Category Archives: Technology

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

Oil & Gas Prices: New oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. Oil market bubble bursting? Blame War for your high prices! U.S. backed Oil War continues in Sudan. India #1 buyer of Iranian oil

“The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting an over flight assessment for a report of a rainbow sheen approximately one mile by 10 miles spotted near the Mississippi Canyon block 807 in the Gulf of Mexico……trying to identify the responsible party.”-Petty Officer Bill Colclough, U.S. Coast Guard

April 12, 2012, the USCG is investigating a report, by Royal Dutch Shell, of an oil spill located between two Shell off shore platforms, near the U.S. state of Louisiana.

Shell says it is not coming from its Mars and Ursa rigs.  It could be natural seepage.

The International Energy Agency says international oil stockpiles are so high, and demand is so low, that it expects oil prices to continue to drop.

Isn’t it funny how not even a  year ago the oil industry “experts” kept telling us that demand was still high, and that we could expect $150 per barrel, or more?

“Easing first quarter 2012 fundamentals have seen prices recently lose most of the $5 per barrel they gained in March. The muted impact so far is partly because much of this extra supply has been stockpiled on land or at sea.”-IEA statement

But don’t expect lower gas prices, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said, the Northern Hemisphere summer driving season is always used as an excuse to raise prices: “U.S. oil demand remains a key uncertainty to the existing demand assessment. The upcoming driving season might be affected by high retail gasoline prices and the pace of the economic recovery.”-OPEC statement

The International Energy Agency says consumers can blame the high fuel prices on wars and rumors of wars: “We cannot discount the possibility that prices will remain high so long as geopolitical uncertainties remain.”-IEA statement

Sudan launched an offensive to re-take the largest oil field from South Sudan: “Within the next 72 hours, we shall have pushed all of their troops out of our territories.”-Rabie Abdelaty, Sudanese spokesman

The Heglig field produces about 60,000 barrels per day.  Last week U.S. supported South Sudan captured the Heglig.

India has just surpassed China, as Iran’s number one oil buyer.  In the first quarter of 2012 India imported 433,000 barrels per day from Iran.  China’s import rate for Iranian oil was only 256,000 bpd.  That’s according to  Petrologistics.

It could be that China had made a huge oil deal with Russia, but now Russian courts could threaten that deal.

Russian prosecutors are investigating the 30 year deal, over a discount giving to China.  That discount results in a reduction in profits, over the 30 years, of $3 billion USD.  Many Russians are not happy about that.

China imports 300,000 bpd from Russia’s Eastern Siberian oil fields.

 

 

 

 

International, Technology, U.S.

Pacific Ring of Fire: Busy April 11, 2012; Indonesia, Mexico and U.S.A.

April 11, 2012, has turned out to be a busy day for magnitude 5+ earthquakes, around or adjacent to the Pacific Ring of fire.

Oregon, United States, experienced a 5.9 quake just off its coastline.

Alaska, United States, had a 5.5 quake.

Michoacan, Mexico got hit with a 6.5 quake.

The Banda Sea area (east of Indonesia, north of Australia) had a 5.3 quake.

And then there’s Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean area.  32 quakes ranging from magnitude 5 to 8.6 in just 24 hours!

The west coast of the northern island of Sumatra got hit the most and the hardest: 22 times, including an 8.2 magnitude and an 8.6 magnitude!

The North Indian Ocean got hit ten times, including a 6 magnitude quake.

Altogether, at least 36 magnitude 5 or greater earthquakes around, or adjacent to the Pacific Ring of fire in a 24 hour period (using USGS records).

Business/Economics, International, Technology

World War 3: Iran reveals military upgrades; stealth detecting radar, laser targeting and gatling guns

April 11, 2012, Iranian military officials announced their indigenous tank, Zolfaqar-3, has been upgraded with the latest in laser targeting.

The Zolfaqar tank (not to be confused with many other Iranian weapons using the same name) was developed over the decades by experimenting with U.S. M60 tanks, British Chieftain tanks and Soviet/Russian T-72 tanks.

The production version looks a lot like the U.S. M1 Abrams but armed with a Russian 125mm auto-loading main gun.

It probably uses the same “chobham” armor that the British Challenger tank uses, as it was Iranian engineers who developed it and then requested the British company Vickers to make them a new tank with it.  That tank became the Challenger, but it never made it to Iran because of the 1979 Revolution.

The Zolfaqar-3 reportedly weighs 36 metric tons (39.6 tons) and has a 780 hp diesel piston engine (the U.S. M1 has a 1,500 shp turbine/jet engine which uses diesel).

Iran has built their own version of the M134 Minigun.  The Iranian gatling gun fires 7.62mm bullets (not sure if its x39mm, or x51mmNATO, or x54mm) at a rate of 4000 to 6000 rounds per minute (it’s designed to take out a lot of troops in one pass).

Iran announced this weapon in 2010, but they are claiming that all their military units, designated to use the minigun, are now equipped with it.

Iran has also developed a radar system designed to detect stealth aircraft. Iranian media reported that the radar can detect aircraft with a “very low radar cross section”.

The new radar is called Samen, and is due to begin operations by March 19.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Iran major exporter of Cement & Carpets

“Today our country has become a main exporter of cement. By launching the second phase of Orumieh cement factory, Iran’s cement production capacity increased by one million tonnes!”-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran

With the end of the Iranian year (on March 19, 2012) came news of increased exports of products other than oil, and despite U.S. and European sanctions.

Cement and clinker (a kilned then quenched cement product) has increased 17.44% and reached 10,119,780 metric tons (11,154,960 tons)!

In August 2011, Iran became a world exporter of cement.

In March 2012, Iran revealed it had developed “smart cement” which could withstand the impact of a bunker busting bomb. The smart cement was originally developed to counter the shaking of earthquakes, which Iran is prone to many.

Hand made rugs are one of Iran’s biggest sellers.  In the United States they’re called Persian rugs.

An estimated 1.2 million people in Iran are employed in the hand made rug industry.  They produce five million square meters of carpets, 80% are exported!

In the past year Iran exported $560 million USD worth of Persian rugs.

 

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

Oil & Gas Prices: Iran can stop all oil sales for three years, without harm to its economy

“Some people think that they can trouble Iran through oil sanctions but I should say that we have so much reserves that even if we don’t sell oil for two to three years, the country will be administered easily.”-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, April 10, 2012

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

World War 3: Iran stops oil shipments to Germany, Iran imposes sanctions on 100 European companies

April 11, 2012, Iran follows through on threat to cut off oil to Germany, now Italy is next.

Iran also announced sanctions against 100 European Union companies.  Sasan Khodaei, Deputy President of Iran Trade Promotion Organization, said the companies will no longer be able to sell products to Iran.

One reason for the sanctions is that Iran is now able to make the products for themselves.

 

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

No Longer Made in the U.S.A.? Former Ohio company now owned by China

Hydraulic Press Manufacturing (HPM) was a 135 year old Ohio plastics company, but it went bust in 2009.

However, you can still buy products with the HPM brand, but it’s not a U.S. company anymore.

In 2011 a Chinese company called Guangdong Yizumi Precision Machinery, bought all the rights to HPM and all its products.   Production has been started in southern China.

The Chinese company says they’ve even hired former U.S. employees of HPM.  They are setting up shop in the United States and already have contracts in north America worth $3 million USD.

 

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Utah health worker releases private info, hackers steal even more info. 800,000 people affected

The U.S. state of Utah experienced a leak of personal information on the internet after a state Medicaid worker accidentally published the info of 280,000 people  on the internet.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also looking into a possible hack job as well, that affected another 500,000 people.

In total almost 800,000 people, who’ve applied for help with medical care, are affected.

Utah state officials claim they will notify those whose info was made public.  They also warn that people should expect scammers to try to use their personal info to get to their money.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Sony posts record loss, Sharp says they’re about to follow suit, blames the United States for lack of economic recovery

April 10, 2012, Sony announced the biggest loss in its history!

Sony says it lost about $6.4 billion USD for their quarter ending in March!  That’s $4 billion more than they first estimated back in February.

Sony officials blame the monster loss on huge declines in sales in the United States!

Another Japanese company, Sharp, says it will post record loses as well.

Sharp says loses could be as high as $4.6 billion USD, much higher than first thought back in February!

They also blame lack of economic recovery, saying their TV sales have crashed!

Sharp is now forced to sell controlling stake in its liquid crystal panel factory to a Taiwan company, Hon Hai Precision Industry.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Former Postal Employees, and former contractors, convicted of ripping off the USPS and its customers, USPS warns of malware fraud

April 6, 2012, a 45 year old California man pled guilty to ripping off the United States Postal Service using a trucking company called Golden Pacific Logistics (GPL).

According to the prosecutor the man was awarded $6.4 million USD in contracts to do business with the USPS, of which $4.4 million were fraudulent.  His 39 year old wife pled guilty back on March 28.

The man was also a U.S. Postal Service manager, and he used his position to get the fraudulent contracts for his trucking company.  They will be sentenced on July 11.

In Connecticut, a 50 year old former postal clerk was just sentenced for stealing money orders he sold to customers, and for embezzling union funds.

He managed to steal $11,300 worth of money orders by voiding them after he sold them to customers, or by going through people’s mail and taking the postal money orders.  He ripped off his fellow postal workers by stealing more than $8,800 in Postal Union funds, while serving as president of Local 3093 Union from 2007 through 2008.

He was sentenced to five years probation, the first six months being home arrest with electronic monitoring, 200 hours of community service and paying restitution of $20,201.

The USPS is also warning people of a malware (malicious software) email.

People are getting emails basically telling them they have a refund waiting, and it looks like you’re clicking on the USPS ClicknShip link, but you’re actually opening a program that collects all your info off your computer.

The USPS says just delete such emails, and contact them directly about any refunds.

Note: The United States Postal Service operates on money that comes from you and me buying postal products, not our taxes!