Bloomberg: ‘There’s a huge run on physical gold right now.’ -

Bloomberg: ‘There’s a huge run on physical gold right now.’ - 



Bloomberg News television let Mihir Dange, co-founder of commodity trading firm Grafite Capital, remark that his company bought physical gold eight weeks ago but still hasn’t gotten delivery yet. Dange says “there’s a huge run on physical now.” Dange’s comment begins at the 1:30 mark in the video:


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Bloomberg

Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? The US Government Doesn’t Think So -

Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? The US Government Doesn’t Think So - 



This would seem to embody the USDA’s advisory, “Know your farmer, know your food,” right? Not exactly.

For the USDA and its sister food regulator, the FDA, there’s a problem: many of the farmers are distributing the food via private contracts like herd shares and leasing arrangements, which fall outside the regulatory system of state and local retail licenses and inspections that govern public food sales.

In response, federal and state regulators are seeking legal sanctions against farmers in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, among others. These sanctions include injunctions, fines, and even prison sentences. Food sold by unlicensed and uninspected farmers is potentially dangerous say the regulators, since it can carry pathogens like salmonella, campylobacter, and E.coli O157:H7, leading to mild or even serious illness.

Most recently, Wisconsin’s attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to file criminal misdemeanor charges against an Amish farmer for alleged failure to have retail and dairy licenses, and the proceedings turned into a high-profile jury trial in late May that highlighted the depth of conflict: following five days of intense proceedings, the 12-person jury acquitted the farmer, Vernon Hershberger, on all the licensing charges, while convicting him of violating a 2010 holding order on his food, which he had publicly admitted.

Why are hard-working normally law-abiding farmers aligning with urban and suburban consumers to flaunt well-established food safety regulations and statutes? Why are parents, who want only the best for their children, seeking out food that regulators say could be dangerous? And, why are regulators and prosecutors feeling so threatened by this trend?
Members of these private food groups often buy from local farmers because they want food from animals that are treated humanely, allowed to roam on pasture, and not treated with antibiotics. “I really want food that is full of nutrients and the animals to be happy and content,” says Jenny DeLoney, a Madison, WI, mother of three young children who buys from Hershberger.

To these individuals, many of whom are parents, safety means not only food free of pathogens, but food free of pesticides, antibiotic residues, and excessive processing. It means food created the old-fashioned way—from animals allowed to eat grass instead of feed made from genetically modified (GMO) grains—and sold the old-fashioned way, privately by the farmer to the consumer, who is free to visit the farm and see the animals. Many of these consumers have viewed the secretly-made videos of downer cows being prodded into slaughterhouses and chickens so crammed into coops they can barely breathe.

These consumers are clearly interpreting “safety” differently than the regulators. Some of these consumers are going further than claiming contract rights—they are pushing their towns and cities to legitimize private farmer-consumer arrangements. In Maine, residents of ten coastal towns have approved so-called “food sovereignty” ordinances that legalize unregulated food sales; towns in other states, including Massachusetts and Vermont, and as far away as Santa Cruz, CA, have passed similar ordinances.

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http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/08/12/should-you-be-able-to-buy-food-directly-from-farmers-regulators-do-not-think-so/

GONER5: The word you don’t want to see on your airline ticket -

GONER5: The word you don’t want to see on your airline ticket - 



Delta Air Lines had all the odds not in their favour: a random computer generated code that spelled out GONER5 and a customer who just happened to be a bestselling author.
Kathryn Stockett posted a picture of her code, actually GONER5, with the message: “Dear Delta Air Lines, I know we've been through some hard times together but is this really my conf number?”
A second prod (“Delta, please”) kicked their customer service apology gear into high on Friday, the morning after her tweet.
“We are terribly sorry for the combination of letters used for your itinerary,” the twitter site @DeltaAssist replied.
Then an explanation: “The confirmation numbers are randomly generated. We will add this to a list of banned alphanumeric combinations.”
Delta also changed the gloomy confirmation code for the author of the bestselling The Help.

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http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/08/13/goner5_the_word_you_dont_want_to_see_on_your_airline_ticket.html

Botched Spanish fresco restoration: From laughingstock to cash cow -

Botched Spanish fresco restoration: From laughingstock to cash cow - 



A year ago, Cecilia Gimenez’s botched attempt to restore a fresco of Christ inspired ridicule and references to monkeys. Now, the 81-year-old Spanish artist is having the last laugh.
Botched fresco restoration: The lesson to learn
The disfigured fresco has drawn more than 40,000 visitors and raised more than 50,000 euros ($66,285) for a local charity in the town of Borja since gaining worldwide attention. It has spurred the town to put the likeness on merchandise it hopes will sell for years to come. And Gimenez has even had her own art exhibit, with two dozen of her other works showing through Aug. 24 in the town of 5,000.
Gimenez and a local council are to sign a deal next week to share profits from merchandise featuring the image, with the artist getting 49 per cent and the council the rest, said councillor Juan Maria Ojeda, who listed the tourism and income figures.
The turnaround is apparently quite the relief for the Spanish retiree, who was overwhelmed by the attention a year ago.
“Now it seems like everyone’s happy,” local paper Heraldo de Aragon quoted the once-media shy Gimenez as saying in Sunday’s edition. “I’m grateful that things have quieted down.”
The fresco originally depicted Christ with a crown of thorns in a style known as “Ecce Homo” (Behold the Man). The church painting was for decades a little-known piece of religious art by a minor Spanish artist. It had remained in peaceful obscurity in the Misericordia sanctuary since it was painted in 1930.
That was until Gimenez, a longtime devotee of the work, decided it needed some attention because it was flaking due to the damp church air. Her attempt didn’t go so well, and some dubbed Gimenez’s retouching of it “Ecce Mono” — Behold the Monkey.
But soon the retouched version grew popular. The image started appearing — without authorization — on T-shirts and cellphone covers, coffee mugs and wine labels. People arrived in Borja asking to see the painting.
The council started charging an entrance fee of 1 euro ($1.30), giving the money to the Sancti Spiritus charitable foundation, which used the windfall to help pay bills at a care home for 60 elderly people. The council also got lawyers to establish copyright and draw up a merchandising agreement which will see the image put on plates, postcards and cigarette lighters, among other items.

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http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/08/13/botched_spanish_fresco_restoration_from_laughing_stock_to_cash_cow.html#

Bra sizes of female Detroit cops mistakenly emailed to all officers... -

Bra sizes of female Detroit cops mistakenly emailed to all officers... - 



A man's bullet proof vest looks the same as a woman's body armor on the outside. Of course, the woman's is contoured to fit her curves.

However, when several female officers with the Detroit Police Department provided their height, weight and bra cup sizes, they never imagined a good portion of the rank-and-file at DPD would see it.

"On the third page, the females were listed. Unfortunately and embarrassingly, the cup sizes of the females were listed on that third page, and it was really just a clerical error," said Assistant Chief James White.

Police sources said about three weeks ago, Commander Dwayne Love was asked to notify the officers that their bullet proof vests were ready to be picked up. So he forwarded an email to the commanders, who then forwarded it to the supervisors, who then forwarded it to the officers.

White claimed Love didn't know the weight, height and bra cup sizes of the women were included on the attached Excel spreadsheet until it was too late.

"Conscientious, very hard working command officer. However, it's an embarrassing situation, and I'm going to be addressing the issue formally with him over the next couple weeks," White said.

"Once we complete our investigation, there will be corrective action."

We have learned several female officers, who say they have faced ridicule from fellow officers, with the help of their union are filing two grievances against the department and one complaint with EOC. Even if Love made an innocent mistake, the damage they feel has already been done.

White said on Thursday he and Chief Craig plan to meet with the female officers impacted by this to apologize and assure them that it will never happen again.

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http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/23118642/bra-sizes-of-female-detroit-cops-mistakenly-emailed-to-officers