Japan's debt passes a quadrillion yen

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 10, 2013

Japan's soaring national debt, already more than twice the size of its economy, has reached a new milestone, surpassing 1 quadrillion yen.

Let the word quadrillion roll around in your brain for a moment or two, because it is not something you hear every day. Quadrillion. 1,000,000,000,000,000. Really.

A paltry million is the numeral one followed by six zeros. A billion? Nine zeros. A trillion is getting up there: 12 zeros. But the mighty quadrillion has 15 of them.

The mind boggles. (Although it doesn't googol: That one is followed by 100 zeros. And that's the actual spelling. You can Google it.)

A quadrillion is a million billion, putting it into the kind of language used by middle schoolers to describe really humongous sums, along with gazillion and bazillion.

Measuring any currency in quadrillions brings to mind the hyperinflation of Germany between the wars, or Zimbabwe in the last decade. But a country with a real currency?

It is such a big and unusual word, describing such a big and unusual number, that its use is inconsistent: Bloomberg News used quadrillion in the headline of an early story Friday about Japan's debt, but later in the day the stories and headlines referred to a "thousand trillion," which is not nearly as much fun.

Questions emailed to the Bloomberg editors responsible for those stories were not returned, suggesting perhaps a lexicographical quadrilliongate.

How much is a quadrillion? The entire human body is said to have just 100 trillion cells; it takes 10 of us to make a quadrillion. Jeff Bezos has a personal fortune of some $25 billion, allowing him to plunk down $250 million for The Washington Post, which is essentially how much money he might find by looking behind his sofa cushions. To get to a quadrillion dollars, however, we would have to have 40,000 Bezoses, or as many people as live in Prescott, Ariz. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, helpfully offered a few other ways to think about a quadrillion.

"It would take you 31 million years to count to a quadrillion - one number per second, never sleeping," he said in an email, adding that "a quadrillion yen, stacked in 1,000-yen notes, would ascend 70,000 miles high."

He also wrote, although it is not clear how he would know such a thing, that "the total number of all sounds and words ever uttered by all humans who have ever lived is about 100 quadrillion."

"This figure includes all congressional debates and filibusters," Tyson wrote.

Compared with Japan, the U.S. national debt is a mere $16 trillion or so. But if you convert that number into yen, it comes to about $1.5 quadrillion. So it's good to have a currency that conserves its zeros. Of course, that also means the total U.S. debt is even larger than Japan's (although not, it should be noted, as a percentage of gross domestic product).

Hmm. Let's not talk about that.

Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/nyt/20130810_Japans_debt_passes_a_quadrillion_yen.html

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Florida?s education scandal worth a C or an A, whatever

As scandals go, this was a quick one.

Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned amid reports of preferential treatment for the politically influential while he served as Indiana?s superintendent for public instruction. Specifically, it appears he engaged in changing a school grade from a ?C? to an ?A.?

The school in question was a charter school run by a prominent Republican donor. Apparently, it was also used as a shining example of how school grades could identify successful academic outcomes that others could emulate and poor outcomes that could lead to conversion of a public school to a charter school.

As a co-founder of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush?s Chiefs for Change, Bennett is a true believer in the school grading system and the push for school vouchers and teacher merit pay.

After losing reelection to his Indiana post in November, he was selected to be the next in the revolving door of Florida education commissioners under Gov. Rick Scott. In less than three years, there have been three commissioners and two interim commissioners.

Even before the scandal broke, Bennett?s seven-month stint as Florida schools chief was not without controversy. He was facing pushback on several fronts. The conservative base of Republican voters was deeply troubled by his support of the Common Core state standards, a position he shared with mentor Jeb Bush. On the other end of the political spectrum, there was mounting criticism over efforts to tie merit pay, vouchers and conversion schools to a seemingly faulty and fluid grading system.

Additionally, members of the state Board of Education and some of the state?s influential superintendents asked him to account for the validity of Florida?s school grading system. He proposed ?a safety net? to prevent schools from dropping more than one letter grade, a policy the board approved with some reservation.

In the midst of responding to all his masters here, The Associated Press released emails detailing how Bennett and his Indiana team appeared to be overhauling Indiana?s school grading system to improve the grade of the generous donor?s school.

The most troubling of the emails from Bennett to his team is hard to walk back from. He writes, ?I am a little miffed about this, I hope we come to the meeting today with solutions and not excuses and/or explanations for me to wiggle out of the repeated lies I have told over the past six months.?

Oh my! Nobody likes repeated lies.

Bennett resigned four days after The AP story broke. During those four days Patricia Levesque, the executive director of Bush?s Foundation for Florida?s Future, circulated a letter defending him; Democratic lawmakers called for his resignation, and the governor remained silent.

While the scandal and the resignation are behind us, the policy and systemic problems are still center stage. Isn?t it time for an honest conversation about doing away with a school grading system that is costly, divisive and unreliable?

Systemically, just how much autonomy does the education commissioner have to run the Department of Education and to whom is he directly accountable? In all fairness, it would be difficult for anyone to succeed in a toxic environment of distrust while having to report to so many chiefs.

Among the education chiefs are the commissioner, the state board that hires and can fire the commissioner; the Legislature, which confirms his appointment; the governor, who appoints the board; the former governor who was the father of Florida?s grading system, and his political foundation, which enjoys tremendous influence with legislators. Curiously missing from the hierarchy are local school boards, teachers, parents and students.

Until we address the policy and systemic challenges, we won?t stop the revolving door. Why would any accomplished educational leader want to come to Florida with our record of resignations, divisiveness, lack of autonomy and complex reporting structure?

And why do we keep looking outside Florida? Is it because we?re searching for a gung-ho reformist to implement the national agenda of more testing, school grades, vouchers, charter schools, merit pay and the so-called parent trigger?

Wouldn?t it be preferable to choose a leader who?s familiar with Florida?s schools, their history and their challenges? And wouldn?t it make sense to grant him or her independence to reform the system based on the needs of our students and the advice of their parents?

After all, didn?t legislators spend two sessions extolling the virtues of parent empowerment?

Better yet, perhaps it?s time to return to an elected education commissioner.

Paula Dockery is a syndicated columnist who served in the Florida Legislature for 16 years as a Republican from Lakeland.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/10/3553498/floridas-education-scandal-worth.html

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rnaze: In Flo-Rida?s song ?Low? he states that Shawty is wearing the apple bottom jeans, the boots...

10 Aug

rnaze:

In Flo-Rida?s song ?Low? he states that Shawty is wearing the apple bottom jeans, the boots with the fur AND the Reeboks with the straps, what is she some kind of four legged morph woman? In all honesty I?m not surprised the whole club is looking at her?

Source: http://twisted-thimbles.tumblr.com/post/57923189654

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Crews searching for missing investigator find body

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? Authorities found a woman's body on Friday near a Northern California park where they had been searching for a missing federal investigator.

Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson said the body has not been identified and?will be taken to the Solano County coroner.

It was found by Contra Costa County sheriff's search and rescue teams in a woodsy area near Laguna Valley Park in Vacaville, as crews searched for 50-year-old Sandra Coke of Oakland.

The search for Coke was ended after the discovery, and authorities remained tight-lipped about what led dozens of local, state and federal investigators to the area.

Coke, a capital case investigator for the federal public defender's office in Sacramento, was last seen in Oakland on Sunday.

On Thursday, Oakland police identified Coke's former boyfriend, Randy Alana, as a person of interest in the case. He and Coke were seen together Sunday, police said.

Alana, 56, of Oakland, a registered sex offender, was arrested on an unspecified parole violation on Tuesday.

"We are looking at an angle to see if foul play was involved," Watson said.

Coke left her Oakland home shortly after 8:30 p.m. Sunday after reportedly telling her 15-year-old daughter she was meeting with someone who had found her missing dog.

Coke said she would be back in 30 minutes. Her daughter called police when her mother did not come home that night.

A family friend, Laura Burstein, said Coke dated Alana more than 20 years ago. Another friend, Dan Abrahamson, told KGO-TV, that Alana recently reappeared in the area and reached out to Coke for help.

Alana was being held without bail. He is considered a high-risk sex offender, with state records showing he has convictions for rape and kidnapping.

Dozens of Coke's family and friends announced a $100,000 reward on Thursday for any information leading to her return.

"These last few days have been a living nightmare," said her sister, Tanya Coke, who believes foul play may be involved.

Calls to Tanya Coke on Friday were not immediately returned. Earlier, Sandra Coke's family released a statement hoping for her return.

"We are enormously grateful for the efforts of everyone ? law enforcement, colleagues and friends of Sandra, and members of the public and the media ? who have labored day and night to find Sandra," the statement read.

Police found Coke's 2007 Mini Cooper convertible on Monday, just a few blocks from her home and her cellphones were discovered near Interstate 80 in Richmond and near the Oakland-Emeryville border .

As an investigator, Coke was assigned to probe capital cases that are appealed to federal court to ensure death sentences are fair.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/crews-searching-missing-investigator-body-220216510.html

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Toshiba Excite Write review

It's a tricky thing to name your devices after a verb. And when we say "tricky," we mean ill-advised. That Toshiba could willfully overlook Excite as a magnet for terrible (and terribly negative) puns speaks to its distance from the tablet category (remember the Thrive?). Yet, here we have another generation of Excite tablets and this, the Excite Write, is the line's top-shelf offering. Its Wacom digitizer and included stylus mean this tablet can go toe to toe with the Note 10.1; both have the same screen size and 1,024 degrees of pressure sensitivity. But where Samsung's outsized Note skimped on the HD resolution, Toshiba's gone the opposite direction. Boasting a 2,560 x 1,600 display, a Wacom digitizer, a Tegra 4 heart, 2GB of RAM and Harman Kardon speakers, the Write is a welcome chord change in an otherwise uneventful 10-inch Android fugue. Of course, the catch to all of this premium goodness is a premium price: $600 in this case. You still there?

Gallery: Toshiba Excite Write review

Filed under: Tablets

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WjiSPJu9hVY/

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QOTD: What Automotive Details Are You Missing? | The Truth About ...

OK, folks: time for one last question of the day (for now, anyway). As you know, we?ve covered the best automotive details and the worst automotive details, both of which garnered well over 200 comments. Interestingly, the ?worst? thread got about 100 more comments than the ?best? thread, proving that we TTACers are a ?glass is half empty? kind of crowd.

With that knowledge in mind, I?ve decided to ask one more pressing question: what automotive details are you missing? In other words: you?re driving down the road and you think to yourself: Why the hell doesn?t it have that? And then you get even more upset when someone tells you that the latest subcompact General Motors vehicle does have that, and it?s standard.

These can be from your own car, a friend?s car, or the industry as whole. And with that in mind, let?s get started:

Convertible Top Open/Close With Key Fob

At Porsche, I discovered that all European convertible models have a feature that allows the convertible top to open and close with the press of a key fob button. Hold down the unlock button in your 911 Cabriolet, for example, and the windows and top all go down. Seems brilliant, right?

Except that feature isn?t offered in the States, presumably for liability reasons. You know: because an American will place a baby on the roof of a convertible, press the button, then sue the automaker for $25 million, which will turn into $95 million once the jurors start crying.

Sliding Doors

If you?ve been to Europe, chances are you?ve seen the Peugeot 1007, which was recently voted the coolest car ever in a scientific poll taken on the Peugeot 1007 Facebook group.

I love the 1007 because it?s unique in one very important way: it features sliding doors, and it isn?t a minivan. The doors aren?t for the rear passengers, you see, but for the front seats. This allows you to park virtually anywhere and get out of your car, making it the exact opposite of the Ford GT.

Swiveling Headlights

I know, I know, a few luxury cars have this. And that means in about 10 years, all cars will have it. But to me, that moment couldn?t come soon enough. I think swiveling headlights are one of the greatest things currently offered: they save your neck in dark corners, and they seem to shine exactly where you want them to.

Rear-Facing Third-Row Seats

I used to own a car with rear-facing third-row seats, which qualifies me as to be an expert on the hotly contested issue of: Should cars have rear-facing third row seats?

The answer is, of course: yes they should. Because let?s be honest: rear-facing third-row seats pretty much always lead to a happy childhood. Also, for those who believe they aren?t safe, here?s a thought: in a rear-end collision, wouldn?t you rather have your legs get hit than the back of your head? I thought so.

Hands-Free Texting

If you?re like me, you view texting as a necessary evil with which we, as a society, are forced to cope. And if you?re like me, you probably send the occasional text message at a traffic light. Well, guess what? Most people are not like me. Most people are texting at all hours of the day and night, including while driving down the street, the highway, the alley, and, occasionally, the sidewalk.

I recently read a study on texting that said around 60 percent of 13-to-25-year-olds consider it the preferred method of communication. And since texting is so easy to distract us from driving, this is something that automakers will need to integrate better in the coming years. Voice controls? Mind controls? I don?t know. But something.

So, TTAC, what details are you missing? And don?t worry: I promise we?ll have ?answers of the day? posts coming soon.

@DougDeMuro is the author of Plays With Cars and the operator of PlaysWithCars.com. He?s owned an E63 AMG wagon, road-tripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute lap time on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America?s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

Source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/08/qotd-what-automotive-details-are-you-missing/

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Soldier played dead after being shot at Fort Hood

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ? A soldier who was repeatedly shot during the Fort Hood shooting rampage says he played dead before realizing the gunman might notice he was sweating.

Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford testified Tuesday during the opening day of the trial for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people.

Alonzo told jurors he panicked when he saw Hasan was holding a weapon inside a building where soldiers were preparing to deploy in November 2009.

Alonzo says he tried to appear dead after being shot, then later decided to flee because, "dead men don't sweat."

He says soldiers were trying to push their way out of a double-door exit, but one door was locked shut, so it created a bottleneck.

Hasan, who is representing himself, didn't cross examine Lunsford.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-played-dead-being-shot-fort-hood-211325082.html

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