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China will soon overtake Japan as the world's second heaviest spender on research and development, according to a report from the Battelle Memorial Institute.

A nonprofit group that conducts scientific research, Battelle published its findings today as part of an article in its R&D Magazine. The article and its full supplementary report (PDF) looked at global R&D spending in general and across six specific segments--Information Technology, Electronics, Life Sciences, Aerospace/Defense/Security, Energy, and Advanced Materials.

Next year, China is expected to spend $153.7 billion on R&D, a big jump from $141.… Read more

Usually when you order a Double Irish you wind up with a healthy slug of Jameson, not a complicated tax-reduction scheme on the Emerald Isle.

But turns out Google and many other companies are taking advantage of legal tax maneuvers to dramatically reduce the amount of taxes they have to pay on money earned outside the U.S., according to a report today from Bloomberg Businessweek. The report said Google has employed the "Double Irish" technique with such aplomb as to lower the tax rate it pays on income generated outside the U.S. to 2.4 percent, … Read more

We tried so hard to enjoy various good news items today, like how the DirecTV TiVo is coming in 2010, Sony is climbing up the game console sale charts, and the tech sector is finally hiring again and making money and stuff! But ... you know. There's also Sony's refusal to refund retailers who give money back to unhappy PS3 owners, Ireland trying to censor the Internet, and Ning working as hard as possible to lose every single one of its users. We tried, though. We really did. --Molly

You know this is serious because they've already talked about it on SportsCenter.

Wednesday saw one of the most painful pieces of cheating that soccer has enjoyed since, oh, since pretty much any other World Cup qualifying game.

However, this occurred in the dying minutes, featured one of the most famous players in the world (yes, he's been on the front of an EA FIFA game box), affected the result of the game, and was so crudely obvious that the world has decided to fight back by socially networking.

In case you were only recently released after being … Read more

There's something quite sad when people fall out over Internet porn.

However, relationships do not appear to be anywhere closer to a consummated hug at Ireland's Green Isle Foods pizza-making plant.

Should you not have been arrested by this pulsating tale, Green Isle Foods dismissed three workers after accusing them of enjoying Internet porn on the job. Thirty-five pizza-producing people went on strike. This was five weeks ago.

Now, according to the Leinster Leader, the workers are trying to seduce the management into some making up and kissing.

The Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union, which represents the workers, … Read more

I cannot imagine how much fun it is to work at a pizza-making plant.

Indeed, the mere fact that there exist plants to make pizza seems entirely unedifying to me.

So I cannot help but feel a tinge of sympathy for three workers who were allegedly caught casting a furtive eye upon some material of a pornographic nature while pumping out pizza for the man.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, staff at the Green Isle Foods pizza-making plant in Naas, Ireland, will be calling for more strikers to protest the firing of their three frustrated colleagues.

The Irish Congress of … Read more

I have always imagined that an evening with Elizabeth Taylor might be even more fun than an evening with her longtime friend, Michael Jackson.

She has tales to tell. And one can only surmise that she would have a fine, elegantly edgy way of telling them.

Taylor, who was just as delightful as a little girl riding in big horse races as she was channeling Cleopatra, is currently in the hospital. She is also currently in the thrall of, as Shaq would have it, Twitteronia.

Yes, the 77-year-old twitters with eloquence. (Her Twitter moniker is Dame Elizabeth.)

She tells her … Read more

My blog theme last week dealt with videos featuring redneck cars and racing. This week my blog goes transcontinental by taking a look at World Rally Championship (WRC) and their many exciting races.

First, a little background info: WRC is organized by the FiA (The F?d?ration Internationale de l'Automobile), which is regarded as the official governing body for many racing events (especially in Europe). The FiA established World Rally Championship in 1973, and the series consists of 12 different three-day events at locations throughout Europe focusing on closed roads featuring varying types of road conditions and driving … Read more

We get tricked into supporting Robot teams we don't know anything about, plus we talk about Pluto's pimps, also known as the Illinois Assembly. And speaking of pimps, Cook County Sheriff's are trying to get Craigslist to stop helping prostitutes. Thank goodness Veronica was here to set them straight.

Sheriff files lawsuit over Craigslist’s red-light district (Updated) http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/03/sheriff-sues-craigslist-over-mass-levels-of-prostitution.ars

Seattle paper may shift to online-only: reports http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2009/03/reuters_us_hearst_pi

Palm investor: Pre will trump … Read more