Facebook takes FIRE in UK over' disingenuous' accounting

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Facebook takes FIRE in UK  over' disingenuous' accounting

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Just how much tax should Facebook pay in Europe? In 2011, the social network skated away with a tax bill of just €3.2 million (about $4.7 million) in Ireland despite garnering gross profits of $1.35 billion there — an effective rate of less than half a percent. UK Labour MP John Mann is calling the company’s actions "disingenuous" and "immoral," as the continent-wide debate about how to tax multinationals continues to build steam. Earlier this year, Mann had similar words for Google, which he said should be brought before the country’s Treasury Select Committee "to justify their failure to pay proper taxes." And that company, along with Amazon and Starbucks, ended up facing questions from UK legislators last month about their tax practices.

Forbes insists that the system is working just as politicians intended — the EU’s single market structure demands that multinationals set up shop in one location in order to do business across the whole continent, and it makes sense for them to set up where tax treatment is most favorable. But what’s actually happening isn’t so cut and dried. The accounting technique that Facebook and others are using is called "Double Irish" and it lets Facebook lower its tax bill by paying itself royalties that it can write off as business expenses. Here's how it works: Facebook sets up two Irish subsidiaries, the first of which owns the non-US rights to its intellectual property, but is a tax resident of the Cayman Islands, which charges no tax. This Cayman Islands-based Irish company then licenses its intellectual property to the second Irish company. These royalty payments are subtracted from the second (Irish Irish) company’s revenues before it gets its tax bill, letting it book much lower income than it would otherwise be able to. In Facebook’s case, The Guardian reports that it paid nearly $1.2 billion to itself in licensing and royalties. So despite bringing in gross profits of over $1.35 billion for the year, the impoverished Facebook Ireland actually recorded a $24 million loss.

The fact that companies are going to try to maximize profits and minimize expenses, including taxes, goes without saying, but recent evidence shows that public pressure can force them to pay their fair share. Starbucks agreed to voluntarily pay £20 million (about $32 million) in taxes in the UK over the next two years to avoid a country-wide boycott. The next question: is Europe ready for a boycott of Facebook? So far, the social network has been banking on a "no."

 

 

CHOOSE PRIVACY SETTING ON YOUR FACEBOOK

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                 CHOOSE PRIVACY SETTING ON YOUR FACEBOOK

Remember those privacy controls Facebook announced last week, alongside the rather less friendly news that you would no longer have the option to hide when Facebook users are searching you?

Well, those changes are finally here. As of 10pm ET, you should start seeing a small symbol with a lock in the top right hand corner of your screen. Click on it, and you've got a list of "Privacy Shortcuts" in plain English -- namely, Who Can See My Stuff, Who Can Contact Me, and How Do I Stop Someone From Bothering Me.

That's a whole lot better than what used to be in that spot -- a dizzying array of privacy options in a control panel that was hard for the average user to decipher.

"We believe that the better you understand who can see the things you share, the better your experience on Facebook can be," writes Samuel Lessin, a product manager at Facebook, in a blog post. All users will see the new shortcuts by the end of Friday, presuming the end of the world doesn't intrude.

More plain English changes are rolling out across the site. For example, when you want someone to remove a photo you've been tagged in, here's the dialog box you're presented with:

Given the abundance of holiday parties, this is the time of year when such changes are most welcome. Facebook  handy five-step guide to making it better when your drunken blunders end up splashed across the social network:

1. Visit the updated Activity Log to see what you are posted in
2. Use the new filters to see what photos are still out there that you may have hidden from your timeline
3. Use the multi Report and Remove tool to select those that you don't want tagged and click untag with one simple click
4. If you really don't want them on Facebook, use the new tool to ask whoever posted them to take them down, again with one click
5. Still have questions? Use the new privacy shortcut tool to type a question and get straight into the help center answers

Do you have the new privacy controls yet? Do they make more sense than their predecessors? Let us know in the comments.

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Harvard Scientist Proposes a Way to Refreeze the Arctic to Combat Possible Global Warming Disaster

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Harvard Scientist Proposes a Way to Refreeze the Arctic to Combat Possible Global Warming Disaster

 

   

The amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean shrunk to an all time low in September, with the area covered now only half of what it was in the 1980s. This alarming development along with the global community’s inability to come to a consensus about cutting CO2 emissions has led Harvard professor of applied physics David Keith to look at a technological solution to reversing the warming of the Arctic. In a paper published in Nature Climate Change and an affiliated study in the Environmental Research Letters, Keith proposes a way to refreeze the Arctic through geoengineering.Injecting reflective particles into the high atmosphere could reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, counteracting the greenhouse gas effect. High CO2 levels would continue to trap heat in the atmosphere, but with less energy coming in, temperatures on the surface would go down. Keith suggests using the method for a regional correction to restore the ice cover in the Arctic. In his paper, he claims that “with an average solar reduction of only 0.5%, it is possible to recover pre-industrial sea ice extent.” A separate paper shows that this could all be done with a few modified Gulfstream jets and is estimated to cost around $8 billion, which is about the price of a installing a major oil pipeline.

But large-scale geoengineering like what Keith is suggesting is banned by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity because it could result in disastrous unintended consequences. Even Keith acknowledges that manually refreezing the arctic is not the right way to solve the larger problem of global warming. He thinks that this level of geoengineering would only be appropriate to consider in states of emergency such as a sudden collapse of ice sheets or a killing drought. But first, we need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions and he warns that “if we do this and we do not cut emissions, we just walk further and further off the clif

 

Artificial Heart

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UCLA doctors remove man's heart, replace it with total artificial heart

Portable power supply allows patient to go home while he awaits new heart

By Amy Albin

Chad Washington with total artificial heart and pump device

Imagine living without a heart. It is possible — if you have a new artificial heart pumping blood through your body. You can even go to the supermarket, watch your kid's soccer game or go on a hike.

 

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has performed its first procedure to remove a patient's diseased heart and replace it with a SynCardia Temporary Total Artificial Heart. 

 

Chad Washington, 35, underwent the seven-hour transplant surgery at UCLA on Oct. 29, led by Dr. Murray Kwon, an assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery. 

 

The temporary pump will act as a "bridge" until Washington receives a new donor heart.

 

"Historically, patients with a total artificial heart had to remain hospitalized while they waited for a transplant because they were tethered to a large machine to power the device," Kwon said. "Today, however, this device can be powered by advanced technology small enough to fit in a backpack."

 

"It sounds like a loud grandfather clock going 'tick-tock' in my chest, but it doesn't feel foreign. It's there to help," Washington said of the artificial heart. "I'm so glad to be living in an age where technology is moving so fast."

 

Washington, an aspiring chef is who is married and has a 4-year-old son, has suffered from heart disease since he was born. From the time he was 10 days old through adulthood, he underwent a series of heart-repair surgeries and had pacemakers and a defibrillator implanted. 

 

Then his heart deteriorated. He received a heart transplant in February of this year, and for the first time in his life, he knew what it was like to live with a healthy heart. It gave him energy, and he was amazed that he could run 25 minutes on a treadmill.

 

Unfortunately, after six months of functioning perfectly well, the donor heart started showing signs of a serious form of rejection that did not respond to therapy. Washington's condition worsened. An immediate re-transplantation with a new donor heart was not an option because his body had built up antibodies that would likely attack a new heart.

 

Thankfully, the artificial heart offered hope.

 

"By removing the patient's diseased donor heart, we removed the source of his end-stage heart failure," said Dr. Ali Nsair, an assistant professor of cardiology at UCLA. "The total artificial heart — and being off immunosuppressant medications — allows his body to recover and get ready for a heart transplant in a few months."

 

Dr. Mario Deng, a professor of cardiology and medical director of the UCLA Advanced Heart Failure/Mechanical Support/Heart Transplant Program added that since the pump's energy source is portable, Washington can go home and resume normal activities with his family while he waits for a new heart.

 

"This ability to be at home with family is an important element in helping the patient to maintain a positive outlook during the waiting period," Deng said.

 

Approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2004, the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart replaces both failing heart ventricles and the four heart valves. It works by providing a high volume of blood-flow through both ventricles, which helps to speed the recovery of vital organs and make the patient a better candidate for transplant surgery. 

 

Once the total artificial heart is implanted, it is connected by two small air tubes known as "drivelines" to a large external driver that powers the heart while the patient remains hospitalized. When the patient's condition stabilizes post-operatively, he or she can be switched over to the smaller 13.5-pound Freedom portable driver, which can be carried in a backpack, thus giving the patient the freedom to leave the hospital. 

 

"This technology offers a lifeline for patients who are in severe heart failure and dying," said Dr. Richard J. Shemin, professor and chair of cardiothoracic surgery at UCLA and surgical director of the UCLA Mechanical Circulatory Support Program. "These patients have run out of medical options and require a heart transplant. The total artificial heart offers advantages over other devices used for mechanical support of patients awaiting a heart transplant. With the new Freedom driver for powering the device, the patients can leave the hospital, live at home and undergo rehabilitation, improving their clinical condition and quality of life as they await their transplant."

 

While at home, Washington will follow an exercise and nutrition plan tailored to help him build up strength and improve his health in anticipation of receiving a second donor heart.

 

"My family and I are so thankful for all of the support we've been getting from the doctors and staff here at the hospital, as well as our family and friends," Washington said.

 

Originally used as a permanent replacement heart, SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart is currently approved as a bridge to transplant for people dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure. There have been more than 1,000 implants of the Total Artificial Heart worldwide, accounting for more than 270 patient-years of life. The wearable driver is currently undergoing an U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved investigational device exemption clinical study. For more information, visit www.syncardia.com.

 

The UCLA Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, directed by Dr. Richard Shemin, professor and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at UCLA, and Dr. Mario Deng, professor of cardiology and medical director of the advanced heart failure/mechanical support/heart transplant program, began in the early 1990s. Its primary mission is to provide cardiac support devices to patients while they await heart transplantation and to serve the rapidly growing heart failure population requiring lifetime mechanical circulatory support. For more information on the mechanical circulatory program and the heart transplant program at UCLA, visit http://transplants.ucla.edu/mcs.

 

Master Blaster Announces Retirement in ODI

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        Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar    Announces retirement from ODI Immediately

 

 

New Delhi:  Sachin Tendulkar will not pad up against Pakistan next Sunday. After 23 years of playing one-day internationals, the batting great has announced retirement from the 50-over format of the game.

Sachin's announcement came on a day that the Indian team for the two T20s and three ODIs with Pakistan, to be played starting next week, is being decided. Sachin has already stopped playing T20s.

The Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) released Sachin's statement on Sunday morning. It read, "I have decided to retire from the One Day format of the game. I feel blessed to have fulfilled the dream of being part of a World Cup wining Indian team. The preparatory process to defend the World Cup in 2015 should begin early and in right earnest. I would like to wish the team all the very best for the future. I am eternally grateful to all my well wishers for their unconditional support and love over the years."

Tendulkar's retirement plans have been intensely debated in recent times through a long patch of poor form. The most prolific run getter in the world ever is 39 years of age. He holds every batting record in the book.

Since last World Cup, Sachin score only 315 runs in 10 ODIs. But in a glorious career, Sachin has scored 18,426 runs in 463 one dayers. His highest score in ODIs is 200 runs that came in 2010 against South Africa in Gwalior. Sachin has scored 49 centuries and 96 fifties in this format.

He made his debut on December 18, 1989, as a 16-year-old against Pakistan. He played his last ODI on March 18, 2012, also against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

His last ODI hundred came in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh in March this year, a feat that completed an unprecedented 100 international tons.

He was stuck on 99 tons for quite a while after scoring two hundreds during India's successful World Cup campaign. Tendulkar also has an mammoth tally of 96 ODI 50s to his credit.

Despite the slump in his form, Tendulkar's overall tally of runs is unlikely to be matched anytime soon given that the distant second-best in the list, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, has already retired from the game with 13,704 runs under his belt.

Sri Lanka's retired great Sanath Jayasuriya occupies the third spot in the overall chart with 13,430 runs.

Besides his batting, Tendulkar was an effective partnership-breaking bowler and finishes his ODI career with 154 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls.

Tendulkar's Test records are as awe-inspiring. The right-hander has 15,645 runs at an average of 54.32 in 194 Tests that he has played so far. The tally includes 51 hundreds and 66 half-centuries. 

SAVE WATER PLZZZ !

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SAVE WATER PLZZZ !

                                                      

If You Put All Earth's Water In One Place, It'd Look Like This.

USGS/Public Domain.

While it looks like the planet's surface is covered mostly in water, the fact is there is very little water on this planet when you com

pare it to the size of the planet as a whole. The USGS created this image to give us a little perspective.

USGS states, "About 70 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water. But water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even in you and your dog. Still, all that water would fit into that "tiny" ball. The ball is actually much larger than it looks like on your computer monitor or printed page because we're talking about volume, a 3-dimensional shape, but trying to show it on a flat, 2-dimensional screen or piece of paper. That tiny water bubble has a diameter of about 860 miles, meaning the height (towards your vision) would be 860 miles high, too! That is a lot of water."

It may be a lot of water, but almost all of it is not usable for us. Over 96% is saline water in the oceans, and of the fresh water that's left, most of that is locked up in ice at the poles, is underground were we don't reach it, or is in the atmosphere.

Perhaps this will give us some perspective on how truly precious a resource water really is.

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Dec 21, 2012 Winter Solstice will not be end of the world

Dec 18 (TruthDive): Astronomers say December 21 is the winter solstice as the day marks the astronomical beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere. Every year, December 21 is the shortest day of the year and the longest night.

On Dec. 21 the Earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees points its axis directly away from the Sun. This tilt causes the change in seasons. The sun will appear directly overhead along the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south of the equator.

On this day, places on or south of the Antarctic Circle will receive 24 hours of sunshine and those on or north of the Arctic Circle will be in total darkness- this phenomenon is called Winter Solstice. Whereas, Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, which occurs in June.

Every year, winter solstices have come and gone normally with minimal notice, but this year winter solstice has generated great interest among the masses. The 2012 winter solstice has been highly talked about in all media, including movies, TV series, books and the most important is the Internet. Thousands of websites are reporting about this upcoming winter solstice,2012.

But, December 21, 2012 is not a day of doom. This day coincides with another phenomenon apart from winter solstice, it is precession of the equinoxes.

We are fast nearing December 21, 2012; the day, many believe, the world is about to end as predicted by ancient Mayans. But, on this date, the sun parallels itself with the centre of the spiral galaxy — the Milky Way, which roughly happens every 25,920 years, and such a phenomenon is called as precession of the equinoxes.

Ancient Egyptians had knowledge about precession of the equinoxes. More light is shed on precession of the equinoxes in the circular Zodiac found in the temple of Hathor at Dendera in Egypt.

The Mayans, who were the regular watchers of the movement of stars across the sky, also measured precession of the equinoxes. Their Long Count calendar that started in 3114 BC, was set to end exactly on this winter solstice — December 21, 2012. But, definitely the world will not end on December 21