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4/1/2006

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3/30/2006

Asian Development Bank: Prepare for Dollar Collapse :.

Asian countries need to prepare for a possible sharp fall in the dollar and should allow their currencies to appreciate collectively if that happens, a senior Asian Development Bank official said Tuesday.

"Any shock hitting the U.S. economy or the global market may change investors' perceptions, given the existing global current account imbalance," Masahiro Kawai, the bank's head of regional economic integration, said at a news conference.

"Our suggestion to Asian countries is, don't take this continuous financing of the U.S. current account deficit as given. If something happens, then East Asian economies have to be prepared."



U.S. to Test 700-Tonne Explosive :.

HA. And how would the U.S. military deliver a weapon of that size to the target?

* You'll be scratching your chin for a long time trying to answer that question. *

.mil probably has a new .7 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and they want to see if the thing is suitable for whatever nonsense they're planning in Iran. But I suppose that lighting off nukes for testing purposes makes for bad PR. So, just light off 700 tons of TNT instead:

The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.

"I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Tegnelia said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

"We have several very large penetrators we're developing," he told defense reporters.

"We also have -- are you ready for this - a 700-tonne explosively formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada," he said.

"And that represents to us the largest single explosive that we could imagine doing conventionally to solve that problem," he said.


The aim is to measure the effect of the blast on hard granite structures, he said.



Gold Hits 25-Year High :.

My hat is off to those of you who were buying during the last draw down. Well done:

Records tumbled in precious metals markets on Thursday as gold raced to a new 25-year peak, platinum hit a record high and silver spiked to its highest in more than 22 years.


3/29/2006

Whores of War: U.S. Firm Offers 'Private Armies' :.

A leading U.S. security firm has offered to provide forces for any counter-insurgency mission around the world.

J. Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA told the Special Operations Forces Exhibition (Sofex-2006), that his company could supply private soldiers to any country. Black, a former U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator, said Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts.



New Anti-Terror Training Manual: ''Property Rights Activists'' Are Terrorists :.

Terrorists also use SCUBA gear, maps, cameras, and... and...



NZ: Our Future Garden

This is from an email I sent to a friend back in the U.S. The picture pretty much sums it up:


I've included an action shot of me trying to clear about a half acre of thick, matted kikuyu. We're going to put down black poly tarps over this mess, once I get it knocked down. Then, one section at a time, we'll pull the tarp back and create chook runs. The goal is to make a massive compost heap out of it.


3/27/2006

Professor Charged with Swindling Students :.

Ahh, my alma mater. Nothing but the best at that place:

A business professor at the University of Southern California was arrested on Friday by the FBI on charges of swindling students and others in a real estate fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Barry Landreth, who had taught real estate finance and development at the university, stole at least $1.5 million in the first 10 months of 2005, telling students and other investors he would buy land in Chicago and Las Vegas and then sell it for large profits, an FBI affidavit said.

Instead, he transferred all the money into his personal account without buying the land, the FBI said.

Landreth was arrested at his home, where he kept a stable of show horses.

The university said in a statement Landreth had worked part-time at the school. Most recently, he taught a course in the Marshall School of Business and was currently on administrative leave.



Spring Break at Wal-Mart :.

Strangely interesting story:

Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.

Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.

Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.


3/26/2006

Stop Animal ID :.

Attention Organic And Local Food Consumers, Livestock And Horse Owners:

The USDA plans to make every owner of even one horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, chicken, or pigeon register in a government database and subject their property and animals to constant federal and state government surveillance, and the animal owner will have to PAY for the privilege of owning animals!

To learn more about the ramifications of this Government decree and how it will affect everyone, not just farmers and animal owners, navigate our site and visit our forum.


Research Credit: TR




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