Author: Serkadis

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The Implications of Velocity – …And now we come to the policy conundrum for the Fed. They have pumped a great deal of money (liquidity) into the economy. Normally, banks would take that money and multiply it by lending it out (through fractional reserve banking at a potential 9-times factor), increasing velocity and the overall money supply. … But today bank lending is still falling at an average of 15% annually, so far this year. But what if that trend stops? … – John Mauldin’s Frontline Thoughts

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Deflation? – M1 Money Multiplier Still Crashing: Each $1 Increase in Monetary Base Results in Only 79 Cent Increase In Money Supply – George Washington – ZeroHedge

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The Best Deficit Chart Ever – plus fantastic comment – Casey’s Daily Dispatch

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good consumer article – Program’s end to affect interest rates – By Alan J. Heavens
– The Fed will no longer buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. – Philadelphia Inquirer

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Freddie Keeps Tax Credits, Focuses on Preservation – By Jerry Ascierto – …   Throughout 2009, rumors abounded that both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were trying to sell parts or all of their low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) portfolios.  The rumors sent chills through the affordable housing industry, given how dramatically the prices of LIHTCs had fallen. … -  Affordable Housing Finance at Housingfinance.com 

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Credit Feast And Famine – Steve Hanke – Why isn’t the economy booming? The Fed’s high-powered money isn’t going into bank deposits and loans to businesses and individuals. – Forbes

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Forest for the Trees… – … What seems frightening about the compression of credit spreads is that we seem to completely forget the past.  The post Lehman collapse has no parallel besides the great depression, but it seems that we all have forgiven past financial sins and debt burdens.  The overhanging question remains: how will the debt be paid for?  … – Surly Trader

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Rating Agencies: Muni bonds next? – Nick Gogerty – Ratings game change. A disturbance in the force? – The ratings agencies are the fell as whose opinions on CDO’s and other quant-crap led most of America’s financial elite to delude themselves into believing in the pixi dust of securitisation (obfuscation) and endless home price appreciation. – Designing Better Futures

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Krugman & Kudlow agree: Inflation on the way – Kurt Brouwer – regarding Janet Yellen and Fed – … Krugman and Kudlow seem to view this appointment in a very similar light, that she will not be fighting inflation.  Krugman likes that and Kudlow does not.  Nonetheless, having these two economists and pundits in agreement on anything is rare indeed. … – MarketWatch

Fair Value Accounting Rules Not to Blame for Financial Crisis -  NERA Economic Consulting’s Thomas Porter says fair-value accounting rules cannot be blamed for causing the credit crisis, mainly because they did not require any new fair-value measurements. – Research Recap

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huge? – Banks Face Mark-to-Market Challenge – By DAVID REILLY – The war over mark-to-market accounting is about to get hot, again. In coming weeks, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is likely to propose that banks expand their use of market values for financial assets such as loans, according to people familiar with the matter. That departs from current practices in which banks hold loans at their original cost and create a reserve based on their own view of potential losses.  – WSJ Heard on the Street
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The Folly Of Regulating Mega Banks – Tom Lindmark – Naked Capitalism has a really good post by Frank Portnoy, a professor at the University of San Diego, that discusses another aspect of the Lehman bankruptcy examiner’s report. …. Nine hundred thousand derivative positions! And Lehman’s size and complexity pales in comparison to Goldman, JP Morgan, BofA and their European brethren. Do you believe that anyone, including their managers, knows the true state of their of these mega banks financial condition? … – But Then What

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1336 pages! – Chris Dodd Financial Reform Bill Adds Layers of Oversight – By SEWELL CHAN  – … But the bill, which would amount to the most sweeping change in financial rules since the Depression, would preserve much of the existing regulatory architecture, which has been criticized for being too fragmented. … – NY Times

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Barack Obama Has Ben Bernanke by the Balls – Posted by Larry Doyle – great thoughts, commentary, and replies – Sense on Cents

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Geithner: China will move on yuan without pressure -  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that he thinks China will eventually move to end the yuan’s peg to the dollar for its own reasons. "I think China will decide ultimately it is in their interest to move to a more flexible exchange rate," he said in an interview on Fox Business News. – Marketwatch

Update: According to The National Review Online, an abortion compromise has failed!

Original post: Why did the Democrats select a far-left liberal from San Francisco to be their leader in the House, when they knew that she’d be an disliked, national lightning rod?

Because here’s the thing about Nancy Pelosi: she WILL NOT LOSE.

There’s no way she’ll let herself come up short on healthcare, especially after her and her team expressed such confidence of victory tomorrow.

And to make extra sure it’s going to work, she’s readying the nuclear option: a compromise on abortion funding in order to win over the coterie of pro-life Dem holdouts.

According to both POLITICO and uber-left site FireDogLike (which is livid, but then, it never liked this wussy healthcare bill to begin with).

Of course… now there’s an insurrection on the left, which holds abortion rights dear, and the New York chapter of NOW is pulling out the stops to scuttle any deal. So she’s not quite at the finish line yet. But she’ll find a way to make it happen. Watch.

Don’t miss our guide to 50 depressing facts about the healthcare system >

Join the conversation about this story »

Mazda acaba de presentar una edición especial de su MX-5 denominada como Mazda MX-5 Black & Matte. De esta versión debemos destacar sin duda la tonalidad en negro mate empleado en toda la carrocería y las llantas del vehículo.

En cuanto a la motorización, sólo se comercializará asociado al motor más potente de la gama, un 2.0 litros de 160 CV. Por otra parte, sólo estará disponible en los concesionarios franceses por lo que si deseas hacerte con una unidad, deberás recurrir a la importación.

En último lugar, os informamos que estará presente en el Salón du Cabriolet, Coupé & SUV que abrirá sus puertas en la ciudad de París (Francia) durante todo el mes de Abril.

Related posts:

1. Mazda 2, primeras imágenes oficiales
2. SKY-G y SKY-D, nuevos motores de Mazda
3. Mazda presentará una nueva versión del MX-5 en el Salón de Frankfurt

Search through a few cookbooks or food blogs for a pulled pork recipe and you’ll find that everyone has a slightly different approach. Some cooks add broth and tomatoes, some sear the meat at the beginning, some cook the pork in a crock pot and others go all-out with a charcoal grill. Each cook will claim their recipe is the best, but we’ll let you in on a secret: no matter how you cook pulled pork, it’s going to be delicious.

We like the approach Pat “Allbeef Patty” Levine submitted for the Primal Blueprint Cookbook Challenge because it’s straightforward and fool-proof and still has tons of flavor. As Pat told us, “the beauty is that it’s very affordable and it’s more of a “method” than a recipe” – which means you can alter the seasonings to your own taste. The method Pat speaks of is slow-cooking at a low temperature. Low and Slow is the best way to cook less-expensive, tough cuts of meat. One of these cuts is pork shoulder, which is sold most often as either a Boston Butt (upper shoulder) or Picnic (lower shoulder). Either will work for this recipe.

A pork shoulder is very forgiving. Contrary to most cuts of meat, this one will only come out tough if you undercook it. Think of it this way: the meat is so tough to begin with that you really can’t make it worse, you can only improve on it. You’ll be helped along by a thick layer of fat that covers the pork shoulder, tenderizing and flavoring the meat as it cooks. All you need to do is add some seasonings, put the meat in a dish, cover it with foil and walk away for three hours. If the meat doesn’t shred easily with a slight nudge from a fork, then cook it another hour. After four hours in the oven, the meat will have transformed into a succulent, richly flavored, melt-in-your-mouth roast.

As the pork is cooking it will release it’s own juices, creating a sauce in the pan. This sauce can be drizzled over the shredded meat at the end, adding even more flavor. Another reason we like Pat’s method of using an oven instead of a crock pot is that you can take the foil off for the last 45 minutes and the meat will get crispy and caramelized on the outside. Trust us, you won’t be able to resist picking these crispy bits off the top when the pork comes out of the oven.

This is the type of dish that gives you a lot of bang for the buck: tons of lip-smacking flavor and enough meat for several meals (or a very large family.)

Ingredients:

• 1 pork shoulder cut (butt or picnic), weighing 3-4 pounds
• 1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of granulated garlic or garlic powder
• optional: 6 fresh garlic cloves, peeled
• The juice of one lime (or sour orange, if you can get one)
• 1 onion
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions:

Mix together salt, cumin, black pepper and granulated garlic.

Juice the lime over the seasonings and rub the mixture all over the pork.

If you love garlic as much as Pat does, you might want to use fresh garlic, too. Use a knife to slice six thin cuts in the pork and push each clove securely inside each cut. You don’t want the fresh garlic to fall out and touch the cooking vessel or it will burn and affect the flavor of the meat.

The meat should sit out of refrigeration a half hour before you put it in the oven. This ensures that it will cook evenly throughout. If you want to let the meat marinate in the rub longer than this, put it in the fridge for an hour or even overnight.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the roast in a pan with one sliced onion and a bay leaf. Cover and roast for three to four hours, or until the middle of the roast reads about 190 degrees and falls apart easily when pulled with a fork.

Let the roast rest for twenty minutes or so, then uncover. You’ll notice a lot of liquid at the bottom. Use it as a sauce for the meat, which you will now viciously attack with two forks. It’ll fall apart pretty readily, and you’ll get the idea of the shredding method after a couple of pulls. Enjoy!

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Related posts:

1. Pork Loin with Mango Salsa
2. Roasted Pork Loin with Apples, Onions and Sauerkraut
3. Crock Pot Pork-Stuffed Peppers

Interesante noticia y a la vez esperada por muchos equipos la que acaba de dar a conocer la FIA. En concreto, cuatro escuderías deberán modificar sus difusores por no cumplir con el reglamento vigente. La polémica radica en la utilización de un agujero que existe en los perfiles de los extractores de algunos monoplazas para tener acceso al motor de arranque.

Dicha modificación aporta cierta ventaja aerodinámica a los monoplazas a la hora de adelantar. Las escuderías que deberan cambiar sus difusores son McLaren, Mercedes Grand Prix, Renault F1 y Force India.

Related posts:

1. Bernie Ecclestone afirma que no todas las escuderías estarán presentes en el GP de Bahrain
2. Nuevas escuderías en la próxima temporada de la F1
3. Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren y Ferrari serán las escuderías más fuertes

Article Tags: Edward Moran, Via Email

Below is the original email sent to NOAA and below that is their response to that email. (Statements in BOLD are my additions for this email in an attempt to further help you delineate the sequence of events. Please let me know if I have somewhat confused you about the events……

Here’s the original email sent to NOAA and also blind copied to you:

Subject: Data Quality issues

To:[email protected]

Please find two documents attached to this email.

The files contain Upper Air sounding data for Station 70273 PANC

Anchorage, AK.

File “uwyo.txt” data was obtained from

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Ένα απίστευτο ατύχημα έγινε στον αυτοκινητόδρομο A1(M) της Αγγλίας κοντά στην πόλη Wetherby. Οδηγός ενός φορτηγού παρέσυρε για άγνωστο πόσο, ένα Renault Clio. Μετά από κάποια χιλιόμετρα ο οδηγός του φορτηγού σταμάτησε χωρίς ευτυχώς να τραυματιστεί κανείς. Ένα video από το απίστευτο αυτό περιστατικό στη συνέχεια.

Διαβάστε Περισσότερα »

Ακόμη μια ειδική εκδόση έβγαλε στην παραγωγή η Mazda για το Mx5.  H παρουσίαση έγινε στο ετήσιο Salon du Cabriolet, Coupe & SUV στο Παρίσι για να γιορτάσει τα 20στα γενέθλια του πετυχημένου της μοντέλου. Οι αλλαγές εντοπίζονται καθαρά στο στιλιστικό μέρος αφού ο κινητήρας παρέμεινε ο ίδιος (2.0 λίτρων – 167 ίππων).

Το αυτοκίνητο διαθέτει στρας, πετράδια και κρύσταλλα σχεδιασμένα από τον οίκο Laure Kczekotowska, τα οποία κάνουν αντίθεση με το μαύρο ματ χρώμα του, τις μαύρες ζάντες και τα φιμέ τζάμια. Η τιμή πώλησης δεν έχει ανακοινωθεί αλλά πιστεύω ότι δεν θα είναι και φθηνό.

Διαβάστε Περισσότερα »

Just a few years ago there were no virtual social networks, no synchronized address books, and no smartphones. But people had social networks and phones, and they had to memorize and organize thousands of contacts. Or have a Rolodex. More »

Article Tags: Headline Story, Lubos Motl, Updated, Via Email, Wikipedia

Hello Everyone,

I just tried to find University of East Anglia researcher Keith Briffa on Wikipedia, and he was no where to be found! The following cached page was available through Yahoo: (withdrawn/not found)

http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Keith+Briffa&type=302398&fr=chr-greentree_ff&u=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_R._Briffa&w=keith+briffa&d=FViXB-_EUdEK&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=JqExiGPkjjNw4VxHijBlfw–

It sugests that he must have been removed because of his association with ClimateGate. Apparently Wikipedia does not want to make it easy to research the principle players in this scandal and learn the details of their involvement.

It is a scandal in itself when a supposedly neutral reference is so deliberately obstructive and biased.

Gordon J. Fulks, PhD
Corbett, Oregon USA

Updated in comments section by Luboš Motl

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Philosopher Martin Armstrong, already in jail, has apparently been thrown in solitary confinement for distributing manifestos. 

Below, via Zero Hedge, is what purports to be Martin’s latest handwritten solution to our economic crisis, apparently smuggled out of prison.

Basically, the solution is:

• Convert world debts to equity
• Eliminate all taxes except local sales tax

If this document is genuine, though, the more noteworthy fact is that it was somehow scribbled in longhand and smuggled out of solitary confinement:

Martin Armstrong From the Hole 3910

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Martin Armstrong’s Brand New Essay On The Real Story Behind Goldman, Buffett, And The Fed
• Martin Armstrong: Wild Inflation Coming, New Highs For Gold And The Dow
• Meet The Doomsayers Who Just Won’t Give Up

Article Tags: ClimateGate

Click source to read more, over 18’s only, also, anyone with a heart condition should not look at this article!

Source: penthousemagazine.com

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Article Tags: ClimateGate, Duncan Davidson

Those of you who still believe that the ClimateGate scandal was just a bunch of emails in England should read this article. James Hansen of GISS appears to have systematically adjusted the historical temperature record to remove a cold patch in the ’70s in order to exaggerate the rise since. The amount of change of 0.6 degrees is for one decade is close to the measured change for the whole century. This is vividly seen in these three snapshots of his data being modified:

Watch how the cooling trend of the 1960’s to 1970’s is steadily adjusted up so that 0.3 degrees cooler gradually becomes 0.03 warmer (notice the red and blue horizontal lines in the graphs above).

Click source to read FULL report by Duncan Davidson

Source: wallstreetpit.com

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PART ONE OF THREE PARTS

Earlier this week, I mentioned that I had been contributing posts at this blog for two years. I also mentioned that the bulk of those posts concerned the generation of electrical power with relation to the Global Warming/Climate Change debate. I mentioned that this was a case where the Science around the debate was not considering the Engineering factors they say are contributing to the problem. That might seem obscure to most people, so it requires some explanation.

The Science part of the debate says that the emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) are causing what will amount to catastrophic Global Warming. A large percentage of this CO2 is being emitted from coal fired power plants across the Planet. I want you to take particular notice of the word ‘catastrophic’. True, as is the case with most situations, the more notice is taken if emotive language is used, but in this case, those pushing this argument never use caution. They just come out every time and use that word ….. ‘catastrophic’.

Let’s then look at this and use some logic.

If the situation was in fact catastrophic, then people (Governments) all across the Planet would be immediately doing something about it.

As is the case with most situations of danger, then active steps would be taken to remove that danger, let alone a catastrophe, as we are told with never ending repetition. In this case then, the simple most obvious thing to do would be to immediately remove the problem. That would mean closing down those coal fired power plants, because, after all, this is supposedly the source of this potential catastrophe.

The people who actually have the power to do this are the Governments in question. You might be tempted to think that, given this dire threat, they would be doing everything they could to save the people from this catastrophe. They would be doing everything in their power to remove the threat. That would mean immediately closing down those coal fired power plants. That would then effectively stop the bulk of those CO2 emissions.

That, however, would be akin to political suicide. Coal fired power provides the bulk of all electrical power. To remove that would mean that the whole Country would just stop. Not suffer a downturn, not go into recession, just stop, and stop dead in its tracks. Don’t just think of how this might affect you at the residential level with no electrical power to provide you the comfort of life in your home. Think of Industry that provides the jobs most of us work at. With no power, they cease to operate, so there is no job to go to. Look at your cities. Every building taller than two stories would be uninhabitable, not just as a residence, but as a place of work. There would be no air inside them to breathe, because that breathing air is supplied by large conditioners on the roof that circulate breathing air inside them, not just to cool or warm the air, but actually to recirculate breathing air inside those buildings. Think also of where you shop, especially for your weekly groceries. They could not operate either with no way to keep food fresh or in cold storage. There would be no traffic regulation, but that’s neither here nor there because after a few days there would be no cars on the road because there would be no way to pump fuel into them, and the suppliers would have shut down. This is just a fraction of what might happen.

Every aspect of life as we know it would just grind to a halt.

See now why this would be political suicide.

So, what is the very first thing that Governments have started to do to combat this catastrophe.

Not to turn off those coal fired power plants. Not to rush out and find ways to replace them with plants that actually can supply those levels of power.

No, the first thing they have done is to try and introduce legislation to make money out of it, and you might think this is a cynical way to look at it. They seek to impose a cost on that CO2 that is being emitted. They know that even if a way can be found to replace the 24/7/365 power requirements that coal fired power provides, then that will take time, and here we’re not talking short term, but in decades. In the interim, those coal fired plants will just have to keep operating. Right now, those Governments know, and they know absolutely, that other than nuclear power plants, there are no plants that can replace the amounts of power that coal fired plants provide. They will try and tell you they ‘may’, but those renewable plants just cannot do that in any way whatsoever.

Those Governments know that those coal fired plants must keep operating, so by imposing a cost on the CO2 that they emit guarantees them an income for decades into the future. Their little secret is that 99.9% of the public have no idea just how much money can be made from this, because in the main that percentage of people have no real idea of the scale of coal fired power.

A large coal fired power plant with a Nameplate Capacity of around 2000MW burns on average 6.5 million tons of coal each year, and that equates to around 18,000 tons of coal each day. Each Ton of coal that is burned produces 2.86 tons of CO2, so just for that one large plant, it will emit nearly 19 million tons of CO2 each year.

Here’s some scope of those emissions, and keep in mind, this is just from coal fired power generation alone.

In the U.S. they burned 940 million tons of coal last year. This produced CO2 emissions in the amount of 2.7 Billion tons of CO2.

For those Australian readers, Australia burned 90 million tons of coal last year, hence 255 million tons of CO2.

For the whole World, an amount of 7.3 Billion tons of coal was burned, hence an emission of 21 Billion tons of CO2.

Again, keep in mind that this is just from coal fired power alone. Natural gas fired plants also emit CO2, at around one third the rate that an equivalent sized coal fired plant might emit. There are also emissions from petroleum fired plants, also around the same rate as for Natural Gas. However the bulk comes from coal fired power plants.

This indicates some of the scale required.

There is some political thought that an outright cost should be placed upon the CO2. Amounts around $50 per ton have been spoken of, and in fact, in the lead up to the recent U.S. election, then Senator Obama stated categorically that he wanted that amount to start at $50 per ton, and then wasn’t at all concerned if that amount escalated, and escalated considerably, and he also stated that he couldn’t really care less if he bankrupted coal fired power.

So, at President Obama’s mooted amount of $50 per ton, then the income from that in the U.S., and just from the coal fired sector alone, amounts to around $150 Billion. That’s not a one off amount, but will be ongoing for every year.

If those coal fired power plants just have to keep going, and to stay in operation for decades to come, then this is a guaranteed source of a huge income every year. It’s a captive market. They have to stay operating and to do that, then they will just have to pay.

Here in Australia, an amount of $26 per ton was actually mooted when the current Government called for a report into the matter. Professor Garnaut, who completed that report stated that this amount would be what Australia should call for. This will be a guaranteed income of around $10 Billion each and every subsequent year those plants stay in operation. This may not seem much when the scale of the US is taken into account, but Australia is a small Country with a population of only 22 million compared to the US with a population of 309 million.

Keep in mind that this cost, even though directed at those coal fired power plants for them to pay, then that amount will be passed directly down to consumers at the three levels of power consumption, Residential (38%) Commerce (37%) and Industrial (24%), so even though your residential power bill will rise, and rise considerably, you will also be hit by the rise in those other two sectors, as you consume goods from those areas, in every aspect of your daily life.

This is not going to end that ‘catastrophe’. Closing down the plants would end the catastrophe.

All this effectively does is make money from it.

In Part Two, I will further expand on just how this ‘catastrophe’ will in fact be perpetuated. It will not be diminishing. Any decrease in emissions in the U.S. and Australia, and in any Western World society will be so minor as to be insignificant. At the same time as these tiny decreases, if any, start to take effect, there will be huge increases in places like China especially, India, and in other Third World Countries. While our emissions might be falling by tiny increments, emissions from those other Countries will be increasing, and increasing by huge amounts, not because those Countries could not care less about the environment, but because they do not have access to the electrical power we take for granted, and those Countries are constructing new coal fired plants so that the people in those Countries can finally have that access to electrical power.

We take utterly for granted something they do not even have, and because somewhere in the Western World, someone says there will be a ‘catastrophe’ if we don’t do something about it, we are told that we need to be responsible and bite that bullet. Those Governments seeking to make money from this cut back on those emissions will not be telling you this, because that would jeopardise their access to that vast and endless pot of money. Instead, they will very conveniently point the finger of blame at China, at India, at those sectors of the Third World who try to tell us the truth of the matter, and tell them that they also need to show some responsibility.

Part Two will expand on the situation in China.

Link to Part Two

Link to Part Three

Filed under: 111th Congress, America (USA), Australia, Blundering Bureaucrats, China, Climate Alarmists, Climate Change, Conniving Politicians, Environment, Environmental activists, Fanatics, Fear-mongering, Fraud/Waste, Global Warming, India, Infrastructure Problems, Liberals, Politics, Power Hungry, Propaganda, Spine Donor Politicians Tagged: Carbon Cap And Trade Legislation, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions, Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), Climate Change Hypocrisy, Climate Change Religion, Coal Fired Power Generation, Global Warming Hoax, Global Warming Hype

Article Tags: Edwin X Berry, Open Letter/Fax

Will the 2000 signers of the UCS declaration appear to defend their statement at the International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago on May 16-18?

Some 2000 scientists signed the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) declaration calling for “swift and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Yet, these same scientists have yet to prove there is any danger whatsoever from human emissions of carbon dioxide. Worse, they ignore the direct challenge to them by thousands of climate scientists, most recently in the “Open Letter to UN Secretary-General” of December 8, 2009, which states as follows:

“We the undersigned, being qualified in climate-related scientific disciplines, challenge the UNFCCC and supporters of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to produce convincing OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE for their claims of dangerous human-caused global warming and other changes in climate. Projections of possible future scenarios from unproven computer models of climate are not acceptable substitutes for real world data obtained through unbiased and rigorous scientific investigation.

Source: standupamericaus.com

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Washington University in St Louis

Jennifer Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was belly crawling her way to the end of a long, narrow tunnel. The tunnel was carved in the rock at a desert oasis by Egyptians who lived in the time of the pharaohs.

“I was crawling along when suddenly I felt stabbed in the chest,” Smith says. “I looked down and saw that I was pressing against the broken end of a long bone. That freaked me out because at first I thought I was crawling over bodies, but I looked up and saw a sheep skull not too far away, so I calmed down. At least the bones weren’t human.”

What was she doing in the tunnel?

The answer: seeking an uncontaminated sample of a mineral that might have been the key ingredient in the blue used to decorate “blue painted pottery” popular among the Egyptian elite during the New Kingdom (1550-1079 BC).

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Jane has kindly shared her notes from the latest Mummification Museum lecture again.

Otto opened the lecture by reminding us that whatever KV63 finally turns out to be it will always be the first tomb discovered since the tomb of Tutankhamen. It started with a search for foundation deposits for the tomb of KV10. Excavation revealed 2 huts to the west and 10 huts to the east. These were used by the workman who lived in the valley and filled with ostracha and other artifacts. Theodore Davies had excavated the east most huts 10, 9 and 9a but left the central area. Under hut 5 they found KV63. Consisting of a single chamber with a stack of 8 coffins and 28 huge storage jars. This season they have been working on restoration of the coffins and the contents of the jars. Within these jars they have found natron, pots, textiles and the ‘embalming bed’ that is now in the mummification museum.

Coffin B (please refer to the Kv63 website for identification and pictures) was in a dreadful state, split with its mask fallen off and laying face down. SCA conservators have restored it and put the mask back in place. This is slow and painstaking work like watching the grass grow. It is not a work of art (I thought the profile was nice) and there is no writing or decoration.

It is nice to know that KV10 is not being forgotten!

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Global Post (Jon Jensen)

Ecotourism is taking off throughout Egypt, boosting an economy already heavily dependent on tourism revenue. Bahariya is among those destinations increasingly popular for their pristine natural environment.

However, Egypt is quickly learning the need for balance between environment and development, amid concerns that tourism is stressing the country’s fragile ecosystems to the point of collapse.

And the debate on ecotourism is even being had here, on the dusty streets of Bahariya’s largest village.

Ali Abdel Salem, 58, has lived in Bawati all his life. He has fond memories of the days before an asphalt highway was built linking the oasis to Cairo.

A trip from the capital that once took five days now takes only five hours.

“Fifty years ago, Bahariya was calm and quiet,” said Abdel Salem. “Now it’s starting to feel like Cairo. It’s crowded and noisy.”

Bahariya Oasis, once a thriving agricultural center for the Roman Empire, is now the preferred stepping-stone and supply stop for tourists heading to the surrounding deserts. Newly discovered ancient temples set against a stunning natural backdrop is another reason tourism is increasing here.

In recent years, the number of visitors to Bahariya has climbed so high that one-third of the oasis’ almost 40,000 residents are now working in tourism. Over the past decade, unemployment decreased as the number of hotels in Bahariya shot up 500 percent, according to Bahariya’s tourism office.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes