Study takes step toward erasing bad memories
Sun Feb 15, 2009
{LONDON (Reuters) - A widely available blood pressure pill could one day help people erase bad memories, perhaps treating some anxiety disorders and phobias, according to a Dutch study published on Sunday.
The generic beta-blocker propranolol significantly weakened people's fearful memories of spiders among a group of healthy volunteers who took it, said Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study.
"We could show that the fear response went away, which suggests the memory was weakened," Kindt said in a telephone interview.
The findings published in the journal Nature Neuroscience are important because the drug may offer another way to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems related to bad memories.
Traditionally, therapists seek to teach people with such disorders strategies to build new associations and block bad memories. The problem, Kindt said, is the memories remain and people often relapse.
Animal studies have shown that fear memories can change when recalled, a process known as reconsolidation. At this stage they are also vulnerable to beta-blockers like propranolol, which target neurons in the brain, the researchers said.
Kindt and her team's experiment included 60 men and women who learned to associate pictures of spiders with a mild shock. This experience created a fearful memory, the researchers said.
Other participants saw the same picture but did not receive an electrical shock. For these people this established a "safe" association without a fear response or bad memory.
One day later people given the drug had a greatly decreased fear response compared with people on the placebo when shown the picture and given a mild shock, the researchers said.
"There was no difference to the fear spider and the safe spider," Kindt said. "This shows it is possible to weaken the underlying memory by interfering with it."
The next steps are to look at how long the drug's effects on memory last, and testing the treatment in people who actually are suffering from some kind of disorder or phobia, Kindt said.}
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and Elizabeth Piper)
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090215/science/science_us_memories_drug
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Strange dark energy acts as galactic diet enforcer, astronomers say
Tue Dec 16
By The Associated Press
{WASHINGTON - Mysterious dark energy, which likely causes the universe to keep expanding, seems to have another effect - it prevents the biggest clusters of galaxies from getting too fat.
Astronomers used X-rays to study the formation of galactic clusters billions of years ago.
Their research supports the hard-to-fathom concept of dark energy as a potent force that governs the growth of the universe.
It also means Albert Einstein's century-old theory of general relativity passes another crucial, but not conclusive, real-world test.
A scientist using NASA's Earth-orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory has found that dark energy acts as a force that keeps clusters of galaxies - around 1,000 bright galaxies or more - from essentially overeating and getting too big.
Without dark energy, these giant clusters would keep forming, getting denser and bigger because of gravity.
But in the last few billion years that hasn't happened, said Alexey Vikhlinin, a scientist at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.
He looked at when 86 such clusters formed and saw the slowdown in girth, starting about 5.5 billion years ago. The logical cause: dark energy.
"They're put on a diet, a permanent diet," Vikhlinin said in a telephone interview.
Three outside experts praised the new study, which will be in February's Astrophysical Journal, as important to understanding a concept that is counterintuitive but crucial to figuring out the evolution of the universe.
The history of the universe has been a battle between "the two dark titans, dark matter and dark energy," said University of Chicago astrophysicist Michael Turner.
"This is the first time you've seen the effect of dark energy taking over," he said.
Dark energy is still a relatively new idea that came out a decade ago when measurements of star supernovae showed the universe was surprisingly expanding. One way to explain the expansion - building on an idea Einstein first broached and called his biggest mistake - is that another force in the universe is essentially fighting gravity. That force is dark energy.
"It's much more important and abundant in the evolution of the universe than the atoms that make us up," said Princeton theoretical astrophysicist David Spergal.
Clusters of galaxies are a good way to look at the effects of dark energy because they are "cosmic frogs" that are sensitive to small changes, Turner said. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is not in a cluster but we are not too far from the Virgo cluster.
As the universe expands thanks to dark energy, clusters such as Virgo and other galaxies will get farther and farther way.
And in tens of billions of years, they will eventually disappear from sight, Vikhlinin said.
"Sometime down the road, we'll have nothing to observe," he said.
-
On the Net:
Chandra X-ray Observatory: http://chandra.harvard.edu }
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081216/science/science_dark_energy
By The Associated Press
{WASHINGTON - Mysterious dark energy, which likely causes the universe to keep expanding, seems to have another effect - it prevents the biggest clusters of galaxies from getting too fat.
Astronomers used X-rays to study the formation of galactic clusters billions of years ago.
Their research supports the hard-to-fathom concept of dark energy as a potent force that governs the growth of the universe.
It also means Albert Einstein's century-old theory of general relativity passes another crucial, but not conclusive, real-world test.
A scientist using NASA's Earth-orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory has found that dark energy acts as a force that keeps clusters of galaxies - around 1,000 bright galaxies or more - from essentially overeating and getting too big.
Without dark energy, these giant clusters would keep forming, getting denser and bigger because of gravity.
But in the last few billion years that hasn't happened, said Alexey Vikhlinin, a scientist at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.
He looked at when 86 such clusters formed and saw the slowdown in girth, starting about 5.5 billion years ago. The logical cause: dark energy.
"They're put on a diet, a permanent diet," Vikhlinin said in a telephone interview.
Three outside experts praised the new study, which will be in February's Astrophysical Journal, as important to understanding a concept that is counterintuitive but crucial to figuring out the evolution of the universe.
The history of the universe has been a battle between "the two dark titans, dark matter and dark energy," said University of Chicago astrophysicist Michael Turner.
"This is the first time you've seen the effect of dark energy taking over," he said.
Dark energy is still a relatively new idea that came out a decade ago when measurements of star supernovae showed the universe was surprisingly expanding. One way to explain the expansion - building on an idea Einstein first broached and called his biggest mistake - is that another force in the universe is essentially fighting gravity. That force is dark energy.
"It's much more important and abundant in the evolution of the universe than the atoms that make us up," said Princeton theoretical astrophysicist David Spergal.
Clusters of galaxies are a good way to look at the effects of dark energy because they are "cosmic frogs" that are sensitive to small changes, Turner said. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is not in a cluster but we are not too far from the Virgo cluster.
As the universe expands thanks to dark energy, clusters such as Virgo and other galaxies will get farther and farther way.
And in tens of billions of years, they will eventually disappear from sight, Vikhlinin said.
"Sometime down the road, we'll have nothing to observe," he said.
-
On the Net:
Chandra X-ray Observatory: http://chandra.harvard.edu }
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081216/science/science_dark_energy
Sunday, November 23, 2008
IBM Security
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/solutions/security/
-
http://www-03.ibm.com/security/
-
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/xforce/20080318/index.shtml?sa_campaign=message/ideas/leadspace/all/xforceflash
-
http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/adv/start/index.shtml?ca=agus_brdoingtvlp-20080401&me=vanity&met=doing&re=doing&s_tact=106aw01w&cm_mmc=106aw01w-_-p-_-doing-doing-_-agus_brdoingtvlp-20080401#
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalSecurity.org
-
{Identity management in the 21st century: Balancing safety, security and liberty in a global environment
"Governments should move to implement cohesive and collaborative identity management systems to provide safe cross-border travel, inhibit crime and terrorism and provide for data safety and privacy for their citizens."}
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1029016?cntxt=a1005266
-
There is always the potential for technology to be abused & for power to exceed its appropriate
boundaries. It has happened before. http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Black#The_Transfer_Agreement
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/web-warriors.html
-
http://www-03.ibm.com/security/
-
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/xforce/20080318/index.shtml?sa_campaign=message/ideas/leadspace/all/xforceflash
-
http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/adv/start/index.shtml?ca=agus_brdoingtvlp-20080401&me=vanity&met=doing&re=doing&s_tact=106aw01w&cm_mmc=106aw01w-_-p-_-doing-doing-_-agus_brdoingtvlp-20080401#
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalSecurity.org
-
{Identity management in the 21st century: Balancing safety, security and liberty in a global environment
"Governments should move to implement cohesive and collaborative identity management systems to provide safe cross-border travel, inhibit crime and terrorism and provide for data safety and privacy for their citizens."}
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1029016?cntxt=a1005266
-
There is always the potential for technology to be abused & for power to exceed its appropriate
boundaries. It has happened before. http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Black#The_Transfer_Agreement
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/web-warriors.html
Saturday, November 22, 2008
CBC: Web Warriors
Premiering On: Thursday November 20, 2008 at 9 pm on CBC-TV
{The internet is touted as one of the most important inventions in the history of modern man, and like the discovery of the atom, its ability to benefit mankind is matched only by its potential to unleash massive destruction.
Web Warriors is a one-hour documentary that offers an unprecedented glimpse into the world's newest and most vulnerable frontier: cyberspace. We enter the world of hackers like Mafia Boy - a 15 year old high school student who rose to infamy in 2000 by causing millions of dollars in damage after single-handedly shutting down internet giants - including Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Dell, eTrade, and CNN.
We'll meet hackers like Donnie who goes on a journey into the Russian cyber underground as he searches for the creators of a computer virus with the hopes of collecting the $250,000 bounty being offered by Microsoft.
Just as in nature, computer viruses have rapidly evolved and now have the ability to control millions of computers unbeknownst to their owners, thereby creating massive illegal computer networks known as "Botnets".
These "Botnets" are being put to a variety of illicit uses including identity theft and cyber extortion, but they are also the latest and most potent weapon being deployed in military conflicts. Web Warriors dissects the massive cyber attack against Estonia in 2007 which virtually shut down the country and resulted in NATO deploying its cyber response team.
Web Warriors offers rare interviews with cyber sleuths from the FBI, the Pentagon, NATO, and the Department of Homeland Security who explain how cyberspace has become the latest battle ground between nation states and how terrorist groups are already plotting their next move.
Web Warriors offers a fast-paced never-seen before glimpse into the cyber trenches of a world wide battle. Some reports say the cost of cyber crime is now on par with the illegal drug trade.
Web Warriors was produced by Edward Peill for Tell Tale Productions Inc.}
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/webwarriors/
-
{U.S.-Canada Cooperation on Wireless SecurityIn December 2001, then-Governor Tom Ridge and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley signed the "Smart Border" Declaration and associated 30-point Action Plan to enhance the security of our shared border while facilitating the legitimate flow of people and goods. The action plan has four pillars: the secure flow of people, the secure flow of goods, secure infrastructure, and information sharing and coordination in the enforcement of these objectives. In October 2003, then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley released their fourth progress report on the Smart Border Action Plan. The report outlines the significant accomplishments in modernizing the Canada-United States border since the signing of the Smart Border Declaration. This includes the completion of negotiations and an agreement in principle on the text of a legally binding bilateral agreement on science and technology cooperation for protecting our shared critical infrastructure and enhancing border security. As part of this science and technology cooperation, the Center is supporting DHS S&T officials in cooperation projects with their Canadian counterparts. These cyber security projects are focused on secure wireless data communication systems for homeland security agencies on both sides of the border.}
http://www.cyber.st.dhs.gov/ongoing.html#cooperation
-
USA & Canada
{Cyber-security
See also: Cyber-security regulation
The DHS National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is responsible for the response system, risk management program, and requirements for cyber-security in the U.S. The division is home to US-CERT operations and the National Cyber Alert System.[18][19] The DHS Science and Technology Directorate helps government and private end-users transition to new cyber-security capabilities. This directorate also funds the Cyber Security Research and Development Center, which identifies and prioritizes research and development for NCSD.[19] The center works on the Internet's routing infrastructure (the SPRI program) and Domain Name System (DNSSEC), identity theft and other online criminal activity (ITTC), Internet traffic and networks research (PREDICT datasets and the DETER testbed), Department of Defense and HSARPA exercises (Livewire and Determined Promise), and wireless security in cooperation with Canada.[20]} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security#Cyber-security
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/virus-strikes-some-pentagon-computers.html
{The internet is touted as one of the most important inventions in the history of modern man, and like the discovery of the atom, its ability to benefit mankind is matched only by its potential to unleash massive destruction.
Web Warriors is a one-hour documentary that offers an unprecedented glimpse into the world's newest and most vulnerable frontier: cyberspace. We enter the world of hackers like Mafia Boy - a 15 year old high school student who rose to infamy in 2000 by causing millions of dollars in damage after single-handedly shutting down internet giants - including Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Dell, eTrade, and CNN.
We'll meet hackers like Donnie who goes on a journey into the Russian cyber underground as he searches for the creators of a computer virus with the hopes of collecting the $250,000 bounty being offered by Microsoft.
Just as in nature, computer viruses have rapidly evolved and now have the ability to control millions of computers unbeknownst to their owners, thereby creating massive illegal computer networks known as "Botnets".
These "Botnets" are being put to a variety of illicit uses including identity theft and cyber extortion, but they are also the latest and most potent weapon being deployed in military conflicts. Web Warriors dissects the massive cyber attack against Estonia in 2007 which virtually shut down the country and resulted in NATO deploying its cyber response team.
Web Warriors offers rare interviews with cyber sleuths from the FBI, the Pentagon, NATO, and the Department of Homeland Security who explain how cyberspace has become the latest battle ground between nation states and how terrorist groups are already plotting their next move.
Web Warriors offers a fast-paced never-seen before glimpse into the cyber trenches of a world wide battle. Some reports say the cost of cyber crime is now on par with the illegal drug trade.
Web Warriors was produced by Edward Peill for Tell Tale Productions Inc.}
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/webwarriors/
-
{U.S.-Canada Cooperation on Wireless SecurityIn December 2001, then-Governor Tom Ridge and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley signed the "Smart Border" Declaration and associated 30-point Action Plan to enhance the security of our shared border while facilitating the legitimate flow of people and goods. The action plan has four pillars: the secure flow of people, the secure flow of goods, secure infrastructure, and information sharing and coordination in the enforcement of these objectives. In October 2003, then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley released their fourth progress report on the Smart Border Action Plan. The report outlines the significant accomplishments in modernizing the Canada-United States border since the signing of the Smart Border Declaration. This includes the completion of negotiations and an agreement in principle on the text of a legally binding bilateral agreement on science and technology cooperation for protecting our shared critical infrastructure and enhancing border security. As part of this science and technology cooperation, the Center is supporting DHS S&T officials in cooperation projects with their Canadian counterparts. These cyber security projects are focused on secure wireless data communication systems for homeland security agencies on both sides of the border.}
http://www.cyber.st.dhs.gov/ongoing.html#cooperation
-
USA & Canada
{Cyber-security
See also: Cyber-security regulation
The DHS National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is responsible for the response system, risk management program, and requirements for cyber-security in the U.S. The division is home to US-CERT operations and the National Cyber Alert System.[18][19] The DHS Science and Technology Directorate helps government and private end-users transition to new cyber-security capabilities. This directorate also funds the Cyber Security Research and Development Center, which identifies and prioritizes research and development for NCSD.[19] The center works on the Internet's routing infrastructure (the SPRI program) and Domain Name System (DNSSEC), identity theft and other online criminal activity (ITTC), Internet traffic and networks research (PREDICT datasets and the DETER testbed), Department of Defense and HSARPA exercises (Livewire and Determined Promise), and wireless security in cooperation with Canada.[20]} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security#Cyber-security
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/virus-strikes-some-pentagon-computers.html
Virus strikes some Pentagon computers
Fri Nov 21, 1:13 PM
{WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some Defense Department computer networks have been infected with a "global virus" and steps are being taken to mitigate it, the Pentagon said Friday.
The acknowledgement followed reports that the military has banned the use of removable flash media like thumb drives or memory sticks in any Defense Department computer.
"We are aware of a global virus for which there are some public alerts on," said Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman. "And we've seen some of this on our networks. And we're taking steps to identify and mitigate the virus."
Whitman would not identify the virus or say what steps have been taken, and it was not known whether the virus had spread to classified computer networks.
The Military Times newspaper, however, cited a November 17 air force memo that ordered the "immediate suspension" of the use of flash media on all unclassified and classified computer networks.
The Pentagon's global information grid includes about 17,000 local and regional networks and seven million individual computers, the newspaper said.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081121/usa/us_military_cyber
-
http://www.us-cert.gov/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9747666-7.html
http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0839.shtm
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_05.html
{WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some Defense Department computer networks have been infected with a "global virus" and steps are being taken to mitigate it, the Pentagon said Friday.
The acknowledgement followed reports that the military has banned the use of removable flash media like thumb drives or memory sticks in any Defense Department computer.
"We are aware of a global virus for which there are some public alerts on," said Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman. "And we've seen some of this on our networks. And we're taking steps to identify and mitigate the virus."
Whitman would not identify the virus or say what steps have been taken, and it was not known whether the virus had spread to classified computer networks.
The Military Times newspaper, however, cited a November 17 air force memo that ordered the "immediate suspension" of the use of flash media on all unclassified and classified computer networks.
The Pentagon's global information grid includes about 17,000 local and regional networks and seven million individual computers, the newspaper said.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081121/usa/us_military_cyber
-
http://www.us-cert.gov/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9747666-7.html
http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0839.shtm
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_05.html
Friday, November 14, 2008
Neuroimaging Of Brain Shows Who Spoke To A Person And What Was Said
{ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2008) — Scientists from Maastricht University have developed a method to look into the brain of a person and read out who has spoken to him or her and what was said. With the help of neuroimaging and data mining techniques the researchers mapped the brain activity associated with the recognition of speech sounds and voices.
In their Science article "'Who' is Saying 'What'? Brain-Based Decoding of Human Voice and Speech," the four authors demonstrate that speech sounds and voices can be identified by means of a unique 'neural fingerprint' in the listener's brain. In the future this new knowledge could be used to improve computer systems for automatic speech and speaker recognition.
Seven study subjects listened to three different speech sounds (the vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/), spoken by three different people, while their brain activity was mapped using neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). With the help of data mining methods the researchers developed an algorithm to translate this brain activity into unique patterns that determine the identity of a speech sound or a voice. The various acoustic characteristics of vocal cord vibrations (neural patterns) were found to determine the brain activity.
Just like real fingerprints, these neural patterns are both unique and specific: the neural fingerprint of a speech sound does not change if uttered by somebody else and a speaker's fingerprint remains the same, even if this person says something different.
Moreover, this study revealed that part of the complex sound-decoding process takes place in areas of the brain previously just associated with the early stages of sound processing. Existing neurocognitive models assume that processing sounds actively involves different regions of the brain according to a certain hierarchy: after a simple processing in the auditory cortex the more complex analysis (speech sounds into words) takes place in specialised regions of the brain. However, the findings from this study imply a less hierarchal processing of speech that is spread out more across the brain.
The research was partly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO): Two of the four authors, Elia Formisano and Milene Bonte carried out their research with an NWO grant (Vidi and Veni). The data mining methods were developed during the PhD research of Federico De Martino (doctoral thesis defended at Maastricht University on 24 October 2008).
Journal reference:
Elia Formisano, Federico De Martino, Milene Bonte, Rainer Goebel. ”Who” is Saying “What”? Brain-Based Decoding of Human Voice and Speech. Science, November 2008
Adapted from materials provided by NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110071240.htm}
-
http://www.earthpulse.com/src/category.asp?catid=12
In their Science article "'Who' is Saying 'What'? Brain-Based Decoding of Human Voice and Speech," the four authors demonstrate that speech sounds and voices can be identified by means of a unique 'neural fingerprint' in the listener's brain. In the future this new knowledge could be used to improve computer systems for automatic speech and speaker recognition.
Seven study subjects listened to three different speech sounds (the vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/), spoken by three different people, while their brain activity was mapped using neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). With the help of data mining methods the researchers developed an algorithm to translate this brain activity into unique patterns that determine the identity of a speech sound or a voice. The various acoustic characteristics of vocal cord vibrations (neural patterns) were found to determine the brain activity.
Just like real fingerprints, these neural patterns are both unique and specific: the neural fingerprint of a speech sound does not change if uttered by somebody else and a speaker's fingerprint remains the same, even if this person says something different.
Moreover, this study revealed that part of the complex sound-decoding process takes place in areas of the brain previously just associated with the early stages of sound processing. Existing neurocognitive models assume that processing sounds actively involves different regions of the brain according to a certain hierarchy: after a simple processing in the auditory cortex the more complex analysis (speech sounds into words) takes place in specialised regions of the brain. However, the findings from this study imply a less hierarchal processing of speech that is spread out more across the brain.
The research was partly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO): Two of the four authors, Elia Formisano and Milene Bonte carried out their research with an NWO grant (Vidi and Veni). The data mining methods were developed during the PhD research of Federico De Martino (doctoral thesis defended at Maastricht University on 24 October 2008).
Journal reference:
Elia Formisano, Federico De Martino, Milene Bonte, Rainer Goebel. ”Who” is Saying “What”? Brain-Based Decoding of Human Voice and Speech. Science, November 2008
Adapted from materials provided by NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110071240.htm}
-
http://www.earthpulse.com/src/category.asp?catid=12
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
NuSA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-2#Uses_and_successors
Mass_surveillance, its all about the tempting advancement of software & Hardware. Most people just don't have the time or interest in getting an overview of its extent . It all started with the Cray_X1. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is_3753/ai_55855489 Advanced_Encryption_Standard http://www.top500.org/2007_overview_recent_supercomputers/cray_inc_xt4
-
Mr. Marino has several interesting observations & claims about the use & abuse of technology & power.
JF Marino on "The Use Of SQUIDS (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) In Satellite Based Mind Control Technology"
-
-
-
Spy Satellites, NSA
-
http://www.spychips.com/
-
JF Marino, is very upset as to how various governments & corporations lie & abuse their powers.
http://9-11themotherofallblackoperations.blogspot.com/search?q=The+FBI%2FNSA+Conspiracy+To+Rape+Your+Minds+%26+Leave+You+As+New+World+Order+Vegetables+--+Don%27t+Let+Them+Get+Away+With+It+
http://www.spychips.com/
-
JF Marino, is very upset as to how various governments & corporations lie & abuse their powers.
http://9-11themotherofallblackoperations.blogspot.com/search?q=The+FBI%2FNSA+Conspiracy+To+Rape+Your+Minds+%26+Leave+You+As+New+World+Order+Vegetables+--+Don%27t+Let+Them+Get+Away+With+It+
-
This technology is here to stay from the powers that be. However, humanity must find a balance. Most people don't want the world to become a global technological fascist state.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Autism linked with rainfall in study
Tue Nov 4, 10:26 AM
{WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Children who live in the U.S. Northwest's wettest counties are more likely to have autism, but it is unclear why, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
Michael Waldman of Cornell University and colleagues were searching for an environmental link with autism, a condition characterized by learning and social disabilities.
They got autism rates from state and county agencies for children born in California, Oregon and Washington between 1987 and 1999 and plotted them against daily precipitation reports.
"Autism prevalence rates for school-aged children in California, Oregon and Washington in 2005 were positively related to the amount of precipitation these counties received from 1987 through 2001," they wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, a London physician who wrote "Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion", expressed doubt, noting that autism diagnoses are on the rise in all climates.
No one know what causes autism, whose symptoms range from severe social avoidance to repetitive behaviors and sometimes profound mental retardation.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about one in every 150 children has autism or a related disorder such as Asperger's Syndrome. Rates in many countries have been rising, although that may be partly due to increased reporting and diagnosis of the condition.
Doctors agree there is a genetic component to autism. They also theorize that something in the environment and possibly conditions in the womb can trigger the condition.
The researchers said their study supports this idea.
Perhaps infants and toddlers are kept are kept indoors in front of the TV more in rainy climates, and that somehow causes brain changes, they said. Or perhaps they breathe in more harmful chemicals while indoors.
Vitamin D deficiency caused by insufficient time in the sun might also be a trigger, they said.
"Finally, there is also the possibility that precipitation itself is more directly involved," they wrote. Perhaps a chemical or chemicals in the upper atmosphere are transported to the surface through rain or snow.
"In recent years autism has been blamed on everything from discarded iPod batteries to mercury from Chinese power stations, from antenatal ultrasound scans to post-natal cord clamping, from diet to vaccines," Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a long-term study to find the causes of autism and other childhood conditions.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Michael Kahn and Alan Elsner)}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081104/science/science_us_autism_rain
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Man
{WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Children who live in the U.S. Northwest's wettest counties are more likely to have autism, but it is unclear why, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
Michael Waldman of Cornell University and colleagues were searching for an environmental link with autism, a condition characterized by learning and social disabilities.
They got autism rates from state and county agencies for children born in California, Oregon and Washington between 1987 and 1999 and plotted them against daily precipitation reports.
"Autism prevalence rates for school-aged children in California, Oregon and Washington in 2005 were positively related to the amount of precipitation these counties received from 1987 through 2001," they wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, a London physician who wrote "Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion", expressed doubt, noting that autism diagnoses are on the rise in all climates.
No one know what causes autism, whose symptoms range from severe social avoidance to repetitive behaviors and sometimes profound mental retardation.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about one in every 150 children has autism or a related disorder such as Asperger's Syndrome. Rates in many countries have been rising, although that may be partly due to increased reporting and diagnosis of the condition.
Doctors agree there is a genetic component to autism. They also theorize that something in the environment and possibly conditions in the womb can trigger the condition.
The researchers said their study supports this idea.
Perhaps infants and toddlers are kept are kept indoors in front of the TV more in rainy climates, and that somehow causes brain changes, they said. Or perhaps they breathe in more harmful chemicals while indoors.
Vitamin D deficiency caused by insufficient time in the sun might also be a trigger, they said.
"Finally, there is also the possibility that precipitation itself is more directly involved," they wrote. Perhaps a chemical or chemicals in the upper atmosphere are transported to the surface through rain or snow.
"In recent years autism has been blamed on everything from discarded iPod batteries to mercury from Chinese power stations, from antenatal ultrasound scans to post-natal cord clamping, from diet to vaccines," Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a long-term study to find the causes of autism and other childhood conditions.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Michael Kahn and Alan Elsner)}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081104/science/science_us_autism_rain
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Man
Friday, October 31, 2008
Japanese officials alarmed over growing number of suicides from toxic fumes
By The Associated Press
{TOKYO - Officials in Japan are raising the alarm over what they say its the soaring number of people killing themselves by inhaling toxic fumes from household chemicals.
Japan has long battled a high suicide rate.
But officials say the country is now in the grip of a wave of deaths by people who take their own lives by mixing commonly available household products to form poisonous hydrogen sulphide gas.
The gas can form noxious clouds that also affect those who happen to be nearby, often triggering mass evacuations.
Japanese officials say the number of toxic fume suicides jumped to 876 from January to September, 30 times more than in the same period last year.
Alarmed by the surge, police have launched a crackdown on popular Internet sites that give instructions on how to commit suicide using the method.
Toxic fume suicides are the latest in a string of suicide fads in Japan. Until this year, many suicide cases involved people who found each other on the Internet and committed suicide together, often by sealing themselves in a car and lighting a charcoal-burning brazier.
The number of suicides hit 33,093 in 2007, a 2.9 per cent increase from the previous year and the second-highest annual tally on record, according to the National Police Agency.
To curb the high suicide rate, the government has earmarked $220 million for anti-suicide programs to help those with depression and other mental health problems.
Japan has the eighth-highest suicide rate in the world, according to the World Health Organization.} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081031/world/japan_suicides
-
Monday, 6 October 2008
Downturn stirs Japan suicide fears
{Earlier this year the Japanese government released the results of a survey which suggested that one in five men and women in the country had seriously thought of taking their own life.}
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7651518.stm
{TOKYO - Officials in Japan are raising the alarm over what they say its the soaring number of people killing themselves by inhaling toxic fumes from household chemicals.
Japan has long battled a high suicide rate.
But officials say the country is now in the grip of a wave of deaths by people who take their own lives by mixing commonly available household products to form poisonous hydrogen sulphide gas.
The gas can form noxious clouds that also affect those who happen to be nearby, often triggering mass evacuations.
Japanese officials say the number of toxic fume suicides jumped to 876 from January to September, 30 times more than in the same period last year.
Alarmed by the surge, police have launched a crackdown on popular Internet sites that give instructions on how to commit suicide using the method.
Toxic fume suicides are the latest in a string of suicide fads in Japan. Until this year, many suicide cases involved people who found each other on the Internet and committed suicide together, often by sealing themselves in a car and lighting a charcoal-burning brazier.
The number of suicides hit 33,093 in 2007, a 2.9 per cent increase from the previous year and the second-highest annual tally on record, according to the National Police Agency.
To curb the high suicide rate, the government has earmarked $220 million for anti-suicide programs to help those with depression and other mental health problems.
Japan has the eighth-highest suicide rate in the world, according to the World Health Organization.} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081031/world/japan_suicides
-
Monday, 6 October 2008
Downturn stirs Japan suicide fears
{Earlier this year the Japanese government released the results of a survey which suggested that one in five men and women in the country had seriously thought of taking their own life.}
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7651518.stm
Rare, prehistoric-age reptile found nesting in New Zealand
Fri Oct 31, 3:36 AM
By The Associated Press
{WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Officials say a rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years.
Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday.
Conservation manager Rouen Empson says the nest proves that the animals are breeding and suggests there may be more.
Empson says baby tuatara could be born any time between now and March.
Zoologists say tuatara are dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 80 centimetres.
They say the reptiles are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago.
They have unique characteristics, such as two rows of top teeth closing over one row at the bottom. They also have a pronounced parietal eye, a light-sensitive pineal gland on the top of the skull. This white patch of skin - called its "third eye" - slowly disappears as they mature.
A native species to New Zealand, tuatara were nearly extinct on the country's three main islands by the late 1700s due to the introduction of predators such as rats. They still live in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators.
A population of 70 tuatara was established at the Karori Sanctuary in 2005. Another 130 were released in the sanctuary in 2007.
The sanctuary was established to breed native birds, insects and other creatures securely behind a predator-proof fence.
Empson said that the four eggs - the size of pingpong balls - were unearthed Friday but that there were likely more because the average nest contains around ten eggs.
The eggs were immediately covered up again to avoid disturbing incubation.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081031/science/science_rare_reptile
By The Associated Press
{WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Officials say a rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years.
Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday.
Conservation manager Rouen Empson says the nest proves that the animals are breeding and suggests there may be more.
Empson says baby tuatara could be born any time between now and March.
Zoologists say tuatara are dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 80 centimetres.
They say the reptiles are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago.
They have unique characteristics, such as two rows of top teeth closing over one row at the bottom. They also have a pronounced parietal eye, a light-sensitive pineal gland on the top of the skull. This white patch of skin - called its "third eye" - slowly disappears as they mature.
A native species to New Zealand, tuatara were nearly extinct on the country's three main islands by the late 1700s due to the introduction of predators such as rats. They still live in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators.
A population of 70 tuatara was established at the Karori Sanctuary in 2005. Another 130 were released in the sanctuary in 2007.
The sanctuary was established to breed native birds, insects and other creatures securely behind a predator-proof fence.
Empson said that the four eggs - the size of pingpong balls - were unearthed Friday but that there were likely more because the average nest contains around ten eggs.
The eggs were immediately covered up again to avoid disturbing incubation.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081031/science/science_rare_reptile
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Zambia, WHO join hunt for S.Africa's deadly mystery illness
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gMUqLStDtjNaZnQN5QHTwZUpZIBg
{JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Zambia along with the World Health Organisation have joined the hunt for a mystery illness that has killed four people in South Africa, Zambia's ambassador said on Tuesday.
Three of the four victims are believed to have died of a viral haemorrhagic fever, but the exact disease has yet be to identified, Melinda Pelsa, spokeswoman for Johannesburg's Morningside Medi-Clinic, told AFP.
A fourth victim appears to have died of a neurological disease, but tests are still under way to determine if they are linked and to identify the disease, provincial health department spokesman Chika Asomugha said.
Health workers have been put on alert for symptoms of the strange illness, he added.
Two of the victims had earlier been identified as Zambians, but the country's ambassador said they were actually South Africans who had been living in the impoverished nation.
"We have investigated all our institutions, we have involved the WHO and the Centres for Disease Control, as well as Zambian medical teams and administrators in the investigations," Ambassador Leslie Mbula said on South African radio.
The first victim came to South Africa on September 12 and died two days later after being treated for what was believed to be tick-bite fever. The medic who accompanied her from Zambia died two days later with flu-like symptoms.
A nurse and a cleaner at the hospital have also died with strange symptoms.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081007/world/safrica_zambia_health_disease_who
-
How does one really ever know if something naturally starts up or is actually created in a lab?
Who draws the line where movies end & the reality begins?
http://jf-themultiverse.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-post_03.html
{JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Zambia along with the World Health Organisation have joined the hunt for a mystery illness that has killed four people in South Africa, Zambia's ambassador said on Tuesday.
Three of the four victims are believed to have died of a viral haemorrhagic fever, but the exact disease has yet be to identified, Melinda Pelsa, spokeswoman for Johannesburg's Morningside Medi-Clinic, told AFP.
A fourth victim appears to have died of a neurological disease, but tests are still under way to determine if they are linked and to identify the disease, provincial health department spokesman Chika Asomugha said.
Health workers have been put on alert for symptoms of the strange illness, he added.
Two of the victims had earlier been identified as Zambians, but the country's ambassador said they were actually South Africans who had been living in the impoverished nation.
"We have investigated all our institutions, we have involved the WHO and the Centres for Disease Control, as well as Zambian medical teams and administrators in the investigations," Ambassador Leslie Mbula said on South African radio.
The first victim came to South Africa on September 12 and died two days later after being treated for what was believed to be tick-bite fever. The medic who accompanied her from Zambia died two days later with flu-like symptoms.
A nurse and a cleaner at the hospital have also died with strange symptoms.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081007/world/safrica_zambia_health_disease_who
-
How does one really ever know if something naturally starts up or is actually created in a lab?
Who draws the line where movies end & the reality begins?
http://jf-themultiverse.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-post_03.html
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Euro falls to 13-month low against dollar
{TOKYO (AFP) - The euro sank to a 13-month low against the dollar in Asian trade Monday, hit by signs of escalating financial turmoil in Europe, dealers said.
They said that after the US Congress finally passed a Wall Street bailout bill, traders were turning their attention to the problems among European banks.
The euro fell to as low as 1.3610 dollars in early Asian trade. It was at 1.3647 by late morning in Tokyo, down from 1.3781 in New York late Friday.
The euro slipped to 142.50 yen from 145.16. The dollar dropped to 104.42 yen from 105.27.
The US Congressional approval Friday of a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue package prompted markets "to change their focus from the financial turmoil in the US to Europe," according to Barclays Capital analysts.
"The euro is expected to continue to extend its losses against major currencies," they predicted.
Germany's fourth biggest bank, Hypo Real Estate, had to be rescued Sunday as problems in the European financial sector deepened.
Worries over whether the Europeans can contain the turmoil grew after the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain vowed Saturday to protect fragile banks but did not discuss a continent-wide financial rescue package.
Given the various economic conditions in each of the eurozone member countries, "it looks difficult for authorities to take dramatic and quick action like the US," the Barclays analysts wrote in a note to clients.
"As financial turmoil is showing signs of spreading in Europe, currency markets will test the tenacity of European authorities," they added.
Markets were looking ahead to a meeting Friday of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven rich nations, waiting for any announcements on coordinated action such as liquidity injections or interest rate cuts, dealers said.
A speech Tuesday by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will also be closely watched for any clues on the possibility of a US interest rate cut.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081006/business/forex_asia
They said that after the US Congress finally passed a Wall Street bailout bill, traders were turning their attention to the problems among European banks.
The euro fell to as low as 1.3610 dollars in early Asian trade. It was at 1.3647 by late morning in Tokyo, down from 1.3781 in New York late Friday.
The euro slipped to 142.50 yen from 145.16. The dollar dropped to 104.42 yen from 105.27.
The US Congressional approval Friday of a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue package prompted markets "to change their focus from the financial turmoil in the US to Europe," according to Barclays Capital analysts.
"The euro is expected to continue to extend its losses against major currencies," they predicted.
Germany's fourth biggest bank, Hypo Real Estate, had to be rescued Sunday as problems in the European financial sector deepened.
Worries over whether the Europeans can contain the turmoil grew after the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain vowed Saturday to protect fragile banks but did not discuss a continent-wide financial rescue package.
Given the various economic conditions in each of the eurozone member countries, "it looks difficult for authorities to take dramatic and quick action like the US," the Barclays analysts wrote in a note to clients.
"As financial turmoil is showing signs of spreading in Europe, currency markets will test the tenacity of European authorities," they added.
Markets were looking ahead to a meeting Friday of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven rich nations, waiting for any announcements on coordinated action such as liquidity injections or interest rate cuts, dealers said.
A speech Tuesday by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will also be closely watched for any clues on the possibility of a US interest rate cut.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081006/business/forex_asia
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
White House whispers of 1929-style crash if bailout blocked
Tue Sep 23, 12:20 PM
{The White House pressed the U.S. Congress publicly and privately Tuesday to pass a $700-billion US bailout package it hopes will contain a spreading financial crisis.
Congressional leaders - especially those who oppose the package - are being asked whether they want to be responsible for even greater economic harm than has occurred so far, the CBC's Henry Champ reported from Washington.
"And the whispers always include references to Oct. 29, 1929, the Great Depression and things of that nature," he said.
Although no one can be certain what would happen if the package is not passed, the threat is likely to carry the day, Champ said.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he's confident that Congress will reconcile differences and come together to pass the bailout package.
Bush, who's in New York to address the UN General Assembly, said he has spoken with world leaders and assured them that the United States was taking the right steps to deal with the financial crisis.
"And I've assured them as well, having spoken to the leaders of Congress of both political parties, that there is the desire to get something done quickly," he said.
The package would rescue financial firms from hundreds of billions of debt that plummeted in value when housing prices began to fall in 2006.
The Treasury Department's first draft said that only mortgage-related assets would be purchased. But in a later version, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked for the power to expand purchases to troubled assets beyond real estate.
That could conceivably leave taxpayers picking up the tab on things like bad car loans and credit card debt.
Democrats are calling for the measure to limit pay packages for executives of companies helped by the bailout and to allow judges to rewrite mortgages to lower the monthly payments of bankrupt homeowners.
Publicly, Paulson and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke urged Congress to quickly pass the bailout package, warning that letting problems persist would have dire consequences for the national economy.
In an appearance before the Senate banking committee, Bernanke said failure to pass the bailout plan could trigger a recession and more home foreclosures.
"The financial markets are in quite fragile condition and I think absent a plan, they will get worse," he said.
"I believe if the credit markets are not functioning, that jobs will be lost, that our credit rate will rise, more houses will be foreclosed upon, GDP will contract, that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way," he added.
In his testimony, Paulson struck a similarly grave note.
"We must do so in order to avoid a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets that threaten ... American families' financial well-being, the viability of businesses both small and large, and the very health of our economy," he said.
Paulson objected strongly when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer asked if $150 billion might be enough to get the program started, with a promise of more to come.
That would be a "grave mistake," Paulson said, and would fail to give the markets the confidence they need to rebound.
Members of both parties voiced their displeasure with being faced with the massive bailout request.
"Nobody is happy," said Steny Hoyer, House majority leader and a Democrat, although he said it was possible legislation could be passed by the weekend.
"Nobody wants to have to do this," said Representative John Boehner, the Republican leader, who added that he was hopeful of a quick agreement.
The plan would enable the government to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets held by endangered banks and financial institutions.
Getting those debts off their books should bolster their balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan works, it should help lift a major weight off the sputtering economy.
The U.S. has taken extraordinary measures in recent weeks to prevent a financial calamity that would have devastating implications for the broader economy. It has, among other things, taken control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provided an $85-billion emergency loan to insurance colossus American International Group Inc. and temporarily banned short selling of hundreds of financial stocks.
Wall Street has been dramatically reshaped amid all the fallout.
The Fed agreed to let Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - the country's last two investment banks - become bank holding companies so that they can take deposits, like a commercial bank, in a bid to survive. Merrill Lynch agreed to be bought by Bank of America, Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection and Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan Chase.
The tone struck by Bernanke suggests that the Fed still has an eye on inflation, but is increasingly worried about the credit crisis, Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in an early note to clients.
"Failure to quickly pass the rescue plan, or ongoing credit market stress after it is passed, could spur the need for further rate cuts."
Guatieri said a 44 per cent chance of an October rate cut by the Fed currently seen by the futures market "seems about right."}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/23092008/3/finance-business-white-house-whispers-1929-style-crash-bailout-blocked.html
With files from the Associated Press
{The White House pressed the U.S. Congress publicly and privately Tuesday to pass a $700-billion US bailout package it hopes will contain a spreading financial crisis.
Congressional leaders - especially those who oppose the package - are being asked whether they want to be responsible for even greater economic harm than has occurred so far, the CBC's Henry Champ reported from Washington.
"And the whispers always include references to Oct. 29, 1929, the Great Depression and things of that nature," he said.
Although no one can be certain what would happen if the package is not passed, the threat is likely to carry the day, Champ said.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he's confident that Congress will reconcile differences and come together to pass the bailout package.
Bush, who's in New York to address the UN General Assembly, said he has spoken with world leaders and assured them that the United States was taking the right steps to deal with the financial crisis.
"And I've assured them as well, having spoken to the leaders of Congress of both political parties, that there is the desire to get something done quickly," he said.
The package would rescue financial firms from hundreds of billions of debt that plummeted in value when housing prices began to fall in 2006.
The Treasury Department's first draft said that only mortgage-related assets would be purchased. But in a later version, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked for the power to expand purchases to troubled assets beyond real estate.
That could conceivably leave taxpayers picking up the tab on things like bad car loans and credit card debt.
Democrats are calling for the measure to limit pay packages for executives of companies helped by the bailout and to allow judges to rewrite mortgages to lower the monthly payments of bankrupt homeowners.
Publicly, Paulson and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke urged Congress to quickly pass the bailout package, warning that letting problems persist would have dire consequences for the national economy.
In an appearance before the Senate banking committee, Bernanke said failure to pass the bailout plan could trigger a recession and more home foreclosures.
"The financial markets are in quite fragile condition and I think absent a plan, they will get worse," he said.
"I believe if the credit markets are not functioning, that jobs will be lost, that our credit rate will rise, more houses will be foreclosed upon, GDP will contract, that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way," he added.
In his testimony, Paulson struck a similarly grave note.
"We must do so in order to avoid a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets that threaten ... American families' financial well-being, the viability of businesses both small and large, and the very health of our economy," he said.
Paulson objected strongly when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer asked if $150 billion might be enough to get the program started, with a promise of more to come.
That would be a "grave mistake," Paulson said, and would fail to give the markets the confidence they need to rebound.
Members of both parties voiced their displeasure with being faced with the massive bailout request.
"Nobody is happy," said Steny Hoyer, House majority leader and a Democrat, although he said it was possible legislation could be passed by the weekend.
"Nobody wants to have to do this," said Representative John Boehner, the Republican leader, who added that he was hopeful of a quick agreement.
The plan would enable the government to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets held by endangered banks and financial institutions.
Getting those debts off their books should bolster their balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan works, it should help lift a major weight off the sputtering economy.
The U.S. has taken extraordinary measures in recent weeks to prevent a financial calamity that would have devastating implications for the broader economy. It has, among other things, taken control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provided an $85-billion emergency loan to insurance colossus American International Group Inc. and temporarily banned short selling of hundreds of financial stocks.
Wall Street has been dramatically reshaped amid all the fallout.
The Fed agreed to let Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - the country's last two investment banks - become bank holding companies so that they can take deposits, like a commercial bank, in a bid to survive. Merrill Lynch agreed to be bought by Bank of America, Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection and Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan Chase.
The tone struck by Bernanke suggests that the Fed still has an eye on inflation, but is increasingly worried about the credit crisis, Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in an early note to clients.
"Failure to quickly pass the rescue plan, or ongoing credit market stress after it is passed, could spur the need for further rate cuts."
Guatieri said a 44 per cent chance of an October rate cut by the Fed currently seen by the futures market "seems about right."}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/23092008/3/finance-business-white-house-whispers-1929-style-crash-bailout-blocked.html
With files from the Associated Press
Friday, September 19, 2008
Bush says government role essential to ease crisis
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
{WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday asked Congress to approve extensive federal intervention in financial markets that he said is both warranted and essential to halt the worst financial crisis in decades. "We must act now," he said.
"America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges. We're responding with unprecedented measures," Bush declared, standing in the White House Rose Garden with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shortly after his remarks, Bush called congressional leaders with whom the administration would be negotiating through the weekend to devise a rescue package. He spoke to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He planned to reach House Republican leader John Boehner later in the day.
The administration wants to see a package emerge from the weekend, to lend calm to Monday morning's market openings, said Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council. The goal is to have something passed by Congress by the end of next week, when lawmakers recess for the elections.
"This is a pivotal moment for America's economy," Bush said in his most extensive remarks this week on the crisis. He said that a financial contagion that began with low-quality home mortgages had "spread throughout our financial system" and frozen many financial transactions.
The president said the federal government should interfere in the marketplace "only when necessary," and that this is one of those times. "Given the precarious state of today's financial markets, and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential," he said.
Hennessey said fears that there was going to be a run on money market funds was one but not the only reason that drove the administration to make the proposal to Congress.
Bush said the authorities the administration wants Congress to approve — which Paulson said earlier Friday could entail "hundreds of billions" of dollars — was not without risk. But he said that because "the vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time" he expects the money to be paid back to the federal government.
Even if it isn't, he said "the risk of not acting would be far higher."
Bush spoke in unusually stark terms about the problems facing the economy and the dangers of not acting, which he attempted to frame in terms relevant not just to Wall Street, but to ordinary Americans, too.
He said "the gears of our financial system ... were at risk of grinding to a halt." If this were allowed to happen, the president predicted it would "cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions."
The president also appeared to go out of his way to reassure Americans that money in traditional checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit is safe.
"Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money," he said.
He noted that, through the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, "every savings account, checking account and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit, and this will not change."
"We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back," Bush said. " ... Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges and still managed to grow. We will weather this challenge, too, and we must do so together."
He warned Democratic leaders against adding "controversial provisions" to the rescue package "that could delay action." White House press secretary Dana Perino would not comment on what sorts of provisions would be considered unacceptable to the president, and Hennessey said there would be room for negotiation with lawmakers on how the package would look.
"This is not a time for partisanship," Bush said.
He spoke after the administration said it would safeguard assets in money market mutual funds and temporarily banned short-selling of financial company stocks, a trading technique that bets on stocks declining in value. The Treasury Department has asked Congress to give it sweeping power to buy up toxic debt that has nearly paralyzed Wall Street.
Bush also has authorized Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds. And the Federal Reserve announced it will expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080919/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_markets
-
Government plans bold financial rescue
Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26787984?GT1=43001
{WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday asked Congress to approve extensive federal intervention in financial markets that he said is both warranted and essential to halt the worst financial crisis in decades. "We must act now," he said.
"America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges. We're responding with unprecedented measures," Bush declared, standing in the White House Rose Garden with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shortly after his remarks, Bush called congressional leaders with whom the administration would be negotiating through the weekend to devise a rescue package. He spoke to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He planned to reach House Republican leader John Boehner later in the day.
The administration wants to see a package emerge from the weekend, to lend calm to Monday morning's market openings, said Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council. The goal is to have something passed by Congress by the end of next week, when lawmakers recess for the elections.
"This is a pivotal moment for America's economy," Bush said in his most extensive remarks this week on the crisis. He said that a financial contagion that began with low-quality home mortgages had "spread throughout our financial system" and frozen many financial transactions.
The president said the federal government should interfere in the marketplace "only when necessary," and that this is one of those times. "Given the precarious state of today's financial markets, and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential," he said.
Hennessey said fears that there was going to be a run on money market funds was one but not the only reason that drove the administration to make the proposal to Congress.
Bush said the authorities the administration wants Congress to approve — which Paulson said earlier Friday could entail "hundreds of billions" of dollars — was not without risk. But he said that because "the vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time" he expects the money to be paid back to the federal government.
Even if it isn't, he said "the risk of not acting would be far higher."
Bush spoke in unusually stark terms about the problems facing the economy and the dangers of not acting, which he attempted to frame in terms relevant not just to Wall Street, but to ordinary Americans, too.
He said "the gears of our financial system ... were at risk of grinding to a halt." If this were allowed to happen, the president predicted it would "cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions."
The president also appeared to go out of his way to reassure Americans that money in traditional checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit is safe.
"Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money," he said.
He noted that, through the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, "every savings account, checking account and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit, and this will not change."
"We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back," Bush said. " ... Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges and still managed to grow. We will weather this challenge, too, and we must do so together."
He warned Democratic leaders against adding "controversial provisions" to the rescue package "that could delay action." White House press secretary Dana Perino would not comment on what sorts of provisions would be considered unacceptable to the president, and Hennessey said there would be room for negotiation with lawmakers on how the package would look.
"This is not a time for partisanship," Bush said.
He spoke after the administration said it would safeguard assets in money market mutual funds and temporarily banned short-selling of financial company stocks, a trading technique that bets on stocks declining in value. The Treasury Department has asked Congress to give it sweeping power to buy up toxic debt that has nearly paralyzed Wall Street.
Bush also has authorized Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds. And the Federal Reserve announced it will expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080919/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_markets
-
Government plans bold financial rescue
Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26787984?GT1=43001
Thursday, September 18, 2008
In hard times, tent cities rise across the country
By EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 18, 1:03 PM ET
{RENO, Nev. - A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer.
Then others appeared — people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy, or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring.
Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless population. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a "tent city" — an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go.
From Seattle to Athens, Ga., homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.
Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening.
"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. "The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future."
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.
The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters. Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported a 12 percent drop in homelessness nationally in two years, from about 754,000 in January 2005 to 666,000 in January 2007. But the 2007 numbers omitted people who previously had been considered homeless — such as those staying with relatives or friends or living in campgrounds or motel rooms for more than a week.
In addition, the housing and economic crisis began soon after HUD's most recent data was compiled.
"The data predates the housing crisis," said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD. "From the headlines, it might appear that the report is about yesterday. How is the housing situation affecting homelessness? That's a great question. We're still trying to get to that."
In Seattle, which is experiencing a building boom and an influx of affluent professionals in neighborhoods the working class once owned, homeless encampments have been springing up — in remote places to avoid police sweeps.
"What's happening in Seattle is what's happening everywhere else — on steroids," said Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, an advocacy organization that publishes a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people.
Homeless people and their advocates have organized three tent cities at City Hall in recent months to call attention to the homeless and protest the sweeps — acts of militancy, said Harris, "that we really haven't seen around homeless activism since the early '90s."
In Reno, officials decided to let the tent city be because shelters were already filled.
Officials don't know how many homeless people are in Reno. "But we do know that the soup kitchens are serving hundreds more meals a day and that we have more people who are homeless than we can remember," said Jodi Royal-Goodwin, the city's redevelopment agency director.
Those in the tents have to register and are monitored weekly to see what progress they are making in finding jobs or real housing. They are provided times to take showers in the shelter, and told where to go for food and meals.
Sylvia Flynn, 51, came from northern California but lost a job almost immediately and then her apartment.
Since the cheapest motels here charge upward of $200 a week, Flynn ended up at the Reno women's shelter, which has only 20 beds and a two-week limit on stays.
Out of a dozen people interviewed in the tent city, six had come to Reno from California or elsewhere over the last year, hoping for casino jobs.
"I figured this would be a great place for a job," said Max Perez, a 19-year-old from Iowa. He couldn't find one and ended up taking showers at the men's shelter and sleeping in a pup tent barely big enough to cover his body.
The casinos are actually starting to lay off employees.
"Sometimes I think we need to put out an ad: 'No, we don't have any more jobs than you do,'" Royal-Goodwin said.
The city will shut down the tent city as soon as early October because the tents sit on what will be a parking lot for a complex of shelters and services for homeless people. The complex will include a men's shelter, a women's shelter, a family shelter and a resource center.
Reno officials aren't sure whether the construction will eliminate the need for the tent city. The demand, they say, keeps growing.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities
Thu Sep 18, 1:03 PM ET
{RENO, Nev. - A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer.
Then others appeared — people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy, or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring.
Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless population. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a "tent city" — an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go.
From Seattle to Athens, Ga., homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.
Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening.
"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. "The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future."
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.
The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters. Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported a 12 percent drop in homelessness nationally in two years, from about 754,000 in January 2005 to 666,000 in January 2007. But the 2007 numbers omitted people who previously had been considered homeless — such as those staying with relatives or friends or living in campgrounds or motel rooms for more than a week.
In addition, the housing and economic crisis began soon after HUD's most recent data was compiled.
"The data predates the housing crisis," said Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for HUD. "From the headlines, it might appear that the report is about yesterday. How is the housing situation affecting homelessness? That's a great question. We're still trying to get to that."
In Seattle, which is experiencing a building boom and an influx of affluent professionals in neighborhoods the working class once owned, homeless encampments have been springing up — in remote places to avoid police sweeps.
"What's happening in Seattle is what's happening everywhere else — on steroids," said Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, an advocacy organization that publishes a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people.
Homeless people and their advocates have organized three tent cities at City Hall in recent months to call attention to the homeless and protest the sweeps — acts of militancy, said Harris, "that we really haven't seen around homeless activism since the early '90s."
In Reno, officials decided to let the tent city be because shelters were already filled.
Officials don't know how many homeless people are in Reno. "But we do know that the soup kitchens are serving hundreds more meals a day and that we have more people who are homeless than we can remember," said Jodi Royal-Goodwin, the city's redevelopment agency director.
Those in the tents have to register and are monitored weekly to see what progress they are making in finding jobs or real housing. They are provided times to take showers in the shelter, and told where to go for food and meals.
Sylvia Flynn, 51, came from northern California but lost a job almost immediately and then her apartment.
Since the cheapest motels here charge upward of $200 a week, Flynn ended up at the Reno women's shelter, which has only 20 beds and a two-week limit on stays.
Out of a dozen people interviewed in the tent city, six had come to Reno from California or elsewhere over the last year, hoping for casino jobs.
"I figured this would be a great place for a job," said Max Perez, a 19-year-old from Iowa. He couldn't find one and ended up taking showers at the men's shelter and sleeping in a pup tent barely big enough to cover his body.
The casinos are actually starting to lay off employees.
"Sometimes I think we need to put out an ad: 'No, we don't have any more jobs than you do,'" Royal-Goodwin said.
The city will shut down the tent city as soon as early October because the tents sit on what will be a parking lot for a complex of shelters and services for homeless people. The complex will include a men's shelter, a women's shelter, a family shelter and a resource center.
Reno officials aren't sure whether the construction will eliminate the need for the tent city. The demand, they say, keeps growing.} http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/tent_cities
Monday, September 15, 2008
Hackers 'find black hole in atom smasher computers'
Sat Sep 13, 7:37 AM
{LONDON (AFP) - Hackers claim they have broken into the computer system of the Large Hadron Collider, the mega-machine designed to expose secrets of the cosmos, British newspapers reported on Saturday.
A group calling itself the Greek Security Team left a rogue webpage mocking the technicians responsible for computer security at the giant atom smasher as "schoolkids", the Times and Daily Telegraph reported.
The hackers vowed they had no intention of disrupting the experiment at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border, they just wanted to highlight the flaws in the computer system's security.
"We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes," they wrote, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The hackers claimed to have gained access to a website open to other scientists on Wednesday as the LHC passed its first test with flying colours, the reports said.
They appear to have tried to gain access to the computer system of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, one of the four detectors that will be analysing the progress of the experiment.
James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, told the Times: "We don't know who they were but there seems to be no harm done. It appears to be people who want to make a point that CERN was hackable."
Scientists hailed the success of the start of the experiment on Wednesday in the Large Hadron Collider, the 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons will be accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Superconducting magnets will then steer the counter-rotating beams so that strings of protons smash together in four huge laboratories, fleetingly replicating the conditions that prevailed at the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080913/technology/science_physics_cern_computer
{LONDON (AFP) - Hackers claim they have broken into the computer system of the Large Hadron Collider, the mega-machine designed to expose secrets of the cosmos, British newspapers reported on Saturday.
A group calling itself the Greek Security Team left a rogue webpage mocking the technicians responsible for computer security at the giant atom smasher as "schoolkids", the Times and Daily Telegraph reported.
The hackers vowed they had no intention of disrupting the experiment at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border, they just wanted to highlight the flaws in the computer system's security.
"We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes," they wrote, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The hackers claimed to have gained access to a website open to other scientists on Wednesday as the LHC passed its first test with flying colours, the reports said.
They appear to have tried to gain access to the computer system of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, one of the four detectors that will be analysing the progress of the experiment.
James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, told the Times: "We don't know who they were but there seems to be no harm done. It appears to be people who want to make a point that CERN was hackable."
Scientists hailed the success of the start of the experiment on Wednesday in the Large Hadron Collider, the 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel in which parallel beams of protons will be accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Superconducting magnets will then steer the counter-rotating beams so that strings of protons smash together in four huge laboratories, fleetingly replicating the conditions that prevailed at the "Big Bang" that created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080913/technology/science_physics_cern_computer
Friday, September 12, 2008
Price of oil rises as hurricane Ike bears down on Texas coast refineries
Fri Sep 12, 8:16 AM
By Louise Watt, The Associated Press
{LONDON - Oil prices rose over US$102 a barrel Friday as hurricane Ike swept up from the Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.38 to $102.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 overnight to settle at $100.87 after dropping as low as $100.10 per barrel. The last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. have begun halting operations as Ike headed straight for the region's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. U.S. wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 per cent Thursday.
"According to estimates made by the Minerals Management Service, about 97 per cent of crude production and more than 93 per cent of gas output in the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico were idle in preparation for the storm," wrote analysts from JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria.
"In addition, some 11 refineries, which represent more than 16 per cent of total U.S. refining capacity, have shut down operations."
"You have some refineries shutting to prepare for hurricane damage," Tetsu Emori, a commodity markets fund manager with ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo. "That's triggered some buying, especially in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil."
Early Friday, the storm was centerd about 595 kilometres southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving to the west-northwest at 19 kilometres per hour. Top sustained winds were 160 km/h.
The storm was expected to strike the Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 210 km/h. The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
Ike is huge, taking up nearly 40 per cent of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Centre said tropical storm-force winds of at least 63 km/h extended across more than 820 kilometres.
Ike, along with last week's hurricane Gustav, have helped keep oil prices from falling faster, as concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth have pushed prices down from a record $147.27 set on July 11.
"Oil demand on a global basis is quite pessimistic," Emori said. "If it wasn't hurricane season, crude would be under $100 already."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.75 cents to $2.943 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 5.87 cents to $2.807 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 1.6 cents to $7.232 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, October Brent crude rose $1.42 to $99.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after it closed overnight at a six-month low.}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/12092008/2/biz-finance-price-oil-rises-hurricane-ike-bears-texas-coast.html
-
Gas prices shoot up across Canada on Friday as U.S. refineries affected by Ike
By Kristine Owram, The Canadian Press
{TORONTO - Motorists across Canada were hit with sharply higher gasoline prices Friday as hurricane Ike shut down some refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, a jump that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said suggests gouging may be going on in some markets.
The price for gas at stations throughout southern Ontario soared by about 13 cents a litre at midnight to more than $1.36 a litre. Prices in Ottawa were also up by 13 cents.
In Vancouver, prices rose to more than $1.40 a litre at some stations, while Montreal prices jumped about a dime to $1.38 a litre. Halifax prices were up to about $1.33 a litre.
GasBuddy.com, a website that monitors North American fuel prices, said the average price Friday in Canada was nearly $1.33 a litre, compared with $1.05 a litre a year ago.
At a federal election campaign stop in Halifax, Harper said it "appeared" to be the case, when asked if there was price gouging going on.
Harper did not promise any immediate action, saying the Conservatives would make related policy announcements later in the campaign.
"We are prepared to take steps. I'm not going to make up policy on a day-to-day basis. We do have some announcements in this area that we'll be making as the campaign progresses."
Earlier this summer, criminal charges were laid against 13 people and 11 companies for fixing gasoline prices in Quebec. Three of the companies pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $2 million.
Peter Boag, president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said the price spike is the result of an integrated North American fuel market, not price fixing.
"There's no unique Canadian market for fuels, we operate in the context of a North American market for fuel, so things that happen anywhere in North America have an impact on fuel prices in Canada," said Boag.
Refineries shutting down in the face of hurricane Ike, combined with other refineries that are only now coming back online after hurricane Gustav, means North American refining capacity has been reduced by 15 to 20 per cent in the last couple of days, said Boag.
"We've got a significant supply issue as a result of those weather conditions," he said.
"Supply goes down at the wholesale level, prices go up."
Boag said it's difficult to know when prices will drop again, but he said past experience indicates this will be a "short-term issue."
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has gained a reputation for predicting pump price increases based on the wholesale market in the United States, predicted more increases for Canadian motorists later Friday.
News of the looming increases had motorists lining up past gas stations in several Canadian cities as they tried to beat the jump in price.
The threat of hurricane Ike to Gulf Coast oil refineries, mostly in Texas, sent wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. soaring Thursday over supply concerns.
As well, U.S. gasoline supplies have dropped by several million barrels over the last week, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Department.
While McTeague said the threat posed by the hurricane was the "spark" that triggered the increase, he also pointed the finger at the Canadian oil industry.
"The proverbial fuel on the fire is in fact the distortions by an unresponsive, uncompetitive market that has actually been diminishing its output," McTeague said in a phone interview from his Toronto-area riding where he was campaigning for re-election Thursday night.
Federal competition reviews of the Canadian industry have repeatedly determined it is highly competitive and reacts to changes in the continental market for gasoline, which is traded as a commodity just like wheat, grain, nickel and oil.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies halting operations at refineries on the Texas coast as Ike churned toward the state.
Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity. Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, outside Houston, is the largest in the United States.
In a related development Friday, a North Carolina-based convenience store chain asked U.S. customers in 11 states - mostly across the Southeast - to limit gasoline purchases to 10 gallons to avoid a run on supplies.
Another veteran gas-price watcher, Jason Toews, who runs GasBuddy.com, said fear of Ike carried over the border to Canada.
"With the hurricane in the gulf certainly going to cause some problems with supplies of crude oil and gasoline, mostly refined gasoline, in the U.S... it may have ripple effects all the way up to Canada," Toews said.
"What they have to do to fill that void is bring in gas from neighbouring states, and it has a ripple effect because those neighbouring states all of sudden don't have enough gas and they have to bring in gas," he said.
"Gas is trucked in from across the region, and across the (United States), and from Canada."}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080912/national/gas_prices
By Louise Watt, The Associated Press
{LONDON - Oil prices rose over US$102 a barrel Friday as hurricane Ike swept up from the Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $1.38 to $102.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 overnight to settle at $100.87 after dropping as low as $100.10 per barrel. The last time Nymex crude traded below the $100 mark was April 2.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. have begun halting operations as Ike headed straight for the region's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. U.S. wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 per cent Thursday.
"According to estimates made by the Minerals Management Service, about 97 per cent of crude production and more than 93 per cent of gas output in the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico were idle in preparation for the storm," wrote analysts from JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria.
"In addition, some 11 refineries, which represent more than 16 per cent of total U.S. refining capacity, have shut down operations."
"You have some refineries shutting to prepare for hurricane damage," Tetsu Emori, a commodity markets fund manager with ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo. "That's triggered some buying, especially in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil."
Early Friday, the storm was centerd about 595 kilometres southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving to the west-northwest at 19 kilometres per hour. Top sustained winds were 160 km/h.
The storm was expected to strike the Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 210 km/h. The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
Ike is huge, taking up nearly 40 per cent of the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Centre said tropical storm-force winds of at least 63 km/h extended across more than 820 kilometres.
Ike, along with last week's hurricane Gustav, have helped keep oil prices from falling faster, as concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth have pushed prices down from a record $147.27 set on July 11.
"Oil demand on a global basis is quite pessimistic," Emori said. "If it wasn't hurricane season, crude would be under $100 already."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.75 cents to $2.943 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 5.87 cents to $2.807 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 1.6 cents to $7.232 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, October Brent crude rose $1.42 to $99.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after it closed overnight at a six-month low.}
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/12092008/2/biz-finance-price-oil-rises-hurricane-ike-bears-texas-coast.html
-
Gas prices shoot up across Canada on Friday as U.S. refineries affected by Ike
By Kristine Owram, The Canadian Press
{TORONTO - Motorists across Canada were hit with sharply higher gasoline prices Friday as hurricane Ike shut down some refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, a jump that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said suggests gouging may be going on in some markets.
The price for gas at stations throughout southern Ontario soared by about 13 cents a litre at midnight to more than $1.36 a litre. Prices in Ottawa were also up by 13 cents.
In Vancouver, prices rose to more than $1.40 a litre at some stations, while Montreal prices jumped about a dime to $1.38 a litre. Halifax prices were up to about $1.33 a litre.
GasBuddy.com, a website that monitors North American fuel prices, said the average price Friday in Canada was nearly $1.33 a litre, compared with $1.05 a litre a year ago.
At a federal election campaign stop in Halifax, Harper said it "appeared" to be the case, when asked if there was price gouging going on.
Harper did not promise any immediate action, saying the Conservatives would make related policy announcements later in the campaign.
"We are prepared to take steps. I'm not going to make up policy on a day-to-day basis. We do have some announcements in this area that we'll be making as the campaign progresses."
Earlier this summer, criminal charges were laid against 13 people and 11 companies for fixing gasoline prices in Quebec. Three of the companies pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $2 million.
Peter Boag, president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said the price spike is the result of an integrated North American fuel market, not price fixing.
"There's no unique Canadian market for fuels, we operate in the context of a North American market for fuel, so things that happen anywhere in North America have an impact on fuel prices in Canada," said Boag.
Refineries shutting down in the face of hurricane Ike, combined with other refineries that are only now coming back online after hurricane Gustav, means North American refining capacity has been reduced by 15 to 20 per cent in the last couple of days, said Boag.
"We've got a significant supply issue as a result of those weather conditions," he said.
"Supply goes down at the wholesale level, prices go up."
Boag said it's difficult to know when prices will drop again, but he said past experience indicates this will be a "short-term issue."
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has gained a reputation for predicting pump price increases based on the wholesale market in the United States, predicted more increases for Canadian motorists later Friday.
News of the looming increases had motorists lining up past gas stations in several Canadian cities as they tried to beat the jump in price.
The threat of hurricane Ike to Gulf Coast oil refineries, mostly in Texas, sent wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. soaring Thursday over supply concerns.
As well, U.S. gasoline supplies have dropped by several million barrels over the last week, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Department.
While McTeague said the threat posed by the hurricane was the "spark" that triggered the increase, he also pointed the finger at the Canadian oil industry.
"The proverbial fuel on the fire is in fact the distortions by an unresponsive, uncompetitive market that has actually been diminishing its output," McTeague said in a phone interview from his Toronto-area riding where he was campaigning for re-election Thursday night.
Federal competition reviews of the Canadian industry have repeatedly determined it is highly competitive and reacts to changes in the continental market for gasoline, which is traded as a commodity just like wheat, grain, nickel and oil.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies halting operations at refineries on the Texas coast as Ike churned toward the state.
Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity. Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, outside Houston, is the largest in the United States.
In a related development Friday, a North Carolina-based convenience store chain asked U.S. customers in 11 states - mostly across the Southeast - to limit gasoline purchases to 10 gallons to avoid a run on supplies.
Another veteran gas-price watcher, Jason Toews, who runs GasBuddy.com, said fear of Ike carried over the border to Canada.
"With the hurricane in the gulf certainly going to cause some problems with supplies of crude oil and gasoline, mostly refined gasoline, in the U.S... it may have ripple effects all the way up to Canada," Toews said.
"What they have to do to fill that void is bring in gas from neighbouring states, and it has a ripple effect because those neighbouring states all of sudden don't have enough gas and they have to bring in gas," he said.
"Gas is trucked in from across the region, and across the (United States), and from Canada."}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080912/national/gas_prices
Fellow critic hits Ebert during film festival in TO
Thu Sep 11, 11:21 PM
By The Associated Press
{CHICAGO - Film critic Roger Ebert on Thursday confirmed that a fellow critic yelled at him and whacked him on the knee with a program during a movie screening at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, but said the incident was "blown out of proportion."
"It has been blown out of proportion. It is of little interest," Ebert said in a column posted Thursday on the website of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he has been a critic since 1967.
Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years and was left unable to speak, did not name the other critic involved in the incident. But he said an account published in the New York Daily News that named the other man as rival New York Post movie critic Lou Lumenick was "truthful."
Lumenick did not return an e-mail from The Associated Press after business hours on Thursday.
Saturday's incident began, Ebert said, when he could not see subtitles for the film "Slumlord Millionaire" because the man sitting in front of him was leaning into the aisle.
"In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, 'Don't touch me!' and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. 'I said - don't touch me!' He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and whacked me on the knee with whatever it was," Ebert said.
Ebert wrote that he tapped the man a fourth time, "just to show I wasn't intimidated." The man was later moved to another seat.
"This whole matter was embarrassing, because it drew attention to me and invited pity, which makes me cringe," said Ebert, former host of the syndicated show "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper."
While Ebert said he thought the man was wrong for blocking his sight line, the Pulitzer Prize winner said he felt sorry for him.
"He had no idea who was behind him when he smacked me," Ebert wrote. "Now it looked like he was picking on poor me. I have had my problems, but I promise you I am plenty hearty enough to withstand a smack, and quite happy, after the smack, to tap him again."
Ebert ended the column with, "I had to see those subtitles. There was no pain. The incident is over. Peace."} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/id_to_film_fest/s/capress/080911/entertainment/tv_ebert_hit
By The Associated Press
{CHICAGO - Film critic Roger Ebert on Thursday confirmed that a fellow critic yelled at him and whacked him on the knee with a program during a movie screening at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, but said the incident was "blown out of proportion."
"It has been blown out of proportion. It is of little interest," Ebert said in a column posted Thursday on the website of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he has been a critic since 1967.
Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years and was left unable to speak, did not name the other critic involved in the incident. But he said an account published in the New York Daily News that named the other man as rival New York Post movie critic Lou Lumenick was "truthful."
Lumenick did not return an e-mail from The Associated Press after business hours on Thursday.
Saturday's incident began, Ebert said, when he could not see subtitles for the film "Slumlord Millionaire" because the man sitting in front of him was leaning into the aisle.
"In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, 'Don't touch me!' and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. 'I said - don't touch me!' He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and whacked me on the knee with whatever it was," Ebert said.
Ebert wrote that he tapped the man a fourth time, "just to show I wasn't intimidated." The man was later moved to another seat.
"This whole matter was embarrassing, because it drew attention to me and invited pity, which makes me cringe," said Ebert, former host of the syndicated show "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper."
While Ebert said he thought the man was wrong for blocking his sight line, the Pulitzer Prize winner said he felt sorry for him.
"He had no idea who was behind him when he smacked me," Ebert wrote. "Now it looked like he was picking on poor me. I have had my problems, but I promise you I am plenty hearty enough to withstand a smack, and quite happy, after the smack, to tap him again."
Ebert ended the column with, "I had to see those subtitles. There was no pain. The incident is over. Peace."} http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/id_to_film_fest/s/capress/080911/entertainment/tv_ebert_hit
Friday, September 5, 2008
Battlestar Galactica (2004 - 2009 TV series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)#Synopsis-
'Battlestar Galactica' franchise steams ahead
By CHRIS TALBOTT, Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 25, 2:59 PM PDT
{Need proof the television ratings system is dead, a victim of the TiVo, the ubiquitous satellite dish and schizophrenic viewing habits? Take a look at what's happening with "Battlestar Galactica."
If the traditional ratings system is used to measure its success, well, the series is scraping bottom like a viper throwing sparks on a hot landing.
Yet the show's producers are moving forward with two post-"Galactica" projects that would never have seen the light of a cathode tube had ratings been the only factor in the decisions.
Jamie Bamber, the British actor who plays Lee "Apollo" Adama in the series, has a much better way to gauge ratings. Turns out, as the ratings plummet, the show's popularity continues to skyrocket as it reaches the end of its five-year run early in 2009.
"When the numbers were high I would get stopped in the street maybe once a week," Bamber said. "Now that the viewing figures are lower on the TV, everywhere I go someone will come up to me and say what a huge fan they are. That just tells me that people watch the show in a more modern way and that it has reached its sort of critical mass."
"Galactica" wrapped shooting in July and the final 10 episodes will begin airing in January. But the franchise won't stop there.
Producers recently announced end-of-the-summer production of a two-hour standalone "Galactica" prequel that will air in 2009 after the series finale. And they've also shot a pilot for a new series called "Caprica," which has yet to be picked up by the network but seems destined to air.
These things never used to happen. There never would've been a "Rhoda" had "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" tanked. "Fish" would've been fried had it not been for the popularity of "Barney Miller."
"Galactica's" numbers -- to put it politely -- have begun to stink. The latest Nielsen ratings seem to indicate the show's viewers are as hard to find as the fleet's mythical destination of Earth. The series averaged 2.8 million viewers an episode during Season 1. During the most recent run of 10 episodes, the show averaged 2.2 million viewers, a slight dip overall but up from Seasons 2 and 3. The series lost some of that steam by the midseason finale, falling to just 1.8 million viewers.
Co-executive producer Michael Angeli thinks the numbers are irrelevant, however. He believes most "Galactica" fans have atypical viewing habits and take advantage of new technology to watch the show whenever they want.
"I think we were one of the first ones," Angeli said. "TiVo had just sort of taken off. This was four or five seasons ago, and because we were on Friday nights most people, most fans don't watch it (on first run). They TiVo it and watch it a zillion times."
Others rent or buy the DVDs after the season is over and watch in long marathons. To take advantage of this group, producers will be releasing the two-hour movie on DVD shortly after it appears on SciFi.
The movie is a prequel that gives some insight into the machinations of the cylons before they unleashed the nuclear holocaust that wiped out all but 50,000 human inhabitants of the 12 colonies. "Galactica" star Edward James Olmos will direct and Dean Stockwell (Cylon No. 1), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Michael Trucco (Sam Anders) -- all "skinjobs," cylons who appear to be human -- will participate.
While the movie is a lock to air, the fate of "Caprica" remains to be decided. The pilot has been shot and screened, and there's a trailer up on YouTube. Angeli is helping with early scripts in case the series is picked up and said the show is an almost complete departure from "Galactica."
"In fact, I don't think we ever go into space," he said.
"Caprica" takes place 51 years before the events of "Galactica." It stars Esai Morales and Eric Stoltz as the heads of rival families who clash over the creation of artificial intelligence, which will eventually lead to the cylons.
Besides the robots and the location, the only real connection between "Galactica" and "Caprica" will be Joseph Adama, the character played by Morales. While Joseph Adama -- father and grandfather to the characters played by Olmos and Bamber -- never appears in "Galactica," his work as a lawyer provides a moral compass in a significant storyline and his name is often evoked.
Like "Galactica," which took on war, terrorism, torture, religion and questions of morality, the storyline in "Caprica" will have many things to say about our society.
"It's really about big business, the machinations and the subterfuge that go on inside of it when you have something that is groundbreaking and could change the nature of life and the future," Angeli said. "In this case, they're developing artificial intelligence."
Executive producer Ronald D. Moore described the show to reporters at the Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills. While he was talking about the fictional colony Caprica, he could just as easily have been talking about today's America.
"It's about a vibrant society. It's really at the height of its power and the height of its decadence at the same time," Moore said. "So it's really a thriving, vibrant culture that's going to come apart as we watch, but it's sort of the roller coaster. It's thrilling at the top when you see how far down you've got to go."}
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://ca.tv.yahoo.com/battlestar-galactica/show/36672/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20080825:ap_on_tv_battlestar_galactica__ER:79178
-
What the frak? 'Battlestar Galactica' faux curse seeping into language
Tue Sep 2, 12:07 PM
By Chris Talbott, The Associated Press
{NEW YORK - Lee Goldberg thinks Glen A. Larson is a genius, and not because the prolific television writer and producer gave us "Knight Rider" and "B.J. and the Bear."
It was Larson who first used the faux curse word "frak" in the original "Battlestar Galactica." The word was mostly overlooked back in the '70s series but is working its way into popular vocabulary as SciFi's modern update winds down production.
"All joking aside, say what you will about what you might call the lowbrow nature of many of his shows, he did something truly amazing and subversive, up there with what Steven Bochco gets credit for, with frak," Goldberg said.
There's no question what the word stands for and it's used gleefully, as many as 20 times in some episodes.
"And he was saying it 30 years ago in the original goofy, god-awful 'Battlestar Galactica,"' said Goldberg, a television writer and novelist whose credits include "Monk" and "Diagnosis Murder."
The word is showing up everywhere - on T-shirts, in sit-coms, best-selling novels and regular conversation.
"I have to start by saying that I'm drinking coffee out of a mug that says 'frak off' on the side of it, so much has it seeped into my life," "Galactica" star Jamie Bamber said.
The word is insinuating its way into popular vocabulary for a simple reason.
You can't get in trouble. It's a made-up word.
"It may have been the great George Carlin who talked about these things so cleverly," Larson said. "He'd say, 'Mother would say shoot, but she meant . . . when she reached in and burned her fingers on the crocker.' And the child says, 'I know what you meant mom.' "
The word has slipped the bonds that tethered other pretenders like Mork's "shazbot" in "Mork & Mindy" or Col. Sherman T. Potter's "horse hockey" in "M.A.S.H." Its usage has moved from the small but fervent group of "Galactica" fans into everyday language.
It's shown up in very mainstream shows like "The Office," "Gossip Girl" and "Scrubs." One YouTube posting has two minutes of sound bites that cover the gamut.
"I'm in my own little cocoon of science fictiondom but it is certainly used around here and amongst the people I know," said Irene Gallo, art director at the sci-fi imprint Tor Books where employees held a "frak party" to watch the season premiere.
"It's sort of a way to be able to use a four-letter word without really getting into any kind of HR trouble or with people you're really not quite comfortable being yourself with."
The word has even appeared in the funny pages where Dilbert muttered a disconsolate "frack" - the original spelling before producers of the current show changed it to a four-letter word - after a particularly dumb order from his evil twit of a boss.
"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams calls the word "pure genius."
"At first I thought frak was too contrived and it bothered me to hear it," Adams said. "Over time it merged in my mind with its coarser cousin and totally worked. The creators ingeniously found a way to make viewers curse in their own heads - you tend to translate the word - and yet the show is not profane."
Best-selling novelist Robert Crais slips the word into the prologue of his latest Elvis Cole mystery, "Chasing Darkness." He did it because "Galactica" is his favourite show, like calling out in the wilderness to his fellow fans. But he sees the word popping up everywhere, even among those who have never watched the show.
"It's viral, it spreads like a virus," Crais said. "That first wave of people who use it are all fans. They use it because they're tickled by it and like me they're paying an homage to the show. When they're using it, they're probably doing it with a sly wink. But as it gets heard and people use it, it spreads."
The re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" tells the story of the human survivors of a war with a robotic race known as the Cylons. Fewer than 40,000 humans remain in a ragtag fleet being pursued across space by the Cylons, who wiped out the 12 colonies in a surprise nuclear holocaust.
Their destination is the mythical planet Earth, a legend passed down in religious texts. Shooting wrapped in July and the final 10 episodes will appear beginning in January.
Larson, one of television's most prolific and successful writers, doesn't much care for the new series. He used frack and its cousin "feldergarb" as alternates for curse words because the original "Battlestar" was family friendly and appeared on Sunday nights. The words fit in with his philosophy that while the show was about humans, it shouldn't have an Earthly feel.
In what he said was his first interview about the series, Larson says there were no red fire extinguishers on his Battlestar Galactica and characters wore original costumes, not suits and ties.
"Our point was to whenever possible make it a departure like you're visiting somewhere else," Larson said. "And we did coin certain phrases for use in expletive situations, but we tried to carry that over into a lot of other stuff, even push brooms and the coin of the realm."
When new series producer Ron Moore first introduced frak in early scripts, Bamber said the actors were dubious. But as writers expanded its use, they caught on to the possibilities.
"I mean why are we not offended by 'frak' because it means exactly the same thing as the other thing?" said Bamber, who plays fighter pilot-turned-president Lee "Apollo" Adama. "So it raises questions about language and why certain words are offensive. Is it their meaning? . . . Clearly it's not their meaning. Clearly it's literally their sound."
Co-executive producer and writer Michael Angeli, an Emmy nominee for the episode "Six of One," said using the word in scripts is satisfying for anyone who's been censored over the years.
"It's a great way to do something naughty and get away with it," Angeli said. "One of the things that television shows do constantly is they battle with Standards and Practices over what can be seen and what can't be seen, what can be said and what can't be said.
"A lot of our characters are soldiers. That whole sort of view and that subculture, that's how they speak. They're rough and tumble, and they're bawdy and they swear."
He said producers have gotten no complaints from SciFi owner NBC Universal or the Federal Communications Commission.
Goldberg believes Larson should get more credit for frak and has posted an appreciation on his website. He even sought out Larson to let him know how he feels: "I told him, 'Frak is fraking brilliant, Glen.' "}
-
On the Net: http://www.scifi.com/
http://www.leegoldberg.com/
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080902/entertainment/tv_what_the_frak
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Eyes of world on quakes rumbling near Olympic site
ROBERT MATAS
From Friday's Globe and Mail
August 28, 2008 at 9:41 PM EDT
{VANCOUVER — A “swarm of earthquakes” off the coast of Vancouver Island that caused no damage drew international attention yesterday as the global media shifted its gaze from Beijing to Vancouver, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Initially the earthquake was reported to be a 6.2-magnitude quake off Vancouver Island, suggesting the possibility of similarities to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that shook China's Sichuan province three days before the Beijing Olympics began.
The earthquake in Sichuan, hours after the Olympic torch had passed through the province, was reported to have led to the deaths of at least two people. An earthquake in China three months earlier killed tens of thousands of people.
However the earthquake, almost 500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver's Olympic sites, remained in the headlines only briefly. By mid-morning, the event was downgraded to a 5.85-magnitude earthquake and dismissed by experts as a fairly routine event under the Pacific Ocean.
Earthquake seismologist Alison Bird of the Geological Survey of Canada said in an interview that the earthquake was too minor and too far from shore for any impact to be felt on land. However, a Vancouver Island resident said he thought the earthquake woke him up, but then he quickly fell back asleep. The activity occurred about 150 kilometres west of the northern tip of Vancouver Island, around 10 kilometres under the surface.
If an earthquake of a similar magnitude and depth happened in Vancouver, it would have been felt, Ms. Bird added. “There would be some damage, although it would not be widespread. But certainly some chimneys would be damaged, there would be cracks in plaster and some masonry would be damaged on the outside,” she said.
At B.C. Place, the site of the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake would cause “a strong shake,” but would likely not cause any structural failure, Ms. Bird added. “These are very moderate. There are earthquakes this size in the world every day,” she said.
Organizers of the 2010 Olympics have included earthquake preparedness in their planning, as they have for the possibility of a rock slide on the highway linking the Olympic sites in Vancouver and Whistler.
Renée Smith-Valade, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Winter Games, said their contingency planning involves the broadest spectrum of emergency scenarios. “We are working in close partnership with the appropriate levels of government and stakeholders to ensure that collectively we're appropriately prepared,” she said in a statement e-mailed to The Globe and Mail.
But a VANOC official who was not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the organizing committee said they have not yet received any inquiries from the international media about earthquakes during the Olympics.
Ms. Bird said the series of earthquakes started Tuesday evening and was continuing yesterday.
“We have swarms of activity in this area every once in a while,” she said, adding that the intensity of activity could stretch over days or possibly over a few weeks. “Some hours we have an earthquake every minute or two; other hours we are not quite so busy,” she said.
The activity is caused by new material coming up in between two plates in the subduction zone, which runs below the Pacific Ocean along the West Coast, as the plates move away from each other. The new material goes into the gap where the plates have opened, and cools, she said.
She cautioned that the seismologists require more time to take a closer look at their information before determining exactly what is happening. “There are so many earthquakes and so much interest from the media, we haven't had time yet,” she said with a laugh. “I'm not blaming you, but there are only a few of us who do this,” Ms. Bird said.}
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080828.wbcearthquake29/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080828.wbcearthquake29
From Friday's Globe and Mail
August 28, 2008 at 9:41 PM EDT
{VANCOUVER — A “swarm of earthquakes” off the coast of Vancouver Island that caused no damage drew international attention yesterday as the global media shifted its gaze from Beijing to Vancouver, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Initially the earthquake was reported to be a 6.2-magnitude quake off Vancouver Island, suggesting the possibility of similarities to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that shook China's Sichuan province three days before the Beijing Olympics began.
The earthquake in Sichuan, hours after the Olympic torch had passed through the province, was reported to have led to the deaths of at least two people. An earthquake in China three months earlier killed tens of thousands of people.
However the earthquake, almost 500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver's Olympic sites, remained in the headlines only briefly. By mid-morning, the event was downgraded to a 5.85-magnitude earthquake and dismissed by experts as a fairly routine event under the Pacific Ocean.
Earthquake seismologist Alison Bird of the Geological Survey of Canada said in an interview that the earthquake was too minor and too far from shore for any impact to be felt on land. However, a Vancouver Island resident said he thought the earthquake woke him up, but then he quickly fell back asleep. The activity occurred about 150 kilometres west of the northern tip of Vancouver Island, around 10 kilometres under the surface.
If an earthquake of a similar magnitude and depth happened in Vancouver, it would have been felt, Ms. Bird added. “There would be some damage, although it would not be widespread. But certainly some chimneys would be damaged, there would be cracks in plaster and some masonry would be damaged on the outside,” she said.
At B.C. Place, the site of the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake would cause “a strong shake,” but would likely not cause any structural failure, Ms. Bird added. “These are very moderate. There are earthquakes this size in the world every day,” she said.
Organizers of the 2010 Olympics have included earthquake preparedness in their planning, as they have for the possibility of a rock slide on the highway linking the Olympic sites in Vancouver and Whistler.
Renée Smith-Valade, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Winter Games, said their contingency planning involves the broadest spectrum of emergency scenarios. “We are working in close partnership with the appropriate levels of government and stakeholders to ensure that collectively we're appropriately prepared,” she said in a statement e-mailed to The Globe and Mail.
But a VANOC official who was not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the organizing committee said they have not yet received any inquiries from the international media about earthquakes during the Olympics.
Ms. Bird said the series of earthquakes started Tuesday evening and was continuing yesterday.
“We have swarms of activity in this area every once in a while,” she said, adding that the intensity of activity could stretch over days or possibly over a few weeks. “Some hours we have an earthquake every minute or two; other hours we are not quite so busy,” she said.
The activity is caused by new material coming up in between two plates in the subduction zone, which runs below the Pacific Ocean along the West Coast, as the plates move away from each other. The new material goes into the gap where the plates have opened, and cools, she said.
She cautioned that the seismologists require more time to take a closer look at their information before determining exactly what is happening. “There are so many earthquakes and so much interest from the media, we haven't had time yet,” she said with a laugh. “I'm not blaming you, but there are only a few of us who do this,” Ms. Bird said.}
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080828.wbcearthquake29/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080828.wbcearthquake29
Human exoskeleton suit helps paralyzed people walk
Wed Aug 27, 12:25 PM
By Ari Rabinovitch
{HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - Paralyzed for the past 20 years, former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum.
That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs and propelling him forward -- with a proud expression on his face -- as passersby stare in surprise.
"I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's like," said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988.
"Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below."
The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company.
Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by comic hero Iron Man, ReWalk helps paraplegics -- people paralyzed below the waist -- to stand, walk and climb stairs.
Goffer himself was paralyzed in an accident in 1997 but he cannot use his own invention because he does not have full function of his arms.
The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries.
The user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band -- stand, sit, walk, descend or climb -- and then leans forward, activating the body sensors and setting the robotic legs in motion.
"It raises people out of their wheelchair and lets them stand up straight," Goffer said. "It's not just about health, it's also about dignity."
EYE CONTACT
Kate Parkin, director of physical and occupational therapy at NYU Medical Centre, said it has the potential to improve a user's health in two ways.
"Physically, the body works differently when upright. You can challenge different muscles and allow full expansion of the lungs," Parkin said. "Psychologically, it lets people live at the upright level and make eye contact."
Iuly Treger, deputy director of Israel's Loewenstein Rehabilitation Centre, said: "It may be a burdensome device, but it will be very helpful and important for those who choose to use it."
The product, slated for commercial sale in 2010, will cost as much as the more sophisticated wheelchairs on the market, which sell for about $20,000, the company said.
The ReWalk is now in clinical trials in Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre and Goffer said it will soon be used in trials at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in Pennsylvania.
Competing technologies use electrical stimulation to restore function to injured muscle, but Argo's Chief Operating Officer Oren Tamari said they will not offer practical alternatives to wheelchairs in the foreseeable future.
Other "robot suits," like those being developed by the U.S. military or the HAL robot of Japan's University of Tsukuba, are not suitable for paralyzed people, he said.}
(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Mary Gabriel)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSLP27939120080825
By Ari Rabinovitch
{HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) - Paralyzed for the past 20 years, former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum.
That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old's legs and propelling him forward -- with a proud expression on his face -- as passersby stare in surprise.
"I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it's like," said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988.
"Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below."
The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company.
Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by comic hero Iron Man, ReWalk helps paraplegics -- people paralyzed below the waist -- to stand, walk and climb stairs.
Goffer himself was paralyzed in an accident in 1997 but he cannot use his own invention because he does not have full function of his arms.
The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries.
The user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band -- stand, sit, walk, descend or climb -- and then leans forward, activating the body sensors and setting the robotic legs in motion.
"It raises people out of their wheelchair and lets them stand up straight," Goffer said. "It's not just about health, it's also about dignity."
EYE CONTACT
Kate Parkin, director of physical and occupational therapy at NYU Medical Centre, said it has the potential to improve a user's health in two ways.
"Physically, the body works differently when upright. You can challenge different muscles and allow full expansion of the lungs," Parkin said. "Psychologically, it lets people live at the upright level and make eye contact."
Iuly Treger, deputy director of Israel's Loewenstein Rehabilitation Centre, said: "It may be a burdensome device, but it will be very helpful and important for those who choose to use it."
The product, slated for commercial sale in 2010, will cost as much as the more sophisticated wheelchairs on the market, which sell for about $20,000, the company said.
The ReWalk is now in clinical trials in Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre and Goffer said it will soon be used in trials at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in Pennsylvania.
Competing technologies use electrical stimulation to restore function to injured muscle, but Argo's Chief Operating Officer Oren Tamari said they will not offer practical alternatives to wheelchairs in the foreseeable future.
Other "robot suits," like those being developed by the U.S. military or the HAL robot of Japan's University of Tsukuba, are not suitable for paralyzed people, he said.}
(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Mary Gabriel)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSLP27939120080825
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Robots may enhance disabled people's lives
by Staff WritersRochester, N.Y. (UPI) Aug 11, 2008
{A U.S. study foresees robots as improving both the quality and flexibility of the lives of people with disabilities that affect the use of their limbs.
The robotics engineering research, sponsored by The National Science Foundation, utilized physiological information -- called bio-signals -- produced by the human body to improve external assistive devices called orthoses that help stroke or spinal cord injury patients regain the use of their arms and legs.
"The data collected through this project will assist designers and engineers in developing more sophisticated assistive aids for individuals suffering from various neuromuscular diseases and musculoskeletal injuries," said Rochester Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Edward Brown.
He said a robotic orthosis can take advantage of an individual's residual strength and any remaining physiological information in their limbs, such as an electromyographic signal produced in muscles. That could ultimately assist muscular dystrophy patients in regaining significant use of there limbs.
"Better orthotic technologies could ultimately help people suffering from this disease (to) greatly enhance the quality of their life," Brown says.
The project also included scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgetown University.}
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Robots_may_enhance_disabled_peoples_lives_999.html
{A U.S. study foresees robots as improving both the quality and flexibility of the lives of people with disabilities that affect the use of their limbs.
The robotics engineering research, sponsored by The National Science Foundation, utilized physiological information -- called bio-signals -- produced by the human body to improve external assistive devices called orthoses that help stroke or spinal cord injury patients regain the use of their arms and legs.
"The data collected through this project will assist designers and engineers in developing more sophisticated assistive aids for individuals suffering from various neuromuscular diseases and musculoskeletal injuries," said Rochester Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Edward Brown.
He said a robotic orthosis can take advantage of an individual's residual strength and any remaining physiological information in their limbs, such as an electromyographic signal produced in muscles. That could ultimately assist muscular dystrophy patients in regaining significant use of there limbs.
"Better orthotic technologies could ultimately help people suffering from this disease (to) greatly enhance the quality of their life," Brown says.
The project also included scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgetown University.}
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Robots_may_enhance_disabled_peoples_lives_999.html
Monday, August 18, 2008
Issue #75 [Future of Moviemaking 2008]
It’s a 3D Revolution
By Andy Rose
{An exciting resurgence in 3D moviemaking indicates that what was once a fad is now a growing trend. Over the past few years there has been a huge increase in the production of 3D films. More than a half-dozen live-action and a dozen computer animated 3D films are currently in the studio pipelines—with more to come.
One reason for this surge in development is the availability of state-of-the-art digital technology. “It was always possible to show 3D, but never possible to show it in a reliable manner,” says Eric Brevig, an Oscar-nominated visual effects artist and director of this summer’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, the first live-action narrative feature to be shot and released in digital stereoscopic 3D. “It’s a convergence of technology,” he says. The problems of former 3D imaging simply no longer exist.
Jonathan Levine's Total Wacknessby Jonathan LevineThe prospect of meeting Ben Kingsley is a daunting one for any director, especially a man of such limited talent and eloquence as myself. So when I heard the news that Sir Ben had enjoyed my script for The Wackness and would like to meet me in Vancouver, my excitement was tempered by an immediate pang of terror.I recalled the episode of “The Sopranos” in which Sir Ben attempts to blow off Christopher and his mob cohorts as they push their script onto him. Needless to say, I hoped my meeting would go a bit better than that...
Dirty Harry: RevisitedBy Rustin ThompsonWarner Bros. is celebrating its 85th anniversary with something they are calling the Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set, which features all five Dirty Harry films, digitally remastered on DVD and Blu-ray, and including featurettes and Dirty Harry memorabilia. All of the films are available seperately, too, which is a good thing because the one you really want is Dirty Harry. With the 1971 movie, Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel invented the modern cop antihero, which spawned Bruce Willis’ wisecracking John McClane, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s titanium-skinned Terminator and the lumpen, narcoleptic studs portrayed by the likes of Steven Seagal. But Eastwood and Siegel should get some credit (or blame) for establishing the profitable, frequently risible concept of the franchise film, too.
Perfect Strangersby Bryan BertinoFirst-time writer-director Bryan Bertino recounts the scariest part of making his directorial debut with The Strangers: Action!}
http://www.moviemaker.com/magazine/toc/future_of_moviemaking_2008/
By Andy Rose
{An exciting resurgence in 3D moviemaking indicates that what was once a fad is now a growing trend. Over the past few years there has been a huge increase in the production of 3D films. More than a half-dozen live-action and a dozen computer animated 3D films are currently in the studio pipelines—with more to come.
One reason for this surge in development is the availability of state-of-the-art digital technology. “It was always possible to show 3D, but never possible to show it in a reliable manner,” says Eric Brevig, an Oscar-nominated visual effects artist and director of this summer’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, the first live-action narrative feature to be shot and released in digital stereoscopic 3D. “It’s a convergence of technology,” he says. The problems of former 3D imaging simply no longer exist.
Jonathan Levine's Total Wacknessby Jonathan LevineThe prospect of meeting Ben Kingsley is a daunting one for any director, especially a man of such limited talent and eloquence as myself. So when I heard the news that Sir Ben had enjoyed my script for The Wackness and would like to meet me in Vancouver, my excitement was tempered by an immediate pang of terror.I recalled the episode of “The Sopranos” in which Sir Ben attempts to blow off Christopher and his mob cohorts as they push their script onto him. Needless to say, I hoped my meeting would go a bit better than that...
Dirty Harry: RevisitedBy Rustin ThompsonWarner Bros. is celebrating its 85th anniversary with something they are calling the Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set, which features all five Dirty Harry films, digitally remastered on DVD and Blu-ray, and including featurettes and Dirty Harry memorabilia. All of the films are available seperately, too, which is a good thing because the one you really want is Dirty Harry. With the 1971 movie, Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel invented the modern cop antihero, which spawned Bruce Willis’ wisecracking John McClane, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s titanium-skinned Terminator and the lumpen, narcoleptic studs portrayed by the likes of Steven Seagal. But Eastwood and Siegel should get some credit (or blame) for establishing the profitable, frequently risible concept of the franchise film, too.
Perfect Strangersby Bryan BertinoFirst-time writer-director Bryan Bertino recounts the scariest part of making his directorial debut with The Strangers: Action!}
http://www.moviemaker.com/magazine/toc/future_of_moviemaking_2008/
Google Privacy Practices Worse Than ISP Snooping, AT&T Charges
By Ryan Singel August 15, 2008 5:03:49 PMCategories: Privacy
{Online advertising networks -- particularly Google's -- are more dangerous than the fledgling plans and dreams of ISPs to install eavesdropping equipment inside their internet pipes to serve tailored ads to their customers, AT&T says.
At least that's what the company told Congress in a letter early this week, responding to four prominent House lawmakers who are bird-dogging ISPs about their online profiling practices. Those lawmakers asked 33 internet companies on Aug. 1 to explain some of their monitoring practices, Most have replied.
In its letter (.pdf), AT&T denies that it currently digs deep into the net habits of its users "for the purpose [of] developing a profile of a particular consumer's online behavior."* (AT&T is currently facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly helping the NSA spy on Americans' internet usage, but that's a different issue since the NSA does not run ads.)
However, it says it may bake this kind of surveillance into its tubes in the future using so-called Deep Packet Inspection technology. The company rightly says could be also be used to detect copyright infringement, speed up packets of streaming video and detect child pornography.
But even if it did, that's nothing compared to Google, it says.
"If anything the largely invisible practices of ad-networks raise even greater privacy concerns than do the behavioral advertising techniques that ISPs could employ, such as deep-packet-inspection," AT&T wrote.
AT&T rightly points out that Google can know almost as much a snooping ISP could -- which, is the case for users who install Google's toolbar and don't know to opt out of Google's Web History program. And if Google does combine its third-party cookie information, with user's search histories, with Gmail summaries, and with Google Analytics data, among other data sources, they would be a proper domestic intelligence agency.
AT&T writes:
Advertising-network operators such as Google have evolved beyond merely tracking consumer web surfing activity on sites for which they have a direct ad-serving relationship. They now have the ability to observe a user's entire web browsing experience at a granular level, including all URLs visited, all searches, and actual page-views.
AT&T goes on to say then that because of Google's singular ability to gather online data that online advertising networks are substantially similar to ISPs monitoring their customers.
Google and Yahoo are perhaps the only two online empires that AT&T could realistically point towards to make that argument.
It's a clever argument, since online advertising cookies are nearly universally accepted and there are voluntary codes of conduct that most advertisers agree to in order to keep government regulators away.
And certainly any ISP thinking about looking at what its users are doing has got to be worried given that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is on a roll -- taking on ISPs that want to or have watched what their customers do online in order to serve them targeted ads. That roll is reportedly heading towards a long-fabled online privacy omnibus bill. Add to that, this month's unprecedented decision by the Federal Communications Commission to slap down Comcast for its secret and deceptive interference with file sharing traffic.
But the argument is also just wrong.
You pay your ISP to carry your traffic to and fro.
It can see everything you do online, unless you take extreme measures. It could know where you bank, the contents of your emails and chats, what sites you shop at, what you search about --regardless of search engine -- and everything you read or watch online.
Your ISP does not need to be peering into your traffic to decide whether to show you ads for hemorrhoid cream or sports bobble heads.
They just need to get that health information and that gallery of hockey's worst bobble heads to your browser quickly.
* Threat Level readers may enjoy this full sentence from the letter: "AT&T does not at this time engage in practices that allow it to track a consumer's search and browsing activities across multiple unrelated websites for the purpose [of] developing a profile of a particular consumer's online behavior."}
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/google-privacy.html
See Also:
AT&T Whistleblower: Spy Bill Creates 'Infrastructure for a Police ...
Improved Billboard Touts AT&T and NSA Collaboration
AT&T Exec To Be Grilled Over Network Neutrality This Saturday
Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not
Google Trying to Appease Regulators and Fight Privacy Groups, Says ...
Search Engine Privacy Changes Driven by Competion, Lawmakers ...
Instead of Adding Privacy, Google Lets You Watch Privacy Videos on ...
-
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Tap_a_Phone_Line
{Online advertising networks -- particularly Google's -- are more dangerous than the fledgling plans and dreams of ISPs to install eavesdropping equipment inside their internet pipes to serve tailored ads to their customers, AT&T says.
At least that's what the company told Congress in a letter early this week, responding to four prominent House lawmakers who are bird-dogging ISPs about their online profiling practices. Those lawmakers asked 33 internet companies on Aug. 1 to explain some of their monitoring practices, Most have replied.
In its letter (.pdf), AT&T denies that it currently digs deep into the net habits of its users "for the purpose [of] developing a profile of a particular consumer's online behavior."* (AT&T is currently facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly helping the NSA spy on Americans' internet usage, but that's a different issue since the NSA does not run ads.)
However, it says it may bake this kind of surveillance into its tubes in the future using so-called Deep Packet Inspection technology. The company rightly says could be also be used to detect copyright infringement, speed up packets of streaming video and detect child pornography.
But even if it did, that's nothing compared to Google, it says.
"If anything the largely invisible practices of ad-networks raise even greater privacy concerns than do the behavioral advertising techniques that ISPs could employ, such as deep-packet-inspection," AT&T wrote.
AT&T rightly points out that Google can know almost as much a snooping ISP could -- which, is the case for users who install Google's toolbar and don't know to opt out of Google's Web History program. And if Google does combine its third-party cookie information, with user's search histories, with Gmail summaries, and with Google Analytics data, among other data sources, they would be a proper domestic intelligence agency.
AT&T writes:
Advertising-network operators such as Google have evolved beyond merely tracking consumer web surfing activity on sites for which they have a direct ad-serving relationship. They now have the ability to observe a user's entire web browsing experience at a granular level, including all URLs visited, all searches, and actual page-views.
AT&T goes on to say then that because of Google's singular ability to gather online data that online advertising networks are substantially similar to ISPs monitoring their customers.
Google and Yahoo are perhaps the only two online empires that AT&T could realistically point towards to make that argument.
It's a clever argument, since online advertising cookies are nearly universally accepted and there are voluntary codes of conduct that most advertisers agree to in order to keep government regulators away.
And certainly any ISP thinking about looking at what its users are doing has got to be worried given that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is on a roll -- taking on ISPs that want to or have watched what their customers do online in order to serve them targeted ads. That roll is reportedly heading towards a long-fabled online privacy omnibus bill. Add to that, this month's unprecedented decision by the Federal Communications Commission to slap down Comcast for its secret and deceptive interference with file sharing traffic.
But the argument is also just wrong.
You pay your ISP to carry your traffic to and fro.
It can see everything you do online, unless you take extreme measures. It could know where you bank, the contents of your emails and chats, what sites you shop at, what you search about --regardless of search engine -- and everything you read or watch online.
Your ISP does not need to be peering into your traffic to decide whether to show you ads for hemorrhoid cream or sports bobble heads.
They just need to get that health information and that gallery of hockey's worst bobble heads to your browser quickly.
* Threat Level readers may enjoy this full sentence from the letter: "AT&T does not at this time engage in practices that allow it to track a consumer's search and browsing activities across multiple unrelated websites for the purpose [of] developing a profile of a particular consumer's online behavior."}
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/google-privacy.html
See Also:
AT&T Whistleblower: Spy Bill Creates 'Infrastructure for a Police ...
Improved Billboard Touts AT&T and NSA Collaboration
AT&T Exec To Be Grilled Over Network Neutrality This Saturday
Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not
Google Trying to Appease Regulators and Fight Privacy Groups, Says ...
Search Engine Privacy Changes Driven by Competion, Lawmakers ...
Instead of Adding Privacy, Google Lets You Watch Privacy Videos on ...
-
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Tap_a_Phone_Line
Defense Spooks: Let's Control Enemy Minds
By Nick Thompson August 16, 2008 9:03:00 AMCategories: Bizarro
{Forget performance-enhancing drugs for soldiers, the next frontier is performance-degrading drugs for our enemies. Rick Weiss at the Science Progress blog has just written a nice post about a just-released 150-page report from the National Research Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency that argues that the military needs to do a better job keeping up with neuroscience: in part so it can learn how to make our enemies stupider.
“Although conflict has many aspects, one that warfighters and policy makers often talk about is the motivation to fight, which undoubtedly has its origins in the brain and is reflected in peripheral neurophysiological processes," quotes Weiss from the report. “So one question would be, ‘How can we disrupt the enemy’s motivation to fight?’ Other questions raised by controlling the mind: ‘How can we make people trust us more?’ ‘What if we could help the brain to remove fear or pain?’ ‘Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?’… As cognitive neuroscience and related technologies become more pervasive, using technology for nefarious purposes becomes easier.”}
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/the-dia-looks-i.html
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/08/guess-what-military-funds-mind-reading.html
{Forget performance-enhancing drugs for soldiers, the next frontier is performance-degrading drugs for our enemies. Rick Weiss at the Science Progress blog has just written a nice post about a just-released 150-page report from the National Research Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency that argues that the military needs to do a better job keeping up with neuroscience: in part so it can learn how to make our enemies stupider.
“Although conflict has many aspects, one that warfighters and policy makers often talk about is the motivation to fight, which undoubtedly has its origins in the brain and is reflected in peripheral neurophysiological processes," quotes Weiss from the report. “So one question would be, ‘How can we disrupt the enemy’s motivation to fight?’ Other questions raised by controlling the mind: ‘How can we make people trust us more?’ ‘What if we could help the brain to remove fear or pain?’ ‘Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?’… As cognitive neuroscience and related technologies become more pervasive, using technology for nefarious purposes becomes easier.”}
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/the-dia-looks-i.html
-
http://multiverseextra.blogspot.com/2008/08/guess-what-military-funds-mind-reading.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)