GM Channel Stuffing Surges To Second Highest Ever -

GM Channel Stuffing Surges To Second Highest Ever - 



Confused why the various US manufacturing indices have been on a tear in the past few months? Perhaps the fact that GM dealer lots are so full of cars they just couldn't wait for even more deliveries has something to do with it. Which is also why in addition to reporting sales numbers for November that were largely in line with expectations, amounting to 212,060 (even if total Chevy Volts sold YTD of 20.7K were -0.6% less than in the same period in 2012), or 13.7% more than last year (estimated called for 13.% increase), of which a whopping 51,705 was in the form of "channel stuffed" units to be parked on dealer lots.

In fact, as the chart below shows, in the past three months, GM channel stuffing has exploded and soared by 150K units (the most ever for a 3 month period) from 628.6K to 779.5K. This represents the second highest amount of channel stuffing and is lower only compared to the 788.2K units "stuffed" exactly one year ago.


And while the topic of channel stuffing is not new here, as we have been covering it closely for the past three years, it is of note that even "serious" media such as Bloomberg pointed out yesterday that across the entire US car industry, and not just GM, channel stuffing is now the highest it has been since 2005. Surely all this pent up demand is there for a reason: after all, as in every centrally-planned economy, if you build it they will surely come...

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-03/gm-channel-stuffing-surges-second-highest-ever

Banned on Google: The 1,400 words you can't use -

Banned on Google: The 1,400 words you can't use - 



Google bans over 1,400 English words in Kit Kat, the search giant's latest version of Android operating system for tablets and smartphones.
To be clear, it doesn't mean that you can't ever type these words on Android. It just means that Google will mark the word as "incorrect" and pretend like it has no idea what you're talking about. The words don't exist in Android's dictionary.

We first saw the news on Wired. 

"Banned" words include:

Butt
Geek
Gonadatrophia
Irrumination
Pizzle
Thud
LSAT
Intercourse
Coitus
Screwing
Lovemaking
Panty
Braless
Tampax
Lactation
Preggers
Uterus
STI
Morphine

On the flip side, Google allows words like "marijuana," "bong," and "Nazi." It's also worth noting that words like "coitus," "screwing," and "lovemaking" are not banned on Jelly Bean, even though they are on KitKat.

Users can also go to their keyboard settings to turn off the filter that blocks foul language.

So just how does Google go about determining which words to ban? Well, as Wired reports, Google is declining to comment on how it compiles its list and how often it's updated. 

Read more: -

http://www.businessinsider.com/banned-android-words-2013-12

Bank glitch leaves Millions of customers across the United Kingdom unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods -

Bank glitch leaves Millions of customers across the United Kingdom unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods - 



RBS and its retail banking unit Netwest's online systems and debit cards failed on Monday evening as customers were unable to process payments on one of the busiest online shopping days called the "Cyber Monday".
Millions of customers across the United Kingdom were unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods or use telephone and online banking services.
In its response, the bank's twitter account, RBS Help tweeted "we are aware of some technical issues and are working hard to fix them. Sorry and thanks for your patience."
The bank's Irish unit, Ulster Bank, also reportedly faced similar glitches.
RBS, which is 82 percent owned by the UK government, faced a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority in April when technology failure left customers unable to avail the bank's card and online services.
A software upgrade gone wrong also led to similar problems for RBS' customers in June 2012.

Read more -

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/rbs-technology-glitch-leaves-customers-223208864.html

Migraines link to plastic cups and bottles... -

Migraines link to plastic cups and bottles... - 



Drinking water from plastic cups or bottles could be giving millions of Britons headaches.
New research shows that a controversial ‘gender-bending’ chemical in synthetic packaging may trigger migraines.
Bisphenol A (BPA) has already been linked to a range of heath problems including obesity, infertility and heart attacks.
Now the latest study – published in the journal Toxicological Sciences – points to BPA causing the debilitating headaches which afflict one in seven UK adults.

The authors urge sufferers to strip out potential sources of contamination from their daily diet, which include plastic microwave trays, bottles and office water coolers.
Their report states: 'A previously performed study using a "fresh foods" dietary intervention demonstrated a significant decrease in urinary BPA (66 per cent reduction) in patients after just three days.

'These findings combined with our results suggest that a clinical trial to decrease BPA exposure and levels in migraine sufferers...may reduce headache frequency and/or severity, revealing strategies that may increase the quality of life of migraineurs.'
The University of Kansas study emulated human exposure to BPA in the laboratory.
Researchers observed the behaviour of rats, half of whom were administered the chemical once every three days.
Within half an hour of the dose, those exposed to BPA became less active, steered clear of loud noise and strong light, were easily startled and showed signs of tenderness to the head.
Researchers suggest migraine sufferers should limit their risk of exposure to BPA by cutting out the use of plastic microwave trays, cups and bottles

The rats’ brains also gave off telltale signals of an influx of oestrogen.
Migraines have been linked to sudden changes in levels of the female sex hormone, which BPA mimics. 
The report states: 'The behavioural measures used [were] designed to model many of the symptoms humans experience during a migraine attack.
'Rats exposed to BPA demonstrated significantly augmented migraine-like behaviours.
'These results imply that BPA has the ability to amplify symptoms that are used to diagnose the disorder in human patients, suggesting that exposure to BPA would increase both the incidence and prevalence of this disorder.'
Around five million Britons suffer from migraines though women are three times more likely to have them.
Neurologist Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, of the Migraine Trust charity, said: 'We know Bisphenol A is used in materials such as food packaging, plastics and tins.
'In most sufferers, attacks are genetically linked and the triggers only generate them in those who are predisposed. 
'But if BPA is implicated in the genesis of migraines than this would certainly be a milestone in headache research.'
Bisphenol A is so commonplace because of the range of products it’s found in, everything from car dashboards to shower curtains to till receipts and cosmetics.
Countries across the world – including EU member states, Canada and China - have moved to ban the chemical from baby bottles.
The previous study which tested a ‘fresh foods’ diet picked families from San Francisco who ate canned food and were exposed to BPA through at least two of four other sources: drinking from personal water bottles; drinking from office water coolers; eating meals away from home and eating eating meals microwaved in plastic.


Read more: - 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2516645/Migraines-link-plastic-cups-bottles-Gender-bending-chemical-packaging-trigger-attacks.html

Google searches for the term “stock bubble” are now at the highest level that we have seen since November 2007 - 



One of the men that won the Nobel Prize for economics this year says that “bubbles look like this” and that he is “most worried about the boom in the U.S. stock market.”  But you don’t have to be a Nobel Prize winner to see what is happening.  It should be glaringly apparent to anyone with half a brain.  The financial markets have been soaring while the overall economy has been stagnating.  Reckless injections of liquidity into the financial system by the Federal Reserve have pumped up stock prices to ridiculous extremes, and people are becoming concerned.  In fact, Google searches for the term “stock bubble” are now at the highest level that we have seen since November 2007.  Despite assurances from the mainstream media and the Federal Reserve that everything is just fine, many Americans are beginning to realize that we have seen this movie before.  We saw it during the dotcom bubble, and we saw it during the lead up to the horrible financial crisis of 2008.  So precisely when will the bubble burst this time?  Nobody knows for sure, but without a doubt this irrational financial bubble will burst at some point.  Remember, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts, and the following are 15 signs that we are near the peak of an absolutely massive stock market bubble…
#1 Bob Shiller, one of the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for economics, says that “bubbles look like this” and that he is “most worried about the boom in the U.S. stock market.”

#2 The total amount of margin debt has risen by 50 percent since January 2012 and it is now at the highest level ever recorded.  The last two times that margin debt skyrocketed like this were just before the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2000 and just before the financial crisis of 2008.  When this house of cards comes crashing down, things are going to get very messy…

“When the tablecloth gets pulled out from under the place settings, you’re going to have a lot of them crash and smash on the floor,” said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners hedge fund. “That margin’s going to get pulled and everyone’s going to have to cover. That’s when you get really serious corrections.”

#3 Since the bottom of the market in 2009, the Dow has jumped 143 percent, the S&P 500 is up 165 percent and the Nasdaq has risen an astounding 213 percent.  This does not reflect economic reality in any way, shape or form.

#4 Market research firm TrimTabs says that the S&P 500 is “very overpriced” right now.

#5 Marc Faber recently told CNBC that “we are in a gigantic speculative bubble”.

#6 In the United States, Google searches for the term “stock bubble” are at the highest level that we have seen since November 2007 - just before the last stock market crash.

#7 Price to earnings ratios are very high right now…

The Dow was trading at 17.8 times the past four quarters of earnings of its 30 components, according to The Wall Street Journal on Friday. That was up from 13.7 times its earnings a year ago. The S&P 500 is trading at 18.7 times earnings. The Nasdaq-100 Index is trading at 21.5 times earnings. At the very least, the ratios are signaling that stock prices are rich.

#8 According to CNBC, Pinterest is currently valued at more than 3 billion dollars even though it has never earned a profit.

#9 Twitter is a seven-year-old company that has never made a profit.  It actually lost 64.6 million dollars last quarter.  But according to the financial markets it is currently worth about 22 billion dollars.

#10 Right now, Facebook is trading at a valuation that is equivalent to approximately 100 years of earnings, and it is currently supposedly worth about 115 billion dollars.

#11 Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital recently stated that he believes that “markets are riskier than at any time since the depths of the 2008/9 crisis”.

#12 As Graham Summers recently noted, retail investors are buying stocks at a level not seen since the peak of the dotcom bubble back in 2000.

#13 David Stockman, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, believes that this financial bubble is going to end very badly…

“We have a massive bubble everywhere, from Japan, to China, Europe, to the UK.  As a result of this, I think world financial markets are extremely dangerous, unstable, and subject to serious trouble and dislocation in the future.”

#14 Bob Janjuah of Nomura Securities believes that there “could be a 25% to 50% sell off in global stock markets” over the next couple of years.

#15 According to Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, the U.S. stock market is repeating a pattern that we have seen many times before.  According to him, we are experiencing “a well-defined syndrome of ‘overvalued, overbought, overbullish, rising-yield’ conditions that has appeared exclusively at speculative market peaks – including (exhaustively) 1929, 1972, 1987, 2000, 2007, 2011 (before a market loss of nearly 20% that was truncated by investor faith in a new round of monetary easing), and at three points in 2013: February, May, and today.”

As I mentioned at the top of this article, this stock market bubble has been fueled by quantitative easing.  Easy money from the Fed has been artificially inflating stock prices, and this has greatly benefited a very small percentage of the U.S. population.  In fact, 82 percent of all individually held stocks are owned by the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans.

When this stock market bubble does burst, those wealthy Americans are going to be in for a tremendous amount of pain.

Read more -

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/15-signs-that-we-are-near-the-peak-of-an-absolutely-massive-stock-market-bubble

Comet Ison 'May Have Survived' Brush With Sun -

Comet Ison 'May Have Survived' Brush With Sun - 



Astronomers tracking what they hoped would be the "comet of the century" say some of it may have survived its close encounter with the Sun.

It was first reported that the Comet Ison's nucleus and tail had been destroyed by the Sun's radiation and tidal forces but the European Space Agency (ESA) said the "story continues".

The agency tweeted on Friday: "Well, well, seems reports of comet #Ison's demise have been greatly exaggerated."

The latest pictures appear to show a brightening of a chunk of the comet which has caused a surge in excitement among skygazers.

It is hard to know what has happened but experts say dust and gas are being released and the tail may be growing back.

If it is visible in the night sky, it is too soon to know how bright it will be or how long it will last.

Comet Ison, which had been hurtling through space at speeds of 845,000mph, was due to pass within 730,000 miles of the surface of the star last night at 6.37pm UK time.

It was expected to be met with temperatures of about 2,700C (4,892F) and an intense gravitational pull as it prepared for its solar slingshot.

Read more -

http://news.sky.com/story/1174976/comet-ison-may-have-survived-brush-with-sun

Drone used to deliver contraband at Georgia prison - 



A southeast Georgia sheriff says four people accused of using a remote-controlled drone to fly contraband into a state prison have been arrested.

Calhoun County Sheriff John Hilton told WSB-TV Wednesday that officials noticed the device hovering over the gates at the Calhoun State Prison in Morgan and later searched a car with Gwinnett County tags.

Hilton says investigators found the drone, between 1 and 2 pounds of tobacco and several cellphones in the car. Hilton says the suspects also used a pair of binoculars to monitor the device as it made its deliveries.

Hilton says the four people who were arrested were from Snellville and Decatur and are now free on bond.

Morgan is about 30 miles west of Albany.

Read more - 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/28/drone-used-to-deliver-contraband-at-georgia-prison/?intcmp=latestnews

RIP, Comet ISON? Evidence is mounting that Comet ISON did not survive its brush with the sun on Nov. 28th -

RIP, Comet ISON? Evidence is mounting that Comet ISON did not survive its brush with the sun on Nov. 28th - 



COMET ISON, R.I.P.: Evidence is mounting that comet ISON did not survive its brush with the sun earlier today. At 01:45 EST on Nov. 28th, Thanksgiving Day in the USA, the comet was supposed to pass a little more than a million miles above the surface of the sun. As a new movie from SOHO shows, the comet had already disintegrated. Click to set the scene in motion, and pay careful attention to the head of the comet:


http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2013/11/28/sundiver_anim3.gif

Read more - 

http://spaceweather.com/

Bunny boiler app: Spy software lets you track your partner's movements, listen in on calls -

Bunny boiler app: Spy software lets you track your partner's movements, listen in on calls - 



It’s bad enough checking your partner’s phone when they leave the room, or taking a peek at their Facebook page, yet a new app takes this level of snooping not just a step further, but a giant leap forward.
The mSpy app works on select smartphones including Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone and can be used to gain access to an unprecedented level of personal information.
It records phone calls, tracks a person’s location, lets users remotely read texts, Skype, Facebook and Viber messages, view browsing history and even see how much battery the phone has left.

According to Oregon-based mSpy’s website the app is designed for 'monitoring your children, employees or others on a smartphone or mobile device’. 
However, it adds the person doing the spying must own the device being tracked, or the person being tracked must give their permission. 

To use the app, spies must pay a monthly fee that starts at £24.99 for a limited range of features, up to £44.99 for access to them all. 
Spies can also use the app to view videos and photos stored on a device, see the phone owner's list of applications and software updates, open their calendar, notes and tasks, and even get hold of the phone’s unique IMEI number.
They can additionally remotely lock or wipe a device, block websites and calls from certain contacts as well as record the person’s surroundings.
People wanting to use the app do need to physically install it onto the phone they wish to track, yet once installed mSpy promises the app is 100 per cent undetectable.

This is because the app runs it what the company calls ‘stealth mode’  and doesn’t appear in the phone owner’s apps list.
It works in a similar way to encryption lockers that are designed to be hidden deliberately and can only be found by the installer. These apps, however, are designed to protect information and privacy.
Subscribers can choose to sync the data automatically, only over Wi-Fi, or manually and if automatic sync is selected the data is updated every 30 minutes.
Users can then track this information from anywhere by signing into an online account and viewing it all on a dashboard. 
The dashboard produces charts that show which apps have been used and how often, while the person’s location is plotted on to a map.
‘We do have quite a large portion of our customers who use mSPY specifically to catch a cheating spouse," mSPy’s Tatiana Ameri told ABC 22 news.
But added ‘We do ask our users to make sure they've got their monitored partners consent.’
According to mSpy the app works on Apple, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian, however, it will only work on jailbroken iOS devices and doesn’t work with iOS 7. Android phones, similarly, need to be rooted. 

Read more: - 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2514892/mSpy-app-lets-people-spy-partners-calls-texts-track-them.html

Japan Wants To Turn The Moon Into A Giant Power Plant - 



Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese architecture and engineering firm, has a plan to effectively turn the moon into a giant solar power plant, reports Inhabitat.

It proposes building a massive collection of solar panels (a "Luna Ring") 6,800 miles long by 12 miles wide on the moon's surface. That's certainly a heavy-duty construction job for human beings, so Shimizu plans to get the work done with robots, only involving humans in supervisory roles.

Once complete, this hypothetical plant could continuously send energy to "receiving stations" around the globe by way of lasers and microwave transmission. This idea gets around two major hurdles for solar power, as there is no weather or darkness to curb electricity production on the moon. If operating in ship-shape, Shimizu says it could continuously send 13,000 terawatts of power back to Earth. By comparison, it took the United States all of 2011 to generate 4,100 terawatts of power.

It's big thinking that we're skeptical will ever see fruition, but we like where Shimizu's coming from. It believes that "virtually inexhaustible, non-polluting solar energy is the ultimate source of green energy that brings prosperity to nature as well as our lives. Shimizu Corporation proposes the Luna Ring for the infinite coexistence of mankind and the Earth."

Read more - 

http://www.businessinsider.com/shimizu-corporation-solar-plant-on-moon-2013-11