Slashdot Mirror

It's true that Ford sells probably 10x as many F150s as Land Rover sells Range Rovers. However, Land Rover is probably selling about 50k Range Rovers a year (vague number as I couldn't find specifics). They saved 700lbs off their previous model by going to all aluminium. Sound familiar? The 2014 Range Rover Sport is also aluminium and they are moving all Jaguars and Land Rovers in that direction.

Land Rover currently runs the world's largest aluminium body shop, so they're hardly a "niche manufacturer". It's great that Ford is going this way with the high-volume F150, and they are breaking new ground in that they are going to produce MORE aluminium vehicles than other manufacturers. However, because many of the engineering challenges have already been solved by manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover, it's a shame that none of the referenced articles even mention the word "Rover".

The truly bizarre aspect of this is that it involves aspects of a power struggle involving the Turkish PM and a Turkish Imam currently residing in the US.

Turkish imam Fethullah Gulen wields power from self-imposed exile

The more extreme Islamists in power are facing challenge from more moderate Muslims.

I hope it turns out well, or Turkey is in trouble. Erdogan has already managed to yank out many of the checks on the government that have long existed, as well as cozying up with Iran.

It doesn't really work, sure they may get Google's business from Ireland, but because they pay "license costs" to a Bermudan company they're not actually paying Irish tax on their profits.

From the FT:

Google UK reported pre-tax profits of £36.8m in 2012 on turnover of £506m, compared with a pre-tax loss of £20.7m on £395.8m of turnover a year earlier. The turnover is predominately a sales and marketing service fee paid by its Irish affiliate, along with a research and development fee of £109m from the US.

Google Inc earns “substantially all” its foreign profits in Ireland, according to its annual report, but only a small proportion of these profits are taxed in Ireland because of royalties paid to Bermuda where its non-US intellectual property is held. As a result, it paid foreign taxes of $358m on foreign profits of $8.1bn, according to its last annual report – equivalent to a tax rate of less than 5 per cent.

So, Italy would be about $360m better off, plus they'd get a bunch of jobs, something which Eric Schmidt says you should be grateful for, instead of "whinging" about how little tax they pay.

I'm assuming you're referring to the US. If I understand you correctly, you either question or don't think there are (or could be?) any foreign spies, or associates or members of terrorist groups running lose in the US?

One recent famous case: How the FBI Busted Anna Chapman and the Russian Spy Ring
FBI Investigating Possible Russian Spy Recruiting In U.S.
After the Cold War, Russian Espionage in the U.S.
Russian spying at cold war levels, say experts

China's Growing Spy Threat
Spy case patterns the Chinese style of espionage

Senator’s memo shows Iran links in Homeland Security’s troubled immigration program

Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism - (From 2004, but the problem remains.)

Smugglers with ties to terrorist groups are acquiring millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales and funneling the cash to organizations such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah, federal law enforcement officials say, prompting a nationwide crackdown on black market tobacco.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has more than 300 open cases of illicit cigarette trafficking -- including several with terrorist links -- up from only a handful five years ago, ATF sources said.

"This is a major priority for us," said Michael Bouchard, assistant director of the ATF. "The deeper we dig into these cases, the more ties to terrorism we're discovering."

Those links above are only a drop in the bucket, especially where China is concerned.

There is a process for properly releasing classified information. Broadcasting it on CSPAN without prior coordination and clearance generally doesn't conform to that.

So basically, this is a meaningless article written by some idiot at Fox News who wanted to make a headline that would stand out.

Hmmm, it says right there:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story is published in many places... (clickety-click) Ah... According to Chicken Noodle News it was the Financial Times that first reported the story. So the sequence of events appears to be:

* Financial Times breaks the news.

* The story gets out on the AP wire.

* Fox News runs their version of the story.

* Some left-wing kookbag on Slashdot gets a thrill up his leg, because slashdot published a link to foxnews.com. Perhaps he should've asked Chris Mathews for help in dealing with that.

Unless there are government grants to be had for not correcting oneself. Hence the infamous "hide the decline".

In that case, the science was still accurate, but the politicians would get confused. Multiple reviews have shown there to be nothing to be corrected.

In any case, the sole measure of science quality is the reliability of its predictions, and in the case of Global Warming, err., pardon me, Climate Change the passionately-made predictions stubbornly fail to materialize: icebergs fail to melt, waters fail to rise, etc.

"Global Warming" is still an accurate description. You can check my previous post to see the graph showing global temperatures rising. Those predictions have actually materialized. The Arctic (and icebergs) are melting, sea levels rise, etc. Just because you ignore global warming and its effects, doesn't mean it's not happening.

Urged? That would've been fine. How about coerced — and outright forced?

You missed the "urge" stage - things have been getting a bit more urgent so you're not being allowed to destroy the world anymore. No one's forcing you to use bulbs with mercury in them - there are plenty of alternatives.

Neither of these two activities has anything to do with global warming directly. I think, you messed up your "climate change" talking points with the more general anti-Capitalism ones...

By mining, I was referring to mining for coal/natural gas (large sources of global warming) . By factories I was referring to the boilers and machinery used in large factories the emit gases contributing to global warming. Didn't think I'd have to be that specific...

Things like corn ethanol aren't about helping global warming - they're about subsidizing farmers and energy independence.

Sure it may be a little inconvenient that your light bulb costs $1.20 instead of $0.60, but you know what's even more inconvenient? Superstorms, flooding, excessive heat, the list goes on... When members of our society think that their savings on lightbulbs are worth destroying the world over, sometimes we have to coerce them to do the right thing.

It's obvious you would never do anything to prevent global warming. You don't believe in it despite the overwhelming evidence and it looks like you'd be the type to burn tires just to spite people that like the environment.

The Amazon warehouses are run like sweatshops. There are some other more detailed articles out there, if you can find them. The working conditions are horrendous and the pay abysmal, and nearly all of it temp work. So, while on the surface the service might be great, it comes at a cost. There is a reason they're able to undercut and drive out the local businesses which actually pay their employees and provide benefits.

So those employees should file lawsuits regarding the OSHA violations that make their working conditions illegal.

Oh, they're not doing anything illegal? It's just a low-paying job for what they get accomplished? All those employees should quit working for Amazon then, and get another job.

There are no better jobs for people with their education level, you say? So if Amazon didn't exist they would be unemployed and even worse off, because they sure as hell wouldn't be able to find a job at those bookstores as the knowledgeable salespeople? Holy crap, Amazon should burn!

Right now we have a very large amount of unskilled workers in the US. While there are a lot of people who are actually competing for those crappy temp jobs because they're not qualified for anything, the environment and pay is going to suck. The solution isn't to bitch at Amazon, those people wouldn't be any better off if Amazon didn't exist, they'd definitely be worse off. The solution is to do a better job at education. Once there are less people who are willing to take those jobs, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and others will be forced to raise salaries and improve working conditions in order to get workers. Things will get more expensive for the consumer, and most people are going to bitch about it, but we're going to be better off for it in the long run.

So, let Amazon, Walmart etc. do whatever they want, since it's just a bunch of uneducated, unskilled workers we're talking about? You're right about one thing, the solution is for these people to get education/skills in order to rise above these types of jobs. Luckily for the big companies, there will always be a supply of unskilled, uneducated workers, and since we're not going to bitch at Amazon for treating employees like subhumans, they will continue to do so. The same way a big chunk of Walmart employees are on public assistance, because the pay/hours are not enough on their own. So, we - the taxpayers, are footing the bill for welfare/foodstamps etc. so that Walmart can make more profit. In essence, we're subsidizing Walmart family's fortune. There will never be a point where the big companies are forced to raise salaries, because there will always be a supply of people who are unable to get a better job.

The Amazon warehouses are run like sweatshops. There are some other more detailed articles out there, if you can find them. The working conditions are horrendous and the pay abysmal, and nearly all of it temp work. So, while on the surface the service might be great, it comes at a cost. There is a reason they're able to undercut and drive out the local businesses which actually pay their employees and provide benefits.

So those employees should file lawsuits regarding the OSHA violations that make their working conditions illegal.

Oh, they're not doing anything illegal? It's just a low-paying job for what they get accomplished? All those employees should quit working for Amazon then, and get another job.

There are no better jobs for people with their education level, you say? So if Amazon didn't exist they would be unemployed and even worse off, because they sure as hell wouldn't be able to find a job at those bookstores as the knowledgeable salespeople? Holy crap, Amazon should burn!

Right now we have a very large amount of unskilled workers in the US. While there are a lot of people who are actually competing for those crappy temp jobs because they're not qualified for anything, the environment and pay is going to suck. The solution isn't to bitch at Amazon, those people wouldn't be any better off if Amazon didn't exist, they'd definitely be worse off. The solution is to do a better job at education. Once there are less people who are willing to take those jobs, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and others will be forced to raise salaries and improve working conditions in order to get workers. Things will get more expensive for the consumer, and most people are going to bitch about it, but we're going to be better off for it in the long run.

The Amazon warehouses are run like sweatshops. There are some other more detailed articles out there, if you can find them. The working conditions are horrendous and the pay abysmal, and nearly all of it temp work. So, while on the surface the service might be great, it comes at a cost. There is a reason they're able to undercut and drive out the local businesses which actually pay their employees and provide benefits.

Since /. staff, we're talking about timothy and Soulskill who seem to be working for Google and not /., don't want to cover objectively, here's some real news.

SEC clears Apple's tax strategy... all that "Holy grail of tax avoidance" talk was bullshit and lies.

Apple's tax strategy passes SEC inspection: The technology giant brushed off claims it had the "Holy Grail of tax avoidance" by senior US politicians. Now the US Securities and Exchange Commission has the company's back.

Let's look at who the real evil company is:

‘Dutch sandwich’ grows as Google shifts €8.8bn to Bermuda

Ahh, so that's where the money is.

Concern about Irish tax reflects disquiet about Google

or this:

Google's UK division paid £12m in corporation tax in 2012 - Google paid only £11.6m in corporation tax in the UK in 2012, despite revenues of £506m, it can be disclosed.

But you won't see this on /. because timothy and Soulskill won't get checks from Google if they post about the real evil.

www.ft.com

Their focus is mostly financial, but I really enjoy their world news reporting. Whenever I pick up a "normal" paper here, even (especially?) one of the "big" ones, it seems that they're trying to sell me an extreme viewpoint - and maybe some male enhancement products to go with it - rather than actually impart any information. The FT is much more reporting like I remember it used to be. Maybe because they actually charge enough for their paper to cover their costs.

After all, extraordinary claims of something being "outright false" require extraordinary proof.

You have that completely reversed - it is you who made the extraordinary claim. I picked one your citations at random - the zdnet one - and the only relevant part is actually a reference to your first citation at the NY Times - the line:

" Paul Kocher, a leading cryptographer who helped design the SSL protocol, recalled how the N.S.A. lost the heated national debate in the 1990s about inserting into all encryption a government back door called the Clipper Chip.

"And they went and did it anyway, without telling anyone," Mr. Kocher said. He said he understood the agency's mission but was concerned about the danger of allowing it unbridled access to private information. "

Funny thing, he also said:

"Computer security is still in such a [bad] state that you don't need to insert a back door," said Paul Kocher, a US cryptography expert. "If the front door is locked, you can just go in through a side window."

Given that more complete context, it doesn't look like he thinks SSL is compromised, just the end points.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0054adb2-1709-11e3-9ec2-00144feabdc0.html

Furthermore, if there was one person speaking publically about this stuff who would know, it would be Snowden. The man who said, "Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways around it."

You are aware that Morsi is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, right? (He is the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party that formed part of the coalition). Morsi was "not even the Muslim Brotherhood’s first choice for president".

German companies now rate U.S. as the second worst risk to industrial espionage, only second to China. Even Russia is considered a more trustworthy IT partner than the Americans. It's not only the private citizens who care for some privacy.

There is a difference between revenue and profit. Try not to let that make your brain explode.

Sure, but this article contains data showing that the difference in profit margin between Apple and Samsung phones is minimal these days, so you're clearly just making this shit up.

He got the EU to search all their offices for bugs. If they had found nothing, I'm sure there would be a lot of European countries who would be happy to score a mountain heap of brownie points with the US by saying so and thereby discrediting Snowden.

They are officially asking the US to explain itself, which is even more unlikely if they had not, in fact, found bugs.

"You don't remember back in November, when Morsi granted himself unlimited legislative power with no oversight?"

Yes, I do and I also remember (from the link you yourself posted) that "On 9 December, Confusion and disarray pervaded the ranks of Egypt's opposition after Morsi rescinded his November 22 constitutional declaration a day earlier."

So, he revoked the powers he had granted himself less than three weeks later. As I understand it, he gave himself these powers to protect the writing of the constitution that was later put to the people in a referendum. It was the opposition who were against letting the people decide on the constitution:

"Opposition leaders also called for more protests after Morsi refused to cancel the constitutional referendum in the wake of the declaration's annulment." (from your article).

The people from whom he was protecting the constitution were the unelected judges who were appointed during the reign of the previous dictator, Mubarak.

I'm not saying Morsi is a saint (he isn't). But the American media is making him out to be a bogey man because he is affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood (who happen to be the party who won power in what is regarded as a free and fair election). And nobody in the American media is calling BS on the Obama administration for refusing to recognise this as a military coup. If they call it a military coup, by law they can no longer pay the people who overthrew Morsi $1.3 billion a year. Don't you find that just a little odd?

Anyone know how they made up the slack besides conservation?

Yes.

Japan takes on more Iranian crude oil
Japan’s energy costs spiral higher
Trade Deficit in Japan Hits Record
Japan's energy imports may outweigh stimulus gain
Skyrocketing energy imports increase Japanese trade deficit

The man's whole dream for the Middle East went up in a puff of Arab Spring.

That's completely wrong, in fact al Qaeda claims some responsibility for the Arab Spring: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8759968/Al-Qaeda-leader-supports-Arab-Spring-in-911-anniversary-video.html

New al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri voiced support in an internet video for popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East, saying Arabs are no longer afraid of the United States, ten years after the country was targeted by the militant network.

As for bin Laden himself: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a218eb16-9539-11e1-8faf-00144feab49a.html

Osama bin Laden was a surprising proponent of the Arab spring, according to documents found after his capture and released on Thursday.

In his last private letter written just a week before his death, he said the revolutions represented a “formidable event” and a turning point in the Arab world. Before the release of the 17 letters by the US government, the revolutions were viewed as a concern for bin Laden as they could cause instability and potential western involvement in the region.

That said, I wouldn't credit bin Laden with the victory. Their attempt to link 9/11 to the Arab Spring is a bit tenuous in my opinion, and I would give the Taliban more credit with the legitimization of America dealing with radical Muslim groups in Afghanistan than al Qaeda. Certainly our attempts to negotiate a peace with the Taliban must have made groups like the Muslim Brotherhood more confident that if they successfully took over, America would no longer come swooping in to save a Western-friendly dictator.

It's more like, bin Laden's dreams are being realized by others. He fought for these dreams but they weren't his alone. That's why it's not HIS victory.

"His" own people rejected his methods and goals.

I'm no expert on bin Laden but I doubt his goal was to get 100% of Muslims into al Qaeda. Bin Laden was a mujahideen and was fighting on behalf of other Muslims. It's like saying the goal of a general of the US army must be to get 100% of Americans into the army.

What happens when Apple undergoes a huge bond issue simply to avoid repatriating cash? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/839e662a-b3dd-11e2-ace9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2TlsjpzoU I'm no longer a US taxpayer so i no longer care, but it seems unfair that US taxpayers are giving them a $100MM a year break. They have enough cash to pay their taxes and don't really need any assistance. I'm unsure how my comment "isn't relevant", is it untrue that percentage taxes paid is an easier means to compare then total taxes paid? By the way, just because you increase corporate taxes doesnt necessarily mean there will be an increase in prices. There could also be a small reduction in profit margins. Again looking at apple with its huge margins...

Consider revising your assumption that the 2010 paper's data was "cooked" and not simply that mistakes were made (which the authors have acknowledged), given that:

1. A more recent (2012) study published by Reinhart & Rogoff, using data going all the way back to 1800, shows results that look almost identical to the latest Herndon, Ash, and Pollin data. There's no use "cooking" the data in 2010 just to uncook it yourself in 2012, well before the HAP results.

2. Even HAP's supposed debunking of the 2010 R&R paper shows largely the same conclusions, which is that high debt loads lead to lower economic growth. The dispute is over the magnitudes, particularly for countries over the 90% debt/GDP ratio.

Debt/GDP Mean Growth Rate (1945-2009)
0-30 R&R=4.1, HAP=4.2
30-60 R&R=2.8, HAP=3.1
60-90 R&R=2.8, HAP=2.9
90+ R&R=-0.1, HAP=2.2

Historically the US has had about 3% annual growth. If our debt loads drops GDP growth to 2%, that's a HUGE loss in job prospects as well as in public tax revenues.

Source data is here (free registration required I think):
http://blogs.ft.com/ftdata/2013/04/17/the-reinhart-rogoff-response-i/

I did not say that USA was NOT net energy importer, however USA is now selling refined products and this is what helped to reduce its monthly trade deficit a few months back.

Bloomberg: Oil Exports Trim U.S. Deficit as Fuel Gap Shrinks: Economy

Energy exports boosting US trade position

However my point remains, USA energy consumption is lowest in at least a decade, you can find various data on this subject, like this here, and here

Also oil imports are very low, here is a 2013 story talking about lowest oil imports into USA in 25 year span.

My point is that USA is too poor to keep using more or even equal amount of fuel that it used to in the recent decade(s) and it's going to progress even faster from now and the fact that oil prices are going up has nothing to do with USA lack demand, it has everything to do with inflation, which eventually will allow foreign consumers to buy much more energy products than today as the inflation will hit USA home and USA MAY become a net energy exporter at least for a while.

"Brussels punished Microsoft for failing to give at least 15m consumers a choice of web browser - a violation of a voluntary antitrust pact that was spotted and raised by Google and Opera, according to several people familiar with the case."

"Opera said it was "happy to see that the Commission is enforcing compliance with the commitment, which is critical to ensuring a genuine choice among web browsers for consumers". Google declined to comment."

Google tip-off leads to Microsoft EU penalty

Not only that, but the article linked provides no actual background to how it is "known" that Google "snitched" - just an unsourced quote.
A little digging indicates that the quote comes from a Financial Times article (registration required). Here are the relevant paragraphs:

Brussels punished Microsoft for failing to give at least 15m consumers a choice of web browser - a violation of a voluntary antitrust pact that was spotted and raised by Google and Opera, according to several people familiar with the case.

The US software group was left to police its own compliance and Mr Almunia said the lapse was brought to his attention by a Microsoft rival. According to people involved, Google and Opera informally provided the tip-off and helped investigators.

The problem is that most of the data is not available till it is too late. Or worse, only the data for the government part is available.
So when we see X Gazillion is spend on a dead end project, people will shudder. You will seldom hear about this from private companies.

Bullshit. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e60e60d6-c495-11e1-a98c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Lvyph9ak is just one example from the past year. Or Google and Motorola Mobile http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2013/01/23/motorola-drags-googles-quarter.htm

This happens all the time, very much in the public eye, since publicly traded companies have to announce these results to their shareholders.

Sanity restored: We are not ready to simulate the brain

The idea that Iceland has recovered in a short time is a great exaggeration. All they have left is fishing and tourism. Their standard of living will take a considerable period of time to fully recover. Many people lost 80% of their savings when the krona was devalued and purchasing power was crushed.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8a0390dc-78c7-11e1-9f49-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2JVMREulj

The average household has suffered a 30 per cent fall in purchasing power since 2008. The private sector remains heavily indebted, with household debt levels exceeding 200 per cent of disposable income and corporate debt 210 per cent of GDP, according to Fitch. Partly because of this, domestic companies are reluctant to invest."

same with Android. only samsung is making any money.

Will this fucking lie ever die, or does it have to be KILLED WITH FIRE?

However, LG posted an operating profit of Won107bn in the fourth quarter, up 25 per cent from a year earlier, on record smartphone sales of 8.6m units. The mobile phone business recorded a quarterly operating profit of Won56.3bn.

Source: LG Electronics 4th Quarter 2012 report

Tell you what, sign and promote this petition http://wh.gov/EYbi and like the Death Star Petition you'll help get what you ask from the Horses mouth. Otherwise until it actually happens you can look at history of what happened when FDR converted this country from a Republic to a Democracy by riding off the oil industry success and use what I have written here to do your on investigation of the Natural Gas Industry and its infrastructure processing to Liquid Natural gas for exporting. And of course Horizontal drilling & fracking findings if you can find that information. You can be sure Obama knows about it as representitives are pushing him to grant processing and export licenses for it (you should be able to find that. Oh yeah --- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2d2e83c-6721-11e2-a805-00144feab49a.html#axzz2JO4UW2sg

Oh yeah, what is "a happy mean?" it brings the thoughts of the 1% appriciating the 99% helping them.. Am I close?
helicopter fired blanks... this time...

Adam Lanza, who murdered 27 people in Newtown, Connecticut, 26 of them at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, shot himself as police were closing in, the stateâ(TM)s governor said on Sunday.

Dannel Malloy said the authorities believed Lanza committed suicide when he heard police arriving, while children were still trapped inside the school.

cite.

Was that not true after all?

I remember after Columbine having the feeling the police and swat teams had showed up with all their paramilitary toys and then did nothing.

The quote you're referring to was presented poorly, and we don't need vulgar language, but I'd like to defend the idea as legitimate: That the Republicans are not participating in effective governance.

It's commonly thought that the GOP, influenced by the Tea Party, refuses to compromise in their negotiations with the dems. If you can't compromise, it's nearly impossible to negotiate, and unless there is only one person making 100% of the decisions (dictatorship), then you can't effectively govern. You can find countless examples showing that they are opposed to the act of compromise. A quick google search found the following:

This quote shows the speaker doesn't even understand the definition of compromise:

“Compromising is one thing as long as you’re compromising and moving in the direction of your principles. If you’re compromising and moving away from the direction of your principles, I’m not sure it’s a compromise.”

-House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia.

”I have a mindset that says bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.”

- Richard Mourdock R-Indiana

Most reps have signed a pledge to "oppose *any* and *all* efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business", and many will even admit that the creator of the pledge, "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Norquist

By the way, when you embrace the word dogma to describe your party platform, it implies that you're not interested in the democratic principles this country was founded upon.

However, what does this lead to? If you try to treat our country like a dictatorship, is there really any downside? Maybe one could argue that the WMD's in Iraq were contrived by a Republican White House, and that the war cost us too much money and lives, but that would take a while to gather the plentitude of evidence. I'd rather point out a more simple and obvious case:

When Standard and Poor's took away the US's AAA credit rating, they singled out the Republicans more than the dems, and their unfortunate 'dogma' of not raising taxes at all, as a reason: ...Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues...

http://www.ft.com/cms/af2c4fac-bfc2-11e0-90d5-00144feabdc0.pdf (page 4)

I hope these examples explain a little of what the crass statement originally referenced was trying to convey.

Researchers in Shanghai identified a human bacteria linked with obesity, fed it to mice and compared their weight gain with rodents without the bacteria. The latter did not become obese despite being fed a high-fat diet and being prevented from exercising. The Shanghai team fed a morbidly obese man a special diet designed to inhibit the bacterium linked to obesity and found that he lost 29 per cent of his body weight in 23 weeks. The patient was prevented from doing any exercise during the trial. Prof Zhao said such a loss in an obese patient using this diet was unprecedented. The patient also recovered from diabetes, high blood pressure and fatty liver disease.

It will be fascinating to see what happens when other teams try to replicate these results with larger, more statistically significant groups than just one individual. ^^;

This article seems to disagree with you:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d5fa0660-7b95-11de-9772-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ElVkh9ow

"Beyond rebates, another key concern is the practice of flashing prices, which helps market makers or investors discover where others want to buy or sell stocks. This practice is widely used by high frequency traders and is allowed by BATS, Direct Edge and Nasdaq OMX, while NYSE Euronext has been a vocal critic against the practice."

This was an older article, but still... What do you say about this?

Following the advice of someone upthread, I googled why McAffee moved to Belize and came up with "Four hours with John McAffee" by Adam Thomson, a lively and entertaining read.

The article tells the story of McAffee's education, flight from school, and nearly accidental entrepreneurship and helped me to understand what there is to admire about him, especially given all that I knew about him was that the software bearing his name seems to be reviled by anyone with a technological clue and that he seems to be involved in some kind of chicanery that led to the execution of his neighbor.

On of my favorite parts of the article is its last paragraph, which seems to reveal McAffee has a sense of (ironic) perspective somewhere in among the fantasies occupying his mind:

We took some pictures, shook hands and said our farewells. There was just one more question, though: “Do you have McAfee antivirus on your computer?” He looked at me and put down his cigarette. “I take it off,” he said. “It’s too annoying.”

The irony in reference to this post is Asus and Sony are now profitable since they dropped Windows.

Since when did either Sony (notice all the laptops with Windows 8 on them) or Asus (note the "ASUS recommends Windows 8" line). So what exactly is supposed to be ironic when both are still selling Windows machines? Maybe you meant "Windows Phone"? But then again, when did either of them sell Windows phones?

Samsung I believe is making out like gangbusters

Yes, Samsung would be the one vendor they were referring to.

ZTE

O really? Steep profits drop adds to ZTE woes .

Huawei doing great.

Huaweii profits dropped 22%. Yeah sounds like they are doing great what with their profits dropping off at huge rates.

Stop spreading this ill informed garbage.

Says the guy spreading the ill-informed garbage.

...oh you mean HTC which is STILL profitable, and makes...you guessed it windows phones.

HTC Profit Falls 79% Amid Competition. Oh and HTC makes more Android phone models than Windows phones for quite some time now.

Oh your making a point about your beloved Apple making lots of profits...I'm afraid Apples pursuit of profits is already hurting Apples market share, which didn't work out well last time...they became Microsofts Bitch. They are already irrelevant.

Yes, their market share has gone down because the market has expanded with tons of shitty Android phones flooding the market not because they are selling less phones and tablets.

Funny you should mention Germany...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5f1fa75e-047c-11e0-a99c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2D4Mp89rU

This has been going on much longer than a year.

This was over a year and a half ago:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cdd1ea06-7cc0-11e0-994d-00144feabdc0.html
 

Burson-Marsteller, a WPP-owned PR agency whose clients also include Microsoft, contacted US newspaper reporters and opinion-piece writers with a view to securing coverage on Google’s alleged use of personal information from Facebook and other social networks.

MS vs ODF (2009):
http://techrights.org/2009/05/27/ghettoblaster-may-be-microsoft-astroturf/

MS vs Linux (2001):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/26/ms_targets_linux_mac_rivals/

There is so much more too....

The #3 television manufacturer in the world, Sony, announced on Friday it's cutting its medium-term TV sales goals in half.

Four days earlier, #5 Panasonic (Matsushita) announced it's cutting its flatscreen TV production in half.

Sharp is ranked #4. Apparently all three of the Japanese manufacturers bet too big on TVs and are getting trounced by Korean rivals Samsung (#1) and LG (#2).

The #3 television manufacturer in the world, Sony, announced on Friday it's cutting its medium-term TV sales goals in half.

Four days earlier, #5 Panasonic (Matsushita) announced it's cutting its flatscreen TV production in half.

Sharp is ranked #4. Apparently all three of the Japanese manufacturers bet too big on TVs and are getting trounced by Korean rivals Samsung (#1) and LG (#2).

As a matter of fact, iranian press is not doing as bad as you might imagine. It's true that after Mr Khatami's presidency (iranian reformist), situation has gotten somewhat worse, but press has a relative freedom. They can't go all the way to criticise the supreme leader, but criticising the president, parlement, and countries politics is not a novelty.

how about criticizing fars?
"not as bad as you might imagine". yeah right, it's pretty fucking bad.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a47ef9ec-0873-11e2-b37e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz27rIwLgAX

Nobody said Saudi was Norway :p

Infact the fact that Norway did NOT turn out just either the Gulf (uber rich crazy) or Nigeria (uber rich corrupt) is a miracle that can be laid at the hands of... an Iraqi.

I suggest everybody read this [1] FT article. Psst Canadians, (especially Albertans) you might want to pay special attention.

Don't worry though, the King will dole out yet another "bonus" just like last time, when the Arab spring was at it's height.

(For the curious, I *have* lived in Saudi, and man it's weird. Not the shithole you expect, nor the heaven you would believe, just... weird.)

[1]: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz24jiNjYKn

Saudi Aramco was estimated to be worth $781 billion in 2005

Quoting Alexander Hamilton's Report On Manufactures (1791):

the power to raise money is plenary, and indefinite; and the objects to which it may be appropriated are no less comprehensive, than the payment of the public debts and the providing for the common defence and "general Welfare." The terms "general Welfare" were doubtless intended to signify more than was expressed or imported in those which Preceded; otherwise numerous exigencies incident to the affairs of a Nation would have been left without a provision. The phrase is as comprehensive as any that could have been used; because it was not fit that the constitutional authority of the Union, to appropriate its revenues shou'd have been restricted within narrower limits than the "General Welfare" and because this necessarily embraces a vast variety of particulars, which are susceptible neither of specification nor of definition.

How is providing for individuals in hard times not in the General Welfare? We the people get to decide what is in our welfare. Austerity is not...

---

As for examples, here's a quotation from Japan's lessons for a world of balance-sheet deflation (by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times):

Despite a loss in wealth of three times GDP and a shift of 20 per cent of GDP in the financial balance of the corporate sector, from deficits into surpluses, Japan did not suffer a depression. This was a triumph. The explanation was the big fiscal deficits. When, in 1997, the Hashimoto government tried to reduce the fiscal deficits, the economy collapsed and actual fiscal deficits rose.

From What we can learn from Japan's decades of trouble :

Japan's experience strongly suggests that even sustained fiscal deficits, zero interest rates and quantitative easing will not lead to soaring inflation in post-bubble economies suffering from excess capacity and a balance-sheet overhang, such as the US.

Reagan proved deficits don't matter. England's slide under Cameron, Ireland's economic difficulties, Greece, etc. are due to the austerity death trap. Iceland rejected EU-style austerity and is doing much better.

Quoting Alexander Hamilton's Report On Manufactures (1791):

the power to raise money is plenary, and indefinite; and the objects to which it may be appropriated are no less comprehensive, than the payment of the public debts and the providing for the common defence and "general Welfare." The terms "general Welfare" were doubtless intended to signify more than was expressed or imported in those which Preceded; otherwise numerous exigencies incident to the affairs of a Nation would have been left without a provision. The phrase is as comprehensive as any that could have been used; because it was not fit that the constitutional authority of the Union, to appropriate its revenues shou'd have been restricted within narrower limits than the "General Welfare" and because this necessarily embraces a vast variety of particulars, which are susceptible neither of specification nor of definition.

How is providing for individuals in hard times not in the General Welfare? We the people get to decide what is in our welfare. Austerity is not...

---

As for examples, here's a quotation from Japan's lessons for a world of balance-sheet deflation (by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times):

Despite a loss in wealth of three times GDP and a shift of 20 per cent of GDP in the financial balance of the corporate sector, from deficits into surpluses, Japan did not suffer a depression. This was a triumph. The explanation was the big fiscal deficits. When, in 1997, the Hashimoto government tried to reduce the fiscal deficits, the economy collapsed and actual fiscal deficits rose.

From What we can learn from Japan's decades of trouble :

Japan's experience strongly suggests that even sustained fiscal deficits, zero interest rates and quantitative easing will not lead to soaring inflation in post-bubble economies suffering from excess capacity and a balance-sheet overhang, such as the US.

Reagan proved deficits don't matter. England's slide under Cameron, Ireland's economic difficulties, Greece, etc. are due to the austerity death trap. Iceland rejected EU-style austerity and is doing much better.

Feds walk away from prosecuting Goldman, SEC misses Madoff, but this guy needs to be prosecuted - twice!

That's the way it works in our plutocracy. The big fish get away scot free with the little guys get it up the ass.

Run up billions of dollars in debt and can't pay it back? The government steps in, covers it, pay yourself a big bonus, and everyone pats you on the back for being a financial whiz and a "job creator".

In the meantime, a peon who does the right thing and gets educated and pays with student loans is stuck with them for life unless he pays them back - no free ride like the plutocrats get. And to add insult to injury, you have some very ignorant people who think that only folks who majored in liberal or fine arts have that problem and that they deserved what they got - not true, BTW, folks with nursing, accounting, CS and engineering degrees are also having horrible times. Or they accuse those folks of going to expensive private schools - which isn't always true either considering state schools are quite pricey themselves.

And to anyone who posts that they worked 2 jobs, held a 3.0+ GPA and graduated in 4 years with a CS or engineering degree without any debt, I call bullshit. I will never beleive that.

Anyone who defends this system is either in on it or has this illusion that they can with enough "hard work", some "risk taking" and some "brains" that they to can join the 1%; you'll have a better luck winning the lottery.

Feds walk away from prosecuting Goldman, SEC misses Madoff, but this guy needs to be prosecuted - twice!

Two Norwegian day traders who outwitted the automated trading system of a big US broker have been cleared of all wrongdoing by the country’s highest court.

A123 is having financial problems. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90d1ea80-9f78-11e1-a255-00144feabdc0.html#axzz20yFgnBM2

In general, you can do work or you can answer questions from management, but you can't do both.

Not buying it; we're not talking about some open-source, crowd-funded underdog, here - If you're really trying to convince me that communicating with customers when things go wrong is too much work for a company that has more money than the government, you've got a tough road ahead. It becomes even harder to convince me of such when taking into account Apple's history of deny, deny, deny.

Yawn. Apple commented that it was looking into the problem last night, and has now confirmed that it has been fixed.

Meanwhile: Google denies Android botnet claim, Google denies preventing anti-competition probe, Google denies 'cooking' search results,Samsung denies, and Samsung remains adamant in denying its full responsibility and unwilling to pay due compensation to all the deceased workers..

That's how I used to think too. Then I realized that hearing lies on all sides didn't make me any more informed, it just made me think I was.

Today I'm relatively picky with my news and sources of news. I look for sources I can trust, and if they betray that trust, I'm hard on them.

Who to trust? Not many sources. Some organizations, such as the Guardian Newspaper, have a history of strong independent reporting that means I'm more likely to get the truth from them. Others, such as those parts of the financial press that concentrate on core news, not opinion, are good too. Both the FT and the news part of Bloomberg are pretty good. The comment on the latter is fairly awful and can be safely consigned to a trashcan.

And the BBC? Well, that's more complex than most people give credit for. The BBC is mostly independent, and to be honest, the government connections have never been an issue with the Beeb. The issue is some guy called John Birt, who, before becoming DG of the BBC ran its news department, and changed its culture, from what I can figure out, pretty much permanently. That is, I take a peek from time to time, decades later, and still see the same hacks and analysis style.

Basically, Birt implemented something called the "Mission to Explain", which meant news was mixed with analysis.

How would this work? Well, imagine if the news department had to cover sports (thankfully, this hasn't happened... yet.) At the beginning of the program, the news would report that Team A has lost its match against Team B. The anchor would defer to their Team A vs B playing game C correspondent, who would introduce three experts, who would explain how Team A did so badly, what Team A needs to do from here, and what Team B did right.

Seem reasonable? Well, the report would go out Friday. The game would be played on Saturday. Saturday in three months from now...

That's why I don't care much for BBC News. Especially as we weren't even talking about real experts, just the "armchair general" types.

BBC's independence? First class. The BBC was never fearful of government, it would bully politicians on air. Politicians in government actually hate it. Actual quality of reporting though? With some exceptions, dreadful.

To get back to the point though: the truth can rarely be found by looking at a group of biased media coverage, even if you're lucky enough to find contradictory outlets. You have to try to find the good journalists. Unfortunately, there aren't that many out there.