Barbary macaques recognise photos of their friends BBC
China closes 130,000 Internet cafes as it seeks more control CIO
So you’re thinking about self-publishing an I.T. book? Keith Thomas. This is why authors put up with the torture of working with a publisher.
How a Legacy From the 1800s Is Making Tokyo Dark Today Wired (hat tip reader Lance N)
Workers Miss Deadline to Reconnect Power at Japan Nuclear Plant Bloomberg
Bid to ‘Protect Assets’ Slowed Reactor Fight Wall Street Journal. This is a very good account. Tepco was slow to respond, in particular to pump seawater, because it hoped to preserve the facility.
Stalemate fears haunt military planners Financial Times. The US backed down from its initial support of the rebels when Gaddafi started destroying oil infrastructure. I have not doubt he noticed that bought him time at a critical juncture.
Saudi king disappoints reformists Financial Times
Guantanamo lawyers aren’t happy with new work rules McClatchy (hat tip Buzz Potamkin)
Japan risks credit crunch as yen thunders Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph. The G-7 intervention only brought the yen down to 80.5…is there going to be real firepower deployed?
Wisconsin Teacher in Apparent Suicide, “Distraught” Over Walker’s Cuts The Progressive
An Advocate Who Scares Republicans New York Times
Ex-Goldman Director Sues S.E.C. Over Galleon Case New York Times
Ex-Goldman programmer gets 8 years for code theft Reuters
Geithner: We Need Big Banks To Be Even Bigger Ed Harrison
Antidote du jour:
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Los Angeles was on 50Hz before Hoover dam. It took some effort to retrofit clocks etc. during the switch. I always admired how Japanese gadgets would work equally well in the US and Europe, but apparently they have precedent at home.
“The US backed down from its initial support of the rebels when Gaddafi started destroying oil infrastructure. I have not doubt he noticed that bought him time at a critical juncture.”
It is far more likely the US hoped the problem would go away after their initial comments and the rebels advances.
The US military from Sec. Gates on down has been crystal clear that they _don’t_ want to do Libya. Obama caved to their resistance—until Bill Clinton told him to get on with it (my reading of events). This has nothing to do with US capabilities, which relative to Libya are vast. Why, then, are they dragging ass? Libya has been a major source of jihadis for years, including sending many to Iraq to . . . fight the US occupation. Sending them from eastern Libya. Aside from some fears, politically dense but not illusory, that an insurgent-dominated Libya might be Islamist favoring (and sheltering), it’s simple pique and payback: the US military doesn’t want to bail out people it has, indirectly, demonized in the past. Would frankly far rather see them massacred I suppose.
. . . This is why civilians are, in principal in charge of the military. Aren’t they??
It isn’t the US that’s driving the Libya story.
It’s the French. They get a lot of their oil from Libya, and as it’s high grade stuff, French refineries probably can’t easily switch to the cruder crude available elsewhere. So they’re dependent.
The French want to put a puppet regime in Tripoli. That’s the goal of the Foreign Office, or whatever they call it (Quai d’Orsay). That much is clear. There is a popular revolt underway in Libya? I think that got co-oped weeks ago. The French are good at that sort of thing.
Sarkozy’s domestic angle is to hit back at all them North African furriners that have been overrunning the country. I presume the specific target is Algeria & points further south (the former French African colonies), but Libya will do in a pinch. Ever hear of Le Pen?
The French want this war. Sarkozy wants to be a neo-American big shot. The English, insecure after losing their empire & still pretending, are desperate for attention & along for the ride.
As long as I’m here, arm twisting the Security Council to gin up a war stinks of the old monarchs who would play each other off. No elected Parliament, no Assemblee Nationale would have voted for this war, and both Sarkozy & Cameron know it. That Security Council resolutions have force of law in member states, that the UN can force member states to declare war on each other, overriding elected legislatures, is a grave abuse of treaty obligations, but doesn’t this sound a lot like the Euro on steroids?
The situation reminds me of Mussolini & Ethiopia.
So the French trash the UN to get their war. If that’s the best the UN can do, manipulate an unrepresentative Security Council to declare war on member states, it’s outlived its usefulness. Sure, Russia or China could have vetoed it, but what skin do they have in the game? Why should they care? Who are these countries to sit in judgement in matters of life & death?
I don’t recall hearing the French demanding a ceasefire and offering to host negotiations. Which they are not only well-suited to do, but very well-placed to host. That’s the way it used to be. Remember?
Interesting, those sneaky French.
I dunno. Is seems like the major domestic/foreign policy lesson of the past several years is: “Don’t get involved in foreign ventures unless domestic support is overwhelming and perceptibly durable.”
Obama was able to send additional troops to Afghanistan because support for military intervention there was durable. Bush’s intervention in Iraq was a domestic policy failure for while support for getting rid of Saddam was durable, support for democratization of Iraq was not. The Republicans were massacred in 86 and 88.
The Libyan situation is a problem for Europe. Why not let Europe lead?
Frankly this is a good opportunity to start thinking about disbanding NATO.
Disbanding NATO? I doubt it. The US places itself firmly at the head of the decision-making table via its membership (read leadership) of NATO, and I doubt whether that substantial degree of control over European armed forces is going to be lightly abandoned.
“The Libyan situation is a problem for Europe. Why not let Europe lead? ”
Absolutely! I’m still angry that the Euros did nothing about the Balkans in the 90’s. It blew up into mass murders in their own backyard, and the Germans & French did nothing.
Why did we sell them all those weapons if they’re not going to use them?
Penguin is saying; ‘you’re not listening to me Celia, it’s over, ok! How did I ever think this was gonna work? Look, I have to go, my friends are watching…. Oh don’t look like that…..’
Looks like a case of otherism. “No you cannot be friends with us, you don’t even have feet.”
Just get off my beach! now!
Penguin: C’mon, how about it – you and me?
Seal: No, you’re not a rich banker.
SEAL Invasion Repulsed At Bay Of Penguins!
BTW, Yves -I loved the BNN interview. It is getting more and more polished, with worthy interviewers. But most importantly, your hair is perfect. I’m also decked out in a bob pinned back until it grows another inch or two.
So you’re thinking about self-publishing an I.T. book? Good intel -as Alex would say.
So, get thee to a publisher if you want to get that book off the ground. I’ve had one in the works for years based on a college thesis, with the idea it could be done on the Internet at my leisure. Glad that bad idea is out of the way! I would really like to be working on it.
Anyone looking for a good book on the economics and growth of the US global drug prohibition/criminal justice system, The Anatomy of a Police State?
apologies. how did that happen? It should read:
BTW, Yves -I loved the BNN interview. It is getting more and more polished, with worthy interviewers. But most importantly, your hair is perfect. I’m also decked out in a bob pinned back until it grows another inch or two.
So you’re thinking about self-publishing an I.T. book? Good intel -as Alex would say.
So, get thee to a publisher if you want to get that book off the ground. I’ve had one in the works for years based on a college thesis, with the idea it could be done on the Internet at my leisure. Glad that bad idea is out of the way! I would really like to be working on it.
Anyone looking for a good book on the economics and growth of the US global drug prohibition/criminal justice system, The Anatomy of a Police State?
OH, how I wish we had PREVIEW back.
I suspect I may know what you are hinting at.
Perhaps some of us are willing to pay a bit more to have really good relevant information months before others start stealing it without attribution.
That you are willing to wait an extra year or more to save $20 is a personal decision that you made. We all make choices. Live with it.
@An Advocate Who Scares Republicans
Especially toward the end, and several times during the piece, the authors slides in the claim that the AG settlement is pro-consumer. Nothing about it being a sell-out to the perps. Nothing about a free pass for felonies, and a lot of loophole-riddled bromides. Nothing about trying to trade useless mortgage mods for trying to foreclose with forgeries. Hanging the settlement around Ms. Warren’s neck is a good long term move, too.
The Grey Lady continues blowing smoke for the financial elite.
Obviously, you cannot trust what the NYT writes. I would never dispute this. Don’t trust anything. Read everything with a critical eye.
At the same time, what support for Warren do you disdain?
Krugman (the *Thug*, ha ha ha) whole-heartedly supports her even though the Obama administration just tries to thwart her at every opportunity (which Krugman acknowledges). [Oh, certainly, this is all part of the elite conspiracy, or something, or whatever.]
Support Warren. She’s not full of sh*t. Many people aren’t, even though they sometimes don’t necessarily agree with every little detail of your strident, immutable, overconfident views of reality. I would encourage people to support those who try to tell the truth. Yes, slap them down when they have over-stepped or fail to tell the entire story as you see it. That’s a worthwhile enterprise. Otherwise, perhaps there is something to see in others’ views. Just maybe.
Sorry for the sketchy post.
The 27 point AG settlement is no progress on foreclosure fraud or anything else. As others have pointed out, it has servicers and banks promising to obey the law, begging the question what they were doing before. For most of us, obeying the law isn’t a negotiating point.
When I read it, I noticed none of the 27 points were the banks agreeing to stop forging documents, committing perjury, foreclosing without standing, etc. There was nothing about the banks admitting guilt for past wrongs and paying to make good the damage. It will fix nothing.
Nocero’s piece leaves the impression, without actaully saying it, that Ms Warren supports the AG settlement. Her staff’s consulting does not mean they originated, examined, seconded, or agreed to any of the 27 points. Indeed, she’s not quoted on the settlement one way or the other, just about the need for a federal bureau. A lawyer is quoted on the settlement, implying he’s speaking for her.
This “settlement”, like HAMP, will be seen as ineffectual runaround. Since it doesn’t deal with the banks’ real crimes, those will continue, likely unabated. Since they’re implying it’s Ms Warren’s idea, it will hang nicely around her neck when it begins to stink.
In 2007, then-candidate Obama told the Boston Globe that the President could not go to war without Congressional authorization, except in self-defense. Now, pursuant to a UN resolution that authorizes, but does not require, the US to attack Libya, President Obama authorizes an attack on Libya without getting the consent of both houses of Congress, recognizing that many polls show more public opposition to than support for war, or even addressing the American people from the Oval Office. Instead, he goes to Brazil while the war starts. So much for campaign promises.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/CandidateQA/ObamaQA/
The US would not violate the UN resolution if it refrained from acting. Are Germany, Russia, China, India, and Brazil violating the resolution by not attacking Libya? No. They could, if they wanted to, attack Libya, but do not have to.
Even if the UN resolution purported to require the US to go to war, it is doubtful that the UN treaty would trump the Constitution’s requirement that Congress authorize the use of force. The Supreme Court, in a case called Reid v. Covert, ruled that treaties do not overrule the Constitution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid_v._Covert
This is an excellent point. I haven’t even read of any congressional briefing. I guess most people don’t really consider US actions in this case acts of war.
Reports of a new massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:
http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/update-3-times-picayune-reports-potentially-massive-100-mile-long-oil-sheen
Geithner is the financial equivalent of Rumsfeld and Cheney.
If you make people smaller, banks can look bigger – Norma ‘I am big, my fans got smaller’ Desmond.
Any update on Yemen or Bahrain?
Will the UN enforce a ‘No Repression Zone’ there?
About China and internet cafes: China turned off the Internet completely after the far west Uighir riots, for over a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots#Communications_black-out
The city is pronounced Urumchi. I’ve heard Uighur pronounced ‘wee-grrr’, ‘wee-wur’ and ‘oyhear’.
We can’t ask Kurash Kosan now.
Barbary Apes and photos:
“Now that we know [that they spontaneously recognise photographs], we won’t be limited to working in the lab and training the animals,” said lead researcher Professor Julia Fischer, from the German Primate Center and Gottingen University in Germany. “Now we can bother them in their natural habitat, and be a permanent pain in the neck to these creatures.”
It says they recognize photos of their friends, but nothing about photos of their enemies.
In the Nuclear Power – Risks thread Bernard reminded me of a web site and I posted a current link. That thread got rather long and my comment may be buried and be missed by many.
A Russian woman enjoys riding her motorcycle through the ghost land that surrounds Chernobyl. She presents her odd travelogues in a crisp poetic style.
Here is another link directly into one of her presentations…
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/
If you find that interesting, go back to the top — http://www.kiddofspeed.com
and read more on Chernobyl and other subjects.
Am I alone in thinking the 8 year sentence for the ex-GS is excessive?
The guy from SocGen got 3 years for stealing the *actual* trading algorithm(s). The GS guy stole “just” the communication infrastructure logic – presumably implementing an exchange protocol which is known to all the exchange clients.
Not to mention the ludicrous argument (in the initial bail hearing) that the code “can manipulate the markets” — if this is true, then why is GS allowed to keep it?
Whose justice department is it anyway? US or GS?
No, you are not alone. And good questions.
Interesting antidote. . . you do know that sea lion is trying it’s hardest to bite that penguins neck and shake the life out of it, right? Kind of like lenders and borrowers, I guess. Maybe some of these lawsuits will be that sharp poke in the eye that out-weighed penguin gets in. Who knows, maybe it’ll even beat the bugger back into the ocean (break up the TBTF banks?)