the budget had come together around the deadline when the country has reached its statutory borrowing limit, Mr. Ryan said, “We think that will be the forcing mechanism to bring the two parties together. Our goal and motivation here is to get a budget agreement.
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Images courtesy CBS News and brillig.com