ShortFormBlogFebruary 3, 2012

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» Why? Zuck plans to sell some of his shares: Back in 2005, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg received a set of new stock options for his company. With said company looking to go public, Zuckerberg will exercise those shares before the IPO, effectively buying them at the price they were worth back then, and sell them after the IPO, effectively setting himself up for a windfall of nearly $5 billion … and one of the largest tax bills in history. It’s not like he’s gonna be broke, though — in fact, he’ll still be worth $24 billion by the end of it, much of that invested in his company. So hard for him, gotta tell you guys.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2012 16:31

Monday Los Angeles’ Miramonte Elementary School was cast under a pall after unspeakable allegations against one of its third-grade teachers, Mark Berndt, surfaced. We covered the allegations over here. (Note: Trigger warning.) Let’s just say it’s not pretty, and was so bad that his $2.3 million bail was increased tenfold later in the week.
Thursday Another student, inspired by the arrest of Berndt, came forward in regards to another teacher at the school. The teacher has been removed from their duties while the investigation continues. Also, word that Berdnt was investigated for molestation in 1994 has surfaced, leading to much anger at the school district. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Seriously, though this is kind of a big deal. Know that big problem we have? You know, the one involving a crapload of used plastic hanging around in landfills with nowhere to biodegrade for a couple million years? Well, Jonathan Russell might’ve solved that problem. See, Russell and his fellow Yale students went to Ecuador, where they found a new kind of fungus they’re calling Pestalotiopsis microspora. Big deal, you’re thinking. Anyone can find fungus anywhere! Well, something his fellow students found out after the fact is that this fungus can live on a diet of polyurethane alone — and even crazier, it doesn’t even need air to do so! In other words, we could potentially put it at the bottom of a landfill and cover it with plastic, and it would do the rest of the work. This might be game-changing if it works as advertised. (photo via Flickr user dbutt; EDIT: Updated with link to research abstract) source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

The FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.
A tweet from an Anonymous member • Discussing how the group managed to listen in on a phone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, discussing Ryan Cleary, a reported member of Anonymous. The group managed to listen on the call by having access to their internal e-mails, and using a password for the call distributed in one of the e-mails You can watch the video featuring the call’s audio over here, and our boy Matthew Keys has a pretty good wrap-up of the issues involved in the story. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

243,000 number of jobs added in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly report
8.3% the current unemployment rate, which is like, way lower than it’s been in a long time source

» Beating expectations handily: Many experts were expecting an increase in jobs, but not one this high. This is not to say we don’t have a long way to go, just that this is a very good number, especially for the time of year, when the assumption is that seasonal jobs are ending. Even better: The economy added 200,000 more jobs last year than first thought. Sounds to us like things are starting to look up. Read the full report here.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink