Useless Studies, Real Harm
August 1st, 2011Via: New York Times:
In an age of for-profit clinical research, this is the new face of scandal. Pharmaceutical companies promote their drugs with pseudo-studies that have little if any scientific merit, and patients naïvely sign up, unaware of the ways in which they are being used. Nobody really knows how often companies conduct such trials, but they appear with alarming regularity in pharmaceutical marketing documents.
Research Credit: DP
Android Tablet for Toddlers
August 1st, 2011Via: Engadget:
When some of us were tots, there was one family computer, and we were lucky if we got our sticky little fingers on it while we were still in diapers. Times have changed, though, and for some parents, sharing the ‘ol iPad or 10.1 with curious babies just won’t do. Enter Rullingnet’s Vinci tablet, that ruggedized tablet for toddlers…
Japanese Monitor Radiation On Their Own
August 1st, 2011Via: Times Union:
Kiyoko Okoshi had a simple goal when she spent about $625 for a dosimeter: She missed her daughter and grandsons and wanted them to come home.
Local officials kept telling her that their remote village was safe, even though it was less than 20 miles from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. But her daughter remained dubious.
So starting in April, Okoshi began using her dosimeter to check nearby forest roads and rice paddies. What she found was startling. Near one sewage ditch, the meter beeped wildly, and the screen read 67 microsieverts per hour, a potentially harmful level. Okoshi and a cousin who lives nearby worked up the courage to confront elected officials, who did not respond, confirming their worry that the government was not doing its job.
With her simple yet bold act, Okoshi joined the small but growing number of Japanese who have decided to step in as the government fumbles its reaction to the widespread contamination, which leaders acknowledge is much worse than originally announced. Some mothers as far away as Tokyo have begun testing for radioactive materials.
Foxconn: 1 Million Robots in 3 Years
July 31st, 2011Via: Xinhua:
Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.
The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers’ dance party Friday night.
The company currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to Gou.
Research Credit: EB
Tentative Debt Deal Might Happen; $2.4 Trillion Debt Ceiling Increase Supposedly Tied to $2.4 Trillion in Cuts
July 31st, 2011Deal Almost Complete; No Vote Today
Forex is underway. So far, it mostly just looks like the usual noise. NZD/USD broke higher again, however, and hit a new record high of .8842 intraday.
Gold is selling off a bit, down 1% right now.
Major Asian equity markets are all green; Nikkei up 1.65%.
I’ll be monitoring…
—End Update—
Via: AP
No votes were expected in either house of Congress until Monday at the earliest, to give rank and file lawmakers to review the package.
—End Update—
Update: Has to Happen Before Asia Opens
Via: Reuters:
British and Japanese officials warned Sunday of disastrous consequences for the global economy if last-minute talks among lawmakers in Washington failed to agree on raising the U.S. borrowing limit and averting a debt default.
Governments across the world fear that because of the key role of the U.S. dollar in global banking and trading systems, there could be severe instability when Asian financial markets reopen Monday if a U.S. debt deal is not in sight by then.
In Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican who is playing a key role in the debt talks, said “we’re very close” to a $3 trillion deal that would raise the debt ceiling while cutting the U.S. budget deficit.
—End Update—
LOL. I’m not even going to say it.
Anyway, it’s not done yet, but ABC is going with it.
I’m thinking that they’re going to try to get it done before Asia gets under way. There will have to be a vote sometime today EST.
Via: ABC News:
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports:
There is caution on Capitol Hill about a tentative deal being reached.
As the mantra here goes, “nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.”
Congressional leaders have begun briefing their membership on this framework and are gauging reaction. The key question, of course, is whether there is enough support to pass it.
And one more detail on this emerging deal:
As reported earlier, President Obama would get a debt ceiling increase of up to $2.4 trillion (the final amount tied to the amount of the cuts agreed to).
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions in Second Half of July
July 31st, 2011Thank you very much.
Eileen $85
DB £20
MW $20
CM $30
DJ $50
Arcturus $5
FH $75
JG $60
JS $20
Goldman Sachs Manipulating Aluminum Prices with Warehouse Scam
July 31st, 2011If the left hand isn’t sharing information with the right hand, with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential trading profits hanging in the balance, I’m Santa Claus.
—Usual Suspects Now Heavily Involved with Commodity Warehousing
Via: Reuters:
In a rundown patch of Detroit, enclosed by a cyclone fence and barbed wire, stands an unremarkable warehouse that investment bank Goldman Sachs has transformed into a money-making machine.
The derelict neighborhood off Michigan Avenue is a sharp contrast to Goldman’s bustling skyscraper headquarters near Wall Street, but the two operations share one important element: management by the bank’s savvy financial professionals.
A string of warehouses in Detroit, most of them operated by Goldman, has stockpiled more than a million tonnes of the industrial metal aluminum, about a quarter of global reported inventories.
Simply storing all that metal generates tens of millions of dollars in rental revenues for Goldman every year.
There’s just one problem: much less aluminum is leaving the depots than arriving, creating a supply pinch for manufacturers of everything from soft drink cans to aircraft.
The resulting spike in prices has sparked a clash between companies forced to pay more for their aluminum and wait months for it to be delivered, Goldman, which is keen to keep its cash machines humming and the London Metal Exchange (LME), the world’s benchmark industrial metals market, which critics accuse of lax oversight.
Analysts question why London’s metals market allows big financial players like Goldman to own the warehouses which store huge quantities of metal even as they trade the commodity. Robin Bhar, a veteran metals analyst at Credit Agricole in London says the conflict of interest is so acute he wants U.S. and European anti-trust regulators to weigh in.
“I think it makes a mockery of the market. It’s a shame,” Bhar said. “This is an anti-competitive situation. It puts (some) companies at an advantage, and clearly the rest of the market at a disadvantage. It’s a real, genuine concern. And I think the regulators have to look at it.”
Related: They Made a Killing: The Use of Knowledge of Covert Operations in the Stock Market
Research Credit: MS
Libyan Rebel Commander Killed by Allied Militia
July 31st, 2011Via: Reuters:
Libyan rebels say the gunmen who shot dead their military chief were militiamen allied in their struggle to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, raising questions about divisions and lawlessness within rebel ranks.
The assassination of Abdel Fattah Younes, apparently by his own side, has hurt the opposition just as it was winning broader international recognition and launching an offensive against Gaddafi’s forces in the Western Mountains.
After 24 hours of confusion, rebel minister Ali Tarhouni said Younes had been killed by fighters who were sent to fetch him from the front and his bullet-riddled and partially burned body was found at a ranch near the rebel capital of Benghazi.
The Essential Rules Of Tyranny
July 30th, 2011Via: Alt-Market:
As we look back on the horrors of the dictatorships and autocracies of the past, one particular question consistently arises; how was it possible for the common men of these eras to NOT notice what was happening around them? How could they have stood as statues unaware or uncaring as their cultures were overrun by fascism, communism, collectivism, and elitism? Of course, we have the advantage of hindsight, and are able to research and examine the misdeeds of the past at our leisure. Unfortunately, such hindsight does not necessarily shield us from the long cast shadow of tyranny in our own day.
Research Credit: cgroove69
Berkeley Researchers Find Insidious Web Tracking Technique
July 30th, 2011Update: Ghostery Blocks KissMetrics Crap By Default
I found a list of sites that use the KissMetrics nonsense and I went to one using Firefox. Ghostery detected and blocked KissInsights and KissMetrics by default.
Just FYI: Although I’ve mentioned addons like Ghostery, AdBlock+ and NoScript for years, these prevent me from earning commissions on your APMEX, Brownells, Nitro-Pak and Swanson Vitamins purchases. If you want your purchases to support Cryptogon, whitelist Cryptogon in your security/privacy software, turn off the software to complete the transaction or simply use a stock, non security hardened browser just to conduct your business, and then go back to using your regular browser.
Also, if you fiddle with your referrer data, that could probably stop Amazon and BlueHost commissions from counting. Don’t worry, if you don’t know what this is, you haven’t fiddled with it.
When I mention this stuff, it always causes confusion for people who are making a conscious effort to support Cryptogon. Just forget about past transactions. They either counted, or they didn’t. If they didn’t count, there’s no way to get a do-over. (Believe me, I’ve tried.) The thing to do is to make sure future transactions count by using one of the methods I’ve mentioned above.
Most site admins simply accept losses associated with people using hardened browsers. It’s only one or two percent of the regular web audience, so, no biggy, right?
You guys aren’t a regular web audience… Cryptogon reading grandmothers are running harder browsers than average people and this has resulted in a loss of something like $2000 in commission payments over the years ($300 on a single Nitro-Pak order that I know about). And that’s just based on kind people getting in touch with me to make sure their purchases counted. Who knows what the actual amount is. I try not to think about it.
So, this a mess, but there you have it.
—End Update—
Maybe I’m missing something here, but couldn’t one simply blacklist kissmetrics.com with Ghostery, adBlock+, firewall policy, etc. etc.???
Via: Wired:
Researchers at U.C. Berkeley have discovered that some of the net’s most popular sites are using a tracking service that can’t be evaded — even when users block cookies, turn off storage in Flash, or use browsers’ “incognito” functions.
Research Credit: EB
