European Union Bans Full Body Airport Scanners Over Safety Concerns, Why Are They Still Allowed in the U.S.?
September 20th, 2012Because they go great with the GMO corn based diet?
Via: Daily Mail:
Controversial airport ‘strip-search’ full body scanners are to be scrapped after they failed to get approval from European bosses.
Experts feared the ‘naked’ body scanners, which use X-ray technology to show up hidden explosives or weapons, could emit harmful levels of cancer-causing radiation.
The move in Europe begs the question — why are they still allowed in the United States? Hundreds of the devices are in use at at least 68 airports across the nation.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
Ghost Warehouse Stocks Haunt China’s Steel Sector
September 20th, 2012This one about the steel will seem very familiar to anyone who has looked into various “gold” ETF and storage schemes offered by large banks around the world.
Via: Reuters:
Chinese banks and companies looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal was never in the warehouses in the first place.
China’s demand has faltered with the slowing economy, pushing steel prices to a three-year low and making it tough for mills and traders to keep up with payments on the $400 billion of debt they racked up during years of double-digit growth.
As defaults have risen in the world’s largest steel consumer, lenders have found that warehouse receipts for metal pledged as collateral do not always lead them to stacks of stored metal. Chinese authorities are investigating a number of cases in which steel documented in receipts was either not there, belonged to another company or had been pledged as collateral to multiple lenders, industry sources said.
Ghost inventories are exacerbating the wider ailments of the sector in China, which produces around 45 percent of the world’s steel and has over 200 million metric tons (220.5 million tons) of excess production capacity. Steel is another drag on a financial system struggling with bad loans from the property sector and local governments.
“What we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg,” said a trader from a steel firm in Shanghai who declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media. “The situation will get worse as poor demand, slumping prices and tight credit from banks create a domino effect on the industry.”
Research Credit: alvinroasting
Harvard Losing Out to South Dakota in Graduate Pay
September 19th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals.
Those leaving the college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale Inc., which tracks employee compensation data from surveys. At Harvard, where tuition fees are almost four times higher, they got $54,100. Those scheduled to leave the campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May are already getting offers, at a time when about one in 10 recent U.S. college graduates is out of work.
France to Close Embassies in Fear of Cartoon Backlash
September 19th, 2012Via: France24:
The French foreign ministry announced Wednesday that France will close 20 of its embassies in Muslim countries this Friday following the publication of controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons by satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Major protests in the Muslim world generally take place after Friday prayers.
The illustrations, which show the Prophet Mohammed naked and refer to the incendiary US-made film which has been fueling deadly unrest among Muslim communities for over a week, hit newsstands across France on Wednesday.
Related: The Onion: No One Murdered Because Of This Image [NSFW]
Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In Manhattan
September 19th, 2012Via: ZeroHedge:
Moments ago, Myfoxny reported that a 10-ounce gold bar costing nearly $18,000 turned out to be a counterfeit. The discovery was made by the dealer Ibrahim Fadl, who bought the PAMP bar in question from a merchant who has sold him real gold before. “But he heard counterfeit gold bars were going around, so he drilled into several of his gold bars worth $100,000 and saw gray tungsten — not gold. The bar was filled with tungsten, which weighs nearly the same as gold but costs just over a dollar an ounce.”
Keshe Foundation
September 19th, 2012Many of you are submitting the one about the Keshe Foundation’s alleged energy technology. Click through to that link if you haven’t heard about this.
Briefly, because this one is very definitely in the put-up-or-shut-up category: I emailed them and asked why they were dealing with governments when, in fact, the governments, in service to corporations, caused this situation in the first place.
Produce a product. Let me buy it. Why deal with governments when they’re in on it?
I received no response.
Beijing Hints at Bond Attack on Japan
September 19th, 2012My guess is that this is, at present, little more than bloviation.
But tomorrow, or next week… Who knows…
Via: Telegraph:
Jin Baisong from the Chinese Academy of International Trade – a branch of the commerce ministry – said China should use its power as Japan’s biggest creditor with $230bn (£141bn) of bonds to “impose sanctions on Japan in the most effective manner” and bring Tokyo’s festering fiscal crisis to a head.
Writing in the Communist Party newspaper China Daily, Mr Jin called on China to invoke the “security exception” rule under the World Trade Organisation to punish Japan, rejecting arguments that a trade war between the two Pacific giants would be mutually destructive.
Separately, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported that China is drawing up plans to cut off Japan’s supplies of rare earth metals needed for hi-tech industry.
The warnings came as anti-Japanese protests spread to 85 cities across China, forcing Japanese companies to shutter factories and suspend operations.
Fitch Ratings threatened to downgrade a clutch of Japanese exporters if the clash drags on. It warned that Nissan is heavily at risk with 26p of its global car sales in China, followed by Honda with 20pc. Sharp and Panasonic both have major exposure. Japan’s exports to China were $74bn in the first half of this year. Bilateral trade reached $345bn last year.
Warp Drive Might Be Possible
September 19th, 2012Via: Space:
A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television’s Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.
A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.
Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.
Cyber Clues Link U.S. to New Computer Viruses
September 18th, 2012Via: Reuters:
Researchers have found evidence suggesting that the United States may have developed three previously unknown computer viruses for use in espionage operations or cyber warfare.
…
For now, the two firms know very little about the newly identified viruses, except that one of them is currently deployed in the Middle East. They are not sure what the malicious software was designed to do.
‘Britons must work harder if the country is to compete with China and India’
September 18th, 2012I didn’t watch the piece, but one of my filters found this comment by Guardian reader, DivineColours:
Via: Guardian:
Britons must work harder if the country is to compete with China and India.
Oh my aching sides.
Currently under development is a robot which can work a sewing machine.
Pretty soon the garment industry will be returning to the west but alas there will be fewer jobs for Americans, Europeans or Chinese.
The end of the working classes due to the rise of the machines is the Elephant in the room but as far as some people are concerned it might as well be hiding behind the sofa.
