Author: lmehit

Pentagon’s New Factory: Your DNA | Wired.com

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The fields of bioengineering and synthetic biology have already produced some useful, scary and flat-out bizarre entities. Besides renewable petroleum or steel strong spider silk, there are all sorts of potential therapeutic, industrial and agricultural purposes for reorganized DNA.

But DARPA thinks progress is too slow. Previous projects (it calls them “primitive”) are ad hoc and labor intensive, chugging along by trial and error in secretive silos. Hence we are “limited to producing only a small fraction of the vast number of possible chemicals, materials and living systems that would be enabled by the ability to truly engineer biology.”

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Free cash for your business? | money.cnn.com

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When hunting for cash, desperate small business owners may find themselves sucked into buying books and software packages promising “Billions in Free Grants!” from Web sites with names like NeverPayItBack.com, or hiring consultants who promise to find them gads of money. All they’re likely to get, though, are empty promises.

Grants are rare, but the information you need to find and apply for legitimate ones is publicly available and free. For qualifying businesses, there really are opportunities to land free money from state, county and city governments, as well as private foundations and corporations.

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Consumer Borrowing Surges in Late 2011 | AllBusiness.com

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Consumers were confident enough at the end of 2011 to push borrowing levels up by $20.4 billion in November, the Federal Reserve reported late Monday.

Outstanding consumer credit rose to $2.48 trillion during that month, the Fed said. That was the highest level since November 2001, and it was more than twice the predictions of economists surveyed before the report was released.

The credit increase corresponded with healthier employment numbers; people are more likely to borrow if they believe they will have the wherewithal to pay the money back without serious penalty. So, it is likely that the December credit levels are higher than they have been for the past several years during the recession and slow recovery.

Is Increase Sustainable?

Still, the increase might not be sustainable, so small businesses shouldn’t adjust their sales forecasts just yet.

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5 Reasons Why You Will Retire Broke and Unhappy | genxfinance.com

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In a perfect world you will have enough money set aside so that come retirement day you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You’re free to carry out your plans without the added stress of wondering whether or not you’ll have enough money to pay the bills. Unfortunately, most people don’t have this luxury. Instead, they come to the realization that they can’t afford to retire and end up spending the later years in their life unhappy because they have to either keep working or simply don’t have enough money to do any of the things they had hoped. Here are five reasons most people will retire broke and unhappy.

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Managing Employees: 5 Scary Small-Business Mistakes | AllBusiness.com

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author of article

Yes, your employees can make or break your business, but battling zombies can be easier than managing people.

When ‘Giving Your All’ Gets You Nowhere

Case in point: I received an email recently from an employee who wanted to know how to turn down a “promotion” that meant doing two jobs without a pay, title, or bonus increase. She wrote:

Read – 5 Scary Small-Business Mistakes.