Venezuela and Ecuador sought Monday to make Colombia pay a high price for killing a leftist rebel leader in the Ecuadorean jungle - expelling its diplomats, ordering troops to the border and cracking down on trade across the border.
Exxon Mobil has won court orders freezing as much as $12 billion in petroleum assets controlled by Venezuela's government in an escalation of a dispute over efforts by President Hugo Chávez to assert greater control over the country's oil industry.
Venezuela's dollar-denominated bonds suffered their steepest drop in six months on Thursday on concerns that Chávez's government could face a protracted legal battle with Exxon, preventing the government from raising cash through the sale of refineries abroad if the economy here slows after years of torrid growth...In recent days, Exxon won a court order from the High Court of
London prohibiting Petróleos de Venezuela from selling assets worldwide
up to a value of $12 billion, Margaret Ross, an Exxon spokeswoman in
Houston, said in a statement. Exxon won similar orders in the
Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles for assets worth up to $12
billion.And in New York, Exxon won an order freezing $300
million of Petróleos de Venezuela's assets. Despite a deterioration of
political relations between Caracas and Washington, Venezuela remains a
major trading partner with the United States, ranking as its
fourth-largest supplier of imported crude oil.Source: iht.com via slenderdog
Last year the Venezuelan government took over the Orinoco Belt oil project, of which Exxon owned 41.7%. In September 2007, after failing to reach agreement with Venezuela on compensation for their stake in the project, Exxon took the case to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an arbitration body associated with the World Bank.
"Exxon Mobil has worked with the Venezuelan government to reach an agreement regarding compensation based on the fair market value of the assets," company spokesman Len D'Eramo said.
"We are disappointed these discussions have not been successful."Source: news.bbc.co.uk via slenderdog
While it might make sense to an adolescent ideologue to confiscate assets to redistribute wealth to the poor, the the real effect of such nonsense is negative.
Not only has Chavez discouraged investment in Venezuela and its oil industry (who would risk investing there now?) but his "redistribution" policies are starving Petroleos de Venezuela (the state-owned oil company) of capital:
PDVSA
is already facing growing debt and increasing operational problems that
analysts attribute to underinvestment caused by the company's massive
contributions to Chavez's social programs.Source: ca.news.yahoo.com via slenderdog
Social development in PDVSA is a process of formulating and executing projects in alignment with the Community Development plans of the State. In order to put oil resources to the service of the wider population and create a new economic model, putting an end to the social inequalities so apparent in Venezuela in the last decades, PDVSA promotes Fondespa (The Fund for Social and Economic Development within the Country), which has the task of promoting social development through a transparent and fair distribution of oil revenues.
Backing the social missions promoted by the National Executive is one of the ways in which PDVSA gets directly involved in the lives of ordinary Venezuelans. The company, as part of its revolutionary, corporate responsibility program, encourages groups to take part in their own development projects by first considering the specific conditions (cultural, productive, etc) of each region in the country. By doing so, the corporation acknowledges and respects the constitutive plurality of Venezuelan society. That is how the Endogenous Development Nuclei (Núcleos de Desarrollo Endógeno or NDE) are established, allowing each community to become aware of its potential and is also capable of strengthening and transforming itself so as to generate benefits for the community and eventually become self-supporting.
PDVSA is 100% committed to the eradication of both rural and urban poverty. The company promotes an extensive network of endogenous development projects throughout the country. It also actively discourages every kind of discrimination and is dedicated to supporting minority groups within Venezuela, through a wide range of different programs.
The social programs organized by PDVSA:
* Offer the means, possibilities, and real resources to enable citizens to improve conditions in personal, social, cultural and professional aspects of their own lives. This is carried out in a way that educates individuals to develop a communitarian consciousness, whilst upgrading their skills and allowing them a greater participation in the economic, political, and social life of the country.
* Establish the strategies and programs that conform to the regulations of the National Executive and PDVSA, and enable information, resources, assets and document exchanges between PDVSA and other sources of social development that contribute to satisfying community requirements and expectations.
* Align and communicate, together with PDVSA’s main organizations social and economic programs; guaranteeing an improved coexistence and greater understanding between PDVSA and the communities it serves.Source: pdvsa.com via slenderdog
We suspect that Chavez has little grasp of the fact that wealth is accumulated over time through investment in productive activity. An ordinary business grows and prospers through accumulation of profit and reinvestment in itself. Many businesses engage in community investment in recognition of the benefits and of their social responsibility. But PDVSA is engaged in a much broader project: "the eradication of both rural and urban poverty." The "endogenous development" program seems as much ideologically led social engineering as investment. Such efforts would seem to be beyond the means of any business, even a national oil monopoly, and especially one bound by a discredited ideology that has led to the freezing of its assets.
If Chavez had a grasp of reality he would understand that by cooperating with foreign investors he could preserve Venezuela's credit, keep PDVSA profitable and healthy, and free up more capital to reinvest in his social programs (whatever they may accomplish). But he seems to prefer his class warrior status to the actual achievement of his stated goals.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the miniscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.
Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.
There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions, but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator, as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe. For decades, the Standard Model of particle physics has served physicists well as a means of understanding the fundamental laws of Nature, but it does not tell the whole story. Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.Source: public.web.cern.ch
While we might acclaim more knowledge as, generally, a good thing, we do have to wonder why we're being told of a "brave new world." Not everyone agrees that the LHC, however useful, is without serious risks:
Summary:
The upcoming Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN could be dangerous. It could produce potentially dangerous particles such as mini black holes, strangelets, and monopoles.
A CERN study indicates no danger for earth, [Ref. 1] but its arguments are incomplete. The reasons why they are incomplete are discussed here.
This paper considers mainly micro black holes (MBHs) with low speeds. The fact that the speed of resultant MBHs would be low is unique to colliders. An important issue is the rate of accretion of matter subsequent to MBH creation.
This study explores processes that could cause accretion to be significant.
Other dangers of the LHC accelerator are also discussed.
I. Arguments for danger in LHC particle accelerator experiments
"In the 27-kilometer-long circular tunnel that held its predecessor, the LHC will be the most powerful particle accelerator in the world. It will smash fundamental particles into one another at energies like those of the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, when the temperature of the Universe was about ten thousand trillion degrees Centigrade." [Ref. 5]
1. There is a high probability that micro black holes (MBHs) will be produced in the LHC. A reasonable estimation of the probability that theories with (4+d) dimensions are valid could be more than 60%. The CERN study indicates in this case a copious production of MBHs at the LHC. [Ref. 1] One MBH could be produced every second. [Ref. 4 & Ref. 5]
2. The CERN study indicates that MBHs present no danger because they will evaporate with Hawking evaporation. [Ref. 1] However, Hawking evaporation has never been tested. In several surveys, physicists have estimated a non trivial probability that Hawking evaporation will not work. [Ref. 9] My estimate of its risk of Hawking evaporation failure is 20%, or perhaps as much as 30%.
The following points assume MBH production, and they assume that Hawking evaporation will fail.
3. The cosmic ray model is not valid for the LHC. It has been said that cosmic rays, which have more energy than the LHC, show that there is no danger. This may be true for accelerators that shoot high energy particles at a zero speed target. This is similar to cosmic ray shock on the moon's surface. In these cases the center of mass of interaction retains a high speed. This is different from the situation at the LHC, where particles with opposing speeds collide. With cosmic rays (mainly protons in cosmic rays) we need a speed of 0.9999995 c to create a micro black hole of 1 TeV and after the interaction the micro black hole center of mass will have a speed of 0.999 c. As MBHs are not very reactive with matter, calculations indicate that this is more than enough velocity to cross planets or stars without being caught and to escape into space.
4. Lower speed MBHs created in colliders could be captured by earth. Using Greg Landsberg's calculation [Ref. 3] of one black hole with velocity less than escape velocity from earth produced every 10^5 seconds at the LHC, we have 3.160 (US notation 3,160) MBHs captured by earth in ten years. More precise calculations show that we could have a distribution of MBHs at every range of speed from 0 m/sec to 4 m/sec. The probability of very low speed MBHs is not zero. We need to evaluate if low speed MBHs present more risks.
5. The speed of a MBH captured by earth will decrease and at the end MBHs will come to rest in the center of earth. The speed will decrease because of accretion and interaction with matter.
If we consider that:
a. The CERN study's calculus for accretion uses the "Schwarzschild radius" for the accretion cross section. [Ref. 1] In the case of low speeds, we must not use the Schwarzschild radius for the calculus of accretion. There are several reasons the capture radius extends beyond the Schwarzschild radius. For example, if the MBH speed were zero, gravitational attraction would be active at a distance greater than the Schwarzschild radius.
b. If a MBH accretes an electron, it will acquire a charge and then probably accrete a proton.
c. If a MBH accretes a quark it will then probably accrete a proton. When a quark is caught, the whole nucleon can be expected to be caught because otherwise the black hole would have acquired a charge which is not complete. (For example minus 1/3.) In a nucleus a fractional charge is unstable and is not allowed. This strongly suggests that the MBH will be required to accrete other divided charges to reach a completed integer number of charges. The same process can be expected in regard to quark color.
d. Gauge forces at short distances could also help to capture an atomic nucleus.
Our calculus indicates that a slow speed MBH can be expected to capture 8.400 (US notation 8,400) nucleons every hour, at the beginning of an exponential process.
6. In the center of earth new processes could occur: As stated above, it has been estimated that in ten years 3.160 (US notation 3,160) MBHs could be captured by earth. All MBHs will progressively lose speed because of numerous interactions. After a time (calculations have to be completed to estimate this time) all these MBHs will go toward the precise gravitational center of earth. (Kip Thorne [Ref. 7 p. 111]) After numerous interactions they will stop there at rest and then coalesce into a single MBH. To get an idea and for a first approach our calculus indicates that the mass of this MBH could be on the order of 0.02 g with a radius of 4 x 10^-17 m. At the center of earth, the pressure is 3.6 x 10^11 Pascals. [Ref. 8]. This pressure results from all the matter in Earth pushing on the electronic cloud of central atoms. The move of electrons is responsible of a pressure (called degenerescence pressure) that counterbalance the pressure of all the matter in Earth.
Around a black hole there is not an electronic cloud and there is no degenerescence pressure to counterbalance the pressure of all the Earth matter.To indicate the pressure we must use the surface If in an equation Pressure P = Force F / Surface S if we keep F= Constant and we reduce surface, we are obliged to notice that Pressure P will increase. Here F is the weight of all the matter of Earth and this do not change. As the surface of the MBH will be very small, calculus indicate on this surface an impressive increase of pressure in the range of : P = aprox 7 x 10 ^ 23 Pa .
The high pressure in this region push strongly all the matter in direction of the central point where the MBH is.
Electrons directly in contact with the Micro Black Hole will first be caught, then the nucleus will be caught.
It is sure that the atoms will be caught one after the other but the more the pressure will be important the more the caught will be quick. When a neutron star begins to collapse in a black hole (implosion), at the beginning the black hole is only a micro black hole as we see in [Ref. 7 Page 443]. At this very moment the high gravitational pressure in the center of the neutron star is there breaking the "strong force" which lays between the quarks located into the neutrons.
The MBH will grow there only because of the high pressure.
In center of Earth pressure is normally far to small for such a process, but if we create a slow speed MBH that does not evaporate and if this MBH comes at rest in the center of Earth, the pressure in the center of Earth could be sufficient for the growing of the MBH. We must remember that in the surrounding of the MBH the "strong force" is broken and this could mean that the same kind of pressure process than in neutron star could work there ( in a slow mode compared with a neutron star of course ). In the center of Earth, the high pressure, the high temperature, the increasing mass associated with electrical and gauge forces process could mean important increase of capture and a possible beginning of an exponential dangerous accretion process. Our calculus indicates as a first approximation with a MBH of 0.02 g at rest at the center of earth that the value for accretion of matter could be in the range of 1 g/sec to 5 g/sec.
7. Conclusion about MBHs : We estimate that for LHC the risk in the range of 7% to 10%.
II. Other Risk Factors
The CERN study indicates that strangelets and monopoles could be produced and present no danger for earth. [Ref. 1]
We will present arguments of possible danger.
1. Strangelets
Strangelets are only dangerous for earth if they are not moving rapidly through matter. If only one strangelet is at zero speed there would be danger. We have seen for MBHs that the cosmic ray model is very different from the LHC where particles with opposing speeds collide. We have seen that, given the impact of opposite speed particles, the distribution of speeds of resultant particles indicates the probability of very low speeds (0 m/sec < speed < 4 m/sec) and this could mean dangerous strangelets. We estimate a minimal risk for strangelets on the order of 2%. We might estimate as high as 10 % if we want to be wise because the danger is primary!
2. Monopoles
Monopoles could be produced in the LHC. [Ref. 1] .CERN's calculations indicate that one monopole produced in LHC could destroy 1.018 (US notation 1,018) nucleons but it will quickly traverse the earth and escape into space. However, we know that photons produced in the center of the sun need thousands of years to traverse the sun and escape into space because of the numerous interactions. If the speed given to the monopole after interaction is a speed in a random direction, we can imagine that the monopoles produced in the LHC could stay a very long time in earth and be dangerous. 3. Estimate of danger due to our ignorance of ultimate physical laws: We have not exhausted processes that might cause danger. There are other particles, black energy, black mass, quintessence, vacuum energy, and many non definitive theories. We estimate this danger ranging from a minimal 2% risk to 5%.
III. CONCLUSION
The CERN study [Ref. 1] is a remake of a similar study for the earlier Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven (RHIC) [Ref. 6] adapted to the LHC.
It is important to notice that: The study for the RHIC had concluded that no black holes will be created. For the LHC the conclusion is very different: "Black holes could be created!" !
The main danger could be now just behind our door with the possible death in blood of 6.500.000.000 (US notation 6,500,000,000) people and complete destruction of our beautiful planet. Such a danger shows the need of a far larger study before any experiment ! The CERN study presents risk as a choice between a 100% risk or a 0% risk. This is not a good evaluation of a risk percentage!
If we add all the risks for the LHC we could estimate an overall risk between 11% and 25%!.
We are far from the Adrian Kent's admonition that global risks that should not exceed 0.000001% a year to have a chance to be acceptable. [Ref. 3] .Even testing the LHC could be dangerous. Even an increase in the luminosity of the RHIC could be dangerous! It would be wise to consider that the more powerful the accelerator will be, the more unpredicted and dangerous the events that may occur! We cannot build accelerators always more powerful with interactions different from natural interactions, without risk. This is not a scientific problem. This is a wisdom problem!
Our desire of knowledge is important but our desire of wisdom is more important and must take precedence. The precautionary principle indicates not to experiment. The politicians must understand this evidence and stop these experiments before it is too late!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
References:
1.. Study of potentially dangerous events during heavy-ion collisions at the LHC: Report of the LHC Safety Study Group. CERN 2003-001. February 28, 2003.
2.. E-mail exchange between Greg Landsberg and James Blodgett, March 2003, http://www.risk-evaluation-forum.org. (No longer posted. Request a copy. Risk Evaluation Forum, BOX 2371, Albany, NY 12220 0371 USA.)
3.. A critical look at risk assessment for global catastrophes, Adrian Kent, CERN-TH 2000-029 DAMTP-2000-105. Revised April 2003. hep-ph/0009204. Available at: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-ph/pdf/000....
4.. High energy colliders as black hole factories: the end of short distance physics, Steven B. Giddings, Scott Thomas. Phys Rev D65 (2002) 056010.
5.. CERN to spew black holes, Nature October 2, 2001.
6.. Review of speculative disaster scenarios at RHIC September 28, 1999 W.Busza, R.L. Jaffe, J.Sandweiss and F.Wilczek.
7.. Trous noirs et distorsions du temps, Kip S. Thorne, Flammarion 1997. ISBN 2-08-0811463-X. Original title: Black holes and times warps. 1994 Norton. New York.
8.. Centre de la Terre, Science & Vie N 1042. Gallate 2004.
9.. Results of several Delphi groups and physicist questionnaires, James Blodgett, Risk Evaluation Forum, forthcoming.Source: risk-evaluation-forum.org
We believe that sooner or later some damn fool is going to do something really stupid and kill thousands, millions, maybe billions of innocent people in the name of science. Why not now?
It isn't that we don't believe that scientific knowledge is worth pursuing. It's that we don't trust people who say "trust us," especially if they're experimenting.
From a reddit discussion about Obama v. Clinton:
If Hillary Clinton is named the Democratic nominee, remember, she did it by attacking the rights of black people to vote in Presidential primaries.
Look for a massive push by Hillary Clinton's camp to "reseat" delegates from Michigan and Florida, which were taken away by the DNC previously.
Florida is probably similar, but I'm in Michigan, and I can tell what I feel is happening here.
Michigan is home to Detroit, which has about 900k people, 700k-ish of which are African American, in a state of about 10M people.
Some months ago, it was clear that Obama was Clinton's #1 competitor. If he was even marginally successful, Detroit's vote, along with other cities with large/majority African American populations, such as Flint or Grand Rapids, would give Obama an easy victory in Michigan, and despite our losses, we're still a top 10 state.
So, our Governor Jennifer Granholm, who endorses Hillary Clinton, agreed to hold an early primary (Jan 15, 2008), probably knowing that Hillary Clinton's friends within the DNC would then cut our votes out of the Democratic Nomination, eliminating this advantage for Obama and giving Clinton the edge she needs. Michigan Republicans, seeing a chance to make the Democrats look bad by ignoring Michigan voters, agreed, and the changes sailed through.
And that's exactly what happened.
Clinton broke her pledge not to campaign here, stayed on the ballot when all of the other democrats pulled out, and won a pointless victory.
Now there is talk that our Governor Granholm is joining the Clinton administration, for all of her "help" in "winning" Michigan.
"help" in suppressing the black vote.
And we can expect Clinton to push hard to make those delegate votes count again. Delegates selected without the favored candidate of the likely majority of Democratic voters.
It's just another way to "keep the black man down"
How sad.Source: reddit.com
Bill Clinton is as black as Barack. He was the first black President. How do these preposterous myths gain currency? Does anyone doubt the complicity of the Clinton machine? These people are lower than a snake's belly. It's been said so many times, in so many ways: they'll do anything to gain power. One might be tempted to admire the skill and audacity, if not for the damage they have done to the dignity of their country. One could describe either Bill or Hillary in many and colorful ways, but neither of them will never answer to the description to which they ought most highly aspire: public servant.
The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision to stop distributors and ‘coked-up label reps’ from getting all the cash...TF: Could you tell us more about the support you’re getting from one of the so-called ‘OiNK replacement’ sites, ‘What.cd’ ?
Benn: It was really a fresh breath of air for
What.cd to promote the idea of artists having involvement with their
own torrents. Not only does it benefit the artist to no end, but I
can’t imagine that any court in the world would be able to pin someone
on copyright infringement for a torrent the copyright holder created.TF: Aside from uploading your own albums, at times you took an anti-piracy stance at OiNK, why the big change of heart?
Benn: I don’t think my stance has changed all that
much. It’d be a great PR move to say that I’m pro-piracy, but I’d be
lying. I keep seeing these internet news stories saying things like
“The Flashbulb Promotes Piracy”. It is totally out of control. How
could I be promoting piracy if I’m uploading my own material with a
“buy it if you like it” message in the torrent?What I’m promoting is the artist’s freedom to choose what can and
can’t be done with his/her music, and more importantly, the listener’s
freedom to do what he/she wants with their own computer, MP3 player, or
internet connection.After a journey through miles and miles of bullshit in this
industry, you learn one thing: If you want something done right, you’ve
got to do it yourself. Whether you’re downloading my music to check it
out, to accompany the CD, or even pirating it…I want you to have a
version/rip of it that I’ve listened to and approved of...Oink was the biggest music library in the world. People didn’t use
it because they were criminals, people used it because it was literally
better than any service you could pay for. It was the stubborn behavior
of the record labels, artists, and government that wouldn’t allow that
music library to have a cash register at the front door.The thing RIAA is scared of is that their billion dollar backbone
can no longer shelter people from exploring music themselves. Their
business plan had evolved into telling the world what they will want to
listen to and buy, and now they’ll have to actually compete with
talented artists again. As the people regain control of the market,
music will be judged by it’s content again and will be subjected to
it’s own Darwinism. It is a very interesting time for the music
industry…and since my entire life is devoted to making music, bring it
on. I hope that this situation with my new record proves to other
labels and artists that giving people exactly what they
want is the
smartest way to conduct any business.Source: torrentfreak.com
Benn is living proof that both artists and fans can enjoy music without the intermediation of a record label. Reminds us of the Protestant Reformation.
The market has decided. People will download free music and the artists who provide it will be the ones who prosper. If a recording artist can upload his work to a server, what use is a record label? Game over.
New Delhi: The launch of the Rs1-lakh car was received with scepticism by Dr RK Pachauri, head of the UN body on climate change, which this year shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore.
“This is not the transport option for the country of a billion people many of whom cannot afford to buy even a bus ticket,’’ said Dr Pachauri...To a question, he said it would be wrong to think that the Tata car
would be a substitute for two wheelers. It would be just an add-on to
the chaotic traffic conditions.Dr Pachauri blamed the policy
makers for the increasing road congestion in Indian cities and towns,
and said users of cars should be made to pay for the road space they
were using. Giving the example of central London, he said the
imposition of heavy user charge on those entering that part of the city
had yielded results, so there was no reason that similar measures in
Delhi should fail.Source: news.indiainfo.com
The manufacturers of the Nano have claimed that emissions from the car will be minimal. But Mr Pachauri's point seems to be that the Tata Nano is not a realistic aspiration for many Indians, who would be better served by public transport.
Perhaps they would be better served by public transport, but the freedom afforded the car owner is a great driver of economic an social progress. Certainly there are social costs, but no amount of investment in public transport or imposition of congestion charges will deter Indians from acquiring cars as soon as they can afford them. The challenge is to learn from the experiences of developed countries, adopting their successes and avoiding their failures. If the Indian authorities view cars as revenue sources, let us hope they invest the proceeds of taxes and charges in improving India's roads, which would bring economic benefits to many.
As to the negative aspects of wider car ownership: we would argue that these are negligible compared to the potential improvements in living standards that could result. It is to be hoped that India will seek to develop sensibly, but it would be foolish to impede the development of the Indian car industry.
Some votes were apparently lost, however, when about 20 folks at a Chicago precinct were given styluses designed for touch-screen machines instead of ink pens. When voters complained the devices made no marks on their paper ballots, a ballot judge told them the markers were full of invisible ink."After 20 people experienced the same problem, somebody said 'Wait,
we've got 20 ballots where nobody's voted for anything,'" said Board of
Elections spokesman Jim Allen. Officials were trying to contact the
voters; Allen said the both the voters and the judge believed the
invisible ink theory.Source: ap.google.com
Well, after all, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone...
