Commercial Intelligence – Page 203 – Public Intelligence Blog

bees-1-articleLarge — Full Article Online

Possible Cause of Bee Die-Off Is Found

The New York Times

Published: October 6, 2010

DENVER — It has been one of the great murder mysteries of horticulture: what is killing off the honeybees?

Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.

Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.

A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.

Phi Beta Iota: This is a very exciting story, and a real accomplishment by the US Army team applying Cold War bio-chemical skill sets to what may be the single greatest threat to US agriculture other than vanishing water. The Times did not, however, reference other causes of bee disorientation and dysfunction, such as cell phones and other electromagnetic pollutants.

Journal: Electromagnetics, Bees, & Agriculture

2010/10/05

Journal: Social Networks Do What Google Cannot Do

Collective Intelligence, Commercial Intelligence

How social networks can answer a question faster than Google

Direct to conclusion:

Things to ponder:

The combination of people-based and computer-based networks (Twitter, Lotus Connections) brought forth the story in three hours. Social networks answer questions at business speed. It verified what Google couldn't.
It pays to “cultivate your margins” and pay attention to interesting people outside of your normal channels. Gifts come from unexpected places. Who would expect a Midwestern body shop owner would find this nugget? If she didn't, would any of us ever have known it was a 3M product down there? You won't get as many good stories if you communicate with just the same people you see every day.
It was four degrees of internal separation, including me, to answer the question “is that our product?” It was answered in three hours from people on the other side of the world. Each person knew just the next person in line. If you add the Twitter feeds to me, that was two more people for a total of six. @laughingsquid found the Newsweek article, @jacquebona, who I follow, ‘RTed' it.
Google grabs what's published, not what's talked about. The social network rocks because it promotes what's naturally interesting to people. The Google robot emulates people, but not as well, or as quickly.
The little projector is STILL down there, used every day in non-spec conditions. It's 90F and very humid down there. There's a “takes a licking” story here.

Go back and read the full story leading up to the conclusion….

Tip of the Hat to Stan Garfield at LinkedIn.

2010/10/022010/10/02

Journal: True Cost of US Government Ineptitude

03 Economy, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption

John R. Talbott

Bestselling author whose books predicted the economic crisis

Posted: October 1, 2010 12:28 PM

TARP Uncovered — the Real Cost of the Government Bailout

The New York Times reports this morning (“TARP Bailout to Cost Less Than Once Anticipated“) that the true cost of TARP will be less than $50 billion. I find this type of reporting to be incredibly misleading and deceitful. Focusing solely on TARP and ignoring the other more costly portions of the government bailout of our biggest banks and corporations ignores the true cost of the government's (both the Bush and Obama administrations, the Fed and Congress) inept response to this crisis. One of the reasons that TARP did not cost more was because of the government's other more costly bailout policies, and to ignore them is to dramatically understate the true cost of the bailout.

By claiming a narrow TARP success, the Times attempts to invalidate citizen anger at the bailout by making it appear that the electorate is somehow misinformed about its costs or is just plain stupid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Claiming that TARP was successful, but ignoring the much larger and more relevant costs of other areas of the government bailout is like claiming the voyage of the Titanic was successful because many of the lifeboats were recovered. It is important to remember that the ship sunk.

Read his entire article with detail list that adds up to:

Total estimated cost of government bailout = $14.85 trillion.

John R. Talbott is the bestselling author of eight books on economics and politics that have accurately detailed and predicted the causes and devastating effects of this entire financial crisis including, in 2003, “The Coming Crash in the Housing Market”, in January 2006, “Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble” and in 2008, “Contagion: The Financial Epidemic that is Sweeping the Global Economy”.

Phi Beta Iota: This author impresses us. This is precisely the kind of public intelligence in the public interest that must be structured so as to be available to all citizens in time to keep government honest as well as effective.

2010/10/022010/10/02

Journal: Leveraging Local Entrepreneurs

Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Methods & Process, Non-Governmental

Hisham Wyne

Writer, columnist and armchair sociologist

Posted: October 1, 2010 12:35 PM

Social Entrepreneurs and Change in Dubai

An event revolving around the UN Millennium Goals, TEDx Change Dubai, recently gathered three hundred participants at the creek side Dubai Chamber of Commerce. Melinda Gates, wife of billionaire philanthropist and once Microsoft overlord Bill Gates, asked a pertinent question while streaming live from New York.

How is it that Coke can sell 1.5 billion servings daily and dispense to far flung areas that NGOs, Quangos and aid agencies have difficulty reaching with aid or vaccines? It's simple. Coke's distribution takes advantage of local entrepreneurs. NGOs often don't. Entrepreneurs are by nature both disruptive and generative. They distress the fabric of large business through hyper-local knowledge. They nimbly pounce on small market opportunities, or even build them from scratch. They catalyze economic spurts and the birth of cultures and sub-cultures as microcosms of activity appear around them. Their knowledge and drive can often be a powerful catalyst for social improvement.

Read balance of article…

2010/09/30

Journal: Finally, A Break in Foreclosures

03 Economy, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Government

JPMorgan Suspends Certain Foreclosures As Doubts Grow Over Legality

Even as August saw more Americans lose their homes to foreclosure than in any other month on record, there are growing concerns over the legality of many of those proceedings.

JPMorgan Chase has suspended legal proceedings on 50,000 foreclosures, due to concerns about the validity of the foreclosure documents, a spokesman for the bank told CNBC Wednesday (hat tip to Zero Hedge).

JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly confirmed to the AP Wednesday that “employees signed some affidavits about loan documents without personally verifying the files.”

The decision is the latest signal of a potentially massive stall in the nation's foreclosure process. Last week, after GMAC Mortgage halted its foreclosures in 23 states, the Washington Post reported that one of GMAC's employees hadn't read the roughly 10,000 foreclosure documents he approved each month (and now Colorado wants to be added to that list of states). It then turned out that the “robo signer” might not have been alone.

Phi Beta Iota: We called for a freeze on all foreclosures and evictions back in October 2008, instead of bailing out Wall Street where one $10 million bonus could cover an astonishing number of mortgage payments among the poor and lower middle class. The US Government failed to assure justice for all those who have been evicted to date. This move by JP Morgan is a good one, and also reminds us once again how important INTEGRITY is at every stage of every process. The reality is that most final “holders” of aggregated mortgages never had the actual loan note to begin with. The Department of Justice should have known that and should have advised all relevant policymakers and politicians of this fact, but in the rush to bail out Wall Street, the public interest was ignored, demeaned, and betrayed.

2010/09/292011/01/03

VMyths: Truth About Computer Security Hysteria

Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Computer/online security, Cyberscams, malware, spam, Government, Hacking, Media, Misinformation & Propaganda, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

http://vmyths.com/about

Vmyths traces its roots to a “Computer Virus Myths treatise” first published in 1988. It evolved into the critically acclaimed “Computer Virus Myths home page” in 1995, then it moved to Vmyths.com in 2000. Its name has changed over the years, but Vmyths remains true to its original goal: the eradication of computer security hysteria.

Vmyths sells the truth about computer security hysteria. We take no prisoners; we pull no punches; and we refuse computer security ads in order to maintain our independence.

Our editors:

Rob Rosenberger edits Vmyths and writes as a columnist. He is one of the “original” virus experts from the 1980s, and the first to focus on virus hysteria. Red Herring magazine describes him as “one of the most visible and cursed critics in computer security” today, and PC World magazine says he “is merciless with self-appointed virus experts and the credulous publications that quote them.” Rosenberger was one of only a dozen industry experts invited to the White House’s first-ever antivirus summit meeting in December 2000.

George C. Smith, Ph.D. serves as Vmyths‘ editor-at-large. He also writes as a columnist. His seminal book, The Virus Creation Labs, documents the insane early history of the antivirus world. He also published the critically acclaimed Crypt newsletter. The San Jose Mercury News recommends Smith’s work to “those who insist on at least a modicum of fact, accuracy and clear thinking in their tech news.”

Continue reading “VMyths: Truth About Computer Security Hysteria”

2010/09/262010/09/26

Reference: 21st Century Leadership-12 Guidelines

Blog Wisdom, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Methods & Process

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

Gary Hamel

….in the future, any company that lacks a vital core of Gen F employees will soon find itself stuck in the mud.

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” In assembling this short list, I haven’t tried to catalog every salient feature of the Web’s social milieu, only those that are most at odds with the legacy practices found in large companies.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
6. Groups are self-defining and self-organizing
7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
12. Hackers are heroes.

Read full post in glorious detail.

Tip of the Hat to Steve Denning at LinkedIn.

Phi Beta Iota: We've been skirting all of these since 1988, and even more so since we opened Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) in 1994. Please do read the full articulation, and pass it on. It's is the single best summary we have found to date.

Graphic: Principles of War versus Principles of Peace

Category: Commercial Intelligence

Journal: Army Shines with Bee Deaths But Case Still Open