Tuesday, July 7, 2009
7 earthquakes recorded today at Yellowstone National Park - Updated July 7, 2009 at 10pm CDT
Update time = Tue Jul 7 21:00:05 MDT 2009
Here are the earthquakes appearing on this map, most recent at top ...
MAG DATE LOCAL-TIME LAT LON DEPTH LOCATION
y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km
0.4 2009/07/07 04:22:02 44.715N 111.133W 4.9 6 km ( 4 mi) NNW of West Yellowstone, MT
1.1 2009/07/07 04:21:22 44.729N 111.103W 9.6 7 km ( 5 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
1.8 2009/07/07 03:54:11 44.732N 111.100W 9.6 8 km ( 5 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2009/07/07 02:43:59 44.730N 111.101W 10.0 8 km ( 5 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/07/07 02:43:24 44.727N 111.098W 11.1 7 km ( 5 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
0.4 2009/07/07 02:23:15 44.724N 111.098W 11.0 7 km ( 4 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
1.3 2009/07/07 02:23:01 44.729N 111.099W 9.4 7 km ( 5 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/07/06 23:47:15 44.726N 111.097W 10.3 7 km ( 4 mi) N of West Yellowstone, MT
0.9 2009/07/06 20:35:49 44.656N 110.433W 2.2 48 km (30 mi) SSE of Gardiner, MT
1.1 2009/07/06 11:57:39 44.535N 110.360W 2.2 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2009/07/06 11:42:49 44.537N 110.354W 2.7 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/07/06 08:23:29 44.656N 110.959W 7.0 12 km ( 7 mi) E of West Yellowstone, MT
1.7 2009/07/06 08:05:07 44.596N 110.918W 10.4 17 km (10 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.1 2009/07/05 22:53:24 44.634N 110.670W 3.2 35 km (22 mi) E of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2009/07/05 09:57:12 44.737N 111.151W 12.0 9 km ( 6 mi) NNW of West Yellowstone, MT
0.4 2009/07/05 05:30:27 44.623N 111.097W 10.1 4 km ( 3 mi) S of West Yellowstone, MT
0.7 2009/07/05 05:02:30 44.622N 111.089W 6.5 5 km ( 3 mi) SSE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.5 2009/07/05 04:01:02 44.624N 111.095W 9.6 4 km ( 3 mi) SSE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/07/05 03:36:33 44.650N 110.969W 6.2 11 km ( 7 mi) E of West Yellowstone, MT
0.2 2009/07/04 22:06:09 44.751N 110.784W 2.5 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.2 2009/07/03 19:42:56 44.791N 111.147W 9.1 15 km ( 9 mi) NNW of West Yellowstone, MT
0.2 2009/07/03 11:03:35 44.751N 110.781W 2.3 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.5 2009/07/02 21:38:30 44.754N 110.779W 5.8 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.8 2009/07/02 16:15:28 44.758N 110.777W 5.9 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.3 2009/07/02 16:07:45 44.748N 110.779W 2.6 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.9 2009/07/02 05:55:59 44.372N 110.570W 2.4 53 km (33 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.3 2009/07/02 05:48:43 44.367N 110.572W 2.2 54 km (33 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.8 2009/07/01 07:19:30 44.749N 110.776W 2.4 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
Docuticker.com | Today's News
New From the GAO
New GAO Correspondence and Testimony (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
7 July 2009
+ Correspondence
1. Military Personnel: Reserve Compensation Has Increased Significantly and Is Likely to Rise Further as DOD and VA Prepare for the Implementation of Enhanced Educational Benefits
–
+ Testimony
1. Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget and Related Performance and Management Challenges, by Steven L. Caldwell, director, homeland security and justice issues, before the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Bank Crime Statistics: Federally Insured Financial Institutions — January 1, 2008-December 31, 2008
Bank Crime Statistics: Federally Insured Financial Institutions — January 1, 2008-December 31, 2008
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Any statistical information furnished in this booklet is subject to change upon the investigation of bank robbery incidents which occurred during 2008.
The BCS provides a nationwide view of bank robbery crimes based on statistics contributed by FBI field offices responding to bank robberies or otherwise gathered when provided to the FBI from local and state law enforcement.
Statistics were recorded as of 04/23/2009, at FBI Headquarters.
Note: Not all Bank Robberies are reported to the FBI, and therefore BCS is not a complete statistical compilation of all Bank Robberies that occur in the United States.
Food Security Assessment, 2008-09
Food Security Assessment, 2008-09
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Food security in 70 developing countries is projected to deteriorate over the next decade, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service. After rising nearly 11 percent from 2007 to 2008, the number of food-insecure people in the developing countries analyzed by ERS researchers is estimated to rise to 833 million in 2009, an almost 2-percent rise from 2008 to 2009. Despite a decline in food prices in late 2008, deteriorating purchasing power and food security are expected in 2009 because of the growing financial deficits and higher inflation that have occurred in recent years. Food-insecure people are defined as those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day per person.
Download in sections (PDFs) or as full report (PDF; 1.1 MB).
U.S. Net International Investment Position at Yearend 2008
U.S. Net International Investment Position at Yearend 2008
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
The U.S. net international investment position at yearend 2008 was -$3,469.2 billion (preliminary), as the value of foreign investments in the United States continued to exceed the value of U.S. investments abroad (table 1). At yearend 2007, the U.S. net international investment position was -$2,139.9 billion (revised).
The -$1,329.3 billion change in the U.S. net investment position from yearend 2007 to yearend 2008 resulted from (1) declines in the prices of U.S.-held foreign stocks that surpassed declines in the prices of foreign-held U.S. stocks, (2) the depreciation of most major currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the dollar value of U.S.-owned assets abroad, and (3) net foreign acquisitions of financial assets in the United States that exceeded net U.S. acquisitions of financial assets abroad. The impact of these differences was partly offset by “other” changes (such as changes in reporting panels and capital gains and losses) that raised the value of U.S.-owned assets abroad and lowered the value of foreign-owned assets in the United States.
Global Terror Update
Global Terror Update
Source: Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
A report on the global terror insurance market, published today by Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, finds that governments are becoming increasingly involved in the development of insurance programs focusing on terror coverage and terror pools, though a number of nations continue to offer no government support at all.
2009 Global Terror Update summarizes terror insurance market developments in 34 countries across six continents. According to the briefing, developments on a country-by-country basis are being shaped largely by events, including new or evolving threats and local developments in the insurance and reinsurance markets. The update also addresses the impact of terror insurance on the aviation market and looks at recent developments in terror modeling.
+ Full Report (PDF; 1.3 MB)
Baby Boom Generation is Driving an Entrepreneurial Boom Toward Economic Growth, Kauffman Foundation Study Indicates
Baby Boom Generation is Driving an Entrepreneurial Boom Toward Economic Growth, Kauffman Foundation Study Indicates
Source: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Economists know that entrepreneurship will drive the economy back to health, but many people may be surprised to learn that the baby boom generation is behind the wheel, according to a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The study, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom,” found that several facts have emerged in the course of Kauffman Foundation research that indicate the United States might be on the cusp of an entrepreneurship boom—not in spite of an aging population but because of it. These factors include the shifting age distribution of the country, the continued decline of lifetime employment, the experience and tacit knowledge such employees carry with them, and the effects of the 2008-2009 recession on established sectors of the economy.
+ Full Report (PDF; 101 KB)
Second annual business risk report — insurance 2009
Second annual business risk report — insurance 2009 (PDF; 583 KB)
Source: Ernst & Young
Global financial market events have created unprecedented challenges for the insurance industry. Risks are inherent in every forward-looking business decision and therefore, successful risk management should be an integral part of an organization’s strategy and operations. The economic downturn has taught us that the most important risks are the ones we did not see or anticipate.
Why Did FDR’s Bank Holiday Succeed?
Why Did FDR’s Bank Holiday Succeed?
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Author William L. Silber indentifies a number of forces that contributed to the success of the nationwide Bank Holiday declared by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in March 1933, which formally suspended all banking transactions. These include the federal government assuming responsibility for the integrity of the payments system, de facto 100 percent deposit guarantees at reopened banks and the willingness of the President to act quickly and decisively.
The Emergency Banking Act of 1933, passed by Congress during the Bank Holiday, contained key provisions that allowed the Federal Reserve Banks to issue emergency currency. President Roosevelt used the emergency currency provisions to encourage the Federal Reserve to create de facto 100 percent deposit insurance at reopened banks, restoring public confidence and preventing a resumption of bank withdrawals following the Bank Holiday.
Silber notes that the government’s willingness to take quick, substantive action to reestablish the integrity of the payments system demonstrates the power of credible regime-shifting policies.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 115 KB)
Predicting Social Security numbers from public data
Predicting Social Security numbers from public data
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Information about an individual’s place and date of birth can be exploited to predict his or her Social Security number (SSN). Using only publicly available information, we observed a correlation between individuals’ SSNs and their birth data and found that for younger cohorts the correlation allows statistical inference of private SSNs. The inferences are made possible by the public availability of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File and the widespread accessibility of personal information from multiple sources, such as data brokers or profiles on social networking sites. Our results highlight the unexpected privacy consequences of the complex interactions among multiple data sources in modern information economies and quantify privacy risks associated with information revelation in public forums.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Hat tip: PW
Economic Survey of the United Kingdom 2009
Economic Survey of the United Kingdom 2009
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The United Kingdom, like many OECD economies, is experiencing a severe recession as a consequence of a series of global shocks and any recovery in 2010 is likely to be slow. The financial crisis has severely impaired the supply of credit and house prices have fallen sharply. Unemployment is expected to increase significantly. The large rise in the government deficit is providing support to demand, but the debt-to-GDP ratio will increase substantially. Room for additional fiscal stimulus is therefore limited. Monetary policy has eased and the policy rate has fallen to close to zero. However, the monetary transmission mechanism is impaired and financial conditions while improving somewhat remain restrictive. The Bank of England has begun quantitative easing measures, although these are more likely to be effective within a more transparent framework. Normal functioning of the financial system is necessary for the economy to recover and the authorities have implemented a wide range of measures to support the financial sector. These measures have helped to stabilise the financial system. Given the cyclical rise in unemployment, it will be a significant challenge to ensure that joblessness does not become entrenched, even if the UK labour market is relatively flexible.
Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study
Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study
Source: American Journal of Medicine
Background
Our 2001 study in 5 states found that medical problems contributed to at least 46.2% of all bankruptcies. Since then, health costs and the numbers of un- and underinsured have increased, and bankruptcy laws have tightened.Methods
We surveyed a random national sample of 2314 bankruptcy filers in 2007, abstracted their court records, and interviewed 1032 of them. We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors’ stated reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.Results
Using a conservative definition, 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92% of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5000, or 10% of pretax family income. The rest met criteria for medical bankruptcy because they had lost significant income due to illness or mortgaged a home to pay medical bills. Most medical debtors were well educated, owned homes, and had middle-class occupations. Three quarters had health insurance. Using identical definitions in 2001 and 2007, the share of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6%. In logistic regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, the odds that a bankruptcy had a medical cause was 2.38-fold higher in 2007 than in 2001.Conclusions
Illness and medical bills contribute to a large and increasing share of US bankruptcies.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 276 KB)
Good Laboratory Practices for Molecular Genetic Testing for Heritable Diseases and Conditions
Good Laboratory Practices for Molecular Genetic Testing for Heritable Diseases and Conditions
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) regulations, laboratory testing is categorized as waived (from routine regulatory oversight) or nonwaived based on the complexity of the tests; tests of moderate and high complexity are nonwaived tests. Laboratories that perform molecular genetic testing are subject to the general CLIA quality systems requirements for nonwaived testing and the CLIA personnel requirements for tests of high complexity. Although many laboratories that perform molecular genetic testing comply with applicable regulatory requirements and adhere to professional practice guidelines,specific guidelines for quality assurance are needed to ensure the quality of test performance. To enhance the oversight of genetic testing under the CLIA framework,CDC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have taken practical steps to address the quality management concerns in molecular genetic testing,including working with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC). This report provides CLIAC recommendations for good laboratory practices for ensuring the quality of molecular genetic testing for heritable diseases and conditions. The recommended practices address the total testing process (including the preanalytic,analytic,and postanalytic phases),laboratory responsibilities regarding authorized persons,confidentiality of patient information,personnel competency,considerations before introducing molecular genetic testing or offering new molecular genetic tests,and the quality management system approach to molecular genetic testing. These recommendations are intended for laboratories that perform molecular genetic testing for heritable diseases and conditions and for medical and public health professionals who evaluate laboratory practices and policies to improve the quality of molecular genetic laboratory services. This report also is intended to be a resource for users of laboratory services to aid in their use of molecular genetic tests and test results in health assessment and care. Improvements in the quality and use of genetic laboratory services should improve the quality of health care and health outcomes for patients and families of patients.
EPSA Releases Policy Paper on Energy Trading; Opposes Mandatory Clearing of OTC Transactions
EPSA Releases Policy Paper on Energy Trading; Opposes Mandatory Clearing of OTC Transactions
Source: Electric Power Supply Association
The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) today released a policy paper on energy derivatives trading proposals being considered in Congress. The paper outlines EPSA’s concerns with how over the counter (OTC) transactions would be regulated under some legislative proposals. OTC transactions relate to a range of energy products that are bought and sold outside of a centrally cleared exchange including those necessary for energy hedging strategies that EPSA members routinely use to manage costs and risks on behalf of customers.
Under some current legislative proposals, all OTC transactions would be handled through a centrally cleared exchange, which would require high amounts of cash collateral otherwise available for investment and narrow the products offered. Such a burdensome requirement would lead to significant cost increases for consumers, less liquidity in the marketplace and capital being taken away from important infrastructure projects to meet the higher cash collateral rules imposed by exchanges. EPSA believes that energy commodity transactions should be allowed to remain in OTC markets where, among other things, greater flexibility is permitted for collateral requirements.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 24 KB)
Will the Public’s Health Fall Victim to the Home Foreclosure Epidemic?
Will the Public’s Health Fall Victim to the Home Foreclosure Epidemic?
Source: PLoS Medicine
Summary Points
- While policy makers worldwide have scrambled to counter its economic effects, the potential health implications of home foreclosure have received little empirical attention.
- Home foreclosure can be viewed as a stressful life event of prolonged duration, with multiple phases of variable intensity.
- Although no studies to date have reported the specific health effects of home foreclosure, we posit that foreclosure may be associated with a range of psychological and health behavior outcomes that, in turn, might increase chronic disease risk.
- Susceptibility to home foreclosure might involve both compositional and contextual dimensions.
- Delinquency management policies designed to prevent foreclosures from occurring are arguably best suited to protect the health of those at greatest risk.
What Is the Optimal Therapy for Patients with H5N1 Influenza?
What Is the Optimal Therapy for Patients with H5N1 Influenza?
Source: PLoS Medicine
In a 2007 article in PLoS Medicine [10], Holger J. Schünemann and colleagues described a new process used by the World Health Organization for rapidly developing clinical management guidelines in emergency situations. These situations include outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. The authors discussed how they developed such a “rapid advice” guideline for the pharmacological management of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection. The guideline recommends giving the antiviral drug oseltamivir at a dose of 75 mg twice daily for five days. In this Debate, Nicholas White argues that such dosing is inadequate, Robert Webster and Elena Govorkova say that combination antiviral therapy should be used, and Tim Uyeki reminds us that clinical care of patients with H5N1 entails much more than antiviral treatment. These issues may also apply to therapy of patients hospitalized with severe disease due to novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection.
NaturalNews.com | Today's Feature Stories - July 7, 2009
| Celebrating Independence from the U.S. Food Supply (in Vilcabamba, Ecuador) (NaturalNews) I didn't write a July 4th article this year. I was busy harvesting food out of my garden in Ecuador. Instead of celebrating geopolitical independence (which is what America's July 4th holiday is about, after all), I was celebrating my |
| New Research: Nitrates and Nitrites May Cause Alzheimer's, Diabetes and Parkinson's Disease According to a new study by scientists at Rhode Island Hospital, millions of Americans could be at risk of serious and even fatal diseases because of chemicals used to fertilizer and to preserve food. Scientists have found a strong link between... |
| FDA Admits Drug in Tylenol and Excedrin is Main Cause of Liver Failure in U.S. The drug in question is acetaminophen. It`s in prescription and all too popular over-the-counter drugs including Tylenol and Excedrin. According to the FDA, taking too much will kill you and the government agency also admits this chemical... |
| Carotenoid Nutrients Proven to Keep Senior Citizens Active Senior citizens who consume a high dietary intake of carotenoids, nutrients found in colored fruits and vegetables such as carrots, peppers, mangoes and kiwi fruit, are able to walk 'longer and stronger' than those with a low dietary intake... |
| Drug Tests Are Flagging Natural Health Products for Narcotics (NaturalNews) Police in the United States and Canada have been arresting people when their natural health, food and body products falsely test positive for drugs. Police widely rely on narcotics identification kits (NIKs) to test suspect substances... |
| Legal Action You Can Take Against Forced Vaccinations (Opinion) If you are living in the U.S. or many other parts of the world, you may soon be forced to accept a vaccination that is actually a biological weapon created with the intent of causing your death or injury, according to evidence compiled by... |
| Fireworks Could Pose Health Risk to Thyroid Gland or Environment The traditional Fourth of July fireworks could prove to be detrimental to a healthy thyroid and to the planet. Fireworks contain the ingredient potassium perchlorate that has been linked to thyroid problems. Both rocket fuel and fireworks... |
| Learn about the Physical Causes of Depression Currently 3 million people are diagnosed with depression in the UK, which affects most people to varying degrees, during their lifetime. Depression can be a common phase people can go through after major life events. It can be incredibly... |
| Liver Cleansing Brings Health and Detoxification Steve Jobs' public liver transplant is a testament to what mainstream medicine offers when you've damaged your liver to the extreme. It's also a testament to a consumerism attitude with a "buy a new one" flair and ambiance, instead of an... |
| Cancer Screening: Does It Really Save Lives? Anne is a good patient. She sees her doctor for regular checkups, has yearly mammograms, Pap tests, and colon cancer screenings, and she even paid for a full-body CT scan out of her own pocket. She figures she's doing everything she can to... |
Senate Blocks Bill To Audit The Fed As Government Prepares For Second Round Of Looting
Paul Joseph Watson
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A Senate amendment based on Congressman Ron Paul’s successful House bill to audit the Federal Reserve was blocked by the Senate yesterday evening on procedural grounds, as Jim DeMint slammed the Fed for refusing to disclose where trillions in bailout funds had gone, while a top Obama administration advisor called for a second “stimulus” package to be prepared.
Republican Senator DeMint had attempted to get a provision attached to the 2010 spending bill that would have removed restrictions on auditing the Fed’s discount window operations, funding facilities, open market operations and agreements with foreign central banks and governments.
However, the amendment was blocked by Senate authorities who claimed that it violated rules for provisions attached to spending bills.
Of course, when the elite want to get their own legislation rammed through, such as the recent climate bill in the House, it’s perfectly fine for Congressmembers to be prevented from even reading it, for it to have 300 pages added at 3am in the morning before the vote, and for all kinds of pork barrel to be attached. But God forbid should representatives actually try to pass something that would benefit the American people and not the private bankers that are beyond all scrutiny and above the law.
DeMint said that the Fed has enjoyed a monopoly over money and credit in the United States since 1913 yet has never been transparent or accountable to Congress, while during that time the dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power.
“The Federal Reserve will create and disburse trillions of dollars in response to our current financial crisis,” DeMint said. “Americans across the nation, regardless of their opinion on the bailout, want to know where the money has gone,” he added, referring to the Fed’s refusal to disclose where trillions in bailout funds has gone.
“Allowing the Fed to operate our nation’s monetary system in almost complete secrecy leads to abuse, inflation and a lower quality of life,” said DeMint.
A Reuters article about the Senate’s move to block the bill said that the Federal Reserve was “facing growing pressure as it tries to heal the ailing economy.”
In reality, the Federal Reserve has done nothing to “heal” the economy as unemployment outstrips expectations and the financial picture only looks bleaker every day. The private, run for profit Fed has taken trillions in “stimulus” funds and refused to even divulge where it has gone, even under threat of lawsuits file by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, people like Ben Bernanke have committed financial terrorism by threatening an economic collapse if the Fed is allowed to be audited.
Any real audit of the Fed would of course create a giant roadblock for the Obama administration’s plans to launch a whole new program of looting and grand larceny in the guise of a second “stimulus” package.
“We should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus,” Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a member of the panel advising President Barack Obama on tackling the economic crisis, said on Tuesday,” reports CNBC.
This is precisely why Senate authorities, bought and paid for by the private bankers that now own the United States, have blocked efforts to audit the Fed, because they know that the fallout will spell disaster for their place on the power peanut gallery and in turn end the ceaseless feasting at the trough of the battered, bruised and shaken-down American taxpayer.
Watch a clip of DeMint’s comments on the Senate floor yesterday.
blocked by Senate Leadership
Token Royalty? Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth
Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories, is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface.
She is the only person on earth who owns whole countries, and who owns countries that are not her own domestic territory. This land ownership is separate from her role as head of state and is different from other monarchies where no such claim is made – Norway, Belgium, Denmark etc.
This makes her the richest individual on earth. However, there is no way easily to value her real estate. There is no current market in the land of entire countries. At a rough estimate of $5,000 an acre, and based on the sale of Alaska to the USA by the Tsar, and of Louisiana to the USA by France, the Queen’s land holding is worth a notional $33,000,000,000,000 (Thirty three trillion dollars or about £17,600,000,000,000). Her holding is based on the laws of the countries she owns and her land title is valid in all the countries she owns. Her main holdings are Canada, the 2nd largest country on earth, with 2,467 million acres, Australia, the 7th largest country on earth with 1,900 million acres, the Papua New Guinea with114 million acres, New Zealand with 66 million acres and the UK with 60 million acres.
She is the world’s largest landowner by a significant margin. The next largest landowner is the Russian state, with an overall ownership of 4,219 million acres, and a direct ownership comparable with the Queen’s land holding of 2,447 million acres. The 3rd largest landowner is the Chinese state, which claims all of Chinese land, about 2,365 million acres. The 4th largest landowner on earth is the Federal Government of the United States, which owns about one third of the land of the USA, 760 million acres. The fifth largest landowner on earth is the King of Saudi Arabia with 553 million acres
Largest five personal landowners on Earth:
Queen Elizabeth II 6,600 million acres
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia 553 million acres
King Bhumibol of Thailand 126 million acres
King Mohammed IV of Morocco 113 million acres
Sultan Quaboos of Oman 76 million acres
SteveQuayle.com | Hot Headlines - July 7, 2009
Was America Sold?
How Many More Lies?
The Age of Despotism
Seniors Refuse to Live on Their Knees
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms
A New Religion Masquerading as Christianity, Part 2
Death by Amusement
Conservatives Go After Holder!
401(k) as Dangerous as the Dollar
Calls Grow to Supplant the Dolllar as Global Currency
US Lurching Towards 'Debt Explosion' with Long-Term Interest Rates on Course to Double
Peter Schiff: An Obama Speech, Debt and China – video
South Korea to Buy Gold, Expecting It to Replace Dollar
Gold Could Shoot Through $1,000 if China Shifts Away from U.S. Treasurys
Millions Face Hunger as Seasons Disappear
Government Poisons US Soldiers with Flu Vaccanation – video
Homeless People Die After Bird Flu Vaccine Trial in Poland
Russian Troops Prepare for Anti-Terror Drills with China
Meteor Lights Up Mid-Atlantic Area's Skies
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 07 July 2009
'The deeper you look into the murky world of governments and germ warfare, the more worrying it becomes. We have proved there is a black market in anthrax.' Kelly's Book of Secrets 05 Jul 2009 Weapons inspector David Kelly was writing a book exposing highly damaging government secrets before his mysterious death. He was intending to reveal that he warned Prime Minister Tony Blair there were no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq weeks before the British and American invasion. Following his death, his computers were seized and it is still not known if any rough draft was discovered by investigators and, if so, what happened to the material. Dr Kelly was also intending to lift the lid on a potentially bigger scandal, his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South Africa. US television investigators have spent four years preparing a 90-minute documentary, Anthrax War, suggesting there is a global black market in anthrax and exposing the mystery "suicides" of five government germ warfare scientists from around the world.
Officials: Fate of Guantanamo detainees uncertain 07 Jul 2009 Obama administration lawyers acknowledged Tuesday they are uncertain how they will prosecute and deal with more than 200 detainees being held in the Guantanamo Bay prison. With just over six months to go on President Barack Obama's commitment to shut down the U.S. Navy's prison camp in Cuba, administration officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee it's far from clear how many detainees will face court trial, or where.
US and Russia to scrap 2000 nuclear weapons 07 Jul 2009 The United States and Russia are to slash their nuclear stockpiles by up to a third as part of a move to improve relations between the former Cold War foes. The weapons deal was agreed in principle after four hours of talks at the Kremlin between US president Barack Obama and Russia's Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia allows U.S. weapons shipments to Afghanistan 03 Jul 2009 Russia will allow the United States to ship weapons across its territory to Afghanistan, Kremlin spokesman Alex Pavlov said Friday. Pavlov said he doesn't know when the policy will take effect, but imagines the details will come out when presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet Monday and Tuesday in Moscow.
Afghanistan Helicopter Crash Kills 3 NATO Soldiers 07 Jul 2009 Three NATO soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll for international forces in the country yesterday to 10, the alliance said. Two Canadian personnel and one British soldier were killed when the helicopter went down in Zabul province, Lieutenant Commander Chris Hall said by telephone today from the Afghan capital, Kabul. Seven American personnel were killed in attacks on the same day, he said.
7 US troops killed in Afghanistan 06 Jul 2009 Bombs and bullets killed seven American troops throughout Afghanistan Monday, officials said, as thousands of U.S. Marines continued with their massive anti-Taliban offensive in the south. A suicide car bomber also blew himself up outside the gate of the main NATO base in the region, killing two civilians and wounding 14 other people.
At Least 16 Killed in Reported Drone Strike in Pakistan 08 Jul 2009 Two missiles, believed to be from a remotely piloted aircraft, struck a 'militant base' Tuesday in the South Waziristan tribal region, according to intelligence officials and residents reached by telephone. At least 16 people, including 3 foreigners, were reported killed. Tuesday’s drone attack struck a Taliban base in Zangara, a remote village in South Waziristan that has been struck by at least two other drone attacks.
Twelve killed in US drone attack in Pakistan 07 Jul 2009 At least 12 people have been killed in a missile attack by a drone incursion over a Taliban stronghold in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border. "There was a US missile strike on militant hideouts in the Zangara area," a Pakistani security official has revealed... At least 500 Pakistanis -- suspected militants as well as civilians -- have been killed by the drone attacks.
Holy hypocrisy, Batman! US admiral says North Korean missiles threaten peace 06 Jul 2009 Chief of the US Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead denounces the new round of missile launches by North Korea, accusing the North of threatening regional peace. "They were very unhelpful and clearly counter to the desires of the international community for a peaceful and stable region," Adm. Roughead said referring to the firing of seven ballistic missiles by Pyongyang on Saturday. [What about US invasions and occupations -- all round the world -- to steal nations' oil and water? Do those invasions/occupations 'threaten peace?' I am thinking they're also 'very unhelpful.']
KBR hails court ruling as wartime suit protection 06 Jul 2009 KBR Inc said a U.S. appeals court ruling would help protect the company from civil lawsuits stemming from its work done under U.S. military logistics contracts. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that KBR could not be found negligent in the case of a U.S. Army sergeant severely brain-damaged when a KBR fuel tanker he was escorting in a military convoy crashed in Iraq in 2004. Apart from civil lawsuits by soldiers, KBR's conduct as a military contractor has been called into question by U.S. lawmakers as well as some investors.
More 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' Iraqi gov't bans organized visits to Saddam Hussein's grave 06 Jul 2009 The Iraqi government decided Monday to ban organized visits to the grave of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after some schools in Salahudin province arranged trips for their pupils to the site. The instructions came after some pupils of a school in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, arranged a trip to his grave, which is regularly visited by some Iraqis -- particularly Saddam's loyalists in his native village of Awja, some 20 km southeast of the provincial capital city of Tikrit.
Still more 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' Iraq to unify national ID Cards 06 Jul 2009 The Iraqi government has announced a new plan to unify the national ID cards by launching a single plastic identity card system. Brigadier General Mahmoud Abdul Al-Ghafour, the project's director, made the announcement before reporters in Baghdad on Monday. The new plastic cards will replace four different types of paper documents currently used by 30 million Iraqi citizens, AFP reported.
Israel turns to cyberware to foil Iran nukes 07 Jul 2009 ...So began a cyberwarfare project which, a decade on, is seen by independent experts as the likely new vanguard of Israel's efforts to foil Iran's nuclear ambitions. The appeal of cyber attacks was boosted, Israeli sources say, by the limited feasibility of conventional air strikes on the distant and fortified Iranian atomic facilities, and by U.S. reluctance to countenance another open war in the Middle East. "We came to the conclusion that, for our purposes, a key Iranian vulnerability is in its on-line information," said one recently retired security cabinet member, using a generic term for digital networks. "We have acted accordingly."
Obama: U.S. 'absolutely' did not give Israel green light to strike Iran 07 Jul 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama rebuffed suggestions that Washington had given Israel a green light to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. Asked by CNN whether Washington had given Israel approval to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, Obama answered: "Absolutely not."
Israel Air Force preparing for Iranian strike 05 Jul 2009 The Israel Air Force is planning to participate in aerial exercises in the US and Europe in the coming months. It is believed pilots will be trained for long-range flights as a precautionary measure against possible Iranian attacks and in test-runs for potential strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Zeyala asks US to do more to help him 07 Jul 2009 Jose Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran constitutional President, says he expects the US to play a bigger role in aiding his return to power. "I ask the United States to do more than the other countries of the world," Zelaya said late Monday in a CNN interview ahead of a planned visit with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday.
Al-Qaeda cell was preparing to attack pipeline 06 Jul 2009 An international Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] cell, based in the northern Sinai Peninsula, is suspected of being involved in plans to attack gas pipelines running between Israel and Egypt. According to Egyptian media, the plan was to strike Israeli ships passing through the Suez Canal.
Police tactics at G20 Summit 'inadequate', report finds 07 Jul 2009 Police public-order tactics are "inadequate" and should be reviewed, a report into the G20 protests by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary has found. Denis O'Connor said police are too focused on tackling violence and not enough on allowing peaceful protest. His report also found police use of "kettling" techniques was "inconsistent" when dealing with thousands of protester in the City of London on April 1.
Warren hosts national-level exercise 26 Jun 2009 A simulated terrorist attack on a 90th Missile Wing ICBM launch facility provided the exercise scenario for Nuclear Weapon Accident/Incident Exercise 2009. This national-level exercise involving 11 federal agencies and 1,300 personnel was the largest and most complex exercise ever conducted at a missile base. Close and careful coordination with a number of federal agencies, particularly the FBI, was essential to gather information swiftly to identify and capture the terrorists responsible for the attack.
Swine flu quarantine grows at San Quentin 06 Jul 2009 The number of quarantined prisoners at San Quentin has ballooned from 800 last week to 2,100 over the weekend. That is nearly half the prison's total population of 5,200 men... The quarantine includes all prisoners that are found in an area of suspected flu. The men that are healthy will be confined to their cells and the sick individuals will be isolated. No visitors will be allowed during the quarantine.
Swine Flu Fears Spark Cambridge Jail Riot 06 Jul 2009 Inmate fears over an apparent swine flu outbreak sparked a riot at the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge on Sunday... Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola said the disturbance started after fears of H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, spread. Last week one inmate was diagnosed with a likely case of H1N1 and put in medical quarantine. Over the weekend, ten more inmates were diagnosed with the flu and put into isolation.
AIG lawyer says ex-CEO lied in court battle 06 Jul 2009 Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group Inc, fabricated documents and lied under oath in a bid to rewrite history and cloud who is the rightful beneficiary of a large and valuable block of AIG stock, AIG lawyer Ted Wells told a federal jury on Monday. Wells, delivering closing arguments in a high-profile trial over rightful ownership of the stock, said Greenberg's assertions at trial that the beneficiary of the stock was always intended to be a charitable trust was no more than an attempt to cover up a pledge made 35 years earlier.
Health-care industry spending over $1.4 million per day on lobbying 06 Jul 2009 The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records...Nearly half of the insiders previously worked for the key committees and lawmakers, including Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), debating whether to adopt a public insurance option opposed by major industry groups. The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records.
Sen.-elect Franken visits Capitol Hill 07 Jul 2009 Al Franken -- the former comedian who won a bruising, eight-month vote recount and court battle in Minnesota -- arrived on Capitol Hill on Monday, a day before he was to be sworn in as a new Democratic member of the Senate. But Franken immediately downplayed the importance of his vote in the Senate.
Robert McNamara, Architect of Vietnam War, Dies at 93 06 Jul 2009 Robert Strange McNamara, the former secretary of defense whose record as a leading executive of industry and a chieftain of foreign financial aid was all but erased from public memory by his reputation as the primary architect of U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam, died early this morning at age 93.
More Polar Bear Populations in Decline 06 Jul 2009 There is rising concern among polar bear biologists that the big recent summertime retreats of sea ice in the Arctic are already harming some populations of these seal-hunting predators. That was one conclusion of the Polar Bear Specialist Group, a network of bear experts who met last week in Copenhagen to review the latest data (and data gaps) on the 19 discrete populations of polar bears around the Arctic. Only one bear population is increasing (in the Canadian high Arctic), while eight are declining in numbers, the scientists said.
Previous lead stories: Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry 03 Jul 2009 Today almost four years on, the images of that dreadful morning are etched into our minds... [of] the country's worst-ever terrorist atrocity during London's morning rush hour on July 7, 2005... Why did the four bombers get return tickets to London if they were on a one-way suicide mission? Why are there no CCTV images of the four together in London even though the city has thousands upon thousands of such cameras in public places? Why did so many survivors of the Tube bombings say that the explosions came upwards through the floor of the trains, not down, as would be the case if a backpack blew up inside? And why do no passengers on the London-bound Luton train clearly remember the four bombers with their huge rucksacks on that fateful morning?
Legal fight to stop US destroying torture images --Binyam Mohamed says photographs are evidence of abuse at Guantánamo 05 Jul 2009 Former Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed has launched an urgent legal attempt to prevent the US courts from destroying crucial evidence that he says proves he was abused while being held at the detention camp, the Guardian has learned. The evidence is said to consist of a photograph of Mohamed, a British resident, taken after he was severely beaten by guards at the US navy base in Cuba. The image, now held by the Pentagon, had been put on his cell door, he says. Mohamed claims he was told later that this was done because he had been beaten so badly that it was difficult for the guards to identify him. In a sworn statement seen by the Guardian, Mohamed has appealed to the federal district court in Washington not to destroy the photograph, which neither he nor his lawyers have a copy of, and which is classified under US law.
15,000 police to provide security for G8 in Italy which begins Wed - already demonstrators on streets
July 07, 2009 12:00amITALIAN police made around 40 arrests on Tuesday as protests against the upcoming G8 summit saw demonstrators hurl bottles and set fire to tyres on the streets of Rome, officials and witnesses said.
The flare-up in violence came outside the University of Rome where protesters, some of whom were masked or hooded, chucked bottles and stones towards police vehicles as several dozen riot squad officers gathered.
According to police spokesman, a total of 36 people, including 27 Italians, were arrested in Rome during the course of the morning.
Among the others arrested were four Swedes, two Germans and nationals from Switzerland, France and Poland and a number of weapons, including baseball bats, were seized.
"Everybody has the right to protest, to make their voice heard, provided they do so in accordance with the law,'' said Gianni Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome.
Police also stopped five French nationals, aged between 25 and 35, close to the summit venue in the city of L'Aquila who were found with several clubs.
The group were briefly detained for possessing offensive weapons but were later released.
Around 15,000 police have been mobilised to provide security during the course of the three-day summit which begins Wednesday in L'Aquila, a city around two hours' drive from Rome which was devastated by an earthquake in April.
As well as leaders from the Group of Eight major industrialised nations, around 20 other heads of state will also be attending the gathering.
Video | HOLDER ADMITS NO EQUALITY UNDER HATE BILL
NEW VIDEO: HOLDER ADMITS NO EQUALITY UNDER HATE BILL By Rev. Ted Pike
George Ure's UrbanSurvival.com | World NOT Ending Today - July 7, 2009
Published Monday - Friday about 8 AM Central Time Except Holidays....many major typos are fixed by 8:30 dailyTuesday July 7, 2009 07:55 AM CDT
This site is supported by subscription to Peoplenomics. For additional content, please subscribe.
Content mirrored at my other site: www.independencejournal.com,
World NOT Ending Today
A surprising number of people sent me emails over the past week telling me things like "Did you know that the latest crop circle is forecasting a major solar flare to damage earth on July 7th?"
Well, not to throw too much cold water on the idea, but the little bit of sunspot activity which was reported was only capable of causing B and C class solar flares. From a practical standpoint, the amount of energy from such flares is miniscule and the impact of these on earthy are about negligible. Now, you get to talking M class and X class flares, you begin to get my attention.
But, the sites which have been nattering about crop circles forecast big doings today, are at least in my estimate, not being realistic. If we get a flare that wipes out the national (or even a local) power grid, I will be willing to eat my words, but for now, get out from under the bed and get to work.
If you want to worry about something which will end life on earth, worry about the long-term increase in seismic activity or the coming second round of the derivatives meltdown. Worry about the release tomorrow of Consumer Debt numbers. But B &C class flares? Pah-leeze. Energy levels of x times 10-6 watts per square meter from a B flare means you'd need hundreds of miles of wire to light a cheap 3-watt LED. If you're holding a 500-mile hunk of #22 wire...maybe you could like a small LED, but I'd have to do the calcs.
Fact is the HVAC distribution system gets switching spikes on it that dwarf that kinda power level. Your surge suppresser is going to get more workout from a lightning storm 5-10-miles off than this B & C class stuff. Out from under the bed....really. Buy a bonehead physics refresher.
Is the word "gullible' In the dictionary?
With Friends Like This
"Obama: US, Russia not destined to be adversaries." He's right. More like clones so far, just based on the spending, central government power grabbing, and money printing.
Climate Justice
Reuters has a new report out that says, among other things, that "world's richest emit about half the earth's carbon." So, how many po folks does that corporate jet equal?
---
Not that it matters after the lobbyists start throwing their weight and money around, mind you. Nice thought, though. File with Easter Bunny.
Summer of Hell
Our riot du jour "Swine flue worries spark Cambridge Jail Riot."
---
Curfew in effect in China where 140 died in rioting this weekend. These are the worst in 40-years.
Are things calmed down? Nope.
---
Riot squads at the ready at Staples Center in downtown LA for the Jacko memorial.
---
But here's the kind of linguistic fill I've been waiting for - terms like 'digging trenches, building barricades" as rioting continues outside of Athens Greece. This is the kind of spark-meme that could light up more of Europe...at least seems to be that in the model outputs I've read.
---
And we're seeing reference to uses of riot police as headlines have been coming in this week about how "Migrants are going to Britain, come hell or high water."
A little popcorn while we watch the news slick spread out from these kinds of beginnings.
A Claire Wolfe piece "11 Ways to prepare for Civil Unrest" over at LewRockwell.com is worth reading, although I think we've covered much of it over the past 6-months.
See? Sick
150 down with norovirus on a Germany-based cruise ship in Scotland.
Meantime, Back in the Cookie Jar
Washington Post publisher Katherine Weymouth is reportedly launching an internal review of the planned invite at $25-grand a pop to have lobbyists come to her place and have off-the-record dinner/ access to WaPo editors and even some Obama administration officials.
Since it's the WaPo general counsel that's doing the investigating, what do you suppose they will find, hmmmm? I'm ready to be NOT surprised.
--- snip and save section ---
Coping: SEO and Digital Time Sinks
A friend (and one-time client) sent me a nice note the other day and advised me that the latest 'hot thing' in SEO (search engine optimization) was effective use of Twitter in order to boost web traffic.
I didn't point out to him, but I will to you, that the 'latest' and 'greatest' in SEO is always being rediscovered. SEO is something of a high art (a black art, if you're not in the white hat SEO camp), but SEO started off innocent enough when the web was young (once upon a time) and people who had web sites were jockeying for position. That's because on the web, the higher your search engine ranking, the more traffic (readers) your site will have, and therefore if it's a business site, the more money you will make.
So SEO started off innocently enough.
-
It started with use of 'meta tags' - the keywords and such used by search engines to know where to list your site. In the early going, people would list huge shovels full of 'keywords' and hope that would lead to a high listing.
-
The Search Engines (like Google, et al) caught on, however, and started to give preference to sites that weren't keyword loading. So a new rule emerged that each page on a site should only have 10-12 keywords, but that page names and content should be heavily focused on that keyword.
-
All of which was fine, until 'doorway' pages came along - pages that beat keyword use to death..
-
This was followed - after a period of abuse - by Google et al figuring out that what was going on was 'spamdexing' - and they wrote code to sniff out that kind of abuse.
-
Along about in here, 'articles' came into vogue. The SEO folks discovered that the more 'news releases' they could crank out, the higher their search engine rankings would get. This led to a generation of 'article submission software,' which you can still find today.
-
The Goog's et al wrote code around this.
-
Then we went through a phase of syndication - where people who had the RSS and ATOM feeds were getting highest ranks.
-
Also in here, we had a period where how your site used 'tags' was considered; such that if your keywords and your embedded tags (like the
,
,
headline strength tags along with the bold and italic tags & , has a high level of congruence with keywords, content, and title, then you'd get a high page rank.
-
So SEO guru's got web teams busy on that which led to the indexing services tuning to eliminate abuse as best they could.
-
This is not to overlook the importance of inbound page links, which also plays in all this. It was assumed that if a site had relatively few outbound links and more inbound links that it was a 'source' as opposed to a leaching operation, and would therefore be ranked higher.
-
But even that has changed. New blogging software (which I don't use) has much of the SEO work done and included in the code. But at some point, I have to wonder if super-optimized blogging won't be penalized a stroke, or two, for not being as 'original'? I don't know, but I expect to find out over time.
All this gets me to the note from my friend advising me that I ought to consider using Twitter as part of my SEO strategy for UrbanSurvival, IndependenceJournal, and Peoplenomics.
I likely won't.
I've run into a personal 'wall' - if I can call it that - when it comes to SEO. A lot of the SEO guidelines make sense. Should there, after all, be a high level of correspondence between what a site writes about, how it's titled, what its keywords and other meta data is, and the embedded tags? You'd think so.
And sure, there's an RSS (real simple syndication) feed for UrbanSurvival that goes out to Feedburner and from there, who knows? But that's a matter of good customer service.
When I went over to the Twitter site, I discovered that it all seems to be based on the notion that everyone wants to know what everyone else is "doing right now."
Me? I don't care what you're doing right now. Nor, do I expect that you much care about what I'm doing right now, beyond the obvious: I'm not spellchecking or proofreading this page deeply enough.
But seriously there's a whole genre of software out there which seems to have little purpose other than to defuse the Will of the People - it's the modern high tech version of bread and circuses. And it's called what?
Social Networking.
To be sure, I have a LinkedIn account - but I don't make a big deal about it, because most of the people I 'accept' links to/from are people who I either know & like, or they are experts in their fields. Not being a snob, but I look at LinkedIn as a kind of toolbox where if I come up with a real 'stumper' there may be someone I know and maybe haven't kept in touch with closely, but who I hold in high regard.
For example, if I need some advice about a patent, I might have a colleague who owns a law firm which does patent law and who teaches patent/patent theory at a university. See how that makes sense? C-level types and experts.
On the other hand, with the except of only a couple of people, my FaceBook account has gone pretty much untouched. True, there is a group of East Texas folks - which is interesting, because the population out here in the outback is fairly sparse. And there are some friends from my young (under 40) who I'd like to keep in touch with a bit closer. But hundreds of people wandering by to scribble some on 'my wall'? Sorry...life's much too busy for that. Reading 'scribbles' is down there with watching mislabeled 'reality TV'.
My operating theory here (and I can be dead wrong and a nutjob) holds a couple of notions at its core:
-
General 'social networking' is an emotional waste of time that could be used to do something productive in life. Like garden, do carpentry (see next section) and spend in the hammock reading a good book.
-
"Specific' social networking where it has some more tightly defined purpose or possible use does make sense.
-
I wonder whether people would be more actively engaged with their government if we weren't all jabbering on cell phones (while driving) and tweeting our lives away?
That said, if you're confined to bed and can only manage a few words at a time while you wait for the Grim Reaper, maybe short message systems (SMS) make sense. Wikipedia has a great selection of them here.
Long term? I figure the number of 'social networking' sites that go belly up or just close because there are people like me who are social Luddites will increase. In fact, Wikipedia already offers a "List of defunct social networking websites."
"Ah! George, didn't you notice that there are far more active social networks than there are defunct ones?" you're thinking to yourself.
Well, duh, of course I got that. But it will all, over time, head for the scrap heap where all those BBS's went in the late 1990's.
---
Humans have a compulsion to communicate and in some of the literature it's linked to obsessive-compulsive disorders.
To support this observation, simple goog "communication obsession disorder" and you'll come up with papers (from the government www.pubmed.gov site) with titles like "Social and communication difficulties and obsessive-compulsive disorder." by Cullen B, Samuels J, Grados M, Landa R, Bienvenu OJ, Liang KY, Riddle M, Hoehn-Saric R, Nestadt G.
"The relationship between pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has not been extensively studied despite having some phenomenological features in common. Abnormal social and communication behaviors (pragmatic behaviors) are key components of PDD and are also part of the broader autism phenotype (BAP). In this study we sought to establish if there is any association between the presence of abnormal pragmatic behaviors and OCD and whether this association delineates a familial subtype of OCD. "
There you have it! The link between OCD and communications fadistry whether it's excessive CB radio use, hours and hours on long distance, compulsive BBS/fora postings, or more recently tweets, chirps, and all the rest of social networking.
George the Luddite figures if your energy is being trained and drained by tweets, you'll make fine fodder for manipulation as tweeters in Iran were orchestrated recently. Which gets me around to my tentative conclusion: Social networking is social engineering. I prefer independence and mobbing doesn't sit well with me. Reminds me too much of a stampede and we all know how those end.
Assume that everyone you tweet and everyone you like will end up in a Homeland Security 'social mapping'- system such that when push comes to shove, instigators will be easily enough found.
We're seeing that in Iran and despite the stories wondering "Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century? I expect the answer will be no. Was CB radio or the BBS forums?
Think you could fit a google of "computer addiction" into your schedule?
---
An analogy: Computers are tools - and powerful ones at that because they are 'mind amplifiers." But I've always tried to keep my computer in the same league with my electronics test gear and the table saw out in the show.
If I put a saw blade in my table saw, it usually has something to do with work product that I'm trying to build. A frame for a particular piece of Chinese art or calligraphy in the dining room, or a mounting for an original oil painting win the 'Trader Vic's" room. Tool + time equals measurable output.
Social networking, to put it politely, is like getting the wood and the table saw, and then turning everything you can grab into sawdust, Endlessly amusing and it may even have a purpose if you're planning to take all the sawdust and pulp it down into cellulose and make custom paper out of it. But most people don't think to do that.
Maybe I need another shot of coffee this morning so I can get all atwitter.
Defensive Upgrades
Microsoft has confirmed an attack against XP that hasn't been upgraded to Explorer 8. Teach you to turn off automatic upgrades, huh?
Ready for the Maxa-Tools Upgrade
Still looking like Maxa-Tools (see following section) will be ready for their latest upgrade which will handle not only one-pixel snooping, but also something called 'data spills'.
"I know that a one-pixel tracker" is where a web page points to an off-site 'img_source" tag and snags your IP address," you're thinking, "But, what's a 'data spill' and why is no one but UrbanSurvival and Maxa-Tools talking about it?
Go read here for a short backgrounder. Takes some ingenious code, maybe?
Upgrade free for current license holders of MCM (Maxa Cookie Manager).
Deutsche Snoop
Guess which big German bank spied on one of its own after a reported sales leak back in Q3 '01?
---
Compliance departments worry me. Just like police have 'criminalized' us all into 'suspect' status by just pointing a radar gun at us, there are many a good/open/useful story I wish I could tell you about what really goes on down on Wall St., but the compliance departments have people who could rat out the crooks all hamstrung tighter than underwear that's six sizes too small.
No argument about advance non-public disclosure, insider trading and all that, but what about talking about all the crookedness and greed that's already under the bridge? I say compliance should be told to FO once a bit of information is in the public domain. Be nice to get all that 'company review' and only 'official company spokesperson' language out, too. That some compliance departments won't even let people above a certain level (income bracket) post under their own names to financial forums is absurd.
Unless, of course, they're still hiding stuff, right?
---
To be sure, there are people who do occasionally stand up for what they think is right in the world of finance, and a story that "Digital Doman to pay $2M in termination suit" is worth reading, although the company seems likely to appeal.
---
I mention this because I know people with a whole bunch more tel tell about how the derivatives bubble began to (and seems about to resume) collapse. yet they can't talk to me - or even email me. A small-time financial sheet, I've got no powerful legal department to back up an inquiry and having staff to file FOI requests with the SEC (long missing in action) is only a pipe dream.
Seems like we ought to have something that would be the equivalent of a 'whistleblowers' law in finance. Tell the truth and you're fireproof. Instead, I still hear folks talking about investing 'for the long term'. Where's the drug-testing, not to mention truth in advertising?
---
Back in the old days, some PR friends at AT&T told me the best policy they had ever come up with was "When in doubt tell the truth - the whole truth." Invariably, when the fact were on the table, most of what AT&T did made perfect sense from both a business and consumer side. That was before the break-up, of course.
Try selling that 'let everyone talk and tell the truth' to the legal and HR directors in hifi who seem to think that after two serious screwings (the internet crash and housing collapse - maybe rapes is the more accurate term) the public doesn't smell a rat - or whole colony of them - trying to make money at the expense of everyone with an IRA or 401? Gag those who would blog, those would would leak anything but greed-driven dogma. It's really quite sickening.
---
Deutsche was looking for a leak - that passes my reasonableness test. But most of high finance hamstrings those of good moral character & high ethical standards with rules that prevent blogging and sending emails to more than one person (like no personal distro lists for dissenting opinion) kind of thing? Well that's obviously (to me at least) NOT in the public interest. And frankly, it pisses me off.
Around the Ranch: Tool Time
A couple of new tools to endorse. Down at Lowes a week, or so, back I picked up a Stanley miter saw bench, so that I could move my saw over to the deck for cutting lumber for the San Francisco room remodel and then the master bath remodel. Only $89 bucks and works great. Well worth it since the chop saw without the stand ate up 12-feet of counter space in the shop previously. has 'wings' long enough for a 2 by 4 by 8-footer.
Another tool I've been using (to cut plasterboard for rerouting some wiring: The Rockwell RK5102K Sonicrafter Deluxe 72-pc Kit
---