23rd May2010
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23rd May2010
White House Covers Up Menacing Oil “Blob”
In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths.
FEMA and Corps of Engineers employees are upset that the White House and the Pentagon remain tight-lipped and in cover-up mode about the images of the massive and fast-moving frozen coagulated oil blob that is being imaged by Navy submarines that are tracking its movement. The sources point out that BP and the White House conspired to withhold videos from BP-contracted submersibles that showed the oil geyser that was spewing oil from the chasm underneath the datum of the Deep Horizon at rates far exceeding originally reported amounts. We have learned that it was largely WMR’s scoop on the existence of the BP videos that forced the company and its White House patrons to finally agree to the release of the video footage.
23rd May2010
Just Blaze Speaks On The Corruption Of The Remix (Video)
Hey, does anybody else remember when artists and producers, when remixing a track, would actually create entirely new interpretations of songs rather than just bringing in somebody for a guest verse? Just Blaze reveals the financial and technological reasoning behind the demise of the actual remix.
23rd May2010
Conspiracy Of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash
A telephone call between a financial adviser in Beverly Hills and a trader in New York was all it took to fleece taxpayers on a water-and-sewer financing deal in West Virginia. The secret conversation was part of a conspiracy stretching across the U.S. by Wall Street banks in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market.
The call came less than two hours before bids were due for contracts to manage $90 million raised with the sale of West Virginia bonds. On one end of the line was Steven Goldberg, a trader with Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. On the other was Zevi Wolmark, of advisory firm CDR Financial Products Inc. Goldberg arranged to pay a kickback to CDR to land the deal, according to government records filed in connection with a U.S. Justice Department indictment of CDR and Wolmark.
West Virginia was just one stop in a nationwide conspiracy in which financial advisers to municipalities colluded with Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Wachovia Corp. and 11 other banks.
They rigged bids on auctions for so-called guaranteed investment contracts, known as GICs, according to a Justice Department list that was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on March 24 and then put under seal. Those contracts hold tens of billions of taxpayer money.
23rd May2010
The Roots – Dear God 2.0
The new lead single for How I Got Over, now dropping June 22nd.
A remix/re-imagination of Monster Of Folk’s song by the same name.
23rd May2010
22nd May2010
Sheek Louch Talks About Notating Flows (Audio)
In another excerpt from the interviews from the How To Rap book, Sheek talks about how he makes notations throughout his rhyme notes so he knows when to pause, put emphasis, etc. when he’s recording. You mean there’s still a rapper who writes shit down? Who knew.
21st May2010
NBA Approves Mikhail Prokhorov’s Bid To Control New Jersey Nets
The first step in what the New Jersey Nets hope is a quick turnaround is in place.
New owner Mikhail Prokhorov is eager to get started on the rest.
Prokhorov’s purchase of the team was approved Tuesday by NBA’s owners, who welcomed the first non-North American into their club. The financial transaction was closed at 12:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, the team announced in a statement.
Russia’s richest man agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of an arena project in Brooklyn from developer Bruce Ratner late last year. Final approval of the sale was delayed until the state of New York had taken over all the land seized under eminent domain at the site of the team’s Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The long-delayed 18,000-seat arena is to open in 2012.
“This much-anticipated day has finally come and now the real fun begins of building a championship team with a state-of-the-art home in the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards,” Prokhorov said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to combine great sports and good business, and I look forward to working with Bruce Ratner and Forest City and with the Nets organization as we move ahead.
21st May2010
‘Naked’ Scanners Increase Cancer Risk
US scientists are warning that radiation from controversial full-body airport scanners has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer – particularly in children.
University of California biochemist David Agard said that unlike other scanners, the radiation from these devices is delivered at low energy beam levels, with most of the dose concentrated in the skin and underlying tissue.
“While the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high,” Dr Agard said.
“Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer.”
Of further concern is that a failure in the device – like a power or software glitch – could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin.
21st May2010
Drake – 9AM In Dallas “Freestyle”
The fact that he’s at least trying to be the “old Drake” is commendable…I guess
Drake – 9 AM in Dallas Freestyle
Produced by Boi-1da
Photo by Jonathan Mannion.
21st May2010
UC Berkeley Asking Incoming Students For DNA
BERKELEY, Calif. — UC Berkeley is adding something a little different this year in its welcome package — cotton swabs for a DNA sample.In the past, incoming freshman and transfer students have received a rather typical welcome book from the College of Letters and Science’s “On the Same Page” program, but this year the students will be asked for more.The students will be asked to voluntarily submit a DNA sample. The cotton swabs will come with two bar code labels. One label will be put on the DNA sample and the other is kept for the students own records.
The confidential process is being overseen by Jasper Rine, a campus professor of Genetics and Development Biology, who says the test results will help students make decisions about their diet and lifestyle.
Once the DNA sample is sent in and tested, it will show the student’s ability to tolerate alcohol, absorb folic acid and metabolize lactose.The results of the test will be put in a secure online database where students will be able to retrieve their results by using their bar code.Rine hopes that this will excite students to be more hands-on with their college experience.”This type of experience is one of the true, unique values of a Berkeley education. We don’t just give you books to read,” Mark Schlissel, dean of the division of biological sciences said. “We involve you in cutting edge issues in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. You won’t see this anywhere else in higher education.”Previously incoming students were advised to read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Stephen Hawking’s“A Briefer History of Time” as behavioral guides.There will also be a variety of events and lectures at the campus on lifestyle choices for all undergraduate students who choose not to participate in the DNA program. There will also be a science-themed art contest that will award the four best entries with a full genetic analysis.
20th May2010
Did M.I.A. ‘Eff Up’ By Giving Her Album An Un-Google-Able Name?
It’s so crazy how the internet impacts many of the marketing + design decisions of today’s artists and musicians. The drive for SEO, search engine optimization, is important for musicians to be able to differentiate their products, and make sure consumers can find their music+web presence without much noise. As a blog that relies on artists to give me their digital media for free, I appreciate anything an artist can do to make sure my blog / their product will get more google hits from ‘random ass people’ trying to find info / leaks / free mp3s from a band. (Wonder if I really deserve ad money for my voice/reach, or if I blogs should be ‘profit sharing’ with artists).
Artists can utilize a lot of fun tricks to make sure their bands + albums + songs are SEOed. Pick a band name that no one else has so that it will show up first in google (Grizzly Bear and Panda Bear seem to be actually competing against real bears for google hits). Pick an album name that is a made up word that no1 has ever even typed. Collaborate with artists who have a deeper history within google to get more ‘goog cred.’ Name a song after some phrase that will get you accidental google hits. Put a Jonas Brother in your music video so that the Google algorithm escalates your band’s importance according to ‘the system.’
20th May2010
Ex-Bundesbank Chief Says Greece Will Never Repay Debt, Says Bailout All About “Rescuing Banks And Rich Greeks”
Finally someone speaks the truth. In an interview with Spiegel Magazine, former Bundesbank chief Karl Otto Pohl, says it how it is: “Without a “haircut,” a partial debt waiver, [Greece] cannot and will not ever [repay its debt]. So why not immediately? That would have been one alternative. The European Union should have declared half a year ago — or even earlier — that Greek debt needed restructuring.” As for the reason for the bailout, Pohl’s observation will not be a surprise to our readers “It was about protecting German banks, but especially the French banks, from debt write offs.” Is there any hope for Europe now? It appears no, as the right decision was to let Greece go bankrupt: “Investors would quickly have seen that Greece could get a handle on its debt problems. And for that reason, trust would quickly have been restored. But that moment has passed. Now we have this mess.” Amusingly, when asked if banks used “speculators” as a straw man to break all EU Rules and especially the Lisbon treaty:”Of course that’s possible. In fact, it’s even plausible.” We can’t wait until the German population realizes just how massively it has been scammed. Last week’s Nordrhein-Westphalia Merkel loss will seem like a walk in the park once the mobilized German society decides to fix things on its own. Oh, and look for the EU and the euro to be a thing of the past.
20th May2010
Wikileak Founder’s Passport Confiscated
Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, says he had his passport taken away from him at Melbourne Airport and was later told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled.
Last year Wikileaks published a confidential Australian blacklist of websites to be banned under the government’s proposed internet filter.
The Age has been told that Assange’s passport is classified ”normal” on the immigration database, meaning the Wikileaks director can travel freely on it.
Assange told The Age his passport was taken from him by customs officials at Melbourne Airport when he entered the country last week after he was told ”it was looking worn”.
