Goldman Sachs Chief Economist: “There Are Going to be Dead Bodies Around When This Is Over”
March 8th, 2007Ahhyep.
Via: Telegraph:
The global currency storm of the past week is starting to infect the corporate bond markets and may prove harder to contain than last year’s May sell-off, Goldman Sachs has warned.
Jim O’Neill, the bank’s chief global economist, said investment firms playing the “carry trade” had been caught on the wrong side of huge leveraged bets against the Japanese yen.
“There has been an amazing amount of leverage on currency markets that has nothing to do with real economic activity. I think there are going to be dead bodies around when this is over,” he said. “The yen carry trade has reached 5pc of Japan’s GDP. This is enormous and highly risky, as we are now seeing.”
Stock markets around the world continued to slide as investors scrambled to liquidate bonds, equities and weaker currencies across the board. Japan’s stock market slumped 3.3pc, with falls of 3.7pc in India, 4.6pc in Malaysia and 4.7pc in Moscow, where oil and commodity shares tumbled on fears of a global slowdown.
Research Credit: Life After the Oil Crash
Boeing’s Uninterruptible Autopilot System
March 8th, 2007This is the technology that made the 9/11 spectacles possible in the first place. But now, Boeing is going to peddle those same black boxes to make aircraft “hijack-proof.”
As usual, I couldn’t make it up if I tried.
Via: Evening Standard:
A hijack-proof piloting system for airliners is being developed to prevent terrorists repeating the 9/11 outrages.
The mechanism is designed to make it impossible to crash the aircraft into air or land targets – and enable the plane to be flown by remote control from the ground in the event of an emergency.
Scientists at aircraft giant Boeing are testing the tamper-proof autopilot system which uses state-of-the-art computer and satellite technology.
It will be activated by the pilot flicking a simple switch or by pressure sensors fitted to the cockpit door that will respond to any excessive force as terrorists try to break into the flight deck.
Once triggered, no one on board will be able to deactivate the system. Currently, all autopilots are manually switched on and off at the discretion of pilots.
The so-called ‘uninterruptible autopilot system’ – patented secretly by Boeing in the US last week – will connect ground controllers and security services with the aircraft using radio waves and global satellite positioning systems.
After it has been activated, the aircraft will be capable of remote digital control from the ground, enabling operators to fly it like a sophisticated model plane, manoeuvring it vertically and laterally.
A threatened airliner could be flown to a secure military base or a commercial airport, where it would touch down using existing landing aids known as ‘autoland function’.
After it had landed, the aircraft’s built-in autobrake would bring the plane safely to a halt on the runway.
Boeing insiders say the new anti-hijack kit could be fitted to airliners all over the world, including those in the UK, within the next three years.
The latest move to combat airline terrorists follows The Mail on Sunday’s disclosure three weeks ago that scientists in Britain and Germany are developing a passenger-monitoring device.
This will use tiny cameras linked to specialist computers to record every twitch, blink, facial expression or suspicious movement made on board flights in order to identify potential terrorists.
A Boeing spokesman said : “We are constantly studying ways we can enhance the safety, security and efficiency of the world’s airline fleet.
“There is a need in the industry for a technique that conclusively prevents unauthorised persons gaining access to the controls and threatening the safety of passengers.
“Once this system is initiated, no one on board is capable of controlling the flight, making it useless for anyone to threaten violence in order to gain control.”
The Pentagon Wants TiVo (to Watch You)
March 7th, 2007Via: Wired:
Reuters yesterday reported on a recently issued study on future technologies written by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board. More than anything, it seems these outside advisers want a surveillance system that would put Big Brother to shame, and they’re looking at the commercial sector to provide it:
William Schneider, the board’s chairman, said a key finding was a need to track individuals, objects and activities — much smaller targets than the Cold War’s regiments, battalions and naval battle groups.
“It’s really an appeal to capture and put into military systems the know-how that’s already available in the market place,” Schneider said in a telephone interview.
So, after reviewing the available technology, what specific types of things do they suggest the military needs? Well, one example, is the Pentagon wants TiVo, according the report (available as a PDF here):
To counter these new threats, technology exists, or could be developed, to provide new levels of spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution and diversity. Furthermore, the ability to record terabyte and larger databases will provide an omnipresent knowledge of the present and the past that can be used to rewind battle space observations in TiVo-like fashion and to run recorded time backwards to help identify and locate even low-level enemy forces. For example, after a car bomb detonates, one would have the ability to play high-resolution data backward in time to follows the vehicle back to the source, and then use that knowledge to focus collection and gain additional information by organizing and searching through archived data.
Dead Russian Journalist Worked on Weapons Story
March 6th, 2007Via: SFgate/AP:
A journalist who fell to his death from a fifth-story window had received threats while gathering material for a report claiming Russia planned to provide sophisticated weapons to Syria and Iran, his newspaper said Tuesday.
Prosecutors have opened an inquest into the death of Ivan Safronov, a military affairs writer for the daily Kommersant who died Friday in what some media said could have been murder.
Kommersant reported that Safronov told his editors he would write a story about Russian plans to sell weapons to Iran and Syria via Belarus, but they said he had not yet submitted the article.
Kommersant said Safronov recently told colleagues that he had been warned he would face a criminal investigation on charges of revealing state secrets if he reported allegations that Russia had struck a deal to supply highly advanced Iskander missiles to Syria. If confirmed, such a contract would upset the balance of forces in the Mideast and likely anger Israel and the United States.
Safronov did not say where the warning came from, according to Kommersant, but he had repeatedly been questioned in the past by the Federal Security Service or FSB, which suspected him of divulging state secrets in his reports. The FSB is the main successor agency to the KGB.
Research Credit: Treason Holdings
Canon 10×42 L Image Stabilization Waterproof Binoculars
March 6th, 2007I’ve found myself wishing that I had a good pair of binoculars lately. I’ve only ever owned cheap binoculars, so I thought I’d take a look to see what was available out there.
I’ve used Canon 35mm film, digital and video cameras for about two decades. All Canon shooters know what the distinctive red band around the barrel of a high-end Canon lens means: “L” series optics. It’s Canon’s way of saying, “This represents the best we have.” (I owned the excellent EF 80-200L f/2.8 and sold it used for more than what I paid for it twelve years earlier. I also rented el ultimo a couple of times, the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM, but that’s an entirely different story.)
If you know any Canon nerds, try this: Ask them to name the only Canon L series product with TWO red bands. They might know, but if they don’t, they might hiss, snarl and say something like, “Canon doesn’t put two red bands on anything!” At this point, you might consider asking them if they would like to make a $1000 bet on that. Or, more precisely, a $1,129.88 bet on that.
Behold:
While my days of owning insanely priced, high end Canon gear are long gone, I know that a few of you are in the market for the best tools money can buy. If binoculars are on your list, it would be tough to top these.
Via Amazon:
The much-anticipated 10×42 L IS WP is the first waterproof binocular to incorporate Canon’s exclusive Image Stabilizer technology for steady, shake-free viewing. The high quality L series optics, featuring 2 Ultra-low Dispersion (UD) lens elements (on each side), deliver excellent correction for chromatic aberration. With a large lens diameter and a 4.2mm exit pupil diameter, this binocular provides an exceptionally bright view, even in low-light conditions. The 10×42 L IS WP binocular offers both the desired brightness and excellent waterproof capabilities, making it ideal for a host of activities including marine use, stargazing and wildlife observation – just to name a few.
Related: Other Canon IS Binocular Models
Body in River Confirmed as Israeli Official
March 6th, 2007Via: Reuters/news.com.au:
FRENCH police have confirmed a body found in a river in northern France is that of a missing Israeli defence ministry official.
DNA tests proved the dead man found in the River Seine near Rouen on Wednesday was David Dahan, head of the Israeli Defence Ministry Mission to Europe, a police official said.
Dahan disappeared from his Paris home on Jan. 22.
Police say they are treating the incident as a possible suicide and that Dahan had suffered depression in the past.
Dahan’s wife and child live in Israel.
The Israeli Defence Ministry Mission buys military equipment in Europe. The mission used to be based in central Paris but was hit by a car bomb in 1982 and is now situated in a suburb.
Research Credit: MT
Record Numbers of Americans Fleeing Cities for Rural Areas
March 6th, 2007Cryptogon readers? HA
Via: ABC News:
Chaotic and fast-paced, city life can wear you down and wear you out. From coast to coast, people are swapping their concrete jungles for greener pastures.
In what’s been called the “Green Acres” effect, Americans are fleeing the cities for the country in record numbers. Eighteen of the 25 largest metropolises saw more people leave than move in, according to a Census Bureau report released in 2006.
From 2000 to 2004, the three largest American cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — lost the most residents. The New York metropolitan area saw an exodus of more than 210,000 residents in those years alone, with a significant portion likely attributable to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
One of the main reasons for the move is land. Real estate experts say the hunt is on, creating a boom in the rural real estate market.
“We are seeing rapid growth in the mid-Atlantic area, the Carolinas, Texas, and the Rocky Mountain area,” said Dan Duffy of United Country Real Estate.
Another reason is simplicity.
“Many folks are finding that moving into rural America makes it easier to simplify your life,” Wanda Urbanska, author of “Moving to a Small Town,” told “Good Morning America.”
Nutricide – Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs
March 6th, 2007Via: healthfreedomusa.org:
The Codex Alimentarius is a threat to the freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition. Ratified by the World Health Organization, and going into Law in the United States in 2009, the threat to health freedom has never been greater.
This is the first part of a series of talks by Dr. Rima Laibow MD, available on DVD from the Natural Solutions Foundation, an non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about how to stop Codex Alimentarius from taking away our right to freely choose nutritional health.
Cryptogon Reader Signs Up for Hosting with Blue Host
March 5th, 2007Thanks to anngryan.com for choosing to host with Bluehost! Cryptogon receives $65!
Related: Hosting with Blue Host
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
March 5th, 2007Even though the global stock markets are convulsing, these Cryptogon readers are getting March off to a good start for Becky and me:
MW $20
AS $30
AH $15
Thanks guys!
