Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Chevron Sued for Billions After Poisoning Waterways in Ecuador; One of the Largest Environmental Damage Cases in History
November 17th, 2009Via: Sydney Morning Herald: Tens of thousands of Amazonians are suing Chevron, the American oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental cases in history. The Ecuadorean claimants said the company illegally dumped toxic waste from its oil production, which filtered into the lakes used by thousands […]
Active Duty Military Personnel “Volunteer” as Counterinsurgency Advisors with Salinas Police Department
November 17th, 2009This is an astonishing story. Via: Washington Post: Famed to readers as the birthplace of John Steinbeck and in supermarket produce circles as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” the city of Salinas carries darker renown in the netherworld of California’s prisons. Instant respect is accorded any inmate tattooed with the words “Salad Bowl” or […]
U.S. Army Opens New Ground-Vehicle Energy Research Lab in Michigan
November 17th, 2009What does all of this mean for GM? I have no idea. But if something really, really strange happens, it might make much more sense in hindsight. I’m going to quote from Blank Spots on the Map again: The Manhattan Project, a project lasting roughly five years from start to finish, had cost $2.3 billion […]
Apple Patents Technology That Would Force Users to Interact with Ads
November 16th, 2009Via: New York Times: Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial […]
Doomed: South African Gold Production
November 16th, 2009Via: Mineweb: The apparent bottom line in a paper published in the South African Journal of Science is that South Africa’s gold industry is on final deathwatch, despite claims of massive existing below-ground reserves. Chris Hartnady, research and technical director of Cape Town earth sciences consultancy Umvoto Africa, has found that South Africa’s Witwatersrand goldfields […]
Gold Breaks Up and Out Again; New Record High
November 16th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. $1128. I don’t mean to piss on the parade, but here’s a gentle FYI for the more tactical gold investors out there: There’s some bearish divergence showing up on gold in the longer intraday intervals, and while the dollar is still […]
Medical Doctor Retracts H1N1 Vaccine Advice After Reading Insert
November 15th, 2009Multiple companies are producing H1N1 vaccines for use in the U.S. The inserts are available from the FDA for anyone who’s interested.
Cost of Keeping One U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan Per Year: One Million Dollars
November 15th, 2009The U.S. doesn’t have to “win” the war for a handful of diabolical corporations to make a killing. The trick is to keep the war going for as long as possible. And, day after day, the shakedown continues. Bogus contracts, drugs and energy. That’s all, folks. Plus a little change we can believe in. Via: […]
Two Programmers Charged With Helping Madoff Falsify Records
November 15th, 2009Via: New York Times: Two computer programmers who worked for Bernard L. Madoff’s brokerage firm were arrested on Friday and accused of helping him sustain his long-running Ponzi scheme. The two men — Jerome O’Hara of Malverne, N.Y., and George Perez of East Brunswick, N.J. — were also named in a civil case filed on […]
Can D.I.Y. Supplant the First-Person Shooter?
November 15th, 2009This is an interesting article about independent video game developers. I enjoy stories about people who figure out how to hack the system in innovative ways. If you do too, you might want to check this out—whether you ever play video games, or not. Via: New York Times Magazine: These game designers, a self-described indie […]
