XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Top Republican at CPAC says - Jeb Bush could emerge as nominee at a brokered convention -

2012-02-10T19:26:00.000-05:00

Top Republican at CPAC says - Jeb Bush could emerge as nominee at a brokered convention -

Al Cardenas, head of the American Conservative Union, has said that Republican turmoil might lead to a brokered convention in which Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, would emerge as a “possible alternative” party nominee.

Mr Cardenas, who is running this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering in Washington of some 10,000 conservatives, told MailOnline that it was not certain that one of the four current Republican candidates would emerge victorious.

His comments came as Republicans fretted publicly about the perceived weaknesses of Mitt Romney, the establishment choice and frontrunner, Rick Santorum, surprise winner in three states on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Read more -
http://harndenblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/02/top-republican-at-cpac-jeb-bush-could-emerge-as-nominee-at-a-brokered-convention-.html

The most shocking extreme sport of the year - Tazer Ball - with a 300,000 volt electroshock gun -

2012-02-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

The most shocking extreme sport of the year - Tazer Ball - with a 300,000 volt electroshock gun -

A Toronto team is ushering in the world’s newest ultimate sports league, but don’t expect to see a home game anytime soon: One of the pieces of equipment used, a 300,000 volt electroshock gun, is considered a weapon in Canada.

“It’s not technically a police grade Taser,” said Eric Prum, 25, one of the founders of Ultimate Tazer Ball. “That being said, the first thing the [players] will tell you is that they hate getting tased. Those things really do hurt.”

The Toronto Terror is one of four teams in the newly minted Ultimate Tazer Ball league. The game puts two teams of four players on a field about the size of a hockey rink. Players have to get a large ball into a net while avoiding their opponents, all of whom are armed with the device.

“The reason it’s really cool in game play is because it causes your muscles to spasm, therefore you’re going to drop the ball, you’re going to trip, you’re going to fall over. And it’s fun,” said Mr. Prum.

The stun guns are not lethal. While high-rates of voltage are certainly painful, it is electrical current that kills.

Read more -
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/08/ultimate-tazer-ball/

The Top 12 Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement -

2012-02-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

The Top 12 Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement -

Here are the top twelve reasons why this deal stinks:

1. We've now set a price for forgeries and fabricating documents. It's $2000 per loan. This is a rounding error compared to the chain of title problem these systematic practices were designed to circumvent. The cost is also trivial in comparison to the average loan, which is roughly $180k, so the settlement represents about 1% of loan balances. It is less than the price of the title insurance that banks failed to get when they transferred the loans to the trust. It is a fraction of the cost of the legal expenses when foreclosures are challenged. It's a great deal for the banks because no one is at any of the servicers going to jail for forgery and the banks have set the upper bound of the cost of riding roughshod over 300 years of real estate law.

2. That $26 billion is actually $5 billion of bank money and the rest is your money. The mortgage principal writedowns are guaranteed to come almost entirely from securitized loans, which means from investors, which in turn means taxpayers via Fannie and Freddie, pension funds, insurers, and 401 (k)s. Refis of performing loans also reduce income to those very same investors.

3. That $5 billion divided among the big banks wouldn't even represent a significant quarterly hit. Freddie and Fannie putbacks to the major banks have been running at that level each quarter.

4. That $20 billion actually makes bank second liens sounder, so this deal is a stealth bailout that strengthens bank balance sheets at the expense of the broader public.

5. The enforcement is a joke. The first layer of supervision is the banks reporting on themselves. The framework is similar to that of the OCC consent decrees implemented last year, which Adam Levitin and yours truly, among others, decried as regulatory theater.

6. The past history of servicer consent decrees shows the servicers all fail to comply. Why? Servicer records and systems are terrible in the best of times, and their systems and fee structures aren't set up to handle much in the way of delinquencies. As Tom Adams has pointed out in earlier posts, servicer behavior is predictable when their portfolios are hit with a high level of delinquencies and defaults: they cheat in all sorts of ways to reduce their losses.

7. The cave-in Nevada and Arizona on the Countrywide settlement suit is a special gift for Bank of America, who is by far the worst offender in the chain of title disaster (since, according to sworn testimony of its own employee in Kemp v. Countrywide, Countrywide failed to comply with trust delivery requirements). This move proves that failing to comply with a consent degree has no consequences but will merely be rolled into a new consent degree which will also fail to be enforced. These cases also alleged HAMP violations as consumer fraud violations and could have gotten costly and emboldened other states to file similar suits not just against Countrywide but other servicers, so it was useful to the other banks as well.

8. If the new federal task force were intended to be serious, this deal would have not have been settled. You never settle before investigating. It's a bad idea to settle obvious, widespread wrongdoing on the cheap. You use the stuff that is easy to prove to gather information and secure cooperation on the stuff that is harder to prove. In Missouri and Nevada, the robosigning investigation led to criminal charges against agents of the servicers. But even though these companies were acting at the express direction and approval of the services, no individuals or entities higher up the food chain will face any sort of meaningful charges.

9. There is plenty of evidence of widespread abuses not that are appear not to be on the attorney generals' or media's radar, such as servicer driven foreclosures and looting of investors' funds via impermissible and inflated charges. While no serious probe was undertaken, even the limited or peripheral investigations show massive failures (60% of documents had errors in AGs/Fed's pathetically small sample). Similarly, the US Trustee's office found widespread evidence of significant servicer errors in bankruptcy-related filings, such as inflated and bogus fees, and even substantial, completely made up charges. Yet the services and banks will suffer no real consequences for these abuses.

10. A deal on robosiginging serves to cover up the much deeper chain of title problem. And don't get too excited about the New York, Massachusetts, and Delaware MERS suits. They put pressure on banks to clean up this monstrous mess only if the AGs go through to trial and get tough penalties. The banks will want to settle their way out of that too. And even if these cases do go to trial and produce significant victories for the AGs, they still do not address the problem of failures to transfer notes correctly.

11. Don't bet on a deus ex machina in terms of the new federal foreclosure task force to improve this picture much. If you think Schneiderman, as a co-chairman who already has a full-time day job in New York, is going to outfox a bunch of D.C. insiders who are part of the problem, you are smoking something very strong.

12. We'll now have to listen to banks and their sycophant defenders declaring victory despite being wrong on the law and the facts. They will proceed to marginalize and write off criticisms of the servicing practices that hurt homeowners and investors and are devastating communities. But the problems will fester and the housing market will continue to suffer. Investors in mortgage-backed securities, who know that services have been screwing them for years, will be hung out to dry and will likely never return to a private MBS market, since the problems won't ever be fixed. This settlement has not only revealed the residential mortgage market to be too big to fail, but puts it on long term, perhaps permanent, government life support.

Read more -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yves-smith/mortgage-settlement_b_1264806.html?ref=business&ir=Business

McCain’s new ads in British bus shelters actually smell like baked potatoes -

2012-02-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

McCain’s new ads in British bus shelters actually smell like baked potatoes -

The smell of potatoes baking is the secret ingredient in a new McCain Food campaign that has just launched across Britain.

At 10 bus shelters from London to Glasgow, commuters can press a button on a bulging 3D baked potato and get a whiff of a custom McCain scent.

“This is their biggest launch since oven chips (fries) in 1979,” an advertising spokeswoman told the Toronto Star.

“The idea is to bring the whole feeling, the smell and comforting warmth” of baked potatoes straight to potential consumers.

In a marketing first, the fibreglass potato also warms up and dispenses a discount coupon.

The $2.2 million campaign from the British arm of the New Brunswick frozen foods giant is promoting McCain Ready Baked Jackets, which are microwaveable pre-baked potatoes.

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1129174--mccain-is-sniffing-success-with-3d-jacket-potato-ad-in-british-bus-shelters?bn=1

Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners since the year began 40 days ago -

2012-02-09T20:04:00.000-05:00

Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners since the year began 40 days ago -

A human rights group expressed alarm Thursday at the pace of executions in Iraq and called for Iraqi authorities to abolish the practice.
In a statement, Human Rights Watch noted that Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners since the year began 40 days ago. Fifty-one of the executions occurred in January and 14 so far this month, it said.
"The Iraqi government seems to have given state executioners the green light to execute at will," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to declare an immediate moratorium on all executions and begin an overhaul of its flawed criminal justice system."
The organization said it was particularly concerned that Iraqi courts use coerced confessions as evidence. "The government should disclose the identities, locations, and status of all prisoners on death row, the crimes for which they have been convicted, court records for their being charged, tried, and sentenced, and details of any impending executions," Human Rights Watch said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed shock late last month over reports that 34 individuals, including two women, had been executed in Iraq on January 19 following their convictions for crimes.
"Even if the most scrupulous fair trial standards were observed, this would be a terrifying number of executions to take place in a single day," Pillay said.
"Given the lack of transparency in court proceedings, major concerns about due process and fairness of trials, and the very wide range of offenses for which the death penalty can be imposed in Iraq, it is a truly shocking figure."
More than 1,200 people are believed to have been sentenced to death since 2004, though the number executed is not known, she said. The death penalty can be imposed for some four dozen crimes, including damage to public property under certain circumstances, she said.

Read more -
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/world/meast/iraq-executions/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Google to pay users to browse - so the search giant can watch every link they click -

2012-02-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

Google to pay users to browse - so the search giant can watch every link they click -

Google is to pay computer users to browse the web so the search giant watches every link they click.

'Panelists' in the new Google Screenwise programme will be paid up to $25 in Amazon gift cards.

The payments offer an insight into how much web users' private data - usually harvested by giants such as Facebook and Google without payment - is worth.

Users have to download a browser extension, which allows Google to monitor which sites they visit and how they use them.

Popular blog Search Engine Land said, 'The timing of this program seems odd, especially considering the backlash that Google has faced over the upcoming changes to its privacy policy.'

'Even though this Screenwise program is completely opt-in, some critics are bound to question why Google needs more data about web searchers and the websites they visit.'

European regulators wrote to Google CEO Larry Page last week calling on the search giant to halt the introduction of its new 'one-size-fits-all' privacy policy

The policy was due to come into effect on March 1, and would allow Google to share what it knows about users between services such as Google Search, Gmail and YouTube.

The move horrified privacy advocates and bloggers - tech site ZDNet said that Google would 'know more about you than your wife does' and said the policy was 'Big Brother-ish'.

The Screenwise page says that the company is currently 'overwhelmed' by interest in the programme.

'As a panelist, you'll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them. What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products,' says the company.

Users are given a $5 gift card for signing up, then receive further $5 cards every month as long as they remain signed up.

Teacher Accused of Spraying Febreze on "Fishy" Student - Mother received written apology -

2012-02-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

Teacher Accused of Spraying Febreze on "Fishy" Student - Mother received written apology -

This time the teacher got a time out.

An elementary school teacher in Newfoundland, Canada has reportedly been put on paid leave as district officials investigate a claim she sprayed a student with an odor eliminator to mask his fishy-smelling lunch.

Patti Rideout told CBC News she was “very hurt and very angry” after learning the teacher of her 10-year-old son, Christian Roberts, had put him in the hallway then sprayed him with Febreze last week.

Other kids at Twillingate Island Elementary School had teased him over the fried capelin meal she’d made him, she said.

"I feel like he's been embarrassed, bullied, and I think what she [did] was very disgraceful," Rideout told CBC News. "I think my son was treated not like a human being — I think he was treated like a dog, or a cat … I'm very hurt and very angry over this."

Rideout told CBC that when she first called her son’s teacher for an apology she hung up.

After taking her concerns to the school board, Rideout received a written apology from the school’s principal and vice principal, St. John’s newspaper The Telegram reported.

“The teacher has offered to make an apology to your son in front of the class,” the letter said.

Read more -
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/weird/Teacher-Sprays-Febreze-on-Fishy-Smelling-Student--139009739.html

U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that its QUARTERLY Loss widened to $3.3 Billion - $3.3 Billion -

2012-02-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that its QUARTERLY Loss widened to $3.3 Billion - $3.3 Billion -

The U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that its quarterly loss widened to $3.3 billion amid declining mail volume and mounting costs for future retiree health benefits as it struggles to stave off bankruptcy.

From October through December 2011, losses were $3 billion more than the same period a year ago, even though that quarter is typically the strongest due to increased holiday shipping. The mail agency said that at this rate, it will run out of money by October.

The Postal Service is seeking new leeway from Congress to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, raise stamp prices and reduce health and other labor costs.

Also at stake are roughly 100,000 jobs, part of a postal cost-cutting plan to save up to $6.5 billion a year by closing 252 mail processing centers and up to 3,700 post offices. At the request of Congress, the cash-strapped agency agreed to wait until mid-May to begin closures so lawmakers would have time to stabilize its finances first.

Prospects for immediate congressional action remain uncertain.

"Passage of legislation is urgently needed that provides the Postal Service with the speed and flexibility needed to cut costs that are not under our control, including employee health costs," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

Read more -
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POSTAL_PROBLEMS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-09-09-40-07

White 'Cobwebs' Found in Nuclear Waste Pool - "'Mutant' spider fears at nuclear waste lab" -

2012-02-09T11:11:00.000-05:00

White 'Cobwebs' Found in Nuclear Waste Pool - "'Mutant' spider fears at nuclear waste lab" -

Radioactive nuclear fuel rods at Savannah River National Laboratory. White cobweb-like material appears near top of some containers. Image: U.S. Department of Energy.
At the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, where, among other things, spent fuel rods from nuclear power reactors are stored, workers last fall reported a white substance, similar to cobwebs left by spiders, in one of the pools of water where the radioactive rods are kept.
"We observed it, it was unusual, it appears to be biological in nature but we don't know that for sure," said Will Callicott, the lab's manager of executive communications. "It doesn't seem to be doing any harm."
It has, though, prompted some blaring headlines in tabloids in the U.K.
"'Mutant' spider fears at nuclear waste lab," said The Sun.
"Could Spider-Man become a reality?" asked the Daily Mail.
If you're not into superheroes, Spider-Man was a teenager who took on extraordinary powers after he was bitten by a radioactive spider. In reality, scientists say they still have many questions about what radiation does to living things.
It is certainly harmful in large doses, breaking down tissue and damaging DNA, but American scientists who studied the evacuated wasteland around the Soviet Chernobyl nuclear plant after the 1986 accident there said they got a surprise. At least 135,000 people were forced to move - but the area they abandoned became a haven for wildlife.
"If I were going to be a moose," said Robert Baker of Texas Tech University, "I would want to live in the exclusion zone." Baker and a colleague, Ron Chesser, tracked the plants and animals around the wrecked nuclear plant in the decades after the accident.
"They're going to live a lot longer lives, because humans are worse for them than the radiation was," Baker said.
Staff members at Savannah River say they have taken a small sample of the "string-like growth" found on the ends of the spent fuel racks, but Callicott said they will not have a full report until March on what it is.

Read more -
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/white-cobwebs-found-nuclear-waste-pool-200836503--abc-news.html

Washington Footing Cell Phone Bill for Millions of Low Income Americans - $1.6 billion to cover 12.5 million phones -

2012-02-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

Washington Footing Cell Phone Bill for Millions of Low Income Americans - $1.6 billion to cover 12.5 million phones -

Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don't qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.
Last summer, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story shed some light on a government program that relatively few Americans knew existed. (Read more about it here.) The Lifeline program provides low-income Americans with free cell phones (basic ones such as those made by Tracfone, not smartphones) and covers up to 250 free minutes each month. As many as 5.5 million residents in Pennsylvania alone could qualify for the program, which is funded primarily by the Universal Service Fund fee added to the bills of land-line and wireless customers.
The program came to be after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, and the FCC created the Universal Service Fund to help "to promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates," among other things. All telecommunications carriers must pay into the fund, and many do so by tacking on a fee to each of their customers' bills. It's probably added into your monthly wireless bill and your landline bill, if you still have one.
The Universal Service Fund provides discounts on phone services, or in some cases, entirely free services to low-income Americans. The fund helps pay for landlines or cell phones, whichever the recipient prefers. There's also a one-time discount of up to $30 to cover an installation fee or a cell phone. Considering how cheap some cell phones are nowadays, the money more than covers the costs of a basic phone. Then, the fund covers phone bills to the tune of $10 a month, which typically translates as 250 minutes for wireless plans of the types of phones we're talking about. Americans who receive food stamps, Medicaid, or other federal aid, or who earn up to 135% of the federal poverty guidelines, qualify for the program.

Read more -
http://news.yahoo.com/washington-footing-cell-phone-bill-millions-low-income-202500656.html

Hundreds Of Thousands Could Have Been Exposed To Measles At Super Bowl Village -

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hundreds Of Thousands Could Have Been Exposed To Measles At Super Bowl Village -

Hundreds of thousands of people at the Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis could have been exposed to the measles.

The Indiana State Department of Health confirms that a person infected with the highly contagious disease went to the Super Bowl Village in downtown Indianapolis on Feb. 3, but did not say what time the person was there. WISH-TV reports that 200,000 people were there that day. Health officials said the infected person did not go into the NFL Experience at the Indiana Convention Center.

Indiana is currently working with health officials in New York and Massachusetts to warn them of a potential measles outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also been notified.

Indiana health officials said in a statement to CBS Cleveland that two cases of measles in Hamilton County have been identified and there are two probable cases in Boone County.

Read more -
http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/hundreds-of-thousands-could-have-been-exposed-to-measles-at-super-bowl-village/

LA County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches -

2012-02-09T07:19:00.000-05:00

LA County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches -

When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home.

The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County.

In passing the 37-page ordinance on Tuesday, officials sought to outline responsibilities for law enforcement and other public agencies while also providing clarification on beach-goer activities that could potentially disrupt or even injure the public.

The updated rules now prohibit “any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll” any object other than a beach ball or volleyball “upon or over any beach” between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Exceptions allow for ball-throwing in predesignated areas, when a person obtains a permit, or playing water polo “in or over the Pacific Ocean”.

Read more -
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/la-county-oks-1000-fine-for-throwing-football-frisbee-on-beaches/

How Kennedy bought 1,200 hand rolled Cuban cigars just hours before ordered blockade of Communist state 50 years ago -

2012-02-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

How Kennedy bought 1,200 hand rolled Cuban cigars just hours before ordered blockade of Communist state 50 years ago -

President John F Kennedy ordered an aide to buy him as many Cuban cigars as he could just hours before he authorised the U.S. trade embargo - which subsequently made them illegal.
Kennedy asked his head of press and fellow cigar smoker Pierre Salinger to obtain '1,000 Petit Upmanns' on February 6, 1962, so he could have them in his hands before they were deemed contraband.
Then, seconds after he was told the next morning that 1,200 of Cuba's finest export had been bought for him, he signed the decree to ban all of the communist state's products from the U.S.

The re-surfacing of the story, initially recounted by Salinger to Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1992, comes with the passing of the 50th anniversary of the embargo yesterday.
JFK, he said, called him into his office and said he needed 'some help' to find 'a lot of cigars'. He wanted '1,000 Petit Upmanns' and needed them by 'tomorrow morning'.
Salinger added: 'I walked out of the office wondering if I would succeed. But since I was a solid Cuban cigar smoker, I knew a lot of stores. I worked on the problem into the evening.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098064/John-F-Kennedy-bought-1-200-Cuban-cigars-hours-ordered-US-trade-embargo.html

Three Indian politicians from a morally conservative party quit after caught watching porn in parliament -

2012-02-08T19:57:00.000-05:00

Three Indian politicians from a morally conservative party quit after caught watching porn in parliament -

Three Indian politicians from a morally conservative party, including a women’s affairs minister, resigned on Wednesday after being caught watching pornography on a mobile phone during a session of state parliament.

News channels broadcast footage showing Karnataka state Minister for Cooperation Laxman Savadi sharing a porn clip with his colleague C.C. Patil, the minister for women and child development, while sitting in the state assembly.

The owner of the phone, state Minister for Ports, Science and Technology Krishna Palemar, also quit.

“We are requesting the honorable Speaker of the House to conduct an inquiry and we’ll come out with a clean chit,” Patil said, denying that they were deliberately looking at porn.

The three men said they did not want to cause any embarrassment for their party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules the state and is in opposition at a national level.

There has been outrage over the incident not just from rights activists and right-wing Hindu groups in conservative India, but also from the riling Congress party which called for the assembly to be dissolved.

Read more -
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/08/india-ministers-quit-after-caught-watching-porn-in-parliament/

24 Signs That We Are Getting Dangerously Close To A Major War In The Middle East -

2012-02-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

24 Signs That We Are Getting Dangerously Close To A Major War In The Middle East -

Is 2012 the year when we will see a major war in the Middle East? For years we have heard about rising tensions in the Middle East, and for years we have heard politicians express concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, but now things really do seem to be reaching a boiling point. In just the past few days, the U.S. government has imposed tough new sanctions on Iran and has totally shut down the U.S. embassy in Syria. The truth is that we are getting dangerously close to a major war in the Middle East. So will Israel strike Iran at some point in the next few months? Will the U.S. military intervene in the rapidly escalating conflict inside of Syria? If a major war does erupt, it could send the price of oil skyrocketing and there is the potential that the war could broaden very quickly. Hezbollah has already indicated that it will side with Syria, and there is always the potential that Hamas could as well. Russia and China have both stated that they are completely opposed to military action by the United States against Iran and Syria, and they have even hinted that they would possibly even help defend those countries. As the nations of the world take sides, there is even the potential that we could see World War III develop. Let us hope that it never comes to that, but with the world as unstable as it is right now, you never know what may happen.

What makes war so much more likely now is that nobody has shown any signs of backing down.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has sworn that he will never step down.

U.S. President Barack Obama says that it is only a matter of time until he is forced to step down and that no other outcome is acceptable.

Iran has sworn that it will never end its nuclear program.

The United States believes that if Iran is allowed to develop a nuclear weapon it would be a fundamental threat to world security.

Israel believes that if Iran is allowed to develop a nuclear weapon it would be a fundamental threat to the very existence of the nation of Israel.

So if nobody backs down, what is going to happen?

I think we all know what is going to happen.

The following are 25 signs that we are getting dangerously close to a major war in the Middle East….

#1 The United States has just imposed tough new sanctions on Iran. Some of the new sanctions are specifically targeted at the central bank of Iran. Stronger sanctions have been a prelude to war in the past, and the Obama administration surely wants to argue that “all other alternatives have been exhausted” before going to war.

#2 The EU has announced that all imports of crude oil from Iran will be bannedstarting in July.

#3 The U.S. embassy in Syria has been shut down and the Obama administration has once again called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign.

#4 The U.S. has also removed all diplomats from Syria.

#5 In speaking of the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Barack Obamais making it very clear what he believes the final result will be….

“This is not going to be a matter of if, it’s going to be a matter of when.”

This is very reminiscent of the language that Obama used to describe the removal of Gadhafi before the U.S. launched airstrikes in Libya.

#6 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling for “an international coalition” to support the opposition fighters in Syria.

#7 Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says that Iran is moving their uranium enrichment facilities into recently constructed underground bunkers and that the point of no return is rapidly approaching….

“The world has no doubt that Iran’s nuclear program is steadily nearing readiness and is about to enter an immunity zone”

#8 There are indications that Israel may consider launching an attack against Iran without even notifying the United States. Aaron David Miller, a Mideast peace negotiator during the Clinton administration, recently made the following statement….

“There’s a growing concern — more than a concern — that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge”

#9 The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes that Israel will strike Iran at some point during the months of April, May or June.

#10 Former IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon insists that an attack on Iran could be successful….

“It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff”

#11 U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner says that the Obama administration “is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons“.

#12 Barack Obama underscored his policy toward Iran in a speech just the other day….

“I’ve been very clear — we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region”

#13 According to Debka, thousands of U.S. troops have been heading to “two strategic islands within reach of Iran”.

#14 Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei is speaking as if the coming war is a foregone conclusion….

“The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S.”

#15 Khamenei also seems to think that the outcome of the coming war is a foregone conclusion as well….

“In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated”

#16 Khamenei also has declared that Israel is a “cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut“.

#17 According to one estimate, there are currently 200,000 missiles aimed at the nation of Israel.

#18 Some Israeli officials claim that Iran is trying to develop a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States.

#19 The death toll from the conflict inside of Syria continues to rise. Accordingto Debka, “a continuous Syrian bombardment beginning early Saturday, Feb. 4, is estimated to have left a record 350 dead and up to 1,300 wounded in the Homs district of Khaldiyeh.”

#20 According to the United Nations, a total of approximately 6,000 peoplehave been killed since the conflict in Syria began.

#21 The city of Homs is one giant war zone at this point. The following comes from a recent article in the Telegraph….

“We can’t count all the bodies from the streets and the collapsed buildings. Anyone who tries to go on the street might be killed – there are snipers,” said Abu Abdu al-Homsi, spokesman for the Syrian Revolutionary Council, an opposition group, in Homs. “An old woman – her son was shot and killed in the street, she went to get his body and was shot dead too.”

#22 The Russians appear to be very serious about supporting the Assad regime in Syria. According to Debka, “the Russians backed their hard line against the West by putting Rapid Reaction Force (aka Spetsnaz) units in Black Sea bases on the ready to set out for Syria and defend Damascus.”

#23 It is being reported that a Hezbollah official has indicated that Hezbollah will attack Israel if Syria is attacked.

#24 There are even signs that Saudi Arabia is busy preparing for a coming war. The following comes from a recent Debka article….

“Our military sources report that the Saudis this week wound up their own intensive preparations for war. Large forces are now deployed around Saudi oil fields, pipelines and export facilities in the eastern provinces opposite the Persian Gulf, backed by anti-missile Patriot PAC-3 batteries. American, British and French fighter-bombers have been landing at Saudi air bases to safeguard the capital, Riyadh.”

If a major war does erupt in the Middle East, what is that going to do to the global economy and the price of oil?

It is being projected that the price of gasoline in the United States could go above 4 dollars a gallon this spring even if there isn’t a war in the Middle East.
So how much higher would it go if there is a conflict with Iran?

Today, Iran is the third largest exporter of oil in the entire world. If those shipments are cut off that would have a huge impact.

But Iran could have an even greater impact by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Approximately 20 percent of all oil sold in the world goes through the Strait of Hormuz each year. If Iran started raining missiles down on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, that would change the global economy overnight.

We live in very unusual times, and it should be apparent to everyone that there is not going to be lasting peace in the Middle East any time soon.

Right now, the world is on a road that is inevitably going to lead to a major war in the Middle East and nobody is showing any signs of backing down.

When the next major war does erupt in the Middle East, it is going to change the world forever.

But what kind of change will that be?

Read more -
http://www.blacklistednews.com/24_Signs_That_We_Are_Getting_Dangerously_Close_To_A_Major_War_In_The_Middle_East_/17815/0/0/0/Y/M.html

“Bored” Clerk Caught Watching Porn During Rape Trial - “He said that he watched a lot of internet porn," -

2012-02-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

“Bored” Clerk Caught Watching Porn During Rape Trial - “He said that he watched a lot of internet porn," -

A veteran London court clerk caught surfing porn sites during a rape trial said he did so “because he was bored.”

Debasish Majumder, 54, pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct in public office and five counts of possession of indecent images, the U.K. Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The prosecution alleged Majumder viewed about 30 images between Dec. 9 and 10 during a rape trial. The judge sitting behind him said he noticed the filthy photos as the victim in the case was testifying.

“He said that he watched a lot of internet porn, he said that at work there were moments in his day that were boring and he would surf the net not to get access to sites but to get the titles of sites to use on his home computer and normally sites were blocked,” the paper quoted prosecutor Annabel Darlow as saying.

Read more -
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/weird/Bored-Clerk-Caught-Watching-Porn-During-Rape-Trial-138928634.html

'Woolly mammoth' spotted in Siberia - thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago -

2012-02-08T16:32:00.000-05:00

'Woolly mammoth' spotted in Siberia - thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago -

A BEAST lurches through icy waters in a sighting a paranormal investigator thinks could prove woolly mammoths are not extinct after all.

The animal – thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago – was apparently filmed wading through a river in the freezing wilds of Siberia.

The jaw-dropping footage was caught by a government-employed engineer last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, it is claimed.

He filmed the elephant-sized creature as it struggled against the racing water.

Its hair matches samples recovered from mammoth remains regularly dug up from the permafrost in frozen Russia.

The official was reportedly in the area surveying for a planned road.

Paranormal writer Michael Cohen said: "Rumours of a handful of mammoths still kicking around in the vast wilderness of Siberia have been circulating for decades and occasionally sightings by locals have occurred.

"Siberia is an enormous territory and much of it remains completely unexplored and untouched by humans. "

Woolly mammoths roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

A small pocket remained on and around Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, and these did not die out until 3,500 years ago.

Mr Cohen, 41, added: "It is highly possible that a number of species, extinct elsewhere, survive in the area.

Read more -
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4116326/Woolly-mammoth-spotted-in-Siberia.html

10,000 Students To Be Bused In For First Lady Exercise Event - her Let’s Move initiative -

2012-02-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

10,000 Students To Be Bused In For First Lady Exercise Event - her Let’s Move initiative -

Thousands of students, several well-known athletes and a number of politicians are expected to join Michelle Obama for an event in Des Moines that will promote exercise and healthy eating.

Besides the first lady, participants at the Thursday event include Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, gymnast Shawn Johnson, figure skater Michelle Kwan and NASCAR champion Carl Edwards.

About 10,000 children will be bused to the event from 45 schools in the Des Moines area.

It will be Obama’s first stop on a three-day national tour marking her Let’s Move initiative, which promotes physical fitness and healthy eating for children. She’s been drawn to Des Moines by Iowa’s Healthiest State initiative.

Read more -
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/10000-students-to-be-bused-in-for-first-lady-exercise-event/

Judge Orders Florida Man To Take His Wife on a Date - and stipulates flowers, bowling, and Red Lobster -

2012-02-08T11:37:00.000-05:00

Judge Orders Florida Man To Take His Wife on a Date - and stipulates flowers, bowling, and Red Lobster -

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday that a man involved in a scuffle with his wife treat her to an evening at a local bowling alley and a romantic meal at Red Lobster.

Judge John Hurley ordered that Joseph Bray, 47 and his wife Sonja, 39, also visit a marriage counselor.

Hurley handed down this ruling instead of setting bond or slapping Bray with a prison sentence after he deemed domestic violence charges leveled by Bray's wife to be "very, very minor."

According to Bray's arrest affidavit, Bray and his wife got embroiled in a spat after he failed to wish her a happy birthday. Bray's wife claims that her husband shoved her against a sofa and grabbed her neck.

The judge, citing Bray's otherwise clean record and the incident's apparent lack of serious violence, did not consider Bray's behavior a major offense. However, Bray must follow the stipulations of Hurley's ruling very closely if he wants to avoid potential jail time.

"He's going to stop by somewhere and he's going to get some flowers," Hurley said at a hearing, according to Florida newspaper Sun Sentinel. "And then he's going to go home, pick up his wife, get dressed, take her to Red Lobster. And then after they have Red Lobster, they're going to go bowling."

Hurley noted that he would not typically treat a domestic violence charge in a similarly jocular or light-hearted manner.

"The court would not normally [make this ruling] if the court felt there was some violence but this is very, very minor and the court felt that that was a better resolution than the other alternatives," Hurley said.

Read more -
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Judge-Orders-Florida-Man-To-Take-His-Wife-on-a-Date-138920574.html

Texas boy, 6, reportedly snatched by mountain lion - from a paved walkway in between a restaurant and a hotel -

2012-02-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

Texas boy, 6, reportedly snatched by mountain lion - from a paved walkway in between a restaurant and a hotel -

A 6-year-old Texas boy is reportedly recovering after being snatched by a mountain lion from his mother's hand at Big Bend National Park.
Rivers Hobbs was dragged into a bush next to a walkway near a restaurant at Chisos Mountains Lodge by the animal at about 8 p.m. Sunday as the boy's family returned to their room, the Austin Statesman reports.
The boy's father, Jason Hobbs, jumped on top of the lion and struck it while his wife, Kristi Harris, gripped its hind legs. Jason Hobbs eventually stabbed the lion chest with his pocketknife, Harris said.
The lion then dropped the boy and ran away, Harris said.
"This attack did not happen on a trail. We were not hiking," Harris told the newspaper. "We were on a paved walkway in between a restaurant and a hotel, and this cat grabbed my child from me."
Rivers was hospitalized overnight with puncture wounds and cuts. The family had planned to return to Leander, Texas, on Tuesday. Harris said her son is doing well despite the scare.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/mountain-lion-snatches-leander-boy-in-big-bend-2157840.html

Those embarrassing photos you deleted from Facebook? They’re still there -

2012-02-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

Those embarrassing photos you deleted from Facebook? They’re still there -

Those embarrassing photographs you thought you deleted from Facebook are still there, a technology site reports.

A photograph of a toddler posted and then deleted by a family friend in 2008 is still there, Ars Technica senior editor Jacqui Cheng said after verifying the information herself.

“The photo is still online, as are several others that readers linked me to that were deleted at various points in 2009 and 2010,” Cheng said.

Ars Technica first exposed the lingering deleted Facebook pictures three years ago and reported Monday that nothing had improved.

Facebook is trying to fix the problem, spokesman Frederic Wolens told the Star in an email on Tuesday.

“We have been working hard to move our photo storage to newer systems which do ensure photos are fully deleted within 30 days of the removal request being received,” he said.

“This process is nearly complete and there is only a very small percentage of user photos (fewer than 3 per cent) still on the old system awaiting migration.

“We expect this process to be completed within the next month or two.”

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1127385--those-embarrassing-photos-you-deleted-from-facebook-they-re-still-there?bn=1

Google Testing Experimental Devices In Hundreds Of Employees’ Homes -

2012-02-07T16:53:00.000-05:00

Google Testing Experimental Devices In Hundreds Of Employees’ Homes -

Google is testing 252 “mystery” devices in its employees’ homes, but what the device is, nobody outside of Google knows.

Google recently applied for an experimental license with the Federal Communications Commission for an unnamed entertainment device.

The device is still early in development as testing is set to see if the device works properly and to “reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks.”

One possibility that was suggested was the device is related to the Android@home framework, where Google promises to allow users to control appliances such as lights and alarm clocks through an Android device.

Another possibility is that it could be another version of Google TV.

Read more -
http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/02/07/google-testing-experimental-devices-in-hundreds-of-employees-homes/

Students at a public Pennsylvania university can buy the "Morning-After" Pill from a campus vending machine -

2012-02-07T14:25:00.000-05:00

Students at a public Pennsylvania university can buy the "Morning-After" Pill from a campus vending machine -

Students at a public Pennsylvania university can buy the "morning-after" pill from a campus vending machine, though the school's minister is working to get the dispenser off of school grounds.
The vending machine at Shippensburg University's Etter Health Center that provides Plan B emergency contraceptive pills for $25 was installed after a survey found that 85 percent of student respondents supported it, according to Peter Gigliotti, the university's executive director for communications and marketing. The machine also dispenses condoms and pregnancy tests.

"We value student input on matters that directly pertain to their health and safety so these results were an important part of the decision-making process," Gigliotti said in a statement emailed to FoxNews.com. "We are not the first one to make this available so this is not unique to us or to public higher education. This decision was also made in consultation with our medical staff."
Plan B is available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older. Gigliotti said that all current students at Shippensburg -- a public school of roughly 8,300 students in central Pennsylvania -- fit that criteria.
"Any student who wants to discuss Plan B may do so at any time," Gigliotti's email continued. "In addition, medical information is provided with the Plan B for purchasers to read before its use."
The machine -- the only one on the school's campus -- is in a private room within the health center and is accessible only by students, Gigliotti said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/07/vending-machine-at-pennsylvania-college-dispenses-morning-after-pill/

Facebook and Twitter are more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol, study finds -

2012-02-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

Facebook and Twitter are more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol, study finds -

A new study suggests that social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter are more difficult to resist than cigarettes or alcohol.
A team from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business recently conducted an experiment involving 205 people in Wurtzburg, Germany to analyze the addictive properties of social media and other vices.

Participants in the week-long study were polled via BlackBerry smartphones seven times per day and asked to report when they experienced a desire within the past 30 minutes, and whether or not the succumbed to that desire. They were also asked to gauge each desire on a scale from mild to “irresistible.”
In total, 10,558 responses were recorded and a total of 7,827 “desire episodes” were reported by participants. The results of the team’s study will soon be published in the Psychological Science journal, however preliminary data provided to The Guardian suggests the highest rate of “self-control failures” were tied to social media services.
“Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success,” said Wilhelm Hofmann, the leader of team conducting the study. Hofmann suggests people may fail to resist social media so much because there is no obvious or immediate downside to checking services like Twitter or Facebook. He does warn that these services can ultimately be a huge drain on users’ time, however.
“Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist,” Hofmann said.
”With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/06/facebook-and-twitter-are-more-addictive-than-cigarettes-or-alcohol-study-finds/?test=latestnews

'Oldest living thing on earth' discovered - dated them as up to 200,000 years old -

2012-02-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

'Oldest living thing on earth' discovered - dated them as up to 200,000 years old -

Australian scientists sequenced the DNA of samples of the giant seagrass, Posidonia oceanic, from 40 underwater meadows in an area spanning more than 2,000 miles, from Spain to Cyprus.
The analysis, published in the journal PLos ONE, found the seagrass was between 12,000 and 200,000 years old and was most likely to be at least 100,000 years old. This is far older than the current known oldest species, a Tasmanian plant that is believed to be 43,000 years old.
Prof Carlos Duarte, from the University of Western Australia, said the seagrass has been able to reach such old age because it can reproduce asexually and generate clones of itself. Organisms that can only reproduce sexually are inevitably lost at each generation, he added.
"They are continually producing new branches," he told The Daily Telegraph. "They spread very slowly and cover a very large area giving them more area to mine resources. They can then store nutrients within their very large branches during bad conditions for growth."
The separate patches of seagrass in the Mediterranean span almost 10 miles and weigh more than 6,000 tons.

Read more -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9066393/Ancient-seagrass-Oldest-living-thing-on-earth-discovered-in-Mediterranean-Sea.html

Presenting The "Rise Of The HFT Machine" - Visual Confirmation How SkyNet Broke The Stock Market On US Downgrade Day -

2012-02-06T19:16:00.000-05:00

Presenting The "Rise Of The HFT Machine" - Visual Confirmation How SkyNet Broke The Stock Market On US Downgrade Day -

Zero Hedge has not been focusing much on the topic of our broken equity markets recently because if by now, following over three years of coverage, someone is not aware just how fragmented, manipulated and largely broken the market truly is, they never will. Yet every now and then it worth reminding readers who may have stumbled on this blog recently, just how bad things are in graphic format. Our friends at Nanex, who are by far the best forensic analysts of everything that is busted with the US stock market, have completed a masterpiece analysis showing the churning (packet traffic) in the various fragmented US market venues, from the NYSE to the Nasdaq to BATS and so forth, on a daily basis beginning in January 2007 and continuing through today. While the "rise of the HFT machine" over the past 5 years, following the adoption of Reg NMS, will hardly be a surprise to most, what is stunning is the first animated confirmation of the market terminally breaking on August 5, 2011, the day the US was downgraded, an observation that first was made right here on Zero Hedge. Which begs the question: what really happened in the stock market on August 5, 2011 when the US was downgraded to AA+, when everything literally broke, who is intervening constantly in the stock market, and why are they doing so via various HFT intermediary mechanisms?

Note the insanity that begins on August 5, 2011:

Simpsons dolls banned in Iran as 'promoters of Western culture' - Superman and Spider-Man were allowed -

2012-02-06T13:57:00.000-05:00

Simpsons dolls banned in Iran as 'promoters of Western culture' - Superman and Spider-Man were allowed -

Sorry kids, the Simpsons are now forbidden in Tehran. An agency tied to the Iranian government has banned the sale of dolls of the American cartoon characters, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday.

According to Shargh, an independent newspaper, the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture, putting Bart and Homer alongside Barbie on an Iranian toy blacklist. Superman and Spider-Man were allowed because they helped the "oppressed," the Associated Press reported.

Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, secretary of policymaking at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, didn't say what was wrong with the Simpsons in particular, but said any doll that had distinguishable adult genitals, or any dolls of adults at all, were banned "because these dolls are promoters of Western culture," the AP reported.

Read more -
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/02/simpsons-dolls-banned-in-iran-as-promoters-of-western-culture.html

Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150 -

2012-02-06T11:25:00.002-05:00

Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150 -

The Ford F-150 has just picked up a doppelganger in China. According to CarNewsChina, Jianghuai Auto Corporation has just unveiled its new 4R3 pickup, and sure enough, the vehicle looks to be a near carbon copy of America's best-selling truck. JAC reportedly wants to provide buyers in China, Africa and South America with a larger, inexpensive work vehicle. While the appearances of the Ford F-Series and 4R3 visuals differ ever so slightly, the similarities far outweigh the incongruities. According to CNC, JAC is a fairly small automaker in the People's Republic that specializes in rebodied Hyundai cars, SUVs and pickups.

Word has it the 4R3 will be powered by a 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder engine generating just 108 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. There's no word on cost at this point. The JAC 4R3 is set to debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April, though there's no telling how long the vehicle will be on the market before the company gets a call from the lawyers in Dearborn. Head over to CarNewsChina.com for a better look at the F-150 twin.

Read more -
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/31/chinese-carmaker-blatantly-copies-ford-f-150/?ncid=txtlnkwbauto00000002

Garage Door Openers Stop Working On Entire Missouri Block -

2012-02-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Garage Door Openers Stop Working On Entire Missouri Block -

It’s a puzzling phenomenon: On one street in St. Charles County, garage door openers have stopped working.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that no one knows what exactly is going on at Westhampton View Court. The garage door openers at all five homes on the court stopped working shortly after Christmas.

“It’s a weird, weird thing,” Joe Sullivan told the Post-Dispatch. “And the timing for it all to go haywire for everybody at the same time can’t be coincidence, right?”

Garage door companies say interference problems are common at individual homes — they blame what is known as “frequency pollution.” But experts say having the issue extend to multiple homes is just plain weird.

“There is so much radio frequency pollution now,” Butch Martin, owner of Martin Door Co., told the paper. “Everything is wireless, and the more wireless stuff we get, the bigger the problem is going to get.”

Read more -
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/garage-door-openers-stop-working-on-entire-missouri-block/

Pigs on police cars? Prank by Vermont inmates adorns decals -

2012-02-03T14:13:00.003-05:00

Pigs on police cars? Prank by Vermont inmates adorns decals -

How did an image of a pig — the infamous ’60s-era epithet by protesters for police officers — wind up on a decal used on as many as 30 Vermont State Police cruisers?

State officials Thursday pointed to the failure of the quality assurance office within the Vermont Correctional Industries Print Shop in St. Albans to detect a prisoner-artist’s addition made four years ago to the traditional state police logo. A spot on the shoulder of the cow in the state emblem was modified into a pig.

The Matrix Is Here: We Are Now Able To Harvest Electricity From Cockroaches -

2012-02-03T07:59:00.000-05:00

The Matrix Is Here: We Are Now Able To Harvest Electricity From Cockroaches -

Remember how in the movie The Matrix, humans were used as energy sources by the machines? I personally thought the idea was inefficient; why not make batteries or something? But still, it appears that we are now the machines and have been able to rig a poor cockroach up with electrodes and squeeze out some measurable amount of electricity. “Maximum power density reached nearly 100 microwatts per square centimeter at 0.2 volts. Maximum current density was about 450 microamps per square centimeter.” It’s the chemical within the roach that power this particular reaction. And if you want the gritty details of how it was done, just hit the jump for a fuller description and links.

The key to converting the chemical energy is using enzymes in series at the anode.

The first enzyme breaks the sugar, trehalose, which a cockroach constantly produces from its food, into two simpler sugars, called monosaccharides. The second enzyme oxidizes the monosaccharides, releasing electrons.

The current flows as electrons are drawn to the cathode, where oxygen from air takes up the electrons and is reduced to water.

After testing the system using trehalose solutions, prototype electrodes were inserted in a blood sinus in the abdomen of a female cockroach, away from critical internal organs.

“Insects have an open circulatory system so the blood is not under much pressure,” Ritzmann explained. “So, unlike say a vertebrate, where if you pushed a probe into a vein or worse an artery (which is very high pressure) blood does not come out at any pressure. So, basically, this is really pretty benign. In fact, it is not unusual for the insect to right itself and walk or run away afterward.”

The researchers found the cockroaches suffered no long-term damage, which bodes well for long-term use.

To determine the output of the fuel cell, the group used an instrument called a potentiostat. Maximum power density reached nearly 100 microwatts per square centimeter at 0.2 volts. Maximum current density was about 450 microamps per square centimeter.

The study was five years in the making. Progress stalled for nearly a year due to difficulties with trehalase – the first enzyme used in the series.

Lee suggested they have the trehalase gene chemically synthesized to generate an expression plasmid, which is a DNA molecule separate from chromosomal DNA, to allow the production of large quantities of purified enzyme from Escherichia coli. “Michelle then began collecting enzyme that proved to have much higher specific activities than those obtained from commercial sources,” Lee said. “The new enzyme led to success.”

Read more -
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2012/02/02/we-are-now-able-to-harvest-electricity-from-cockroaches/

Feds Seize 307 Sports-Related Domains Ahead of Super Sunday -

2012-02-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

Feds Seize 307 Sports-Related Domains Ahead of Super Sunday -

Federal authorities said Thursday they had seized and shuttered 307 domains, 16 allegedly engaged in unauthorized live sports streaming and the remainder accused of selling fake professional sports merchandise, including National Football League paraphernalia.

The seizure, the biggest to date under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown known as Operation in Our Sites (.pdf), brings to more than 650 domains shuttered since the program began in June 2010. The latest seizures, which quietly began in October, were announced days ahead of Super Sunday, when the New England Patriots play the New York Giants in the NFL Super Bowl, one of the world’s most popular sporting events.

“While most people are focusing on whether the Patriots or Giants will win on Sunday, we at ICE have our sights on a different type of victory: defeating the international counterfeiting rings that illegally profit off of this event, the NFL, its players and sports fans,” said ICE Director Morton. “In sports, players must abide by rules of the game, and in life, individuals must follow the laws of the land. Our message is simple: abiding by intellectual property rights laws is not optional. It’s the law.”

The sites allegedly sold fake jerseys, caps, shirts, jackets and other paraphernalia. The government said it had also seized $4.8 million worth of fake NFL goods, up from $3.72 million the same time a year ago.

Federal authorities are taking .com, .org. and .net domains under the same civil-seizure law the government invokes to seize brick-and-mortar drug houses, bank accounts and other property tied to alleged illegal activity. The feds are able to seize the domains because Verisign, which controls the .net and .com names, and the Public Interest Registry, which runs .org, are U.S.-based organizations. Under civil forfeiture laws, the person losing the property has to prove that the items were not used to commit crimes.

The program come under intense scrutiny in December, when Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) asked the government why it kept a hip-hop music site’s domain for a year without affording its New York-based owner a chance to challenge the seizure of dajaz1. Another site, Rojadirecta, a Spanish sports-streaming site, is contesting its seizure last year, saying it is innocent of infringement and only provided links to streaming sites to which it has no affiliation.

Read more -
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/02/sports-domains-seized/

State Department jacks up passport fees, imposes $450 fee to renounce US citizenship -

2012-02-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

State Department jacks up passport fees, imposes $450 fee to renounce US citizenship -

U.S. citizenship is priceless to some, worthless to others. But now the U.S. State Department has a dollar figure: U.S. citizenship is worth $450.

At least that’s what it will cost to renounce it.

New consular fees took effect Thursday. According to the Federal Register, the cost to process a formal renunciation of U.S. citizenship went from free to $450.

The State Department does not say how or why it calculated the cost. Citizenship is free for most Americans who are accorded the privilege at birth. The department says only that it “has decided that the renunciant should pay this fee at the visit during which he or she swears the oath of renunciation.”

Read more -
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/665185--state-department-jacks-up-passport-fees-imposes-450-fee-to-renounce-us-citizenship

The Fed Has Purchased 91% Of All Gross Issuance In Long-Dated US Treasurys -

2012-02-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

The Fed Has Purchased 91% Of All Gross Issuance In Long-Dated US Treasurys -

One of the salient questions asked of Bernanke by Congress relates to a Kevin Warsh oped in the WSJ, in which he said the following: "Private investors are crowded out of the market when the Fed shows up as a large and powerful bidder. As a result, the administration and Congress make tax and spending decisions—with huge implications for our standard of living—with heightened risks around future funding costs." This is arguably the question that dominates Fed policy making under the Operation Twist doctrine, in which the Fed buys up long-dated paper and sells Short dated (under 3 years), the second leg of which however is completely irrelevant, as the Fed has already guaranteed ZIRP until 2014, in essence confirming that Twist was nothing but a stealth QE3 as we have claimed all along, as the Fed's ZIRP4EVA policy effectively offsets any and all short-dated sales. Needless to say Bernanke's response was irrelevant. However, here is the most jarring statistic. As Barclays showed a few days back, under Twist, the Fed has monetized virtually all, and specifically 91% of all gross issuance in the 20-30 year maturity bucket. In other words, Warsh is absolutely spot on, and once again we are left with an artificial market in which it is only the Fed that defines the UST curve shape by molding the long end. What happens when Twist ends? Will the 30 Year collapse? What happens when there is no explicit back stop to the long end? Is this the reason why Bill Gross yesterday said that he fully expects much more check writing by the Fed for the next '12, 24, 36 months." And how can it not: we don't have a market of rational players any more - the entire market is merely one irrational player, whose biggest counterparty incidentally, the ECB, is beyond broke. Finally, what happens to the Fed's balance sheet when interest rates start rising? Holding a portfolio with a duration greater than it has ever been, the DV01 is currently well over $2 billion (i.e. a $2 billion loss on every basis point increase in rates). And rising.

NASA Probe Captures 1st Video of Moon's Far Side -

2012-02-02T09:45:00.000-05:00

NASA Probe Captures 1st Video of Moon's Far Side -

A gravity-mapping spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed home its first video of the lunar far side — a view people on Earth never see.

The new video was captured by one of NASA's twin Grail probes using a novel camera called MoonKAM, which will eventually be used by students on Earth to snap photos of the lunar surface as part of an educational project. The two spacecraft have been circling the moon since they arrived in orbit over the New Year.

"The quality of the video is excellent and should energize our MoonKAM students as they prepare to explore the moon," said Maria Zuber, Grail principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, in a statement accompanying the video's release today (Feb. 1).

Because the moon is tidally locked with Earth, it only presents one face to the planet's surface (the near side). The side of the moon that faces away from Earth is the far side. Only robotic spacecraft and Apollo astronauts who orbited the moon in the 1960s and 1970s have seen the far side of the moon directly.

Read more -
http://www.space.com/14441-video-moon-farside-grail-mission.html

Mona Lisa’s ‘twin sister’ discovered in Spain’s Prado art museum -

2012-02-02T09:03:00.000-05:00

Mona Lisa’s ‘twin sister’ discovered in Spain’s Prado art museum -

Spain’s Prado art museum said Wednesday it had discovered an unusual copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “La Gioconda,” painted by one of the master’s pupils at the same time that the original was being completed.

The copy had been on display at the Madrid art museum for years without experts being aware of its importance.

A routine restoration led experts to discover that the dark background behind the female figure popularly known as Mona Lisa had been added afterward and that it covered an Italian landscape similar to that in da Vinci’s original.

The copy artist had also repeated da Vinci’s corrections, leading experts to conclude that he had copied “La Gioconda” in the master’s workshop in Florence while the original was being painted.

The painting is the same size as “La Gioconda” and dates from the first third of the 16th century, as does the original. It is believed to have been painted by either Andrea Salai or Francesco Melzi, who were among da Vinci’s closest pupils.

The origin of the copy has been confirmed by experts both at the Prado and at the Louvre in Paris, which hosts the original painting.

The copy has been better preserved than the original, making Mona Lisa look younger than in da Vinci’s painting.

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1124829--mona-lisa-s-twin-sister-discovered-in-spain-s-prado-art-museum?bn=1

Coughing and sneezing on crowded trains and buses can spread deadly flesh-eating superbugs -

2012-02-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

Coughing and sneezing on crowded trains and buses can spread deadly flesh-eating superbugs -

The bacteria are more virulent than the infamous hospital MRSA, can affect otherwise healthy people and are spreading across Britain.
They can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and hugging as well as sneezing and coughing.
One strain, called USA300, can lead to blood poisoning or a form of pneumonia that eats away at lung tissue.
The bacteria are usually resistant to several types of antibiotics and can cause large boils on the skin.
Chris Williams, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Birmingham, said: ‘It breaks down tissue. If it gets into your heart, bacteria can get into your bloodstream and take hold of different parts of your body. That could lead to death quite easily.’
The dangers of the ‘community- acquired’ superbugs are raised in a new study, examining the way they spread. Researcher Dr Ruth Massey said USA300 was ‘causing huge problems in America and is being reported here increasingly’.
She added: ‘These community- acquired strains seem to be good at affecting healthy people – they seem to be much better than the hospital ones at causing disease.’
Dr Massey said there were 1,000 cases of so-called PVL-positive community-acquired MRSA in England in the last year, of which 200 were USA300 strains.
Prof Williams added: ‘If you’re on a crowded tube or bus and you sneeze you can spread the bacteria.
‘But your sneeze can also land on a metal surface and when someone else gets up from their seat and steadies themselves on the hand rail they can catch it.’
However, MRSA was also prevalent in the nose and the hair so might be spread by scratching the head and then shaking hands, he said.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/889131-flesh-eating-bug-spread-by-sneezes-and-coughs

Microsoft Buys Stake in Facebook - pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook -

2012-02-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

Microsoft Buys Stake in Facebook - pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook -

Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook.

The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. The investment values Facebook, which is three and a half years old and will bring in about $150 million in revenue this year, at $15 billion.

The deal throws the value of the holdings of Facebook investors into the stratosphere. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old Facebook founder who followed the path of Bill Gates by dropping out of Harvard to build a company, owns a 20 percent share that may now be worth as much as $3 billion. Accel Partners, the venture capital firm that invested $12.7 million in May 2005, now holds stock that could be worth $1.65 billion.

Read more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/25facebook.html?emc=eta1

19 Crazy Things That School Children Are Being Arrested For In America -

2012-02-01T20:53:00.000-05:00

19 Crazy Things That School Children Are Being Arrested For In America -

With each passing year, the difference between America’s prisons and America’s public schools becomes smaller and smaller. As you read the rest of this article, you will be absolutely amazed at some of the crazy things that school children in America are being arrested for. When I was growing up, I don’t remember a single police officer ever coming to my school. Discipline was always handled by the teachers and by the principals. But today, there are schools all over the country that have police officers permanently stationed in the halls. Many other schools will call out police officers at the drop of a hat. In the classrooms of America today, if you burp in class, if you spray yourself with perfume or if you doodle on your desk, there is a chance that you will be arrested by the police and hauled out of your school in handcuffs. Unfortunately, we live in a country where paranoia has become standard operating procedure. The American people have become convinced that the only way that we can all be “safe” is for this country to be run like a militarized totalitarian police state. So our public schools are run like prisons and our public school students are treated like prisoners. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world by far, and our schools are preparing the next generation to either “do time” in the prison system or to live as good little slaves in the Big Brother prison grid that is being constructed all around us. But what our schools are not doing is giving these children the critical thinking skills that they need to live as free citizens in a nation that used to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.

Of course very few people would deny that the character of American schoolchildren has changed dramatically over the decades. Back in the 1950s, some of the biggest school discipline problems were gum chewing and hair pulling. Today, kids bring knives, guns and drugs with them to school. Gang activity is rampant in many of our schools and in some schools kids are evenhaving sex in the school bathrooms.

So there is definitely a discipline problem in our schools.

But what is going on in many areas of the country is absolutely ridiculous. For example, in 2010 alone police down in Texas issued an astounding 300,000tickets to school children.

Yes, if a kid pulls a knife on someone the police should get involved, but teachers and administrators should be able to use some common sense and handle the vast majority of discipline problems that happen themselves.

What you are about to read is absolutely going to amaze you. The following are 19 really crazy things that school children are being arrested for in America….

#1 At one public school down in Texas, a 12-year-old girl named Sarah Bustamantes was recently arrested for spraying herself with perfume.

#2 A 13-year-old student at a school in Albuquerque, New Mexico was recently arrested by police for burping in class.

#3 Another student down in Albuquerque was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched because he had $200 in his pocket. The student was never formally charged with doing anything wrong.

#4 A security guard at one school in California broke the arm of a 16-year-old girl because she left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning up some cake that she had spilled.

#5 One teenage couple down in Houston poured milk on each other during a squabble while they were breaking up. Instead of being sent to see the principal,they were arrested and sent to court.

#6 In early 2010, a 12-year-old girl at a school in Forest Hills, New York was arrested by police and marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on her desk. “I love my friends Abby and Faith” was what she reportedly scribbled on her desk.

#7 A 6-year-old girl down in Florida was handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

#8 One student down in Texas was reportedly arrested by police for throwing paper airplanes in class.

#9 A 17-year-old honor student in North Carolina named Ashley Smithwick accidentally took her father’s lunch with her to school. It contained a small paring knife which he would use to slice up apples. So what happened to this standout student when the school discovered this? The school suspended her for the rest of the year and the police charged her with a misdemeanor.

#10 In Allentown, Pennsylvania a 14-year-old girl was tasered in the groin area by a school security officer even though she had put up her hands in the air to surrender.

#11 Down in Florida, an 11-year-old student was arrested, thrown in jail and charged with a third-degree felony for bringing a plastic butter knife to school.

#12 Back in 2009, an 8-year-old boy in Massachusetts was sent home from school and was forced to undergo a psychological evaluation because he drew a picture of Jesus on the cross.

#13 A police officer in San Mateo, California blasted a 7-year-old special education student in the face with pepper spray because he would not quit climbing on the furniture.

#14 In America today, even 5-year-old children are treated brutally by police. The following is from a recent article that described what happened to one very young student in Stockton, California a while back….

Earlier this year, a Stockton student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. That student was 5 years old.

#15 At one school in Connecticut, a 17-year-old boy was thrown to the floor andtasered five times because he was yelling at a cafeteria worker.

#16 A teenager in suburban Dallas was forced to take on a part-time jobafter being ticketed for using foul language in one high school classroom. The original ticket was for $340, but additional fees have raised the total bill to $637.

#17 A few months ago, police were called out when a little girl kissed a little boy during a physical education class at an elementary school down in Florida.

#18 A 6-year-old boy was recently charged with sexual battery for some “inappropriate touching” during a game of tag at one elementary school in the San Francisco area.

#19 In Massachusetts, police were recently sent out to collect an overdue library book from a 5-year-old girl.

Unfortunately, what is going on in our schools is a reflection of the broader society as a whole. Our schools are being turned into prisons because our entire society is being turned into a giant prison.

Our nation is rapidly heading down the toilet, and the children of this nation do not have a bright future to look forward to.

If the police really want to find some criminals, they should start investigating some of the sickos that are in charge of some of these classrooms.

It seems like almost every day now there is a news story about some public school teacher that is involved in some kind of really perverted stuff.

For example, just check out what police down in Los Angeles recently found that one teacher was hiding….

A former Los Angeles elementary school teacher has been arrested for felony molestation of nearly two dozen students, accused of gagging children and putting live cockroaches on some of their faces. Deputies say the crimes were committed on campus.

Sickos who do that kind of stuff to kids should be punished very severely.

America’s schools are changing, and not for the better.

Personally, I went to public schools all my life, but I would not recommend that anyone send their kids to public schools today. There is just way too much crazy stuff that goes on.

And our kids are learning less than ever in these public schools. As I have written about previously, many of them are coming out of the system as dumb as a rock. Instead of teaching our kids how to think critically and examine all sides of an issue, these schools are indoctrinating our kids and pushing particular social and political agendas on them.

There are a few public schools out there that are still good, but the vast majority of them are horrible. They are not producing the leaders of tomorrow and they are not preparing the next generation with the tools that they need to survive in a complex world.

So is there much hope that our schools can be turned around? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below….

Read more -
http://www.blacklistednews.com/19_Crazy_Things_That_School_Children_Are_Being_Arrested_For_In_America_/17691/0/0/0/Y/M.html

37 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods -

2012-02-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

37 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods -

The adulteration and modification of some of the planet’s most widely used crops has changed our food landscape. Chemicals, preservatives, genetic modification and low-cost substitutions and fillers have wrecked meals that were once healthy for us. Stepping inside of a grocery store nowadays, we find ourselves in a dangerous and toxic new world. The introduction of genetically modified organisms into the food supply in the 1990′s, coupled with rampant use of carcinogens such as aspartame, and substitutions like high fructose corn syrup, set the perfect stage to form a deadly concoction known as processed food. Sadly, this is what encompasses the average American diet.

Genetically modified foods are now found in approximately 80% of all food in a typical grocery store.

What Exactly is a GMO?

A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, hence they are also known as transgenic organisms. This process may be called either Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM); they are one and the same.

It’s Hard to Be Informed Without Labels!

In Germany and throughout the European Union, food products that contain GMOs must be properly labeled as such. As a result, there are few GM products on store shelves because, when made aware of their presence, consumers almost unanimously reject them. But what many people fail to realize, both in Europe and in the US, is that conventional livestock is often fed GM soy and corn, which ultimately ends up on store shelves in the form of conventional meat, milk, and eggs.

Furthermore, the development of genetically modified foods often comes from seed and chemical companies, such as Monsanto, the developer of Roundup Weed Killer. Monsanto inserts most GMOs with a bacterial gene which allows the plant to survive a normally deadly dose of Roundup herbicide. Although the spray doesn’t kill the plant, its active ingredient called glyphosate accumulates in the plant, and is then consumed by rats, livestock, and humans.

Roundup Ready, Chemicals, and Glyphosate

There is so much glyphosate in GM soybeans, that when they were introduced in Europe, countries had to increase their allowable residue levels by 200 fold.

In the Journal of Toxicology in Vitro, researchers found that Monsanto’s popular “weed killer,” known as Roundup, is capable of interfering with and/or harming the male reproductive system. (Dec., 2011)

Glyphosate is considered to be within safe, acceptable levels up to 10,000 ppm. What is more disturbing is that even at a lower, presumably “non toxic” and almost non existent concentration of 1 ppm of Roundup herbicide, testosterone concentrations were observed to decrease by 35%.

A German university study has found significant concentrations of glyphosate in the urine samples of city dwellers. The analysis of the urine samples found that all had concentrations of glyphosate at 5 to 20-fold the limit for drinking water. As well as being used increasingly widely in food production, glyphosate-based weedkillers often also get sprayed onto railway lines, urban pavements, and roadsides.

News of this study comes not long after the publication of a study confirming glyphosate was contaminating groundwater. Last year also saw the publication of two US Geological Survey studies which consistently found glyphosate in streams, rain and even air in agricultural areas of the US.

Genetically modified crops are causing a growing epidemic of “superweeds.” These massive weeds have evolved a resistance to glyphosate, a chemical used on GM crops. Stronger toxic chemicals and soil-eroding tillage operations are required in order to eliminate superweeds.

Furthermore, by increasing the need for stronger and more poisonous pesticides, Dow Chemical company is awaiting approval from the USDA for their new line of corn and soybeans resistant to 2, 4-D, a chemical related to Agent Orange.

Years ago, this same Agent Orange ingredient was suggested, but the USDA stated that glyphosate was much safer and effective. We now see super-weeds resistant to gylphosate and so the USDA is nearing a complete reversal on its earlier statements by approving 2, 4-D to be inserted into the genes of our food staples.

GMOS were initially promoted as a bio-technology to reduce pesticide usage, but GM crops in the US used 26 percent more pesticides, per acre, in 2008 than non-GMO crops, based on US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.

Animal Studies and Further Reproductive Issues

In a Brazilian study, female rats fed GM soy for 15 months showed significant changes in their uterus and reproductive cycle, compared to rats fed organic soy or those raised without soy. (Published in The Anatomical Record in 2009)

In Haryana, India, a team of investigating veterinarians report that buffalo consuming GM cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent and spontaneous abortions, premature deliveries, and prolapsed uteruses.

A study of male rabbits showed that glyphosate can cause a reduction in sexual activity and sperm concentration, and an increase in dead or abnormal sperm.

… “As an example, it is now being discovered that pollen from genetically modified corn can kill monarch butterflies,” writes Ron Garner in his book Conscious Health.

A Cornell University study showed that monarch butterflies suffered higher mortality rates when consuming milkweed leaves dusted with the Bt toxin associated with GM crops.

Industry mouthpieces have long alleged that Monsanto’s Bt toxin, which is derived from a soil bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis, is harmless to humans. The built-in pesticide has been integrated into certain GM crops to ward off pests. Bt corn, for instance, has actually been designed to produce the toxin directly inside its kernels, which are later eaten by both livestock and humans. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026426_G…) -

In the recent study, researchers Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc evaluated 30 pregnant women and 39 non-pregnant women … researchers detected Monsanto’s Bt Cry1Ab toxin in a shocking 93 percent of maternal and 80 percent of fetal blood samples. And 69 percent of non-pregnant women tested positive for the toxin in their blood.

Organ Failure

In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize (corn):

“Three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities… “Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted.

As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others.

We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.”

In regards to consuming Bt and GMO corn:

US corn agriculture (almost exclusively genetically engineered) has been criticized as environmentally unsustainable and conspicuously subsidized by the Federal government. Of the 160 food products that can be purchased at a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant, not one item can be traced back to a non-corn source. (It’s hard to avoid corn ingredients and by-products, with high fructose corn syrup being the most common!)

When speaking about high fructose corn syrup, one must understand that due to the government subsidies and the huge lobbying firms who stand behind corn, it has now become the dominant ingredient in our food supply. Corn syrup is far cheaper to manufacture than real sugar and it is added to almost everything. Aside from the human body’s irregular, confused, and cancerous response to the unnatural high fructose corn syrup, it is mostly made from genetically modified corn supplies. Your bread, soft drinks, juices, processed meats, pastas, chips, desserts, and everything in between have countless forms of GMO corn and high fructose corn syrup.

See my other articles regarding the dangers of corn syrup here.

Agencies and Countries Condemning or Banning GMOs

The German government has banned the cultivation of genetically modified corn, calling it, “a danger to the environment.”

The World Trade Organization, as urged by the United States, Argentina and Canada, ruled in 2006 that banning genetically modified foods was against trade rules. However, Austria and Hungary went ahead with their bans, regardless. The trade rules have since been overturned and now allow member countries to develop their own policies.

The Polish government adopted a policy on GMO food in November 2008. It allows cultivating GMOs only in laboratories and bans GMO trade; it also opposes cultivation of genetically modified foods.

Ireland has banned the growing of GM crops, and a voluntary GM-free label can be placed on all animal products–such as meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy–that are raised with GM-free feed, according to a GM-Free Ireland press release.

Sri Lanka has banned the importation of genetically modified foods, preservatives and additives.

“This decision shows the majority of Swiss do not want genetically modified food on their plates,” Marlyse Dormond, a member of Parliament who backed the ban, told Radio Suisse Romande.

Greece has extended a ban on a strain of genetically modified corn produced by U.S. agriculture biotechnology company Monsanto for another two years.

France banned GMO maize (corn) in February of 2008, invoking a so-called safeguard clause because of, “serious risks for the environment.”

The four regions of Tuscany, Molise, Lazio and Marche and around 25 provinces, cities and communes in Italy banned GE crops, including Rome, Milan, Turin, Brescia and Genoa. These are all democratically-taken decisions in local or regional councils and in the case of Tuscany, the result has been ratified by the national government.

Portugal has two regions, the Algarve region and the Madeira islands, that have declared themselves GMO-free. Additionally, 27 municipalities all over Portugal have passed GMO-free declarations.

Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly approved a 10-year moratorium on imports of genetically modified organisms in order to safeguard the country’s biodiversity.

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently found that Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, which was created to kill insects, may be losing its effectiveness against rootworms. Furthermore, the EPA stated “Monsanto’s program for monitoring suspected cases of resistance is ‘inadequate’”.

Genetically engineered agriculture is an extension of the current industrial-farming practices that have resulted in the loss of family farms and farmer livelihoods around the globe.

In recent years, India has seen an incredible surge in GM cotton farmer suicides. This is attributed to the GM cotton and repeated spraying of herbicides destroying the fertility of the soil and the micro-organisms that exist naturally, resulting in massive crop failures. Additionally, many farmers have bankrupted themselves by having to purchase new seed every year from the bio-tech companies due to implanted seed self-termination genes.

GMO crops are promoted as way to feed the world and mitigate hunger; however, numerous studies demonstrate that the GM crops do not produce higher yields as claimed. As one example, a USDA publication reports that “GM crops do not increase the yield potential.”

Monsanto, the world leader in genetically modified crops and seeds, has been named the worst company of 2011 by Natural Society — for “threatening both human health and the environment.”

Read more -
http://www.blacklistednews.com/37_Reasons_to_Avoid_Genetically_Modified_Foods/17690/0/0/0/Y/M.html

Pfizer, in mass recall of oral contraceptives, warns potency not enough to prevent pregnancy -

2012-02-01T15:57:00.000-05:00

Pfizer, in mass recall of oral contraceptives, warns potency not enough to prevent pregnancy -

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer ordered the recall Tuesday of at least a million oral contractive packets because the pills might not be potent enough to prevent pregnancy.
Pfizer said the recall affected 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets.
The action could leave the pharmaceutical giant vulnerable to a multi-million dollar lawsuit, according to one attorney.
In a statement, Pfizer said consumers exposed to affected packaging should begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception immediately, and patients who have the affected product (lot numbers are provided on the company website) should notify their physician and return the product to the pharmacy.
Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com, said this recall of birth control pills is one of the largest he can remember in recent years. “If there’s one thing that for years women have relied on, it’s that the sun is going to come out in the morning, you have to pay taxes, and that your birth control pills will work,” he said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/01/contraceptive-recall-could-put-pfizer-at-risk-multi-million-dollar-lawsuit/

House Republicans Set to Ban Welfare Payments to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores -

2012-02-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

House Republicans Set to Ban Welfare Payments to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores -

As the recession continues onward, House Republicans are worried that those receiving welfare payments may be having a bit too good of a time.

The chamber will again vote Wednesday on a bill which would ensure that electronic withdrawals of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars aren't allowed to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores. TANF replaced national welfare programs after the welfare reforms of 1996.

The measure, sponsored by Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles Boustany, had originally been approved by the House in December as part of a larger funding measure for welfare programs, but it was dropped from the final law. Now, it will get a stand-alone vote, along with several other measures which face an uncertain future in the Senate.

"The abuse of [electronic benefits transfer] cards must stop," Boustany said when the measure was first proposed in December.

Read more -
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/31/house-set-to-ban-welfare-payments-at-strip-clubs

REPORT: 75% of people text, email, surf web on toilet... -

2012-02-01T14:01:00.001-05:00

REPORT: 75% of people text, email, surf web on toilet... -

With today's smartphones, more people are taking their work and personal lives wherever they go -- even to the toilet.

A new study of mobile phone habits shows 75 percent of people have texted, emailed, used apps or surfed the web while nature calls.

More than 90 percent of people between 28 and 35 will return a call or text while sitting on the toilet.

One in five men joined a conference call while sitting on the toilet, despite the possibility of people on the other end hearing noises or accidentally hitting the FaceTime video conferencing button.

The survey by the marketing agency 11mark shows 16 percent shop while toileting.

Breaking down who does what, according to the survey:

Android users are the most likely to be multitasking;
A person making a call is most likely using a BlackBerry;
Chances are a person on Facebook or using an app is on an iPhone.

Read more -
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2730118

Facebook IPO - forget about when it happens – what will the ticker be? -

2012-02-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

Facebook IPO - forget about when it happens – what will the ticker be? -

How much money will Facebook raise with its much-ballyhooed initial public offering – and how much will the company be worth years later?

Who knows? But here’s the really important question: What will its ticker symbol be?

According to Bloomberg, Facebook has chosen FB.

As the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch blog points out, the social networking giant may not have had much of a choice.

“The obvious ticker choice, FACE, is already taken by Physicians Formula Holdings Inc. – though with a market cap around $40 million, they could also cut a deal,” it said Wednesday.

SOCL is currently held by the Global X Social Media Index Fund.

Surprisingly, GEEK is taken by Internet America Inc., and FCBK could be confused with French Connection UK.

Still available: NERD, LIKE, and FRND.

And there’s always ZUCK.

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1124729--facebook-ipo-forget-about-when-it-happens-what-will-the-ticker-be?bn=1

Sandia Labs' bullet doesn't miss - Scientists patent self-guided bullet -

2012-02-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

Sandia Labs' bullet doesn't miss - Scientists patent self-guided bullet -

Sandia Labs' bullet doesn't miss: krqe.com

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have invented a bullet that guides itself to the target.

Sandia has wide expertise at miniature technology, and the bullet works like a tiny guided missile.

The patented design doesn't shoot straight. Instead of a spiral rotation, the bullet twists and turns to guide itself towards a laser directed point. It can make up to thirty corrections per second while in the air.

Jim Jones, distinguished member of technical staff, and his team of engineers at Sandia Labs think the .50-caliber bullets would work well with military machine guns so soldiers could hit their mark faster and with precision.

Read more -
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/technology/sandia-labs-bullet-doesnt-miss

Man in Obama mask robs Riviera Beach McDonald's -

2012-02-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Man in Obama mask robs Riviera Beach McDonald's -

Authorities are seeking the public's help in identifying a man who robbed a McDonald's on Saturday while wearing a President Barack Obama mask.

Riviera Beach Police say that the man who held employees of the McDonald's at 3551 Broadway at gunpoint with a silver, semi-automatic handgun, was wearing a mask "resembling a likeness" to Obama. He ordered all employees to the back office at 6:21 a.m., and then ordered the manager to open the safe and place the cash in a cloth bag he brought.

Before leaving the restaurant, the man threatened to kill the employees if they did not stay in the office. He then ran from the store in an northeast direction with about $1,000 cash, a written release by Riviera Beach Police said.

Read more -
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/pb-robbery-obama-mask-20120201,0,7926452.story

More Teens Turning to Twitter - usage in teens aged 12 to 17 doubled, rising from 8% to 16% -

2012-02-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

More Teens Turning to Twitter - usage in teens aged 12 to 17 doubled, rising from 8% to 16% -

Despite being limited to 140-characters, teens are increasingly turning to Twitter to post comments, links, photos, and daily musings. From September 2009 to July 2011, Twitter usage in teens aged 12 to 17 doubled, rising from 8% to 16%., according to a study from the Pew Research Center.
Experts are saying the jump is significant given that the increase in use of social networking website Facebook among teens in the same age bracket was just 7% during the same period.
“Our data suggests that teens are beginning to use Twitter, though it is still not nearly to the same degree as Facebook,” says Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.
“We also found almost complete overlap between Twitter use and Facebook use – so while some teens may be moving to Twitter, they’re not necessarily abandoning their Facebook profiles, either,” says Lenhart.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/01/31/more-teens-turning-to-twitter/

Horse meat returns to TO restaurant - will serve horse tartare as well as quack ‘n’ track -

2012-02-01T08:07:00.000-05:00

Horse meat returns to TO restaurant - will serve horse tartare as well as quack ‘n’ track -

French bistro La Palette is returning horse meat to its menu, confident that “it is safe for human consumption,” says co-owner Shamez Amlani.

Beginning Feb. 2, the Queen St. W. restaurant will serve horse tartare as well as quack ‘n’ track: duck confit served with a four-ounce horse tenderloin.

Amlani removed horse dishes from the La Palette menu in August 2011 after a Toronto Star investigation into Canada’s controversial horse slaughter industry showed that nearly 100,000 horses slaughtered in this country each year were imported live from auctions in the U.S.

The horses were being transported from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico for slaughter because the U.S. federal government stopped providing funds in 2006 for inspections at plants that slaughter horses intended for human consumption.

The Star report showed horses transported under gruelling conditions for long stretches without food and water. It also questioned whether the meat was free of drugs such as phenylbutazone, often called bute, which is an anti-inflammatory given to performance horses.

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/living/food/article/1124521--toronto-restaurant-la-palette-returns-horse-meat-to-menu-on-feb-2

1.35 million condoms handed out during South Africa celebrations recalled; poured water into the condoms and they leak -

2012-01-31T12:32:00.000-05:00

1.35 million condoms handed out during South Africa celebrations recalled; poured water into the condoms and they leak -

South Africa is recalling 1.35 million condoms given away at the African National Congress party's centenary celebrations amid charges some broke during intercourse and others were porous, an official said Tuesday.

AIDS activist Sello Mokhalipi of the Treatment Action Campaign said he complained after “we had people flocking in, coming to report that the condoms had burst while they were having sex.”

Some were panicking because they were infected with AIDS and were concerned for their partners, he said.

Spokesman Jabu Mbalula of the health department of Free State province, which distributed the condoms before the Jan. 6-8 celebrations, said they had recalled the entire batch of 1,350,000 condoms around Jan. 18. He said there was no need for a panic.

But he was unable to say immediately how many of the condoms were used or have been recovered.

In 2007, the government had to recall more than 20 million defective condoms manufactured locally. Media reports said a testing manager at the South African Bureau of Standards had taken a bribe to certify the faulty condoms. In 2008 another 5 million defective condoms were recalled.

The latest allegations involve condoms distributed to hotels and bars in the central city of Bloemfontein, where tens of thousands of people travelled from all over the country for the ANC celebrations. South Africa has the world's highest number of AIDS victims at 5.6 million.

Mokhalipi said the complaints started coming in Jan. 11, prompting his office to run tests on some of the allegedly flawed condoms.

“We poured water into the condoms and they were leaking, not just in one place, they were leaking like a sieve,” he said. Looking at them, “you can see there are small pores.”

He said the health department had distributed a new batch of condoms last week, which did not leak under the water test.
Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1123989--1-35-million-condoms-handed-out-during-south-africa-celebrations-recalled-over-flaws?bn=1

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners - placed multibillion-dollar bets to keep trapped in expensive mortgages -

2012-01-30T20:08:00.000-05:00

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners - placed multibillion-dollar bets to keep trapped in expensive mortgages -

Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.

Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late 2010, the same time that the company was making it harder for homeowners to get out of such high-interest mortgages.

No evidence has emerged that these decisions were coordinated. The company is a key gatekeeper for home loans but says its traders are “walled off” from the officials who have restricted homeowners from taking advantage of historically low interest rates by imposing higher fees and new rules.

Freddie’s charter calls for the company to make home loans more accessible. Its chief executive, Charles Haldeman Jr., recently told Congress that his company is “helping financially strapped families reduce their mortgage costs through refinancing their mortgages.”

But the trades, uncovered for the first time in an investigation by ProPublica and NPR, give Freddie a powerful incentive to do the opposite, highlighting a conflict of interest at the heart of the company. In addition to being an instrument of government policy dedicated to making home loans more accessible, Freddie also has giant investment portfolios and could lose substantial amounts of money if too many borrowers refinance.

“We were actually shocked they did this,” says Scott Simon, who as the head of the giant bond fund PIMCO’s mortgage-backed securities team is one of the world’s biggest mortgage bond traders. “It seemed so out of line with their mission.”

Read more -
http://www.propublica.org/article/freddy-mac-mortgage-eisinger-arnold

Obama campaign dispatches workers with credit card readers... - fundraising platform -

2012-01-30T19:09:00.000-05:00

Obama campaign dispatches workers with credit card readers... - fundraising platform -

The Obama reelection campaign is providing headquarters staff, field organizers and volunteers the ability to take campaign donations with their mobile phones.

Campaign personnel are being issued Square mobile credit card readers, allowing them to process donations with their iPhone or Android phones, a campaign official tells POLITICO. The rollout will happen nationwide, and involve staff at all levels.

The technology is a boon for canvassers and other field staff — potentially saving the campaign hundreds of hours of time processing donations, and giving field staff enormous flexibility. Moreover, it's another good example of the power of mobile technology to streamline and automate otherwise mundane — but nevertheless important — campaign tasks.

Read more -
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-campaign-rolls-out-square-mobile-fundraising-112798.html

More 'iPhones sold per day (402,000) than people born in the world per day (300,000)' -

2012-01-29T20:09:00.003-05:00

More 'iPhones sold per day (402,000) than people born in the world per day (300,000)' -

When the world’s largest technology company reports its largest quarterly earnings ever, context can be hard to come by.

Analysts were left drooling over Apple Inc. when the company reported record high Q1 revenue of US$46.33-billion and earnings of US$13.87 per share after markets closed Tuesday. Wall Street was not expecting more than US$38.76-billion in revenue or US$10.07 EPS, accounting for much of their subsequent salivation.

Selling 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Mac computers also broke records and total cash in Apple’s coffers was nearing US$100-billion by the end of the quarter.

Big numbers to be sure, but what do they mean in concrete, easy to visualize terms. We at FP Tech Desk took to Twitter in hopes of providing a few examples below.

President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles -

2012-01-27T12:59:00.002-05:00

President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles -