Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/xxByRsh721c/google-search-its-like-chrome-on-your-ipad
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Google Search: It's Like Chrome on Your iPad [IPad Apps]
Theodore Forstmann, big in 80s takeover wave, dies
FILE - In this Feb. 29, 1996 file photo, takeover artist Ted Forstmann poses in his office in New York. Forstmann, a longtime financier who counted the iconic baseball card company Topps and business jet company Gulfstream Aerospace among his buyouts, died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, at the age of 71. The cause was brain cancer, according to a statement from sports agency IMG. Forstmann was the chairman and CEO of IMG and was the senior founding partner of the investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. Forstmann Little bought IMG in 2004. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 29, 1996 file photo, takeover artist Ted Forstmann poses in his office in New York. Forstmann, a longtime financier who counted the iconic baseball card company Topps and business jet company Gulfstream Aerospace among his buyouts, died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, at the age of 71. The cause was brain cancer, according to a statement from sports agency IMG. Forstmann was the chairman and CEO of IMG and was the senior founding partner of the investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. Forstmann Little bought IMG in 2004. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Theodore J. Forstmann, a longtime Wall Street financier who was a major player during the wave of corporate takeovers in the 1980s, including the battle for RJR Nabisco in 1988, died Sunday at the age of 71.
The cause was brain cancer, according to a statement from sports marketing giant IMG, where Forstmann served as chairman and CEO.
A pioneer of the buyout business, celebrity bachelor and free market proselytizer, Forstmann cut the figure of a swashbuckling risk taker. But in buying companies, he tended to be more careful and conservative than did rivals. Famously, he backed down from buying RJR Nabisco in the late 80s when the price got too high. His instincts turned out right. The winner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, struggled for years to wring profits from the company.
Forstmann was the senior founding partner of investment firm Forstmann Little & Co., a big player in the leveraged buyout, or LBO, a deal financed at least in part with debt. The company completed dozens of leveraged buyouts of a wide array of companies, including Dr. Pepper, Yankee Candle, baseball card maker Topps, Ziff-Davis Publishing and IMG.
Forstmann Little, founded in 1978, would buy companies it believed would rise in value, do what it could to lift their value and then sell them.
In the 1980s, the firm he helped found became one of Wall Street's most successful specialists in LBOs. Its deals generated lofty returns for its partners and outside investors, which included many corporate pension funds.
In a 1996 interview with The Associated Press, Forstmann said his interest in deal-making was sparked in childhood, while reading a biography of Howard Hughes. "This guy loved doing deals," Forstmann said of Hughes.
Forstmann went to Yale University as an undergraduate, then on to Columbia University for law school. He spent some time as an attorney before establishing Forstmann Little & Co., with then-partner Brian Little.
Forstmann's first takeovers were small ones, as he only had so much money to spend. Things picked up as the 1980s unfolded and the firm's successes brought in more investors.
"I never went to business school. I was basically never in an investment banking firm worthy of mentioning," Forstmann told the AP. "I've always been a guy who had ideas."
Forstmann eventually became a big critic of the industry he helped create. In the 1980s, he lit into rivals for borrowing money from investors in junk bonds, or IOUs issued by the riskiest companies, to finance their deals. Later, he complained that there were simply too many people in the take-over business. The result: Buyout firms had to pay sky-high prices for their targets to beat competitors, and so might have trouble wringing profits out of the deals.
He turned out right again ? but maybe not in the way he imagined.
In the tech mania of the late 1990s, Forstmann himself ended up overpaying for two firms ? XO Communications and McLeod Communications USA. Both eventually filed for bankruptcy.
In 1988, Forstmann made clear his distaste for deal making greased by junk bonds. The AP quoted him as saying "Today's financial age has become a period of unbridled excess with accepted risk soaring out of proportion to possible reward."
"Every week, with ever-increasing levels of irresponsibility, many billions of dollars in American assets are being saddled with debt that has virtually no chance of being repaid," he said.
During the furious bidding for RJR Nabisco Inc., Forstmann's protestations about the rampant use of expensive junk bonds ? which carried interest rates sometimes as high as 18 percent ? were ignored. Rival takeover firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. ended up buying RJR in what was then the biggest takeover in U.S. history.
KKR's $24.5 billion purchase of food-tobacco giant RJR Nabisco Inc. was announced in November 1988 after a bidding brawl that some considered a symbol of corporate gluttony. That deal saddled RJR with heavy debt.
In 1988, the dollar amount of mergers and acquisitions financed largely with borrowed money totaled more than $200 billion.
International Management Group, a sports and celebrity management and marketing firm that has represented Tiger Woods, Joe Montana and Derek Jeter, was sold to Forstmann Little in 2004 in a cash deal valued at more than $700 million.
He signed "The Giving Pledge" earlier this year, where America's wealthiest people pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.
Forstmann was a philanthropist and co-founder of the Children's Scholarship Fund in 1998, which focuses on helping parents send their children to schools of their choice.
He was also a director of the International Rescue Committee and helped establish a medical program for war-injured children in Bosnia. He was a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and also served on the board of directors at Freedom House, Empower America, the Robin Hood Foundation, the CATO Institute, and the Preventative Medicine Research Institute.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Holiday book roundup: Scientific tales in ink
Used with permission from "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer. Sterling Publishing (c) 2011
MRL, a graduate student in molecular biology at Princeton, wears universal truths on his chest, including the structure of a glucose molecule, a symbol from quantum physics, the golden ratio and a carbon atom. The tattoo is one of the featured images in "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer.
By Alan Boyle
Ready to crack open some inky tales of scientific lore and levity? Check out our holiday science book roundup ? and add your own selections to the list.
Big, arty books:
- "Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed" by Carl Zimmer: This is not your?typical coffee-table book. First,?it's handy enough to sit on a shelf, thanks to its 7-by-10-inch size. But more importantly, it's not just an assemblage of 200 amazing tattoos inspired by scientific symbology. Zimmer tells the tale behind each tattoo ... and the science that inspired it. Think of it as a survey course on the cosmos, written on skin.
- "The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics," by Clifford Pickover. What other book begins 13.7 billion years in the past and ends up more than 100 trillion years in the future? In between the big bang and the coming reign of the Boltzmann brains, Pickover hits the high points in the history of physics, explains scientific concepts ranging from classical mechanics to dark energy and string theory, and offers a glossy illustration for each milestone. Oh, and don't forget "The Math Book."
- "The Space Shuttle: Celebrating 30 Years of NASA's First Space Plane," by Piers Bizony. Are you looking for this year's biggest, shiniest coffee-table book about NASA's recently departed space shuttle fleet? Bizony's book is chock-full of pictures from each of the fleet's 135 missions, although the last one is represented only?by a picture of?Atlantis and its team during preparations for July's final flight. The text reviews 30 years of highs and lows for the shuttle program.
- "The Big Idea: How Breakthroughs of the Past Shape the Future," foreword by Timothy Ferris. National Geographic's coffee-table book provides a visually spectacular look at 24 cutting-edge innovations, ranging from stem cells and nanomedicine to augmented reality. But that's not all: Each of the "big ideas" is traced back through the scientific discoveries of the past that have laid the foundation for the future. Here's what Boing Boing's Maggie Koerth-Baker says about the book: "If you put it on your coffee table, it will make people believe that you are smart. But I think its real value lies in what it can do for a seventh-grader."
- "The Cult of Lego," by John Baichtal and Joe Meno. Not exactly a science book, but if we're talking about inspiring the next generation of engineers, flipping through this book would be one way to do it. You can regard this volume as an introduction to the esoteric world of "vigs" (vignettes), "minifigs" (custom-made mini-figurines), balloon-borne Lego experiments, robo-Legos?and grand projects that take millions of those little bricks to?pull off.?
For kids of all ages:
The AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books recognizes high-quality science writing and illustration for young readers, but the "young adult" finalists are worth reading even if you're not so young anymore. My book, "The Case for Pluto," was a finalist last year. Here are this year's top selections:
Young adult science books:
- "Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle," by Thor Hanson. Delves into the evolution of feathers in the dinosaur age, their adaptation in the animal world and in the fashion world, the history of the global feather trade and the future applications of feather science.
- "Feynman," by Jim Ottaviani with illustrations by Leland Myrick. A graphic novel about the bongo-playing, Nobel-winning?pioneer of quantum physics? This is a biography of Richard Feynman you have to see to believe.?This has been a good year for the late physicist: Fans will want to pick up Lawrence M. Krauss' "Quantum Man" and take a look at Freeman Dyson's essay about both biographies in The New York Review of Books.?Really serious fans will be interested in a new paperback edition of "Feynman Lectures on Physics."
- "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story," by Susan Freinkel. Are we in an unhealthy relationship with plastic? Freinkel delves into the history, science and economics surrounding our love affair with synthetics, and suggests a healthier way to live with "the material we love to hate but can't seem to live without."
- "Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch, and What It Takes to Win," by Judy Dutton.?The Intel Science and Engineering Fair is one of the premier?competitions for whiz kids, offering $4 million in prizes and scholarships. But what's the real story behind the whizzery? Dutton follows a dozen brainy contestants through the thrill of discovery and the agony of defeat.
Children's science picture books:
- "After the Kill," by Darrin Lunde. Illustrator: Catherine Stock.
- "A Butterfly Is Patient," by Dianna Hutts Aston. Illustrator: Sylvia Long.
- "Seabird in the Forest," by Joan Dunning.
- "Seed, Soil, Sun," by Chris Peterson.
Middle-grades science books:
- "Biomimickry: Inventions Inspired by Nature," by Dora Lee (illus.: Margot Thompson).
- "The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frog: A Scientific Mystery," by Sandra Markle.
- "Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication," by Ann Downer.
- "World Without Fish," by Mark Kurlansky with illustrations by Frank Stockton.
Award-winners:
These books take the prize, literally. They're this year's top selections from prestigious science-writing competitions:
- "Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA," by Maryn McKenna. Winner of the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society book award.
- "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," by Rebecca Skloot. Winner of National Academies' Communication Award for books (and a repeat recommendation from last year's book roundup).
- "The Wave Watcher's Companion," by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
More book recommendations:
Check out these recommendations from past Cosmic Log roundups:
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8936378-scientific-tales-come-alive-in-ink
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Weidman, Tibau preliminary card winners at UFC 139
Chris Weidman and Gleison Tibau rounded out the Facebook fights at UFC 139 in San Jose on Saturday with wins.
Weidman chokes his way to a win
Chris Weidman needed just 2:07 to get a technical submission win over Tom Lawlor.
Weidman relied on his wrestling early, getting a takedown in the first minute of the fight. He maneuvered into a D'arce. Lawlor didn't tap when he was in trouble, so the fight was stopped when Lawlor was unconscious.
Weidman, an All-American wrestler at Hofstra, continued his undefeated streak with the win. Lawlor fell to 7-4.
Tibau takes battle of grapplers
Gleison Tibau continued his undefeated streak in 2011 with a decision win over Rafael dos Anjos.
The first round gave dos Anjos a marked advantage on the ground, but Tibau had better striking in a tightly contested round. The majority of the second round was stand-up, despite the strong grappling backgrounds of both fighters. Again, the round was tight, as each fighter answered the other's punching combos. Late in the round, Tinau took the lead with a left-right combo, and then an unending bevy of unanswered shots. Somehow,? dos Anjos stayed on his feet despite being very wobbly from Tibau's big punches.
Tibau notched a takedown in the third round and controlled dos Anjos for most of the round. That takedown represented the majority of any offense in the round. Dos Anjos returned to his feet and swung wildly in the last remaining minute, but it was too late.
The judges saw the fight 29-28, 28-29, 30-27 for Tibau. This win was his third in a row and puts his record to 25-7. Dos Anjos fell to 15-6.
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Overheard at the 39th annual American Music Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Overheard at the 39th annual American Music Awards, presented Sunday at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles:
? "We've never won an American Music Award, and it's wonderful to be acknowledged for our music. It's very sharp, though, so we'll have to be careful around the house." ? Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine backstage on the pyramid-shaped AMA trophy.
? "We just want to say thank you to the fans. It starts and ends with you and we just love you very, very much." ? Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum as she accepted the band's prize for favorite country band, duo or group.
? "Just chase your dreams. I never thought this could be possible. Shout out to all the female rappers, past present and future." ? Nicki Minaj, who beat out Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Jay-Z to win favorite hip-hop album for "Pink Friday."
"Heavy had a huge effect on all of us. He was inspiring and optimistic. He just always told us or gave us great advice. He always wanted us to do good. He was like a father figure for us." ? Mary J. Blige backstage on Heavy D, who died unexpectedly earlier this month and whom Blige honored on stage with her performance.
? "I just want to thank my family most of all, my beautiful babies, who just inspire me every day to be a better person." ? Jennifer Lopez accepting the award for favorite Latin music artist.
? "I think the two of us should just get on TV and let our hair fight each other." ? Pompadour-ed presenter Robin Thicke backstage on fellow fluffy-haired singer, Bruno Mars, who was named favorite male pop/rock artist.
? "This is like one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me." ? Taylor Swift accepting the award for artist of the year.
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Exoplanet Count Tops 700
That's not really good reason to believe they don't exist. A galactic spanning civilization, for one, would only be visible, as you say, across the galaxy. Not across the entire universe. And secondly, as of right now it is only a pipe dream that a couple thousand more years of history will spread us across the stars. We might just as easily blow ourselves up, retreat into a cyber-singularity, or just run out of gas, so to speak.
But anyway, I agree that it's likely that microbial life of various sorts is abundant. And on the other end, I've always felt that it is only a kind of cellular chauvinism that prevents us from thinking of stellar objects as life forms. They grow, they mantain homeostasis, they sometimes reproduce in a fashion, they consume, they die.
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/tBWfmqrRhFI/exoplanet-count-tops-700
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Monday, November 21, 2011
US Officials Investigating Hacker Attack Against Illinois Water Supply [Security]
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