*1. Spies Like Us
James Clapper, the U.S.'s spy chief, sat down with WaPo's David Ignatius. Here's what he said:
- On ISIS - "The United States is slowly “degrading” the extremists but probably won’t capture the Islamic State’s key Iraqi stronghold this year and faces a long-term struggle that will last “decades.”
- On the Middle East - “I don’t have an answer,” Clapper said frankly. “The U.S. can’t fix it. The fundamental issues they have — the large population bulge of disaffected young males, ungoverned spaces, economic challenges and the availability of weapons — won’t go away for a long time.”
- On Edward Snowden leak - “We’ve been very conservative in the damage assessment. Overall, there’s a lot."
- On China - "Clapper had just returned from a trip to Asia, where he said he’s had “tense exchanges” with Chinese officials about their militarization of the South China Sea."
If you have not been paying attention, the Chinese are co-opting reef islands in the South China Sea (SCS), placing massive ocean bottom dredgers around the reefs and pumping sand onto them. Essentially, creating islands for establishing a military presence. This activity is making SCS countries like Vietnam and the Philippines and the U.S. uncomfortable.
*2. Max Scherzer the Great
The Washington Nationals beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 Wednesday night. Max Scherzer, who used to pitch for the Tigers, became only the 4th player to strike out 20 batters in a nine inning game. To make the game even more interesting, the Tigers had Jordan Zimmermann on the mound, who used to be a National. And, by the way, Scherzer also threw two no hitters and was within an out of a perfect game last season. Dude is putting on a pitching clinic.
*3. Another Bite From the Apple
From VentureBeat - Android is eating Apple’s iOS market share everywhere
"In the top five European markets (U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), Android’s market share increased to 75.6 percent, up 7.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago."
"Android grabbed 65.5 percent in the U.S, up 7.3 percent from the previous year. And in major Chinese urban areas, Android phones had 77 percent market share, up 6 percent from a year ago."
As Android software becomes more mature, people will opt for the cheaper Android phones. Why not? You can get an IOS- like experience for $250 cheaper.
Here's how to use it:
"Your brain cleans itself out when you sleep—your brain cells shrinking by up to 60% to create space for your glial gardeners to come in and take away the waste and prune the synapses."
"You actually have some control over what your brain decides to delete while you sleep. It's the synaptic connections you don’t use that get marked for recycling. The ones you do use are the ones that get watered and oxygenated. So be mindful of what you’re thinking about."
*5. The Haves and the Have Nots
No surprise, but according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center examining data from 2000 through 2014 the middle class is shrinking everywhere (2003 of 229 metro areas) in the U.S. The obvious, big reason is declining manufacturing jobs.
"Pew reported that the middle class no longer constituted a majority on a nationwide basis. In 1971, 61% of adults were in middle-income households, but that had fallen steadily to just a hair below 50% last year."
"The latest research defined middle class as households earning two-thirds to twice the national median income."
"This movement reflects more inequality in income and can be a hindrance to economic growth."
*BOTTOM OF THE NEWS
*From WaPo - The science of fear: Why do I like being scared?
"When our bodies are primed for danger — which is the physical state in which fear puts us — we achieve a weird kind of high."
*From TechCrunch - Bark helps parents keep kids safe online without invading their privacy
Bark looks like a promising idea that's a little more nuanced than logging into accounts, installing spyware and reading text messages.
"Bark uses machine learning techniques to look for incidents of dangerous activity."
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Bark looks like a promising idea that's a little more nuanced than logging into accounts, installing spyware and reading text messages.
"Bark uses machine learning techniques to look for incidents of dangerous activity."
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