Topics (All Other) – Page 107 – Public Intelligence Blog

CNN, May 18th, 2011

The Kingdom of Denmark is preparing to claim ownership of the North Pole, according to a Danish media report.

In a document leaked to the Danish newspaper Information, Denmark will ask the United Nations to recognize the North Pole as a geologic extension of Greenland, the vast Arctic island that is a Danish territory. Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen confirmed the annexation attempt, Information reported.

According to The Copenhagen Post, “The kingdom is expected to make a demand for the continental shelf in five areas around the Faroe Islands and Greenland, including the North Pole itself.”

Read rest of article….

Phi Beta Iota: As much as we respect the Danish, this is a very BAD idea and should be promptly rejected (and vetoed) by the members of the UN Security Council. Both the North and the South regions are perfectly positioned to be what they have always been–commons–and to be administered by a hybrid trust that relies on transparency, truth, and trust to assure both regions are not “owned” by any mere state, but rather held in trust for all. How these two regions are managed could ultimately be a model for how we mange the Earth as a whole.

2011/05/18

Dutch Royal Academy Demands Open Data Plans

Advanced Cyber/IO, Communities of Practice, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making

face michael ostrolenk — Michael Ostrolenk

Open Access, Open Data are rocking forward….

Tip of the Hat to Frank van Harmelen at Twitter for the leads.

The Dutch Approach to Research Data Infrastructure

2009 Open Government Data Netherlands Update

2009 Open Data and the Future of Funded Research

2011 Open Research Data Day 18th May

2011 Open data: an international comparison of strategies

2011 [PDF] A Global Perspective on Open Access Amsterdam, January 20, 2011 …

2011/05/182011/05/18

The Criminal Insanity of Both US Parties–Borrow One Trillion a Year, Debate About Tax Increases

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency

Dem plan for millionaire surtax intended to soften GOP

By Alexander Bolton 05/18/11

The Hill

Senate Democrats are using their proposal to raise taxes on millionaires as a stalking-horse to force Republicans to accept other tax increases.

Read rest of article….

Phi Beta Iota: The Hill is letting us down when it fails to provide context. This “debate” over tax cuts is either criminal insanity or insanely criminal. As long as the federal government is BORROWING one trillion dollars a year “in our name,” any discussion that does not begin with “stop borrowing” is unconstitutional, illegitimate, and grounds for the impeachment of every member now serving in the Senate and the House, including Ron Paul if he does not bring this basic fact forward in public.

2011/05/172011/05/17

First Habitable Planet Confirmed by French

08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Academia, Earth Intelligence, Strategy

First Habitable Planet Confirmed by French Scientists

Greg Tito | 17 May 2011

Escapist Magazine

French scientists believe that a planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581 could sustain life similar to Earth.

Twenty light years away is a small red star. Orbiting this sun are six planets that range in size from slightly smaller than Earth to about the size of Neptune. Several of these planets fall within the star's “Goldilocks” zone, neither too hot from proximity to the star nor too cold from being too far. If a planet is too hot, all water would be steam but if its too cold then it would be ice, neither of which can support life. Luckily, a group of astronomers from the National Centre for Scientific Research in France believe that the fourth planet – unimaginatively labeled Gliese 581d – is just right.

Read rest of article….

2011/05/172016/06/04

Sterling Seagrave: Reflections of an Old China Hand

02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, History, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), IO Sense-Making, Methods & Process, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

Gold rising further except for profit taking bursts. China is buying all the gold it can get, and unloading all the paper dollars it can dump.. Other countries, including Russia are buying gold. I can see the Yuan or RMB playing a larger role as a global currency, but most people are too ignorant of China to accept the Yuan quickly or easily. The Swiss have a huge mass of gold well stashed, so I can see the Swiss franc playing a larger role. It's hard to make a forecast for the Euro, although it will almost certainly survive the US dollar. It's also possible that the Swiss might make a deal with the EU that would result in the Euro being backed by Swiss gold. Now that the head of the IMF has been burned at the stake, his very good brain is of no further use. The EU is scrambled eggs right now. Sarko can't survive without a miracle. India's potential will take a very long time to organize and get rolling; I went to school there and it's a seething cesspit. It's time for the US to get out of foreign wars, but unlikely that it will because of the weapons market. Obama seems impotent. The Pentagon and its corporate backers and partners seems to be deciding policy. I'm not happy about Petraeus at the agency. I think the USG and the US are totally hosed. Desperate for a new demon. Good time for Lee Kuan-yew to retire. Wise of him. The immediate future does not look good. War and more war. Civil war. Revolution. Take your pick. The cupboard is bare. It's all been looted. What a mess America has made since 1945. Moments of glory, decades of folly and stupidity…. Israel and the Palestinians are a parody of the world as a whole.

I think the last real ingots of gold in Manhattan were in the basement of the Twin Towers. The Fed and the Treasury don't dare be transparent or audited, because whatever real (solid) gold they ever had was moved to Malta and other offshore or mountain stashes long ago, replaced with Play-Dough. Christ, even the Bureau of Engraving and Printing stops now and then to change engraving plates and produce “Presidential dollars” to be used as bribes by the White House (ever since Truman); we have that from a guy who is now retired after running the shop since 1945. The satellite imagery boys, where I have sources, dream of being about to electronically penetrate the earth to a depth of 100 feet or more from satellites but when I last checked 3 or 4 years ago they were still dreaming. They fiddle with HAARP trying to achieve earth-penetration, and only end up causing huge earthquakes and tsunamis; measurements already show the poles have begun to shift partly due to melting ice masses, but also due to fiddling with HAARP. The Fukushima quake and tsunami have been attributed to fiddling with HAARP, possibly the Sumatra disaster as well. Not all scientists are smart and prescient. We're damn lucky they haven't already blown us to smithereens, while scratching their backsides. Never forget that the Fed has always existed as a fraud by intent and design. President Wilson commented years after enabling the Fed in 1913: “I have destroyed my country.”

Review: Gold Warriors–America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold

2011/05/17

Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption

Corruption, Tools

Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Patrick Meier

I had the distinct pleasure of being interviewed for this report on Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption (PDF). The study was prepared by Dana Bekri, Brynne Dunn, Isik Oguzertem, Yan Su and Shivani Upreti as part of a final project for their degree from the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The report was prepared for Transparency International (TI).

As part of this project, the authors compiled a very useful database of projects that apply social tools to create greater transparency and accountability around corruption issues. The authors recommend that TI draw on this list of projects to catalyze an active network of civil society initiatives that challenge corruption. The report also includes an interesting section on Mobilizing Volunteers and considers the role of volunteer networks as important in the fight against corruption. The authors write that,

“As an essential expression of citizenship and democracy, the past 25 years have seen rapid growth in the practice of volunteering worldwide. One study reports approximately 20.8 million volunteers in 37 countries, contributing US$ 400 billion to the world economy. The increasing enthusiasm of individuals to serve a cause while improving their own skills complements key goals of civil society organisations to build a strong volunteer force.”

This of course relates directly to the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF), so I’m always keen to learn more about lessons learned and best practices in catalyzing a thriving volunteer network.

Do let me know if you’d like to get in touch with the authors, I’d be happy to provide an introduction via email.

2011/05/172011/05/17

Nuclear/Climate Change: CLOSED 17 May 2011

03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, 12 Water, Communities of Practice, Corporations, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Technologies

ROLLING UPDATE from Beginning of Crisis

SHORT URL: http://tinyurl.com/PBI-Japan-Update

ap11042512992-1- — Click on Image to Enlarge

16 May 2011

ALL: Study: Seaports unready for climate change

CANADA: Climate change threatens arctic coastlines

CHINA: China’s Nuclear Arsenal: Status and Evolution

EUROPE-SPAIN: Spanish Quake Jolts European Nuclear Debate

GERMANY-JAPAN-USA: Nuclear Nations Turn To Natural Gas And Renewables

INDIA: Manmohan Singh takes stock of country's nuclear arsenal

INDIA-PAKISTAN: Towards An Indo-Pak Nuclear Lexicon: Minimum Nuclear Deterrence – Analysis

INDONESIA: Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia’s Java island

JAPAN: Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers

JAPAN: Japan Sticks to Timeline for Solving Nuclear Crisis

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. also acknowledged that one of the factors contributing to a rapid meltdown of reactor cores was the failure to keep emergency batteries safe from the tsunami, preventing a key emergency cooling system from performing its intended function.

Meanwhile, Tepco said one of the key causes of a rapid meltdown at Unit No. 1 was the failure of two emergency cooling mechanisms—the suppression pool and the isolation condenser—to perform their intended functions.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's nuclear surge exposed

Indian slam, satellite and video, 100% jump by 2021.

sweden storage — Click on Image to Enlarge

SWEDEN: Sweden's Holding Tank For Nuclear Waste

“We have here about 2,000 tons that you are looking (at), and you can stand here as long as you want to,” she tells me before quickly adding, “If we take one of these bundles out of the water I will give you 20 seconds to leave this room alive.”

USA: US reactor outages 50 pct above late-spring average

USA: U.S. Nuclear Output Falls as Entergy, Progress Shut Reactors

Twenty- five of the nation’s 104 reactors were offline.

USA: 75% of Americans Have Never Heard of Climate-Gate, Study Reveals

Prior Updates, Graphics, and Original Overviews Below the Line

Continue reading “Nuclear/Climate Change: CLOSED 17 May 2011”