Category: General

The news is reporting that there are massive floods in North Korea. Two major storms over the past two weeks have drenched the impoverished North with some of its heaviest rains in years, severely damaging crops and raising the possibility of famine in a country that already battles chronic food shortages. This isn’t good considering… Continue reading Massive Flooding In North Korea

Associated Press is reporting the death toll from the Indonesian Tsunami that struck the island of Java on Monday at 327. Yahoo News has a slideshow here.

Yahoo News is reporting that a tsunami hit the island of Java today. Regional bulletins that the 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake was strong enough to send a killer wave steaming toward the country worst hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami did not reach the victims, because Indonesia’s main island has no warning system. Worldchanging links to… Continue reading Tsunami Hits Java

I’ve got a few global warming links for you guys. First is this Yahoo News story of scientists predicting that trees will grow in Antarctica within the century. Next I’ve got this post on a venture capital blog that I thought was pretty interesting. As you know, more VC money has flowed into “green” technology… Continue reading Global Warming Links

This press release about the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System was just slashdotted. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura announced that the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System is up and running as scheduled in an address to the Executive Council of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC) The organization is still working some kinks out of the system… Continue reading Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System

New Orleans’ real estate market is going through a boom, as prices rise to above pre-Katrina levels. However, according to this NYTimes article, the boom is being led by investors and speculators who are placing huge bets that property values will come back . The renewed interest in buying and selling and renovating has confounded… Continue reading Real Estate In New Orleans Booms

NyTimes reports that Dell is modifying its recycling program so that anyone with an old Dell machine can have it recycled for free through Dell. I’ve covered computer recycling before on this blog, and one of the issues then was the boatloads of old parts ending up in dumps in third world countries. To combat… Continue reading Dell Raises The Bar For Computer Recycling Programs

This news wouldn’t get much coverage at another time, but because of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s recent announcements, Larry Ellison’s decision to renege on a $115 million gift to Harvard is getting healthy coverage. For a minute there, I thought that the charity trend would catch on with business leaders the way that driving… Continue reading Larry Ellison Bucks The Trend, Decides NOT To Give $115 Donation

From Businessweek: American contribution to philanthropies increased by 6.1% in 2005, according to the 2006 Giving USA report, released June 19. Nearly half of the additional funds were earmarked for relief for a host of natural disasters, most notably Gulf Coast hurricanes, as well as tsunami devastation in Southeast Asia and an earthquake in Pakistan.… Continue reading U.S. Charitable Giving Rises 6%