Let’s rewind to October 2017. Kate McClure, a New Jersey woman, ran out of gas on an interstate ramp outside of Philadelphia. Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless man, was allegedly panhandling nearby, and used his last $20 to buy McClure enough gas to get home. In return, McClure and her boyfriend, Mike D’Amico, took to GoFundMe, asking givers to help them raise $10,000 toward rent, a car, and a few months of basic living expenses for Bobbitt. The fundraiser went viral. In all, over 14,000 donors eventually contributed to the goal-shattering total of $402,000.
Category: News and Views
Exercise Can’t Save Us: Our Sugar Intake Is The Real Culprit, Say Experts | Forbes
In a fascinating and scorching editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, three authors argue that the myth that exercise is the key to weight loss – and to health – is erroneous and pervasive, and that it must end. The evidence that diet matters more than exercise is now overwhelming, they write, and has got to be heeded: We can exercise to the moon and back but still be fat for all the sugar and carbs we consume. And perhaps even more jarring is that we can be a normal weight and exercise, and still be unhealthy if we’re eating poorly. So, they say, we need a basic reboot of our understanding of health, which has to involve the food industry’s powerful PR “machinery,” since that was part of the problem to begin with.
Samsung W2019 Unveiled with 6GB of RAM and Snapdragon 845 | Digital Trends
Samsung has unveiled the W2019, a high-end flip phone that is packed with flagship-level specifications such as 6GB of RAM and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845.
Samsung announced the smartphone at a launch event in China, according to GizmoChina. The W2019 is the successor to last year’s W2018, which was powered by the Snapdragon 835.
Stan Lee: Marvel Comics legend dies aged 95 | BBC News
American writer and former president of Marvel Comics Stan Lee has died at the age of 95.
In 1961, Lee created The Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics, and went on to create titles including Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk.
The legendary comic book author died at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a family lawyer.
The SBA and PROdnose – The Wisdom and Musings of Jim Ely, SBA pro
prodnose
PROD-nohz
verb intr.: To pry.
noun: A prying person.
After Prodnose, a pedantic and nosy character, who appeared in the newspaper columns of J B Morton in the Daily Express. J B Morton wrote under the pen name Beachcomber. Twenty years before the word appeared in his column, the poet Dylan Thomas once wrotein 1934: “I want you to think of me today … singing as loudly as Beachcomber in a world rid of Prodnose.”
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TIP OF THE WEEK
SBA 7(a) loan approvals for the fiscal year ending September 30th totaled $25,372,457,900. That’s 0.3% less than the prior year.
Being a prodnose about this, I calculated the correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan volume and GDP for over six years using the Microsoft CORREL function. It came out to a statistically significant 0.86.
That would imply the economy won’t continue to grow as rapidly as it is now.
Continue reading “The SBA and PROdnose – The Wisdom and Musings of Jim Ely, SBA pro”
Google ‘Arbitration Optional’ Harassment Plan Limits Groups | WIRED
GOOGLE ANNOUNCED CHANGES to how it will handle claims of sexual harassment among employees, including making arbitration optional for individual harassment and sexual assault claims. While additional transparency and protection for workers is a sign of progress, the change is incremental rather than transformative, because Google’s arbitration provision still prohibits collective action. Harassment claims will no longer be forced into private arbitration, but only individuals can now bring their claims before a jury.
Bad News Day for Bitcoin: It’s Destroying the World and Bank Accounts | Entrepreneur
Even though cryptocurrencies technically have no physical presence, they really do a make a impact on the environment — and even could affect the amount of money people have in their accounts.
From January 2016 to June 2018, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Cincinnati monitored how much energy it took to mine Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Monero on a daily basis.
The Royole FlexPai is the first phone we’ve seen with a truly foldable screen | New Atlas
Foldable phones are coming, there’s no doubt about that. Samsung, LG, and Huawei are among those who’ve set out their intentions to launch bendable handsets within the next year, but they’ve all apparently been beaten to the line by the Royole FlexPai.
Apple’s first 5G iPhone won’t be ready until 2020, report says | Mashable
Apple’s first 5G iPhone is still two years away. That’s according to a new report, which says the iPhone maker won’t be 5G ready until 2020.
That would put Apple a year behind some of its Android rivals which have said they plan to have 5G phones in 2019.
The news, which comes from Fast Company, cites a single source said to have “knowledge of Apple’s plans.”
Amazon keeps everyone guessing about HQ2 | CNN
The mystery over which city or cities Amazon will choose for its second headquarters continues.
An Amazon executive on Saturday took a swipe at a Washington Post report that said the e-commerce giant was in advanced talks about opening its second headquarters, nicknamed HQ2, in Crystal City, Virginia. The report in the Jeff Bezos-owned Post, which cited “people close to the process,” said the Washington DC suburb is a frontrunner for the complex, which is expected to create 50,000 jobs and cost $5 billion.
Dispatches From The Front 