cryptogon

I have perhaps, oh, a trillion links bookmarked. Ok, less that a trillion. But still a lot.

One that I happened to check just now is http://cryptogon.com. I had forgotten exactly what it was.

I just read most of the recent posts, and it has a most wondrous selection of articles blogged.

Things like this (these are just the intros):

Via: Popular Science:

Green Tech
THE MICROWAVE MAGICIAN

Microwave Machine Recovers Natural Gas and Oil from Any Hydrocarbon Based Material

December 14th, 2007

Frank Pringle has found a way to squeeze oil and gas from just about anything

I’m not sure if I’m watching a magic trick, or an invention that will make the cigar-chomping 64-year-old next to me the richest man on the planet. Everything that goes into Frank Pringle’s recycling machine—a piece of tire, a rock, a plastic cup—turns to oil and natural gas seconds later. “I’ve been told the oil companies might try to assassinate me,” Pringle says without sarcasm.

The machine is a microwave emitter that extracts the petroleum and gas hidden inside everyday objects—or at least anything made with hydrocarbons, which, it turns out, is most of what’s around you. Every hour, the first commercial version will turn 10 tons of auto waste—tires, plastic, vinyl—into enough natural gas to produce 17 million BTUs of energy (it will use 956,000 of those BTUs to keep itself running).

WHEAT: LIMIT UP

December 13th, 2007

Via: AP:

Wheat prices surged the daily trading limit Wednesday on expectations that U.S. exports will continue at the high pace of recent months and deplete domestic supplies.

Energy futures, other agricultural products and gold also rose, boosted in part by the dollar’s weakness Wednesday.

CHINA: 36 MAJOR CITIES TOLD TO KEEP FOOD, OIL RESERVES

December 13th, 2007

Via: China Daily:

The central government Tuesday instructed 36 major cities to each maintain a minimum 10-day reserve of food and cooking oil supplies, as part of its measures to ensure market stability during the current period of rising food prices.

A notice jointly issued by five ministries led by the country’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said the move was necessary to ensure a “ready” emergency production and distribution system.

The cities include Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

James Turk: Liquidity Won’t Help Insolvency

December 13th, 2007

Of course, James Turk has more riding on gold than just about anyone, but this is a good read anyway.

Via: Kitco:

The Federal Reserve today announced a new scheme to inject more liquidity into the money markets. It cobbled together a partnership arrangement, as the Canadian, UK and European central banks also agreed to participate in the scheme.

The process of ‘injecting liquidity’ is a euphemistic way of saying ‘creating money out of thin air.’ The Federal Reserve doesn’t need a printing press to do this. They simply create a book entry on its balance sheet, and presto, $40 billion (or whatever amount they deem appropriate) of new ‘money’ is created, which the Fed then lends to those bankers coming to it hat in hand.

Import Prices Rise 2.7%, the Most in 17 Years

December 13th, 2007

U.S. DOLLAR HOLDERS MAY BE FORCED TO ACCEPT IMF RESERVE ASSETS IF THEY WANT TO DIVERSIFY; FLOOD OF DOLLARS THREATENS GLOBAL ECONOMY

December 12th, 2007

WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.

“This is the warning I’ve been repeating for years: You do not want to try to reach the exit as millions of other people attempt to do the same thing. Waiting for clarity is not often rewarded.

— Cryptogon: Waiting for Clarity on the Brink of Oblivion

This is easily the most dire financial story in a generation.

Pentagon Poised to Resume Open Air Chemical and Biological Weapons Testing

December 12th, 2007

* shaking head * * mumbling *

Via: Scoop:

The Pentagon has denied President Bush issued a directive for it to resume open-air testing of chemical and biological warfare(CBW) agents that were halted by President Richard Nixon in 1969. Yet, the Pentagon’s stated preparations make it appear it is poised to do just that.

Spokesperson Chris Isleib did not respond to a request for comment on a passage from the Defense Department’s annual report sent to Congress last April that suggests the Pentagon is gearing up to resume the tests.

Voice to Skull Technology in New York

December 12th, 2007

Via: AdAge:

New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman’s voice right in her ear asking, “Who’s there? Who’s there?” She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, “It’s not your imagination.”

Indeed it isn’t. It’s an ad for “Paranormal State,” a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an “audio spotlight” from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it’s another story.

Washington Mutual to Close 190 Offices

Via: San Francisco Chronicle:

Washington Mutual Inc., the nation’s largest savings and loan, said Monday that problems in the mortgage and credit markets are forcing it to close offices, lay off more than 3,000 workers and set aside up to $1.6 billion for loan losses in its fourth quarter.

Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S. Government, Halliburton/KBR

December 11th, 2007

Via: ABC News:

A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.

“Don’t plan on working back in Iraq. There won’t be a position here, and there won’t be a position in Houston,” Jones says she was told.