Behind closed doors no cameras present, Obama signed law Friday the bill raising public debt $12.394T to $14.294T

Reading - Behind closed doors no cameras present, Obama signed law Friday the bill raising public debt $12.394T to $14.294T

Behind closed doors and with no cameras present, President Obama signed into law Friday afternoon the bill raising the public debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion.

The current national debt is $12.3 trillion. Check out the National Debt Clock, which tells you your share of that -- roughly $40,000 per citizen, $113,000 per taxpayer.

The bill also establishes a statutory Pay-As-You-Go procedure requiring that new non-emergency legislation affecting tax revenue or mandatory spending not increase the Federal deficit – in other words, that any new spending or tax cuts be paid for with new taxes or spending cuts.

A French farmer offers pots of cow dung by post for people who want to send a less than loving Valentine's day message -

Reading - A French farmer offers pots of cow dung by post for people who want to send a less than loving Valentine's day message -

Olympic Luger Dies After Crash During Training Run - went over the wall of the track and hit a pole -

Reading - Olympic Luger Dies After Crash During Training Run - went over the wall of the track and hit a pole -

Officials said Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled Friday, went over the wall of the track and appeared to hit a pole at the Whistler Sliding Center.

A men's Olympic luger from the country of Georgia died Friday after a high-speed crash on a track that is the world's fastest and has raised safety concerns among competitors. IOC president Jacques Rogge said the death hours before the opening ceremony "clearly casts a shadow over these games."

Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled during training, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center. Doctors were unable to revive the 21-year-old luger, who died at a hospital, the International Olympic Committee said.

"We are heartbroken beyond words," said John Furlong, chief executive of the Vancouver organizing committee.

Before speaking at a news conference, a tearful Rogge took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and said, "Sorry, it's a bit difficult to remain composed." He says this is not the time to talk about investigations."

Rescue workers were at Kumaritashvili's side within seconds. Chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation started less than one minute after the crash, and he was quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler.

Kumaritashvili struck the inside wall of the track on the final turn. His body immediately went airborne and cleared the ice-coated concrete wall along the left side of the sliding surface. His sled remained in the track, and it appeared his helmet visor skidded down the ice.

The remainder of men's training was canceled for the day, with VANOC officials saying an investigation was taking place to "ensure a safe field of play." Men's luge competition is to begin Saturday. It's unclear if the schedule will change.

The danger of the Whistler track has been talked about for months -- particularly after several nations, including the U.S., were upset over restrictions regarding access to the facility by nations other than Canada, with some noting it could lead to a safety issue.

Kumaritashvili is the fourth competitor to die at the Winter Games and the first since 1992.

"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said before learning of the death, clearly shaken after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical workers.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn't believe the track was unsafe.

"People have the opinion it is dangerous but the track crew does the best it can and they are working hard to make sure the track is in good shape and everyone is safe," he said. "My opinion is that it's not anymore dangerous that anywhere else."

Five-time Olympian Mark Grimmette, chosen as the U.S. team's flag bearer, said the speeds on the track are pushing the boundaries of safety.

"We're probably getting close," he said the night before the death. "This track is fast and you definitely have to be on your game. ... So it's definitely something they are going to have to take into account on future tracks."

American luger Christian Niccum crashed during a World Cup event in Whistler last year.

"When I hit that ice going 90 mph it turns into fire," Niccum said Thursday. "I remember coming around to the finish and I just wanted to rip off my suit, 'I'm on fire. I'm on fire."'

This was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the games. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs, and in the runs he did finish, his average speed was about 88 mph -- significantly less than the speed the top sliders are managing on this lightning-fast course.

It was unclear how fast Kumaritashvili was going, although many sliders have exceeded 90 mph on this course. More than a dozen athletes have crashed during Olympic training for luge, and some questioned whether athletes from smaller nations -- like Georgia -- had enough time to prepare for the daunting track.

At the finish area, not far from where Kumaritashvili lost control, athletes, coaches and officials solemnly awaited word on Kumaritashvili before eventually being ushered away. Access to the crash area was closed within about 30 minutes.

"I've never seen anything like that," said Shiva Keshavan, a four-time Olympian from India.

Representatives from the three U.S. sliding federations were to release a joint statement later Friday. American athletes were not immediately made available for reaction after news of the death was confirmed.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the Georgian Olympic team," U.S. bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb said on Twitter. "The sliding community suffered a tragic and devastating loss to our family today."

"RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili," wrote American skeleton athlete Kyle Tress, who did not qualify for the Olympic team. "Let's never forget how dangerous these sports can be."

Kumaritashvili competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

Earlier in the day, gold-medal favorite Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled and held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was briefly knocked unconscious and at least four Americans -- Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Tony Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked -- have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. "To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

At the 1992 Albertville Games, Nicholas Bochatay of Switzerland died after crashing into a snow grooming machine during training for the demonstration sport of speed skiing on the next-to-last day of the games. He was practicing on a public slope before his event was to begin.

Australian downhill skier Ross Milne died when he struck a tree during a training run shortly before the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki also died in a crash during training in Innsbruck.

At the 1988 Calgary Games, an Austrian team doctor, Jorg Oberhammer, died after being hit by a snow grooming machine.

Read more -http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/02/12/olympic-luger-seriously-injured-training/

Mosquito SHOT down mid-flight by a Laser gun during the TED 2010 conference -

Watching - Mosquito SHOT down mid-flight by a Laser gun during the TED 2010 conference -

You're looking at a mosquito who got taken down mid-flight by a laser gun designed by Nathan Myhrvold. The malaria-carrying pest never saw it coming, but you can watch everything happen over and over again in this video.

The idea behind the laser is that it could be used to control mosquito populations in developing countries in hopes of reducing the number of deaths due to malaria, a disease frequently carried by the flying insects. The device was shown off during the TED 2010 conference and does in fact appear to be capable of tracking and killing mosquitoes

Windows 7 examines consumers' PC's EVERY 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS -

Reading - Windows 7 examines consumers' PC's EVERY 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS -

The Internet advocate who blasted Microsoft in 2006 over the daily "phone home" habits of its anti-piracy software took the company to task again today for a new practice that will examine consumers' Windows 7 PCs every 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS.

Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR), urged Windows 7 users not to accept the option update to Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) when Microsoft begins seeding it to the Windows Update service later this month.

"The approach that Microsoft is now taking doesn't seem to make sense, even for honest consumers," Weinstein argued in a post to his blog. "Microsoft will trigger forced downgrading to non-genuine status if they believe a Windows 7 system is potentially pirated based on their 'phone home' checks that will occur at (for now) 90 day intervals during the entire life of Windows 7 on a given PC, even months or years after purchase.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the WAT update would identify pirated copies of Windows 7 that had been illegally activated using any of more than 70 "cracks," or activation exploits. After users install the update, the WAT software will regularly connect with Microsoft's servers -- the "phone home" functionality that Weinstein called out -- to download new crack "signatures," which would then be used to reevaluate the copy of Windows 7.

The repeated validation is new to Windows, confirmed Joe Williams, the general manager of Microsoft's Genuine Windows group, who said that neither Windows XP or Vista had reevaluated already-activated Windows PCs on a regular schedule. Machines that had had significant hardware component replacements were the exception: Swapping out a motherboard, for instance, would typically trigger another activation validation.

Williams defended the change. "We want to make sure we're protecting our customers," he said, against newly-developed activation cracks that may have slipped by Microsoft, or simply not been in use, when the PC was originally activated. "And we're a commercial enterprise, and it is important that our [intellectual property] is protected."

Weinstein countered that Microsoft was overstepping its bounds by demanding validations in perpetuity. "Say you've used your system for a year. Is it reasonable for Microsoft to say, 'We changed our mind and now you're not genuine'?" asked Weinstein in an interview today. "It's one thing to validate when you originally get the system, but to do that months or years later, and [for] Microsoft [to] say, 'Now we're going to say your Windows is not genuine,' ...it becomes a matter of ownership. At what point is one free of this constant checking?"

Weinstein called the new Microsoft WAT update an "unacceptable intrusion" and more. "For Microsoft to assert that they have the right to treat ordinary PC-using consumers in this manner, declaring their systems to be non-genuine and downgrading them at any time, is rather staggering," he said.

He recommended that users reject the download of the WAT update. To do that, users may have to reset Windows Update so that it does not automatically download and install every update.

Microsoft's Williams suggested the same if users don't want Microsoft re-validating Windows. "We're pretty insistent that this is a voluntary update," he said. "And any customers who don't want WAT can uninstall the update after it's installed." The uninstall option is new for Microsoft's anti-piracy software; in the past, once installed, it could not be removed.

Weinstein may be best known to Windows users for uncovering the secret "phone home" characteristics of WAT's predecessor, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), when Microsoft launched an update in June 2006. The hue and cry over the feature drove Microsoft to first deny Weinstein's charge that WGA was spyware, then to retreat from the constant communication.

Today, Williams argued that the WAT update was not similar to the 2006 incident. "This is different," he said. "Why we took grief then was because of a lack of disclosure, not the functionality of the feature."

Weinstein disagreed, saying that it was the feature itself that was objectionable. "The approach represented by this kind of escalation, into what basically amounts to a perpetual anti-piracy surveillance regime embedded within already-purchased consumer equipment, is entirely unacceptable," he said.

Microsoft has not announced a date when it will begin issuing the WAT update via Windows Update -- only that it will happen this month -- but has said it will post the update on its manual download site Feb. 17.

Read more -http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9156518/Microsoft_s_new_phone_home_anti_piracy_practice_unacceptable_says_critic?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-02-12

Valentine's Day failures - See what happens when Public marriage proposals don't go to plan -

Watching - Valentine's Day failures - See what happens when Public marriage proposals don't go to plan -

Security guards do nothing as 15-year-old girl is beaten, punched, thrown to the ground, kicked and then robbed -

Watching - Security guards do nothing as 15-year-old girl is beaten, punched, thrown to the ground, kicked and then robbed -

Terrifying elevator ordeal at Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building -

Reading - Terrifying elevator ordeal at Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building -

Terrified passengers were left stranded between floors in the world’s tallest building after a lift broke as they were descending in the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.

Visitors queueing to descend from the observation deck on the 124th floor of the recently opened 828-metre (2,717ft) tower heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass from the lift shaft. Dust then billowed back into the room through the small gaps in the lift shaft doors.

The 15 passengers inside the lift were left stranded for 45 minutes before they were rescued by staff who dropped a ladder into the shaft and helped them to climb out to the observation deck. About 60 tourists who had heard the incident were left on the deck without explanation as security guards said that nothing was wrong. They were eventually joined by hysterical and dazed passengers from a second lift, who had been descending the tower when the incident occurred in the adjacent shaft. Their lift also stopped but was later safely returned to the observation deck, which was eventually evacuated via a service lift.

One visitor said that the initial lift failure sounded like “a small explosion”. It is still not clear whether anyone was injured. The Burj, which opened on January 4 with an extravagant firework display, was closed on Sunday after the incident.

Public access to the observation deck has been halted indefinitely, leaving hundreds of disgruntled tourists queueing for refunds for what should have been a highlight of their visit to the Gulf state. Emaar, the building’s developer, declined to comment on the incident but initially blamed its closure on “unexpectedly high traffic” in the tower. It later added that unspecified electrical problems could be to blame.

The lifts were promoted as one of the highlights of the tower. The fastest public lifts in the world, they reach more than 25mph (40k/ph), climbing to the top in about a minute. The observation deck was the only part of the tower to be opened so far. Saturday’s incident throws fresh doubt on the opening of other parts of the building.

The launch of the world’s tallest building was intended to be the crowning achievement of this small city-state, drawing a line under its financial difficulties. Instead it highlighted the emirate’s dependence on its neighbour’s support. It was renamed the Burj Khalifa instead of the Burj Dubai, in honour of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Read more -http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7021145.ece

The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any Non-USG Guaranteed Securities Must Be Divested

Reading - The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any Non-USG Guaranteed Securities Must Be Divested

It appears that this time China's posturing is for real. Following up on our earlier post that Chinese military officials want to "punish" America by selling Treasuries, Asia Times Online is reporting that an explicit directive by the Chinese government has notified reserve managers to sell all risky US assets, including asset backed and corporates, and just hold on to explicitly guaranteed Treasuries and Agency debt. And from following TIC data we know that China's enthusiasm for MBS/Agencies over the past year has been matched solely by that of one Bill Gross.

From Asia Times:

Dollar-denominated risk assets, including asset-backed securities and corporates, are no longer wanted at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), nor at China’s large commercial banks. The Chinese government has ordered its reserve managers to divest itself of riskier securities and hold only Treasuries and US agency debt with an implicit or explicit government guarantee. This already has been communicated to American securities dealers, according to market participants with direct knowledge of the events.

It is not clear whether China’s motive is simple risk aversion in the wake of a sharp widening of corporate and mortgage spreads during the past two weeks, or whether there also is a political dimension. With the expected termination of the Federal Reserve’s special facility to purchase mortgage-backed securities next month, some asset-backed spreads already have blown out, and the Chinese institutions may simply be trying to get out of the way of a widening. There is some speculation that China’s action has to do with the recent deterioration of US-Chinese relations over arm sales to Taiwan and other issues. That would be an unusual action for the Chinese to take–Beijing does not mix investment and strategic policy–and would be hard to substantiate in any event.

Furthermore, demonstrating just how seriously China is approaching a populist-driven adversarial stance with the US, was earlier speculation that instead of unpegging its currency (a move much desired by the US administration in its goal to further weaken the dollar and make China less competitive in the export market), China would reduce its trade balance not by the traditional way of currency inflation, but by the economic textbook footnote approach of raising salaries.

Higher labor costs would cut Chinese export competitiveness while boosting domestic spending power and sustaining economic growth, according to the bank. Premier Wen Jiabao’s government has been pressed by U.S. and European officials to end a 19- month yuan peg to the dollar to help diminish trade and investment imbalances that contributed to the credit crisis.

“Wage increases are a better option because they largely benefit Chinese workers,” Tao Dong, a Credit Suisse economist in Hong Kong who has covered the Chinese and Asian economies for more than 15 years, said in an interview yesterday. “Currency appreciation will only result in Chinese exporters losing out to competitors in countries such as Malaysia and Mexico.”

The strategy may limit gains in the yuan to 3 percent this year, according to Tao. This month’s 13 percent increase in minimum wage in eastern China’s Jiangsu province indicates that higher pay will play an important role in officials’ efforts to rebalance growth in the fastest-growing major economy, Tao said.

The wage decision “argues against a large one-off yuan revaluation,” Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist with Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, wrote in a note this week.

One thing is certain - China will now focus on doing precisely the opposite of what America would urge Chinese authorities to do, in order to establish itself as the focal point of negotiating leverage and increasingly humiliate the Obama regime. If this involves selling USTs or corporates (both fixed income and equities) so be it. This is further confirmed by carefully worded disclosure in today's copy of China Securities Journal:

The China Securities Journal, a government-backed daily, accused the U.S. in a tough-worded front page editorial of playing the "exchange rate card."

It said that, just as China didn't interfere with Federal Reserve purchases of U.S. Treasuries, "the U.S. has no right to interfere in China's exchange rate policy."

"Whether or not to appreciate is our own business," the newspaper said.

"Whether it will appreciate, when and by how much is an integral part of China's monetary policy."

It is not clear when the asset divestiture directive takes place or if it is already being enforced. Juding by the afterhours action in futures and the currency markets, some dumping may already be taking place. Alternatively, we now know just who it is that sell into every rally (yes, even in this market, every buyer is matched with a seller).

Read more -http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-dumping-begins-reserve-managers-notified-any-non-usg-guaranteed-securities-must-be-div

Magnitude 4.3 Quake Wakes Up Chicago Area -

Reading - Magnitude 4.3 Quake Wakes Up Chicago Area -

A rare moderate earthquake struck northern Illinois Wednesday morning, waking up residents in the Chicago area.

The 4.3 magnitude quake, centered 48 miles west of Chicago near the city of Sycamore, hit at 4 a.m. local time at a depth of about 3 miles, the USGS reported.

Geophysicist Amy Vaughn told the Chicago Sun Times the earthquake was "very widely felt" and the USGS phone lines were flooded with calls from residents asking about the shaking.

"It's mostly people who said 'we woke up and we thought we were going crazy,'" Vaughn said. "Mostly it’s rattling people awake."

Kane County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler told the Associated Press dispatchers have been flooded with calls from startled residents, though no injuries or damage have been reported.

Gengler said several residential and business alarms were triggered, but deputies haven't been called for assistance.

Residents reported being shaken out of bed and finding books and tools scattered across the floor after falling from shelves.

Walter Mockus of St. Charles told the Chicago Tribune. "The whole house shook. The chimes that hang were all ringing. It was so loud, I thought a plane had gone down."

On Twitter, user RosaMCabrera wrote: "Earthquake woke us! In ravenswood it was a second or so."

And Terryamerson said: "Thought it was the biggest snow plow ever that woke me up this morning. No it was 4.3 earthquake!"

Early reports suggest the quake was felt across three states: Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Read more -http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585337,00.html