Fault Under Japan Nuclear Plant May be Active
November 11th, 2012Via: AFP:
Japan’s only working nuclear power plant sits on what may be a seismic fault in the earth’s crust, a geologist has warned, saying it is “very silly” to allow it to continue operating.
Mitsuhisa Watanabe says the earth’s plates could move underneath the Oi nuclear plant in western Japan, causing a catastrophe to rival last year’s atomic disaster at Fukushima – although some of his colleagues on a nuclear advisory panel disagree.
“It is an active fault. The plates shifted some 120,000 to 130,000 years ago for sure,” Watanabe, of Tokyo’s Toyo University, told AFP.
“In research that I have conducted on active faults in Japan and overseas, structures built above them were all damaged” when they moved and caused an earthquake, he said.
‘The Most Important Education Technology in 200 Years’
November 11th, 2012Via: MIT Technology Review:
Students anywhere are being offered free instruction online.
…
Agarwal believes that education is about to change dramatically. The reason is the power of the Web and its associated data-crunching technologies. Thanks to these changes, it’s now possible to stream video classes with sophisticated interactive elements, and researchers can scoop up student data that could help them make teaching more effective. The technology is powerful, fairly cheap, and global in its reach. EdX has said it hopes to teach a billion students.
Related:
System D: The Shadow Superpower
Top U.S. Colleges to Offer Free Classes Online
Mexico’s New President Set to Empower a ‘Devil’s Cartel’
November 11th, 2012Via: Narcosphere:
Baruch Vega, a long-time CIA operative, has raised a red flag over the incoming president of Mexico’s decision to employ the former head of the Colombian National Police, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, as his security advisor in the war on drugs.
“I do not think Naranjo will be running a war against drugs,” Vega contends. “He will be running a war to protect Mexican drug traffickers.”
Vega contends there is a real danger that Mexican president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto is on a path to recreate a similar corrupt alliance between government security forces and major narco-traffickers — many shadowed in the trappings of legitimate business interests — as existed in the early to mid-2000s in Colombia during Naranjo’s rise to power in the Colombia National Police (CNP) while he also allegedly was assisting elements of the infamous North Valley Cartel.
In addition to the role Naranjo will play in helping to cultivate Mexico’s drug-war strategy for Peña Nieto, the president-elect has already made public his plans to stand up a paramilitary force, composed of ex-soldiers, that would be some 40,000 strong. Peña Nieto also hopes to created a single, consolidated national police force. With these tools, he says, the Mexican military can be replaced as the primary enforcer of security in the drug war in Mexico and the battle can be refocused from hunting down the top narco-capos to stemming street violence and other crimes against the community, such as extortion and kidnappings.
The elements of Peña Nieto’s plan, however, as Vega has already exposed in Colombia while working as a US government asset, are almost identical to what gave birth to what Vega calls the “Devil’s Cartel.”
Research Credit: HongPong
The Distribution of Economic Pain From the Financial Crisis in One Chart
November 11th, 2012Via: Jesse’s Café Américain:
No wonder the wealthiest ten percent feel so clever, and even perhaps triumphant.
The collapse caused by the widespread banking fraud has barely affected them, whereas it wiped out most of the last ten years of growth in the middle class and the poor.
Research Credit: pookie
Mexican Hitman Claims Cartels Bought Guns from U.S. Border Patrol
November 11th, 2012Via: Wired:
The testimony of a Mexican hitman turned US government witness has revealed some astonishing details of life inside Mexico’s criminal underworld. Most astonishing of all: claims that cartel assassins obtained guns from the US Border Patrol.
According to Mexican magazine Revista Contralinea, the testimony comes from a protected government witness and former hitman, who cooperated in the prosecution of a Sinaloa Cartel accountant by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. The testimony details a series of battles fought by a group of cartel members attempting to drive out rival gangsters from territory in Mexico’s desert west. To do it, the group sought weapons from the US, including at least 30 WASR-10 rifles — a variant of the AK-47 — allegedly acquired from Border Patrol agents.
If true, it could reignite the debate over Operation Fast and Furious, the last time US authorities allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican gangsters. Two days after the election, Attorney General Eric Holder — who had been at the centre of allegations surrounding the scandal — is now talking like he might not stay with the administration for much longer. “That’s something I’m in the process now of trying to determine,” Holder said 8 November. ” I have to think about, can I contribute in a second term?”
Research Credit: latitude38
Foodstamps Surge By Most In One Year To New All Time Record, In Delayed Release
November 11th, 2012Via: Zerohedge:
There was, however, another closely tracked number which perhaps is far more indicative of the economic “growth” in the past 4 years, which certainly had a delayed release. The number of course is that showing how many Americans are on foodstamps, and usually is released at the end of the month, or the first day or two of the next month. This time the USDA delayed its release nine days past the semi-official deadline, far past the election, and until Friday night to report August foodstamp data. One glance at the number reveals why: at 47.1 million, this was not only a new all time record, but the monthly increase of 420,947 from July was the biggest monthly increase in one year. One can see why a reported surge in foodstamps ahead of the elections is something the USDA, and the administration may not have been too keen on disclosing.
‘Incident’ on NZ’s Only International Internet Link
November 10th, 2012Everyone knows that you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
In New Zealand, however, the whole damn show is A) dependent on a single submarine cable operator that is B) majority owned by Telecom New Zealand, a company that has been slapped with the largest ever fine for anti-competitive conduct in New Zealand.
This public menace is holding all ISP’s in the country hostage AND it’s a single point of failure for our international communications.
Ah well, at least John Key smiles a lot.
Via: New Zealand Herald:
The Southern Cross Cable Network – New Zealand’s only international internet link – experienced an “incident” in the early hours of this morning which affected some customers, a spokesperson has confirmed.
According to a statement from Labour’s communications spokesperson Clare Curran she had become aware of a “catastrophic failure” at a Southern Cross landing station in New South Wales this morning during a software change.
Southern Cross’ director of sales and marketing Ross Pfeffer said there had been an “incident” on the cable network
“There was an incident in the early hours of the morning during an upgrade situation, which affected a couple of customers for a short period,” Pffeffer said.
In a statement, Southern Cross said Labour’s media release was “misleading and inaccurate”
…
Proponents of a failed Pacific Fibre project, which hoped to build a second internet cable out of the country, argued another pipe was essential to ensure New Zealand remained connected to the world if an outage occurred on Southern Cross.
Curran said the Government – which shot down the idea that public funds should be used to fund a Pacific Fibre-type piece of infrastructure – needed to address New Zealand’s issue of international connectivity.
“This shows the Government’s inaction and disregard for our international infrastructure could have equally catastrophic consequences for New Zealand. This is a crisis for New Zealand.” Curran said.
“Without international connectivity, our financial system and a large percentage of business would be severely affected…Issues of capacity and affordability of data pale into insignificance when you consider the havoc that could be wrecked by a significant outage.
“This is a matter of grave importance for New Zealand,” she said.
CIA Director David Petraeus Resigns—Affair with High-Profile Journalist… But Wait, There’s More
November 10th, 2012You’ll love this.
Via: National Post:
David Petraeus resigned abruptly Friday as CIA director after an FBI investigation discovered his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell.
Broadwell, who released All In: The Education of General David Petraeus earlier this year, is now under investigation for trying to access Petraeus’ email, which may have exposed classified documents, sources told NBC News.
The FBI probe is unlikely to result in charges, NBC’s source noted.
…
The president said that CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell would serve as acting director. Morell was the key CIA aide in the White House to President George W. Bush during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission,” Obama said.
Germany Ships More Power Abroad Despite Nuclear Plant Closures
November 10th, 2012Update: Germany Powers France in Cold Despite Nuclear U-Turn
Somebody somewhere sent this in. It’s from February.
Via: Reuters:
Germany came to the rescue of France during last week’s cold snap by massively exporting electricity to its neighbour, silencing critics who slammed Berlin last year for abruptly shutting down 8 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster.
Critics said such a decision would put Europe’s electricity supply balance at risk and waved the possibility of widespread blackouts as a result.
“The cold snap was a situation most experts feared and we managed without bigger problems,” said Stephan Schnorr, German power trader at utility Dong Energy.
Instead, it was France which suffered from supply tightness last week, pushing prices to two-year highs and prompting the grid to issue warnings urging the public to refrain from using electrical equipment, such as washing machines or coffee makers.
France, Europe’s biggest electricity exporter, reverts to imports during peak demand periods.
—
Winter might be another matter. It will be interesting to see how they do.
There are many Cryptogon readers in Germany. What is the plan if domestic energy production is not adequate during winter? France is a large exporter of electricity (mainly from nuclear power plants). Maybe this source will be used by Germany during winter, if necessary.
Via: AP:
Utility companies say Germany has exported significantly more electricity to its neighbors from January through September as renewable energies made up for last year’s closure of eight nuclear power plants.
Chinese Regime Blocks Access to Google Services
November 10th, 2012Via: International Business Times:
According to a website dedicated to tracking which sites have been blocked or censored by the Chinese government, Google.com along with a host of other Google services are no longer accessible from mainland China.
The Chinese web monitoring website, GreatFire.org, first reported the issue at 1pm (GMT) today, Friday, 9 November stating in a tweet: “Latest! It appears that Google Search is now blocked in China. Tested in many locations.”
This is the first time this has happened since the website began tracking online censorship in February last year.
As well as Google.com being inaccessible, a number of other Google services are also reportedly offline. Gmail, Google Maps, the Google Play store, Google Analytics and more are all currently “DNS poisoned” according to GreatFire.org.
