News

Tech Stocks Continue Downward

The drop started last Friday, and continued over the weekend and on Monday. The big tech stocks, like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, which have been on a long upward trend, have dropped significantly. The drop is considered possibly overdue given the high out-performance and positioning of the stocks. Read more

Breivik Changes Name

The Norwegian 38-year-old political mass-killer has changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, according to his lawyer, who also said Breivik had told him the reasons for the change but the lawyer didn’t want to tell them. Hansen is a common last name. Around 1% of Norwegians are Hansens. Fjotolf is a name carried by only … Read more

‘Deep State’ Enters Popular Vocabulary

It has come up during the Comey hearings, bringing the term to a wide audience. It’s a conspiracy-theory type term that started 60 years ago: It means that besides the regular U.S. government, there is a secret-ish organization of security officials across various governmental domains which work together to enforce their values and goals. Currently, … Read more

People Are Adding ‘Badges’ to Their Resumes Now

They’re called digital badges. Or micro credentials. Because a resume stating a person graduated from any college with a 4 year degree doesn’t mean much to employers now, they’re looking for new ways to demonstrate hirability. The badges are for specific things, like critical thinking, good oral communication, creative problem solving, collaborating, reliance, and unnumbered … Read more

U.S. Intelligence Officials Tell Senate They Will Not Repeat What Was Said in Conversations With Trump

At a Senate intelligence hearing for an unrelated matter this week, senators ended up asking NSA and other intelligence brass about the president and the Russia investigation. The officials told senators they would not discuss the specifics of conversations with the president. They said they thought it was confidential information that should be protected from … Read more

Comey Testifies About Trump Meetings

Fired FBI Director James Comey has delivered a prepared statement to Congress this week. The statement described the six meetings Comey had with the president, some of which are considered quite unusual by analysts. During one meeting with Trump, Comey testified, he shared with the president sensitive information of a salacious nature that had been … Read more

Grads Graduating Without Learning Any Critical Thinking Skills

On the test that measures critical thinking, some colleges actually had scores lower for grads than for freshmen, although other schools showed pretty good improvements. ‘Critical thinking’ refers to certain skills: Being able to understand the value of an argument based on the validity of facts involved, forming a conclusion about veracity based on available … Read more

Qatar Cut Off by Neighbors

Saudi Arabia and other neighbors of Qatar have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and embracing Iran, and have cut it off. Diplomatic communications and air transport was halted. Embassies, borders, air space, and maritime access (40% of Qatar’s food supplies come from Saudi Arabia by boat) were shut off. It is considered a dramatic escalation … Read more