Los Angeles: Driest Ever
June 7th, 2007Throwing trash in toilets? Does anyone understand this? Are they trying to flush their empty Evian water bottles?
Via: Reuters:
Los Angeles residents were urged on Wednesday to take shorter showers, reduce lawn sprinklers and stop throwing trash in toilets in a bid to cut water usage by 10 percent in the driest year on record.
With downtown Los Angeles seeing a record low of 4 inches
of rain since July 2006 — less than a quarter of normal — and with a hot, dry summer ahead, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city needed “to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm.”
It is the driest year since rainfall records began 130 years ago.
OPEC Squirms on Biofuel Threat
June 7th, 2007Large scale use of biofuels is dumb, OPEC is dumb and both are doomed. See the retired general and the boys from Boeing/Spectrolab on your way out. Thank you for serving the American Empire, but it’s clean green fascism now. Enjoy your desert wasteland and your dry oil wells. Next!
Via: Financial Times:
Opec on Tuesday warned western countries that their efforts to develop biofuels as an alternative energy source to combat climate change risked driving the price of oil “through the roofâ€.
Abdalla El-Badri, secretary-general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the powerful cartel was considering cutting its investment in new oil production in response to moves by the developed world to use more biofuels.
The warning from Opec, which controls about 40 per cent of global oil production, comes as the group of eight leading industrialised nations meets on Wednesday with climate change at the top of its agenda. The US and Europe want to use biofuels to combat global warming and to strengthen energy security.
Opec has previously expressed scepticism about alternative energy but Mr El-Badri’s comments mark the first clear threat that the cartel might act to safeguard its interests in the face of a shift towards biofuels.
“They are really concerned,†said Julian Lee of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London. “Opec will continue investing, but with biofuels on the horizon, they may not invest enough.â€
“It is a difficult situation for Opec. On one hand they are asked to produce more, on the other one, Washington and Brussels are telling the cartel ‘we are betting on biofuels and we don’t want to rely on you [Opec]’.â€
…
George W. Bush, the US president, has pledged to cut US petrol use by 20 per cent over the next 10 years through more efficient vehicles and a big increase in biofuel consumption. World production of biofuels, which are derived from agricultural commodities such as corn and sugar, was equal to 1 per cent of all road transport fuel in 2005.
Mr El-Badri warned that biofuel production could prove unsustainable in the medium term as it competed with food supplies. Biofuels are one reason retail food prices are now heading for their biggest annual increase in about 30 years.
Mr El-Badri said this meant the biofuel strategy championed by Mr Bush and European leaders would backfire because “you don’t get the incremental oil and you don’t get the ethanolâ€. In this case, he warned, oil prices would go “through the roofâ€.
He said Opec members had so far maintained their investment plans but he warned: “If we are unable to see a security of demand…we may revisit investment in the long-term.â€
Morgan Stanley’s 3-Alarm Sell Signal
June 7th, 2007HA! A “full house” triple Magic-8 Ball alarm! I wonder if this announcement was accompanied by a loud klaxon and flashing red lights? I need my old Quake 2 sound board: “IMPRESSIVE.”
Via: Business Week:
There have been a number of bearish analyst calls on stocks amid the recent global stock rally, but it took a three-alarm warning from Morgan Stanley (MS) on European equities to catch investors’ attention. The note, which was released June 4 but didn’t seem to attract the market’s attention until June 6, helped spark a big sell-off during the European session and also contributed to big declines on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrial average down over 150 points at one point. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes were both off about 1% in afternoon trading.
Indeed, major European indexes, buffeted by interest rate worries after the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 4% on June 6, took a big hit. London’s FTSE 100 index fell 1.7%, as did the CAC-40 index in Paris. The Dax index in Frankfurt suffered the worst damage on the day, falling 2.4%.
What caused all the fuss? In the note from the firm’s chief European equity strategist Teun Draaisma and other Morgan Stanley staff analysts, the company issued a “Full House” sell signal on European equities. “[W]e now have a tactical sell signal as rates are rising and hitting critical levels.” The firm pointed to signals from three indicators: A fundamentals indicator, which tripped because of higher bond yields and higher new orders from manufacturers in the U.S, and existing sell signals on its valuation and risk indicators.
Becky Is Pregnant
June 7th, 2007Becky and I have been keeping a secret for a few months, but we’d like to share it now.
Our first child is due in the middle of November.
Back in March, in response to a story about college students having to pay more for birth control pills, I wrote about the Ladycomp, an incredible device from Germany that allows women to avoid pregnancy without the use of dangerous drugs or barrier methods. In a comment on that post, Cryptogon reader KL wrote:
OK, I will fall in the trap … Why aren’t you and Becky procreating? Don’t we need more of your kind, and less of the jesus-nut-neocon-dimwit type?
(Kevin, I am not telling you to have children, I’m just wondering why you aren’t doing so in such a lovely environment, because I’d want about nine kids running around such a farm.)
It was practically killing me to keep the secret that Becky and I had already started using the Ladycomp for a different purpose than the intended one. You see, the Ladycomp is setup to help women avoid pregnancy, but when a couple decides to conceive a child…
This might be more information than you want to know, but we got it right on the first try.
Becky knew she was pregnant pretty quickly and booked an appointment to see the doctor, so we could register with the midwives. The doctor is a smart woman, but she initially doubted that Becky could know she was pregnant so soon. A quick urine test later and, yep, there was the answer.
I told the doctor the story about the Ladycomp and she was very skeptical that “it” happened on the first try. The dialog with the doctor went like this:
“You avoided pregnancy for three years without using contraception, and then got your wife pregnant the first time you were actually trying to conceive?”
“Yes, that’s right,” I said.
“What’s that thing called?” she asked, still not really believing the story.
“Just type ‘ladycomp’ into Google. It’s a registered medical device from Germany.”
She wrote it down.
HA.
Now, when we mentioned the Ladycomp story to our midwife (who’s from the Netherlands), she didn’t even blink, “Oh yeah, that’s good.” When I said that it was nice to find someone who knew about the Ladycomp, she said that lots of women use it in Europe, no big deal. Of course, I couldn’t help myself and started talking about the poison pushing pharmaceutical companies and how many American women are brain washed into using dangerous drugs to avoid pregnancy. She kinda smiled, shook her head and said, “America… America is a funny place.”
“Yeah, but the joke is getting old,” I said. So much for maintaining appearances in public. Oh well.
The fact that Becky and I are both eating a Weston A. Price style diet almost certainly contributed to the effort. Everyone knows people in their thirties or even twenties who are incapable of having children. Often, when you look at their lifestyles, you have to wonder how they’re alive at all. Lots of soda, white bread, nutrasweet, polluted air, water and food. Toxic jobs. Lobotomizing television. Lots of dangerous prescription drugs for anything that ails ya… And increasing numbers of people aren’t able to have children. Imagine my shock.
When I was in the U.S., I was absolutely sure that I didn’t want children. This is how I summed up the situation back then: You’d have to be fully insane to want to bring a child into this living Hell. I’ll get by as best as I can and that will be the end of it. No need to involve a child in this horror. Isn’t that a nice outlook?
Then again, I hadn’t met Becky at that point.
Now that we’ve left the U.S. for good, the situation is very different. I don’t see the end of the world right in front of my face every minute of the day out here. In fact, I’m only reminded of it when I look at this computer screen. I’m not constantly wondering about how I’m going to be screwed over next. Not having to show up to an office is a life altering experience in and of itself. Living debt free is another revelation. Breathing clean air, drinking clean water and eating clean food; it’s amazing how living a sane existence can change one’s outlook.
We’re happy here. We think our baby will be happy here too.
May Earnings
June 7th, 2007May earnings for Cryptogon and Farmlet came to a total of $1928.21, or nearly 4X the minimum monthly goal of $500. May is an expensive month for us because things like home and car insurance, car registration, warrant of fitness, are all due at once.
Dagobaz actually exceeded the minimum monthly goal on her own with a single $501 contribution! Amazon commissions were the highest ever. Some of you are using BullionVault. I’ve heard from a couple of you on that and I’m glad that you’re happy with their service. I’m a satisfied BullionVault customer too, by the way.
Three Cryptogon readers decided to establish hosting service with Blue Host in May:
My essay on the CFR and the U.S. Dollar generated the most interest—by far—of any material ever posted on Cryptogon (making May the highest traffic month on Cryptogon ever). Incredibly, Blue Host didn’t skip a beat. I continue to be amazed by the service that they provide for $6.95 per month.
Becky and I would to thank everyone who helped make May such a rewarding month.
Mad Pig Disease: Woman Faced Jail Time for “Staring” at a Police Dog
June 6th, 2007Via: Times Argus:
A woman facing jail time for “staring” at a police dog had charges against her dropped Monday after an Orange County prosecutor viewed videotape of the alleged crime.
Jayna Hutchinson, now of Lebanon, N.H., was scheduled for a jury trial this week on a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals.
A Vermont State Police sergeant said Hutchinson was intoxicated and stared at his police dog in a “taunting/harassing manner” last July while officers were in the process of investigating a reported melee outside a West Fairlee establishment.
“Prosecuting a woman for staring at a police dog is absurd,” said Kelly Green, a public defender appointed by Vermont District Court in Orange County to represent Hutchinson. She likened the act to giving a police officer the finger – a form of expression protected by rights accorded under the First Amendment.
“After looking at the video, I did not think it was worthwhile proceeding,” Orange County State’s Attorney Will Porter said Tuesday.
Cyclone Gonu Sweeps Oman, Disrupts Oil, Shipping
June 6th, 2007Just a reminder to keep an eye on this because the mainstream media is making a point of playing it down.
As it stands now, the Persian Gulf is essentially closed to transport shipping for the next 48 hours. That’s a big deal.
Damage to critical energy infrastructure? Unknown.
Via: Reuters:
Cyclone Gonu pummeled Oman on Wednesday, halting oil and gas exports for a second day and forcing thousands to flee the coast, but weakened as it moved through the Arabian Sea, a major route for Gulf oil shipments.
…
Cyclone Gonu disrupted shipping, pushing oil prices toward $71 a barrel on Wednesday, their highest in nearly two weeks.
An Oman-based shipper said Mina al Fahal, the only export outlet for the country’s 650,000 barrels per day of crude oil, remained shut for the second day on Wednesday as did the Sur terminal, which handles 10 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas exports.
“Everything is shut down. The terminals will be shut at least until tomorrow,” the shipper told Reuters. “At around 4 p.m. (1200 GMT) it will get very severe in Muscat.”
Lieutenant Commander Marn Balolong, meteorologist and oceanographer on the USS Nimitz, which is in the Gulf, said it would be unsafe for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the next 48 hours but predicted that they would probably speed up after that to get back on schedule.
Syria Drops U.S. Dollar Peg, United Arab Emirates Might Follow
June 6th, 2007Via: Gulf Times:
The UAE may be the next Middle Eastern country to stop pegging its exchange rate to the US dollar, according to trading in currency forwards.
The second-largest Arab economy may follow Syria and Kuwait, which both said in the past two weeks that they would dump the dollar peg to curb rising import costs and inflation.
Middle East currencies have been dragged lower by declines in the dollar, pushing up the cost of imports from Europe and Asia.
Massacres and Paramilitary Land Seizures Behind the Biofuel Revolution
June 6th, 2007Clean and green…
Via: Guardian:
Armed groups in Colombia are driving peasants off their land to make way for plantations of palm oil, a biofuel that is being promoted as an environmentally friendly source of energy.
Surging demand for “green” fuel has prompted rightwing paramilitaries to seize swaths of territory, according to activists and farmers. Thousands of families are believed to have fled a campaign of killing and intimidation, swelling Colombia’s population of 3 million displaced people and adding to one of the world’s worst refugee crises after Darfur and Congo.
Several companies were collaborating by falsifying deeds to claim ownership of the land, said Andres Castro, the general secretary of Fedepalma, the national federation of palm oil producers.
“As a consequence of the development of palm by secretive business practices and the use of threats, people have been displaced and [the businesses] have claimed land for themselves,” he said. His claim was backed up by witnesses and groups such as Christian Aid and the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia.
Robo-Snipers, “Auto Kill Zones” to Protect Israeli Borders
June 6th, 2007Via: Wired:
For years and years, the Israeli military has been trying to figure out a way to keep Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip from crossing over into Israel proper. The latest tactic: create a set of “automated kill zones” by networking together remote-controlled machine guns, ground sensors, and drones along the 60-kilometer border.
