Information is Beautiful Awards Winners! Be sure to click through.
Is the success of urban coyotes a sign of bigger things to come? LA Times
Sleeping Brain Behaves as If It’s Remembering Something Science Daily
Hugo Chavez re-elected as Venezuelan president BBC
Jimmy Carter says: “Election Process in Venezuela is the Best in the World” Real News Network
The Muni Bond Market, Mired in Its Past Gretchen Morgenson, Times
Wall Street Week Ahead: Big-name profit warnings may mean a pullback Reuters
Economic recovery ‘on the ropes’ FT. US “brightest spot.”
The jobs numbers: never mind the quantity, check the quality Guardian
Addressing the BLS Truther Controversy Big Picture
Lost Bet Mish’s Global Economics Trend Analysis
Exploring the Wild, Weird World of Employment Numbers From Statistical Space Economic Populist
America’s Real Jobs Gap Science
30 Years Of US Black Middle Class Economic Gains Have Been Wiped Out Business Insider
Weekend Reading – Ode to Financial and Political Narcissists Jesse’s Café Américain
Fired miners vow to fight to the death BusinessReport. Anglo American Platinum.
Breakdown of labour strife gripping SA BusinessDay
Foxconn suffers unrest at iPhone factory FT
Europe Seeks to Contain Spanish Troubles as Finance Chiefs Meet Bloomberg
Thousands take to streets in protest over government cuts El Pais
Debt crisis: ECB board member shuts door on Greek pleas for leniency Telegraph
Fortress Athens: 6,000 Cops to Guard Merkel Greek Reporter
My favorite things Korea Marginal Revolution
Factory Girls The New Yorker. K-pop.
The AMERICAN Government Is Dictating Japanese Nuclear Policy George Washington
Congestion in the Death Zone Der Spiegel. Everest.
How Archaic Local Regulations Are Killing the Future and Homes Built Like Bunkers Resilient Communities
The long tail of Lego Reuters. Maker triumphalism?
DIY Solar Pocket Factory Machine Can Print a Solar Panel Every 15 Seconds! Inhabitant
The Beauty of the Airline Baggage Tag Slate
New Captcha system uses empathy to distinguish humans from bots The Verge. Do Androids …
How It Could Happen, Part One: Hubris The Archdruid Report
* * *
Mission elapsed time: T + 30 and counting*
“I’d like to see you move up to the goat class, where I think you belong.” ― Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
This Week with George Stephanopolous as told to The BobbleSpeak Translations: “NOONAN: Barack is man of mystery KRUGMAN: this is classic Obama – he barely went after McCain in 2008 CARVILLE: he really didn’t want to be there – he wanted to spend the evening giving an order to kill a terrorist and making love to his wife”
AL. Police state: ” A police officer at the University of South Alabama has fatally shot a naked student whom authorities said repeatedly charged the officer.”
CA. Education: “For the first time in generations, CA’s community colleges and state universities are turning away qualified new students and shrinking their enrollments as state funding continues its long, slow decline.”
CO. Fracking: “‘It’s going to take a number of years to understand what’s occurring at the well sites,” [Kent Kuster, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s oil and gas liaison] said. There is no data that exists on local, state or federal level to draw any definitive conclusions about public-health impacts from oil and gas development.'” So, at best a medical experiment without informed consent. At worst, there is data. … The economy: “62% of [CO] Rs say their personal economic situation has gotten worse over the past year, while only 7% say it’s improved. 40% of Ds say their personal economic situation has improved and 12% say it’s gotten worse.” … Unions: ” CenturyLink and [The Communications Workers of America] representing 13,000 workers in 13 states in the West and Midwest have failed to reach a contract agreement, but have signed onto a day-to-day extension of the expired pact. The union opposes a proposed increase in health care premiums and wants to bring more jobs back to the U.S. The union had authorized a strike in the event that a new deal couldn’t be reached with the Monroe, La.-based telecommunications company.”
CT. Legalization: “CT’s law allows properly registered patients ‘to lawfully possess up to one month’s supply of marijuana,’ [the state’s Michael] Lawlor said. ‘For the time being, one month’s supply is 2.5 ounces.'”
FL. Voting: “We still have not secured the process to ensure that that machine has read that ballot correctly and it is 100 percent accurate. Because it is wrong to assume that the machines are always right. They’re not, “[Ion Sancho one of the most veteran election supervisors in the state of FL] tells CBS4 Chief Investigator Michele Gillen” (BradBlog has more.) … Voting: ” [V]otes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth, statistics show. Election officials reject almost 2 percent of ballots cast by mail, double the rate for in-person voting. ‘The more people you force to vote by mail,’ Mr. Sancho said, ‘the more invalid ballots you will generate.'” … Mass incarceration: “[T]he brutish goals of Jim Crow America never died, but simply reshaped themselves to the sensibilities of the 21st century, learned to hide themselves in the bloodless and opaque language of officially race-neutral policy. Garbage is garbage, no matter how pristine the can” (Leonard Pitts).
KS. Strikes: “Union members voted Saturday 79 percent in favor of rejecting [Bombardier’s] proposal of a five-year contract, which offered significant increases in health care costs and low general wage increases, and 79 percent in favor of a strike.”
LA. Privatization: ” I just hope all these medical ‘private partnerships’ involve health providers who believe evolution is real.” Haw.
MA. Warren/Brown: “[M]embers of the International Association of Heat & Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local #6, headquartered in Dorchester, will protest outside Scott Brown’s South Boston campaign off ice this morning to ask him ‘to take down a campaign ad that lies about Elizabeth Warren’s work in a case involving victims of asbestos poisoning.'” … Warren/Brown: “One month before election day, [Warren] is leading the [Brown] 50 to 45 among likely voters, according to a poll released Sunday by the Western New England University Polling Institute.”
ME. Angus King: “Americans Elect aired the first of two television ads Friday promoting King as a solution to the gridlock in Congress. Bloomberg contributed $500,000, Americans Elect’s founder Peter Ackerman put in $500,000 and Passport Capital’s founder John Burbank contributed $750,000.” … Corruption: “Wells Fargo has built up a significant lobbying presence in state capitals to manage the torrent of mortgage-related bills flooding legislatures. After becoming a national bank, Wells Fargo now has lobbyists bending state legislators’ ears everywhere from Denver to Baton Rouge, LA. In ME, state records show Wells lobbied on three bills, including one that would require banks to provide original documents while foreclosing. It was vetoed by the governor. Wells had no lobbyists in Maine five years ago.”
OK. The tribes: “With their 60,000 gaming devices, Oklahoma’s Indian tribes generate an estimated $3.5bn per year, second in the country for total Indian gaming revenues after California.”
PA. Libertarian Party: “PA petition process showed that the statewide Libertarian petition has enough valid signatures, even should the State Supreme Court reverse the favorable ruling of the Commonwealth Court of several weeks ago, concerning voters who moved, signed, and had never updated their registration records.” … Fracking: “[SB 367] makes PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) campuses available [for] any form of extraction–including fracking. Its sponsor, Donald C. White (R) received $94,150 from the industry” (Gov. Corbett has said he will sign the bill; explainer).
TX. Water: “Some 66 percent of the state remains in drought, a major improvement from a week ago. Nonetheless, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality still says 23 communities, many of them in West Texas, could be within 180 days of running out of water.” … Crime: “[I]tt often galls me to see so much attention paid to petty criminals like Class C shoplifters, who are more pathetic than dangerous, while corporate criminals – whether on Wall Street or at DFW-area home health agencies – are robbing the public blind, in this case allegedly stealing more than three-thousand times the amount annually attributable to Class C shoplifters in Dallas. These are vast numbers: 800 area businesses collectively defrauding Medicare of nearly half a billion dollars! Extraordinary! And the issue is not isolated in Big D.”
WA. Water: “The dry fall weather is delaying the cranberry harvest on the Long Beach Peninsula, and growers are nervously monitoring their bogs to ensure they have enough water. Industry experts say the drought will push the harvest out into November, drive up labor costs and put the crop at risk of frost damage.”
Fracking. Supply chain: “[J]ust one drill job uses 20,000 pounds of [guar gum] beans. [T]here has been so much demand for guar gum that a shortage is expected in the second half of the year, driving up prices for oil and gas companies who need to buy the gel for use in fracking operations.” … Public relations: “‘Promised Land’ stars Matt Damon as a gas-company salesman trying to lease natural-gas drilling rights in rural PA. [T]he industry is working up responses [including] bombarding film reviewers with scientific studies, distributing leaflets to moviegoers and mounting a ‘truth-squad’ effort on Twitter and Facebook.”
Outside baseball. Charters: “Standardized tests are a good way to measure what percent of your students live in poverty and what percent are affluent. The former school will be labeled ‘failing,’ and the latter will be a success.” … Voting: “[I]f your vote is your voice, you should vote what your real voice is, no matter what the outcome is” (Bruce Dixon). … Class warfare: “The median estimated wealth of members of the current Congress rose 5 percent [while] the average American saw median household net worth drop 39 percent from 2007 to 2010.”
The trail. Polls: “The forecast gives [Romney] roughly a 20% chance of winning the Electoral College, up from about 15% before the debate” (Nate Silver). Voting: “”Every voter restriction that has been challenged this year has been either enjoined, blocked or weakened,” said Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice.” … The debate: “Does Obama’s poor performance last week indicate a subconscious desire to quit the White House and withdraw to Harvard or Chicago to write books?” No. It reflects a subconscious desire to go on TV and make a boatload of money. …. The debate: “The question [National Journal’s Jim Tankersley] urged moderator Jim Lehrer to ask Romney and Obama reflects the frustration and urgency journalists should be bringing to this issue–not just ‘What’s your jobs plan?’ but ‘Why aren’t you seriously trying to solve the jobs crisis?’” Good question. Maybe some reporter should ask it. … The debate: “OBAMA The girls are fine, that wasn’t the problem. In the debate prep we — BARTLET Whoa … there was prep?” (MoDo). … The debate: “Viewers of the first presidential debate had plenty of souped-up second screen options to track simultaneous conversation and provide expanded coverage and polling. I sampled several of them during the debate — from apps to live blogs –but the real winners were Twitter and real-time fact checkers.” True!
Libertarian Party. Legalization: “After Prohibition’s repeal in 1933, kids didn’t start drinking in record numbers. Society didn’t collapse. Today, bathtub gin dealers don’t run amok on playgrounds; microbreweries don’t protect their turf with automatic weapons. Instead, a safe environment to drink was created when the government began regulating and taxing alcohol” (Gary Johnson).
The Romney. Crowds: “Romney was greeted by one of his largest crowds to date, as the groups of supporters coming to see him speak having grown daily since the debate, [drawing an] estimated crowd of 5,600 on Friday in St. Petersburg, another 6,300 in Apopka on Saturday night, and here today just outside Palm Beach, it was estimated that more than 9,000 came to Romney’s event. Obama drew an estimated 30,000 people last week in WI.” … Have a beer with: “Romney spoke of an old friend who ended up a quadriplegic after an accident and came to see Romney recently, the day before he died. A crowd of more than 5,500 stood rapt listening to him speak, many with tears welling in their eyes. ‘Ohhhhh,’ they gasped.”
The Obama. Jon Lovitz & Dana Carvey: ‘Why Don’t Any Comedians Target Obama? Daily Bail. Not my favorite comedians, but an interesting question. See Stoller. … Veal pen: “What was true in 2008 is still true today:* electing Obama is a necessary first step, but the more complex challenges commence after election day” (The Nation). [* And 2016… And 2020 … And forever and ever. Amen.]
* Forward with The Obama! Insist on doing exercise; participate in all sports/musical activities!
* * *
Antidote du hour (MR):
107 comments
Comments are closed.
Jimmy Carter has no way of telling that Venezuela has the best election process in the world. Even if he has seen 30-40 countries run election, he still has way more to watch.
Carter, however, is one of the worst presidents we ever had. He is the one who started a long string of inept presidents such as himself. Carter is also an extremist and a racist. None of our presidents after him was/is either.
Can we just ignore that disgusting person?
You can call Jimmy Carter lots of things. But Disgusting and racist are a stretch.
Time will make him one of our least destructive, and most honest candidates for that office.
Your partisanship is showing – and talking points of Hannity and such.
shame
Yes, “extremist” is a tell. Carter?! The commenter needs to get his knee seen to.
Sadly for you Noe, my views are probably way to left of yours. Making Venezuela a pinnacle of democratic process, at least election, is extreme. In general, Carter will support any system that meets his current view no matter how non democratic or prevented it is.
Who is Hannity?
Now we’re parsing and logic chopping. It doesn’t take a prose stylist to know that “extremist” isn’t a synonym for “holds extreme views” let along a synonym for “holds extreme view in this matter.”
And while we’re at it, where’s your evidence on racism?
The inference of racism would be Carters dalliance with Hammas, any pro Palestinian stance, methinks. Anything Middle East is a trip wire.
Skippy… Such aggressive broad brush statements with out further clarification is either emotional bias writ large or a rhetorical device i.e. Apophasis with out the slightest hint of Distinctio, this is common with this individuals comments. Examples:
Middle Seaman says:
November 26, 2011 at 8:08 am
I love the current Germany and spend time there every summer. Yet, “the Germans have been sorely used and deserve compassion” should be strongly qualified. Treating the current generation as they deserve does not erase a terrible history.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/eurocarnage-continues.html#YqYjZLiMUQOg2oPv.99
Middle Seaman says:
June 9, 2012 at 9:10 am
Gareth Porter is yet another voice in a sea of “experts” and “knowledgeable” people who for some reason see evil coming from the US. He, like many others including US administrations, fails to see the complexity of the Iran problem. On one hand you a country which cannot be denied the right to even nuclear weapon in the neighborhood of Pakistan, India and Israel, while on the other hand the Iranian regime is authoritarian, meddling in the affairs of other countries and quite deadly.
Porter also takes a free ride on the old “Israel” is the danger; mind you India and Pakistan the non-country are fine guys. Nice work Gareth.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/objective-of-us-and-israeli-policy-is-economic-warfare-against-iran.html#7xuBM8FhuWhyqDjW.99
Next try imputing the individuals handle and Jewish – Middle East in search field. Breather bot IMO….
If Carter is an extremist, then I’d love to hear what “Middle Seaman” thinks Reagan was. LOL.
Extremism is in the eye of the beholder. I know that I consider him an annoyance on issues like reproduction where basically he lets his faith dictate his policy positions. I certainly don’t find it helpful for someone from the left side of the aisle to profess that the Democrats aren’t pro life enough.
I spent 4 hours with a German filmmaker who had just wrapped up an interview with Chavez – about 4 years ago.
His flight was canceled, along with mine, and I noticed the film cannisters and asked a few questions. He was amazing.
He went to Caracas fully believing Chavez was the demon described in “Western” media – which includes Germany.
After following him around for a couple of days, he learned why the “West” has a campgaign against him. First, he’s a nativist, populist, much like the President of Bolivia.
Second, he nationalized the oil and sent the big boys packing. Venezuelans have never prospered from their enormous oil reserves til he stepped in.
But his BIG crime, was expropriating the lands of 5 families that had pretty much taken over the country. Everybody think hard… what sliver of ethnicity marched in, married locally, and then took over all the land and minerals of a country the size of Texas?
AND began exporting the spoils to Tel Aviv?
Chavez deported the lot of em.
You never hear the story.. you only hear the echo of ethnocentric hatred reverberating throughout an equally ethnocentric mainstream media.
Voila! A New villain for EVERYBODY to hate. So lets get on it…
So Jimmy Carter is a friend to Chavez. Kinda the enemy of my enemy is my friend???
If Carter is a racist, would that make Obama a black klansman vis a vis Clayton Bigsby on the Chappelle show?
Muddle Semen make good joke, Noe?
Watching elections in 30-40 doesn’t give someone the right to judge? Is that a joke?
Classic troll behavior: First post, outrageously inaccurate or outright lie posted as opinion, effort to hijack the conversation.
At first glance, the attack on Carter seems like a variation on COINTELPRO Technique #3, ‘TOPIC DILUTION’; I wish to emphasize the ‘RESOURCE BURN’, where the aim is to fatigue the good guys and gals:
http://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm
Now, I wish to study anti-Carter’s spelling, grammar, syntax, writing skills and argument sophistication.
New Captcha system uses empathy:
One would hope this might also keep the psychopaths out.
(see weekend reading – Ode to financial and political narcissists)
The new Captcha is a FAIL :(
With only 3 choices… and easy to map words like ‘torture’, you could easily map out the anwsers using machine learning. Plus, you could also do a tree using existing dictionaries to speed up learning. I’m afraid emotions are just to easily learned/faked.
In keeping with today’s infoviz theme, here’s a graphic showing the more than 100 stocks which have been in the 30-component Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1896:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/93222546/Dow-Jones-Industrial-Average
Last month there was a fresh substitution, as United Health replaced Kraft Foods in the DJIA.
If one tried to make a similar graphic for the S&P 500, it could cover the side of a barn.
More news from Maine…
Maine Republicans blast opponent for World of Warcraft play http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49313145/ns/us_news-weird_news/
Run for your wife! Finnish couple storm to victory in North American Wife Carrying Championship (and win her weight in beer) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214410/North-American-Wife-Carrying-Championship-Finnish-couple-wins-2012-title-weight-beer.html
Brazil candidate ‘handed out cocaine with election leaflets’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/9593442/Brazil-candidate-handed-out-cocaine-with-election-leaflets.html
Brazil candidate ‘handed out cocaine with election leaflets’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/9593442/Brazil-candidate-handed-out-cocaine-with-election-leaflets.html
While I’m on the topic of cocaine… here’s a blast from the past…
Grateful Dead – Casey Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQF8CILMt8c
Ooops, bad copy and paste… this was supposed to be the 3rd item…
Light graffiti art created by Eric Staller in the 70s and 80s in New York City http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9578842/Light-graffiti-art-created-by-Eric-Staller-in-the-70s-and-80s-in-New-York-City.html
“Carter is also an extremist and a racist. None of our presidents after him was/is either.”
Middle Seaman: NONE?
Friends;
In passing, did anyone notice the announcement on the 26th last that Sears was going to go to an ‘Insurance Marketplace’ model for its employee health insurance? This bodes ill for those of us ‘in the trenches.’ I can see a small but significant surge of oldsters and nearly oldsters out of the workforce as the only reason for their participation, group health insurance policies, are degraded past the point of utility.
A friend at work enlightened me about this Sears move, I googled it, and came up with two references. One reference was to the dreaded WSJ, and the other to the Chicago Sun Times. Each provided slightly different data. The WSJ did have a neat chart showing, if you look at it carefully, that average employee health insurance costs have tripled over the last thirteen years. I can only wish that my take home pay had done as well. The Chicago Sun Times link gave some details about how Sears was going to handle the transition. Either way you look at it, the 99.9% are f—-d! Now, Management is making us supply the K-Y too!
In the same category of disappointment today was Gretchen Morgenson. NYT. talking about how muni bonds (in this example a Penn. hospital bond) need to be more strictly monitored. This is probably true if you want to maintain the worst of the current system – including, of course, all the fraud by every 2-bit middleman from California to the New York Island. This land is their land, this land is their land…. That standard of prudence includes, unfortunately the bond bundlers and investors. Why doesn’t anyone make them toe the line? They aren’t any more innocent than anybody else. The hospital bond market is riddled with so much fraud and graft that it demands we go to a single payer system with all the powers of the public purse to maintain good public health and prudent budgets. Are we sick yet? Sick of all the self enrichment at public expense?
Here in Albuquerque, people have stopped shooting coyotes, although they are not protected. As a result, the population is exploding – and the results are not pretty for pet owners.
Each year around March 1, food is scarce, and they begin jumping fences and killing household pets – not for food, but as competitors. That’s how we know it’s not bobcats or such. People wake up and find their jack terrier or doberman in pieces out back. Dogs use the doggy door at night and don’t return.
It’s getting worse and worse. The problem is the sympathy for coyotes by those without pets. You cannot own a cat in most of Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Eagles, owls, and coyotes make short work of any cat.
But the coyotes are now stalking people with pets on leashes. I was on a trail on the edge of town last March, and when I turned around I found myself being stalked by 3 of em. they were fanned out behind me, trying to get close to my 14 and 25 lb blue silkies. I had to leave the trail. The females retreated, but not the male. An old lady on that trail had an attack on her poodle ON THE LEASH! She screamed and drew the dog close to her, and the coyotes retreated, but not until after giving her a real scare.
Attacks on leashed dogs is unacceptable. And all this talk of sharing space with coyotes is an invitation for heartbreak. They kill our dogs for sport. Kill to kill – not for food.
I say shoot the lot of em.
Why have they stopped shooting coyotes?
the local population is now transplants from chicago suburbs and LA — The old timers kept a .22 by the back door.
the newbies are suburban weenies… wait til their Black Lab gets taken apart by a pack… usually it’s people with LARGE dogs with compassion for the lowly coyote… but large dogs do not fair well when the coyotes begin culling their supposed competition.
I talked a long time with an animal control specialist about this. He said the only way to deal with coyotes that are no longer afraid of people is shoot em.
Before long, they are stalking toddlers ala Glendale
If food is that scarce it must be time to cull the population.
i would imagine he is not the only one–me i’m taking a pass but live in cali so no harm no foul
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/08/buzz-bissinger-why-i-m-voting-for-mitt-romney.html
I object to well-meaning people scaring people off ‘Tales of Odysseus’ with an avalanche of erudite words.
“Tales of Brave Ulysses” (Cream). Interesting history, nice tune.
“What would you say to Atlas if He said he was sick and tired of carrying the Earth on his shoulders?”
me: “Is that what you want to do with your life?”
—
Atlas Shrugged, part 2 premiered October 3 and is being released this week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y8UvKE-eUI
Ah yes. The World Premier in Washington DC
Must be like a exhilarating lithium battery jolt to the ol’ heart pump for those individualistic, self-actualized bootstrappers to see such heady film artwork decry the evils of bureaucracy and threats to our liberties.
And to think, all from someone that narrowly escaped being an adult in the Soviet Union.
Individualistic and libertarian, yes. From the official trailer, it seems a good genius has discovered a process/invention to produce “limitless cheap clean energy”. I guess the government and some lobbies want to stop the good genius. (evil big gov.).
Just watched the trailer. That’s really funny. I wonder if they have warning signs in the theater that you are crossing into another dimension, and all those fellow movie goers you think you recognize are not really your lobbyist buddies you just had golf and dinner with.
Gallop leads the “truthers”? wow
SCOTUS to review Monsanto Seed Patent case: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-05/monsanto-seed-patent-case-gets-u-dot-s-dot-supreme-court-review
“Bowman’s lawyers said in the appeal that the issue “affects every farmer in the country and the method of planting that farmers such as Mr. Bowman have used for generations.”
They argued that the lower court ruling “serves to completely eliminate exhaustion as a viable defense to patent infringement claims” involving self-replicating technologies, including genetically modified seeds.
The Supreme Court took up the case against the advice of the Obama administration, which said the Federal Circuit reached the right conclusion in the case.
The case may undermine a legal doctrine the Federal Circuit has adopted to extend the rights of patent holders. Under the so-called conditional sale exemption, patent holders can enforce their rights even after making a sale of the covered product. The doctrine has given patent holders the power to enforce restrictions against downstream purchasers.
The Supreme Court called that doctrine into question in a 2008 ruling. The justices unanimously said LG Electronics Inc. (066570) couldn’t enforce its memory-technology patents against both Intel Corp. and the computer makers that install Intel’s chips in their machines.”
Congestion in the death zone.
Modern Zen Koans –
If Mt. Everest is the world’s tallest mountain, name the World’s shortest mountain. Has anyone conquered it?
Who is the world’s tallest dwarf currently?
And I do think it would be far more exciting to watch the NBA if regulation height for the men’s basket was 20 feet. And football, well a much longer field full of stones and tough little shrubs. You get my drift.
Your question piqued my curiosity, and this is what I found.
A specific answer here…
What is the smallest mountain in the world? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_smallest_mountain_in_the_world
The “it’s relative” answers here…
Where is the world’s smallest mountain? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080408152925AAqWrx3
Sutter Buttes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Buttes
The Sutter Buttes are sometimes referred to as the world’s smallest mountain range.
Mississippi Queen, by Mountain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFhM1XZsh6o
Mountains, by Lonestar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoqGUVOXmkU&feature=fvsr
I have to admit I was wrong, then.
I thought that little inclinde in my backyard was the world’s smallest mountain. I thought I would become famous for that.
Que sera sera (what many are saying in Italy today).
Incline.
Unless central bankers get into geography and point out we can have negative mountains – and they target these mountain tops.
Bert, central bankers are not that popular a cartoon subject, but I was able to find a few good ones.
Aldrich’sFinancial Gymnasium http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/sv4e9ef4d4.jpg
Operation Twist http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/dpi/lowres/dpin1605l.jpg
Draghula http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/bro/lowres/bron2960l.jpg
The brilliant thinkers at the Fed http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/dpi/lowres/dpin195l.jpg
MLTPB, are you the one who uploaded this video?
The World’s Shortest Giant and Tallest Dwarf! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd22y_c6iSU
There is also a song called “Tallest Dwarf In The World” from 1985, by the band ‘Enid’, which is available for download from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Tallest-Dwarf-In-The-World/dp/B004UJRY1K (where you can hear a sample) but couldn’t find the full version anywhere.
So the Nation says we should vote for Obama regardless. Sorry, Nation progressives: I will no longer heed the tired call for supporting the “lesser evil.”
Stevie Wonder is going to sing at the next big fund raiser. I’m hoping he dusts off an oldie but goodie “Big Brother.” and if he sings it, I pray someone catches Barack’s face on video. That would be priceless.
“I live in the ghetto,
You just come to visit me ’round election time…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3cAsASTTdw
(if my link doesn’t post, you can watch this beautiful song on youtube)
yeah, that’s his more politically aware songs. Obama ain’t gonna wanna go there, that’s for sure!
I was thinkin’ this would be more Obama’s speed… and it’s this dream that suckered lots of people into supporting him, and probably still does. I used to love this song, but it seems schmaltzy to me now.
Ebony and Ivory – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZtiJN6yiik
Best comment on this video “Obama & Romney should do the remake.”
Stevie Wonder – Don’t you worry bout a thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJTxzsHsako
Could substitute the word Obama everywhere in the song where he says ‘mama’
“Don’t you worry bout a thing, don’t you worry about a thing Obama…”
Today’s antidote.
‘I really enjoyed the dinner last night, especially the fresh Antarctic foramminifera flown in from the South Pole.’
Shoddy journalism, or what? A Globe and Mail article on insurers and FSB’s “global systemically important insurers”
AS Reguators Size up Insurers, ‘too-big-to-fail’ Ignites Debate
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/as-regulators-size-up-insurers-too-big-to-fail-ignites-debate/article4591894/
My favorite things Korea.
Don’t know about that.
My favorite edible/potable things black –
black beer – schwarzbier and Xingu black beer
black wine – aka Cahors wine, the black wine of Lot
black chicken – i.e. the Silkie
black pigs – Kurobuta, hmmmm
black bread
black coffee
black tea – aka Chinese red tea
black rice – aka purple rice
black beans
blackberries
black cakes – aka rum cakes
But I don’t like blackwater or black rain.
Oh, anythig blackened is also good.
mltpb,
are you eating seaweed from asia, post-fukushima?
is anyone here?
Just picked up a small bottle of nori-komi-furikaki to sprinkle on my oatmeal breakfast, eariler today. Thanks for the reminder. Never thought about glowing seaweed. This one is made in China; hopefully, it’s from areas contested by Vietnam and the Phillipines, far to the south of Fukushima. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that China has a powerful navy.
Dunkleweizen! (dark bavarian wheat beer)
If you are lazy – Sam Adams makes a good one as a fall seasonal.
Or brew yer own:
5.5 gallon batch
4 lbs pale malt
3 lbs malted wheat
2 lbs honey malt
1 lbs 60L crystal malt
1 lbs munich malt
8 oz 120L crystal malt
.25 oz magnum hops at 60 minutes
1 oz tettnang hops at 15 minutes
white labs WLP 380 Hefeweizen 1V yeast
ferment at 62F-66F (accentuates spice flavor over banana flavor with this yeast)
Perfect timing! Been looking for a recipe. Going to malt and roast wheat grown locally by a friend.
Instituational Risk Analytics loses its mind over the California Homeowners Bill of Rights:
Tail Risk: Kamala Harris Declares War on Lenders, Loan Servicers in CA
http://us1.irabankratings.com/pub/IRAMain.asp
And in case that issue has expired by the time you click the above link, here’s the original piece that got them in a froth:
Calif. hands trial lawyers ‘nuclear weapon’ to use against mortgage industry: legal expert
http://www.housingwire.com/news/calif-foreclosure-bill-could-spur-more-judicial-foreclosure-filings
And this is a problem…how?
This is huge. In the only 2012 election that matters, in Venezuela, Obama and Romney got beat like we wish they would here. The US kleptocracy has failed to choke off economic rights in its near abroad.
Re: Permits, Building Innovation
How interesting that a website which advocates for stringent regulation in finance should include an article calling for less regulation in the building process.
Would you be surprised to learn that contractors have a “wild west” mindset, similar to Wall Street? That they argue against regulation just as eloquently as reckless bankers?
Did you know that the electrical code, the first uniform code in the US, was promulgated as a result of pressure from the insurance industry, which was paying lots of settlements for lots of fires caused by reckless and/or incompetent electrical wiring?
So much for history.
The chart refers to the conversion of waste water-runoff (the most benign component), feces, urine, house hold chemicals,and rotting meat and vegetation, all suspended in and mixing with water! Do you wonder that regulation is stringent? Are all states’ regulatory as cumbersome as Oregon’s? If you look at the chart, it does look clunky, but is it hugely burdensome? Take a good look–it’s a flow chart, and no one has to check ALL the boxes.
After a cursory rant about Oregon, the article leverages the rant to sand bag construction, including someone who cites his experience building in Berlin, referencing construction in Utah. Seismic activity in Utah, and much of the western US makes analogies to Berlin a non-sequitur.
The very justifiable complaint about the paucity of research into more economical construction techniques refers to the the interlocking directorate between regulation, research, and vested manufacturing interests–not unlike the interlocking directorate in finance, medicine, education, etc. etc. The ground troops interact with local regulators, who bear the brunt of anger that needs to be directed at the structural/power issues.
There are some very intelligent, incisive comments to the article. There’s also a libertarian rant. Caveat emptor.
Well, I’d work out a better way to take it case by case. For example, no, I don’t think having random electrical wiring with no code enforcement is the way to go; I can go to second or third world countries for that.
At the same time, it’s also true that code is a way to enforce that shelters be “stick built” by the construction industry exactly as is good for that industry, and that makes no sense if there’s a better way to, say, build an earth house.
I have time for a long reply today, so here goes.
Re: “case by case”
The bare bones codes are relatively brief, except for the electrical code which is about 10 times longer than building, plumbing, and mechanical together. However, every piece of equipment, every sort of appliance, every material not specifically called out in the codes has to be tested and approved for use in any building. An approved anything is referred to as “listed.” The literature associated with all these various listed commodities would fill a decent sized room–not bookshelves in a library, a ROOM. In a an efficient building and inspection paradigm, when a permit is issued, the contractor or owner presents the inspection department/inspector with the relevant literature for any listed component that will be installed as part of the project. Taken in tandem with the chronic shortage of building inspectors, the plethora of listed materiel makes case by case impractical. Only the head of building inspection department has the legal authority to expand the code and approve non-standard materials, construction etc. This is a good procedure as it creates predictability for all builders and owners in any jurisdiction.
BTW, when thinking about the codes, please bear in mind that the goal of any code is to get the last human being out of any given building alive in the event of the worst possible insult to the building.
Personally, I dislike wood frame construction, for a number of reasons. My favorite medium sized building that I ever watched go up, was a Long’s (bought by CVS since) store in which the only wood structural components were large laminated beams. The rest was masonry, metal posts, metal framing, and formed concrete. A wonderful building. That said, the least expensive, easy to build, earthquake resistant housing (important in California) is a detached, one-story, wood framed house.
Along with high-rises, the best built structures in CA are public schools and other buildings in the bailiwick of state architect’s office (DSA). The plans are spelled out close to last detail, approved as such by the DSA, and overseen by DSA approved inspectors, who along with THE PLANS, exercise a degree of control over the projects that ordinary mortal inspectors can only dream about. This state of affairs began with a Sunday earthquake in Long Beach in 1933 when the local state Representative happened to be a general contractor. One look at the damage to the schools on Monday morning convinced him that schools needed to be build better than they were–the DSA’s level of control over school construction resulted. The point is that case-by-case may sound good, but given the practicalities of construction it sounds better than it works.
And again, there is an interlocking directorate of manufacturers, regulators, and builders that prevents useful innovation–which exists in contrast to the fact that the best buildings (at least in CA) are built with the closest regulatory supervision.
Used to see developers and contractors get away with a lot of shite in CA. All it took was an 8 ball of coke and some Dodger or concert tickets.
Skippy… BTW the laws are industry written, see track housing et al. BTW today’s housing is more like some form of temporary habitat which is designed around warranty life times, hence the blight on old suburbs and the constant desire for the consumer to up grade after a bit. One big marry-go-round for extraction.
The coke is 99.9% gone. In my immediate locale (say a 20 mile radius), there are certain architectural ‘features’ from early 80s remodels that scream, “Coke!” The ugliest features and design–makes the 50s look like it was designed by Picasso/FL Wright.
Used to do a lot of work for Buff and Henseman, top self stuff, never would set foot on sprawl sites.
Still, I’m quite concerned at the figures that come out of offices. The CAD system utilized by young sorts with little or no site experience and cost pressure is a constant drama. One recent episode where a tension slab (to carry 20T vibrating machine) was to be laid was GROSSLY out of spec. Rebar was almost half of what is should be and the concrete formula was inadequate. The discovery of this all occurred at 6:30AM, just before the pour, you don’t even want to know how much concrete was sent back. Still, after some calls and re-specing the job from the head, it was completed in same day.
Imagine the shit storm months or years down the road, when the slab would have failed. The possible destruction to life, property, and anyone with investment attached. This observation is replicated endlessly. MBA’s, Sales and Marketing as the primary drivers of endeavor is going to drive this world in a ditch we can not extract our selves from.
Skippy… The people with age, life experience, decades of hard won knowledge are being replaced by malleable kids. Kids that only care about their chick cars, electronic gaming platforms and getting on the piss. Its a mess out there… critical operating plants… oops… sigh.
The bridge collapse in Minneapolis was mostly caused by a missing structural component. It was built in the mid 60s long before CAD. The Cypress Structure collapse in the ’89 quake was largely the result of cheating on rebar installation in columns that were, in light of subsequent research, already underdesigned. Sloppiness and venality are way more important than CAD.
SCOTUS — Some acronyms are unfortunate, in this case, its connection with Duns. IMO, more profitable to read him (Duns) than Scalia.
They probably have to parachute those 6,000 cops into Athens to protect Merkel.
But jobs!
Angela has come to make nice. Reasonable though to check what she leaves with. Current joke — Merkel Marbles OK as long as less than size of Parthenon.
Mr. Sereno;
Make nice with who, I’d ask.
Secondly, do her Marbles clank when she walks?
Thirdly, the last time they parachuted ‘forces of law and order’ into Greece, the Brits sent troops in to ‘help’ the Greeks. Where are they now, now that we need them?
I’m sorry! I meant that she leave with only a few agates, unlike the 7th Earl of Elgin. Interesting fellow, I must say. Masterpiece Theater could do a cock-a-hoopy series on him and his wives.
Sleeping brain is remembering.
Is that a useful skill to have if you are good at sleeping?
Do they have a contest for that?
Rebecca Soul Twit here.
Rancid left, stop your whining as Democrats get rid of Unions, public schools, public libraries, public transport and all other public services. Stop hating and learn to love the language of privatization, deregulation and commodification. Compared to you, Eeyore sounds like a Teletubby.
Rancid left, stop yore bitchin’ over ecological devastation, and the widespread economic impoverishment as well as the imprisonment of large segments of the population marginalized by race and class. You still got gay marriage, as well as Laa-Laa, Tinky Winky, Dipsy and Po.
Rancid left, as public considerations and issues collapse into the morally vacant pit of private visions and narrow self-interests, stop being so angry that everyone does not have pony.
Rancid left, as the elderly, young people, the unemployed, immigrants, and poor whites and minorities of color now constitute a form of disposable human waste, stop your bitchin’ and think about how great it is to live in a country where we can have gay Teletubbies.
Rancid left, as neoliberalism undermines civic education and public values and treats knowledge as a product, promoting a neoliberal logic that views schools as malls, students as consumers, and faculty as entrepreneurs, you can still be proud of Tinky Winky, the first gay Teletubby.
Rancid left, as we witness systematic brutality, widespread atrocities, ruthless suppression of independent thought, and as we bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East in the form of torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death, count your blessings, think about Laa-Laa, Tinky Winky, Dipsy and Po, watch Teletubbie reruns and stop weeping those sad, hot pony tears.
The last thing I care to do is step up to your rant, but I suppose somebody’s got to do it. Others have said it — Get a life.
:-( I haz a Sad. I like Rebecca Soul Twits’ rants. I like you too, charles. If it’s ok, I’d like to encourage Rebbeca to keep ranting, and ask that if her writing does not appeal to you, you might just skip over it.
…it seems Peter Penquid Society hasn’t been here for a while…or maybe he has?
ohmyheck, I’m totally with you. We need to give space to all opinions. Yet I’m still bothered when people go on and on. Most of all when I do that. Like now. :-)
I hate seeing unnecessary angst, so I must comment.
By now at NC, when you see a handle like “Rebecca Soul Twit”, you should assume the comment is parody.
Also I’m pretty sure LLoyd C. Bankster = Peter Penquid = Rebecca Soul Twit
On jobs, the Guardian piece on the declining quality of US jobs strikes a theme we have voiced around here for some months now. It is an important point. Not all jobs are created the same. Replacing stable jobs which have good wages and benefits with crappy Mcjobs is a form of looting.
The Big Picture article throws a lot of graphs at the controversy over the September jobs report, but it is just blowing smoke. There is an anomalous 873,000 increase in employment which is fundamentally at odds with a mere increase of 114,000 in jobs. I certainly would like to hear a good explanation for this mismatch. I have not as yet. I pointed out in my post here that much of the increase in employment appears to have been as a result of a 582,000 spike in involuntary part time workers. I don’t know where these workers came from and even if I did the discrepancy between jobs and employment would remain.
The economicpopulist has some interesting charts too. The first shows simply that the best way to find new employment is to be already employed. He also shows some nice graphs about monthly changes in unemployment by age. And he finishes saying that none of this completely explains what went on in September.
Are you upset that Barry’s guest blogger, “Invictus”, basically called you a ‘truther?’:
That folks now nonchalantly float claims that government agencies fudge numbers is (or should be) beyond the pale (just as it was in 1970 when Nixon did it). But it’s not.
Barry adds in comments:
I like to remind people that George W. Bush tried to illegally fire 7 US Attorneys for political reasons. It burst into view and became a scandal — a mere 7 Attorneys!
Anyone thinks that the White House could doctor the BLS report without it leaking out simply is not rooted in any form of reality.
Seems like a hard sale from Big Picture!
Are we going to let these same people determine if taxes need to be increased, as MMT would suggest, because their calculated ‘inflation’ is up?
No, an anomaly is an anomaly. I merely noted it was there. I did not offer any explanations for it because there were none I could see in the data. I pointed out there was also a spike in part time workers, but that just pushes the problem back one step, since there is no readily available explanation for that increase either.
Ritholtz is probably right that it is unlikely that they would fudge one number in one report, but he is wrong in the larger sense that the numbers aren’t systematically biased.
Using the jobseeker model results in an understatement of more than 8 million currently in unemployment.
There may be a case for seasonal adjustment of the employed (Household survey) at the beginning of the year but for the rest of the year it does not seem to do better than the unadjusted numbers.
Similarly, the birth to death model for employment (Establishment survey), i.e. jobs, tends to overstate job creation.
And while seasonal adjustment does tend to work better there, it’s still just a smoothing of the data. The fluctuations in the unadjusted numbers don’t look as nice, but they are where people live.
I tried to post this reply several times with various changes to get around wordpress. Let’s see if this one works.
I couldn’t get through “The Nation” editorial. It is almost the same as the one from 2008. That one made me realize how much I had been fooled by the liberal establishment and led me to cancel all of my subscriptions to progressive magazines except for “The New Internationalist”. Not sure I will renew that either. I find this statement to be naive at best and cynical at worst. “Should Obama win re-election, surely he will owe a large debt to the street activists, whose protests against the 1 percent made so effective the Obama campaign’s attack on Romney for his Bain economics and his apparent disdain for the “47 percent.” Come 2013, that debt should be called in, forcefully, to push for real financial regulation and job creation.”
“…surely he will owe at debt to the street activists….” “Surely?” How exactly will they call that debt in? David Graeber has pointed out that a debt is a promise. Elites pay their promises to each other but not to the rabble which includes the street activists. Surely The Nation understands this?
I remember thinking I was a lettrist or something reading The Nation in college (which actually probably isn’t far from the truth–maybe both groups are controlled opposition).
I’ve assumed The Nation is a perp organization for a few years now (I’m a bit slow on these things). Since then I moved on to suspecting the same of Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, KPFA, Glenn Greenwald, Al Jazeera, RT, Antiwar, and others like them.
I’m not familiar with the socialist publications like the Internationalist and have more hope there might be sincere alternative voices there . . . but I suspect many of these sources are controlled opposition as well.
The Nation has been an early cheerleader of Obama. Back in March of 2008 Katrina vanden Heuvel defended the paper’s endorsement of Obama over Clinton and all other candidates:
However, contrary to Klein and Scahill’s assumption, there is no reason to think withholding our endorsement would have given us greater leverage over both of the Democratic candidates, on the war or any other issue. To the contrary, progressives who are backing Barack Obama have chosen to do so in order to exert pressure on him to represent their values.
The Nation endorsed Obama as the better choice in this election, in part because we believe that the new energy he is calling into electoral politics will push the limits of his own politics. We welcome his commitment to grassroots organizing and mobilization for unleashing this new energy. But we also recognize that this is no time to cheerlead. It will be our task — and the task of activists, of writers like Klein and Scahill and of others to across the country — to keep pushing beyond the limits that Barack Obama or any candidate for president would define.
I’m leery of Klein and Scahill playing the role of the next generation controlled opposition.
Messed up the html, here’s the quote from vanden Huevel’s article:
However, contrary to Klein and Scahill’s assumption, there is no reason to think withholding our endorsement would have given us greater leverage over both of the Democratic candidates, on the war or any other issue. To the contrary, progressives who are backing Barack Obama have chosen to do so in order to exert pressure on him to represent their values.
The Nation endorsed Obama as the better choice in this election, in part because we believe that the new energy he is calling into electoral politics will push the limits of his own politics. We welcome his commitment to grassroots organizing and mobilization for unleashing this new energy. But we also recognize that this is no time to cheerlead. It will be our task — and the task of activists, of writers like Klein and Scahill and of others to across the country — to keep pushing beyond the limits that Barack Obama or any candidate for president would define.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katrina-vanden-heuvel/a-misunderstanding-on-ira_b_93592.html
Yes, that worked out so well, didn’t it? It says a lot about how lazy Establishment liberals are and how stupid they think we are that they don’t even bother to change their propaganda lines.
Dear WWM;
The trouble with that strategy is that it has been tried, and found to be wanting. I remember Bill Moyers having lots of real Lefties on his show just after the Apotheosis of Obama. They mostly said the same thing; Hold his feet to the fire. Well, that didn’t work out so well, did it? This time, as the Occupy folks demonstrated, it will take people ‘in the streets’ to shift the administration. And no simple marching with signs either. Something along the lines of a General Strike is in order. No one really knows where the tipping point is. That’s the scary part.
Isn’t Greenwald at The Guardian? Otherwise, observe body language code.
I think the key strategy here for the promiser is for him to just issue more debt, that is, more promises.
No need for any debt writedown.
No one will ever run out of promises, often even without apologizing.
Dear MLTPB;
I wonder, is Political Capital fungible?
The Nation, Establishment liberals’ answer to the Onion. It repeats the same bad joke (Obama) and hopes the second time you will laugh.
Triumphalism!
NRA wins!
Charlton Heston Lego set is just waiting to be made!
Yesterday’s “What if the Global Financial Crisis is Permanent” was one of my favorite posts. Great discussion in the comments section on quality growth versus quantity growth. Also on the decline of the Roman Empire and toilets! This is a great site.
Occupy members join police to save Georgia Home: http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-members-join-police-bid-save-ga-home-172553577.html
“Less than a year after Occupy Atlanta members clashed with police in riot gear in a downtown park, they’re now protesting alongside officers to help a retired detective avoid losing her home to foreclosure.
Activists joined current and retired Atlanta police Monday for a demonstration and discussion at the home of retired Atlanta police Det. Jaqueline Barber in Fayetteville, south of the city.
“The police are in the 99 percent and when it comes down to their economic struggles, we’re going to be there to shine a light on those and organize around those,” said Tim Franzen. He and others who were involved with Occupy Atlanta are now part of a group called Occupy Our Homes ATL, which focuses on the housing crisis.”
Occupy really is all over the place and that’s a good thing.
Sadly, this kind of action is the exception more than the norm.
Stoller debates White House lizard on drones, inequality and other things. Terrific stuff. Link in tweet:
https://twitter.com/DavidShuster/status/255405579009400832
Requires iTunes malware to view. Unfortunately perhaps.
Go here. http://weactradio.libsyn.com/10-4-take-action-news-with-david-shuster
Highly entertaining, especially as host and opponent obviously more comfortable with NPR type “debates” where two paid mouthpieces simply exchange talking points.
re: The Archdruid
In a very near future, can a small crude oil find off the coast of Africa –say a few billion barrels (enough to satiate world demand for one or two months)– lead to all out nuclear war?
Damn straight. Very good Archdruid.
Note: The President of the United States was in Brazil when he ordered the attack on Libya to commence. What was Obama doing down there at such a tricky and difficult time? Why he was kissing the balls of Brazilian leaders, pleading with them to not give away the extra ultra-deep Lulu/Tupi oil field to the Chinese.
And that’s all Old Barrack could do! When comes to oil, the current Leader-of-the-Free-World can kiss balls or attack you. Those are his only two options!
Note II: China Inc can pay cash, actually develop the shit, and cut you slice of the proceeds that you can be satisfied with. China delivers and they share. That’s why they win.
We, the US, on the other hand, can a place a carrier or two in the South Atlantic and watch the proceedings. Or, we could beg CEO Rex (“climate change is an engineering problem”) Tillerson, over at Exxon/Mobile, to pretty please get his ass down to Brazil and work something out.
But Rex (“fuck with me, Congress, and I’ll take my business elsewhere”) Tillerson might not want to get involved. Developing Lulu/Tupi will cost tens of billions, and take decades, and that’s not the kind of commitment off-shore shy Rex likes to make.
Besides, that type of investment, should things go wrong, would easily break a tiny private company like Exxon.
Or, last ditch (or first ditch, it don’t matter) we could beseech half ‘n half/three-quarter foreign owned Beyond Petroleum for help. Hey, BP, we need ya, and you owe us one, remember?
The US is helpless. Absolutely fracking helpless.
Shit, I’d give the chinese the one that’s 5 miles underwater. They can be the next BP when its blows out too.
5 miles and then some. And you’re way out in open sea, drilling through a sea bed of loose salt domes. In general, I’d say drilling at Lulu is ten times more difficult than drilling even toughest fields in the GOM.
And that’s why Brazil’s semi-state owned oil company Petrobras isn’t really getting anywhere. They need help.
That’s where China comes in. China has an off-shore oil company that specializes in this kind of shit, and China has state banks that specialize in bankrolling these type of projects.
More importantly, China has the desperation. They gots to have that oil!
And what are we talking? 20 billion barrels recoverable, tops (meaning maybe 10 billion, usable). $50 to 100 billion of today’s dollars to develop, for a few months supply for the world.
Or, a whole year of supply for China.
It’s crazy.
I haven’t looked into it lately, but 5 years ago I looked into it when I was considering some PBR stock. Back then, no one really had the capabilty to go 5 miles down. Deepwater Gulf is 1 mile, IIRC. I’d be very surprised if any chinese company does today.
This is my favorite solution, if it works out. Bio-engineered algae that shit oil. They are building a demo plant now.
http://www.jouleunlimited.com/
This is why we need to invade Canada. Also too their water.
It ain’t no joke. I used to write revelatory shit on the Yglesias blog all the time, stuff like: Make no mistake, heathens. Canada is going to be the final battleground. If Jesus comes riding down out the sky on his fiery chariot, and his heading is Jerusalem, he’ll be about 5,000 miles off course.
About two years ago, the wisecracking Irish golf announcer David Feherty queried Canadian golfer Mike Weir, “So Mike, tell me, do you think the United States is going invade your country?”
Weir looked at him and realized Feherty wasn’t smiling and his eyes weren’t twinkling, took the question semi-seriously, and said something like, “I don’t know David. Could be. We do have what they want.”
If they can convince Ottawa to let them build two pipelines from Alberta to BC ports, China will develop those tar sands.
I mean really develop them. China will drop 100 billion dollars, minimum, in less than a decade. That’s my prediction.
Think the US will react passively, and watch as billions of barrels of their “free market” oil sails across the Pacific on a never ending ChinaTanker conveyor. I think not.
I’m loosing it. 100 billion dollars? Make that, one trillion dollars, minimum.
100 billion dollars. That’s the phantom interest on US government debt that China collects –pretty much every day before breakfast.
Re: Hugo Chavez re-elected
This comment from a pro Washingtonian is remarkable:
“They still think that he’s trying hard even if he’s not delivering what he promised, that he still has their best interests at heart,” Shifter said.
[They meaning the working classes, the poor, etc. and “he”
meaning Chavez ]
preceded by:
“I think he just cranked up the patronage machine and unleashed a spending orgy,” [Shifter said of Chavez]
Michael Shifter is the president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank.
From Fox News Latino:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/10/08/hugo-chavez-wins-re-election-in-tight-race-against-youthful-rival/
Exclusive: Anatomy Of A Brokerage IT Meltdown
http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/exclusive-anatomy-of-a-brokerage-it-melt/240008569
Re: Editorial at The Nation
An Obama re-election might go with four more years of Geithner at Treasury and four more years of Holder as Attorney General, Head of Justice Dept. So, something to think about carefully, IMO.