#2
Why, just yesterday as I was chizling snot off my lip I was thinking to myself, "What is the sunspot forecast?" Last I heard, it was for minimal activity.
"It is critical for us to get a much better understanding of the impact of climate change in some parts of the world," Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. Pachauri said he was concerned that negotiators were sparring and probing and leaving key decisions for the last moment.
...and, dammit! I've got to protect my phoney baloney job!!
"My concern is that if we leave everything to the end, we might end up with a weak agreement that doesn't really address the problem," he said.
Last year, Pachauri's IPCC, which collected the work of more than 2,000 scientists, said climate change is "unequivocal, said climate change is already happening, and is caused by human activity."
It listed likely effects of global warming: arid regions will grow dryer,
Haven't seen it...
rising seas will flood coastal areas,
Just drove through Boston. They had a big water main break at Quincy Market, but the city's not under water...
melting glaciers will flood communities downstream and then dry up the source of future water supplies,
So...floods will make water go away? Interesting.
and up to 30 percent of all plant and animal species may become extinct.
May?
Since then, new evidence has emerged showing that ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctic are melting, which threatens to dramatically raise the level of the oceans and flood coastal cities and low-lying islands. "Small island states are living in a state of fear," he said.
But Pachauri said there was no conclusive evidence the world is in imminent danger. "I don't think we should jump to conclusions if we get material that is based on the last one or two years," the Indian scientist said. The IPCC issues its reports every five or six years.
You mean conclusions like...climate change is "unequivocal, is already happening, and is caused by human activity."? Conclusions like that?
Posted by: Jusoque Dark Lord of the Jutes3360 ||
12/10/2008 17:25 Comments ||
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#6
If you haven't read Michael Crichton's State of Fear, you owe it to yourself to do so.
As I've said for more than a decade now, AGW is a crock started by people out to make the biggest cash grab in world history--the invention of the trillion-dollar carbon cap-and-trade market.
#7
Let's remember that there was acompany who strongly lobbied for the thesis of MMGW and the assorted super market of carbon credits. It was called Enron.
#8
As I've said for more than a decade now, AGW is a crock started by people out to make the biggest cash grab in world history--the invention of the trillion-dollar carbon cap-and-trade market.
Unfortunately for them other swindlers were pushing worthless paper with Wall Street, at Fannie Mae, and in oils future speculations so that other Ponzi schemes already have raided the bank. Now if they're willing to take some negative interest freshly printed Treasury Bills....
#10
ION REDDIT > NEW STUDY FINDS WARMER TEMPERATURES MAY LEAD TO LONGER LIMBS.
IOW, UFO ABDUCTIONS + "GREYS" ALIENS = HUMANS BEING KIDNAPPED, ETC. BY FUTURE HUMANS = DESCENDANTS, as affected then by simil FUTURE SOLAR/SUN SHENNANIGANS???
When the NON-BORN ATTACK!
D *** NG IT, YOUR ORION BIKINI BABES CAN STAY BUT TAKE YOUR WEIRDO SOLYENT PURPLE PIZZAS BACK TO SPACE WHERE IT BELONGS, AND STAY OFF OUR FUTURE ANCESTRAL LAWNS [shaking future ancient GEEZER MUMMY/ARCHAEO-FISTS angrily].
#2
Ian Smith saw this future coming. So did anyone else who knew Africa. The Zims wanted Bad Bob and they got him. My sympathy is extended only to those who fought against Bad Bob. Unfortunately for Zim, most of them are now dead or in exile.
Somebody tell me again about how bad colonial rule in Africa was. Looking at Zim, or Somalia, or DRC, or Nigeria and remembering how it was pre-independence, I seem to have forgotten the justifications...
HARARE The African Union rejected tougher action against Zimbabwe on Tuesday and said only dialogue could solve the deepening crisis, while U.S. President George W. Bush joined calls for President Robert Mugabe to step down. "It is time for Robert Mugabe to go," Bush said in Washington. "Across the continent, African voices are bravely speaking out to say now is the time for him to step down."
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said countries in the region, notably South Africa, should do more to speed Mugabe's departure. "They have unused leverage, at this point, that they could bring to bear. And we would hope, that they, as well as others, would bring to bear whatever leverage, political leverage, that they might have to help the situation," he told reporters in Washington.
But the African Union made clear it did not back calls for much tougher action. "Only dialogue between the Zimbabwean parties, supported by the AU and other regional actors, can restore peace and stability to that country," said Salva Rweyemamu, spokesman for AU chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
It's worked countless times in Africa already ...
Rweyemamu said sending peacekeeping troops or removing Mugabe by force, as proposed by prominent figures including Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Nobel peace laureate and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, were not options. "We have a serious humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. We have cholera. Do they think that we can eradicate cholera with guns?"
As a matter of fact ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The Black African Dictator Protective Society has spoken!
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the death toll in the cholera epidemic which has ravaged Zimbabwe for weeks rose to 774 people as of late Monday - but some health activists said the actual death toll was probably in the thousands.
The WHO said a total of 15,219 cases had been reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, don't worry, folks. The AU's got your back.
Swedish aerospace group Saab has publicly denounced Norway for choosing an American-made aircraft over Saab's Gripen, claiming the decision was based on "unfounded" assumptions and "faulty analysis".
"Even if Sweden gave away 48 planes, Norway claims that the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) would be cheaper," said Saab CEO Åke Svensson at a press conference on Wednesday regarding Saab's views on the failed procurement, according to the TT news agency.
The statements come less than three weeks after Norway ended months of speculation by choosing the US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the Gripen to replace the country's fleet of aging F-16 aircraft.
The decision "came as a surprise" to Saab, and was made even more difficult to accept by the way in which Norway delivered the news, offering a detailed account of why the Gripen was an inferior aircraft.
"The JSF is considered to be better than the Gripen in every major requirement for a combat aircraft -- spying and surveillance, as well as combat against targets in the air, on land, and at sea," said Norway's defence minister Anne-Grethe Ström-Erichsen to the Norwegian news agency NTB at the time of the announcement.
Especially galling for Saab was Norway's assertion that the Gripen was more expensive than the F-35, as analysts had repeatedly stressed the Gripen's relatively cheaper operating costs as one of the plane's primary competitive strengths. Dunno. Operating expenses skyrocket after factoring in dead pilots and burning planes.
In publicizing its scathing review of Norway's analysis, Saab claimed that the country's analysis of the Gripen's costs and capabilities was based on information which the Norwegians essentially made up, and that several assumptions were grossly misguided.
"The arguments put forward seemed to have very little, or no, establishment in the preceding procurement process. We did not recognize ourselves in the assessment of Gripen's operational capacity or the description of its costs. It sounded like the description of another aircraft," said Saab in a statement. "The claim that Gripen does not fulfill Norway's operational demands and that Gripen would prove essentially more expensive must, according to our view, rest on an incomplete, or even faulty, analysis."
Specifically, Saab said Norway's claims that the Gripen didn't meet the demands of the Norwegian air force are based on "incomplete or non-existent" information.
Furthermore, claims Saab, Norway injected a number of its own assumptions into the cost estimates which greatly inflated the costs. "It is Saab's assessment that only 20 percent of the Norwegian evaluation committees cost estimates are based on the facts presented in the Swedish offer," the company said.
According to Saab, for example, Norway based its estimates about the Gripen's costs using figures derived from Norway's experience with the American made F-16 which is "a very different and in important aspects non-comparable aircraft".
Furthermore, Norway assumed that nearly half of the fleet of 48 Gripen aircraft included called for in the procurement would crash within 35 years. "This is completely unfounded if applied to Gripen's statistics. This also adds further billions to the calculation," said Saab.
Saab's public airing of the review is an attempt by the company to answer any doubts that may have arisen among other potential Gripen customers due to Norway's claims. "To Saab it is important to call attention to the fact that that claims of Gripen's insufficient performance and high costs are not founded on recognized facts and experiences," said the company.
In concluding, Saab said it respects Norway's decision, understanding "that many considerations, political as well as other, govern this type of procurement processes", and that it plans to continue to pursue other opportunities elsewhere.
#5
There is no mention of what the problems are with the Gripen but I notice both the aircraft were in fairly normal flight operations (approach to final, high g flight maneuvers for air demo) that should not be considered outside the normal flight envelope. Flight control problems?
Have these problems been ironed out or are they ongoing for the aircraft?
#7
Those two crashes are old old old.
They are from the test series 1989 and 1993. They have been ironed out long long long ago. If you looked at those videos you have seen 50% av all Gripen crashes.
#8
I'm fairly sure both of these crashes were from early in the test program; I seem to remember it was because of the flight control software. (One of them looks like it was some sort of PIO, same as wrecked one of the YF-22 prototypes).
I like the Gripen, but always find myself wishing they'd had made it Viggen-sized; it would probably cost the same, since the electronics systems seem to dominate the airframe costs these days.
Also, the Swedes were trying to sell a modified version of the Gripen, with more fuel and weapons capacity. A larger airframe to begin with would have made those sort of things easier.
#11
And yeah, I'd like to have a gripen of my own... but my credit cards are maxed out, and I have trouble fitting in the cockpits of many human fighter planes. They make 'em for little guys 5-6 feet tall.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Several Iranians working directly for the country's nuclear research program were among those arrested recently for funneling information about the program to foreign nations, according to an Iranian media report.
The Tabnak report which was released on Tuesday did not say which countries were connected to the alleged spying ring or how many Iranians were arrested in the past few months. Tabnak is a semi-official Iranian news agency that is linked to a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The report said the arrests were made after media reports which claimed the United States and other Western intelligence agencies were trying to spy on Iran's nuclear program.
Two weeks ago, Iran arrested three alleged spies accused of working for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari told Fars that those arrested included members of an Israeli spy network who collected and transferred information about Iran's nuclear and military centers. The network included members who had allegedly been trained in Israeli cities to carry out bombing attacks and assassination plots in Iran, Tehran's prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, told Fars.
In November, Iran executed Ali Ashtari, 45, who was convicted by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in June of spying for the Mossad in exchange for money, according to Iranian media reports. According to Ashtari's "confession," published by Fars, he was a salesman who obtained high-end but security-compromised pieces of electronic equipment from the Mossad and sold them to military and defense centers in Iran.
Several other Iranians are currently in custody, awaiting trial on charges of spying for foreign countries and planning terrorist activities inside Iran.
Something AIG neglected to tell anyone before going to the well. From TFA:
American International Group Inc. owes Wall Street's biggest firms about $10 billion for speculative trades that have soured, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring the challenges the insurer faces as it seeks to recover under a U.S. government rescue plan.
The details of the trades go beyond what AIG has explained to investors about the nature of its risk-taking operations, which led to the firm's near-collapse in September. In the past, AIG has said that its trades involved helping financial institutions and counterparties insure their securities holdings. Apparently, the terms of the $150 billion mega loan won't cover these losses, so begins a new episode in this Greek tragedy in which a patient recovering from a massive gunshot wound gets a deadly infection from a shaving cut.
The article also says that these losses stem from AIG essentially acting like a brokerage house instead of an insurer.
The issue with AIG are credit default obligations ( CDO ) it bought from Goldman Sachs Abacus program.
#3
WOuld they have gotten the bailout if they had been honest about these losses? If not, is this not fraud? When is the government going to start doing its job? Are we going to have to do it ourselves?
#5
The bailout of AIG was simply a prop for the credit default swap market. Many people attack the bailout as a prop to Wall Street, but this is not quiet true. It was mainly a bailout of a favored few on Wall Street namely Goldman Sachs, whose previous boss used to be Hank Paulson (isn't that a coincidence)and Morgan Stanley.
The sooner AIG is put into bankruptcy, the sooner the economy can get back on its feet.
#7
When you think Goldman Sachs remember Robert Rubin.
Obama's Robert Rubin All-stars
Larry Summers, who succeeded Mr Rubin at Treasury in 1999, will be his chief economic counsellor at the White House (and chairman-in- waiting of the Federal Reserve, if the rumours are to be believed). The Treasury Secretary will be Tim Geithner, Mr Rubin's protégé in the 1990s, and one of the three men (the others are Ben Bernanke, the present Fed chairman, and Henry Paulson, the present Treasury chief) who have been driving the US Government's response to the financial crisis.
Despite the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, Goldman was able to profit from the collapse in subprime mortgage bonds in the summer of 2007 by selling subprime mortgage-backed securities short. Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with bearing responsibility for the firm's large profits during America's sub-prime mortgage crisis.[44] The pair, who are part of Goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4bn by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities. By summer of 2007, they persuaded colleagues to see their point of view and talked around skeptical risk management executives [45]. The firm initially avoided large subprime writedowns, and achieved a net profit due to significant losses on non-prime securitized loans being offset by gains on short mortgage positions.
Goldman Sachs' newest acquisitions are to include the subprime portfolio of imploded mortgage company Popular Financial Holdings late in the third quarter of 2008.
Detractors believe that Goldman wasn't quite as careful with its clients' money as it was with its ownits flagship Global Alpha hedge fund tumbled 37% in the global credit crunch. As most individual investments of hedge funds are not made public, however, no one can know exactly what assets the firm traded during the period leading up to the credit crisis.
#8
tipper isn't it funny that the part of the Market Joe6Pack invests in isn't "bailed out" with his tax, but the part of the market that the limousine libs deal in is?
They are going to cause a depression unless negative assets are removed, and quickly.
The yield on the whole economy HAS to rise, and that means
1/ Paying back debt to lower debt repayment costs.
2/ Getting rid of non-performing assets.
3/ Writing of debt that won't be paid back.
4/ Cutting the cost of doing business.
The government is doing the opposite of the above!
#10
Bright Pebbles, I think the reason the "Market Joe6Pack" isn't being bailed out, is that after the hurricane that has swept the credit markets in recent months only community, small and medium sized banks are in any sense viable.
If you look at the bailout You would have to say that Bank of America, Citigroup and maybe JPMorgan and Wells may well end up being nationalized.
The academics can't work out why the billions being pumped into the economy isn't working.
The reason is that the infrastructure destroyed will first have to be rebuilt up around banks who still have the skills necessary to make viable loans maybe Bancorp and Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. Until the restructuring happens little if anything the govt does, using the existing major banks to leverage and create credit for the economy will be of any use.
#11
CHINESE MIL FORUM > CALIFORNIA RUNNING OUT OF MONEY!? Milyuhns and Zilyuhns and Tilyuhns of Years and Decades of PERENNIAL CA STATE BUDGET CRISES + HYPERDEFICIT SPENDING = SKY IS FINALLY FALLING IN THE GOLDEN STATE. By EOM 12/2008 Sacramento may be forced to suspend any and all PUBLIC WORKS, ETC. PROJECTS - by 03/2009 Sacramento may HAVE NO $$$ FOR EVEN DAY-TO-DAY GOVT. OPERATIONS. Calif forecasted to have a approxi US$28.0Bilyuhn budget shortfall over the next two years [< Year 2010]. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT ONLY HAVE NO $$$ BUT MAY ALSO BE UNABLE TO BOND(S)-BORROW ANY SUMS FOR REMEDY.
IOW, CALIFORNIA'S WOES = akin to GUAM'S OWN DILEMMA???
#12
Compare wid REDDIT > MISES Blog Article [long but good]> GENERAL MOTORS [GM] SOLD 9.37MILYUHN CARS IN 2007 WORLDWIDE BUT LOST US$38.7BILYUHN,
whereas TOYOTA SOLD 9.37MILYUHN CARS IN 2007 WORLDWIDE AND MADE US$17.1BILYUHN IN PROFIT. USA's = Detroit's "BIG 3" are LOSING approxi US$5.0BILYUHN EVERY MONTH [30 days].
Also, BAILOUT BLOWOUT: US "BIG 3" AUTOMAKERS NEED MANY BILYUUHNS MORE THAN REQUESTED!
Oil prices have shed earlier gains after the US government predicted that global oil consumption would decline both this year and next. US crude was down 84 cents at $42.87 a barrel on Tuesday and London Brent crude dropped $1.09 to $42.33.
Oil prices rose slightly earlier Tuesday on expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would make a big cut in its output levels at a Dec.17 summit in Algeria. OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on Saturday that oil markets should be prepared for a 'surprise' output cut at the summit.
The US Energy Information Administration said in a report on Tuesday that the world oil demand would fall by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2008 and 450,000 bpd in 2009. It is the first time since the early 1980s that global oil consumption would decline in two consecutive years.
Oil prices have lost more than $100 since hitting a record high of above $147 a barrel as the global financial crisis has sharply slashed demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
And don't forget: Keep working on nuclear, wind, etc.. And in the meantime: Drill.
#6
More disinformation from the experts who have been out to lunch for years. The cited article obscures the %-age of consumption drop worldwide involved, it isn't much, yet the price of oil has plunged. I expect a future slight increase in world consumption will cause a drastic price increase (predicted by most Peak Oil theorists). There is a very complex interplay between the current world financial crisis & the flattening of world oil production which I don't understand. I don't think anyone understands it. Burn it while it's cheap. Investing in upgrades of alternate transportation methods now (such as rail, especially electrified rail) would be wise but won't happen, people have drunk too deeply of the Kool-Aid of Happy Motoring.
#7
BP, that says the currency pros believe the dollar still has a lot of appreciation left. Still I wonder how the US will pay for the $3 trillion bailout (yes, it's mostly loans, but payback is iffy) and a $trillion Obama Youth program.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2008 13:14 Comments ||
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#8
No, it says they are more scared about putting it anywhere else!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Study: Half of warming due to Sun! Sea Levels Fail to Rise? - Warming Fears in 'Dustbin of History'
Some Say Toll In Thousands 
Ukraine's new parliament speaker says the cabinet has formed a three-party coalition to end the country's months-long political crisis.
