US military surveillance future: Drones now come in swarms? Superbug vs. Monsanto: Nature rebels against biotech titan. Exposing the power of corporate lobbying in the EU. Venture Capitalists Can Receive Favorable Tax Treatment for Forgiven Loans. The Tax Court in Dagres, (2011) 136 TC No. 12, recently ruled that Dagres, a venture capitalist, could claim a $3,635,218 business bad debt deduction on his individual tax return under Section 166(a) of the Internal Revenue Code for the amount he forgave on a loan made to a business acquaintance in order to strengthen their business relationship and ensure that the borrower would first inform him of promising investment opportunities.
Under Section 166, business bad debts are deductible as ordinary deductions when the loan becomes either partially or totally worthless. On the other hand, personal bad debts are deductible as short term capital losses only when the debt becomes totally worthless. So, if you have a bad debt, you want it to be a business bad debt. In reaching its conclusion that the loan was made in connection with Dagres’ trade or business, the Tax Court determined that: - The venture capital business of the funds was attributable in part to Dagres.
Gregory M. Study predicts imminent irreversible planetary collapse. Drivers of a potential planetary-scale critical transition (credit: Anthony D.
Barnosky et al. /Nature) Using scientific theories, toy ecosystem modeling and paleontological evidence as a crystal ball, 21 scientists predict we’re on a much worse collision course with Mother Nature than currently thought. In Approaching a state-shift in Earth’s biosphere, a paper just published in Nature, the authors, whose expertise spans a multitude of disciplines, suggest our planet’s ecosystems are careenng towards an imminent, irreversible collapse. Earth’s accelerating loss of biodiversity, its climate’s increasingly extreme fluctuations, its ecosystems’ growing connectedness, and its radically changing total energy budget are precursors to reaching a planetary state threshold or tipping point. Once that happens, which the authors predict could be reached this century, the planet’s ecosystems, as we know them, could irreversibly collapse in the proverbial blink of an eye.
Climate Change: Breaking the "Political Consensus" The purpose of this report is to examine the science behind climate change so as to better understand the issue at hand, and thus, to be able to make an informed decision on how to handle the issue.
The primary aim here is to examine climate change from a perspective not often heard in media or government channels; that of climate change being a natural phenomenon, not the result of man-made carbon emissions. The “Science” of Consensus When addressing the issue of climate change, it is important to understand that climatic change is an important field of study in science. However, it is not an exact science, like all sciences. Our understanding of the climatic sciences is always changing, just as our understanding of all sciences changes. There is an enormous political, social and economic interest in a scientific consensus, because it determines our understanding of our environment and all that is in it, including humanity, itself. A Brief Climate History CO2 and Temperature.