Bits and Pieces for the Week of August 14 - 20

An implausible, but not necessarily impossible, threat from outer space. (Mike)

HOLY SHIT: U.S. government is seriously considering destroying military retirement pay. (Mike)

Cyberloafing (surfing the internet at work) actually boosts worker productivity! (Mike)

Nouriel 'Dr. Doom' Roubini: ‘Karl Marx Was Right’ "At some point capitalism can self-destroy itself. That's because you cannot keep on shifting income from labor to capital without not having an excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand. We thought that markets work. They are not working. What's individually rational...is a self-destructive process... We're not there yet," Roubini said, but he did add that the current trend, if it continues, "runs the risk of repeating the second leg of the Great Depression" -- the 'mistake of 1937.'" (7 of 6)

Louis C.K. has reinvented the sitcom. It's possibly the best show on TV right now. (Mike)

New drug could cure nearly any viral infection. "Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection." (7 of 6)

When will they listen? Widow: After 8 deployments, Army Ranger takes own life. "Staff Sgt. Hagemann had orders to return to Afghanistan this month for a ninth tour of duty." I know, when we have a draft and make the rich start serving! (7 of 6)