Pompeii snack bar rises from the ashes after 2,000 years - Features, Food & Drink – The Independent
THE LAST patrons who stood at the L-shaped counter of Pompeiis best-known snack bar eating the house-speciality – baked cheese smothered in honey – had to leave in a hurry owing to violent volcanic activity. But after an unforeseen break in business of 1,921 years, the former holiday hotspot of ancient Romes in-crowd will finally re-open for business tomorrow.
Customisable window collects solar energy – Springwise
Aesthetically pleasing as they may be, windows are typically a drain on a buildings energy efficiency. Enter Smart Energy Glass, a new innovation from Dutch Peer+ that turns windows into solar energy collectors with a customisable appearance.Not only are Smart Energy Glass windows available in several colours, but they can switch between three modes: dark, bright and privacy, which scatters the light passing through. Even better, the glass serves to collect solar energy, which can then be used directly or fed back to the grid.
A postmortem on Lehman Brothers: Oh, brother | The Economist
IT SOUNDS distinctly unpromising. A nine-volume, 2,200-page report by a court-appointed examiner into the causes of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, published on Thursday March 11th, has a table of contents that lasts for 38 pages. Its most exciting finding relates to an off-balance-sheet accounting gimmick. But the work of Anton Valukas, the chairman of Jenner & Block, a law firm, is crisp, clear and explosive.
Mr Valukas and his team took more than a year to research their report. They collected more than 5m documents and reviewed an estimated 34m pages of information. Looking at Lehman’s IT systems was a particular challenge. The firm had a rat’s nest of more than 2,600 systems and applications at the time it went bust; Mr Valukas boiled that down to the 96 most relevant ones, some of which are now operated by Barclays (the buyer of Lehman’s American arm after the holding company failed). He also conducted more than 250 informal interviews, many of them with Lehman’s directors and most senior executives.
via A postmortem on Lehman Brothers: Oh, brother | The Economist.
Interview with Defense Expert P.W. Singer: ‘The Soldiers Call It War Porn’ – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International
This happens very rarely in history. These developments force us to ask questions of right and wrong we never had to think about before.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Which questions?
Singer: For example the question of the public's relationship to war. The drone war is documented, downloaded, accessible for everyone. You can see the videos on YouTube. It's turning war for some into a form of entertainment. The soldiers call that “war porn.” We can see more but experience less.
Interview conducted by Marc Pitzke