Human Resources
December 5th, 2010If Cryptogon had a “required viewing” list, Human Resources would be at the top. However, this is not a movie for beginners. I’ve been gazing down the barrel of this predicament of ours for twenty years and I felt my pulse quicken and the hair on my arms standing on end as I watched this.
Metanoia Films – Human Resources
FBI Plants Informant in Mosque to Incite Violence; Muslims Report Him to FBI (Not The Onion)
December 5th, 2010Via: Washington Post:
Before the sun rose, the informant donned a white Islamic robe. A tiny camera was sewn into a button, and a microphone was buried in a device attached to his keys.
“This is Farouk al-Aziz, code name Oracle,” he said into the keys as he sat in his parked car in this quiet community south of Los Angeles. “It’s November 13th, 4:30 a.m. And we’re hot.”
The undercover FBI informant – a convicted forger named Craig Monteilh – then drove off for 5 a.m. prayers at the Islamic Center of Irvine, where he says he spied on dozens of worshipers in a quest for potential terrorists.
…
Worshipers said Monteilh gravitated to Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, an Afghan-born Arabic-language instructor who was a regular at Friday prayers.
In May 2007, Monteilh said he recorded a conversation about jihad during a car ride with Niazi and another man. Monteilh said he suggested an operation to blow up buildings and Niazi agreed. An FBI agent later cited that and other taped conversations between the two in court as evidence that Niazi was a threat.
A few days later, Ayloush got an anguished phone call from Niazi and the other man in the car.
“They said Farouk had told them he had access to weapons and that they should blow up a mall,” Ayloush recalled. “They were convinced this man was a terrorist.”
Ayloush reported the FBI’s own informant to the FBI. He said agents interviewed Niazi, who gave them the same account, but the agency took no action against Monteilh.
Welcome to Shanghai-on-Shannon: Chinese Plans to Create a City in Co Westmeath That Will Act as a Trading Hub for Europe
December 5th, 2010This is just what Ireland needs!
The World’s Largest Shopping Mall — Is Empty
Via: Irish Times:
IT HAS BEEN the talk of Athlone for almost two years. What began as vague whisperings of Chinese investors scouting the midlands town for a major project soon developed into umpteen rumours, each one grander than the last. Local wags spoke of “Shanghai-on-Shannon” – but there were few facts. “It all appeared quite nebulous until the Taoiseach spoke publicly about it in late June,” says Tadhg Carey, editor of the Westmeath Independent. “That seemed to make it more real in the eyes of people here.”
Brian Cowen’s comments failed to shed much light, though he confirmed he had met some of those involved. “It’s about exploring the potential of this idea,” Cowen said.
A week later the Westmeath Independent published excerpts from a preliminary design statement and an image of what the project might look like. It describes “the greatest commercial and trade centre, tour centre, cultural centre, amusement centre and international conference centre in Europe”. The plans include a convention centre in the style of a Chinese palace, two five-star hotels, apartment complexes, a railway station, two bus terminals, a school, a medical centre, a fire station, a six-hole golf course and a 180m tower topped with a rotating viewing gallery.
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
December 5th, 2010Thank you.
Pookie $75
RH $20
MW $20
areyoutargeted.com $12.06
November Earnings
December 5th, 2010Earnings from all sources came to $1769.94. That’s another outstanding result. While only nine people out of the approximately 42,000 who read Cryptogon in November sent cash contributions, the U.S. Amazon result was astonishing at $816 in commissions. There was also a big purchase on NitroPak which resulted in a $300 commission.
Thank you to the exclusive club of cash contributors and to those of you who conducted business via Cryptogon’s affiliate relationships.
Why Farmers Are Flocking to Manure
December 5th, 2010I’d be extremely careful with manure from industrial livestock operations in the U.S. Most or all of what those animals eat is genetically engineered and they are pumped full of antibiotics and injections containing heavy metals.
Animal manures can be wonderful fertilizers that build soil structure and increase beneficial biological activity in the soil. Just try to get your manure from as small of an operation as possible, preferably your own animals. And don’t forget humanure.
Via: The Atlantic:
I half-jokingly suggested about a year ago that animal manure—used livestock, horse, and chicken bedding—was going to be the hottest commodity on the Chicago Board of Trade one of these days. Shortly after that I got a call from a close acquaintance who manages an awesome business of growing 8,000 acres of corn and soybeans—which he knows I consider insane. He wanted to tell me something I never expected to hear from him: He was thinking of going into the feedlot beef business. I reminded him that this is rarely profitable in Ohio except as a tax shelter, but he said he didn’t care if it only broke even. It was the manure that he was after, for fertilizer. And he had not read what I had been writing in that regard. Holy shit. I almost dropped the phone. Most of the farmers in my neck of the cornfields agree with what one of them told me over a martini one day: “The only shit that is going to drop on this farm is mine and my wife’s.” He much preferred fertilizing with anhydrous ammonia (one whiff of which could kill him and his wife).
My 8,000-acre friend is no fool, believe me. There are indications now that such a seemingly absurd prediction about manure might not be so absurd after all. Even the agricultural colleges (almost always among the last to recognize either agricultural or cultural shifts) are scheduling what Ohio State University calls Manure Science Review days. The main reason that manure is suddenly seen as a science is that chemical fertilizer prices are on the rise. Yes, they rise and fall with every paranoid scuttlebutt of the marketplace, but the general direction is definitely north. The price of a specialty fertilizer like ammonium polyphosphate is nearly $1,000 a ton as I write. Deposits of potash in Canada, which we have long relied on for potassium fertilizer, are dwindling, and there is no other known supply as readily available. There is much talk of opening a huge phosphorus mining operation in the South American rain forest, which will hardly be hailed with joy by environmentalists. Natural gas, the major source of commercial nitrogen fertilizer, is rising in cost as other users compete for it. In fact, there are reasons to believe that the era of reliance on manufactured and mined fertilizers is passing. A society so utterly urban-ized as ours may not want to face up to what that means, but the end of cheap chemical fertilizer would be almost as earth-shaking as a nuclear bomb.
If we run out of cheap sources of commercial fertilizer, there will be no way to avoid a precipitous decline in crop yields, no matter how rapidly farmers try to switch to organic methods. And as they switch, the demand for organic fertilizers will also rise precipitously. It has taken us about 100 years to reduce soil organic matter to dangerously low levels—from about 5 percent, on average, to below 2 percent—and experts say it might take at least that long to build them back up again using organic methods on a large scale. Getting all the manure and other organic wastes needed to maintain yields high enough to support rising populations without a full complement of commercial fertilizers would be an enormous challenge requiring new agricultural and cultural attitudes.
JP Morgan Takes Large Longside Position in Copper Ahead of ETF Launch
December 5th, 2010Via: Telegraph:
The American investment bank JP Morgan is the mystery trader that grabbed more than half the copper on the London Metal Exchange, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
The $1.5bn (£1bn) trade was described in the LME’s daily update as “between 50pc and 80pc” of the 350,000 tonnes in reserves. This pushed up the price for the immediate delivery of copper to $8,700 – its highest level since the financial crisis in October 2008.
A high premium on the spot copper price normally reflects fear of a shortage of the metal, which is in hot demand across the world as a vital component in a mass of products from electrical gadgets to wiring.
A source close to the situation said that JP Morgan had bought the copper contracts, adding that amount is closer to the “lower portion of the range” disclosed by the LME.
Traders said JP Morgan’s name had been circulating the market all day as the most likely buyer, especially since it is about to launch a physically-backed “exchange-traded fund” (ETF) in copper imminently.
One metals broker dealing on the LME said: “The story is that they’re positioning themselves in front of the ETF. There’s been a lot of speculation it’s them.”
Traders noted that there was no physical shortage of copper in the markets but that fears of a squeeze have persisted ever since a raft of investment banks announced their intention to launch ETFs this autumn.
Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico
December 5th, 2010Via: ABC News:
A mile below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, there is little sign of life.
“It looks like everything’s dead,” University of Georgia professor Samantha Joye said.
In an exclusive trip aboard the U.S. Navy’s deep-ocean research submersible Alvin, ABC News was given the chance to observe the impact of this summer’s massive oil spill that most will never see.
The ocean floor appears to be littered with twigs, but Joye points out that they are actually dead worms and that Alvin is sitting on top of what is considered an 80-square mile kill zone.
Having taken nearly two dozen dives in the Gulf inside the tiny sub that helped discover the Titanic, Joye is leading a team of scientists who are investigating how much oily material is left on the sea floor.
Aboard the Alvin Thursday, Joye said she saw “about three to four inches of material.”
The devastation, she said, could last “years or decades.”
“It’s still there and it’s going to degrade very slowly,” she said.
Outbreak of Unidentified, Ebola-Like Disease in Uganda
December 3rd, 2010Via: ReliefWeb:
An unidentified deadly disease broke out in Abim village located in the Karamoja region in northeastern Uganda in late October 2010. Several cases of the disease were reported and several deaths have resulted. The disease then spread from Karamoja to neighbouring districts. On December 1, some cases were also reported in Gulu. The signs and symptoms of the disease indicate that it is most likely not dysentery, as it is sometimes thought to be in the absence of a clear diagnosis. Symptoms point to Ebola but authorities have been unable to confirm that disease. The most common symptoms are headache, fever and vomiting large quantities of blood. Tests have been done in Entebbe (Uganda) and in Atlanta (USA).
Unequipped medical staff are fearful of being infected, leaving their duty stations because they lack personal protective gear. Some refuse to take care of patients. Kitgum district also lacks transport, including ambulances to transport patients. Pader district had one ambulance which no longer functions. People refuse to transport patients for fear of being infected. In villages, residents do not know what to do or how to protect themselves. Some have tried to move out of affected areas, potentially spreading the diseases to new areas. The spread is fairly slow but follows common “travel routes” throughout the region.
The number of affected people is unknown. About 60 cases are known, with at least 20 deaths reported. However, there could be many more cases and deaths that are unreported, and many more carriers. The first six fatalities in Kitgum were one woman, three men, and two male youths. None had any serious previous medical history. One had malaria at the time of death. Death usually occurred within three days of the first symptom.
X-37B Returns to Earth After Seven Months in Orbit; Mission and Capabilities Remain Classified
December 3rd, 2010Via: AP:
The U.S. Air Force’s secrecy-shrouded X-37B unmanned spaceplane returned to Earth early Friday after more than seven months in orbit on a classified mission, officials said.
The winged craft autonomously landed at at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Vandenburg spokesman Jeremy Eggers said.
“It’s very exciting,” Eggers said of the 1:16 a.m. PST landing.
The X-37B was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 22, 2010, with a maximum mission duration of 270 days.
Also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, the Boeing-built spacecraft was originally a NASA project before being taken over by the military.
The Air Force has not said whether it carried anything in its cargo bay, but insists the primary purpose of the mission was to test the craft itself.
“We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission,” program manager Lt. Col. Troy Giese said in a statement.
“Today’s landing culminates a successful mission based on close teamwork between the 30th Space Wing, Boeing and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office,” Giese said.
Eggers said the craft is expected to return to space next year.
“I understand they are looking to do that in the spring of 2011,” he told The Associated Press.
Officials have made public only a general description of the mission objectives: testing of guidance, navigation, control, thermal protection and autonomous operation in orbit, re-entry and landing.
However, the ultimate purpose of the X-37B and details about the craft have longed remained a mystery, though experts said the spacecraft was intended to speed up development of combat-support systems and weapons systems.
