Новости за 08.06.2017

IN SEPTEMBER 1961 a small hurricane called Esther swirled into being above the warm waters of the mid-Atlantic. It bore down on America’s east coast, executed a graceful clockwise loop-the-loop off the shores of New York, then gusted up through Maine and into Quebec as little more than a squall.

ALL good things come to an end. Moore’s law—the observation that the number of transistors that can be crammed onto a chip of a given size doubles every two years—has built the modern, computerised world. But as transistors get smaller, making them smaller still gets harder. In recent years Moore’s law has begun to slow.

THE thing about Gedankenexperimente—or thought experiments, for those who find Albert Einstein’s native tongue too twisting—is that you never know where they might lead. For Einstein, they led to the theory of relativity. For James Clerk Maxwell, they conjured an imaginary demon who could violate the second law of thermodynamics. For Erwin Schrödinger, they created an existentially confused cat that was simultaneously dead and alive.

Belted up

FOR centuries, canes have served blind and partially sighted people well by giving them a means to negotiate the world around them. The only serious upgrade they have undergone dates back to 1921, when a Briton called James Biggs, who had recently lost his sight, painted his own cane white in order to make it easily visible and to alert others to the presence of someone unable to see nearby obstacles. In the opinion of Daniela Rus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), however, the white cane has had its day. Читать дальше...

Not in the rule book

FEW cheer the rising levels of America’s household debt, which reached a record $12.7trn at the end of the first quarter. Nearly 5% of the total, or $615bn, was in some stage of delinquency. One group, however, can barely hide its glee: third-party debt-collection firms, which try to recover mostly consumer loans on behalf of creditors without the resources to chase down bad borrowers themselves.

Business is expanding “at a robust rate”, says Keith Kettelkamp, the boss of Remex... Читать дальше...

EMERGING markets have been through a lot over the past four years. The “taper tantrum” in 2013 (prompted by fears of a change in American monetary policy); the oil-price drop in 2014; China’s botched devaluation of its currency in 2015; and India’s botched “demonetisation” of much of its own currency in late 2016 (removing high-value banknotes from circulation). But 2017 has started more brightly. Indeed, for the first time in two and a half years, the world’s four biggest emerging economies (Brazil... Читать дальше...

WHEN Donald Trump announced America’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement on June 1st, he spelled out that it would no longer contribute to the Green Climate Fund. This is a UN initiative to use rich countries’ money to bring climate finance to developing ones. But even if the fund were going swimmingly, public-sector finance would only be able to provide a small part of the cash needed by poor countries, and indeed the world.

EVERY year it seems that analysts and investors play a ritual game. They begin by asserting that government bonds are terrible value and that, accordingly, this must be the year when yields will rise (and prices fall). And then they get mugged by reality.

A NEWSPAPER cannot publish for 174 years without some mistakes. This one has made its share. We thought Britain was safe in the European exchange-rate mechanism just weeks before it crashed out; we opined, in 1997, that Indonesia was well placed to avoid financial crisis; we noted in 1999 that oil, at $10 per barrel, might well reach $5, almost perfectly timing the bottom of the market; and in 2003 we supported the invasion of Iraq. For individuals, like publications, errors are painful—particularly now... Читать дальше...

WHEN he was 68, Piet Mondrian arrived in New York, having fled Nazi-occupied Europe. He was celebrated by such 20th-century American greats as Ad Reinhardt, Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko, who called him the most sensual of artists. Mondrian had an even more obvious impact on design, paving the way for Gerrit Rietveld’s “Red Blue Chair”, Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 shift dress, packaging for L’Oréal, a cosmetics company, and even Nike trainers. Along with Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky, the... Читать дальше...

The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest Species. By Carlos Magdalena. Viking; 217 pages; £16.99.

“IF YOU take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad,” warns the style manual of the Oxford University Press. This maxim is quoted in The Economist’s own style book, which goes on about the punctuation mark for eight pages.

Cantona en marche

The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines. By Michael Cox. HarperCollins, 486 pages; £16.99.

The European Game: The Secrets of European Football Success. By Daniel Fieldsend. Arena Sport; 255 pages; £14.99.

ON THE opening weekend of the Premier League in 1992, all but 13 players were from Britain or Ireland. In the 25 years since, the top tier of English football has been transformed into the sport’s most globalised—and lucrative—domestic competition. Читать дальше...

Collecting the World: The Life and Curiosity of Hans Sloane. By James Delbourgo. Allen Lane; 503 pages; £25. To be published in America by Belknap in July; $35.

Grief Cottage. By Gail Godwin. Bloomsbury; 324 pages; $26. To be published in Britain in August, £18.99.

Collecting the World: The Life and Curiosity of Hans Sloane. By James Delbourgo. Allen Lane; 503 pages; £25. To be published in America by Belknap in July; $35.

Cantona en marche

The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines. By Michael Cox. HarperCollins, 486 pages; £16.99.

The European Game: The Secrets of European Football Success. By Daniel Fieldsend. Arena Sport; 255 pages; £14.99.

ON THE opening weekend of the Premier League in 1992, all but 13 players were from Britain or Ireland. In the 25 years since, the top tier of English football has been transformed into the sport’s most globalised—and lucrative—domestic competition. Читать дальше...

“IF YOU take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad,” warns the style manual of the Oxford University Press. This maxim is quoted in The Economist’s own style book, which goes on about the punctuation mark for eight pages.

The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest Species. By Carlos Magdalena. Viking; 217 pages; £16.99.

WHEN he was 68, Piet Mondrian arrived in New York, having fled Nazi-occupied Europe. He was celebrated by such 20th-century American greats as Ad Reinhardt, Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko, who called him the most sensual of artists. Mondrian had an even more obvious impact on design, paving the way for Gerrit Rietveld’s “Red Blue Chair”, Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 shift dress, packaging for L’Oréal, a cosmetics company, and even Nike trainers. Along with Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky, the... Читать дальше...

Grief Cottage. By Gail Godwin. Bloomsbury; 324 pages; $26. To be published in Britain in August, £18.99.

Police investigating a burglary are asking for help to trace a man they believe could help them.

Nordstrom says it's exploring a "going private" transaction by the company's family.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – It’s a good thing Daniel Kelly isn’t offended by the odds at the sports books. In fact, they can be quite humorous.Filed under: Featured Videos, News, UFC, Videos

ASHBURN — Redskins wide receiver Jamison Crowder showed up to Redskins Park in April and both DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon were gone. The two wideouts signed elsewhere in free agency and had been the team's top receivers since Crowder was drafted in 2015.