Randy Quaid Speaks Directly to Press
November 1st, 2010I avoided posting this story, initially, but it has become somewhat interesting, from a Beware-Of-Crooked-Lawyers perspective, and maybe other perspectives.
Sodas, Other Sugary Beverages Linked to Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome
October 31st, 2010Update: “Sugar-Sweetened” Means…
Via: Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes:
SSBs, which are now the primary source of added sugars in the U.S. diet, are composed of energy-containing sweeteners such as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, or fruit juice concentrates, all of which have essentially similar metabolic effects.
—End Update—
I guess this means sugar, as in sugar, and not “corn sugar” as in high fructose corn syrup.
Via: Science Daily:
A new study has found that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, the study provides empirical evidence that intake of sugary beverages should be limited to reduce risk of these conditions.
…
Consumption of sugary drinks, the majority of which are sodas, has increased substantially in the U.S. and across the globe and previous scientific studies have shown consistent associations with weight gain and risk of obesity. However, this study is the first meta-analysis to quantitatively review the evidence linking sugar-sweetened beverages with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Research Credit: JC
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
October 31st, 2010Thanks to these Cryptogon readers for sending contributions. All of these people expressed appreciation for the backchannel.
MO $200
VC €40
SP $10
South Africa Plans World’s Biggest Solar Power Project
October 31st, 2010Via: AFP:
South Africa’s plan to build what could become the world’s biggest solar project has drawn keen interest from investors even though it is still in its infancy, an official said Friday.
More than 400 investors and solar industry insiders from around the world converged on the town of Upington in South Africa’s arid Northern Cape province this week for a two-day conference aimed at generating investor interest in plans for a 5,000-Megawatt solar park at the edge of the Kalahari Desert.
The park, whose estimated price tag is 150 billion rands (21.3 billion dollars, 15.4 billion euros), would provide one-eighth of South Africa’s current generation capacity, helping end the country’s reliance on coal and the power shortages that pummelled its economy in 2008.
Police Running Security Screening to Enter London Park?
October 30th, 2010A Cryptogon reader emailed to say that he encountered the police running a security checkpoint at one of the entrances to one of London’s main parks. According to the reader, “There was a metal detector, many police officers, a little tent, and officers with wands if necessary. They asked if I had any ‘sharp objects’ and explained they wanted to keep the park safe.” He adds that there was no public event underway that would necessitate additional security.
There was more detail, but I’m holding it back just because I want to see if any other Cryptogon readers in London have encountered this at parks. I am not able to find any mention of this in the media.
So, is this actually happening? Are their airport style security screenings (minus the x-ray) being set up to enter parks in London?
Fraudclosure: ‘When you save broken companies from their own incompetence, this is what you get.’
October 29th, 2010Via: The Big Picture:
The banks have gotten the Big Lie technique down to a science: State a lie so colossal that no one could believe anyone “has the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” In practice, adding factually accurate, but irrelevant or misleading color, helps push the lie on unsuspecting rubes.
The banks and their many supplicants have been successful in doing just that in the robosigning issue. Any discussion about property rights, due process, or criminal investigations into perjury are thwarted; instead, the focus is on deadbeat homeowners…
The misdirection is successful, and the average reader/viewer/listener has no idea how badly they are being misinformed.
…
We have no record of how many people have been erroneously foreclosed — the banks themselves are the only centralized source of that data, and they ain’t talking — but we have lots of anecdotal evidence.
The plural of anecdote is not data; what is needed is a central collection of all the anecdotal errors of false or erroneous foreclosure — someone with a national office, say a US Attorney’s or Congressman’s office.
Halliburton Knew Cement it Mixed for BP’s Well Was Unstable
October 29th, 2010Via: Bloomberg:
Halliburton Co. may face increased liability in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after the staff of a U.S. presidential panel said the contractor knew cement it mixed for BP Plc’s well was unstable.
The staff of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill said documents provided by Halliburton showed at least three tests of the mixture, in February and April, found the recipe wasn’t stable. Halliburton disputed the findings, saying in a statement the formulas tested differed from the final recipe used in the doomed Macondo well.
‘Gold Will Outlive Dollar Once Slaughter Comes’
October 29th, 2010Via: Bloomberg:
The world’s monetary system is in the process of melting down. We have entered the endgame for the dollar as the dominant reserve currency, but most investors and policy makers are unaware of the implications.
The only questions are how long the denouement of the dollar reserve system will last, and how much more damage will be inflicted by new rounds of quantitative easing or more radical monetary measures to prop up the system.
Whether prolonged or sudden, the transition to a stable monetary system will become possible only when the shortcomings of the status quo become unbearable. Such a transition is, by definition, nonlinear. So central-bank soothsaying based on the extrapolation of historical data and the repetition of conventional wisdom offers no guidance on what lies ahead.
It’s amazing that there is no intelligent discourse among policy leaders on the subject of monetary rot and its implications for the future economic and political landscape. Until there is fundamental monetary reform on an international scale, most economic forecasts aren’t worth the paper on which they are written.
Telltale signs of future trouble aren’t hard to spot. Only a few months ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a chorus of other high-ranking Fed officials were talking about exit strategies from the U.S. central bank’s bloated balance sheet and the financial system’s unprecedented excess liquidity. Now, those same officials are talking about pumping more money into the system to stimulate growth.
And Now… Cheap Fluoride from China Leaves Unknown, Insoluble Residue in Municipal Water Systems
October 29th, 2010Update: Multiple Tests Can’t Determine What The Material Is?
Via: The Daily News (Newburyport) on Fluoride Action Network:
Desmarais said while soluble sodium fluoride has traditionally proved easy to dissolve and add to the water supply, in recent years he’s found that 40 percent of the product they’ve been buying will not dissolve, and he doesn’t know why. Desmarais has sent the material out for testing on two separate occasions, but had no luck in determining what it contained. He has sent it back to the supplier and had a better quality product delivered following the complaint. But the next delivery presents with the same problem, he said.
—End Update—
Never mind the fluoride toxicity issue. We all know about that.
WTF is this bonus material???
Britain: No Terror Arrests in 100,000 Police Counter-Terror Searches
October 29th, 2010Via: Guardian:
More than 100,000 people were stopped and searched by police under counter-terrorism powers last year but none of them were arrested for terrorism-related offences, according to Home Office figures published today.
The statistics show that 504 people out of the 101,248 searches were arrested for any offence – an arrest rate of 0.5%, compared with an average 10% arrest rate for street searches under normal police powers.
The figures prompted the former Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis to call for the controversial policy to be scrapped.
“This astonishing fact of no terrorism-related arrests, let alone prosecutions or convictions, in over 100,000 stop and searches, demonstrates what a massively counter-productive policy this is,” said Davis.
“A policy which fuels resentment and antagonism amongst minority communities without achieving a single terrorist conviction serves only to help our enemies and increase the terrorism threat.”
