Links for May 30 2016

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A man in Thailand got a shock this week when he went to the toilet and a python sank its teeth into his penis. What animals can navigate the sewers to pop up in your loo, asks Alison Gee.

What animals can swim up your toilet? - BBC News

In 1974, a goal in the 120th minute cost Atlético Madrid this trophy against Bayern Munich. Forty years later, a goal in the 93rd minute cost them. Now it has escaped them again, on penalties this time. Barely two minutes cost them two European Cups, barely two millimetres cost them a third, Juanfran’s shot coming back off the post.

Real Madrid twist the knife again to give Atlético the cruellest of nights | Sid Lowe | Football | The Guardian

Employers believe that small Bluetooth-enabled Android tablets on their employees' arms are a pretty good idea, according to feedback from the companies that have reached out to Rufus. With an app and a connected scanner, tasks like inventory, housekeeping at hotels and ticket-taking can be streamlined by freeing up the hands of the employees who would otherwise have to hold a tablet. The relatively low $300 price tag also means that smaller companies without the deep pockets of corporations could also get in on the action.

Meet the wearable tablet you might use at your next job

The most powerful moments of the film concern American violence, and Europe’s rejection of everything from its fascist past to armed police. In Germany, he listens as a teacher explains the Holocaust. America, he says, has refused to truly accept responsibility for slavery and its shameful treatment of Native Americans. Norway experienced a violent massacre in 2011 by a racist fanatic, Anders Breivik, but the vast majority of Norwegians, including a father of one of the victims, refuse to countenance the death penalty. An otherworldly segment tours Norwegian prisons with flat-screen TVs, game consoles and unarmed guards. These are contrasted with brutal shots of prison-guard beatings in America, where disturbingly many black men are on the wrong end of the baton. Norway’s focus is on rehabilitation not revenge, and it seems to work: Norway’s recidivism rate is far lower than America’s.

Documentary film: Michael Moore’s grand European tour | The Economist

Ip is certainly right to highlight that Germany gained export competitiveness by holding down wage growth during the ‘00s. Wages and prices in Germany rose by a lot less than wages and prices in say Spain from 2000 to 2010, contributing—along with rise in global demand for the kind of high-end mechanical engineering that has long been Germany’s comparative advantage—to the development of Germany’s current account surplus. And that process now needs to run in reverse for Germany’s euro area trade partners to gain competitiveness relative to Germany. See Fransesco Saraceno, or Simon Wren-Lewis.

Follow the Money » The Case for More Public Investment in Germany is Strong

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Petrov says Putin’s regime “is unsustainable”. “It has no capacity to reform, and faces growing economic woes, crumbling infrastructure, and warring elites,” Petrov writes. He points to the notable shift towards military action as the Putin government’s prime means of legitimizing its power, something that has only become evident since the Crimea-Ukraine standoff exploded in 2014. Before that, Petrov says, Putin and his government were looking “fairly stable and could last for several years without profound change”.

Putin has turned Russia into a ticking time-bomb only he can defuse - Business Insider

Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, the French economy has grown by about 3 per cent, compared with 6 per cent for Germany, 8 per cent for the UK and 10 per cent for the US.

Why France must accept reform or face disaster

Austria came all too close for comfort to electing a far-right president. The sigh of relief was palpable, but with a very busy political agenda lined up for the coming quarters, the risk of an event delivering an unexpected outcome remains high, be it the OMT judgement from the German Constitutional Court on 21 June, the UK Brexit referendum on 23 June, Spanish election on 26 June, Italian referendum in October and heading into 2017, elections in France, Germany, Netherlands and possibly Italy.

HERE IT IS: Soc Gen's famous chart with the black swans | Business Insider

The Power to Compete: An Economist and an Entrepreneur on Revitalizing Japan in the Global Economy, by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani. In this book, Hiroshi Mikitani, the founder and chief executive of Internet company Rakuten, and his economist father explore the roots of Japan’s economic troubles and explores possibilities for revitalization. Gates says that although he doesn’t agree with everything in this book, it offers “a smart look at the future of this fascinating country.”

5 books Bill Gates wants you to read this summer - MarketWatch

In a similar incident in 1986 on the island of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the UK, a five-year-old boy fell into a gorilla enclosure. He lost consciousness and a silverback gorilla called Jambo famously stood guard over him, protecting him from other gorillas and stroking his back. When the boy came round he started to cry and the gorillas retreated, allowing keepers to rescue the child, Levan Merritt. A life-sized statue of Jambo fetched £18,000 ($26,000) at auction and he even appeared on Jersey stamps. The western lowland subspecies inhabits west African rainforests and is the most numerous, although exact figures are not known. There are more than 500 in zoos worldwide.

Cincinnati zoo gorilla shot dead as boy falls into enclosure - BBC News

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Which exercise is healthier for your brain? Researchers based in Finland and the US compared three types of exercises in 88 adult male rats, and their results were interesting.

This is the best exercise for your brain - Business Insider

South Korean exports fell by 6.0% in May from a year earlier, according to Korea's latest export data. This is the 17th consecutive month in which exports have dropped. And while the data was an improvement from the 11.2% year-over-year drop in April, it was far worse than the 0.4% dip economists were expecting.

South Korea exports drop - Business Insider

It is taken for granted that the only people who can afford to buy their own homes in many parts of the country, not only in London, will do so because of inherited wealth. This is now the great divide and, as social housing is run down, it is unbridgeable. The very things that gave me social mobility – free education and social housing – are not there for my children. Bit by bit, every escape route has been shut down.

Inequality is destroying all the markers of adulthood, from home ownership to marriage | Opinion | The Guardian

The fast-growing global drone industry has not sat back waiting for government policy to be hammered out before pouring investment and effort into opening up this all-new hardware and computing market.  A growing ecosystem of drone software and hardware vendors is already catering to a long list of clients in agriculture, land management, energy, and construction. Many of the vendors are smallish private companies and startups — although large defense-focused companies and industrial conglomerates are beginning to invest in drone technology, too.

The Drones Report: Research, Use Cases, Regulations, and Issues - Business Insider

A startup company in Seattle that secured a $5 million investment round back in April just announced its secret weapon: a pair of strange-looking wireless ear-pod headphones that can shift from a private listening device into a portable loudspeaker, and more. In a press release published on its Web site today, Human Inc. makes it clear that its intention with the Sound program is to upend the traditional headphone experience and create a brand new category in personal audio devices.

These ear capsules might be the wireless multifunction headphones you've been waiting for - CNET

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Indeed a vast, disturbing literature has now accumulated on the ill effects of running marathons. Studies find that up to 1 in 12 participants end up seeking medical help during the race. (At hot-weather events, runners can end up “dropping like flies.”) As many as four-fifths report having gastrointestinal problems such as bloating, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and fecal incontinence while on the course. Some runners suffer from blood poisoning. Others must endure a blitz of dermatological conditions: sore nipples (affecting up to 1 in 6 on race day); chafing (another 1 in 6); blisters (1 in 3); and jogger’s toe (1 in 40). Given all the risks, it’s no wonder that some marathon organizers have asked doctors to embed as race participants so they can quickly tend to runners who collapse. Advertisement When researchers consider all the injuries that accrue during the period of training—and not just on the day of the marathon itself—they find even greater cause for alarm. One study looked at 255 participants in an extended, 32-week marathon training program and found that 90 of them—that’s 35 percent—experienced “overuse” injuries.

Running a marathon is a dangerous, expensive, stupid, meaningless task. Don’t do it.

But there's a problem with this explanation: Endorphins are large molecules. So large that they can't move from the blood into the brain. The blood-brain barrier is key to keeping the brain safe; it keeps certain pathogens and molecules from passing from the blood into the brain. But because endorphins can't get through, it means it's unlikely that they are the sole chemical responsible for your post-run high. Turning to endocannabinoids

Here's the real reason you get a 'runner’s high' after a long run - Lifestyle - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI

Gold has finally fallen off the top of the worst performers list, which is instead populated by EMs and the UK where a 2-day swoon in GBPUSD has hurt stocks traded in GBP. Natural gas is up a frankly astounding 10.77% over the last five days, with India and Metals & Mining also performing well despite weakness in iron ore, steel, and copper markets. Another unlikely suspect in the top 20: retail. After hand-wringing galore a few weeks ago on a slate of poor earnings from retailers, XRT has rallied 3% over the last week, just outside our top 10 best performing ETFs over that period.

ETF Trends: International – 6/1/16 | Bespoke Investment Goup

Sources familiar with the matter tell 9to5Mac that Apple’s refreshed 27-inch Thunderbolt Display will likely feature a 5K resolution display and include an integrated GPU. Wait, what? According to sources, Apple wants to ensure that its new 5K display will be compatible with as many Macs as possible. Driving a 5K display is no easy task and may very well be too much for today’s Mac to handle. A dedicated GPU built into the display would make it possible for new and future Macs to work flawlessly with the high-resolution monitor and further enable Apple to thin down its entire line of Macs.

Apple is reportedly preparing a 27-inch Retina 5K display with integrated GPU - TechSpot

Eight years after the financial crisis, a flurry of stock sales is reminding investors just how far some of Europe’s banks still have to go to repair their balance sheets. Spain’s Banco Popular Espanol SA jolted markets last week with plans for a 2.5 billion-euro ($2.8 billion) rights issue a month after its chief executive officer said capital was adequate. In Italy, Banco Popolare SC and Veneto Banca SpA are tapping investors for 1 billion euros each after Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA turned to a rescue fund for its cash call. All three consumer banks are raising money to cover a backlog of bad loans, a plight shared in varying degrees by many of their peers. "Banks have to adjust to new ECB requirements and that is what has driven some of these cash calls,"

European Banks’ Trillion-Dollar Bad-Loan Burden Spurs Cash Calls - Bloomberg

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The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of people living in urban environments are being exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution from particulates and it says they cause four million deaths annually around the world.

How Dirty Is Your Air?

Despite the S&P 500 giving back 1.53% for the month, all 10 of these stocks had double-digit returns. Check out last month's winners.

Here Are the 10 Best-Performing Stocks in May - TheStreet

But it's not just banks that are trying to conquer the fintech space. Amazon is about to try its hand in this market, as the e-commerce giant's head of payments, Patrick Gauthier, recently announced that the company is considering making some fintech acquisitions as valuations in the space start to decline and fintech becomes a more affordable investment. This would be a logical progression for Amazon, which already has a significant and active user base. Amazon has been experiencing increased growth tied to payments, as its payments unit has 23 million active users and has recorded 200% year-over-year growth in merchants adding the "Pay with Amazon" buy button to their online stores.

Amazon Considering Fintech Acquisitions - Business Insider

Roger Federer ranks among the top five most famous athletes in the world, according to a new list released by ESPN. The 34-year-old Swiss comes in at No. 5 in the ESPN World Fame 100, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Federer Fifth In 2016 ESPN World Fame 100 | ATP World Tour | Tennis

The Leave campaign must choose. It cannot safeguard access to the EU single market and offer a plausible arrangement for the British economy, unless it capitulates on the free movement of EU citizens.

Leave camp must accept that Norway model is the only safe way to exit EU

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TheStreet's Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer awaits Friday's May labor report. 'What you don't want is a weak number,' Cramer said. 'People think the Federal Reserve is going to tighten no matter what, so a weak number would mean tightening in a recession.' While Cramer doesn't think we're ready for a rate hike, he said the Fed locked themselves into a corner.

Jim Cramer Will be Closely Watching Friday’s May Jobs Report - TheStreet

Then, after the numbers came in weak..

The big miss of the nonfarm payrolls, with only 38,000 jobs created in May, may initially appear to be a disappointment for investors both in Europe and the U.S., but for the longer term it could be a blessing in disguise.

Bad U.S. Jobs Numbers Could Be a Blessing in Disguise - TheStreet

Duterte called the briefing for 5 p.m. Thursday after he drew flack for his May 31 comments on corrupt journalists whom he said aren’t protected by laws safeguarding freedom of expression. His remarks and his wolf-whistling at a female reporter during the same press conference triggered a flood of criticism on social media and prompted Paris-based Reporters Without Borders to call on journalists to boycott him.

Philippines’ Duterte Dares Media to Stop Covering Him, Blasts UN - Bloomberg

He told the Telegraph that this was a decisive moment for the future of pop: "It was the height of long hair, flared denim and lead guitar solos, and they came out looking like four bank clerks with electronic knitting needles and tea trays. It was like an alien spaceship had landed."

BBC - The 10 gigs that launched a thousand bands

One big reason for Amazon's rapid growth has to do with its dominance in mobile. As more and more consumers have shifted to mobile shopping, Amazon quickly adapted and made sure its mobile-shopping experience stayed up to par. As noted by a Cantor Fitzgerald note on Thursday, Amazon blows away all of its competitors in time spent on their mobile websites by a long shot. Mobile visitors spent an average of 103 minutes on Amazon compared to Target's 20 minutes and Walmart's 14 minutes.

Amazon blowing away competitors in mobile shopping - Business Insider

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“Getting more sleep directly affected my three-point percentage, which doubled, my free-throw percentage was up 30, 40 percent, my turnovers were way down, I got more steals,”

How good sleep became a game-changer for the NBA's best players - Business Insider

But here's the problem: It's always been more expensive than lead fuel. On top of that, countless companies have failed to keep promises of big improvements in ethanol, leading to a "boy who cried wolf" stigma surrounding the science. But a new project is closer than ever to solving that dilemma. Xylome researcher Thomas Jeffries and a team of supporters from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) have tapped into a wild new source for ethanol production. They found that a yeast — S. passalidarum — living inside beetle guts is super efficient at converting xylose, a plant sugar, into energy. A little bit of engineering has made it even more efficient.

Cheaper fuel from an unlikely source - Business Insider

Left's allegation is that Chemours was spun off to protect DuPont from the litigation. He said that the firm has $20 million in assets on hand in order to fund a defense, according to filings, but in his assessment that won't be nearly enough. Here's Left (emphasis added): No one has an exact dollar figure yet on the extent of the liabilities of this debacle. While Chemours only accounts for $20 million of overhang on its balance sheet, most Wall Street analysts estimate the liability to fall more inline with the $500 million figure. But we always hear the value $5 billion being thrown around by social activists like the "Keep Your Promises DuPont" campaign, which has pegged environmental costs just for Parkersburg WV at $1 billion. After speaking in depth with community activists, Citron believes that even $5 billion may be a low number...

Citron Research, Andrew Left shorting Chemours - Business Insider

Clive 'Kool Herc' Campbell put on his first party in the recreation room of his Bronx apartment block for his sister's birthday in 1973, as he explains in an episode of the World Service's Witness. Using a mixer to cut from the breakbeats of one record to another, he created an instrumental mix for his friend Coke La Rock to spit rhymes over, Jamaican-style. This was the start. Without Herc, no Grandmaster Flash and no Afrika Bambaataa, both of whom worked hard to try and steal his thunder. And without all three, no hip hop as we know it today.

BBC - The 10 gigs that launched a thousand bands

Samsung is now mass producing an impossibly tiny solid state drive for use in ultraportable notebooks and next-generation PCs. The PM971-NVMe is the industry’s first NVMe PCIe SSD in a single ball grid array (BGA) package. It was created by combining 16 of Samsung’s 48-layer 256-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND flash chips, one 20-nanometer 4Gb LPDDR4 mobile DRAM chip and a high-performance controller.

Samsung's new 512GB solid state drive is impossibly tiny - TechSpot