Posts - Americans

Nav Sarao: What You Need Know And Why He’s Important

Finance

Nav Singh Sarao is the Briton blamed for causing the May 2010 Wall Street ‘flash crash’ where about $1 trillion was briefly wiped out from U.S. stock markets in a matter of minutes.

Mr Sarao operated a one-man trading shop from his parents’ house in a working class London suburb, miles from the financial district. He showed few, if any, signs of wealth yet was making millions a year manually trading futures contracts by being quick with his mouse. He techniques were old school – buying big positions, holding them a very short time and selling them on intuition moments later.

This week Mr. Sarao was charged in separate civil and criminal complaints in the United States. He has been granted bail in London on strict conditions, including a $7.5 million bond. He has said he opposes extradition to the United States for trial.

So how does one man cause this much chaos in the financial markets, which are supposed to be safeguarded from events such as this?

The answer is that Mr Sarao was not the real cause. High Frequency Trading (HFT) firms are the real responsible parties.

HFT firms play elaborate games, using sophisticated computer software, to predate the markets looking for human trades they can front-run. By being faster than human traders – or each other – they have invaded the market, inserting themselves between legitimate buyers and sellers and taking a huge profit in the process.

These firms have rigged the market such that they can never lose.

Virtu, an HFT firm that listed publicly just 24 hours before Mr Sarao’s arrest (we’ll get back to this coincidence), has lost money exactly one day in the last 6 years. Citadel, another colossal HFT firm has a similar record and has now become bigger than most Wall St. investment banks. It enjoys a cozy relationship now with Federal Reserve, providing it de-facto government backing to conduct its activity.

The HFT firms rely on their computer algorithms to produce profit day in and day out on virtually every trade. They don’t lost and because of this have become very rich, very powerful and very connected.

Mr Sarao found himself, as a human trader, increasingly trading against these firms and their trading bots. The firms would duck and dive and weave around him, looking to steal profits on his trades. Mr Sarao spoke to his brokers on many occasions to get them to put limits in place to curb the abusive robotic traders but his brokers refused due to the massive commissions they earned from the frantic trading activity.

But Mr Sarao was smart. He worked with his broker to design three ways to place his orders into the market that made it difficult for these robotic trading firms to steal from him.

He then was able to trade effectively against the robots in a fair fight. As a successful, seasoned trader this was a fight he was able to win.

But the trading bots at HFT firms don’t react well to losing. As the losses at the firms mounted the bots engaged in increasingly strange behavior, effectively moving the entire market lower and lower and lower, trying to find the point at which Mr Sarao would capitulate.

But Mr Sarao was actually winning. So as the bots went lower he profitably traded the move. But as the contract they were trading, S&P futures, is influential in the market and used to price many other financial instruments, the sudden drop in price was noticed by other bots.

Fearing a loss other HFT firms joined in the selling. As traders up and down Wall St. picked up on this selling, they started to sell shares of actual companies, along with the HFT firms, fearing something bad was about to happen in the market.

The result was a 9% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the total estimated decline was worth approximately $9 billion.

The market had become so unstable because of the computerized trading firms that one single trader was able to cause a massive market panic simply because he had found a way to beat the robotic traders.

In addition to exposing the danger HFT firms cause in the markets Mr Sarao had also found a way to beat the firms. And to firms like Virtu and Citadel, who simply never lose, this was unacceptable. Sarao’s ingenuity made him enemy number one for the newly powerful trading firms.

The reason Mr Sarao is now in jail is because of HFT firms like Virtu and Citadel. These firms have infected the market, inserting themselves between legitimate buyers and sellers like a parasite. They control brokerages, trading platforms, regulators and state prosecutors.

They have turned this heft on Nav Sarao.

His indictment comes a mere 24 hours after HFT kingpin Virtu listed publicly, an unlikely coincidence.

Mr Sarao is nothing but a scapegoat for the events of May 6 2010. The real culprits are high frequency trading firms and the regulators that enable them.

These firms create instability in the markets and levy a tax against honest buyers and sellers of securities.

Our robust financial markets are vital to America’s success as a country. Faith in them makes them efficient and secure. HFT firms, not a single trader like Nav Sarao, give us reason to distrust the market and weaken them from the inside out.

HFT firms and the regulators who are asleep at the switch (or on the payroll) need to be held accountable for the events of May 6th 2010 not Nav Sarao.

700 Dead As 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake Slams Nepal,

Entertainment News

The tiny mountain nation of Nepal was struck by a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake early Saturday morning. The powerful quake was centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu. Authorities say at least 700 are presumed dead with the count likely to rise as rescuers comb through the rubble.

Historic buildings in city lay in rubble on the ground with chaotic scenes of the injured being treated outside hospitals. The city was also hit with a seemingly endless series of aftershocks, forcing terrorized residents to huddled outdoors.

The death toll was reported by Laxmi Dhakal, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs. Given that rescue effort are still in the early stages and that people from outlying areas have likely been affected as well it seems certain that the number will rise.

Kathmandu, which rests in a valley surrounded by the Himalayas, has a population of 1 million people.

People who experienced the quake spoke by telephone with CNN, describing scenes of chaotic scenes full of fear and suffering.

Avalanches hit Mount Everest, one of Nepal’s most famous tourist attractions, sending mountaineers running for cover.

“Everest base camp huge earthquake then huge avalanche from pumori,” said mountaineer Alex Gavan said. “Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain.”

Puerto Rico Warns Of Government Shutdown Due To Liquidity Crisis

Entertainment News

Two months ago Puerto Rico’s third largest bank, Doral, failed. The event cost U.S. taxpayers $750 million in the process. Doral Bank wasn’t alone in having a Non Performing Loan ratio bordering on 40% – troubled Greek banks had similar ratios, well above what experts would consider safe levels.

Less than 60 days after this event Puerto Rico is looking even more like Greece in a lot of ways. The U.S. territory faces a looming government shutdown due to “the absence of liquidity to operate.”. In short Puerto Rico’s central bank, the Government Development Bank (GDB), has run out of money.

The territory’s top finance officials have said the government will likely shut down in three months because of a looming liquidity crisis and warned of a catastrophic impact on the island’s economy.

In a letter to leading lawmakers, including Governor Alejandro Padilla, the government officials said a last minute financing deal that could salvage the government’s finances looked unlikely to succeed. It then warned of laying off government employees and reducing public services in an effort to conserve cash.

“A government shutdown is very probable in the next three months due to the absence of liquidity to operate,” the officials said. “The likelihood of completing a market transaction to finance the government’s operations and keep the government open is currently remote.” the letter read.

The letter was dated April 21 and was sent to the heads of Puerto Rico’s Senate and House in addition to the governor. It was signed by the government’s fiscal team, including the head of the Government Development Bank and the Treasury Secretary.

Puerto Rico, which has a total debt of more than $70 billion, is currently trying to raise $2.95 billion in financing. At the same time it is pushing through unpopular tax reforms such as a higher value-added tax and increasing a levy on crude oil.

The reason for the tax overhauls is for hedge funds (who own a large portion of the bonds from a $3.5 billion deal floated last year) to feel comfortable supporting the new bond issue. The letter from the GDB appears to be an effort to shock lawmakers into action before time runs out.

If the GDB’s timetable proves accurate we could see major financial collapse inside of 90 days.

Why Electric Car Sales Have Tanked Lately

News

Ford just laid off 700 Michigan plant workers working on small cars and hybrid manufacturing The Detroit News reported yesterday. Specifically, Ford said that it is cutting a shift at its Michigan Assembly Plant where it manufacturers the Ford Focus compact car and C-Max crossover because of low sales of small cars, hybrids and electric vehicles.

Repeat: electric car sales have been dropping like crazy.

According to Edmunds.com, the automotive industry authority, sales of electric cars and hybrids are at their lowest level since 2011.

The trend has further negative effects beyond low current sales. What’s even more worrisome is motorists who leased those first-generation hybrids and electrics, have now decided not to buy them at the end of their lease terms. Instead, they’re turning them in, leaving dealer lots full of low mileage cars at huge discounts to new ones. Edmunds concludes that while “the government’s going to keep pushing it, there is time to pause right now.”

All this comes even with hefty federal tax credit and incentives. Electrics and hybrid purchases get you a $7,500 federal tax credit as well as other incentives going to automakers. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan have all dropped prices in an attempt to move their new hybrids and electrics. Cadillac became the most recent to lower the sticker on an electric car, when it whacked $9,000 off its ELR plug-in hybrid last week.

The reason for the slowing sales? Low oil prices.

As the price of gasoline drops the incentive to drive fuel efficient vehicles declines. GM’s first quarter number show this, as they were driven largely by increased sales of trucks and SUVs. The same thing happened for large dealer networks PACCAR and Rush.

As long as fuel prices remain low there will be pressure on automakers investing heavily in electrics. Tesla, we’re looking at you.

America Still Saddled With Burden Of 100 Year Old Chemical Weapons

News

100 years later the United States is still struggling to get rid of its chemical weapons. Some 780,000 mustard gas shells are stored near a Colorado disposal plant, the vast majority of the remaining U.S. stockpile. The plant isn’t even operational yet – that starts this October. Destroying the stockpile will take at least four years and cost a minimum of $4.5 billion.

This is the legacy of one of mankind’s most vile inventions: chemical weapons.

“Chemical agent destruction is a hard role. It’s a high hazard operation,” says project manager Kim Jackson.

At a cutting edge military installation on the windswept prairie of southern Colorado, an army of workers in protective gear, assisted by precision robots, is training to destroy the toxic and increasingly unstable weapons. The facility’s official name is the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant.

“We have explosion hazards, and we also have agent hazards. That means anyone who might be exposed to the blister agent. So we spend a lot of our time with our personnel on training to ensure that our workforce is ready to complete chemical weapons destruction.” says Jackson.

In the 1940s, as the US entered World War Two, the military created a huge stockpile of chemical weapons, mainly in the form of artillery shells.

Fortunately for humanity, neither side used chemical weapons against enemy troops during the war. So the ageing munitions – primarily mustard gas – sat for decades inside concrete and earth covered bunkers at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. The weapons date to as far back as the first world war.

In the 1990s, the U.S. and many other nations signed a treaty pledging to destroy their stockpiles. After much delay that process is happening now to the mustard gas shells stored at Pueblo.

“Mustard rounds were introduced in World War I,” Jackson said. “And to think here we are 100 years later completing destruction of those chemical weapons.”

Right now the workers are practicing on dummy shells exactly like the artillery that was manufactured during World War II.

Full scale weapons destruction will begin in October. Currently, Jackson is running a battery of tests on both equipment and personnel.

“They never know what I’m going to throw at them,” she says, smiling. “We use different contingencies, such as a medical event, a chemical spill, or a loss of equipment, and they have to respond.”

When the process begins for real each shell will be carefully unpacked and have its explosives removed, then repeatedly checked for leaks. The round will then be taken apart, soaked in neutralizing chemicals, blasted with high pressure water, and baked in ovens to strip away every trace of poison.

In a more dangerous and separate building, some live shells that are leaking or have been damaged are already being destroyed with controlled explosions.

Workers clad in protective clothing carefully load rounds into a thick steel cylinder, constantly checking items off a lengthy safety checklist. Inside the cylinder, explosive charges neatly split the shells in two, which are then treated with neutralizing agents.

“The mustard gas is inside the destruction system vessel. That’s neutralized with monoethanolamine,” a spokesman says. “We rotate the vessel and typically in no more than an hour the monoethanolamine has completely broken down the mustard agent.”

While the engineers who carry out this dangerous and painstaking job don’t usually talk about the historical or moral aspects of their work, engineer Jon Miller sees it is as a deeply satisfying task.

“Chemical weapons are about the worst thing going,” Miller says. “They’re dirty, they’re nasty. So really, getting rid of them, in my opinion, is kind of an important thing.”

Does Viral Ad Campaign Offer Scary Glimpse Into Our Future?

Entertainment News

Every day in Hong Kong more than 16,000 tons of waste is dumped in the streets and public spaces. A new project from the Hong Kong Cleanup Challenge and ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong hopes to bring attention to the issue. It may also offer a scary

The pair teamed up with DNA technology firm Parabon Nanolabs to take technology typically used in catching criminals and using it to create DNA-based composites of litterbugs from genetic material left behind on discarded garbage. Posters of the perpetrators will be put up across the city and online.

How realistic is it to create a picture of you from a soda can you tossed on the street?

According to Parabon, pretty realistic. Its Snapshot tech is able to identify a high probability of certain features, such as eye color, showing that it’s not just brown, blue or green, for example, but that someone’s eyes may be blue with some green.

The technology can also show skin color, hair color and ancestry. These findings then determine the start of what a person looks like. Face shape is made up of traits, like small eyes, wide set, bumpy nose, big lips, etc. So the system builds a model from the genotype and phenotype data in the sample and then uses a facial modelling program to represent the face from 44 possible variables in order to draw an accurate portrait of the litterbug.

While a catchy ad campaign the technology is a scary look into the future of our log everything, track you from cradle to grave society.

American authorities already have massive DNA databases of people investigated, charged or convicted of criminal offenses. These DNA databases are tied to pictures, thanks to mugshot and driver’s license databases.

And we already use similar roadside scanning technology. Police are increasingly using automatic license plate readers to ticket cars or track deadbeat dads.

We’re not far away, at all, from a system like that used in the anti-litter campaign.

As a country we need to decide if this is the way we want to live. Automated policing is a slippery slope and ripe for abuse. Red light cameras, for instance, can be and are carefully tuned to maximize revenue while leaving motorists with no humanly possible chance to avoid their tickets. They are tuned to prey on us not be fair.

We must be careful to learn from these failures and develop policing systems that reflect the values of our country – liberty, freedom and justice. We can’t be seduced by clever technology that fundamentally destroys the values we hold dear, even if means tolerating a certain amount of bad behavior. It’s a small price to pay for liberty.

Starbucks Handles Rare Failure The American Way

News

Starbucks on Friday saw the company’s computer system fail across North America. The company operates one of the biggest retail networks in the United States and also operates in many countries around the world. It counts more than 22,000 stores worldwide and serves millions of customers each day.

According to a brief statement released by the company “the outage was caused by a failure during a daily system refresh” and caused nearly all stores in North America to lose the ability to accept payments.

The company handled the outage with grace and character – many stores simply gave drinks away for free until closing early for the day.

News of the failed system spread quickly across Twitter as customers celebrated getting their hand-crafted beverages for free.

A hashtag — #thefrappening — was cheerfully adopted.

The response by Starbucks is a case study on handling failure and turning a problem into an opportunity. The company has now drawn their loyal customers even closer by taking the opportunity to throw them a freebie and thank them for their business. This move will pay dividends in the future.

The company also got a significant amount of free, good, publicity. While the cost of the outage will no doubt impact earnings this cost effectively becomes advertising. The type of advertising big brands pay huge dollars for. Financially the decision made good business sense and limited the financial damage from the mistake.

More importantly Starbucks today did the right thing. They owned a failure and used it as an opportunity to do something nice for their customers. It’s a great lesson in American ingenuity and values.

Why Ecuador Loves The Two Dollar Bill

Entertainment News

Two dollar bills are relatively rare but are still legal tender and can be ordered from the U.S. Mint. While most Americans may look a little surprised to receive one in Ecuador people are overjoyed.

It all started fifteen years ago when Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar as its official currency. It was a contentious issue and it still stirs debate to this day. It was so unpopular that when it was first announced protesters took over the capital and the government collapsed. The next government stuck with the plan because The Sucre, Ecuador’s native currency, was in the throes of a decade of hyper-inflation that was destroying the economy.

In 1990 $1 bought you 900 Sucres while in 2000, the Sucre’s last year, every citizen was forced to trade 25,000 Sucres for each dollar. The effect was to wipe out the savings of an entire nation.

Today the economy is doing better with GDP growing, poverty coming down and inflation significantly lower. But in the midst of all this economic stability a curious devotion to the $2 bill emerged.

“They bring us good luck. If you keep a $2 bill with you it will bring more money,” said one resident.

The devotion to the two dollar bill seems to stem from Ecuador’s strong Catholic majority and long tradition of superstition that dates to before the arrival of the Europeans. Many cities have giant statues of various virgins perched on hills that watch over the city, similar to Brazil’s iconic Christ The Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

When Ecuador dollarized, our Federal Reserve flew them plane loads of cash. They didn’t send any two dollar bills though, which makes them rare.

Ecuador actually mints its own coins and mixes them in with U.S. coins that have the same size and value, but all dollar bills are flown down from the Federal Reserve every few years. During years when cash is not delivered tourists add small amounts of new bills while they visit the country.

Breaking out a two dollar bill in a crowded market elicits reactions such as “My God! Look! Look! A two dollar bill” and “How much do you want for each one?”

People willingly pay many times more than face value to get one of the rare bills. As Ecuador moves to a new digital dollar, where each is in theory backed by a physical U.S. bill, demand for twos seems to be un-dented.

“I don’t care if we stop using the dollar,” a woman selling bananas was quoted as saying. “I’m going to hold on to this bill right here.” Holding up her two dollar bill “This will bring me more money no matter what currency we use.”

Positive Thinking Shown To Help Fight Brain Cancer

Health & Wellness

Positive thinking is always a good thing. It is a key tactic taught to Navy SEALs as they battle impossible odds and grueling physical challenges. It’s been known to help golfers and other professional athletes stay in the zone and it has been shown to make you seem more attractive to the opposite sex.

Now research has shown that the simple act of thinking can accelerate the growth of many brain tumors.

Those are the findings of a paper in Cell, published on Thursday, that show how activity in the cerebral cortex of the brain affects high-grade gliomas, which account for about 80 percent of all malignant brain tumors in people.

“This tumor is utilizing the core function of the brain, thinking, to promote its own growth,” says Michelle Monje, a researcher and neurologist at Stanford who led the research team.

Based on the findings the theory would be that doctors could slow the growth of these tumors by using sedatives to reduce mental activity. But that isn’t practical in real life because it wouldn’t eliminate the tumor and “we don’t want to stop people with brain tumors from thinking or learning or being active.”

But the discovery alludes to other ways to slow down some of the trickiest brain tumors, says Tracy Batchelor, director of the neuro-oncology program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“We really don’t have any curative treatments for high-grade gliomas,” Batchelor says. The discovery that tumor growth is linked to brain activity “has opened up a window into potential therapeutic interventions,” he says.

The discovery came after a team of scientists implanted human glioma tumors in mouse brains. The scientists used a process called optogenetics that uses light to control brain cell function. The technique increased the activity of cells near the tumors.

The team was lookin to see if high levels of activity would make the glioma grow more quickly. “And it turns out that it did,”

She began to suspect that this rare form of cancer was somehow hijacking a process called myelination, which happens in healthy brains. the Myelination process creates a layer of insulation around nerve fibers, which makes them better able to carry signals.

Last year, Monje andher team showed that the cells responsible for myelination began to grow quickly in response to heightened brain activity. “That was an intriguing finding and it was consistent with our idea that activity in the brain, thinking, planning, using your brain, might be promoting the cancer arising within it,” she says.

The mouse experiment confirmed the team’s suspicion. An additional experiment showed that the cancer cells were growing in response to the chemical signals that typically cause myelination.

“This work has much broader implications for brain tumors,” says Batchelor. “It’s not just pediatric tumors [the initial target], it’s pediatric and adult. And it’s not just one particular type of glioma. This has potential implications across the entire family of gliomas in the brain.”

Batchelor says the new research suggests a possible way to slow down these tumors — by disrupting the pathways linking brain activity to tumor growth.

Monje says she is glad that her work has led to a better understanding of tumors but says it’s still hard to feel gratified.

“It will be gratifying when we make some difference for these kids,” she says.

Why Tanning Chains Could Be The Next Tobacco Companies

Health & Wellness

They both have claimed to be healthy. They both have targeted young people. Both are addictive and yet one is heavily regulated while the other is not. Tanning salons and cigarette manufacturers share many of the same bad habits and yet only one of them is regulated. That looks set to change as New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, filed lawsuits against two popular indoor tanning salon chains on Thursday.

The lawsuits accuse the chains of playing down the health hazards associated with indoor tanning and promoting the practice as a healthful activity.

Authorities said that the two chains, Portofino Spas and Total Tan, have violated state laws against deceptive business practices by making statements on their websites and in advertisements suggesting that indoor tanning is both safe and good for your health.

The chains cited health benefits of increased vitamin D production and reduced risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. There is no medical to data to suggest any of these is actually true, according to the lawsuit.

Increasingly, health agencies and experts are taking issue with the practice. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that indoor tanning causes aging of the skin and several types of skin cancer, including the most deadly, melanoma. A comprehensive study last year estimated that indoor tanning contributed to 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the United States each year.

“Indoor tanning exposes users to two types of UV rays, UVA and UVB, which damage the skin and can lead to cancer,” the CDC. says on its website. The agency warns that indoor tanning also raises the risk of blinding eye diseases when eye protection isn’t used, and states that while vitamin D is important for good health, the safest way to obtain it is through food.

In his lawsuit against Portofino Spas, which has five Portofino Sun Center locations in New York City, Mr. Schneiderman said that the company had made statements on its website denying a link between cancer and tanning. “Conflicting data exist questioning the UV-melanoma relationship,” one of the statements cited in the lawsuit reads. “Some independent dermatology researchers question whether UV and melanoma are related at all.”

Brian C. Mahoney, a partner at Harris Beach, the law firm that represents Total Tan, said the company denied the allegations in the AG’s complaint and that it had consulted with a business professor at Siena College. The professor, claims the company, did not find any of its claims about vitamin D “misleading or otherwise deceptive.”

The company also claimed that it was a “small, upstate, family-owned business that refuses to be intimidated by Mr. Schneiderman, who is trying to impose his own view of the world on our industry.”

User of tanning salons should be reminded of history. Not long ago cigarette companies were touting the health benefits of their products and attempting so skirt regulation. Regardless of who owns the business if its dangerous, which tanning clearly is, it should be carefully regulated so that users are fully aware of any and all associated dangers.

Hezbollah Now Has World’s Largest Terrorist Drone Fleet

Entertainment News

According to new research from IHS Jane’s, the arms industry publication, terrorist group Hezbollah now has the world’s largest non-state drone fleet. The group claims to operate over 200 Iranian made drones and the militant Shia group has even constructed an airstrip in the northern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, for its fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), an analysis of satellite imagery suggests.

The Bekaa Valley is located in a remote and barely populated area about 6 miles south of the town of Hermel and just 10 miles west of the Syrian border. The crude airstrip was built sometime between February 27 2013 and June 19 2014. The analysts studied imagery that recently became publicly available on Google Earth.

The field consists of a single unpaved runway with a length of 2000 ft and width of 60 ft. Material has been excavated from a nearby quarry to build up the northern end of the strip so that it is level. It is built over a shorter strip that had been in existence since at least 2010.

The relatively short length of the strip indicates that the facility is not intended to smuggle in weapons shipments from Syria or Iran as it is too short for virtually all the transport aircraft used by the air forces of those countries.

Another explanation is that the runway has been built for Iranian-made drones, including the Ababil-3, which has been employed over Syria by forces allied to the Syrian regime, and possibly the newer and larger Shahed-129.

A Hezbollah spokesman actually confirmed to IHS Jane’s that the organization is using drones in operations against rebel forces in Syria, particularly over the mountainous Qalamoun region on Lebanon’s eastern border.

The terror group’s new airbase includes a large antenna located on a hill 1300 ft south of the strip. While it appears to be a standard Lebanese mobile telephone tower it could potentially be used to extend the range of a drone ground control station.

Hezbollah has operated UAVs from Lebanese airspace since November 2004, when it dispatched one that it identified as a Mirsad-1 for a brief reconnaissance mission over northern Israel. It then flew attempted to fly at least three UAVs into Israel during the July-August 2006 war.

Hezbollah said it was responsible for the UAV that was shot down over southern Israel on October 6th 2012. It said it used an Iranian-made aircraft for the incursion.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Iranian Aerospace Forces, said the UAV was of a type that had been in existence for a decade, a possible reference to the Ababil-3.

Iranian UAVs have been spotted on numerous occasions in Syrian airspace, mainly the Ababil-3 variant, but also the smaller Yasir-type.

The fact Hezbollah operates the same drone types as Iran leads to issues identifying who is operating the drones when they are spotted. The new airbase suggest Hezbollah will be ramping up its UAV operations in the coming months.

People Who Have More Sex Make More Money (And Vise-Versa)

Health & Wellness

New research published in the International Journal of Manpower shows there is an interdependent relationship between making money, having sex, and being physically healthy. While the health benefits of sex have been known for some time the relationship with money and career success is a new finding.

The research team found that workers who have sex two to three times per week earn, on average, 4.5 percent more than coworkers who have sex less often. The team surveyed 7,500 individuals and found that “workers with health problems who are sexually active earn 1.5 percent more than those with similar ailments who are not sexually active.”

Dr. Nick Drydakis, from Anglia Ruskin University, concluded that having a higher income results in leading a more active sex life, and that having more sex supports our efforts at the office. In short it works both ways – have sex to get ahead, have more sex because you’re ahead.

“Does lack of sex lead to lower wages or lower wages lead to less sex? In the literature there are studies that have examined both effects. Celibacy results in lower wages, as well as lower wages leading to less sex. That is, we can provide socio-economic arguments and health- and mental health-based arguments in order to support both effects.” Drydakis said.

Drydakis also noted that it is both the physical and the emotional effects of sex that improve our mental well-being. This healthy mental state leads us to perform better at other tasks. So it isn’t just sexual forms of care that are important to sustaining a healthy mental life and thus achieving our professional goals.

Without non-sexual care and support, we fall victim to loneliness, anxiety, and depression, which in turn affects our performance in other areas of life.

But if you think earning more money allows you to simply have more casual sex, think again says Helen Fisher, a sexual health researcher. A majority of men and women are looking to trigger a long-term relationship when they engage in sexual contact, which produces much of the non-sexual care that is so important to mental health.

The research also showed that maintaining a good level of health is absolutely essential.

“Workers taking medication were 5.4 percent less sexually active; those with diabetes 2.4 percent less; and those with arthritis and rheumatism 3.9 percent less,” according to the team. “People whose health is impaired face a 9.5 percent productivity penalty at work, while there is also a health-based discrimination factor on the order of 8.9 percent.”

Rare Pocket Shark Found In Gulf Of Mexico

Culture

Scientists excitedly announced Thursday they had discovered a very small and rare species of shark for only the second time in history. The last time they found one of the little sharks was over 35 years ago and none have been spotted since.

The species’ common name is the “pocket shark,” though its scientific name is the less interesting Mollisquama sp., according to the study which was published in the international journal Zootaxa.

While the sharks are actually small enough to fit in your pocket, it’s called “pocket” because of the distinctive opening behind its pectoral fin. The opening is one of many physiological features scientists hope to better understand.

“The pocket shark we found was only 5 and a half inches long, and was a recently born male,” said Mark Grace of NOAA Fisheries’ Pascagoula, Miss., Laboratory, lead researcher of the new study, who commented that the shark displayed an unhealed umbilical scar. “Discovering him has us thinking about where mom and dad may be, and how they got to the Gulf. The only other known specimen was found very far away, off Peru, 36 years ago.”

Interestingly, the specimen Grace discovered recently was not found in the ocean, per se; rather it was in the holdings of NOAA’s lab in Pascagoula.

The specimen was collected in the deep sea about 190 miles offshore Louisiana during a 2010 mission by the NOAA to study sperm whales. Grace uncovered the sample at the lab years later and recruited Tulane University researchers Michael Doosey and Henry Bart, and NOAA Ocean Service genetics expert Gavin Naylor, to give the specimen an up-close examination.

“This record of such an unusual and extremely rare fish is exciting, but its also an important reminder that we still have much to learn about the species that inhabit our oceans,” Grace added.

Whitehouse Dinner Highlights Administration’s Transparency Issues

News

Media types often remark that the Obama administration as one of the least press-friendly of modern times, with a track record of stonewalling, investigating and generally snubbing the media. Yet on Saturday night, media’s most prominent members will party with the very president whose administration has treated them, and thus the American people, with such disrespect.

The contradiction is palpable.

At the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday a ballroom full of Washington media types, advertisers and a few celebrities will schmooze with the same government officials, including the president, that they are supposed to be holding to account.

Most big news organizations refuse to take a stand on the issue and party on. This year’s event is just as popular as it has always been. All 260 tables at the Washington Hilton, 2,600 seats in all, are sold out despite a $3,000 price tag per table. In fact the event is so popular that the WHCA turned away 1,200 requests for tickets this year.

But a few reputable news outfits take a stand on the ethical issues with the dinner. The New York Times has been banning its reporters from attending since 2007. Dean Baquet, the Times’ executive editor, said this week that he imposed the ban when he was Washington bureau chief because he thought the dinner made “the press and politicians [look] too cozy.”

News personality Tom Brokaw expressed similar sentiments in 2012 after watching the fuss kicked up around attendee Lindsay Lohan. “If there’s ever an event that separates the press from the people that they’re supposed to serve, symbolically, it is that one,” Brokaw said on Meet the Press. “It is time to rethink it.”

While few are willing to sacrifice a trip to the glitzy dinner on mere ethical grounds, many journalists would probably agree with a more general critique of president Obama: his administration has often been uncooperative, if not downright hostile, to the people who cover him.

Some journalists have been refreshingly blunt in their assessments. In a TV interview given last year, Jill Abramson, then editor of the Times, called the administration “the most secretive” she had ever encountered in her career.

David Sanger, the Times‘ White House correspondent, described the Obama administration as “the most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered,” in a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2013.

To underscore the point, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has initiated seven investigations of classified leaks to news organizations, which is more than double those of any previous administration. And it has used unusually aggressive tactics in doing so, such as issuing secret subpoenas to seize phone records of reporters and editors at The Associated Press and labeling Fox News reporter James Rosen as “an aider, abettor and/or conspirator” of a suspected leaker.

To press advocates, this is criminalizing the act of reporting.

For an administration that rose to prominence on the ideas of hope, change and transparency Obama and his team, led by architect Valerie Jarret, have taken nothing but a business as usual attitude.

A White House spokesman declined to comment.

Canada Signs Law To Limit Regulatory Red Tape

Entertainment News

We tend to think of our northern neighbors as the slightly more socialist and government heavy version of ourselves. But it appears they’ve caught onto this and are taking decisive measures to limit the amount of bureaucracy in their frosty country.

Canada’s ruling Conservative government took aim this week on the government’s hidden tax: regulation. Regulatory decisions and their implications get precious little scrutiny, unlike traditional budget items.

Regulatory transparency in the country got a considerable boost Thursday when the Red Tape Reduction Act (C-21) received Royal Assent and became law.

Minister Tony Clement, who has driven the bill, has now made Canada the first country in the world to require that for every new regulation introduced one of equivalent burden must be removed.

Although just recently signed into law, C-21 has been operating as policy for several years already, meaning that the costs of new rules must all be quantified and equal or greater costs removed elsewhere for them to become law.

The law effectively caps the cost of rules coming directly from regulations. Rules can also come from legislation and policy so the one-for-one rule does not cut the cost of all government rules. Still, it is a very good start.

The Canadian legislation should be looked at by our own politicians at both the state and federal level. With our record number of agencies and bureaus it could be an easy way to ensure new, costly, rules are not perpetually layered on top of old and outdated ones.

Americans To Get Access To Cuban Lung Cancer Vaccine

Health & Wellness

While thoughts of travelling to Cuba’s unspoiled beaches was likely the first thing that came to many American’s minds when Cuba and the United States said they were going to be friends again, a more important benefit is coming our way.

The Roswell Park Cancer Institute of Buffalo, New York signed an agreement this week to import a Cuban lung cancer vaccine. The drug, named CimaVax, helps treat symptoms and recurrence of the deadly disease, said institute director Candace Johnson. Dr Johnson returned Tuesday from a two-day trade trip to the island.

“[Lung cancer] patients have a very high risk for recurrence. You have one nodule, you know you are maybe going to be get another nodule. You can now take this vaccine that could help prevent a recurrence,” Johnson told Buffalo TV’s WIVB News 4.

The institute will perform clinical trials of CimaVax in the United States and seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration, Johnson said. Cuban scientists will also travel to Buffalo to help with testing and research work.

The delegation to Cuba was led by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the first U.S. governor to visit Cuba since Presidents Obama and Castro announced the historic thaw of relations back in December.

Following the announcement the Obama administration has rewritten some Cuba policies, which now allow deals like this. Only Congress can change the full scope of the embargo however.

The tiny island has long invested in medical research and is known for putting its extensive health system to work in ‘doctor diplomacy’.

CimaVax was developed by the government-run Molecular Immunology Center. The drug is not new, and Cuba hasn’t kept its success a secret. Cuban researchers began testing the drug in the 1990s and major world media outlets have reported on it in the 2000s.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths, killing over 163,000 Americans annually, according to the American Cancer Society.

HSBC To Flee London Because Of More Regulatory Oversight

Finance

After freshly paying a record fine for market manipulation schemes, HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank, said it will review whether to move its headquarters out of Britain following regulatory and structural changes in the industry. The regulations are designed to shore up the financial system after 2008’s market crash.

The move shows just how imperial the big banks feel and the lengths they will go to in order to avoid regulation and accountability.

Shareholders, themselves other big banks, have urged HSBC to move its headquarters to Asia, likely Hong Kong, due to a hefty UK bank tax and increased regulatory scrutiny in London.

“The board has therefore now asked management to commence work to look at where the best place is for HSBC to be headquartered in this new environment,” said HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint on Friday.

“The question is a complex one and it is too soon to say how long this will take or what the conclusion will be; but the work is under way.”

The news comes after rival Standard Chartered was rumored to be looking at quitting London for Asia. Like HSBC the firm has blamed taxes yet is likely also looking for a more lax regulatory climate offered by Asia.

The decision for a formal review was made by the board on Thursday.

HSBC sees less regulation as “critical to our future success”. Among notable new regulation, designed to shore up the financial industry after 2008’s meltdown, is the requirement to separate its British retail business from the rest of the group by 2019.

Knowledgeable investors said that move is more significant than the bank levy and is likely the catalyst for the bank to move.

Army On Track To Have Women In Elite Ranger Ranks

News

In what is a first for the Army, eight women have made it through the initial four-day assessment at Ranger School, officials said Thursday. The news raises the prospect that female soldiers will graduate from the elite course for the first time ever.

The tough women made it past Ranger Assessment Phase, commonly called “RAP Week,” along with 184 men according to officials at Fort Benning, Ga. Only 40 percent of students usually make it through the phase, which includes doing everything from chin-ups and push-ups to an exhausting 12 mile road march and a survival test that calls for climbing along a rope that is suspended over water.

Monday marks the first time ever that Ranger School was opened to women. An army spokesmen said 381 men and 19 women started on Day 1, meaning 48.3 percent of men and 42.1 percent of women made it through RAP Week. Both are within historic norms for Ranger School, which shows that the women did not get any special treatment either for or against.

RAP Week is usually the largest hurdle to graduating the 62 day Ranger School. Approximately 75 percent of the students who make it through eventually go on to graduate, Ranger School officials said.

The prospect of having women in the Army’s elite ranks shows the Army is slowly but surely becoming more progressive, though it still faces calls to include women in its elite units should they pass the standard tests.

Why Kleiner Perkins Should Sue Ellen Pao

News

News broke that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the prestigious venture capital firm, is offering serial liar and opportunist Ellen Pao a deal to pay its one million dollar court costs and not tarnish its name by dragging the case further.

The offer was made in filings this week in California Superior Court in San Francisco. The firm said the case, which drew waves of negative publicity for the firm, cost it $972,815 in witness fees, deposition and court reporter costs.

As the winning party, KPCB is requesting the former associate, Ellen Pao, to reimburse it for these bills. But if she forgoes any appeal and lets the case die, the firm will forgive and forget, or at least move on.

Debra S. Katz, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specializes in gender discrimination suits, said Kleiner sounded a little punitive.

“If Kleiner wanted to look classy, it could have said, ‘This was hard fought and we obviously disagree with your view, but it’s in the interest of all parties to walk away. In the meantime, there have been lessons learned and we are going to fund organizations that focus on glass ceiling issues,’ ” Ms. Katz said.

Ms. Katz is dead wrong. Ellen Pao, who somehow landed a CEO gig at tech company Reddit, should be made to account for her criminal actions.

Ms. Pao deliberately slept with a partner in a sophisticated scheme to blackmail the company into promoting her. When the firm caught onto her actions she pursued the case in court, claiming it was a gender issue. She dragged both Kleiner and gender diversity in the workplace through the mud. The former has every right to seek redress while the latter needs to loudly and vocally condemn her actions to disassociate from her selfish actions.

Pao is a fraud who sets hardworking women everywhere back 30 years. By falsely playing the gender discrimination card she devalues a serious issue and makes it harder for legitimate victims of discrimination to be taken seriously. She hurts the credibility of hard working American women everywhere.

Like all fraudsters, Ms. Pao should be publicly shamed and personally made to pay for her crimes in every way possible. Women everywhere need to condemn her actions and use her case as a textbook example of ways to set back women’s causes. There is nothing about Ms. Pao that is aligned with women’s issues anywhere. To use her case as any sort of victory is disingenuous.

Kleiner is right to go after her. Women everywhere should as well.

Ex-CIA Spyboss Petraeus Gets Slap On Wrist For Leaking Docs

News

While Chelsea Manning rots in a military brig ex-CIA head David Petraeus has been sentenced to just two years’ probation and fined $100,000 after admitting leaking classified documents to his mistress.

The married general, 62, dumped military logs containing classified material to his official biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell. He then lied to FBI agents investigating the case, and faced charges that could have put him behind bars for up to five years.

In March he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material in a plea-bargain with prosecutors. The government’s lawyers recommended a $40,000 fine, but Magistrate Judge David Keesler raised that to $100,000 in light of the serious nature of the crime. He will now have to make regular visits to a probation officer for the next two years.

“A slap on the wrist is the most one could say about what can barely be called a sentence for what could have been treated as serious crimes including espionage,” said Michael Ratner, a lawyer representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

In a move that exposes the shocking lack of integrity in our financial markets the disgraced general is now off to Wall St., where he is chairman of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The case and its outcome show the two sets of laws governing our country – one for the wealthy and connected and another set for the rest of us.

Google’s Internet-By-Balloon Scheme Is Lunacy

Finance

Google has posted a new video showing the progress it has made on Project Loon, a plan to float thousands of balloons into the upper atmosphere to provide internet connectivity for developing nations.

The video shows project lead Mike Cassidy talking about scaling up Project Loon to build the thousands of balloons necessary to cover most of the world. He also highlights how the company plans to launch, track and recover them.

While the project is revolutionay in a meteorological sense and is surely a technical triumph, it should scare the pants off any current or prospective Google investors.

Yesterday Google announced its financial results for the year and for a 7th straight year they missed on earnings. While revenues were up so were costs and at a greater rate.

Google’s pursuit of side projects, such as self driving cars and internet-by-balloon schemes show a lack of focus at the company and a penchant for pursuing technically advanced projects with little market potential.

Google Glass, the failed glasses-meet-webcam, are a prime example. Technically remarkable yet ill conceived.

The projects demonstrate a culture of hubris and superiority that are proving ruinous for the company.

Take, for instance, Cassidy’s statement in the video:

“One of the key things we will do is partner with a telco in every country”

Yet Google has begun to compete with these telcos but launching Google-fi and Google Fiber. It’s unlikely telcos would be keen to partner with the company on yet another product that directly competes with them.

Cassidy also glosses over the suitability of existing mobile technologies for communication in tough to reach places

People walk around at ground level as a considerable amount of effort has gone into designing cellular systems to not waste power by beaming up into the sky which is why Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg dismissed the idea last year, saying that conventional networks are rolling out so fast there is no market for Loon.

While Google may be the smartest guys in the room they have a focus problem. This starts with CEO Larry Page, the distractor-in-chief, and snowballs from there.

Anyone investing in Google should account for these distractions. Projects like Loon will never make it to market and be the game-changers Google wants them to be. While Google dithers with them other competitors will emerge and start taking market share. Between this and their anti-trust issues Google will be dead money for years to come.

What China’s Crackdown On Funeral Strippers Says About Its Government

Entertainment News

The Chinese Ministry of Culture announced Thursday that the government will begin clamping down on the hiring of strippers for funerals.

In a statement released Thursday, the ministry says they will be paying close attention to obscene performances in the eastern province of Jiangsu, as well as in Handan, and will charge individuals violating the prohibition.

Pictures are making the rounds on Chinese social media showing a dancer removing her bra for mourners.

The photos show that six erotic dancers had been hired to appear at the funeral of an elderly man from Handan earlier this year. An investigation was launched into the incident and found that their performance to be in violation of public security regulations.

The person “responsible for the performers” was arrested and held in jail for more than two weeks. He was then fined the equivalent of $10,000. The Chinese government vocally condemned the incident for “corrupting the social atmosphere”.

The recent crackdown is the latest government effort against the phenomenon and comes after a ten year battle against the practice.

The governments interest in this issue exposes the weakness of China’s communist political system. By centrally planning the economy resources continue to be mis-allocated – either to fat cat party members or through throwing money at issues not critical to the health and well-being of its citizens.

It also highlights China’s tough stance on personal liberties and freedoms. It spends vast sums of money and effort keeping its citizens from thinking independently and expressing personal beliefs.

This is a losing cause and one which will catch up to the communist party eventually. The current system of government in China is nothing more than a mechanism for ruling elites to enslave the population while they run off with the fruits of their labor. Sooner or later people will get wise to this, despite all the censorship and propaganda. When they do, watch out.

Apple Watch Requires 10 Videos To Understand

Finance

Despite its very limited availability Apple has released a series of tutorial videos on its website, giving step-by-step instructions on how exactly to use the complicated new device.

Video number one: learn how to wait. Seriously, that’s the first video.

The videos feature super-high Apple production quality complete with patronizing voice-overs, telling you things like “to read the time you don’t even need to switch it on”.

The videos also tell what you what the watch can’t do.

The “Faces video” says the watch is “easy to make look however you want”, meaning you can change the display. While there are configuration options there are no tools to upload backgrounds or build your own watch app. It’s Apple’s way or the highway.

If you wanted your Apple Watch to look like a Tag Heuer or Cartier, forget it.

What’s most significant about the videos is that they expose major usability issues with the watch. While the watch packs a ton of technical power, and it should given the battery lasts under a day, its difficult to interact with.

It’s also notable that Apple felt the need to release a video about how to wait for you watch. The launch was clearly bungled and the delays mean people’s expectations for the product will increase as the weeks go by. This is not good for a first run product which will naturally not be as elegant or refined as the 6th iteration iPhone. People expect this refinement from Apple and making them wait longer for the watch only compounds this problem.

When you need a set of videos to work an Apple watch it indicate the UI is a nightmare. The combination of buttons, jog dial digital crown, swiping, standard and firm presses are just very complicated to use.

How the UI behaves also depends on what either you watch or your iPhone is doing. Swiping up will do different things if the phone is playing music or the phone is running maps. Not exactly the picture of uniformity customers have come to expect from Apple.

Another glaring issue address by the video is using Apple apps for common functions. For instance to use Apple Pay you need to double click on a button and then swipe to choose your card and then awkwardly present the face of the watch to the card reader. The process is cumbersome and non intuitive.

While Apple will no doubt sell a ton of watches it will be interesting to see how sales hold up going forward. Apple has a lot of money and reputational karma riding on the product and early indications are that it doesn’t live up to the reputation the firm has cultivated over the last 10 years.

Why People Get Happier With Age

Health & Wellness

New research from Buffalo University and Northwestern University confirms previous studies that as people age, they tend to become happier and more satisfied with their lives.

The new study helps pinpoint one possible reason behind this improvement: people become more trusting as they age, which in turn leads to a number of benefits for their overall well-being.

“When we think of old age, we often think of decline and loss,” Claudia Haase, a professor of social policy and one of the study’s authors, said in a press release. “But a growing body of research shows that some things actually get better as we age.”

The research was composed of two separate studies. In the initial study, researchers looked at the link between age and trust by sampling nearly 200,000 people from 83 countries at different points over the past 30 years. A second, follow-up study, tracked over 1,200 Americans of different ages (Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers) over time.

The increased level of trust found in people as they aged led to improvements in well-being and happiness it was observed.

“Trust may benefit well-being because a sense of trust in other people allows us to derive support, comfort and pleasure from our social relationships,” Haase said. “People who trust more are also happier. Moreover, our study shows that people who trust more are not only happier today, but they also experience increases in happiness over time.”

The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Massive Magma Reserve Found Under Yellowstone

Culture

Yellowstone National Park is as beautiful as it is dangerous according to a discovery made by researchers from the University of Utah. While scientists have long known the park is an enormous supervolcano, its exact size has puzzled geophysicists for decades.

New research from the group, using seismic technology to scan hundreds of feet below the park’s surface, have made a bombshell discovery.

It turns out that in addition to Yellowstone’s 300 active geysers and thousands of hissing steam vents, it is also the planet’s greatest time bomb.

Using the new technique the scientists found that Yellowstone’s magma reserves are many magnitudes greater than previously estimated. According to the new data there is enough molten rock lurking below the surface to fill the Grand Canyon nearly 14 times over. The bulk of it is in a newly discovered magma reservoir, which the scientists featured in a study published on Thursday in the journal Science.

The discovery will help scientists better understand why Yellowstone’s previous eruptions, in prehistoric times, were some of Earth’s largest explosions ever to be recorded.

Using their data the scientists also created the first three-dimensional model of the geothermal structure under Yellowstone.

The discovery illustrates that, for now, the supervolcano is stable. But when it does erupt, and it will eventually, the explosion and its effects will be felt around the world.

“If another large caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide,” the U.S Geological Survey said in a statement. The destruction would not only be felt in the immediate area, which would be covered in lava and ash, but also the rest of the world. The ash cloud would disrupt world air travel for possibly months, creating a major international situation.

For now though there is nothing to be alarmed about. “The actual hazard is the same, but now we have a much better understanding of the complete crustal magma system,” said lead researcher Robert B. Smith.

Snowden Popularity Shows Tech Literacy Gap In America

News

An interesting study was published late Thursday about America’s perception of Edward Snowden, the ex-NSA contractor who leaked classified information about America’s illegal spying operations against its citizens.

The poll is interesting because it shows a deep divide in the nation between those who understand technology and are able to see its implications and those who don’t and are not.

Pollsters KRC Research found about 64 percent of Americans, who are familiar with Snowden, hold a negative opinion of him.

Yet 56 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 have a positive opinion of Snowden. This contrasts sharply with older age cohorts. As the age of cohorts increases, Snowden’s popularity decreases.

“The broad support for Edward Snowden among millennials around the world should be a message to democratic countries that change is coming,” says Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “They are a generation of digital natives who don’t want government agencies tracking them online or collecting data about their phone calls.”

The views of millennials are significant in light of a January 2015 finding by the U.S. Census Bureau that they will surpass the baby-boom generation as the United States’ largest living generation this year. This news should be heeded by politicians as they take stances on the controversial national security issue in the upcoming elections.

Millenials appreciate the effect of a spy agency having a dossier on every single American citizen. They appreciate that core values of the United States – like democracy, the judicial process and civil liberties – are serious compromised when this type of program is in existence.

It will be curious to see which politicians pick up on this shift in voter demographics and align their policies with this significant cohort.

NSA Now Spying On Your Snail Mail

News

The NSA and America’s other secret police continue their war on Americans with revelations this week that the U.S. Postal Service photographs the front and back of all mail sent throughout the U.S.

The program is ostensibly for “sorting purposes” but the revelations are another example of an obscure surveillance program run by law enforcement. In this case the secret agency is the Postal Inspection Service, which in turns feeds the data to the National Security Agency, the agency who collects records from all spying program in the country.

For regular law enforcement who don’t have access to all the NSA data, the program lets state or federal law enforcement agencies request what’s called a “mail cover” which gives them access to detailed records of address information contained on the cover of envelopes and packages sent or received.

The program is not limited by warrants or a requirement that a person be targeted in a criminal investigation. Much like programs run by Google, Facebook, Comcast and AT&T a simple request on official letterhead is enough to get a list of every package coming or going from your residence.

Our courts, who increasingly take a dim view of privacy, have ruled that because a mail cover involves reading only information on the outside of the envelope it is not a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The courts obviously have not considered the scenario where mail is fed through an automated, digital scanning machine that then builds a detailed database of every letter coming or going from every address in the country. Perhaps the implications of this dragnet are beyond their level of technical education.

“If your mail’s gonna be monitored—every single thing you send and receive—I would certainly feel that my privacy has been violated,” Steven R. Morrison, an assistant professor of law at the University of North Dakota said in a statement.

An internal audit found that in 2013 the Postal Service approved nearly 50,000 requests through a process with “insufficient controls” to prevent abuse.

Shockingly the system apparently also handle requests for non-law enforcement agencies, accepting over 80% of requests despite the organizations or individuals having no law enforcement affiliation.

The Postal Service runs another shadowy initiative called the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking Program, which it says has been used only in a handful of cases where toxic or contaminated mail was found in the system. It is not clear the full scope or rationale for the program.

The new revelations show just how pervasive spying on U.S. citizens has become. It is increasingly apparent that every single movement, transaction, comment or email is being logged, tracked and traced by our government.

Thus far, somewhat predictably, few elected officials have stood up against this most un-American behavior. One begins to wonder, if the NSA has elaborate records on everyone in the country, whether our elected officials are simply unable to for fear of retribution.

Why It’s Wrong To Value The Ocean At $24 Trillion

Culture

An interesting piece of research came from one of Australia’s Queensland University. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, one of Australia’s leading marine scientists and director of the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute in St Lucia, published a report claiming to value the world’s oceans at $24 trillion.

Hoegh-Guldberg is the lead author of Reviving the Ocean Economy, a report published today by the conservation group WWF. It attempts to estimate the value of the ocean and proposes steps for its safeguarding.

The report looks at the ocean as one system, which has not been the case in previous efforts to value the oceans. In the past interactions between local and global factors have been missed along with interactions between fishing and ocean chemistry and so on.

“If the ocean were a country it would be the seventh-largest economy on the planet.” proclaimed the author.

After identifying the various interactions that could be priced the next step was to put a value on them. ”

“That is ambitious. No one has really tried to do that. One of the reasons why is people thought we can’t evaluate everything. How do you put a value on the climate regulatory activities of the ocean? And so the answer is: this is the minimum number. Despite that it’s quite large.” Said the scientist.

The report goes on to detail that ocean assets such as fisheries, shipping lanes and tourism are worth US$24 trillion and produce an annual value of $2.5 trillion from their outputs.

This is an interesting concept but the outcome is problematic. Jane Gleeson-White, author of Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance devoted over 5 years of her life documenting it.

Our modern system of accounting and finance does not have a method of assigning value to things like the ocean, happiness or social connections. The value of these go far beyond mere dollars and simply cannot be valued using the present system.

In the case of the ocean it is the giver of life to our planet. It gives us every single piece of food consumed and every drop of water we need for life. To assign it a value, even a very large one, makes it seem replaceable. It is not.

The WWF and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg have not failed in their efforts. Their study is drawing attention to the environment and for this they should be lauded. But the idea that we can financially quantify the value of the ocean is an impossibility. It is time we looked beyond mere numbers to get a sense of the true worth of such things. It’s more holistic, less mathematical and for those reasons it is avoided by most. This should not be the case – we should increasingly try to move beyond debit, credit and balances when accounting for items precious to humanity.

E-waste Hits Record Highs In 2014, Leaves Horrific Legacy

Culture

The volume of global e-waste — discarded electrical and electronic equipment — reached 41.8 million tonnes in 2014, an all time high, according to a new United Nations University report.

What’s worse is that the bulk of the expensive to dispose of waste ends up in developing countries where environmental regulations are lax and labor is cheap. The resulting environmental and health effects are devastating and lead to lasting health issues for workers involved in the disposal process.

The Global E-waste Monitor 2014: Quantities, Flows and Resources goes into an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy about the size of the world’s e-waste problem, what progress is being made in establishing special e-waste collection and treatment systems, and the outlook going forward.

Of the world’s e-waste in 2014 nearly 60% was discarded kitchen, laundry, and bathroom equipment. Personal information and communication technology (ICT) devices such as mobile phones, personal computers, and printers accounted for only 7% of e-waste last year.

E-waste in 2014

This waste actually represents some US$52 billion of potentially reusable resources, yet virtually none of it was collected for recovery or even treated in an environmentally sound manner.

Less than one-sixth is thought to have been properly recycled or made available for reuse.

While e-waste constitutes a valuable “urban mine” — a potential reservoir of recyclable materials — it also includes a “toxic mine” of hazardous substances that must be (but too-seldom are) managed with extreme care.

It contains substantial amounts of toxins such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, and ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons.

The report found that just two countries — the U.S. and China — discarded nearly one-third of the world’s total e-waste in 2014.

It usually ends up at landfills, such as those shown below.

Do You Use Online Forums? Read this.

Health & Wellness

Parents and internet addicts take note: participating in online discussion forums may be good for your health, according to new research. The findings may also show negative health consequences associated with using Facebook and other social media.

The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, has found that internet discussion forums not only have positive links to well-being but are even associated with increased community engagement offline, contrary to common perception.

Further, the Researchers found, online forums have benefits for both individuals and wider society and are of greater importance than previously realized.

Although seemingly made obsolete in the past decade by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, forums are still regularly used by around 20% of online users in the US. The study’s authors believe this value may be because forums represent one of the last remaining places online that afford the user anonymous interaction.

In the research, users were approached on a range of discussion forums serving a wide variety of interests, hobbies and lifestyles. Those successfully enrolled in the study were classified in two groups: those whose forum subject could be considered stigmatized (such as those dealing with depression, mental health, or a particular parenting choice) or non-stigma-related forums (such as those for car enthusiasts, weight lifters and social issues).

Participants were asked a set of questions about their motivations for joining the discussion forum, the realization of their expectations, their degree of identification with other forum users, their satisfaction with life and their offline engagement with issues discussed on the forum.

The study’s lead author, Dr Louise Pendry of the University of Exeter, said: “Our findings paint a more optimistic picture of old-style online discussion forums. Often we browse forums just hoping to find answers to our questions. In fact, as well as finding answers, our study showed users often discover that forums are a source of great support, especially those seeking information about more stigmatising conditions. Moreover, we found that users of both forum types who engaged more with other forum users showed a greater willingness to get involved in offline activities related to the forum, such as volunteering, donating or campaigning.”

Dr Jessica Salvatore of Sweet Briar College, added: “What we are seeing here is that forum users who get more involved develop strong links with other users. They come to see themselves as more identified with other forum users. And then these more identified users see the greatest benefits, in terms of positive links with mental health and getting involved offline. In a nutshell, the more users put into the forum, the more they get back, and the pay-off for both users themselves and society at large can be significant.”

The findings raise interesting questions about Facebook, which is notoriously strict about allowing people to disguise their identities. While this may help with some aspects, such as spam, it does not encourage the full honesty and range of discussion found in forums that allow for anonymity. This could explain several studies that linked increased social media usage to lower self esteem and happiness levels.