Category Archives: Technology

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

Global Economic War: China could cut Rare Earth mineral exports, expect prices for high tech devices to go up

China is THE biggest supplier of rare earth minerals, which are absolutely necessary for today’s high tech computer devices, like your cell phone that’s almost permanently attached to your ear while you’re driving (stop that, damn it!).

How big? China supplies 90% of the world’s rare earth metals!

Chinese officials say they will try to meet their 2012 quota, but because of new environmental regulations going into effect they expect delays from the mining industry.

China’s Commerce Ministry has granted export quotas of nearly 24,900 tons to 31 companies. That’s only 80% of what they said they would export for all of 2012.  At least 20 other mining companies are having problems meeting the new environmental standards.  If those companies can not meet the new standards, then China will fail to meet their stated 2012 goal of exporting more than 30,000 tons of rare earth metals.

 

 

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

World War 3: Iran will block Strait of Hormuz, if the U.S. is successful in getting oil sanctions imposed, U.S. says that’s all the excuse they need for going to War, oil could hit $500 per barrel

“If sanctions are adopted against Iranian oil, not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz. We take no interest in animosity and hostility, our belief is friendship and brotherhood, but the West will not end its scheming….The enemies will only drop their plots when we put them back in their place!”-Reza Rahimi, Vice President of Iran

More than a third of the world’s oil (carried by tanker ships) passes through the 34 mile (54 kilometer) wide Strait of Hormuz.  In the past few weeks Iranian media have been pushing for selective blocking of the Strait, saying the West is already at War with Iran.  A well known British commentator backs that up saying: “War on Iran has already begun….For months the evidence has been growing that a U.S./Israeli stealth war against Iran has already begun, backed by Britain and France.”-Seumas Milne, The Guardian

Some of that evidence includes:

• Two nuclear physicists were killed, and the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran was wounded, after bombs were attached to their cars or detonated near them in 2010.

• The Stuxnet computer worm infected Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010; numerous reports suggest this was a U.S./Israeli attack to cripple Iranian nuclear centrifuges.

• On November 12, 2011, an explosion destroyed the Revolutionary Guard base at Bid Kaneh, killing 17, including a founder of Iran’s missile program.

• On November 28, 2011, an explosion in the western Iranian city of Isfahan badly damaged a uranium enrichment facility.

• On December 4, 2011, it was proven that the U.S. has been sending military aircraft into Iranian airspace after the IRGC used electronic warfare to bring down an expensive stealth UAV.

Read what “christian” U.S. Senator Rick Santorum said: “There have been scientists turning up dead in Russia and in Iran. There have been computer viruses. There have been problems at their facility. I hope that the United States has been involved with that.”  (doesn’t sound very ‘christian’ like to me)

By the way, recent bills for new sanctions against Iran will make it legal, under U.S. law, to designate civilian scientists as military targets!

In a recent interview with CBS Evening News, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Obama administration now thinks Iran will have nuclear weapons in 2012.  When asked about Israel’s publicly stated plans to attack Iran, Panetta responded: “The United States does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us and that’s a red line, obviously, for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will deal with it.”

But U.S. officials also consider the closing of the Strait of Hormuz a reason to bomb Iran. Texas based think tank Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting) said: “The importance of this waterway to both American military and economic interests is difficult to overstate. Considering Washington’s more general, and fundamental, interest in securing freedom of the seas [for U.S. interests only, of course], the U.S. Navy would almost be forced to respond aggressively to any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz.”

By the way, oil analysts have said that if the Strait of Hormuz was closed for 30 days, or even if one bomb fell on Iran, the price of oil could go as high as $500 per barrel.  Try commuting to work on that!  (maybe this is some kind-a insane conspiracy by the elitist oil industry to drive up oil prices)

 

 

 

 

 

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

Global Economic War & Corporate Incompetence: Idaho polysilcon producer, Hoku, quietly starts operations, loses CFO, loses millions of dollars again

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidary of Chinese owned Hoku Corporation), officially and quietly started operations on December 1st.  That’s according to Chinese media citing Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited, the Chinese company that controls 60% of Hoku Corporation.

Interestingly no mention of the start of operations has come directly from Hoku.  Hoku Corporation did announce the resignation of their CFO, treasurer, and secretary, Darryl Nakamoto.  His resignation will be effective March, 2012.

Another loss, this one missed by local Idaho media, is the fact that Hoku Corporation continues to bleed out money.  Its latest report, ending September 30, 2011, showed Hoku with a net loss of $7.9 million (computed in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)!

I’ve posted before about the conundrum Hoku is now in, since it is 60% owned by the Chinese: “…Hoku is set up in a bad position; action by the U.S. government could hurt their new plans to sell Chinese PV products, and retaliation by the Chinese government could hurt their pending polysilicon orders.”

I wonder why Hoku is keeping so quiet about their operations start up in Idaho, while it’s making front page news in China?

GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: IDAHO’S HOKU SILICON FACTORY MAY BE ENDED BEFORE IT STARTS. CITY OF POCATELLO GUILTY

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

Corporate Incompetence: Dairy company continues to produce products with toxins, despite repeated fines

“A stained history means the company has problems in its professional ethics, so we shouldn’t trust it anymore.”-Fang Zhouzi, blogger

Milk products containing aflatoxin continue to be found on store shelves, despite the company’s claim that they destroyed all their tainted dairy products.

Aflatoxin builds up in your body and causes liver cancer, it can not be eliminated by pasteurizing!  It can be the result of cattle feed that’s been stored for too long.

The company involved is Mengniu Group, in China. It has a history of producing contaminated dairy products. In 2009 the company was involved with the melamine contamination incident (melamine is used mainly in construction, but it turns out that dairy companies have been using it to artificially increase their products’ protein levels. It was discovered that in the U.S. the FDA had no standards for melamine used in food).

“If the company carried out checks and didn’t find a problem, then their case is suspect.”-Wang Dingmian, Guangzhou Dairy Association

Over the past weekend, several Chinese customers were suspicious of the milk they bought and had it tested. It all turned out to be contaminated with aflatoxin.  This happened after the Mengniu Group said they destroyed all tainted dairy products.

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

World War 3: Finland seizes U.S. made Patriot missiles, Germany says legitimate cargo bound for South Korea

“We have impounded the explosives and missiles and asked the Defense Ministry to transport and store them.”-Petri Lounatmaa, Finnish Customs

Finland has cleared an Isle of Man (a British Crown Dependency) registered ship, but only after taking the 69 Patriot missiles and 160 pounds of explosives.

German officials are upset. They claim the missiles came from German inventory, and were properly declared for shipment to South Korea.  Finnish officials basically say Gemany is lying: “Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defense material (through Finland), but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks. That is quite unusual.”-Paivi Rasanen, Interior Minister of Finland

Finnish port authorities say the 160 pounds of explosives, mainly picric acid (a nitrate based explosive which is also used in fireworks),  were stacked on pallets fully exposed to the elements.  Knowing what it was they began to open crates and that’s when they found the Patriot missiles.  The missiles were in crates marked “fireworks”!

The Finnish government has properly stored the explosives along with the missiles.  Finland is keeping the missiles and explosives, pending further investigation.

The ship, M/S Thor Liberty, is free to sail, but the 11 crew, including the captain, are in custody: “She can sail, but customs is still holding the cargo and the (detained) crew isn’t allowed to leave Finland.”-Markku Koskinen, Port of Kotka

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Micron loses big time, again. Many Idahoans still think Micron is Idaho’s major employer

Computer chip maker Micron reported another quarterly loss;  U.S.$187 million! This follows a $135 million loss the previous quarter.

It was hoped the end of a lawsuit, in Micron’s favor, would be a sign of better times to come, but not so.

A west Idaho newspaper reported that many Idahoans think of Micron as the Boise’s biggest private employer. Back in October I posted how real estate web sites, and even Wikipedia, incorrectly report Micron as the biggest employer in Boise.

With Micron’s continued loses it’s possible that they now employ less than the 5,000 people reported at the end of 2009.

 

 

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

OWS has their own spy UAV, based on the $300 Parrot AR drone, can be controled with your iPad

An Occupy Wall Streeter has modified a Parrot AR helicopter drone to be used to spy on the NYPD!

It has a built in camera and costs around $300.  It can be controlled using a smartphone or iPad.

There are plans to further modify it so control could be passed from one protestor to another, and they’re hoping to give it true remote piloting capabilities.

They hope to use the ‘occucopter’ to provide live video of OWS protests on the internet.

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

World War 3: Finland discovers U.S. Patriot missiles on board U.K. ship heading for China

“Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defense material (through Finland) but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks.”-Paivi Rasanen, Interior Minister of Finland

On December 21, Finnish port authorities discovered 160 tons of explosives and 69 U.S. made Patriot missiles on a British ship heading for China.  The cargo was labeled “fireworks”!

The M/S Thor Liberty arrived in Finland on December 15, it had just left Germany two days prior.  Not only is it not normal to label weapon systems as fireworks, but under Finnish law shipping companies must get permission before docking with weapons on board.

Finnish Customs officials say the ship has no documentation regarding where they got the U.S. made weapons, or where they were going to take them: “We have impounded the explosives and missiles and asked the Defense Ministry to transport and store them. At this stage we don’t know where it (the cargo) was loaded on the ship or if the Thor Liberty planned a drop before its port of destination in China.”-Petri Lounatmaa

Finnish officials are questioning the crew of the Thor Liberty.

 

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

H5N1 spread its wings, again. Hong Kong reporting the killing of thousands suspected of being infected

Hong Kong officials reporting that in just the past few days they’ve had to kill 17,000 chickens from China, because one tested positive for H5N1.

Hong Kong seems to be the jumping off point for global spread of H5N1, because of their large poultry markets located in an area overcrowded with humans.

In 2008 Hong Kong killed tens of thousands of chickens after finding some infected with H5N1. Most of Hong Kong’s chickens come from China.

But before anyone gets too upset, there are vaccines for H5N1, and since 2003 H5N1 killed about 331 people around the world.  It’s the new bio-terror weaponized version of H5N1, created by scientists paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars, that should have you worried.

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

NAZI-land & Government Lies: The U.S. government has officially asked the media to censure studies regarding the H5N1 ‘Bird’ flu. Your tax dollars paid for the studies. Your government created a new bio-terror weapon more lethal than Anthrax!

“It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers. We are discussing with interested parties how, within the scenario recommended by NSABB, appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled.”-Philip Campbell, Nature

“…confidentiality is almost impossible given the fact that the data has to be shared with hundreds of researchers and governments. Furthermore, academic and press freedom will be at stake as a result of the recommendation. This has never happened before.”-Erasmus Medical Center

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), which is part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), has asked two peer reviewed journals to censure the most recent studies on H5N1.

Nature, and Science magazines were asked to basically dumb down two studies, one by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the other by Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The studies were commissioned by the NIH, to discover how the ‘bird’ flu virus can be made more lethal, and to easily jump from human to human.  The NSABB is invoking “national security” and claiming that if the studies are published in full then it could be possible for terrorist to use the H5N1 to attack the United States.

Even these paranoid elitist leaders of ours understand that Mother Earth is already attacking human kind with H5N1:“Nature is the worst bioterrorist. We know that through history.”-Anthony Fauci, NIH

Officials with NSABB claim the studies show how a more deadly version of H5N1 can be made. However, guess who paid for those studies?  Your taxpayer dollars, that’s right your government, through the NIH, paid to find out how to make the H5N1 virus more lethal than anthrax!!!

“I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.”-Paul Keim, NSABB

The NSABB has some power because the scientists behind the research have agreed to dumb down their studies.  But think about this question: Why would your government pay for scientist to figure out a way to make H5N1 more lethal than anthrax, and then try to cover it up by censuring the studies?