What does it say about the national palate of Uruguay that their national dish is a sandwich of such unparalleled deliciousness — a sandwich of sheer amazing brilliance?
Image via the Working Families Party In what is striking many as unduly Orwellian, Pennsylvania's Homeland Security Department is actively spying on anti-drilling activists throughout the state -- and then handing that information over to the drilling company that they're protesting against. The activists have been entirely peaceful, so when the drilling company, Marcellus Shale, inadvertently revealed that it was receiving information about them from the state, anger was quick to spread....Read the full story on TreeHugger
Ars Technica played around for a little while in campaign donor records and found that AT&T "easily" qualifies as the top donor in political campaigns since 1990. Since that time, AT&T has doled out a whopping $45,461,879 to politicians, significantly more than runner ups the National Association of Realtors ($36,749,493) and Goldman Sachs ($32,660,452). AT&T's donations were bi-partisan in nature, though they did favor an Obama White House, apparently (AT&T was paid back with immunity for charges of illegal wiretapping):
Every time a young, promising start-up is bought out by a stodgy, old incumbent, the world is flush with congratulations. Congratulations to the team, island mojitos now await them. Congratulations to the venture capitalist, their past nine flops can fade in the background for a week. Congratulations to the acquisition team, who can celebrate the win on their lawyer’s expense account.
But all the hoopla and excitement quickly dies down and the fresh-for-a-moment old incumbent goes back to doing what old incumbents do best: thwart new ideas.
As soon as Monday rolls around, it’ll be time for another management rotation, and the new guy surely has no interest in playing with the old guy’s toys. That’s not how you make a name for yourself and move up the ladder. Oh no.
Take Dopplr, for example. Nokia picked them up in 2009 for the going price of Web 2.0 vanity purchases without a business model: $20,000,000. The Guardian is running a rare where-are-they-now story on how predictably that turned out: “We have decided to bring it into a maintenance mode… but will not develop it further at this stage”.
Or what about Bloglines. IAC picked them up in 2005, did little to advance the application, and then dragged out the inevitable. It’s being shut down on October 1st.
The acquisition graveyard is full of tombstones for the wasted efforts of bright minds. Minds that could have gone into building lasting companies with a shot at significance.
Next time a vanity purchase is announced, maybe we shouldn’t be so quick with the champagne.
We love Latin American food, and it's been a constant source of inspiration to us here at The Kitchn. From quick bean burritos, to 30-minute chicken posole, to vegan corn tamales, here are 15 Latin American-inspired recipes from our archives.
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- List Price: $16.9 million USD
- Size: 9,110 square feet (interior)
- Terrace: 2,700 square feet (exterior)
- 5 Bedrooms
- 5.5 Bathrooms
- Heated infinity pool
- Panoramic view of Miami skyline
- Built: 2006
All photographs and information via Sothbey’s Reealty
All photographs and information via Sothbey’s Reealty
All photographs and information via Sothbey’s Reealty
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
