Feeling Down? Maybe Its Time For A Werk Out?

DAYTON – Ohio’s up-and-coming jamband powerhouse, The Werks are thrilled to announce their second annual Werk Out Festival, held Thursday through Sunday Sept. 811 at Zane Shawnee Caverns in Bellefontaine.

Building off the success of last year’s inaugural event, this year’s Werk Out Festival gets even better with two nights of The Werks. Special guests include the nation’s top tribute act, Dark Star Orchestra performing with former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux recreating a historical Jerry Garcia Band show for the first time ever.

Additional performers include String Cheese Incident side projects EOTO (percussion, loop and trance duo) & the Kyle Hollingsworth Band (SCI’s keyboardist leads a funky quintet), as well as the Donna Jean Godchaux Band (Grateful Dead), Australia’s Ganja Giri, super group The Everyone Orchestra, keyboardist Johnny Neel (Allman Brothers Band) and more than 50 total bands.

Fusing psychedelic and shredding guitar, a screaming classic rock organ, funk slap bass, and modern dance beats and synthesizers, The Werks have created a style all of their own – “Psychedelic Dance Rock.” These highly unique and highly danceable grooves have earned them a devoted following, as well as invitations to perform at some of this summer’s hottest festivals, including the All Good Festival, Electric Forest (formerly Rothbury), Summer Camp Festival and Wakarusa.

FULL ARTICLE AFTER THE JUMP –> It’s time for a Werk Out

This New Military Humvee Is BOMB!

The FLYPMode was chosen out of a pool of over 150 viable designs that were submitted to the auto engineers at Local Motors. The concepts were submitted by various businesses, designers, and car lovers. After the community picked the winning blueprint — which netted the lucky designer a $7,500 prize from DARPA — it was up to Local Motors to take it from paper to pavement. They did just that, putting the total timeframe between request and prototype at just 1/5th of current defense contractor efforts.

 

The All To Familiar Job Juggle.

I read a great article today about the new challenges young graduates are facing in the work force.  Full artilce here –> Job Jugglers, on the Tightrope

For the most part I can relate with this 100%.  I graduated college in 2007, and have not worked one job since i walked across the stage.  currently i work 3 different jobs with take up about 85 hours a week, and provide a miserable pre-tax income I don’t even want to mention on this blog.  I wonder on a regular basis how people who make less the 30k a year can survive, with how much I work its not like I am going out spending money on fun.

But the one thing this article fails to realize is that the cost of living has gone way up.  When i graduate college in 2007 gas was at $1.50 a gallon… That is less than half it cost now.  I drive a fuel efficient car and my gas expense alone is close to 10% of my pretax income in a year. Not to mention the increased cost of food and other necessities for common life.  If I made what I do now in 2007 it would have seemed like a ton of money. Especially since I lived on about $7k  a year in college. However with inflation and the increase cost of everyday goods my expenses have increased 200% in the last 4 years.  I can promise you even if the economy was GREAT i would not have gotten a 200% increase in my salary. I however am lucky that i live in a city where the cost of living was low before this recession and even with inflation the costs are still manageable, but most are not so lucky.

There in-lies the real problem with our economy.  We are experiencing huge inflation, cost of real goods inflation, not the monetary kind.  This is greatly decreasing the buying power of the younger generations, and crushing their savings.

How can you expect someone to plan for the future if they are struggling to make ends meet in the present?

If we don’t fix this problem soon the effects will be long lasting.  We are creating a generation of people without financial security, who work twice as hard for half as much.  How long with the workforce continue like this?  I can tell you one thing I doubt i could work 85 hrs a week when I’m 60, and good luck trying to start a family when you are never home or barely have time to date much less become intimate enough to even consider marriage.

What kind of a world is this making? It reminds me of indentured servants or a monetary based version of slavery, not the free market capitalist society I was raised to believe in.

 

Groupon’s Hug IPO May All Have Been For Nothing.

When Groupon’s IPO raised them so much money i was one of the most shocked people.  With my experience in restaurants, and my education in finance, I could not understand why people thought a company that has never been in the black could be worth so much money.  From my experience with Groupon coupons in restaurants that were nothing but a huge pain in the ass and most will not be repeat users.  Yes they are great to get your name out there to customers, but from my experience they only were purchased by regular customers, did not drive in new business and cost us a ton of money in operations and sales losses.  So I was completely flabbergasted that anyone would think this company had a long shelf life.  Mainly because from a vender standpoint I have yet to hear a single story or a shop or restaurant being satisfied with there use of Groupon.  I understand the consumers who by the discounted coupons and gift certificates love Groupon but if the companies are losing money this will not last.

Now Groupon has more issues than its lack of a successful business model.  Google is going to eat their lunch.  Not only will Google Offers reach a larger audience they will streamline the acceptance processes and make the coupons much more profitable for the venders.

full release here –> Google Could Kill Groupon If They Don’t Screw Up

Google made good on their promise that they’ll turn our phones into wallets by rolling out Google Offers in Portland last month. Now, with more details on how their vision will pan out, it looks like Google has a winner. Unless they lose focus.

Google has put themselves in a position where their multitude of platforms, especially Gmail and Android, their search powers, and the way Offers is designed to benefit both merchants and consumers give them a major advantage over the likes of Groupon and Living Social. We’re talking: Better payment terms for deal providers; Better returns on vouchers; And better distribution through ads and Google’s already immense portfolio of products and services. Groupon, already a powerhouse valued at $3 billion, would have a hard time competing against them.

That is if Google gets it right. Google has a nasty habit of unveiling new services—service they purport will change the world and the way we connect to it—and not delivering, either for lack of direction or lack of a real commitment to making it work. Google TV has suffered for it, though they’re turning that around. Many other have been shut down. For this to be a success, Google needs to sit down and truly consider the scope of this undertaking. If they can do that, then it could turn into something incredible. [Business Insider]

 

If This Is Truly The Future Of Camping I Am Excited!

NAU’s Slick-Looking Take On the Future of the RV

Jack Loftus — Zero-emissions. Smooth lines right out of Tron: Legacy. Scenic, rendered vistas. Yup, sounds like a design firm’s taken a crack at the future of camping. Let’s have a peek. ORIGINALLY ON –> Gizmodo

This is a new concept idea for an rv.  It looks much sportier and way more fun to drive.

Above are the specs for the new RV.  You can see how they compare it to the actual RV in the bottom right hand corner.

Functionality of the RV.

What it looks like while it is open.

Top View.

Anonymous Has Over 40 Terabytes Of Government And Corrupt Corporation Data.

Anonymous announced today that they have stockpiled over 40 terabytes of information from secure government archives (include the USA government) and from corrupt corporations.  They said they have so much info that don’t even know where to drop it, hinting a drop this big would even sink pirate bay.

I believe LuLzSec was just a way to draw attention away from Anonymous while they stole all this info. Does anyone Actually understand how much information 40 terabytes is? 1 terabytes = 1024 gigabytes (40*1024=40960 gigabytes)

Anonymous Hacks Again, Releases Counter-Hacking Manual

 Kwame Opam — With LulzSec out of the picture, bros-in-arms Anonymous has taken up the cause with hacks of their own. One being the release of an “anti-cyberterrorism” training file, allegedly published by FEMA. The irony is not lost on us.

ABC News took a look into the ISO and found:

Many documents and links to security and hacking resources that are freely available on the internet.

Lists of FBI bureau addresses throughout the USA.

Stock letters on how to officially request user information from Internet Service Providers and obtain warrants.

Numerous hacking and counter-hacking tools.

And more dumps are probably on the way. Whatever the cause for LulzSec’s retirement, it looks like there’s no reason to expect the hacks to stop anytime soon. [AnonymousIRC viaABC News]

China Is Hiding $1.6 Trillion In Debt With Local Municipalities.

China’s local governments have piled up debts of $1.6 trillion, the national audit agency announced Monday, amid mounting concern Chinese banks might be hurt if borrowers cannot repay loans.

It was the first public accounting of massive borrowing by local governments to pay for construction and other spending. The announcement, following months of speculation about the scale of the debt, might help to mollify worries about possible risks facing banks that also lent heavily to help China ward off the 2008 global crisis.

Analysts say some local governments might be unable to repay loans but a banking crisis is unlikely because China’s state-owned lenders are flush with cash and avoided the mortgage-related turmoil that battered Western institutions.

Beijing has flexibility because economic growth is strong and its total government debt is well below that of the United States, Japan and some European economies, said Zuo Xiaolei, chief economist for Galaxy Securities in Beijing.

“But the government must bear the risks in mind and try to prevent the local debts expanding too fast,” she said.

MORE INFO AFTER THE JUMP –> China reports local governments owe $1.6 trillion

New Creatures Found In The Philipines

Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences and their colleagues from the University of the Philippines and the National Museum of the Philippines conducted a 42-day expedition this past spring to survey Luzon Island, the largest island in the Philippine archipelago, as well as its surrounding waters. The results were huge: They discovered more than 300 new species, from colorful sea slugs (shown here: aeolid nudibranch, or sea slug) to deep-sea armored corals and inflatable sharks. See for yourself! –> Featured Creatures

 

Pink CoralCredit: Gary Williams, California Academy of Sciences.A remarkably tall (up to a half meter), tree-like soft coral seen only in the deeper waters of a few dive sites in the Philippines. This animal is an unidentified and likely new species of the genus Umbeliulifera. At night, all parts of the animal are fully extended for feeding on plankton.

Toxic MolluskCredit: Terry Gosliner, California Academy of Sciences.A new species of Phyllidia nudibranch (also known as a sea slug) that was discovered during the California Academy of Sciences’ 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition. These brightly colored mollusks don’t need shells for protection — instead they produce powerful toxins to keep potential predators at bay.

Purple CutieCredit: Terry Gosliner, California Academy of Sciences.A new species of Nembrotha nudibranch (also known as a sea slug) that was discovered during the California Academy of Sciences’ 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition.

Deflated DuoCredit: Stephanie Stone, California Academy of Sciences.These swell sharks can make like giants by inflating their bellies with water

Swell SharkCredit: Stephanie Stone, California Academy of Sciences.A new species of swell shark from the deep sea. To scare off predators, this shark can inflate its stomach with water to bulk up.

Creepy CrabCredit: California Academy of SciencesA likely new species of Petalomera crab from the deep sea, discovered during a 2011 expedition to the Philippines.

Got Wood?Credit: California Academy of Sciences.A new species of deep-water sea star in the family Caymanostellidae that digests wood.

Red UrchinCredit: California Academy of Sciences.A potential new species of the urchin Echinothrix, with a distinctive red color that differentiates it from the more brownish, white-banded Echinothrix calamaris.

Coral WormCredit: Chrissy Piotrowski, California Academy of Sciences.This colorful worm is likely a new species of the genus Myrianida, which was found in coral rubble in the Philippines.

Tiny BarnacleCredit: Terry Gosliner, California Academy of Sciences.A new species of barnacle (bulge in the center of the photo) in the family Oxynaspididae living symbiotically on a black coral.