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December 5th, 2010Thank you.
Pookie $75
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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.
WikiLeaks Open Thread
December 3rd, 2010I’m officially exhausted with the WikiLeaks spectacle. I’m now blocking any mention of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange from my feeds and email submissions. Enough already. Wake me up when I can locally search the whole damn thing on my own. This clown act is a bore.
Ok, so these were the stories that caught my eye before I hit the mute button on this thing:
DNS Provider Drops Wikileaks.org
Comment: Again, the TLD/DNS issue is very serious: 1, 2.
wikileaks.ch was working for a while, but it’s down for me now. It doesn’t resolve to anything. Their Swedish “bunker” gear is still operational from the IP as I write this: http://46.59.1.2. They probably have other domain names that work, but I don’t know what they are.
Keep in mind, this is all drama and showmanship. Assange could post the passphrase to the “insurance file” on Twitter at any time if he was interested in putting a stop to this nonsense. The goal, as stated on the FAQ, is to release the documents slowly, so it extends the period of time that they are discussed in the media:
Why not release everything now?
The embassy cables will be released in stages over the next few months. The subject matter of these cables is of such importance, and the geographical spread so broad, that to do otherwise would not do this material justice.
We owe it to the people who entrusted us with the documents to ensure that there is time for them to be written about, commented on and discussed widely in public, something that is impossible if hundreds of thousands of documents are released at once. We will therefore be releasing the documents gradually over the coming weeks and months.
So, the three ring circus continues. Step right up!
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Former WikiLeaks Activists to Launch New Whistleblowing Site
Comment: Good. Hopefully the megalomaniac index will be lower than what we’re seeing with WikiLeaks.
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Comment: It’s going from a three ring circus to cockteasing. No pun intended, given his legal troubles.
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Amazon Dropped WikiLeaks from Their Cloud Computing/Hosting Service
Comment: If Amazon’s other cloud clients weren’t threatened from the DDOS, I’d say that this is a worrying, but hardly a surprising, decision. Anyone who deals with controversial content knows that the terms and conditions are often selectively applied. It happened with me and Google. It happens with PayPal and loads of sites.
Cryptome is hosted by Network Solutions. Cryptome is hosting a mirror of the State Department documents released so far and John Young isn’t having any problem with his host. Search down cryptome.org for “Cryptome latest mirror”.
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That’s all for me, folks. For now, anyway. If you have anything to add, go for it.
Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans’ Credit Cards in Real Time
December 3rd, 2010As bad as the information below might seem, it’s actually worse than that.
This is from 2008, but it’s a keeper: The Last Roundup: MAIN CORE.
Via: Wired:
Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting a court order, a new document released under a government sunshine request shows.
The document, obtained by security researcher Christopher Soghoian, explains how so-called “Hotwatch” orders allow for real-time tracking of individuals in a criminal investigation via credit card companies, rental car agencies, calling cards, and even grocery store loyalty programs. The revelation sheds a little more light on the Justice Department’s increasing power and willingness to surveil Americans with little to no judicial or Congressional oversight.
For credit cards, agents can get real-time information on a person’s purchases by writing their own subpoena, followed up by a order from a judge that the surveillance not be disclosed. Agents can also go the traditional route — going to a judge, proving probable cause and getting a search warrant — which means the target will eventually be notified they were spied on.
The New Poor: Unemployed, and Likely to Stay That Way
December 3rd, 2010A new cafe opened up out at the coast from where I am here in New Zealand. I was eating there, using my netbook, and the owner offered to get me on the Wi-Fi network he had running in there.
We chatted about our past lives.
That dude did nearly THREE DECADES of wrench turning on systems for large U.S. corporations. I must have looked visibly shocked. I held my coffee mid way between the table and my mouth—which hung open.
“I know,” he said, “I know.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I know… I know…”
It was like a group meeting for survivors of a plane wreck. I babbled about the Mother Ship a bit and shook my head a lot. He talked about his last thing and he shook his head a lot.
But, looking at the brightside, there we were. It was a Friday morning and there wasn’t a PHB or a loud server room for miles and miles and miles. I wouldn’t even know where the closest loud server room would be. Whangarei, probably (a bit more than two hours drive).
Anyway, the point is that if you’re doing something because it’s what you’ve always done, and you’re looking at the end of that road, plan to live well on very little, maintain appearances for as long as possible as your draw salary, and when the reaper finally swings the scythe, think of it as a beginning, instead of an end. While you’re still showing up to the grindhouse, make it count. Play it strategically. Play it to win.
As the other slobs around you panic and discuss the best way to get dragged over a hundred miles of unpaved road to get the next shitty job or contract, you’re smiling as you turn in your ID badge and walk away.
The bad news is that this might be your last “real” gig.
That’s also the good news.
Via: New York Times:
The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work.
That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well. But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning.
This country has some of the highest levels of long-term unemployment — out of work longer than six months — it has ever recorded. Meanwhile, job growth has been, and looks to remain, disappointingly slow, indicating that those out of work for a while are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Even if the government report on Friday shows the expected improvement in hiring by business, it will not be enough to make a real dent in those totals.
