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Sarkis Tatigian joined the Navy in 1942. He’s been there ever since, until his death this week at the age of 96.

Tatigian — who first enlisted as a radio inspector at the now-defunct Philadelphia Naval Shipyard — went on to become the small business advocate at Naval Sea Systems Command. He had held that title since 1979, six years after he first became eligible for retirement. But he’d been working on the Navy’s small business programs since 1951, two years before the Small Business Administration even existed.

Even well into his 90s, Tatigian reportedly commuted to work at the Washington Navy Yard via public transit every day. When we last spoke to him in late 2017, he had only taken one vacation day that year.

Many companies have made strong commitments to support their employees, customers, suppliers and communities through what is perhaps the gravest global crisis since the second world war. And all at a time when they are themselves counting the costs of lockdowns and physical distancing.

Others have joined more directly in fighting the outbreak. Amazon is distributing coronavirus tests, Diageo is making hand sanitiser, while Formula 1 teams are designing ventilators.

But business has a powerful opportunity to go further and play a critical part in resolving the crisis — as well as in managing it — by helping fund the vital research that provides the only viable exit strategy that can bring the world back to business as usual.

He said many businesses would take the opportunity to ask the following question: What’s different about the way we are working now that has made us much more effective?

One of the CEOs said large businesses previously threatened by start-ups and disruptive new players could emerge from the crisis in a stronger position to compete because of the digitisation priorities imposed by the crisis.

Most of the CEOs who took part in the roundtable have operations overseas, including manufacturing operations, business process outsourcing, call centres and offshore IT centres.

Welcome to the twilight zone.


TOKYO (Reuters) — Spring graduation ceremonies in Japan have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but students at one school were able to attend remotely by controlling avatar robots while logged on at home.

The robots, dubbed “Newme” by developer ANA Holdings, were dressed in graduation caps and gowns for the ceremony at the Business Breakthrough University in Tokyo.

The robots’ “faces” were tablets that displayed the faces of the graduates, who logged on at home and controlled the robots via their laptops.

Hey all! I have recently made a video on how rich humanity can get from asteroid mining and how humanity can potentially eradicate poverty if it were to begin asteroid mining efforts. I have posted a link to the video here. If you find it worthy, please consider liking and subscribing!


Ever dream of becoming a billionaire? Well, believe it or not, space is the way to get rich. With billions of dollars worth of metals in each asteroid, asteroid mining is one of the most lucrative way for humanity to gather material resources. In this video, I talk about how humanity can potentially use asteroid mining to eradicate poverty and possibly make every single person alive rich.

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As the coronaviruspandemic sweeps across the United States, another invisible enemy is threatening America’s data security.

From stealing data to disseminating misinformation, hackers are taking advantage of the US at an especially vulnerable time during the war against the deadly outbreak.


As millions of Americans have been ordered to work from home to contain the spread of the virus, data is now being transmitted outside secure business networks, making it a treasure trove for hackers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office recently sent out an alert to local authorities warning of extremist groups it said are encouraging their members to spread the novel coronavirus to police and Jewish people, ABC News reported.

According to the news agency, the alert, which was reportedly issued on Thursday, said that “members of extremist groups are encouraging one another to spread the virus, if contracted, through bodily fluids and personal interactions.”

The alert reportedly warned that the racist groups were urging their members to go to places where Jewish people “may be congregated, to include markets, political offices, businesses and places of worship.”

The Army is looking at its Plasma Acoustic Shield System as a checkpoint defender, for now. But the original idea – and the long-term goal of the project – is to have it be the first baby step towards a portable, lethal laser weapon.

Pelt2The effort, by the U.S. Army’s Advanced Energy Armaments Systems Division and Stellar Photonics, has a lot in common with another military laser project: the Pulsed Energy Projectile being developed by Mission Systems for the Marines. But there are three key differences. The current PEP is a big (450 lb) chemical laser with a limited number of shots, whereas PASS is a small solid-state laser that just needs electricity. The PEP creates plasma by vaporising the outer layer surface it hits (such as your shirt), whereas PASS can create plasma in mid-air by focusing to a point. And PEP fires a single pulse, whereas PASS uses a double pulse which Stellar claim is far more efficient at creating a shockwave.

You can get some idea from the Small Business Initiative Proposal the company submitted in ‘04 for a “Man-portable Integrated Laser Assault Rifle”: