A reminder to readers in the New York City area: Michael Hudson and Randy Wray will be speaking this evening at Columbia Law School as part of a series on Modern Money and Public Purpose. Their talk will be on the history and evolution of money and debt. Details here.
Vladimir Putin muses on the benefits of group sex Telegraph
We Are Now One Year Away From Global Riots, Complex Systems Theorists Say MotherBoard (Slashdot)
Wind could meet many times world’s total power demand by 2030, researchers say EurekAlert (Mark Thoma)
Proof claimed for deep connection between primes Nature
China sends ships in islands row BBC
Rumours swirl as China’s Xi vanishes Financial Times
Vietnam blocks, harasses online critics of government policy Asahi Shimbun
The French Government Gets Whacked, Even The Left Is Angry, And Hollande Gets Slapped In The Face Wolf Richter
Europe’s giants are sinking MacroBusiness
Carthaginian terms for Italy and Spain threaten Draghi bond plan Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph
German domino theory and book-cooking FT Alphaville
Risk premium sees biggest weekly drop since the euro was created El Pais (Lambert)
Democracy loses in struggle to save euro Gideon Rachman, Financial Times. The piece is better than the headline, which in and of itself is hardly news….
US watchdog: Records for $475M in Afghanistan fuel purchases vanish Reuters
Fact-checkers are mad as hell and they’re not taking it anymore… Craig Newmark (Chuck L)
Exclusive: Paul Ryan Quietly Requested Obamacare Cash Nation (furzy mouse)
Chicago Teacher on Why He’s Striking Against Rahm Emanuel’s Pro-Business Education Agenda Kevin Gosztola, Firedoglake
Is There Any Value at Citigroup? Nom de Plumber on Basel III Dysfunction Chris Whalen
D.C. Finalizing Plan for Assault on Metro NYC Bruce Krasting
More Americans Self Indentify as Lower Class Helaine Olen, Forbes
How central banks contributed to the financial crisis Michael Biggs, Thomas Mayer VoxEU
As goes Maine, so goes the nation Jurek Martin, Financial Times (Scott). Members of my extended family report that prices paid to lobstermen are down to 1978 levels.
Bain and Mitt Romney: What’s Fact and What’s Opinion Matt Taibbi. Late to this, and it’s quite the shredding.
For true stimulus, Fed should drop QE3 Ruchir Sharma, Financial Times
As Low Rates Depress Savers, Governments Reap Benefits New York Times
Regulator Vows New Rules to Repair Mortgage Markets Wall Street Journal. I’m at a loss to understand why these concessions are being offered. It isn’t as if the putback rules were a mystery.
Who in Arizona has been helped by $25 billion lender settlement? AZCentral (Lambert). The author can find only 2 of the 7,700 supposedly benefitting.
A pattern of increasingly longer payrolls recoveries Sober Look
* * *
Mission elapsed time: T + 4 and counting*
Lambert here:
“I don’t allow people of your sort to stand in my way. That’s what you’re leaving out of account. If I’m after something, I don’t care what I do to make sure that I get it. That’s the only law I abide by; it’s the only way to get things in this world…With me you just haven’t a hope in hell.” –Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim
CA. Air: “A strong rotten egg smell had Southern Californians plugging their noses and crying foul Monday as air quality investigators scrambled to determine if the sulfurous scent was coming from the Salton Sea.”
CO. Voting: “[CO SoS Scott Gessler’s] office has identified 141 illegally registered voters, and in response, county clerks will be initiating ‘challenge procedures.’the 141 alleged non-citizens make up .004 percent of the total number.”
IL. Teachers strike: “CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard is on record saying both that CTU leadership is deciding whether or not to strike, and that ‘everyone knows that a strike would only hurt our kids.’ When you spend millions on your pet programs, but there’s no money for school level repairs, so the roof leaks on my students at their desks when it rains, that hurts our kids.”‘ (continual coverage) … Teachers strike: “[CPS Superintendent Jean-Claude] Brizard left Rochester after 90 percent of teachers voted ‘no confidence’ in his leadership.” … Teachers strike: “[T]he strike is over the union’s deep opposition to what it calls a “corporate reform agenda” that pursues a competitive or punitive relationship with teachers, rather than a collaborative one. Examples include blaming teachers and unions for educational shortcomings, promoting private but publicly financed charter schools, focusing on high-stakes tests and tying pay to merit. That clash puts the union at odds with CPS, the mayor and President Obama.” … Teacher’s strike: “If Chicago teachers walk out, there will be 50,000 kids still in [charter] schools.” … Teachers strike: “But since 2010, Chicago’s [teacher’s union] has one of the most aggressive in the country. That’s when a minority party known as the Caucus of Rank and File Educators, or CORE, took power from the reigning union leadership, which it criticized as complacent on issues of privatization and community engagement.” … Teachers strike: “Eight weeks before Election Day, the president’s former chief of staff is now in an all-out war with an important D constituency in the president’s adopted hometown (which happens to be the third largest school district in America).” … Teachers strike: “The strike on Emanuel’s watch cuts against the narrative the mayor is trying to craft as a leader who’s a problem solver moving the city forward. Emanuel’s aggressive posture in pushing for a longer school day and year, while also cutting the pay raise teachers were supposed to get last year, galvanized the union.” . Teachers strike: “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is putting on hold his duties as a top fundraiser for D super-PACs in the face of a Chicago teachers union strike.” … Teachers strike: “White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at the Monday briefing President Barack Obama is ‘aware’ of the Chicago Teachers’ strike–but has ‘no opinion’ other than his ‘concern’ for students and a ‘hope’ both sides come together to settle it ‘quickly.'”
MD. Schools: “There’s no more homework at a MD elementary school. Students at Gaithersburg Elementary School must read a book for 30 minutes per night. so far test scores have been solid.”
NJ. Corruption: “”Trenton’s Mayor, his brother and an ex-con are accused of running a scheme that included bribes, betrayal and an “Uncle Remus” code for carrying out their alleged criminal activities.
NY. Veal pen: “Unlike the grass roots groups, which are seeking a ban, the mainstream environmental interests are generally pushing for a moratorium to allow time to construct a more comprehensive regulatory framework to handle fracking.” … Homeless: ” The number of children in the city’s shelters hit 19,000 last week, the most recent city data available show.”
OH. Fracking: “A rally Wednesday in Ravenna by the Concerned Citizens Ohio group is part of a larger, national anti-fracking event. The national, grassroots rally day is being coordinated by the Network for Oil & Gas Accountability & Protections [here] and Frackfree America National Coalition [here].”
PA. Fracking: “A state law signed in February imposes a so-called ‘impact fee’ on energy companies exploring the Marcellus Shale gas field. Drillers must pay $50,000 for each horizontally drilled well and $10,000 for each vertical well. The money was due Sept. 1.”
TN. Voting: “[Voter’s] experiences suggested that new electronic poll books, in use at 60 of the county’s 160 voting precincts, had been set to treat the R ballot as the default choice.” … Charters: “As state officials lambaste the Tennessee Virtual Academy for low achievement scores and discuss new oversight methods, the school’s management company is facing an investigation in FL, overcoming a list of citations issued in GA and recovering from reports of poor results in many of its schools.”
PA. Air war: “For the first time since May, no presidential campaigns or super PACs are on TV in PA.”
TX. Fraud: ” Warner’s lawsuit alleges that State Farm documents establish a clear internal policy of intentionally denying consumer claims for roof damage similar to what Warner experienced [in a hurricane]. Warner’s attorney, Steve Mostyn, claims the systematic denial of those types of claims may have quietly saved State Farm close to $1 billion.” … Mass incarceration: “Anyone who could perform basic arithmetic has known for years that Lubbock’s speculative jail expansion would require significant tax hikes, a situation that was exacerbated when the county couldn’t attract enough outside inmate contracts to fill it.” … Fracking: “Dilley, southwest of San Antonio on Interstate 35 [in the Eagle Ford Shale], has seen property values balloon to about $275 million from $130 million two years ago”
VA. Editorial: “Obama offers small, practical goals for a second term, while Romney struggles to define his role.” … Corruption: “[T]he plans to privatize Virginia’s ports is moving full steam ahead and, as editorial writer Shawn Day pointed out this past Sunday, without any real input from the citizens.”
WI. Epidemics: “WI leads the country in what could be the worst national outbreak of whooping cough in 50 years. Experts are warning that the current regimen of immunizations may not be enough to protect children from the serious and sometimes fatal disease. New research confirms the whooping cough vaccine is failing at a higher rate than expected.”
Outside baseball. Gridlock: “An inescapable reality of the 2012 presidential race is that no matter who wins in November, the gridlock that has bedeviled Washington isn’t likely to abate.” Could be worse. … Money: “Last week, in Minnesota Citizens for Life, Inc. v Swanson, six of the eleven jurists serving on the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeal struck down the provisions of a MN statute requiring corporations which create separate political funds in excess of $100 to file periodic financial disclosure reports with the state.” … Sanders on Moyers: “[SANDERS: ] Fraud is the business model for Wall Street.”
The trail. What It Takes: “Meanwhile Bush was doing six-minute events with six months of advance. While he was starving the political press corps to death, his handlers would find time for local TV ‘interviews’ — very necessarily in quotes. ‘It was just the VP and a single blow-dry in matching armchairs — very intimate — they could really get to know one another . . . you know, for four minutes and thirty seconds.’ Ahem.” … Robocalls: “Nationally, robocalls are on the rise. An April 2008 Pew report found that 39 percent of voters had received robocalls. That number grew to about 69 percent in 2010.” … Voting: “In the last few weeks, nearly a dozen decisions in federal and state courts on early voting, provisional ballots and voter identification requirements have driven the rules in conflicting directions, some favoring Rs demanding that voters show more identification to guard against fraud and others backing Rs who want to make voting as easy as possible.” Obama v. Romney, here we come. … Voting: “The new voter-suppression laws in several states are only half the plan. The solution to the problem of the braver voters who navigate the new landscape is either to knock them off the rolls through techniques like voter “caging,” which we all became familiar with in FL in 2000, or simply to get in their face at the polls and intimidate them directly.” … Referendum? “61% of likely voters consider the presidential election to be more of a choice between President Obama and Mitt Romney than a referendum on the president’s first term in office, according to a new poll for The Hill.”
Green Party. Ballot accèes: “It appears that Stein will be on the ballot in 36, 37, 38, or 39 jurisdictions. Still undetermined for her are AL, NE, and VT. She will definitely not be on in twelve jurisdictions: CT, GA, IN, KS, MO, MT, NV, NH, NC, OK, SD, and WY.”
Robama vs. Obomney watch. Paul Ryan: “Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher’s union strike is unnecessary and wrong.[W]e stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.” Haw.
The Romney. Losing the political class: “[W]hen Time magazine pundits start talking about the Romney ‘Death Stench,’ you know you’re in trouble.” … Losing the political class: “The danger for the Romney campaign right now is the congealing conventional wisdom that the R emerged from Tampa and Charlotte meaningfully behind and is now facing some tough Electoral College reality.” … Stand pat: “‘While some voters will feel a bit of a sugar-high from the conventions, the basic structure of the race has not changed significantly,’ [Romney advisor Neil Newhouse] said. ‘The reality of the Obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the Obama Presidency, and Mitt Romney will win this race.'”
The Obama. Chicago teacher strike: “And he could go to Chicago and tell Rahm Emanuel to settle with the teachers and do what is right for the children of Chicago.” He could, yes. … Defining Romney: “While at their convention Rs tried to pretend that the Bush presidency never happened, the Obama campaign handed Bill Clinton the microphone and allowed him to define the race as Obama-Clinton versus Romney-Bush. The GOP, in Clinton’s narrative, creates economic messes. Democrats clean them up.” … Stand pat: “The president’s apparent willingness to stand pat and not offer any striking new initiatives suggests that his chief strategists believe that, despite tight polling numbers nationally, he is on a course to re-election in November.” … Nice guy: “[JOHN HEILEMAN, New York magazine:] I don’t think he doesn’t like people. I know he doesn’t like people. He’s not an extrovert; he’s an introvert. I’ve known the guy since 1988. President Obama just doesn’t talk to too many people.”
Slogan of the day: “Forward with The Obama! I will fearlessly take career progressive struggle as the key link!”
* * *
Antidote du jour:
100 comments
Comments are closed.
uh, yves, does it strike you as odd that the nyt story you linked to on low interest rates never mentions that rates are so low to help the banks?
re: Wind could meet many times world’s total power demand by 2030
assuming one would want to do this to get off of fossil fuels, how much coal generated electicity do you think it would take to build all that equipment?
how much diesel fuel would it take to put it in place?
Most likely a tiny fraction of the energy ultimately produced. For the same reason that the energy required to build a refinery is a tiny fraction of the energy from the fuel processed by the refinery.
I think the point wasn’t that it’d be a bad investment, but rather that they haven’t considered what’s involved in scaling wind power up to that goal. The article suggests all they did is calculate how many turbines would be needed, not analyze what would be required to produce that many by 2030. Maybe it is feasible after all, but questions of scaling are essential ones that must be addressed, because the phenomena are nonlinear.
I think the one useful thing they figured out is how closely you should space turbines in a wind farm. Other than that it is too similar to “ZOMG – Do You Know How Much Sunlight Falls On The Earth’s Outer Atmosphere?”
If you want to get up to speed on wind, the best info is here:
http://www.awea.org/
They did a good report on what it takes to harness wind in the US here:
http://www.awea.org/documents/issues/upload/GreenPowerSuperhighways.pdf
The main problem is good, high wind areas in the US are located close to only 5% of the population. So power transmission become the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Depends what you mean by “close”. Most of the world population lives on or near to the oceans. That’s not close enough? Then we might as well forget about wind as a major alternate energy source.
Interesting graphic here:
http://www.landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/AreaRequiredWindOnly.jpg
The answer might be wind for coastal areas and solar for interior regions.
Ok, so I made a short comment.
This is mainly about onshore wind. There is also offshore wind. That has some problems too, one being that a recent comparative study of all our existing and potential sources found offshore wind to be the most costly. But transmission lines could be shorter, and that cost wasn’t included in the onshore wind cost.
But offshore wind farms are like a long line of these things, one deep. It is amazing how many miles of shoreline you have to cover to get meaningful output. And they all have to be connected somehow – over water. In fact, I was going to calculate how many you could string around the perimeter of the US and see what that output adds up to. But that’s another thing I haven’t got around to yet. Then there are hurricanes and who knows what sort of environmental impact.
That Wind Power Assc. site I posted above does have a kinda new section on offshore wind. I haven’t read that part yet – maybe they have something upbeat to say.
I made my above comment before looking at the graphic you posted. But yes, they show the whole east coast and west coast as a solid line of windmills. Wish they would have calculated the output too. That would save us a little trouble.But maybe they have as much trouble getting weather data as I do.
Like every source of energy, there are plusses and minuses.
I have some acquaintances in southeastern MA that are very politically involved in the cause of the negative health effects of wind turbines that are too closely sited to residential areas.* When I last spoke with them several month ago they had dozens of stories of locals that had negative health issues from nearby wind turbines (they have gone out and interviewed people and been active in local hearings on the issue). Please note these folks are typical NE liberals and very environmentally conscious, and have never been activists on any other issue. Furthermore the wind turbines aren’t near their own home, so they do no personally have bad health effects, but the wife is a long time local realtor and was so moved by the stories she heard from people in the area she got involved.
[*Depending on what source you read, it is recommended that wind turbines be 1.25-2 miles away from residential areas due to effects on humans (livestock can also be effected). However, not all locales honor this recommendation. In the SE MA situation mentioned above, IIRC, the turbines are only a couple of thousand feet away from some homes and that’s what the fight is about.]
Are wind farms saving or killing us? A provocative investigation claims thousands of people are falling sick because they live near them http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2199284/Wind-farms-Are-wind-farms-saving-killing-A-provocative-investigation-claims-thousands-people-falling-sick-live-near-them.html#ixzz26BtIC6Dm
Are wind farms a health risk? US scientist identifies ‘wind turbine syndrome’ http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/are-wind-farms-a-health-risk-us-scientist-identifies-wind-turbine-syndrome-1766254.html
I couldn’t resist adding this… Dinah Moe Humm by Frank Zappa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzJXsladZak
I guess it depends on which problem you are trying to solve.
“And sleep specialist Dr Chris Hanning believes it stimulates an alert response, leading to arousal episodes through the night that make restful sleep impossible.
Cialis or Earplugs – That is the question.
We should first try consuming less.
lol !!!
You must be one of those old DFH types like me…..reduce, reuse, recycle……in that order.
Nature — So when can we expect “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the abc Conjecture” .
It’ll be hard to get that into less than 700 pages. Though these days maybe a Kindle version would work so page count wouldn’t be a problem.
Maybe after “Squaring the Circle for Dummies” hahahahah..
I love it, the article says “At this point, he is probably the only one that knows it all,” Probably so. If a nobody can understand a proof, is it still a proof? Or is it a form of mind sculpture.
I guess Einstein started that way too. Maybe we’ll finally get a multi-dimensional math that explains Bigfoot and black cats that disappear. hahah. maybe that’s what all his new ‘OBJECTS” ARE that he came up with in his 4 papers. Pr4obaly not, but it cracks me up to think about it like that.,
It would be funny if the brain could store up to 1 trillion trillion ideas, but no more.
Then, the way forward would be … well, what could we do?
“Mochizuki…has developed…techniques and new mathematical ‘objects’ – abstract entities analogous to… geometric objects, sets, permutations, topologies and matrices.” Pictogram idioms? I think I just departed Flatlandia. Will someone please explain all this to me.
Whoze that twerp Alexander Grothendieck? Is he still hiding in the French backwoods and living as a hermit crab??
—–
On topic: “breaking with convention”
[nice phrase, Amy Goodman, “Gandhi Fellow” or some-such]:
(a) What’s up with French President Francois Hollande ?
(b) Is he on the same page as Karl Rove?
To learn more about Francois Hollande’s agenda in the coming weeks, You may visit on the inter-tubes:
http://www.elysee.fr/
Good luck, and cheerio!
They are searching for the correct way to balance your checkbook.
It is little known amongst the country that Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, and Rahm Emanuel all cut class to play in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament when they were boys. After they got in trouble by their teachers for cutting class, they formed a secret pact to, one day, pay back the teachers in a spectacular display. It looks like their promise to each other has been fulfilled…
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/10/ryan-sides-with-emanuel-on-chicago-strike/?hpt=hp_t1
(if only they had gone to school in Chicago where cutting class has no consequences, it never would have come to this!)
According to a Taiwanese website, there was an assassination attempt on Xi Jinping: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20120909000077
Probably just a rumor :) but makes a nice break some time from the regular news.
It doesn’t do any good to assassinate politicians. Nowadays, all over the world, they’re just the bagmen for the financiers. They’re easily found and just as easily replaced.
I hope you’ll post here the minute there’s an assassination attempt on Lloyd Blankfein or Jamie Dimon. Now THAT would be news.
Sounds like Bush:
So Kevin Drum over at “Mother Jones” writes a blog post on the John Heilemann interview on Obama being an introvert. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/09/i-am-delighted-we-have-introvert-white-house
Is Drum always like this? And are all the readers of MJ now apologists for Obama? Is Mother Jones rolling in her grave? I found the breathless discussion of psychological type, and in particular, introversion and extroversion, besides the point. Why do these kinda liberal sites spend so much time on style and not on the substance of his policies. I pointed out that Obama through his anti- teacher, anti-union and pro bank policies doesn’t hate people. He hates groups of people like the poor and working class and loves people like Timothy Geithner and Jamie Dimon. If they want to go on and on about psychology, then talk about narcissism, passive-aggressiveness, and sociopathy in D.C. in both parties and their media lackeys. Talk about how Dr. David Brin’s studies indicate that smug self-righteousness is addictive, if you must talk psychology rather than policy.
By the way, I love to discuss Jungian psychological type and have been well served by applying the Myers/Briggs type indicator in dealing with my clients who are different types than me. But this discussion just devolved into some sort of apology for why the last four years sucked. They think it’s because he doesn’t like politics and likes to be alone. Like many liberals, they just can’t admit that they got hosed. The guy’s a conservative. Stop with all the denial. Move on to anger. Vote third party.
And yes, this sounds like Bush too. So conservatives, admit you got hosed too. Vote third party.
Re: “D.C. Finalizing Plan for Assault on Metro NYC”
The money quote from Bruce:
“AMT minimizes petty fraud of the IRS.”
Dan here. Personally I’d pay a tax that gets fraud out of the IRS. Expanding on that idea, why not levy a “Fraud Tax” that we each pay for getting fraud out of government on all levels.
Pay to clean up the government. Now that’s Capitalism!
Looks like Google has a morality filter for autocomplete. Words that Google deems to be immoral will not be given as search suggestions when you type in the search box.
Google also lowered the ranking of sites that receive too many complaints from the copyright industry. No trials, no charges, just complaints – “whether the linked content is lawful or not.”
Re: Global Riots-from Washington’s Blog—“A perfect storm of increased demand, bad harvests from key exporters (Argentina, Russia, Australia and Canada, but most of all, the Fed’s money pumping.”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/01/quantitative-easing-is-causing-food-prices-to-skyrocket.html
Isn’t The Ben Bernank gearing up for Quantitative Easing 3 for the US soon? One more round of Fed Money Pumping?
They might have to move up that time-frame.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Ben has run out of ammunition. Interest rates are at zero and he’s fired off two rounds of QE to little effect.
Like a general in a hopeless position, all he’s got left are bluff and the element of surprise. Everybody knows QE3 is coming and most believe it will be just as ineffective.
So there’s poor old General Bernanke, holding an empty bazooka, waiting for the right moment to flash it, and hoping everyone will be awed. They won’t be. They know the bazooka is empty.
But pretense and timing are the only weapons left to him. His only alternative to them is to admit defeat.
For those who don’t subscribe to FT- on Xi Disappearance-
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/09/chinas-xi-vanishes-where-is-man-rumored.html?x#echocomments
Intersting comments, as well.
And food riots coming soon. I think we are going to witness a lot of negative liberty going on in China. On the bright side, Coke and Pepsi just started trading with Myanmar again after 50 years. Maybe they will smuggle it over the Burma Road.
Oh Ohh, A couple living in China temporarily has invited a bunch of friends and I to visit in June or July of next year. I’m wondering if the S**t hits the fan over there as far as food shortages and economic dislocation if it would be a good idea to go?
Thanks for the link, ohmycheck.
This is an interesting comment from BFWR:
Well, as I said the two are not mutually exclusive. And my ebook which is just about ready to be published is going to be proof of this. Its about a Debt Jubilee and Citizen’s Dividend being the policy/philosophy basis for a Monetary-Economic/Spiritual Synthesis Theory (MESST)
I think it’s more appropriately called the MESS Theory.
;-)
9/11
There is a small plaza in our downtown called Lauren’s Place
I will stop by today as I suspect will many others with flowers
She was a young woman with her life ahead of her when she boarded the United flight that went down in Pennsylvania 11 years ago today
Not married for long she was pregnant with her first child
I don’t know the details… but the Chicago folk were smart to strike while election season is hot! Spine alert?
O asked folks to act last week, didn’t he? Now see O run or fly over!
and we maintain a global food system perennially subject to volatile price spikes and exploitation from speculators, without reform, our world will be an increasingly restive one. Hunger is coming, and so are the riots. from We Are Now One Year Away From Global Riots, Complex Systems Theorists Say
Is that what the banks do with their reserves? Drive up food prices? Or extend credit to speculators to do so?
Banks CANNOT be trusted with money. So why do they have a government enforced monopoly on money storage? Shall we continue to allow them to use our own money against us?
He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. Proverbs 11:26
I rarely laugh out loud while trawling the Intertubnes, but I did when the Antidote scrolled into view.
Thanks for the nice start to the day!
The latest pirate news…
One of history’s most famous pirates… Searching for Henry Morgan http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephan-talty/captain-morgan_b_1868392.html
The shanzhai market: A pirate’s life for me http://asia.cnet.com/the-shanzhai-market-a-pirates-life-for-me-62218655.htm
Google restricts Pirate Bay from Autocomplete, Instant search features http://www.pcworld.com/article/262134/google_restricts_pirate_bay_from_autocomplete_instant_search_features.html
It’s only 8 days ‘til Talk Like A Pirate Day – Wednesday, September 19th http://talklikeapirate.com/ !
Antidote.
A levitating Zen penguin – after years of arduous zazen and living a non-attachment life, desisting from eating fish, krill and shrimp, our Zen penguin is now able to levitate.
Skippy, he done proved your yogis are fakirs – spiritual frauds.
Perhaps you will mis-use this Zen koan as well:
When you meet the Buddha, kill him!
Yep. The Zenophiles don’t want no big fat guy or anyone else lecturing them UNLESS they are better at head knocking than themselves?
So if you can kill the Buddha then he ain’t the Buddha? Just a Buddha-pest? Perhaps one who is Hungary? And who wants to eat your Turkey off your expensive China?
You missed the mark again.
My guess is that the observe effect is at work here.
Every time you use words to describe something, that something is moved as a result.
Well, I did not mention the Greece from the Turkey.
Still missing.
Have a bowl of tea!
I don’t like tea except sometimes ice tea so I guess my proper Zen response is to hit you on the head with my staff.
Without training, you’d miss again.
The transimission does not depend on words.
No, I’m pretty sure I could hit your swelled head with a staff though your body would take a few blows until I got the hang of it.
Perhaps that’s what you like to do.
But I don’t see any evidence of it.
No. But suppose I was walking down the road and you thought I was the Buddha? I’d have to defend myself wouldn’t, I?
No, and this is where you missed the mark before and are missing it again.
Ya see Beefy, you are not my Master nor is that obese family deserter Buddha. So your opinion as to whether or not I miss the mark is irrelevant to me and both comical and insulting.
It’s not my opinion you’re missing the mark.
It’s your responding to it that’s interesting to see here.
I would like to see more of it.
@MLTPB, when everything is reduced to a Win or Lose paradigm.
The curvature of the Pit is deceptive. Many reside along certain latitudes within, unable to see very far above, but, easily bellow. Each latitude has a different point of observation, and by that, a different set of metrics, which decide the bipolar out come. Success on one level. does not always transfer upward.
Skippy… Success by accepting an individual as your master or a more arduous path of being one with it all…. Funny thing about winning… then you own it all… responsible for – all – the out comes by ownership. I try to own myself… personally.
In addition… when the master fails, is it the students fault?.
WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED A PhD
1. He had only one publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn’t published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7. His cooperative efforts have be quite limited.
8. The scientific community has had a hard teime replicating his results.
9. He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it by drowning his subjects.
11. When subjects didn’t behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.
12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the book.
13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
15. Although there wore only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his tests.
16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.
17. No record of working well with colleagues.
1. He had only one publication. skippy
The Bible contains 66 books.
2. It was in Hebrew. skippy
And Aramaic and Greek
3. It had no references. skippy
The Bible is crammed with names, dates, locations, and other details.
Btw, it appears the remains of Pharoah’s chariots have been found in the Gulf of Aqaba under 90 meters of water. Strange place for a chariot ride, wot? See a video DVD called “Exodus Revealed” for more details.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/09/links-91112.html#tMqeDY0TMaQ80Vji.99
Serious Problems
In this brief review of the Standish brothers’ book, we offer two devastating examples of the hoaxes perpetrated by Ron Wyatt. Actually, the ninety-plus examples, touted by Wyatt and his followers, is a “house of cards” that falls under the weight of its own absurdity! Consider the following two most sensational examples.
Bones and Chariot Wheels
Wyatt claimed to have discovered the exact place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, before the waters returned and drowned Pharaoh’s forces. He contended that he explored the floor of the Gulf of Aqaba, using scuba gear. Supposedly, he discovered “chariot litter” in the form of wheels, body frames, and the bones of both humans and horses, scattered over a lengthy area.
Several things may be said of this claim (HRR, 184ff). First, the site of the exodus route, as described in Exodus 14:1ff, is highly disputed. The three specific sites mentioned in Moses’ record (v. 2) “have been lost in the sands of time” (Bruckner, 2008, 129). No one knows the precise place of the crossing. Conservative scholarship strongly argues that Israel crossed the Gulf of Suez (Vos, 2003, 104ff), and not the Gulf of Aqaba, as Wyatt contended.
Second, Wyatt claimed that he was using simple recreational scuba equipment when he discovered these wheels, etc., at a depth of some 200 feet in the Gulf. However, ordinary scuba apparatus is designed to accommodate only a depth of approximately 125-130 feet. Beyond this more sophisticated equipment is required.
Third, Pharaoh’s army was said to have been destroyed “in the middle of the sea” (Exodus 14:23) which, according to measurements of the British Admiralty, is almost 2,800 feet deep in the midst of Aqaba. This hardly harmonizes with Wyatt’s 200 feet “discoveries”!
Then there is the issue of the “bones” — of both horses and men — that Wyatt reputedly found. Recall that the destruction of Pharaoh’s army took place about 3,500 years ago. Compare this with the following facts. The Titanic went down in 1912 and 1,553 people were lost in the wreckage. In 1985, 73 years following that Atlantic catastrophe, the submerged vessel was discovered and explored. Specially designed underwater TV and video equipment was employed; in addition, more than 53,000 photos were taken. The remains of not a solitary person — neither skin nor bone — was found. Everything had been completely consumed by fish, crustaceans, and the destructive effect of salt water (HRR, 179ff).
After their extensive investigations, the Standish brothers declared that no chariot wheels, or remains of human or horse bones found in the Gulf of Aqaba, were ever submitted to scientific authorities for examination and testing (HRR, 283-284). In spite of this fact, the Wyatt Museum web site states: “Ron actually retrieved a hub of a wheel which had the remains of 8 spokes radiating outward from it.”
In fact, he claimed to have found wheels with 4, 6, and 8 spokes! One authority suggests that the video tape Wyatt employed to show these underwater “artifacts” appears to be a hoax; he challenged him to subject the items to a C14 dating test — if indeed he ever had an actual sample of anything (Zias, op. cit.).
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1511-ron-wyatt-the-indiana-jones-of-the-sda-church
What I saw was a DVD (“Exodus Exposed”) and there was no mention of bones. Instead there were numerous coral formations in the rough shape of chariots; the wood was long gone. However metal detectors were able to detect what might have been the bronze wheel rims. But one thing found was unmistakable; the electrum plating of a chariot wheel that the coral had not been able to grow on (silver is toxic). The spokes (4) and rim were clearly visible. And the depth was around 90 meters.
More definitive investigation is not being allowed by the Egyptian government.
Make that “Exodus Revealed”
What I saw on a video, first problem. Second it has zero citations or a record of due process used to validate any claims. Self seeking validation is a bitch.
BTW even in the “Exodus Decoded” which aired on The History Channel. The misrepresentation is endemic. : The Exodus Decoded is a documentary film that aired on April 16, 2006, on The History Channel. The program was created by Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and the producer/director James Cameron. The documentary explores evidence for the Biblical account of the Exodus. Its claims and methods were widely criticized both by Biblical scholars and by mainstream scientists.[1][2][3][4]
Credibility
Jacobovici’s assertions have been extensively criticized both by archaeologists and religious scholars. The criticism addresses each of Jacobovici’s claims, as well as his methods in general. Critics point out, among the following:
Jacobovici uses circular logic for his assertions. In the absence of any other evidence, Jacobovici attempts to find a real-world explanation for a Biblical phenomenon. Then, from the fact that a phenomenon could be caused by a certain event, Jacobovici surmises that a Biblical phenomenon was caused by exactly that type of an event.[8]
Biblical scholars further criticize Jacobovici’s method of first assuming that the Biblical description was an embellished description of a real world event, followed up with claims that his explanation is “exactly as the Bible describes,” whereas in reality his explanation diverges from the Biblical description.[9]
Chris Heard, Associate Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University on his Web site called “Higgaion” claims that while a single supposition is not an invalid tactic, Jacobovici uses a chain of suppositions to support each subsequent claim, often using commercial breaks to move from “it could be possible that” to “now that we’ve established that,” a misleading rhetorical trick.[10]
Chris Heard also claims through carbon dating evidence that the Santorini eruption happened some time between 1650 BC and 1550 BC, narrowed to between 1627-1600 BC, with a 95% probability of accuracy.[11]
Jacobovici puts the Exodus in 1500 BC. However, it is believed that the pharaoh Ahmose ruled decades earlier, in 1550–1525 BC. Jacobovici does not address the issue, and simply moves Ahmose’s rule 50 years to the future in order to fit his theory, without presenting any evidence or support for his claims.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus_Decoded
Skippy… Coral covered chariots shezzzz…. I saw it on the T BEEE… The fog is a never ending spring of hoaxes… were living in it.
I have no comment about “Exodus Decoded” since I did not see it.
But I do admit that the evidence for chariot remains in “Exodus Revealed” is less than definitive. But that’s not surprising to me since if God really wanted to make His existence undeniable at the present time, He could certainly do so. But then how could He really test us?
And testing is necessary. Who wants to be around someone who can’t be trusted?
Just another item on the endless list of fog related factual miss-assertions. Know wonder Classical – Neo – Economics is such rubbish. Century’s of plundering, murder, slavery, all enabled by untouched regions and infused ignorance.
The jig is up, no more large areas to expand too, more and more informed people, so its off too the virtual economy. The last refuge for the fogheads.
How long will it take him to learn Kung Fu?
I’ve been patiently waiting for a sequel to Kill Bill.
Tarantino could work magic with a talented penquin.
Patience is the key.
True. But Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and Darryl Hannah aren’t getting any younger. Not to mention David Carradine may need re-incarnating.
I think David has done it a few times already.
Grasshopper learns… The Beginning of Wisdom http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2yIkDVs0cA
I really just come here for the humor….
Thanks!!!
The Globalization of NATO: The Roadmap to “Post 9/11 Madness” http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-globalization-of-nato-the-roadmap-to-post-911-madness/
Silver SpongeBob coins missing from defunct firm’s assets http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13728529-silver-spongebob-coins-missing-from-defunct-firms-assets?lite#
TSA Detains Woman Due to ‘Attitude’ http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/tsa-detains-woman-because-attitude-130613985–abc-news-travel.html?_esi=1
Is nothing sacred? Not even SpongeBob, the funniest cartoon show ever?
Valissa, TSA surely “attracts” power trippers w/ penchant for retaliation.
The Deafness Before the Storm
By Kurt Eichenwald, NY Times, 9-11-2012
“My religion is just Ayn Rand’s philosophy with ceremony and ritual added.”
– Anton LaVey, founder of The Church Of Satan
So many great cartoons to choose from…
What makes a satanic cult? http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cga/lowres/cgan2406l.jpg
Is it really so different? http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/rrs0328l.jpg
Satan, ex-archangel http://img.allvoices.com/thumbs/image/609/609/90970135-satan.jpg
Sometimes, real life is like a cartoon http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1N3cxhPVIxc/TMn0sBqnwKI/AAAAAAAACig/5G0f2MQ7N1g/s1600/OKCityRally102110006%5B4%5D.jpg
…and now, a word from Satan http://img.allvoices.com/thumbs/image/609/609/90358009-satan.jpg
“Sometimes, real life is like a cartoon”
hahahah. I like that one. It must have been “Satan Awareness Week.”
Watch the farm subsidies…
The abc Conjecture and prime numbers.
You see lots of prime numbers, but interestingly, prime numbers form prime pairs.
And those prime pairs, they never separate. For eternity, they stay with each other.
Amazing CBS news interview with Leon Panetta about the Seal book. Basically validates every Greenwald talking point from the last four years about secrecy and whistleblowers.
Big hits:
“Panetta stopped short of saying that Owen should definitely be prosecuted, but said “I think we have to make clear to him and to the American people that we’re not going to accept this kind of behavior.””
What bluster. Those American people need to be taught a lesson. One that the treatment of Bradley Manning apparently failed to teach them.
“Panetta allowed that while much of Owen’s account is sensitive but not necessarily classified information, he added that “there’s always fine lines here, but we are currently reviewing what is classified and what isn’t.””
HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS CLASSIFIED AND WHAT ISN’T. This is not his fault – everything is classified until it is purposely leaked by the administration.
And then this:
“There’s no question that the American people have a right to know about this operation. This why the president spoke to the American people when that operation happened.”
We got told about this raid because the administration believes it will aid President Obama’s reelection. How many raids do we never get to hear about? Indeed, how many times have they stormed some suburban mansion somewhere or other and murdered all the guys in the house in hopes that one of them was Bin Ladin?
Reminds me of this quote from Secretary of State Clinton:
“This may sound really exotic and scary to you all, but we’ve probably done something similar to this – helicopter in, take the target, look for who you’re after, and get out of there – we have probably done it now 1,000 times.”
And we only get to hear about the one that worked…
Panetta interview:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57510270/defense-secretary-leon-panetta-on-seal-book-were-not-going-to-accept-this-kind-of-behavior/?tag=contentMain;contentAux
I can’t believe it. It appears 300 million Americans have been successfully brainwashed.
I’ve asked it before, I’ll ask it again: Where is the PROOF that Bin Laden was killed when-where-and-how government officials tell us he was?
There is no proof and the government refuses to provide any except for a fairy tale about a SEAL raid in the dead of night in Pakistan. No photos, no video, no BODY. (The body, if there was one, was purportedly dumped at sea.). Yet millions seem to believe the tale on NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER.
Obama says this, Panetta says that, an ex-Navy Seal says another thing. So what? Where’s the independent corroboration? As far as I know there is none.
A good policy with respect to government officials and employees: Listen not to what they say but rather to what they DON’T say.
Actually, a fair amount of people were sceptical until various known Al-Queda connected websites and media confirmed he had been killed.
Your assumptions are off. Who says Osama and the war on terror folks are the only targets?
The USA has its fingers everywhere. Their in South East Asia, South and Central America, Africa…I’m sure we get our man far more often than not. It’s the fact that there is no accountability to anybody in doing it that it is the issue. We just have to trust our government that it is for the greater good.
And that is harder to do these days. All I know is that I have known some Navy Seals and they always seemed to believe they were doing things in the best interest of not just Americans but general populous indigenous to the areas they were performing operations in. Just saying.
That’s the problem – we don’t know what those raids were for, whether to bag OBL or anything else.
Our government’s accountability to the people is only theoretical right now – re Panetta, they are the ones teaching us a lesson, and not vice versa.
“we’re not going to accept this kind of behavior.”
“Behavior.” Behavior is for dogs and children– and not even the latter so much anymore, (which may not be an unalloyed good, but nevertheless).
F Panetta.
Records for $457 million in Afghanistan fuel purchases vanish.
Again, we have enough…just not in right places.
Enough money.
No, not enough. $3 trillion in reserves is not enough to cover $11.6 trillion in deposits. That means we are $8.6 trillion short.
Short for the 99.99%.
Get it from the 0.01%.
France is trying that with not much success.
I hope you are not giving up now.
Draghila’s Carthaginian terms for Italy and Spain.
Cunctation was a mistake this time.
“I don’t think he doesn’t like people. I know he doesn’t like people.”
5 years since Obama, Mr. Hope and Changey, first started running for the Presidency, and only now are the cracks beginning to show in his carefully manufactured and crafted persona. Of course, it is too late for this election cycle and if Obama wins in November, this would be his last election anyway.
If Obama had fought for the change he was selling, I wouldn’t give a sh*t if he liked people or not. But that he didn’t sure goes far in explaining why he didn’t fight for the 99%, and why in fact he actually chose to fight against them. So now we have the specter of 4 more years of an isolated President making bad decisions which will harm us, and not caring that they do.
ONE FOR THE LINKS, MAYBE:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/09/138-years-of-economic-history-show-that-keen-and-minsky-are-right-and-all-of-the-mainstream-economists-are-wrong.html
G.WASHINGTON GOES AFTER SACRED COWS!
I was disappointed that G. Washington did not mention a universal bailout as an alternative to debt write downs.
YVES, Columbia U’s moderator has committed a huge injustice to Michael Hudson by putting a Q&A AHEAD of Hudson’s address. He’s a real jerk.
Randall Wray is a world-class hedging bullshitter made to order for the 1%.
Finally, at long last they are allowing Michael Hudson to speak stark truth, with his usual good humor and ablomb, to soften his incisive statements.
No doubt about it in my mind. Michael Hudson needs new friends.
Brother of Al Qaeda leader is offering truce plan between Muslim militant jihads and West to U.S. similar to plan OBL offered in 2004, then stepped up efforts when rejected. One problem: He hasn’t spoken to brother in over 10 years. But he’s sure he can convince brother and is brokering negotiations between Egypt and Sinai jihadists.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/10/world/meast/zawahiri-peace-plan/index.html
Terms for U.S.
• U.S. and West to stop intervening in Muslim lands
• U.S. to stop interfering in Muslim education
• U.S. to end the war on Islam
• U.S. to release all Islamist prisoners.
Given the “we built it” slogan for the Republican convention, it’s surprising that Matt Taibbi’s story on Bain & Co’s bailout by the FDIC never got any traction.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-federal-bailout-that-saved-mitt-romney-20120829
Lambert, re “plans to privatize Virginia’s ports” — Washington and Jefferson must be shouting from their graves.