Category Archives: Technology

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Texas Instruments shutting down decades old factories, thousands to lose jobs, despite $298 million profit at the end of 2011!

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Long time electronics manufacturer, Texas Instruments, will close two factories, one in Japan, the other in Texas.

Both factories are more than 30 years old, and Ti says it will be too costly to upgrade them, so instead they’ll shut ’em down and lay off thousands of employees in Japan and the U.S.

Ti also blames a drop in sales, and a 68% drop in profits. However, even with that 68% drop in profits, Ti still reported a $298 million profit from October to December 2011!

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3 & Government Hypocricy: BP to be exempt from Iran oil embargo, proof the U.S. is controled by the British Empire

There are reports that say British Petroleum (BP) is to be exempted from the U.S. and EU oil embargoes.  It was part of the deal to get the European Union to impose sanctions against Iran.

BP was born out of the old British controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Despite the decades of sanctions against Iran (since the early 1980s) BP has still managed to do business with Iran.

BP, and a Norwegian company (Statoil), are currently running a natural gas operation in the Caspian Sea in co-operation with Iran, called Shah Deniz.  But back in the United Kingdom, sanctions forced BP to shut down a North Sea gas operation, because it was 50% owned by Iran!

British officials do not want anymore halts to BP operations, so they lobbied hard with the United States to get BP exempt from any European/U.S. oil embargo.

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, Technology, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: European Union approves oil embargo on Iran, Libya part of plan to go after Iran

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

EU ambassadors have agreed upon an oil embargo against Iran, it must now be approved by EU foreign ministers.  The sanctions would ban the buying of Iranian petroleum products, and would halt all imports to EU members by July 1, 2012.

This follows new U.S. sanctions imposed at the beginning of January, 2012.  Taken together, the U.S. and EU oil embargoes could halt 2.6 million barrels of oil, driving oil prices up and adding to the overall instability of the world economy.

You’d think the Europeans would not want to do anything to stop Iranian oil, after all most of Iran’s oil goes to Europe.  But maybe that’s why the EU (with help from the U.S.) took over Libya’s oil in the fake revolution supported by NATO.  Now they can go after Iran without too much worry about oil supply.

International, Technology

Pale Green Horse: India reporting new strain of H5N1

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

According to the Indian National Institute of Virology (NIV), a new strain of H5N1 is responsible for the deaths of more than 500 crows.

The crows died three months ago, and test results have finally come in.  It’s an H5N1 strain never seen in India before, and might have come from Vietnam: “We have compared it to the strains from Vietnam, Indonesia and other places in Asia and found similarities with the Vietnam strain.”-A C Mishra, Director of NIV

The last version of H5N1 that hit India is called Clade 2.2.  This new Vietnam like strain is called Clade 2.3.2.1.  Understanding the versions are important: “Since the strain is a new form of bird flu, we have to be very careful. Once the virus is characterized and gene sequencing done we will be able to gauge the impact on bird health and then label as highly pathogenic or low pathogenic.”-A C Mishra, Director of NIV

In Vietnam H5N1 has already killed one Vietnamese man this year.

International, Technology

Pale Green Horse: H5N1 first 2012 deaths in Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam are reporting the first human deaths due to H5N1, for 2012.  Unlike the Chinese cases, in these cases the people were in contact with sick birds.

As I wrote before, a two year old in Cambodia got sick with H5N1, he died last week.

Vietnam reported the death of an 18 year old man, who worked on a duck farm.  But the government of Vietnam is now trying to downplay it by issuing official reports saying their anti-Avian Flu program is a success.  Vietnam recently killed off thousands of poultry after finding some infected with H5N1.  Vietnamese officials say the family of the man who died is now under health watch.

Indonesia reports two deaths, and they might be human to human infections.  A 23 year old man, and his five year old relative, died from H5N1.  They lived with an extended family on a poultry farm.

Including the deaths in China, between December 31, 2011, and January 23, 2012, six people have died from H5N1.

 

 

International, Technology

Pale Green Horse: H5N1 takes life of Second Chinese man who had no contact with birds

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

For the second time in less than four weeks, a man in southern China died after getting sick with H5N1.

On December 31, 2011, a bus driver died after getting H5N1, a little more than one week after getting sick.

That also followed an outbreak of H5N1 in poultry in Hong Kong.  Both deaths in China happened in southern provenances.  Many of the poultry sold in Hong Kong comes from southern Chinese provenances.  However, the bus driver never came into contact with birds, and it looks like the same might be true for the man who just died.

The man who just died got sick on January 6, was admitted into hospital, then died on January 22/23.  Like the bus driver, relatives say he had no contact with birds.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? Hoku Materials begs for money from China, to pay its overdue Idaho Power bill

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidiary of Hoku Corporation, which is 60% owned by China’s Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited) continues to have trouble paying its electric bill.

Hoku has paid part of its November Idaho Power bill (still owes interest), but has failed to pay its December bill.  As a result Hoku has turned, once again, to China for financial help.   At least $1.9 million will be wired from the Bank of China.

Idaho Power says it’s tired of the games Hoku is playing, and will end power supply on January 26 if the balance isn’t paid in full.

You know, the utilities have no problem cutting off power to individuals who can’t pay their power bills, so why not when it comes to a corporation that owes millions of dollars?

This might be the final nail in the coffin for Hoku, which is years behind schedule and hasn’t even started polysilicon operations yet (although its Chinese owners jumped the gun and announced such production start up back in December).

CORPORATE INCOMPETENCE:  IDAHO’S HOKU POLYSILICON FACTORY, LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKE THE DEAL IS OFF!

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Pale Green Horse: Crime no longer number one killer of Americans; Heart Disease, Cancer, Diabetes and other illnesses beat out murderers. So much for America’s great capitalist health care system!

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released their list of top disease/illness killers, and when compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) crime report, health issues now kill more people than criminals.

The FBI says murder has dropped to 16th place in their list of crimes in 2010.  That made health issues the number one killer in the U.S.

The top killers are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory illnesses, cerebrovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, influenza, pneumonia & pneumonitis, septicemia, Parkinson’s and suicide.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

World War 3: Finland allows Patriot missiles to sail to South Korea

After an investigation, Finnish officials decided to let a British registered ship sail to South Korea, with it’s cargo of 69 Patriot missiles.

On December 21, Finnish port authorities discovered improperly packed, and labeled, Patriot missiles and explosive acid on the ship M/S Thor Liberty.   The explosives were exposed to the elements, and the missiles were labeled “fireworks”.

It turns out the German government had sold some of its Patriot missiles to South Korea.  The Germans demanded the Finns let the cargo go.

The two top officers of the ship were charged with safety violations.  The cargo was repacked safely and the ship was allowed to sail with its crew (the Finns originally wanted to hold and try the crew in court, but something changed their minds).

International, Technology, U.S.

White Horse, Red Horse & World War 3: U.S. forces deploy to Israel, preps for action against Iran

“The missile threat from Iran is very real, and we must stay ahead of the threat… That’s why we’re working so hard with all our allies to put the most optimized, effective, anti-missile capabilities in place.”-Henry Obering, Lieutenant General, Pentagon Missile Defense Agency

U.S. European Command (EUCOM) has deployed to Israel an X-band radar system along with thousands of U.S. personnel.

Recently Israeli military officials said sanctions are ineffective against Iran, and action must be taken: “The international front against Iran is weak and not consolidated, and isn’t putting enough pressure on the regime to stop enriching uranium….The sanctions have very little influence and are far from bringing to bear a critical mass of pressure on Iran.”-Yossi Baidatz, Brigadier General, Israeli Military Intelligence

The U.S. troop deployment to Israel is part of the largest ever joint war games between Israel and the United States.  The Jerusalem Post quotes U.S. Lieutenant General Frank Gorenc as saying it’s not just an “exercise” but a “deployment” that will involve “several thousand American soldiers”.

Back in September, 2011, Ilan Biton, a brigadier general in the Israel Air Force reserve, said the United States has long been working with Israel to ensure their militaries could work together: “We advanced tremendously on multiple levels and have developed very impressive cooperation. At the human level, we’ve developed a common language and at the technical level, we’ve put in place the interfaces that allow our systems to speak to one another.”

The DefenseNews revealed that last week U.S. officials considered not reporting the deployment of the radar and U.S. troops to Israel.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.