The numbers
4 : Number of times that lightning struck a Google data centre in Belgium, according to the company, resulting in the permanent wiping of some cloud data.
0.000001: Percentage of disk space on Google's Compute Engine servers that was permanently affected by the lightning, Google said.
€300 million: Sum that Google announced it was investing in its Belgium data centres two years ago. The storage systems are designed with battery back-up, but some of the systems are vulnerable to "power failure from extended or repeated battery drain".
Image of the week: Hospitals for dummies
This is not a sneak preview of the forthcoming series of Doctor Who, but a glimpse inside the Philips Healthcare showroom operated by the 124-year-old Dutch company Royal Philips. The dummy patients lie within a dummy intensive care unit (ICU) illuminated by ambient light, which must be very relaxing for them. Royal Philips is now splitting off its lighting business so it can concentrate on its profitable consumer healthcare division. Chief executive Frans van Houten (not pictured) is counting on high demand for technology that allows hospitals to analyse clinical data and lets patients monitor their health and nutrition on smartphones – like, for real.
Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg
The Lexicon:Super Thursday
“Super Thursday” can mean one of two things, both of which involve reading material. It can be a reference to a new communications policy at the Bank of England, under which the minutes of the bank’s monthly monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting are published on the same day that it announces its interest rate decision. Find the prospect of Bank of England minutes less than riveting? Some more likely page-turners should be found among the 503 hardback titles that will be published on the Christmas book trade’s Super Thursday, October 8th – that’s twice as many hardbacks as are published in an average week. So much to get through... especially as there will be a fresh release of MPC meeting minutes on that date too.
Getting to know: Stanley Druckenmiller
American hedge fund billionaire Stanley “Stan” Druckenmiller is taking the buy low approach to gold, the price of which recently plunged. Through his investment vehicle Duquesne, he has invested some $324 million in the glittering precious metal via an exchange traded fund (ETF). People pay attention to where Druckenmiller puts his money because back in 1992 he was George Soros’s main man when together they “broke the Bank of England” – in other words, collected a shiny $1 billion profit by shorting the pound on currency markets. Druckenmiller likes to “bet the ranch” on assets he likes. His exact holdings in the ranch sector are not known.
The list: Corbynomics
Jeremy Corbyn, still just about the frontrunner in the UK Labour leader contest, has one very important advantage over his rivals: "Corbynomics" works better as a coinage than Coopernomics, Burnhamnomics or Kendallnomics. He's proudly on the left, but what are his economic policies exactly?
1 People's QE Under a "quantitative easing for people" plan, newly issued money would go to housing authorities, infrastructure bodies and green industries.
2 Rent controls Corbyn would like rent controls in London to prevent the city turning into a millionaires-only zone. This is a popular one.
3 Nationalisation Corbyn has called for a public debate on the nationalisation – or rather the renationalisation – of the railways. The "Big Six" energy companies would also be a target.
4Think small Under his "Better Business" plan, small companies would get a rate freeze, but large ones would have to wean themselves off corporate welfare.
5 Tax crackdown The less money is lost to avoidance and evasion, the more there is to spend on public services. Now that kind of crazy logic will get a politician nowhere.
