Archive for January, 2011
‘Cows Eat Grass’ and Other Inflammatory Statements
January 18th, 2011Via: Utne Reader: Cows eat grass. You wouldn’t think it’s a big deal to state this, but at Iowa State University a highly qualified job applicant who had the temerity to voice this simple biological fact was ejected from consideration for a post leading a sustainable agriculture program, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports: Among […]
Ex Tunisia President’s Wife Left with 1.5 Tons of Gold
January 18th, 2011Via: CNBC: The French government suspects that former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family may have fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold, French daily Le Monde reported Monday. According to the French secret service, Leila Trabelsi, the wife of the ex-president, went to the Central Bank of Tunisia to fetch […]
Better Install Firewalls on Chevy Volts; ‘Hugely Vulnerable 5000lb Pieces of Metal’
January 18th, 2011HAHA. One for your bulging What Could Possibly Go Wrong? file folder. Via: New Electronics: The Chevy Volt will be the first car of its type: not because it is a hybrid electric/petrol vehicle, but because GM plans to give each one the company sells its own IP address. The Volt will have no less […]
Spain Cancels Bond Auction; Will Switch to Syndication
January 18th, 2011See, What’s a Syndicated Bond?: So Greece has started issuing occasional syndicated bonds, where it does just what companies do when they want to issue debt: it gets a small syndicate of banks together, and the banks underwrite the bond, promising to buy it if there aren’t enough bids in the market. Then they go […]
David Rockefeller Greeted by Adoring Fan Upon Arrival in Chile
January 18th, 2011Flood Disasters in Sri Lanka and South Africa Driving Food Prices Higher
January 17th, 2011Sri Lanka: Via: AFP: Sri Lanka warned Monday that food prices could shoot up after devastating floods in the north and east of the country destroyed rice and vegetable crops. Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said vegetable prices had already been affected because of the impact on growing areas that were swamped by unusually heavy […]
Detroit May Close Half of Its Public Schools
January 17th, 2011Via: The Detroit News: Detroit Public Schools would close nearly half of its schools in the next two years, and increase high school class sizes to 62 by the following year, under a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state. The plan, part of a monthly update Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb gives the Department of […]
Rudolf Elmer, Former Julius Baer Banker, Hands 2,000 Private Banking Files to WikiLeaks
January 17th, 2011Via: Sydney Morning Herald: THE Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer has provided WikiLeaks with two CDs containing information on more than 2000 bank clients suspected of tax evasion. The disks were handed over in London last night to the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. They are said to contain secret bank details of clients, including politicians, multinationals, […]
Former Dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier Back in Haiti
January 17th, 2011Did he arrive on a Blackwater plane? Via: Time: In the past 12 months, Haiti — already the western hemisphere’s economic basket case — has suffered an epic earthquake that according to latest estimates killed more than 250,000 people and leveled the country’s infrastructure, a cholera epidemic that has claimed thousands more lives and a […]
Recovery: Housing Market Plunge Worse Than in Great Depression
January 17th, 2011Via: CBS News: Home prices fell for the 53rd straight month in November, taking the decline past that of the Great Depression for the first time in the prolonged housing slump, according to Zillow.com. Prices have fallen 26 percent since their peak in 2006, exceeding the 25.9 percent drop registered in the five years between […]
