Wednesday, April 07, 2010

China Hints at Readiness to Let Yuan Rise; US Forecasts LNG Imports to Increase 42% in 2010

From Jenna Orkin

Headlines
Kyrgyzstan on brink of revolution after street battles
Kyrgyz opposition says it has taken power
Thai PM faces hard choice after emergency declared
Barack Obama orders killing of US cleric
Obama administration authorises assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a rare move against an American citizen.

Energy
Pentagon also expects an imminent oil shock
U.S. Forecasts LNG Imports to Increase 42% in 2010
Richard Heinberg Interview: How Much Oil Is Left?
Jeff Rubin: New U.S. drilling will prove meaningless

World
The Fate Of The Euro Is Decided - from Rice Farmer
Europe Economy Unexpectedly Stalled in Fourth Quarter
China hints at readiness to let yuan rise
King Abdullah: Jordan Was Better Off without Peace with Israel
Obama and Medvedev to sign nuclear deal
UK needs 'drastic' measures
Japan Rethinks Relations With US

US
Food Stamp Usage Hits Record 39 Million, 14th Consecutive Monthly Increase
Nice job, sorry about the pay
Bernanke Says Joblessness, Foreclosures Pose Challenges to U.S. Recovery
Health Insurers Stop Offering New Coverage to Small Businesses and Individuals in
Survey Explains Why We're Doomed To Housing Bubble After Housing Bubble After Housing Bubble
Empty Commercial Real Estate Owners Have No Idea How Worthless Their Properties Are
Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax - from Rice Farmer
L.A. to Shut Down City Departments in Budget Crisis
Moody's Downgrades Los Angeles From Aa2 To Aa3 - from Rice Farmer
NY masks deficit by "shuffling" money
Detroit Bankruptcy Looms with Deficit of $446 Million in Budget of $1.6 Billion
Appeals Court Throttles FCC's Net Neutrality Authority

Terror/Intelligence
Interview with Wikileaks Julian Assange on Video of Reuters' et al. Massacre
Russian Report [Unconfirmed]: US Weapon Against Iran Caused Haiti Earthquake
German Jihad Colonies Sprout Up in Waziristan
Search engines' dirty secret (massive power consumption) - from Rice Farmer

Environment/Health
Life flashing before your eyes? It's just raised CO2 levels
Solar powered plane takes to skies
Plants flower five days earlier for every degree of global warming
Agriculture/Food Crisis Website - from Elizabeth Miller
Migratory Birds' New Climate Change Strategy: Stay Home

36 comments:

gamedog said...

Great links on this post, I was going to say probably the best set of links in any one post, right up until you get to the environment section.

Raised potassium blood levels cause palpitations (which can lead to heart attacks) of which shallow breathing and hypertension is a symptom (one breathes the same air in/out depleting O2), and raised petCo2 is a consequence. This has zero to do with the environment, it's about recovering patients in hospital. Co2 levels in a crowded conference room are higher than environmental Co2 by a significant factor, how many conferences have you been to where people experience NDE's?

And the "Early Spring" report fails to mention this years spring in the UK is about 2 weeks late, as in most of the northern hemisphere. The evidence was gathered by phone/email/web to the BBCs "springwatch" program. This is propaganda.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/06/global-warming-and-%E2%80%9Cthe-early-spring%E2%80%9D-part-ii/#more-18221

What a shame. These propaganda links undermine the credibility of the whole post, especially at such as time as this when collapse is imminent. The crumbling façade of CAGW is evidenced by example headlines of this type IMO.

What on earth does either headline have to do with collapse?

Maybe I should refrain from commenting on this because Greenpeace "know where I live"
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/06/damage-control-greenpeace-removes-threats/

Maybe I'm just extra grumpy today eh (rolls eyes)

Jenna Orkin said...

thx gamedog. forgot to add word 'health' which is now in heading.

Elmo said...

@gamedog

"What a shame. These propaganda links undermine the credibility of the whole post, especially at such as time as this when collapse is imminent."

Funny... I've often thought the same about the financial articles. I guess it's all just a matter of perspective. :-)

Elmo said...

Obama orders killing of US Cleric...

"The cleric, who allegedly had ties with the 9/11 hijackers, later praised the Fort Hood killings and said Muslims should only serve in the US military if they intended to carry out similar attacks."

Ummm.... Can I get a video of Anwar al-Awlaki giving that statement? Because, until I do, I'm going to assume this is nothing more than fear-mongering anti-Muslim propaganda!

Weaseldog said...

Economists are unexpectedly wrong again about unexpected event.

In an unexpected long running streak in which economists are constantly unexpectedly surprised that they are unexpectedly wrong about how unexpected events turn out, economists unexpectedly encountered the unexpected.

Inconceivable!

Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Elmo said...

LOL@Weaseldog

"economists unexpectedly encountered the unexpected."

I think the only prediction economists ever got right is that financial collapse repeats itself every 60 years or so. Of course... this is completely unexpected!

Weaseldog said...

From yesterday's discussion on Dr. Colin Campbell...

Demand as understood in economics, is what people are actually buying.

Demand in this view, cannot exceed supply.

Weaseldog said...

What Elmo, you don't believe everything that Obama says?

Is it because almost everything he says is a lie?

Elmo said...

"Is it because almost everything he [Obama] says is a lie?"

WHAT?! The messiah lies? SAY IT AIN'T SO!!

Elmo said...

Obama & Medvedev to sign weapons deal...

"The new deal will specify limits of 1,550 deployed warheads and will limit missile stocks to 800 deployed and non-deployed intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons."

So, considering Obama's track record, we should expect our current nuclear stockpiles to at least double, no?

toner deeski said...

RE: earthquakes

I saw some douche bag on tv the other day comparing the average 12 month span to the past four months, and since what has happened in the past four months is similar to what normally happens over a 12 month span, everything is normal.
Just sayin.

gamedog said...

Elmo: I think financial articles are an intrinsic part of documenting collapse. Maybe you missed the first title of MCR's book coLLapse, it was called APEP 25 points addressing the Siamese twins of energy and money.

Weaseldog: Even so, neither Campbell, the reuters Journalist, or the editor (who probably caused this semantic disagreement by cutting off the quote) is an economist. The framing of the statement is hardly conducive to inform the reader. How can we be at "peak demand" right now (even sort of) if Campbells price ceiling is $100 and the current price is $85 and dropping, presumably he is allowing room for some sort of demand resurgence to get that price ceiling.

If only I was a cartoonist, I'd have a picture of some bloated bellied skin & bone guy sat on a street corner with a sign round his neck saying "please help, ex-economist at peak food demand" :)

Funny stuff re Economists are unexpectedly wrong, very nearly a beverage moment lol

Elmo said...

@gamedog

"Maybe you missed the first title of MCR's book coLLapse, it was called APEP 25 points addressing the Siamese twins of energy and money."

No, I didn't miss that. I was just saying (in my own sarcastic way) that I have seen very few economists who were right about anything! Therefore, all the financial soothsaying amounts to nothing more than propaganda. :-)

You can't document something before it actually happens!

Titus Pullo said...

The Pentagon report admitting supply shortfall should get much bigger play here. Perhaps even a narrative from Mike.

Not only can peak no longer be denied, it can't be ignored or suppressed either. How many government or international entities is that now that have admitted demand is fast outstripping supply?

Nyans said...

US seems to be losing friends at a quick pace

businessman said...

One thing the media will be working overtime at doing is constantly telling us about signs of hope and recovery, and many people will virtually cling to this, as most people want to have hope.

With this in mind, one would think that the London commercial real estate market is on fire now according to what's being mentioned in this article:

Click Here for the Article

gamedog said...

Elmo: I spent a few years moderating a popular US forum, every attempt at sarcasm from me, went right over their heads (I could almost hear the whoosh lol) these experiences made me think you guys just didn't do sarcasm... the irony... How I missed that whoosh going right over my head I don't know! lol

What? It hasn't happened yet? ;-)
=================================
I always thought those shots were bad for the immune system!

Studies link H1N1 to seasonal flu shots

I hope this wakes a few UK Gov types up to the missed revenue, life would be so much mellower! Almost there MCR, I think they read your book! baby steps....

In Colorado town, voters tax pot before it arrives

Blimey, posting on here is like a fight with the machine sometimes, even worse when I format the links ...sorry Businessman that's why I don't often bother, not just to peeve you ;-)

Elmo said...

@gamedog

"these experiences made me think you guys just didn't do sarcasm"

Well, I guess my original comment was rather vague... sorry.

A peon said...

"On page 20 of the New Scientist’s 3rd April 2010 edition you’ll see an article entitled ‘Search Engine's dirty secret’ by James Clarage – it’s all about how much power each Google search uses. The same as leaving a 100-watt light bulb on for an hour, according to James. I just hope this isn’t an April-Fools joke…

I was sat up reading the article in bed, when a little 100-watt light bulb came on in my own head! That can’t be right, I thought…

According to the article, ‘IT research firm Gartner estimates that Google’s data centres contain nearly a million servers, each drawing about 1 kilowatt of electricity. So every hour Google’s engine burns through 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Google serves up approximately 10 million search results per hour, so one search has the same energy cost as turning on a 100-watt light bulb for an hour’… Sure!

That would mean that each of those servers only does 10 searches per hour, or 240 searches in 24 hours, times 1 million servers. That’s just silly." (click link to read full essay)

agape wins said...

4,08,10; 4:19pm
Any of you that think Google is about Information is asleep!
3 years ago I could research Neighborhood decline, or
renovation, Water treatment, Commodity reserves, or even a book review, and get hundreds of free links.

Today I try to pull up these same links I have saved & I find that it's gone, I have to be a member, OR PAY a fee. Everything is now for sale, &/or, the information
has changed/been edited! If I research a health Supplement,
the first 50 links want to sell me something; sometimes with no relationship to the product, no ingredients, uses, side effects,
or cautions. Manufacturer, wholesale/resale information leads
to countless dead ends! Google "Spice"; someone was arrested locally for dealing Spice, the paper described it, how to make it, & the reason it's used, even the additive that makes it illegal. On line you can buy it, &/or the recipe?!
It you know the additive you can use your imagination for a
decent "Smoke"! Every year the drug awareness fair describes how to make Meth, supposedly so you can detect if someone is making it!

Motivation is not something you shout from the rooftop, nothing
is free, and any more, someone is always looking over your
shoulder! It makes for a safer world, but what is the cost, in
energy & EMOTION for tracking everything? Making everyone a common Criminal makes us LESS equal!

Jenna does a good job of generating posts, could she be
challenging You to think? The best teachers do not feed you the
information, but make you find it, don't go off in a snit, read the
article, ask yourself is there something I?ME have pre-decided,
does this reinforce, or weaken my argument?

Remember "Change the way things work", Think-THINK!
You will not find it here, or on the Internet; Google will hide more
than they give away, when did Google give you a vote?

Elmo said...

Search Engines Dirty Secret...

"IT research firm Gartner estimates Google's data centres contain nearly a million servers, each drawing about 1 kilowatt of electricity. So every hour Google's engine burns through 1 million kilowatt-hours. Google serves up approximately 10 million search results per hour, so one search has the same energy cost as turning on a 100-watt light bulb for an hour."

And if you believe that, I've got a nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan I'd like to sell you!

Having been around technology since computers ran punch-cards... without actually doing the math, I feel entirely safe in saying that the actual figure is more likely in the neighborhood of a 7-watt light bulb running for a minute and a half --which is still quite a lot, considering the number of searches Google does every second. If they were still running mechanical data-presses, I might be inclined to believe Gartner's estimate.

Google's servers perform a process called web crawling (continuously indexing websites). So they would still be burning most of that power, irregardless of how many searches were taking place at any one time.

businessman said...

gamedog...LOL...don't worry about the links!

Having grown up with British parents, I think the sarcasm thing is just a cultural difference sometimes. There are just some things that Brits think are funny and we don't, and vice versa. And some expressions, even though everyone's speaking the same language, just don't translate the exact same way.

My Dad would be laughing hysterically watching the Benny Hill show, and to me when I'd watch it with him it just wasn't that funny.

You guys can utilize the term "fag" to mean a cigarette, but over here if you use that term the gay community will think you're discriminating against them.

And if you want to see someone from one culture make the other culture laugh, I think this guy does a pretty good job of it:

Click Here for the Video Clip

businessman said...

I just received an E-mail from the Collapse Movie Web site telling me that DVDs of the movie "Collapse" are now available for pre-ordering on Amazon.com. The scheduled release date of the DVDs is now June 15th.

Click Here for the Information

"e Brutto" said...

From http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
More intrigue in the silver market.
My internet connection went down around the time of this extraordinary event, just as the Sydney market opened - until it was all over...
Short covering by JP Morgan and HSBC i.e. the elites of the USA and UK possibly.
Article describing the Ponzi Scheme of the silver market as part of the larger US dollar Ponzi Scheme.
Interesting stuff.
http://news.silverseek.com/GoldIsMoney/1270762337.php

Anonymous said...

I posted a link the other day about upcoming microchipping of all US citizens by 2013 as mentioned on page 1001 onward in the new healthcare bill. Doesn't anyone on this blog think this is worthy of comment? Do you think the public will be happy when they find this out? Would it be better if they found out now or a month before they starting chipping people?

****************
I often don't have time to read the links provided or have time to write well-thought out, witty responses like you all do. Several of my posts here have disappeared. Putting in the sustainable vegetable garden and making "preparations" while holding down a full time job can be rather time-consuming. You folks must be either retired, have desk jobs or have the little woman doing all the real work. Sometimes this blog comes off like a private club (soon to be even more so) where only the input of a few is valued. If the purpose of the website/blog is to inform people about the coming changes to our world, wouldn't we want to have as many people as possible participate? Is it enough to feel smug knowing one knows all the inside dope or does one have a responsibility to do something with it or share it with others? Here are some examples of people doing something with their knowledge: Creating the new magazine "Urban Farm - Sustainable City Living". It's a spin-off from Hobby Farms Magazine, where they're trying to get people "out there" to become acquainted with how to meet their own needs in a world of diminishing resources. I read of a group trying to get city councils to allow chickens in city yards. Some group in NY City is starting a window gardening network to promote growing fresh greens at home. Another group is developing micro-homes to use less resources. My son and I just saw the film "Why We Fight" - superb. The producer really took the bull by the horns and laid the corporate control of government issue out there for the public to contemplate. I just can't figure out why no one has thought to start a totally independent newspaper, radio station or TV network where news isn't altered. I don't think the status quo would last too long if the average American knew just how much he is being deceived. I read that it takes only about 3 percent of the population to promote real change. How can there be a 3% if practically no one knows the real scoop? I think we should be dedicating at least a few minutes each day, if not more to speaking to others "out there" about what we know and planting seeds (literally or figuratively) on how others can do things to change their own lives before things become a crisis. I'm trying to con my right-wing city friends into doing edible landscaping in their yards this year, and send home little handouts with my students on things they can grow at home. I'll move on to other sustainable topics once I have my foot in the door. If everyone spreads the word just a bit, the waves spread and soon the circle has widened farther than if just one or two people are doing all the informing.

Unknown said...

cj, howdy!

Speaking jes fer m'self, I'm employed part time in Taiwan, and have a lot of time on my hands. Don't get to speak too much English and there aren't that many post-collapse-minded people here. They think the techie revolution has just taken a little spell o' the hiccups, and will start rising to infinity again sometime soon. So this blog is kind of a lifeline.

About the chips, they'd like to do a lot of things. I remember when they were about to deploy a big radiation weapon that would burn everyone's blood at a demonstration. But then even the brass in Iraq wouldn't use it for fear of getting back some serious bad PR from it.

The gov'ment may be authorized to do such and so, like forced innoculationd, but making people accept it is another thing. I remember when we were gonna be required to carry RFID cards, but then the states were gonna have to PAY for it, and lots of people were up in a dither, and it's pretty much dead now.

Any of this stuff COULD BE applied, if it looks both necessary to their evil plans and posssible to enforce. But no government likes to be made a fool of, and you'll remember that British response to the Boston Tea Party brought out the ire in colonists who had hitherto entertained no warlike intentions. That kind of repressive nonsense could easily backfire and be unenforcable to boot. Which would hasten the end of federal authority.

I'm guessin' won't be nobody chippin nobody any time soon. Good to be alert to the possiblity, though. Could you possibly post the actual text of p. 1001, so we don't have to download it? Thanks for keeping us informed.

Good luck on the gardening. I'm jealous. All I have is a balcony.

Elmo said...

@cj

"posted a link the other day about upcoming microchipping of all US citizens by 2013 as mentioned on page 1001 onward in the new healthcare bill. Doesn't anyone on this blog think this is worthy of comment? Do you think the public will be happy when they find this out?"

Not until it's already done. Never before then. And even afterward, not much chance of a rebellion. America is still in Iraq under false pretenses, and there has yet to be an uprising. Probably never will be.

In this particular case, you're trying to get a rise out of people who are addicted to laptops and cellphones. All technology is good, as far as most folks are concerned. And "chipping people" is is the stuff of conspiracy theories.

Sleep, my little children... Sleep!

Elmo said...

@cj

"I just can't figure out why no one has thought to start a totally independent newspaper, radio station or TV network where news isn't altered."

You're kidding, right? EVERY news source began with that premise! And every last one ran up against having to pay the bills; which meant having to find sponsors; which meant having to kiss ass!

Elmo said...

@cj

You said you had a full-time job. Don't you think that qualifies as part of the problem? Does your employer (whoever that may be) use only sustainable materials? Operate out of a building made only of wood & stone, with a thatch roof? Hire only local labor? Sell only locally manufactured products (again, using only sustainable materials)? Have they taken out a life insurance policy on you? Would you even know if they did? Aren't they eventually going to require you to get a microchip (for security reasons, you understand)?

We are all part of the problem! So you see, the solution may be farther away than we imagine.

Elmo said...

I think the reality we are all going to have to accept (like it or not) is that we're going to have to go back to carrying our goods to market in donkey carts (that's if there are still markets to carry them to). So y'all better learn to like shoveling shit; 'cuz you're gonna need lots of it to put in your furnace!

Elmo said...

Here's an idea...

Let's all go down to our local Goodwill or Salvation Army store and see if they have any old exercise bicycles that we can bring home and strap a car alternator to, so we can generate all the electricity we need to run our computers, so that we can come to sites like this and talk about sustainable living, without having to feel like hypocrites! We'll save the earth and lose that spare tire at the same time! Sound like a plan?

Unknown said...

Elmo, again, right on it.

I've searched the internet for bicycle power and there definitely are some people out there juicing and grinding and producing (modest) electric power. But I couldn't find any plans. The ones at the Nicaraguan site did not load, and I couldn't make heads or tails of the Arcata project. If you could post a link with plans for a bike-powered generator or juicer, I'd love to see that. Preferably a bike with interchangable wheel connect, for various uses.

businessman said...

eyeballs and elmo...bicycle power...now that could become an emerging trend for a business.

Elmo said...

@eyeballs

I've never seen an actual "plan" for one. But I'd imagine the only thing you'd have to do is take the tire off the rim; mount an alternator on the bike frame, with the pulley in line with the rim; and find a fan belt that would fit it. You could probably even cut the belt out of the tire. Then it's just a matter of hooking up a battery and strapping your laptop to the handlebars!

I would imagine you could get a whole mess of batteries, and convert your whole house to 12 volts; but that would involve some serious pedaling!

Elmo said...

@businessman

Yeah, power the building, and justify buying all that exercise equipment at the same time! LOL

They just built a HUGE health club downtown that NOBODY ever goes to! Maybe they ought to hook up some generators to all those contraptions, make it part of the court's community service program, and sell electricity back to the grid. Everybody wins!

Anonymous said...

Well, Elmo, if you were one year from retirement would you quit right away or wait the year to get "the package"? Maybe it's foolish, but I'm still hopeful for some kind of retirement. My employer is trying to go green. We have a sustainability manager whose job it is to be sure as little energy and material is used by our 800+ employees. He posts lists of ways we can save energy and offers rewards to those who come up with the best ideas. They do have a life insurance policy for me, but it ends one year after I retire or leave the job. Since I work in a large special education consortium, it would be hard to mandate what kind of building I would be working in. Sometimes I don't have a place to work and at one site I had to bring my own chair. I get to furnish all my own materials, so I lean towards constructive activities that teach kids something about doing for themselves, like where their food comes from, how to grow it, build things etc. This isn't always easy to do as we are still required by law to follow state mandated curricula. Since I work in special ed, it is a bit easier to pull off. Providing materials for many classes out of my own pocket is prohibitively expensive, so I have to plan one or two major activities per year which somehow address the students learning needs and allow me to do my thing without wiping me out financially. I'd love to put in a garden, but sometimes hosting school districts won't allow this. The school year ends just about the time the plants get going anyway. My little kids just got recycled Easter baskets with nice looking stuffed animals from a thrift store. They were thrilled. Some come from such deprivation that just getting an egg to decorate and take home is a big deal. It's a bit depressing that one can send home vegetable plants in buckets and handouts how to grow things, save money, etc. and see so little follow through by the parents. At least I can say I tried.