Category Archives: Technology

International, Technology

Government Incompetence: Inspectors screw up approval of nuclear fuel rods

The Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization admitted it allowed nuclear fuel rods to pass quality checks using a faulty factory manual.

Government inspectors used the manufacture’s manual to inspect four sets of fuel rods.  They approved three of the sets.  The problem is that the approved sets did not match up with the length stated in the manual.  The rods were four meters (13 feet) long, the manual said they should have been 5 centimeters shorter.

Government officials say they will correct future inspections.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Government Incompetence: Japan will now study 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident

In a classic example of too little too late, Japan will now spend big money to study the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident!

Japan will expand its Ukrainian embassy staff to include two nuclear specialists and three translators.  The staff will also be equipped with gear for dealing with radiation.  They will interview Ukrainian and former Soviet officials, and residents about the effects of radiation contamination, and how to deal with a nuclear disaster.

The Japanese government said they will spend about U.S.$2 million on the project.  You’d think a country that got so involved with nuclear power would have included, as part of its nuclear disaster preparedness, a detailed study of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster!

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

What Economic Recovery? SAAB sold to China, at a loss

SAAB has new Chinese owners.  The car maker was sold at a loss, after it filed for bankruptcy in September.  SAAB hasn’t made any cars in its factory in Sweden, since April!

SAAB was originally offloaded by GM to Dutch company Spyker (now Swedish Automotive).  Chinese distributor Pang Da Automobile Trade, and auto manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile will pay about U.S.$142 million for SAAB.

SAAB joins Volvo in becoming a Chinese owned company.  In 2010 Volvo was sold by Ford, also at a loss, to Chinese company called Geely.

SAAB sales in the U.S. suck, in September only 429 cars were sold.  So far for the year 2011 only 4,612 cars have been sold.  In 2003 SAAB sales in the U.S. were ten times that (40,000 cars)!

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

German police NAZIs work with Skype, Yahoo, Firefox, MSN to spy on you, the United States is involved

“We got our hands on it and found it is doing much more than it is legally allowed to do.”– Frank Rieger, Chaos Computer Club

The German government allows cell phone conversations to be spied on, but hackers discovered that the software used actually violates the government’s own legal limits.

It’s called Bundestrojan. Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court said it was legal as long as it screened only internet telephone calls. But, Bavarian police, and several other German states, are logging keystrokes, activating cameras, monitoring internet users’ activities and sending data to government officials.  All illegal.

Hackers also found out the United States is involved: “To avoid revealing the location of the command and control server, all data are redirected through a rented dedicated server in a data center in the U.S.”–Chaos Computer Club

A Finnish tech company, in Helsinki, also found that the Bundestrojan is intercepting data entered into web browser Firefox, as well as the instant messaging programs MSN and ICQ.

Antivirus vendor, Kaspersky Lab in Germany, investigated Bundestrojan’s capabilities:  “Amongst the new things we found in there are two rather interesting ones: Firstly, this version is not only capable of running on 32 bit systems; it also includes support for 64 bit versions of Windows.  Secondly, the list of target processes to monitor is longer than the one mentioned in the CCC report.  The number of applications infected by the various components is 15 in total.”– Tillmann Werner, Kaspersky Lab

Targeted applications includes Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, programs with VoIP and data encryption functionality, including ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Low-Rate VoIP, CounterPath X-Lite and Paltalk.

German officials are calling for an investigation.  Hackers say this is a result of society putting security ahead of freedom: “Unfortunately, for too long the (government) has been guided by demands for technical surveillance, not by values like freedom or the question of how to protect our values in a digital world.”–Chaos Computer Club

 



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

What Economic Recovery? Whirlpool announces big layoffs, will close factories around the world

“…recessionary demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in emerging markets and high levels of inflation in material costs.”, that’s what Whirlpool Chief Executive Jeff Fettig says about the economy, basically it stinks!

As a result Whirlpool sales are down, and they have to layoff 5,000 employees, and shut down their Arkansas refrigerator factory!

Whirlpool joins the growing number of big businesses that say: “During the quarter, we experienced weaker than expected global industry demand and elevated material costs.”

No sh*t Sherlock, Corporate America keeps laying people off.  Ironically even Whirlpool CEO Fettig blames Corporate America’s job cuts!

Whirlpool will also close a dishwasher factory in Germany, moving production to Poland (Poland is a member of the European Union, but does not use the Euro, they use their own money).

The result is not only lost jobs, but if you need a new home appliance in the near future it’s gonna cost you more; Whirlpool is jacking up their prices (hello inflation).

 

 

 

 

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

United Police States of America: Idaho Republicans give away contract to Private Prison Tech company, who then double bills Idaho taxpayers

According to Idaho media reports, the executive director for the Idaho Republican Party, Jonathan Parker, is accused of helping AnalyzeSoft (a tech company that makes tracking devices for prisoners) get a big contract from Idaho Governor Butch Otter.

AnalyzeSoft is now barred from doing business with Idaho for at least one year, after it was discovered that they double billed for their services.  Idaho taxpayers were charged $2 million for an incomplete prisoner tracking system!

On top of that, five of AnalyzeSoft’s employees are barred from doing any work for the state, ever!

Under Idaho rules, contractors must bid for contracts with the state.  Not only did they double bill taxpayers, but apparently AnalyzeSoft was handed the contract without bidding.

 

 

International, Technology

World War 3: Russia building up military on islands just north of Japan, Japan wants islands

“Buk-M1 surface to air missile systems, modern communications systems and heavy armor, including a battalion of T-80 tanks, have already been delivered to the Kurils. The provision of modern weapons and hardware for the troops in the Kurils will continue.”-Russian Defense Ministry statement

On islands just north of Hokkaido, Russia is modernizing and increasing its military presence.  Recently, the new Japanese government had made several statements about taking the islands back from Russia.

Russia is taking Japan’s threats seriously and has been upgrading weapon systems on the Southern Kuril Islands, as well as increasing troop numbers.

New bases are also being built, which includes family housing.  Russian officials say the buildup was actually ordered by President Dmitry Medvedev back in February.

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

Thank you Steve Jobs! Occupy America, follow his example, live life your way!

Steve Jobs was a revolutionary.  We wouldn’t have half the personal computer related products without him.  I love my Mac, after decades of using crappy IBM based PCs I finally splurged and got me a Mac a few years ago.  I’ve never had one problem that I’ve had with the IBM type PCs.  I’ve had my Mac longer than any PC I’ve had in the past, which justifies what I paid for it.

Jobs was also proof you don’t need a college degree to succeed!  “You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Jobs’ secret to success? Do what you want, not what society tells you to do: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.  And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

And that’s exactly what the U.S. Declaration of Independence says you should do: “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

You read that? It says the people of the United States are supposed to base their lives on the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, not following the orders of a society brainwashed by Corporate America, or the military industrial complex, or organized religion, or the Israeli lobby!  It’s one of the reasons why the creation of the United States was so revolutionary (like Steve Jobs)!

I hope Apple doesn’t go astray.  Steve Jobs died October 5, 2011.

International, Technology, U.S.

Pacific Ring of Fire Seismic Events part 5 Largest Deadliest update

Since I posted part 4 of Pacific Ring of Fire Seismic Events, the United States Geological Survey added one more quake to it’s “Largest and Deadliest Earthquake” list; the March 11 earthquake near Japan.

But have there been more large quakes this year, not qualifying for the USGS title of “Deadliest”, but still large, and more than normal?

According to the USGS “Significant Earthquakes of the World” list, so far this year there have been 49 magnitude 6.5, or greater quakes around the Pacific Ring.  The majority of those being near Japan.  There’s still three months left to go for 2011.

In 2010 the USGS recorded about 57 M6.5+ quakes around the Pacific Ring.  About 50 M6.5+ quakes took place in 2009.  So in the past three years it looks like about 50 M6.5+ Pacific Ring quakes per year are the norm.

I went back to “Significant Earthquakes of the World 1999”, and counted about 53 M6.5+ Pacific Ring quakes.  So, without doing more detailed research, it looks like the number of “significant” quakes around the Pacific Ring is about 50 per year, and seems to be normal.  Unless we get a sudden boost in quake activity within the next three months, it looks like 2011 will be another normal year.

What about the number of “deadliest” earthquakes, is there an upward trend?  It doesn’t seem so.  Looking at the USGS “Largest and Deadliest Earthquakes by Year 1990-2011” list, we average about one or two per year, and that’s all over the world not just the Pacific Ring.  The USGS determines the “largest and deadliest” by a combination of magnitude intensity and the number of people killed.

However, I noticed an interesting trend regarding when those “largest” deadly quakes happen; most of the dates are from Autumn to Spring, with the minority happening during Summer.  We are closer to the Sun from Fall to Spring, mmmm.