Archive - 2015

Image courtesy NASA and Scott Kelly

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ex-hedge funder increases price of pill 5,000% overnight, drawing outcry
Hedge funder buys rights to drug used by AIDS patients and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill. A hedge fund trader is at the centre of mounting controversy after the pharmaceutical company he bought raised overnight the cost of a life-saving treatment for people with Aids and weakened immune systems from $13.50 per pill to $750.

The 5,000 per cent increase was enacted last month for Daraprim, known generically as pyrimethamine, by Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York, a start-up firm, shortly after it bought the rights to the drug. The firm is headed by Martin Shkreli.

Daraprim fights toxoplasmosis, the second most common food-borne disease, which can easily infect people whose immune systems have been weakened by AIDS, chemotherapy or pregnancy, according to the Centres for Disease Control. About 60 million people in the United States may carry the toxoplasma parasite.

Ex-Hedge Funder Buys Rights To Drug Used By Aids Patients And Raises Price From $13.50 To $750 Per Pill  read more »

The Cloud
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
...
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
...
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-coloured bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.

excerpt from "Poem in Art and Story" Collection 2 (ebook)

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ABC news - Couple Fighting With Verizon Over $2M cell phone bill, said it took them 10 months to clear up - $2 million for one month
A couple in Oregon say they spent 10 months trying to clear up a whopping $2 million phone bill, which they say has prevented them from buying the home of their dreams. Ken Slusher and his girlfriend, of Damascus, Oregon, have a balance of $2,156,593.64 on a Verizon Wireless bill that was for a wireless account that they opened in November. "Yeah, it's been very stressful to say the least," Slusher told KPTV.com.

The couple canceled their service in December and returned their phones in January, but the bills continued to arrive, as first reported by KPTV. Customer service representatives told them in-person and on the phone that they promised to clear up the matter, he said.

Slusher said he hoped to close on a new house next Monday and his girlfriend and their children are eagerly awaiting the move. But he said his mortgage company won't sign off on a loan due to the phone debt. They began receiving several calls from collection agencies demanding upward of $2,000, KPTV reported. According to Slusher, the couple's first bill should have been around $120, but it was actually $698 with a balance of $451.

CBS - Volkswagen said its cheating software affects 11 million vehicles and may cost up to $87 billion  read more »

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September 29 is National Coffee Day in the US.

The first official International Coffee Day will be 1 October 2015, as agreed by the International Coffee Organization and will be launched in Milan.

Finland is No. 1 in the world for coffee consumption per capita, according to data collected by market research provider Euromonitor International. On average, each person in Finland consumed 9.9 kilograms (21.8 pounds) of coffee in 2014.

Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia round out the top five coffee-consuming nations.

The United States didn't even break the top 10, ranking 25th for coffee consumption in 2014. Americans consumed 3.1 kilograms (6.8 pounds) of coffee per capita last year, the same amount as the citizens of France.

Italians consumed slightly more: 3.4 kilograms (7.5 pounds), coming in at No. 21 on the global list.

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Image courtesy clipartlord.com

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New York Times, Wednesday September 23, 2015 - News and features on Pope Francis’ visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia in September, his first visit ever.
"When Pope Francis speaks, millions listen." "the English translation of Pope Francis’ speech to United States bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, as prepared for delivery and released by the Vatican"
Wisdom quoted from the full speech –

- I am well aware of the immense efforts you have made to welcome and integrate those immigrants who continue to look to America, like so many others before them, in the hope of enjoying its blessings of freedom and prosperity.

- I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims – in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed – and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated.

- What does work is the combination of the epic struggle of the pioneers and the homely wisdom and endurance of the settlers. As one of your poets has put it, “strong and tireless wings” combined with the wisdom of one who “knows the mountains”.  read more »