Video Showing the Huge Gap Between Super Rich and Everyone Else Goes Viral
For much of the past decade, policymakers and analysts have decried America's incredibly low savings rate, noting that U.S. households save a fraction of the money of the rest of the world. Citing a myriad of causes -- from cheap credit to exploitative bank practices -- they've noted that the average family puts away less than 4 percent of its income. "Wealth Inequality in America," a six-minute video produced by a YouTube user named "Politizane," casts an interesting angle on the plummeting savings rate. Set to depressing piano music and packed with crystal-clear animations, it gives a powerful snapshot of the American economic landscape. Noting that "The top 1 percent own nearly half the country's stocks, bonds, and mutual funds," the video goes on to contrast those impressive holdings with the rest of the country. By comparison, it points out, the bottom 50 percent of earners own only 0.5 percent of those investments. 9 Ways Sequestration Will Affect You Share Facebook Twitter Google+
5 Web Technologies and Trends to Watch in 2011
In 2010 we saw the rise of HTML5, the maturation of CSS3, the release of Rails 3.0, and the widespread adoption of the @font-face selector (part of CSS3) — among other things. In short: it was a busy year for advancing web development technologies. What will 2011 hold? Below is a list, compiled by Mashable editors of some of the web technologies and trends we think should be on your radar for the coming year. These aren't all straight up web dev technologies, per se, but they're all things that will have an impact on website and app development in 2011. 1. jQuery Mobile jQuery has become practically synonymous with JavaScript, in large part because of its extensibility, ease of use and strong project leadership. - Christina Warren, Mobile Reporter 2. Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) is lightning fast, thanks to its use of DirectX 10 and hardware acceleration, vastly improving the speed and capabilities of the browser versus its competitors. - Ben Parr, Co-Editor 3. - Josh Catone, Features Editor 4.
3D Printed Food Could End World Hunger, Says 'Universal Food Synthesizer's' Anjan Contractor
NASA has funded the development of a 3d food printer to feed astronauts in space. But the developer thinks the machine could also have a purpose closer to home: ending world hunger. The engineer of the so-called "universal food synthesizer," Anjan Contractor of Systems & Materials Research Corporation, told business news blog Quartz that he envisions every kitchen having a 3d food printer to keep the planet fed . People could buy the nutritionally complete cartridges of powder and oils at the store and keep them for up to 30 years, he said. “I think, and many economists think, that current food systems can’t supply 12 billion people sufficiently,” Contractor told Quartz. Visit Quartz for more on Contractor's hunger-zapping solution. Ending hunger is a giant task. Other mass-produced food has been hailed as a possible hunger cure. As of September 2012, UNICEF planned to buy 32,000 metric tons of Plumpy'Nut in 2013, an increase of 4,000 tons over 2012, according to CNBC. Related on HuffPost:
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Coke Targets Teens With Black Friday SCVNGR Promotion
Coca-Cola is kicking off a nationwide location-based rewards initiative targeted at young teens with SCVNGR as its platform of choice. The soda maker has seeded Simon Malls across the U.S. with challenges that players can complete to earn special Coke rewards. The campaign is called Coke Secret Formula and is set to go live at 10 malls beginning November 26 — otherwise known to holiday shoppers as Black Friday. SCVNGR players who complete the Coke mall challenges can accumulate enough points to redeem instant rewards including American Express gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise. Coke will be aggressively promoting the initiative with online, print and mall signage to include giant elevator wrappers like the one pictured above. Landing Coke is a big coup for the young startup, who competes with the likes of Foursquare and Facebook Places. SCVNGR anticipates that it will hit 1 million members before the year's end.
Mini Mushroom Farms: Gardenista
Older Mini Mushroom Farms by Michelle Slatalla Issue 71 · Kitchen Gardens · May 10, 2013 Newer Issue 71 · Kitchen Gardens · May 10, 2013 After a childhood spent being warned against wild and possibly poisonous mushrooms, it's no wonder I still have an arm's-length relationship with fungi. But mini mushroom farms could change that: Above: Kits from specialty growers, such as California-based Far West Fungi, will grow indoors and are capable of producing multiple crops of shitake or oyster mushrooms. Above: Far West Fungi, which has a retail store in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, offers a Pre-Activated Shiitake Mushroom Farm for $25. Above: A Back to the Roots Mushroom Garden is $19.95; grown in recycled coffee grounds, the yield can be as great as 1.5 pounds. Above: Oyster mushrooms, via Hunger and Thirst. EXPLORE MORE: Issue 71: Kitchen Gardens, Indoor Gardens, Urban Gardener, Kitchen Gardens, Plants, Urban Gardens Woodland Plants That Bloom in Dappled Light Under Trees By Kendra Wilson
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Email Scams Come To Facebook
It was only a matter of time: scammers have started targeting Facebook's new messaging system. I got my Facebook email account last Thursday. Early this morning, I received a notice that I'd won 950,000 South African Rand (about $135,000) in a contest held by the South African branch of Shell Petroleum. (Screenshot below.) All I have to do is send along a bunch of personal information like my name, phone number, date of birth, and occupation. If you've been on the Internet for more than five minutes, you can probably guess how this would end up. This is the kind of obvious spam that never makes it into Gmail. To be fair, this message did show up in my "Other" box, rather than the main inbox used for communications from known friends.
Paula Deen Releases Delicious New Butter Product Made From Her Breast Milk
SAVANNAH, GA—Expanding a retail line that already includes kitchen supplies, bakeware, and cookbooks, television personality and restaurateur Paula Deen today introduced Deen Farms Butter, a delicious dairy product concocted from her own breast milk. “My new butter’s so sweet and creamy, it’s just like a lil’ slice of heaven, y’all,” Deen said in this week’s episode of Paula’s Home Cooking while applying a generous pat of the tangy mammary butter to a freshly baked blueberry muffin. “Now, what I like to do is melt a stick of it in with my macaroni and cheese, and you know it’s just perfect drizzled over of a big ol’ pot of mashed potatoes, too. Dig in, y’all!" Though Deen’s new lactation spread represents her first foray into the food products realm, the chef indicated that she has several other tasty edibles in the pipeline, including Paula’s Perfect Pasta Topper, a rich bolognese sauce made from her own menstrual blood.
Hospitality for the Homeless
