** Raw not-yet-formatted notes about recent major news: Skip to new sections: **C01 (Weekend to Tuesday) **C11 (Tuesday to Thursday) Friday: http://www.rawbw.com/~rem/Pub/EcoWeb/FAX-Eshoo-Dec12.txt (regarding alternative to bailout of auto industry) **C17 (Dec.16-17 news, ready to see now) My news site: Bombay terrorist attack (171 killed over 3 days), Bankok Thailand airport sit-in protest, stock market roller coaster (best week in history of Dow Jones Industrials followed by Monday 4th single day in history), European Union has completely banned soybean-based products from China due to melamine contamination that China now admits have harmed three hundred thousand babies/children. December is "learn a foreign language" month, according to Jay Leno on his show on Dec.02. Learning a new skill is a good way to slow progress of Alzheimer's disease. News: Odetta died (sang at King's march on Washington, and wanted to sing at Obama's inaugeration, but didn't live long enough) Just like air traffic control, India needs water traffic control, whereby *every* vessel is tracked at *all* times, and a computer model is used to alert authorities whenever a vessel goes "off radar", and whenever a vessel strays from authorized course, such as getting too close to shore without proper authorization/visa. Also, to protect against terrorists hijacking a ship as occurred here, any ship heading towards shore must pass a "Turing test" to prove the original captain is still alive and in control of the ship. Germany is getting more benefits than losses from globalization. Vacuum-insulation around solar-collector tube, like a "thermos bottle". / Dual-pitcher for serving two beverages selectively, or two poured together, instead of needing to handle two separate pitchers. / Instant reading of content of plastic container, whether basically water (safe to bring on airline) or non-water (forbidden because it might be explosive liquid to be used as a bomb or incendary). Have USA take Pakistani suspects to the Hague to be put on trial for Mumbai bombing. Dec.05: 575 dead so-far from Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iwG9FSGRpiXBUE7eKNBKqyaR6W_A Condoleezza Rice calls for Robert Mugabe to step down: http://tinyurl.com/587kfx "It's well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave, that's now obvious," she said. "There has been a sham election, there was a sham power-sharing. We are now seeing the humanitarian toll." Rice said "we are seeing not only the political and economic toll that is being taken on the people of Zimbabwe but the toll in the humanitarian dimension as the cholera epidemic has broken out. It is time for the international nations to push Mr. Mugabe out." http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid=1538633 Due to cut in demand, Germany's shipping industry forced to lower prices by 80-90%, for example one container shipped between Germany and China used to cost $1500 but now costs only $300. O.J. Simpson sentenced to minimum 15 years in prison. worst job report in the entire history of the bureau, which has been around 124 years The USA should buy a controlling interest in GM and maybe the other two auto manufacturers, then totally re-direct their business toward *only* fuel-efficient vehicles. Meanwhile, the USA should directly purchase fuel-efficient vehicles for public-transit systems controlled by the USA government, just enough to keep the auto-manufacturers in low-level business, including continued R&D towards more fuel-efficient vehicles. Also, the USA should set up the WPA. Anyone who can work on an auto assembly line, is physically able to perform light public service infrastructure work such as highway construction, with a little re-training and heavier than usual supervision until they fully develop their new work skills. Good side-effect of InterNet WPA: Employee who has a long commute to work can insist on the right to do most/all of the work by telecommute, and if turned down can simply quit the job and go on WPA instead. Then somebody who lives nearer to the old job can take that job, giving up a long commute. With this geographic scramble to get jobs closer to home, with WPA as guaranteed transitional income even when people **quit** their old jobs (so unemployment insurance isn't provided), nobody goes homeless due to lack of job and the energy cost of commuting is greatly decreased either by convincing the employer to allow telecommuting or by getting a job closer to home that is made available by the geographic scramble. Furthermore, my online CAI system can be used for re-training people for jobs closer to home but in different specialties from their old long-commute job. **C01 New items added since Friday afternoon: 2008.Dec.05 -- Bill Moyers (Journal) allowed Russ Feingold to half-ignore the point of his question about: -1- Joe Biden being a hearbeat away from the Presidency, and -2- Hillary Clinton having great influence over foreign policy, each with a more hawkish view than Obama in being favor of the Iraq invasion. Feingold responded that Clinton and Biden are mere advisors, and Obama is quite capable of of listening to them but then making up his own mind. That covers point 2, but not point 1. If Obama dies or is incapacitated and Biden becomes [acting-]President, this response is moot. IMO Moyers should have pressed him on that what-if part of the question. But instead Moyers ignored the evasion and just went on with the next question. Moyers looks like a fool who doesn't even know when he's been snoockered. Playing for Change: Peace [sic] through Music (Mark Johnson) (My comment: It doesn't bring peace, it only brings emotional "togetherness", which is only a preliminar step towards later working together to actually build toward peace, and very much later actually achieving some lessening of warfare and other strife. It's a long road from sharing music to ending war and strife. It's like the Chinese proverb of the first step in a march of a thousand miles. IMO the sub-title of this organization is a very large exaggeration of what the music can accomplish.) Building music schools around the world. Also 10 year project of collecting music toward producing a Compact Disk of collages of groups and soloists in multiple places around the world, all at the same tempo and arrangement as a "conductor" playing through headphones into ears of each lead performer. Previous interview broadcast regarding this project Oct.24: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/profile2.html, Sequel interview broadcast Dec.05 after the Russ Feingold interview. Half million jobs lost nationwide in just one month already; now a total ten million unemployed nationwide. Many companies, including AT&T, have cancelled their yule/Christmas parties this year. House+President agreed to $15 temporary bailout of auto industry, re-directing the money that should have gone to fund R&D for energy efficient vehicles. Monday at 11 PM on channel 11 news, there will be a story about wireless (InterNet WebCam) baby monitors being usurped by strangers who enjoy spying on babies and anything else of a private nature that occurs within sight of the WebCam. But this was already discussed on Risks Digest long ago Dec.07 16:56 PST: Really stupid TV news/interview, on channel 7: Interview of a firefigher who bragged about how he fought the Oakland hills fire in 1991 (correct), then rescued people from the collapsed Cypress structure after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1999 (ten years too late). Dec.08: Pakistan raided a terrorist camp in diputed Kashmir territory, and captured the #1 person in charge of the Mumbai bombing. (Good work Condoleezza Rice convincing Pakistan's president to start cracking down on terrorists in Pakistan.) Five terrorists say they are ready to confess their involvement in 2001.9.11 attack. So-far (during 2008?), 40 ships highjacked off the coast of Somalia, over 300 crew members currently being held as hostages. Chicago Tribune, owner of superstation WGN, declared bankruptcy. **C11 New items added Tue-Thu: "Global Green New Deal" UK: "Green New Deal" UN: "Green New Deal" United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week called a "green New Deal" Achim Steiner Achim Steiner, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Program, proposed a "Green New Deal" **C17 (Dec.16-17): Journalist who threw shoe at JWBush is charged with "insulting a foreign leader", and peaded guilty. Tuesday night local news said penalty is 3-7 years in prison. Dec.17 DW-TV didn't said anything about the possible prison term today. OPEC agrees on largest-ever cut in production, effective Jan.01 UN security council unanimous vote to authorize other natiohs to apply military force against pirates off coast of Somalia, including pursuing pirates onto land and combatting them there. Troops are allowed any use of force including shot across bow to sinking the pirate ships. Germany will send troops for on-sea operations, but not participate in on-land fights. Morgan-Stanley reported loss much greater than expected. The Fed now plans to buy "toxic" mortgage-backed securities, in lieu of the Treasury doing it per the original bailout plan. The Fed's recent policy of printing money and spending it, plus the drop in interest rate, has caused the greatest-ever loss of value of dollar relative to other currencies. In Berlin this year, very few people are putting up Christmas lights, because the energy cost is about 20 euros for a ten-foot strand of lights that are lit for 3 weeks, which is more than most people can afford during this economic crisis. That gives me an idea: Here in Sunnyvale, anybody who has Christmas lights up must have some extra money to burn, and we could petition them to hire unemployed people instead.