July 10, a 7.3 quake hit the same area that experienced a 9.0 quake on March 11.
Two meter high (6.4 feet) waves were seen on the coasts of Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.
Officials with Japan’s Meteorological Agency say this latest aftershock resulted from the Pacific Plate shifting horizontally. They believe more aftershocks in the 7 range could occur, into next year.
A United Nations caused cholera epidemic, is still killing people in Haiti and Dominican Republic.
Last week nine people, in the Dominican Republic, died, bringing the total to 71. The first Dominican Republic case was discovered in November 2010.
But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening in Haiti.
Neighboring Haiti was swept with cholera, starting in October 2010. As of March 2011 nearly 5,000 people have died, and more than 200,000 are infected.
Health officials working in Haiti say the United Nations grossly underestimated the seriousness of the epidemic: “It is going to be larger than predicted in terms of sheer numbers and will last far longer than the initial projections.”-Dr Sanjay Basu
In fact, Doctor Basu predicts that if conditions don’t improve soon, more than 11,000 Hatians will die by the end of 2011.
Investigations by the UN revealed that UN Peacekeeping troops from Nepal spread the disease due to the unsanitary way they kept their camp ground.
Recently the Chinese government changed income tax laws, to help low income workers keep more of their money. The new law increased the number of workers who don’t have to file income tax.
The Chinese real estate industry is now warning that could reduce property sales.
In China you must have official papers declaring you a permanent resident of the area you want to buy property in. If you don’t have such paperwork, you can use your income tax filing to show that you work in that area. The problem with the new tax law is that it will reduce the number of migrant workers who would’ve had those tax records to use to buy a home with.
A Beijing realtor says the new tax law will reduce the number of qualified migrants, in his area, by more than 90%.
This comes after the Chinese government ordered banks to tighten mortgage lending by either increasing down payments, or increasing mortgage interest rates.
U.S. media reported that the continued increase in the New York Stock Exchange (reported by the Dow Jones) is because of good economic data, like better than expected job numbers.
Monthly unemployment numbers are still over 400,000, and many economists have repeatedly stated that it needs to drop below 400,000, for several months in a row, to be considered a “good” sign.
Could the real reason be that the NYSE (aka NYSE Euronext) was just approved, by shareholders, to take over one of Germany’s stock markets: Deutsche Boerse AG.
The take over still needs approval of Deutsche Boerse shareholders.
This seems to be a more likely reason for the upswing in the NYSE trades, because Germany is the only economic powerhouse left in the European Union, thanks to its many trade deals with China.
According to the NYSE website, “…NYSE Euronext’s equities markets include the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, NYSE Amex, NYSE Alternext and NYSE Arca. NYSE Euronext also operates NYSE Liffe, a European derivatives business.”
The Dow Jones is a stock market index, which includes the NYSE Euronext trades in its daily reporting.
In an effort to fight inflation the Chinese government recently ordered banks to tighten their grip on the money supply. One way is to cut back on loans.
The China Construction Bank announced they will increase down payments on homes, for first time buyers, to 40% of the purchase price. The Chinese banks were told to either raise the amount of down payments, or increase interest rates on mortgages. This could pop China’s housing market bubble.
Despite repeated public statements, protests and even attacks against U.S. troops, U.S. officials are still haranguing the Iraqi Prime Minister about letting them stay.
U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen admitted that his staff is having a hard time convincing the Iraqi officials that the United States should stay past their agreed upon withdraw date. The U.S. is now taking the stand that Iraq has serious security gaps, that only the U.S. can fill.
In response to the continued efforts of the Obama administration to renege on the promised withdraw date, 100 Iraqi lawmakers signed a letter of warning, which basically said if the U.S. gets its way all hell will break loose in Iraq, with the focus of that hell upon U.S. forces.
“Our data suggest that the presence of periodontal disease is a modifiable risk factor, which can increase a woman’s time to conception, particularly for non-Caucasians.”-Roger Hart, University of Western Australia.
An Australian study links clean teeth to increased birth rates. 3,416 women were tracked, and the results suggest that bad oral hygiene in Caucasian women delayed their ability to get pregnant by two months.
The study might be “racist”, but it concluded that non-Caucasian women with gum disease took a full year to get pregnant.
Previous studies have also concluded that men with dirty mouths have a hard time getting women pregnant. I don’t know how serious we should take these studies, because other studies have linked dirty mouths to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even respiratory problems.
“Cutting down on the amount of salt has no clear benefits in terms of likelihood of dying or experiencing cardiovascular disease.”-Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
No fewer than seven international studies have concluded that reducing salt in your diet does not reduce the chance of death.
A moderately low salt diet might reduce your blood pressure, but there is no evidence it will prolong your life. However, there is evidence that people who have congestive heart failure might increase there chance of death with a low salt diet.
This makes sense to me, because salt, along with potassium, helps prevent your muscles from cramping. Your heart is a muscle.
The studies looked at 6,000 people. Researchers admit they need to do more detailed studies, like looking at cardiovascular morbidity in people with normal or high blood pressure.
The Transportation Security Administration says they are concerned about terrorists going to the ridiculous trouble of surgically implanting bombs in their bodies.
Of course the TSA says the latest full body scanners can’t detect such things, so they’ll have to resort to even more invasive pat downs, or other means of checking you out.
TSA officials admit there is no evidence that terrorists are planning such an inefficient way to blow things up.
Think about it, the cost of implanting a bomb inside yourself go against one of the standards of terrorists, that is to do things as cheaply as possible. Why not spend the money on a shoulder launched guided anti-aircraft missile? Also, you couldn’t send the terrorist in to do the job right away, because of recovery time from surgery. And if the surgeon is not the best in the world at stitching, the scar from the surgery is a dead giveaway, no need for more invasive pat downs.
One report says TSA officials think terrorists would implant bombs in their butt! Hey buddy, what’s that bulging from your butt? Why the big ass scar on your butt? Oh, officer I just had butt implants done in Hollywood, I’m gonna be a big shooting star. Yeah right! Butt bomb implants? Doc, now that I have a bomb in my butt can I sit down? I suggest keeping off your butt until it’s time to blow up the plane. Well that’s simple, TSA agents just have to watch for the person who refuses to sit down.
TSA officials also say women could put bombs in their boobs! Excuse me ma’am but your boobs are oddly shaped, I’m gonna have to cop a feel. By the way, one bomb “expert” in Colorado said the detonator for a boob bomb would be under the boob, so if someone presses down…BOOM! The next time you check out the scars on that porn star’s boobs it might not be silicone in there. Especially if it’s an evil Muslim porn star, you know those Muslim women like to put bombs in their boobs. It’d have to bee a woman who hates wearing bras, ’cause you might set it off just by putting on your bra, if that “expert” in Colorado is correct.
Here’s another inefficiency in body bombs: Another report said that the body bombs would have to be set off by the terrorist using a large syringe to inject a chemical into the bomb to make it explode. How does the terrorist get through security with a large syringe of fluid? Also, how would passengers on a plane, or bus, or train react if they saw someone whip out a huge syringe and jab it into themselves? If they jab their stomach passengers might think, oh diabetic. But what if they jab their boobs, or bend over awkwardly and jab their ass? Still, how’d they get through security with a syringe?
Reality check: Terrorists don’t have to blow up the plane, or bus, or train or whatever. They can just blow up the TSA checkpoint, or the TSA agents doing a random check in a random location, it’ll still have the same affect. Look at what anti-abortion terrorists have done; place bombs in trash dumpsters to take out emergency responders, who where responding to the shooting of people who where trying to go into the abortion clinics. Simple things like that is how most terrorists think, not “I’m gonna put a bomb in my butt/boobs, wait several weeks while I heal up, then try to get on a plane by going through a security checkpoint designed to find bombs.”
Remember, there is no evidence of such a butt/boob bomb plot. Officials can only point to a British intelligence report that speculates that terrorists might implant bombs into their bodies. Anybody remember the last time the U.S. went along with British intelligence? It was the months leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since then all “intelligence” from the British, about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, have been proven to be faulty or even made up.
A retired FBI bomb expert said body bombs are totally impractical: “While possible, it is much less likely to work than other scenarios. There are more practical ways of doing it.”-Leo West
Apparently President Obama supports the TSA’s latest claims, his spokesman Jay Carney, said that the U.S. must continue to evolve ways to search for terrorists and their bombs.
I think the TSA is run by a bunch of perverts, who’re looking for any excuse to exercise a Homeland Security grope fest on your ass and boobs.
The Japanese military has built its own air base in the African country of Djibouti. The official reason is to help fight pirates.
The Japanese had been sharing a base with the United States, but built its own 12 hectare (29.6 acre) airfield for its surveillance aircraft.
The French have long time military ties to the country of Djibouti, but since the surge in piracy, Djibouti is making money off of allowing several countries (including the U.S.) to base military units there.