Bitcoin mining, the law of jungle

To earn USD $21,725 in every 10 minutes (more than $130K per hour) sounds a pie in the sky. This covetous money is what all the Bitcoin "miners" are fighting for 24 hours a day. It still has more than 10M Bitcoins up for grabs. Bitcoin mining basically follows the law of jungle, if you are strong, you get everything. Any one equipped with a lot of resources, i.e., a lot of computation power with each specialized processor equivalent to 70,000 fastest Intel CPU, can solve the arcane Nakamoto's solutions ahead of worldwide competitors and rake up more than USD $130K per hour (price in the night of Jan. 15). Again, Bitcoin mining enhances the economic gap between high- and low-skill individuals.

1st consumer-grade thermal camera

IR thermal cameras have never been cheap, low-resolution IR thermal cameras in Amazon.com usually cost USD $3K-$5K. In 2014 Las Vegas CES, FLIR announced the 1st consumer-grade thermal camera which can be attached to iPhone5. Its resolution is as low as 80x60 but its $349 price tag dropped a bombshell on the IR market and triggered 9,000 pre-order units in CES. I always wonder if there are any killer applications for IR cameras (except for car). Probably this FLIR low-cost camera on iPhone5 may have the crowd-pulling effect to provoke more IR applications.   FLIR microbolometer thermal camera

Minimum wage in 1968 was much higher than today's

To raise the minimum wage from today's $7.25/hr to $10/hr or not has become a heated debate since raising the minimum wage may be the most efficient way to wipe out poverty. Today's $7.25/hr is actually much lower than the inflation-adjusted $10.56/hr in 1968. However, raising the labor cost may spur employers to accelerate the automation such as using the robots to shred noodles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukNkCnNJuR8

From Norman Rockwell society To Survival of The Fittest society

It has been 50 years after President LBJ announced the epochal social safety net program. In the last 50 years, US poverty rate has declined from 26% to 16%. However, income inequality still shows relentless aggravation. Until late 1970s, US was a Norman Rockwell society. After 1980, US has become a "survival of the fittest" society.

income inequality

Recent Gallup poll shows the comparison of income inequality.  Following figure is just for a few countries.   China is the worst while Japan and Europe seem not way too egregious.

58% favoring the legalization of marijuana

PBS news today has mentioned that U.S. has the majority favoring the legalization of marijuana. Colorado state has legalized the entertainment marijuana on Jan. 1, 2014. Marijuana has the indisputable scientific fact that it will impact the cognitive capacity unfavorably, especially for teenagers. What's wrong with the U.S. social fabric nowadays?

snowbound driveway

Take day off due to the snowbound driveway. The broken snowblower added to the double whammy. Luckily, two kids had no hesitation to help me clean the 5-inch snow on the driveway.