Gadhafi Graffiti Now Appearing in Libya

On By A.P.In GovernmentLeave a comment

In all his years in power, Moammar Gadhafi has never been portrayed as anything but regal in paintings and statues scattered throughout Libya. Until now.

Six months into Libya’s war, some artists in rebel strongholds are arming themselves with fresh paint.

“Everybody supports the revolution in some way,” says Mohammed Zamoul, formerly a bulldozer driver. “Some people fight, I use the brush.”

His caricatures of Gadhafi sucking on his country’s oil reserves, pinned down by a rebel flag and being launched out of Libya on a bomb — are everywhere around his hometown of Rujban in the country’s western mountains.

Several miles away in the rebel-controlled city of Zintan, Masoud Baji is also using art as weapon. He was a calligrapher before the uprising began in Libya last February. Now, he revels in his new career.

Each of his paintings, he says, expresses Gadhafi’s persecution of the Libyan people.

One portrays Gadhafi as a vampire sucking the wealth of the people.

“He has not left anything for them, he kept us illiterate, without education,” Baji says. “He kept everything for himself.”

Some of the paintings are humorous. Some make strong political commentary. All are new in a nation where freedom of expression was an unknown under Gadhafi.

“Now we can express ourselves freely, thank god,” Baji says. “The chains have been lifted. Everyone can express themselves. Even a simple painting about the tyrant, now we can paint. Before the revolution we could not do that, he would arrest and in some cases kill us.”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/10/libya.political.art/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

The Computers Are Taking Over Wall Street

On By A.P.In The Singularity, Wealth and PowerLeave a comment

This past week, the Dow swung back and forth more than 400 points on four straight days.  Trading volume is at or near record levels, and the majority of  trading is now done through the phenomenon of ‘High Frequency Trading’ on large server farms based in New Jersey and elsewhere.

High frequency trading is what it name implies: buying large volumes of shares and selling them off quickly to make few cents per share or less in profit. It is also known as algorithmic trading where proprietary formulas on computers look for anomalies in a vast number of stocks and trade accordingly.  These trades happen several times a minute.

 High-frequency trading makes up 53% of all trading in U.S. stock markets, up from 21% in 2005, said Larry Tabb, president and CEO of market research firm Tabb Group. Other estimates put it even higher, at around 65%.

Gary Wedbush, executive vice president and head of capital markets at Wedbush Securities, told Bloomberg News on Friday that more than 80% of the firm’s orders since Aug. 1 have come from high-frequency trading clients, at five times the typical volume.

Nearly everyone on Wall Street is involved in algorithmic trading in some form, Tabb said, including large banks, hedge funds and mutual funds.

“These firms often piggyback on large orders, so it can amplify a stock’s movement,” Arnuk said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in a report blamed high-frequency trading in part for the May 6, 2010 “flash crash,” when the Dow fell nearly 1,000 points in minutes.

High frequency trading is also associated with flash trading, in which traders can see incoming buy and sell orders and put in their orders milliseconds before them and accordingly profit. High frequency trading has also been linked to the related  practice of front running where an algorithm or trader sees orders before they are filled and acts on the information….sort of like insider trading. Front running is illegal.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/12/markets/high_frequency_trading/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=hp_bn3

Joseph W. Schexnider’s Skeleton in the Chimney

On By A.P.In CrimeLeave a comment

Skeletal remains found in the chimney of an Abbeville, Louisiana, bank two months ago have been identified as those of Joseph W. Schexnider, who vanished at age 22 in January 1984. He would be 49 now.

His disappearance was noted after he failed to show up for a court hearing on a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle. When Vermilion Parish sheriff’s deputies showed up at his home to take him in to custody, Schexnider’s mother said he had fled to avoid arrest.

Schexnider had gloves and a cigarette lighter on him, but no bag or anything to indicate he planned to carry loot from the bank. And Hardy told the TV station there was nothing to indicate that Schexnider was killed and his body dumped in the chimney.  Authorities say he likely died of dehydration and starvation.

And how could Schexnider have been missing for nearly three decades in the main branch of a bank which sits right on the main square in the town of 25,000 people?

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/27/why-was-skeleton-in-chimney-of-louisiana-bank/

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Shuts Down Wireless Data to Stop Protest.

On By A.P.In Censorship, civil liberties union, GovernmentLeave a comment

BART’s shut-off of subterranean cell phone service in its downtown San Francisco stations may have prevented a protest Thursday, but it sparked accusations Friday that the action stifled free speech and smacked of the kind of government intrusion employed by Middle East dictators.

“All over the world, people are using mobile devices to protest oppressive regimes, and governments are shutting down cell phone towers and the Internet to stop them,” said Michael Risher, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. “It’s outrageous that in San Francisco, BART is doing the same thing.”

BART officials acknowledged Friday afternoon that they had switched off the transit system’s underground cell phone network, which runs from Balboa Park Station through the Transbay Tube, from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday to prevent protesters from coordinating plans to stop trains.

A cluster of groups under the “No Justice, No BART” banner said on websites that they planned to protest the fatal July 3 shooting of a knife-wielding man, Charles Blair Hill, by BART police. Protesters briefly shut down the Civic Center, Powell Street and 16th Street Mission stations July 11. Trains ran through the stations without stopping.

“Organizers planning to disrupt BART service stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police,” the transit agency said. “A civil disturbance during commute times at busy downtown San Francisco stations could lead to platform overcrowding and unsafe conditions for BART customers, employees and demonstrators.”

Contrary to some speculative reports, BART did not jam wireless signals or ask cell phone providers to shut down towers near stations. BART owns and controls the wireless network strung through its subways, and BART police ordered it switched off, after receiving permission from BART interim General Manager Sherwood Wakeman, former general counsel for the transit district.

Benson Fairow, BART’s deputy police chief, said he decided to switch off the service out of concern that protesters on station platforms could clash with commuters, create panicked surges of passengers, and put themselves or others in the way of speeding trains or the high-voltage third rails.

“It was a recipe for disaster,” he said. “The fact that they started to conspire to commit illegal actions on the station platform was our concern. I asked myself: If my wife, mother or daughter was on that platform, would I want them to be in that situation?”

Civil libertarians questioned the constitutionality of BART’s decision and predicted legal action, or at least serious investigation by the Federal Communications Commission.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/12/BAEU1KMS8U.DTL#ixzz1Uxu0YPTW

$6.6 Billion Cash Flown From the US to Iraq for Reconstruction is Missing

On By A.P.In Crime, Human Behavior, War, Wealth and Power1 Comment

The Iraqi and U.S. governments have been unable to account for a substantial chunk of the billions of dollars in reconstruction aid the Bush administration literally airlifted into the country. If the cash proves to have been stolen, the heist could represent “the largest theft of funds in national history,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.

Special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction Stuart Bowen told the paper the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

Iraqi officials say it was the U.S. government’s job to keep track of the funds, which were brought in as an emergency measure to keep basic infrastructure going after Saddam Hussein’s ouster. House Government Reform Committee investigators found in 2005 evidence of “substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds.”

Witnesses testified that millions of dollars were shoved into “gunnysacks” and disbursed to Iraqi contractors on pick-up trucks, with what seemed to be little financial controls or accounting on the part of the U.S. government.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story

Thanks to Mr. Cuomo for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Man With Breast Cancer Denied Coverage Because He’s a Man

On By A.P.In UncategorizedLeave a comment

 

Last month, Raymond Johnson, a 26-year-old single South Carolina man, discovered he was one of the estimated 2,100 men who are diagnosed with the disease each year.

Johnson, a tradesman who made $9 an hour, worked for a small outfit that did not provide health coverage.

Since he didn’t qualify for traditional Medicaid, he was urged by the hospital where he is receiving care to apply for help under The Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act.

This 11-year-old federal law uses funds from Medicaid for breast or cervical cancer patients who otherwise don’t qualify for Medicaid because their income is too high, explains Jeff Stensland, spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

The eligibility rules for coverage under the Act are complex, but Johnson met all criteria, except one: He isn’t a woman. “We want to cover this guy,” says Stensland, “but we simply can’t.”

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44065422/ns/today-today_health/t/breast-cancer-patient-denied-coverage-hes-man/?gt1=43001

Federal Workers More Likely To Die Than Lose Their Job

On By A.P.In GovernmentLeave a comment

 

Federal employees’ job security is so great that workers in many agencies are more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Management and Budget and a dozen other federal operations.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-18-fderal-job-security_n.htm

New Hope For Treating Leukemia and Other Types of Cancer

On By A.P.In UncategorizedLeave a comment

 

In a potential breakthrough in cancer research, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered patients’ T cells — a type of white blood cell — to attack cancer cells in advanced cases of a common type of leukemia.

Two of the three patients who received doses of the designer T cells in a clinical trial have remained cancer-free for more than a year, the researchers said.

Experts not connected with the trial said the feat was important because it suggested that T cells could be tweaked to kill a range of cancers, including ones of the blood, breast and colon.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-0811-cancer-therapy-20110811,0,1073777.story

Thanks to Mr. C for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

‘Reborns’

On By A.P.In UncategorizedLeave a comment

Reborns first started to appear in the early 1990s when toy enthusiasts wanted to create more realistic dolls.

Since then, demand has grown – with some creations fetching in excess of £1,000.

To achieve their lifelike appearance, the doll’s skin is painted in multiple layers in a mottled effect and veins are added.

They are weighted similarly to that of real newborns – and the hair and eyelashes are often rooted with mohair.

Some reborns come with a magnetic dummy or even a heartbeat.

They look so realistic that the police broke into a car to save one, thinking it was a real baby.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020222/Bungling-police-smash-way-car-rescue-baby-hot-day–discover-DOLL.html#ixzz1Te6uXbhG