Te Quiero Tanto

Bailando

The Queen's Christmas Message

Matt Lee vs Marie Harf

Is it even possible for North Korea to pay compensation with the sanctions that are in place against them?

Oye Abre Tus Ojos

Dow 18,000

To infinity and beyond!

New High

Ok. I give up.  The stock market will keep going up forever. 18,000 here we come.

Dec 5 was the high

On Oct. 7, 2007, the Dow reached 14,165.   It did not get back to this level until March 5, 2013, 6 years later.

See also Seven Year Cycle Theory.

Top Cities #31

This is influenced by the skyline rating.  I am adding 25 cities at a time to try to "grow" this organically.

1. New York [1]
2. Singapore [3]
3. Hong Kong [8]
4. Chicago [7]
5. Toronto/Mississauga [10]
6. London [2]
7. Tokyo/Yokohama [12]
8. Sao Paulo [13]
9. Los Angeles/Orange County/Riverside [4]
10. Paris [5]
11. Washington DC/Baltimore [6]
12. Seoul/Incheon/Goyang/Seongnam [14]
13. Beijing [15]
14. San Francisco/San Jose [9]
15. Shanghai/Suzhou [20]
16. Zurich [11]
17. Bangkok [21]
18. Dubai/Sharjah [23]
19. Istanbul [19]
20. Moscow [25]
21. Houston [16]
22. Amsterdam (Randstad) [17]
23. Sydney [18]
24. Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya, Malaysia [29]
25. Buenos Aires [30]
26. Mexico City [27] 
27. Boston [22] 
28. Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto [32]
29. Milan [24]
30. Mumbai [35]  
31. Dallas/Ft Worth [26]
32. Melbourne [33]
33. Frankfurt [28]   
34. Jakarta [39]
35. Guangzhou/Foshan/Dongguan [40]
36. Taipei [31]
37. Miami [41]
38. Shenzhen [43]
39. Madrid [34]
40. Philadelphia [38] 
41. Berlin [36]
42. Geneva [37]
43. Abu Dhabi, UAE [48]
44. Seattle [49]
45. Atlanta [50]
46. Copenhagen [42]
47. Tianjin [52]
48. Munich [44]
49. Oslo [45]
50. Montreal [55] 
51. Rome [46]
52.  Brussels [47]
53. Chongqing [58]
54. Rhine-Ruhr (Dusseldorf) [51]
55. Barcelona [53]
56. Stockholm [54]
57. Vancouver [62]
58. Tel Aviv [63]
59. Dublin [56]
60. Manila [65]
61. Vienna [57]
62. Rio de Janeiro [67]
63. Calgary [68]
64. Delhi [59]
65. Cairo [60]
66. Adelaide [61]
67. Las Vegas [72]
68. Helsinki [64]
69. Doha [74]
70. Auckland [66]
71. Brisbane [76]
72. Tehran [69]
73. Johannesburg [70]
74. Perth [71]
75. Riyadh [80]
76. Honolulu [81]
77. Bandung, Indonesia [73] 
78. Bogota, Colombia [75] 
79. Wellington [77]
80. Karachi [78] 
81. Bangalore [79] 
82. Lima [82] 
83. Canberra [83]
84. Lahore [84]
85. Santiago [90]
86. Chengdu, Sichuan, China [91]
87. Dacca (Dhaka) [85]
88. Marseille [86]
89. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China [94]
90. Casablanca [87]
91. Hyderabad, India [88]
92. Kolkata (Calcutta) [89]
93. Medellin, Colombia [92]
94. Tunis [93]
95. Wuhan, Hubei, China [95]
96. Shenyang, Liaoning, China [101]
97. Chennai [96]
98. Dalian, Liaoning, China [103]
99. Wuxi, Jiangsu, China [104]
100. Nagoya [97]
101. Detroit [98]
102. Lagos [99]
103. Kuwait City [108]
104. Qingdao, Shandong, China [109]
105. Nanjing, Jiangsu, China [100]
106. Xi'an, Shaanxi, China [102]
107. Harbin, Heilongjiang, China [112]
108. Ningbo, Zhejiang, China [105] 
109. Jinan, Shandong, China [106] 
110. Xiamen, Fujian, China [107]
111. Brasilia [110]
112. Phoenix, AZ, US [111]
113. Changzhou, Jiangsu, China [113]
114. Belo Horizonte, Brazil [119]
115. Hefei, Anhui, China [114]
116. Ankara, Turkey [121]
117. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [115]
118. Luanda, Angola [116]
119. Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China [117]
120. Changsha, Hunan, China [118]
121. Fuzhou, Fujian, China [120]
122. San Diego, CA, US [122]
123. Tangshan, Hebei, China [123] 
124. Seattle, WA, US [124]
125. Edinburgh, UK [125]
126. Busan, South Korea
127. Panama City 
128. Macau
129. Ulsan, South Korea 
130. Recife, Brazil 
131. Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine
132. St Petersburg, Russia 
133. Daegu, South Korea
134. Gold Coast City 
135. Curitaba, Brazil 
136. Caracas, Venezuela 
137. Hanoi, Vietnam
138. Fortaleza, Brazil
139. Goiania, Brazil
140. Salvador, Brazil 
141. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
142. Yekaterinburg 
143. Penang Island, Malaysia
144. Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 
145. Suwon, South Korea
146. Denver, CO, US
147. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, US 
148. Campinas, Brazil 
149. Pittsburgh, PA, US
150. New Orleans, LA, US

I omitted Benidorm, Spain and Balneario Camboriu, Brazil, which are both beach towns with massive skylines.

Ann Barnhardt Unleashed

Unemployment Rate and Federal Debt

Hat tip: http://chartistfriend.blogspot.com/2014/12/whoever-said-slime-doesnt-pay.html

Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime?

See: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27067615

Leaded petrol was removed from British engines later than in North America - and the crime rate in the UK began to fall later than in the US and Canada.

Lead theorists say that data they've collated and calculated from each nation shows the same 20-year trend - the sooner lead is removed from the environment, the sooner crime will begin to fall.

Dr Bernard Gesch says the data now suggests that lead could account for as much as 90% of the changing crime rate during the 20th Century across all of the world.

"A lot of people would say that correlation isn't cause," he says. "But it seems that the more the exposure, the more extreme the behaviour. I'm certainly not saying that lead is the only explanation why crime is falling - but it is certainly the most persuasive. Unless someone is telling us that the brain is not involved in decision-making then lead has to be relevant to crime."

Unasur

UNASUR is the Union of South American Nations, which is creating an intergovernmental union, similar to the European Union.  All of the countries of South America are members, except for French Guiana, which is part of France and the European Union.  Trinidad and Tobago (just off the coast of Venezuela) has been invited to join.

It has administrative centers in multiple cities.

• The Secretariat of UNASUR is in Quito, Ecuador.
• The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
• The Bank of the South is in Caracas, Venezuela

Other important cities are:

• Brasilia, Brazil where the UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on 23 May 2008.  The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (which promotes sustainable development) is headquartered in Brasilia.
• Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador where UNASUR became a legal entity on 11 March 2011
• Montevideo, Uruguay, the headquarters of Mercosur, which still exists separately from Unasur.  The city is also the headquarters of ALADI, the Latin American Integration Association
• Lima, Peru, the headquarters of CAN, the Andean Community of Nations
• Cuzco, Peru, where the 2004 South American Summit was held
• Isla Margarita, Venezuela, where the First South American Energy Summit has held in 2007
• Guayaquil, Ecuador, where the 2014 UNASUR summit was held, which announced the concept of South American citizenship and a single passport
• Georgetown, Guyana, the headquarters of Caricom, the Caribbean Community, which is mostly made up of Caribbean countries but includes Guyana and Suriname, also part of UNASUR
• Other cities where summits have been held are in: Bariloche, Argentina; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Campana, Argentina; Mar del Plata, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Asuncion, Paraguay; Paramaribo, Suriname; Fortaleza, Brazil

Despite all this, it seems that UNASUR has a very small budget, has very little power, and doesn't really do anything other than hold meetings.  But it is an interesting concept.

Party like its 1929

Zombification

New diseases are generally investigated using experiments
on infected people, clinical trials or medical observation.
Unfortunately, because of the rapid zombification of scientists,
epidemiologists and doctors, society was left with only
one group of technocrats who remained uninfected: mathematicians.
Fortunately, during the time at which the outbreak
occurred, members of this group had not been invited to parties
and thus remained entirely uninfected.
A mathematical model for zombie infection was quickly
designed (Figure 1). As shown by the model, humans could
be infected by contact with a zombie, whereas zombies could
be created either through the conversion of humans or reanimation
of the dead. The model assumed that zombies could
be killed in encounters with humans, as often happened
when humans ran over zombies in their cars. Initially, such
deaths were assumed by authorities to be part of a concerted
effort at eradication of zombies, but were later revealed to be
simply a result of rush hour. Some drivers were surprised
when these recently deceased zombies returned to life and
attacked them. Other drivers simply handed the zombies
some spare change and waited for the reanimated creatures
to clean their windshields.

http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/CMAJZombies.pdf

Top Cities #30

Influenced by the Most Dynamic Cities of 2025.  Compare to the previous list.  This has 125 on it.  I may try to expand this by 25 each time.

1.  New York [1]
2.  London [3]
3. Singapore [8]
4.  Los Angeles/Orange County/Riverside [9]
5. Paris [2]
6. Washington DC/Baltimore [11]
7. Chicago [7]
8. Hong Kong [10]
9. San Francisco/San Jose [4]
10. Toronto [5]
11. Zurich [6]
12. Tokyo [15]
13. Sao Paulo [16]
14. Seoul-Incheon [14]
15. Beijing [20]
16. Houston [21]
17. Amsterdam (Randstad) [12]
18. Sydney [13]
19. Istanbul [22]
20. Shanghai/Suzhou [25]
21. Bangkok [26]
22. Boston [17]
23. Dubai/Sharjah [18]
24. Milan [19]
25. Moscow [28]
26. Dallas/Ft Worth [30]
27. Mexico City [32]
28. Frankfurt [23]
29. Kuala Lumpur [24]
30. Buenos Aires [33]
31. Taipei [35]
32. Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto [27]
33. Melbourne [31]
34. Madrid [29]
35. Mumbai [38]
36. Berlin [34]
37. Geneva [36]
38. Philadelphia [43]
39. Jakarta [44]
40. Guangzhou/Foshan/Dongguan [45]
41. Miami [46]
42. Copenhagen [37]
43. Shenzhen [47]
44. Munich [39]
45. Oslo [40]
46. Rome [41]
47. Brussels [42]
48. Abu Dhabi [53]
49. Seattle [54]
50. Atlanta [55]
51. Rhine-Ruhr (Dusseldorf) [56]
52. Tianjin [57]
53.  Barcelona [48] 
54. Stockholm [49]  
55. Montreal [50]  
56. Dublin [51]  
57. Vienna [52]  
58. Chongqing [59]
59. Delhi [62]
60. Cairo [58]
61. Adelaide [60]  
62. Vancouver [61] 
63. Tel Aviv [68]
64. Helsinki [63]   
65. Manila [64]  
66. Auckland [65] 
67. Rio de Janeiro [72]
68. Calgary [66]  
69. Tehran [67]   
70. Johannesburg [69]  
71. Perth [70]  
72. Las Vegas [71]  
73. Bandung, Indonesia [73]
74. Doha [79]
75. Bogota [74]
76. Brisbane [75]
77. Wellington [76]
78. Karachi [77]
79. Bangalore [84]
80. Riyadh [85]
81. Honolulu [78]
82. Lima [87]
83. Canberra [80]
84. Lahore [81]
85. Dacca (Dhaka) [82]
86. Marseille [83]
87. Casablanca [86]
88. Hyderabad, India [88]
89. Kolkata (Calcutta) [89]
90. Santiago [90]
91. Chengdu [96]
92. Medellin, Colombia [91]
93. Tunis [92]
94. Hangzhou [99]  
95. Wuhan [100]  
96. Chennai [93]
97. Nagoya [94]
98. Detroit [97]
99. Lagos [98]
100. Nanjing 
101. Shenyang 
102. Xian 
103. Dalian 
104. Wuxi 
105. Ningbo 
106. Jinan 
107. Xiamen 
108. Kuwait City
109. Qingdao 
110. Brasilia
111. Phoenix
112. Harbin 
113. Changzhou 
114. Hefei 
115. Jeddah
116. Luanda
117. Xuzhou 
118. Changsha 
119. Belo Horizonte
120. Fuzhou 
121. Ankara
122. San Diego
123. Tangshan 
124. Seattle
125. Edinburgh

Social Security will go insolvent by 2024

See: http://www.mrctv.org/blog/chart-social-security-s-end-date-fast-approaching-far-earlier-expected
http://dailysignal.com/2014/12/01/chart-shows-social-security-will-broke-10-years/
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/06/history-suggests-social-security-insolvency-is-coming-sooner-than-projected

"Aside from a short period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the exceptionally strong economy pushed Social Security’s projected solvency date forward, Social Security’s financial trajectory has been decidedly negative. If the historical pattern of declining solvency continues, the Social Security trust fund could become insolvent in 2024, a full nine years sooner than currently projected.[5]".
[5]The historical trend rate calculates an annual decline in the projected date of insolvency of 0.83 years. This figure is calculated by dividing the change in projected solvency of 25 years (2058–2033) by the 30-year period over which that decline occurred (1983–2013).

 Comment:  I'm don 't doubt that SS has problems, but I don't buy the 2024 date.  Its based on the "historical pattern of declining solvency". The last I heard, the date was 2033.  After that date, it won't disappear, just decrease benefits.

Report on ISIS

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2014/11/profiling%20islamic%20state%20lister/en_web_lister.pdf

According to Dr. Usama Hasan, a Senior Fellow at the Quilliam Foundation, part-time Imam, and expert on Islam,

An Islamist caliphate, by definition, covers the entire ‘Muslim
World’… The hypothetical return of a Caliph in Islamic
jurisprudence implies a large degree of Muslim unity, with these
united Muslim masses willingly pledging allegiance to him. This is
the fundamental mistake of [IS], a fatal flaw for their theological
credentials. They may have been entitled to declare an ‘Islamic
emirate’ (as the Taliban did in Afghanistan) or even an ‘Islamic
state,’ just as Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Mauritania are
‘Islamic republics.’ But to declare a caliphate for all Muslims when
they rule over, at best, a few tens of millions Syrians and Iraqis out
of a worldwide Muslim population of 1.2-1.5 billion, is to destroy
any notion of Muslim representation or unity.

Comment:  I have very little knowledge or understanding of this, but it seems that declaring a Caliphate also means that it claims to rule over the entire Muslim World and thus it declares war on every other country in the Middle East.  How does the King of Saudi Arabia feel about this?

The Garbage Warrior

Earthships

18 Trillion Dollar National Debt

The National Debt reached $18 trillion on Thanksgiving Day.  I had predicted that it would reach $18 trillion on 11/1/2014, so this was slower than expected.  It reached $17 trillion in October 2013.

When will it reach $19 trillion?  It will take more than a year unless something unexpected happens, so I will guess about 3/1/2016, about 15 months from now.

What happens when the price of oil drops below long-term trend lines?

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-01/oil-price-decline-pictures

Preppers and the Entitlement Problem

Charles began talking to people on prepper forums who had lived through Hurricane Katrina. Their stories from the storm only strengthened his resolve. 

The most harrowing story he was told came from a prepper, who in the run-up to Katrina, urged his neighbors to buy emergency supplies, food, and water. Few listened and, when New Orleans flooded, they came to him for help.

He gave out supplies initially, but, when the neighbors returned with a crowd, he explained that he needed the rest for his family. The crowd turned antagonistic. The man scared them off with a shotgun, but it wasn't long before they returned throwing bricks through his windows in retaliation. He left soon after with as much of his emergency supplies as he could carry.

Stories like this, according to Charles, happen often when "sh—t hits the fan." One prepared person warns others in the run-up to a potentially dangerous event and others don’t listen, expecting someone — the government or a friendly neighbor — to provide during a disaster. It’s what Charles calls “the entitlement problem,” a phenomenon talked about ad nauseam on prepper blogs and websites.

Many preppers believe modern society has conditioned people to depend on others (the government, companies, neighbors) to fix their problems, rather than taking the time and effort to care for their own needs. This mentality dominates during disaster scenarios, according to preppers.

The entitlement problem can make things turn ugly, according to Charles.

“Everyone feels entitled to your stuff. They don’t prepare and they look to the people who did."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-doomsday-prepper-explains-why-prepping-is-a-lot-more-sensible-than-you-think-2014-11 

I'm just a Bill

Cute.  I've never seen it before.

La Rebelion

How a Bill doesn't become Law

Top Cities #29

Top Cities #29
Influenced by number of FaceBook Likes.  Compare to Top Cities #28.  I arbitrarily added the last 7 cities to make it 100.  This is quite a bit different from the first list I made nearly 3 years ago of the Top 100 Powerful Cities of the World.

1.New York [4]
2. Paris [7]
3. London [2]
4. San Francisco [8]
5. Toronto [9]
6. Zurich [1]
7. Chicago [12]
8. Singapore [3]
9. Los Angeles/Orange County [14]
10. Hong Kong [5]
11. Washington DC/Baltimore [6]
12. Amsterdam (Randstad) [11]
13. Sydney [17]
14. Seoul-Incheon [19]
15. Tokyo [15]
16. Sao Paulo [21]
17. Boston [13]
18. Dubai/Sharjah [15]
19. Milan [24]
20. Beijing [16]
21. Houston [26]
22. Istanbul [27]
23. Frankfurt [18]
24. Kuala Lumpur [29]
25. Shanghai/Suzhou [20]
26. Bangkok [31]
27. Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto [22]
28. Moscow [23]
29. Madrid [33] 
30. Dallas [25]
31. Melbourne [28]
32. Mexico City [37] 
33. Buenos Aires [36]
34. Berlin [34] 
35. Taipei [30] 
36. Geneva [32] 
37. Copenhagen [35] 
38. Mumbai [43]
39. Munich [44]
40. Oslo [38]
41. Rome [46]
42. Brussels [39]
43. Philadelphia [40]
44. Jakarta [49]
45. Guangzhou/Foshan/Dongguan [41]
46. Miami [51]
47. Shenzhen [42]
48. Barcelona [53]
49. Stockholm [45]
50. Montreal [47] 
51. Dublin [48] 
52. Vienna [50] 
53. Abu Dhabi [52]
54. Seattle [54]
55. Atlanta [60]
56. Rhine-Ruhr (Dusseldorf) [55] 
57. Tianjin [56] 
58. Cairo [63]
59. Chongqing [57]
60. Adelaide [58]
61. Vancouver [59]
62. Delhi [61]
63. Helsinki [62]
64. Manila [69]
65. Auckland [64]
66. Calgary [65]
67. Tehran [72]
68. Tel Aviv [66]
69. Johannesburg [67]
70. Perth [68]
71. Las Vegas [new]
72. Rio de Janeiro [new]
73. Bandung, Indonesia [new]
74. Bogota [new]
75. Brisbane [70]
76. Wellington [71]
77. Karachi [new]
78. Honolulu [73]
79. Doha [74]
80. Canberra [75]
81. Lahore 
82. Dacca (Dhaka)
83. Marseille 
84. Bangalore 
85. Riyadh 
86. Casablanca 
87. Lima 
88. Hyderabad
89. Kolkata
90. Santiago
91. Medellin
92. Tunis
93. Chennai
94. Nagoya
95. Kolkata (Calcutta)
96. Chengdu
97. Detroit
98. Lagos
99. Hangzhou
100. Wuhan

Junk Bond implosion in 2016

[Martin] Fridson rules the world of speculative bonds. In his presentation, he showed how high-yield bonds are just as good an investment (if not better) than stocks – during normal times. But times are not normal today… and Fridson is worried. He sees “the next junk-bond implosion” arriving as early as 2016, and lasting through 2019.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/11/17/1-6-trillion-in-defaults-coming-legend-says/

Cinco Salsa

Fur Elise in Ragtime

Turkish March

See also: http://aftermath2022.blogspot.com/2014/06/solfeggietto.html

Tea for Two

A Fifth of Beethoven

Electric Air on the G String

See also: http://aftermath2022.blogspot.com/2013/05/air-on-g-string.html

The Girlfriend from Hell

Stocks are up; gold is down

Gold

Look for the trend to continue.

Gold is the tell

And as the market begins to get more confidence, to display more hubris, the "tell" that we might be at a top will be found in the price of gold.

"[T]he big hubristic 'tell' will be gold," Hartnett wrote in a note to clients on Friday. "A sudden gap lower in the gold price to below $1,000/oz should coincide with the final thrust higher in stocks, both indicating capitulation of the 'stubborn bears,' the end of the 'melt-up' and the next opportunity to get tactically bearish.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/analyst-sees-1000-gold-at-stock-peak-2014-11

I think it is crazy that gold is so cheap.  When the stock market crashes next fall, gold will soar.

Greenspan on gold

This is kind of hard to listen to but worth it. He says that gold is half commodity and half currency.

See http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-07/greenspans-stunning-admission-gold-currency-no-fiat-currency-including-dollar-can-ma .  There is a transcript there but it isn't complete.

So in some ways gold acts just like copper or other commodities, like pork bellies or soybeans.  But in other ways it acts like the dollar or euro. Makes sense.  It would be an interesting paper for an economist to write.

The stock market will keep going up forever

From blight to tree farms in Detroit

Idilio

Malls to Data Centers

The Internet is moving to a shopping center near you.  In Fort Wayne, Ind., a vacated Target store is about to be home to rows of computer servers, network routers and Ethernet cables courtesy of a local data-center operator. In Jackson, Miss., a former McRae’s department store will get the same treatment next year. And one quadrant of the Marley Station Mall south of Baltimore is already occupied by a data-center company that last year offered to buy out the rest of the building.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/malls-fill-vacant-stores-with-server-rooms-1415042980

Intersections for Bicyclists

New high for the Dow

The 324 countries and territories of the world

There are 324 different countries and territories.  There are 193 member nations of the UN.  Obviously, nations can be made up of multiple countries.  For example, the United States includes: Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska and Hawaii, in addition to the continental US.

Here are the countries and territories that start with A:

• Abkhazia
• Abu Dhabi
• Admiralty Islands (see Bismarck Archipelago)
• Afghanistan
• Agalega (see Mauritius & Deps.)
• Aitutaki (see Cook Islands)
• Ajman
• Aland Islands (Mariehamn)
• Alaska
• Albania
• Aldabra (see Zil Elwannyen Sesel)
• Alderney (see Guernsey & Deps.)
• Algeria
• Amirante Island (see Zil Elwannyen Sesel)
• Amsterdam(see French Southern & Antarctic Territory)
• Anatolia (see Turkey in Asia)
• Andaman-Nicobar Islands
• Andorra
• Angola
• Anguilla
• Anjouan (see Comoro Islands)
• Ankara (see Turkey in Asia)
• Antigua & Deps. (Barbuda, Redonda)
• Argentina
• Argentine Antarctica (Palmer Peninsula)
• Armenia (Yerevan)
• Aruba
• Ascension
• Atafu (see Tokelau Islands)
• Austral (see French Polynesia)
• Australia
• Australian Antarctic Territory South Pole (Mawson, Davis, Macquarie, Heard)
• Austria
• Azerbaijan (Baku)
• Azores Islands

Demethanizer

"The transport of what is thought to be Oklahoma's largest oversized load ever has completed day one of its journey. The 186-foot long demethanizer is making its way from Exterran in Broken Arrow to a gas processing plant in Fort Lupton, Colorado. The 536,600-pound object is being moved on a specially designed trailer pulled by two trucks in front and pushed by two trucks in back."
http://www.news9.com/story/26819780/transport-of-huge-demethanizer-underway-saturday-morning

Was Ebola accidently released from a lab?

You mentioned that a map produced by the CDC shows where the laboratories are located on the West Coast of Africa?

Yes. They've got one in Monrovia [the capital of Ebola-stricken Liberia] ... one in Kenema, Sierra Leone [the third largest city in the Ebola-hotzone nation], which was shut down this summer because the government there believed that it was the Tulane vaccines which had set this whole thing off. And then they have another one in Guinea, where the first case [of Ebola] was reported. All of these are labs which do this offensive/defensive biowarfare work.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-23/exclusive-was-ebola-accidentally-released-bioweapons-lab-west-africa

The Most Expensive Building in the World

Unisex soldiers in Norway

The Norwegian parliament has voted in a strong majority on a bill aimed at extending mandatory military service to females. If the legislation is approved, all women in the country will be subject to the same conscription conditions as men. The proposition, which was first announced in June 2013, was passed in Oslo this week, with 96 parliamentarians voting in favor of gender equality in the army. Only six voted against it.

Earlier this year, the Norwegian army started testing unisex dormitories. Women soldiers shared bedrooms with male recruits at one of the country's military bases. "Even though there is a girl in the room, it doesn't mean there are any romances. We are just soldiers," conscript Mathias Hoegevold told Ruptly news agency.

 In August 2013, the country's military officials announced that men in the army would be permitted to grow their hair long and keep it in ponytails, after a male officer complained it wasn't fair that only women were allowed to have longer styles. If enacted, the new bill for mandatory female service will include provisions for the use of gender-neutral language.  http://rt.com/news/197152-norway-army-women-military-conscripts/

Colonize Mars and make humans a multi-planet civilization

When Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, it was, at best, a millionaire’s flight of fancy. He had made his fortune from tech startups Zip2 and PayPal, and was still two years away from starting Tesla, the electric-car firm.

Musk, as he will gladly tell you, has a vision: Colonize Mars and make humans a multi-planet civilization. He sees it as insurance against a global catastrophe that leads to human extinction. Per Musk, the only sensible policy in this universe is redundancy.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/what-it-took-for-spacex-to-become-a-serious-space-company/381724/?single_page=true

McDonalds FTW

Ebola has a 42-day incubation period

A jaw-dropping report released by the World Health Organization on October 14, 2014 reveals that 1 in 20 Ebola infections has an incubation period longer than the 21 days which has been repeatedly claimed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

This may be the single most important -- and blatantly honest -- research report released by any official body since the beginning of the Ebola outbreak. The WHO's "Ebola situation assessment" report, found here, explains that only 95% of Ebola infections experience incubation within the widely-reported 21-day period. Here's the actual language from the report:

95% of confirmed cases have an incubation period in the range of 1 to 21 days; 98% have an incubation period that falls within the 1 to 42 day interval. [1]

Unless the sentence structure is somehow misleading, this passage appears to indicate the following:

• 95% of Ebola incubations occur from 1 - 21 days
• 3% of Ebola incubations occur from 21 - 42 days
• 2% of Ebola incubations are not explained (why?)

If this interpretation of the WHO's statistics are correct, it would mean that:

• 1 in 20 Ebola infections may result in incubations lasting significantly longer than 21 days

• The 21-day quarantine currently being enforced by the CDC is entirely insufficient to halt an outbreak

• People who are released from observation or self-quarantine after 21 days may still become full-blown Ebola patients in the subsequent three weeks, even if they have shown no symptoms of infection during the first 21 days. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047267_Ebola_outbreak_incubation_period_viral_transmission.html

The Ebola Breakout Coincided With UN Vaccine Campaigns

The mystery at the heart of the ebola outbreak is how the 1995 Zaire (ZEBOV) strain, which originated in Central Africa some 4,000 km to the east in Congolese (Zairean) provinces of Central Africa, managed to suddenly resurface now a decade later in Guinea, West Africa. Since no evidence of ebola infections in transit has been detected at airports, ports or highways, the initial infections must have come from one of either two alternative routes:
     
  - First, the possibility of an anonymous “Patient A”, a survivor of the devastating 1995 Zaire pandemic, perhaps a doctor or medical worker who was a carrier of the dormant virus into Guinea. An example of a Patient A is Patrick Sawyer, the infected American resident of Liberia who first transmitted ebola to Nigeria. No attempt has been made by the national health ministry or international agencies to trace and identify the original ebola case in Guinea. So far, not a shred of evidence has surfaced to indicate the very first victim to be a foreigner or a Guinean who had traveled abroad.
     
  - Second, the absence of a Patient A leaves the prospect of an unauthorized test in humans of a new antidote for ebola in rural Guinea, done under the cover of a vaccination program for another disease. Whether the covert clinical trial’s purpose was civilian health or military use of an antibody-based antidote cannot be determined as of yet.
     
 The reason for suspecting a vaccine campaign rather than an individual carrier is due to the fact that the ebola contagion did not start at a single geographic center and then spread outward along the roads. Instead simultaneous outbreaks of multiple cases occurred in widely separated parts of rural Guinea, indicating a highly organized effort to infect residents in different locations in the same time-frame. http://www.liberianobserver.com/commentaries/ebola-breakout-coincided-un-vaccine-campaigns

Will Pooley

"The British nurse who survived Ebola after contracting the disease in Sierra Leone is heading back to the African country to join the exhausted frontline workers battling to treat patients with the virus.  Will Pooley confirmed his plans as he spoke to potential volunteers at the Department of Health on Wednesday. ... Doctors are confident he is immune to all five strains of the Ebola virus, making it safe for him to return without risk of contracting the disease a second time." http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/british-nurse-ebola-survivor-sierra-leone-return

That is awesome.  Finally some good news.

El Perdedor

No Risk

"Sgt Monning told medics at the Frisco clinic today that he had been in contact with first victim Mr Duncan and had not been wearing protective clothing. The CareNow clinic was immediately placed in lock-down because Monning was exhibiting signs of the deadly virus - including feeling sick and appearing flushed with a fever. The CDC told MailOnline today that the person is not one of the 48 contacts being monitored, and there is no indication of any direct contact with the initial patient, Mr Duncan.  None of the 48 individuals with verified or possible contact with the patient has shown symptoms, the CDC said today.  Sgt Monning's son, Logan Monning, told CBS that his father had woken up with 'stomach issues' and had gone to the clinic as a precaution.  Logan said their family had been told that their father was at no risk of the virus, as he had only been in the apartment for 30 minutes and had not come in contact with bodily fluids." 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2785514/Second-person-rushed-hospital-Ebola-symptoms-contact-patient-zero-Thomas-Duncan.html

Comment:  Who told him it was "no risk"?  Liars. Idiots. Fools.  

Ebola-Chan loves you, Dallas.

National Debt up $1.1 trillion in FY2013

As of 9/30/2013, the total national debt was $16.747 trillion.  As of 9/30/2014, it was $17.875 trillion, an increase of $1.128 trillion.

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

Source for numbers: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debttothepenny.htm

Slavery means the US has a moral responsibility not to ban flights from Liberia

David Quammen, an author of multiple books on science and diseases, including “Ebola,” and "Spillover," argued against a ban on flights to Liberia by stating the US has a “responsibility” to the nation “given the fact that this is a country that was founded in the 1820s, 1830s because of American slavery” on Thursday’s “AC360” on CNN.
Quammen first argued that such a ban would not be feasible because “it’s impossible to track them [people flying from Liberia],” and “you can't isolate neighborhoods, you can’t isolate nations. It doesn't work.” He then said, “people talk about ‘well, we should not allow any flights in from Liberia.’ I mean, we in America, how dare we turn our backs on Liberia given the fact that this is a country that was founded in the 1820s, 1830s because of American slavery? We have a responsibility to stay connected with them, and help them see this through.” 
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/10/02/Author-Slavery-Gives-US-Responsibility-to-Not-Ban-Flights-From-Liberia

Ok, David Quammen, you get an Ebola-Chan award.

Frieden

I've been very critical of this guy and I won't say anymore.  Just watch and form your own opinion.

See also http://video.foxnews.com/v/3818929859001

Ebola is an aerosol-transmissable disease

Ebola respirator suit

"We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks. Being at first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, we are now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings. The act of vomiting produces an aerosol and has been implicated in airborne transmission of gastrointestinal viruses. Regarding diarrhea, even when contained by toilets, toilet flushing emits a pathogen-laden aerosol that disperses in the air."   These two infectious disease experts believe that Ebola is already – in its current form – transmissible via aerosols. They therefore urge all doctors and nurses working with Ebola patients to wear respirators.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/10/center-infectious-disease-research-policy-university-minnesota-ebola-may-become-airborne.html


"Most scientific and medical personnel, along with public health organizations, have been unequivocal in their statements that Ebola can be transmitted only by direct contact with virus-laden fluids and that the only modes of transmission we should be concerned with are those termed "droplet" and "contact." These statements are based on two lines of reasoning. The first is that no one located at a distance from an infected individual has contracted the disease, or the converse, every person infected has had (or must have had) "direct" contact with the body fluids of an infected person. This reflects an incorrect and outmoded understanding of infectious aerosols, which has been institutionalized in policies, language, culture, and approaches to infection control. We will address this below. Briefly, however, the important points are that virus-laden bodily fluids may be aerosolized and inhaled while a person is in proximity to an infectious person and that a wide range of particle sizes can be inhaled and deposited throughout the respiratory tract. The second line of reasoning is that respirators or other control measures for infectious aerosols cannot be recommended in developing countries because the resources, time, and/or understanding for such measures are lacking." 
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/commentary-health-workers-need-optimal-respiratory-protection-ebola

"Caring for a patient in the early stages of disease (no bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, etc). In this case, the generation rate is 1. For any level of control (less than 3 to more than 12 ACH), the control banding wheel indicates a respirator protection level of 1 (APF of 10), which corresponds to an air purifying (negative pressure) half-facepiece respirator such as an N95 filtering facepiece respirator. This type of respirator requires fit testing."

Wait, what?  If you are caring for a patient who has no symptoms, you should wear a half-facepiece respirator?



Until the idiots at the WHO and CDC get this thing under control, I think anyone with the slightest risk of coming within 100 feet of a possible Ebola patient should be wearing these.  That would the entire populations of West Africa, anyone on an international flight and anyone within sight of the Dallas hospital or schools where there is a possible infection.

Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms appear

"Individuals who are not symptomatic are not contagious."
 "I want to emphasize that Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms appear."
--http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0728-ebola.html

"Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/01/texas-ebola-patient/16525649/

"The incubation period, or the time interval from infection to onset of symptoms, is from 2 to 21 days. The patients become contagious once they begin to show symptoms. They are not contagious during the incubation period."
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/

"The only way that an individual can contract Ebola is by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is exhibiting symptoms."
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/219492-white-house-no-ebola-travel-restrictions

"Authorities say people with Ebola are contagious but only through contact with infected bodily fluids when they are showing symptoms of the virus. Those symptoms include high fever, severe headache, diarrhea and vomiting, among others."
http://fox13now.com/2014/10/01/us-ebola-patient-came-in-contact-with-school-children-while-contagious/

"People who have Ebola are contagious -- but only through contact with infected bodily fluids -- when they display active symptoms of the virus, such as a high fever, severe headache, diarrhea and vomiting, among others. It's not like a cold or the flu, which can be spread before symptoms show up, and it doesn't spread through the air. "
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/health/ebola-us/index.html

"Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms appear, and then it can spread only by close contact with a patient's bodily fluids."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2777788/Panicked-parents-pull-kids-school-s-revealed-Ebola-patient-Texas-throwing-place.html


If you repeat something enough times, it must be true right?  Has there been a study?  Where is a link to it? Who authored it? I just write a blog that no one ever reads but I always link to my sources.  I'm calling BS.  Ebola is extremely contagious and even health workers and doctors, who presumably know a thing or two about infection, have caught it and died.  If you can't point to a peer-reviewed study that makes that finding, then shut up and stop spreading disinformation.

Do you want to spread Ebola? Because this is how you spread Ebola

Ebola-Chan

We don't need false assurances that everything is ok.  We need to know that the US is declaring war on Ebola.  So I am going to call out the useful idiots as I hear about them.

===================================
"The White House said Wednesday it will not impose travel restrictions or introduce new airport screenings to prevent additional cases of Ebola from entering the United States. Spokesman Josh Earnest said that current anti-Ebola measures, which include screenings in West African airports and observation of passengers in the United States, will be sufficient to prevent the “wide spread” of the virus.The chances of a U.S. epidemic are “incredibly low,” he said. “The reason for that is that it is not possible to transmit Ebola through the air. ... The only way that an individual can contract Ebola is by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is exhibiting symptoms.”"
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/219492-white-house-no-ebola-travel-restrictions

Josh Earnest - I dub thee faithful servant of Ebola-Chan.  You are recognized for your efforts in spreading her presence throughout the world.

===================================

Briefing reporters Tuesday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would not identify the flight on which a man now critically ill with the Ebola virus came to the United States.

Frieden repeatedly emphasized that the unidentified man, now at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, was not infectious when he was flying to the United States.

Therefore he posed no risk to his fellow passengers, Frieden said.

“We will identify any contacts where we think there is a risk of transmission,” he said. “At this point, there is zero risk of transmission on the flight. The illness of Ebola would not have gone on for 10 days before diagnosis. He was checked for fever before getting on the flight, and there’s no reason to think that anyone on the flight that he was on would be at risk.”  http://blogs.rollcall.com/the-container/cdc-chief-says-zero-risk-to-those-on-flight-ebola-victim-took/

Tom Frieden, you keep saying "zero risk".  I don't think you understand what that phrase means.  There may have been a very low risk, but that is not the same as zero.  Dr. Frieden, you are a liar.  Ebola-Chan appreciates your service.

The Trend Is Your Friend... Until It Ends

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-01/trend-your-friend-until-it-ends

2 On

Muchacho De Campo

White House Security Epic Fail

On September 19, Omar Gonzalez, an Iraq War veteran, jumped the fence at the White House and made it all the way to the East Room.  He could have run upstairs to the First Family's living quarters. There were multiple failures of security:

• a plainclothes surveillance team outside the fence didn't notice him
• an officer in a guard booth on the North Lawn either didn't notice him or couldn't stop him
• an attack dog was not released. "The handler likely felt he could not release the dog because so many officers were in pursuit of Gonzalez, and the dog may have attacked them instead."
• the front door was unlocked
• there was no guard at the front door
• there was also supposed to be a specialized SWAT team ready
• alarm boxes, called "crash boxes", were silenced because the ushers complained that they were malfunctioning and unnecessarily sounding off
• the jumper had been arrested two times previously with weapons outside the White House
• another jumper had jumped over the same stretch of fence the week prior

Epic failure.  Why wasn't there a motion sensor device that sounded an alarm?  Somebody's head should roll for this.  How about Julia Pierson, the head of the Secret Service?  Wait, you can't criticize a woman or you are sexist.

Julia Pierson

Update:  More facts come out. Or at least I notice them.

• The jumper had been arrested in July and interviewed by the Secret Service.  They were not concerned about him despite that fact that he had 11 guns and a map with a line pointing to the White House
• There were snipers on the roof who didn't fire
• He was tackled in the White House by an off-duty agent who just happened to be there.
• On September 19, shortly before Gonzalez vaulted over the White House fence, he was recognised by two officers who remembered him from the incident with the hatchet a few weeks earlier. Neither agent approached Gonzalez and neither reported his presence to superiors.
• A portion of Gonzalez' foot had been amputated and he was running with a noticeable limp.
• Gonzalez had 800 rounds of ammunition in his car

The Black Hole of Debt

Wealth, jobs, hope are all sucked in and still the hole grows.

Ebola Patients Resurrect

Two Ebola patients, who died of the virus in separate communities in Nimba County have reportedly resurrected in the county. The victims, both females, believed to be in their 60s and 40s respectively, died of the Ebola virus recently in Hope Village Community and the Catholic Community in Ganta, Nimba. But to the amazement of residents and onlookers on Monday, the deceased reportedly regained life in total disbelief. The NewDawn Nimba County correspondent said the late Dorris Quoi of Hope Village Community and the second victim only identified as Ma Kebeh, said to be in her late 60s, were about to be taken for burial when they resurrected. http://allafrica.com/stories/201409240829.html

Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants his state to be ready when zombies arrive.  And to make sure Kansas takes the zombie apocalypse seriously, Brownback plans to officially declare October "Zombie Preparedness Month" during a ceremonial event Friday at the Kansas Statehouse.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/why-is-kansas-preparing-for-the-zombie-apocalypse-20140924

NAWAPA

If it had been built, there wouldn't be a drought in California today.

Top Cities #28

Top Cities #28.  Influenced by cost of living for expatriate employees.  See also prior list.  This is the first time Zurich has ever been ranked #1.

1. Zurich [6]
2. London [2]
3. Singapore [1]
4. New York [7]
5. Hong Kong [9]
6. Washington DC [8]
7. Paris [2]
8. San Francisco (Bay Area) [12]
9. Toronto [4]
10. Tokyo [5]
11. Amsterdam (Randstad) [15]
12. Chicago [10]
13. Boston [16]
14. Los Angeles/Orange County [13]
15. Dubai [18]
16. Beijing [11]
17. Sydney [20]
18. Frankfurt [23]
19. Seoul-Incheon [14]
20. Shanghai/Suzhou [19]
21. Sao Paolo [22]
22. Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto [17]
23. Moscow [21]
24. Milan [29]
25. Dallas [28]
26. Houston [30]
27. Istanbul [27]
28. Melbourne [33]
29. Kuala Lumpur [24]
30. Taipei [25]
31. Bangkok [26]
32. Geneva [34]
33. Madrid [35]
34. Berlin [39]
35. Copenhagen [40]
36. Buenos Aires [31]
37. Mexico City [32]
38. Oslo [43]
39. Brussels [41]
40. Philadelphia [45]
41. Guangzhou/Foshan/Dongguan [36]
42. Shenzhen [37]
43. Mumbai [38]
44. Munich [46]
45. Stockholm [50]
46. Rome [49]
47. Montreal [42]
48. Dublin [53]
49. Jakarta [44]
50. Vienna [47]  
51. Miami [54]
52. Abu Dhabi [57]
53. Barcelona [48]
54. Seattle [59]
55. Rhine-Ruhr (Dusseldorf) [55] 
56. Tianjin [51]
57. Chongqing [52]
58. Adelaide [63]
59. Vancouver [61]
60. Atlanta [60]
61. Delhi [56]
62. Helsinki [66]
63. Cairo [58]
64. Auckland [68]
65. Calgary [65]
66. Tel Aviv [70]
67. Johannesburg [62]
68. Perth [new]
69. Manila [64]
70. Brisbane [new]
71. Wellington [new]
72. Tehran [67]
73. Honolulu [new]
74. Doha [69]
75. Canberra [new]