Canada Withdraws from 1997 Kyoto Climate Deal

Reuters reports that Canada’s Environment Minister returned Monday from UN talks in Durban, South Africa, to announce that Canada was withdrawing from the 1997 Kyoto protocol, an agreement designed to supposedly stop climate changing emissions. He told the media, "As we've said, Kyoto for Canada is in the past ... We are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto."

Canada’s Conservative party, viewed as having close ties to the energy sector, had said remaining in the treaty would trigger penalties of $14 billion Canadian dollars by 2012. Kent noted, "To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of either removing every car truck, all-terrain vehicle, tractor, ambulance, police car and vehicle off every kind of Canadian road."

Kent stated that the treaty has become unworkable. Kyoto’s language included a first phase through 2012, but this has been extended to 2017. Kent stated that the Liberals (in power in 1997 when the agreement was penned) had no intention of keeping the commitment that had been made.
　
The United States imports large quantities of oil and natural gas, and Canada is the biggest supplier to the USA.

The Canadian Liberal opposition, as well as environmental groups, are furious about the withdrawal from Kyoto.

Summarized from Reuters at:

http://news.yahoo.com/canada-first-nation-pull-kyoto-protocol-001955697.html
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Note by the blog author:

The USA signed the 1997 Kyoto accord, but it was never ratified by the Senate – see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

An Asteroid That Looks Like a Planetoid

Is Vesta the "Smallest Terrestrial Planet?"
By Dauna Coulter, Edited by Dr. Tony Phillips

NASA -- Dec 9, 2011-- NASA's Dawn spacecraft spent the last four years voyaging to asteroid Vesta – and may have found a planet.

Vesta was discovered over two hundred years ago but, until Dawn, has been seen only as an indistinct blur and considered little more than a large, rocky body. Now the spacecraft's instruments are revealing the true complexity of this ancient world.

"We're seeing enormous mountains, valleys, hills, cliffs, troughs, ridges, craters of all sizes, and plains," says Chris Russell, Dawn principal investigator from UCLA. "Vesta is not a simple ball of rock. This is a world with a rich geochemical history. It has quite a story to tell!"

In fact, the asteroid is so complex that Russell and members of his team are calling it the "smallest terrestrial planet."

Vesta has an iron core, notes Russell, and its surface features indicate that the asteroid is "differentiated" like the terrestrial planets Earth, Mercury, Mars, and Venus.

Differentiation is what happens when the interior of an active planet gets hot enough to melt, separating its materials into layers. The light material floats to the top while the heavy elements, such as iron and nickel, sink to the center of the planet.

Researchers believe this process also happened to Vesta.

The story begins about 4.57 billion years ago, when the planets of the Solar System started forming from the primordial solar nebula. As Jupiter gathered itself together, its powerful gravity stirred up the material in the asteroid belt so objects there could no longer coalesce. Vesta was in the process of growing into a full-fledged planet when Jupiter interrupted the process.

Although Vesta’s growth was stunted, it is still differentiated like a true planet.

"We believe that the Solar System received an extra slug of radioactive aluminum and iron from a nearby supernova explosion at the time Vesta was forming," explains Russell. "These materials decay and give off heat. As the asteroid was gathering material up into a big ball of rock, it was also trapping the heat inside
itself."

As Vesta’s core melted, lighter materials rose to the surface, forming volcanoes and mountains and lava flows.

"We think Vesta had volcanoes and flowing lava at one time, although we've not yet found any ancient volcanoes there," says Russell. "We're still looking. Vesta's plains seem similar to Hawaii's surface, which is basaltic lava solidified after flowing onto the surface.

Vesta has so much in common with the terrestrial planets, should it be formally reclassified from "asteroid" to "dwarf planet"?

"That's up to the International Astronomical Union, but at least on the inside, Vesta is doing all the things a planet does."

If anyone asks Russell, he knows how he would vote.

Link: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09dec_vestaplanet/

Big Fight Over Sugary Dry Breakfast Cereals

A study released Tuesday by the Environmental Working Groups shows that three popular cereals have more sugar in a one-cup serving than a Hostess Twinkie. Another 44 brands have more sugar in a cup than three Chips Ahoy cookies.

Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Pist Golden Crisp and General Mills Wheatuies Fuel are the three that have more sugar than a Twinkie. The 44 cereals having more sugar in a cup than three Chips Ahoy cookies include Honey Nut Cheerios, Apple Jacks and Cap’n Crunch. The study found that in nearly three-dozen brands, sugar makes up more than a third of the cereal by weight. This list included original and "marshmallow" Kellogg’s Froot Loops, and the original and "all berries" versions of Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch.

The group’s report has been released at the same time voluntary guidelines are being considered by the federal government for food marketed to children. Obesity rates are high, and a federal inter-agency group wants sodium, fats and added sugars limited by 2016 in foods and drinks advertised to children 17 and under. These guidelines allow 13 grams of added sugar for 50 grams of cereal, yet two-thirds of today’s children’s cereals exceed that threshold, charges the Environmental Working Group.

The cereal industry has argued against the proposed guidelines. Food companies say the standards would be so strict that they would essentially ban food advertising to youth. The industry released its own proposed standard in July – 10 grams of sugar per listed serving size – beginning in 2013. Cereal makers also say that most of the cereals on the study group’s "10 worst" list are not marketed to children. The industry adopted its own marketing standards in 2006, stopping ads for products with more than 12 grams of sugar per serving for children under 12. Only Foot Loops Original and Apple Jacks still advertise sweeter cereals than the standard. Honey Smacks and Wheaties Fuel also exceed the limit, but these are not marketed to children.

Industry spokespersons saw even sugary cereals have nutritional value, because they contain vitamins and minerals.

Consumer advocates contend that cereals should be concerned with health rather than selling profitable brands full of sugar. The products are placed at eye-level in containers featuring colorful cartoon characters to lure children. The Environmental Working Group also contends that a high-sugar breakfst makes kids more easlily frustrated and less able to work independently at school.
　
In 2009, Congress directed the Federal Trade Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department to improve nutritional standards. The four agencies may present a report to Congress by the end of the year.

The Washington Post article covering this issue (see link below) notes, "Obesity rates have more than doubled for children ages 2 to 11 and more than tripled for teens ages 12 to 19 in the past three decades."

Summarized from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/some-childrens-cereals-packed-with-sugar-ewg-study-finds/2011/12/06/gIQAayYlaO_

Obama To Be on "Sixty Minutes" in Two Days

In an interview for the CBS "60 Minutes" program that will air Sunday, December 12^th, President Obama stated that years could pass before the country is on a sound economic footing. "I always believed that this was a long-term project," he said about repairing the economy. He noted it would "take time" to correct "structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades."

In excerpts released on Friday, Obama added, ""it was going to take more than two years. It was going to take more than one term. Probably takes more than one president." He said it was possible for unemployment to drop to eight percent in time for the 2012 election, but, "I’m not in the job of prognosticating on the economy."

Reuters notes that some independent economists expect the unemployment rate to be in the eight to nine percent range throughout 2012.

Obama added in the excerpts, released on Friday, that he thought "it was going to take more than two years. It was going to take more than one term. Probably takes more than one president."

When asked whether he thought the U.S. jobless rate might drop to 8 percent by next November's presidential and congressional elections, Obama said: "I think it's possible. But ... I'm not in the job of prognosticating on the economy."

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-economic-fix-could-years-010156271.html

Note by the blog author:

No American president since World War II has been reelected with unemployment above 7.9 percent, the rate in late 1984 when Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term. 

Iran Holds an Intact Top Secret US Drone

The Iranian government has captured an intact American RQ-170 Sentinel drone near Kashmar, 140 miles from Afghanistan’s western border. The top secret robot plane, made by Lockheed Martin, has been shown on state television, along with a banner stating "The United States Cannot Do a Damned Thing" [a quote from the late Ayotollah Khomeini] and a US flag featuring skulls instead of stars.

This advanced technology is sitting in a hostile nation state. Iran has known since 2005 that the U.S. was conducting such surveillance. It has demanded, through its Swiss embassy, an explanation and compensation from the United States.

Iran claims the drone was brought down through an electronic attack, but American officials reject that claim. The video showing the drone to be essentially intact verifies that it can be programmed to land safely after the communications link is lost.

The Pentagon refused to comment on the drone, but there appears to have been an increasing surveillance program, with a central mission of covering Iran’s nuclear facilities, that has been operating for years from an American air base in Afghanistan and from other regional bases. The loss of this drone could prove to be a serious setback.

The Iranians may be able to sell the drone to others – such as the Russians or Chinese. U.S. officials worry that others may be able to recreate the chemical composition of the drone’s radar-deflecting paint or the vehicle’s optical technology. These craft have permitted positive identification of terror suspects from high altitude flights. The drones sensors would provide important information to other nations, such as China. The drone’s database might also be hacked.

The drone may have contained an AESA radar, an advanced feature used with manned aircraft such as F-22 and F-35 aircraft.

The loss of the drone also brings Afghanistan into the Iranian crisis. Bruce Riedel, an official with the Brookings Institution and formerly with the CIA, states, "He is already a proxy in a war with Pakistan. Now he is a proxy in a covert war with Iran the Afghan people knew nothing about."

Summarized from an Associated Press article online at:

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-ap-source-video-shows-lost-drone-215634903.html

Britain Recruits Codebreakers with a Puzzle

BBC, November 30, 2011

UK intelligence agency GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters] has launched a code-cracking competition to help attract new talent.

The organisation has invited potential applicants to solve a visual code posted at an unbranded standalone website.

The challenge has also been "seeded" to social media sites, blogs and forums.

A spokesman said the campaign aimed to raise the profile of GCHQ to an audience that would otherwise be difficult to reach.

"The target audience for this particular campaign is one that may not typically be attracted to traditional advertising methods and may be unaware that GCHQ is recruiting for these kinds of roles," the spokesman said.


"Their skills may be ideally suited to our work and yet they may not understand how they could apply them to a working environment, particularly one where they have the opportunity to contribute so much."

The competition began in secret on 3 November and will continue until 12 December.

GCHQ said that once the code was cracked individuals would be presented with a keyword to enter into a
form field. They would then be redirected to the agency's recruitment website.

The organisation said it was not worried that the problem's answer might be spread around the internet.
It said it would still benefit because the resulting discussion would "generate future recruitment enquiries".

However, it added that anyone who had previously hacked illegally would be ineligible. The agency's website
also states that applicants must be British citizens.

Concerns

The move was hinted at two months ago when Prime Minister David Cameron presented his government's response to the Intelligence and Security Committee's annual report.

The document noted the committee had concerns about GCHQ's "inability to retain a suitable cadre of internet specialists" to respond to cyber threats.

It said that the Cabinet Office supported "initiatives such as the Cyber Security Challenge, which promotes careers in cyber security via annual competitions and events".

Following this the government announced last week that it would set up a specialist department within
GCHQ.

The Joint Cyber Unit will concentrate on tackling the growing threat of cyber attacks from organised criminals, terrorists, hostile states and hacktivists.

Innovative

GCHQ claimed that this was the first time this sort of challenge had ever been conducted by an organisation to target these sorts of skills.

However, the agency has used unusual recruitment methods in the past.

In 2009, it placed video content, themes and downloadable pictures on the Xbox Live network which appeared during Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed and other video games.

Two years earlier, it targeted gamers by placing digital posters in online titles including Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Splinter Cell Double Agent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15968878 

Obama Speaks in Kansas

Part of President Obama’s speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas:

"Finally, a strong middle class can only exist in an economy where everyone plays by the same rules, from Wall Street to Main Street. (Applause.) As infuriating as it was for all of us, we rescued our major banks
from collapse, not only because a full-blown financial meltdown would have sent us into a second Depression, but because we need a strong, healthy financial sector in this country.

"But part of the deal was that we wouldn’t go back to business as usual. And that’s why last year we put in place new rules of the road that refocus the financial sector on what should be their core purpose: getting capital to the entrepreneurs with the best ideas, and financing millions of families who want to buy a home or send their kids to college.

"Now, we’re not all the way there yet, and the banks are fighting us every inch of the way. But already, some of these reforms are being implemented.

"If you’re a big bank or risky financial institution, you now have to write out a "living will" that details exactly how you’ll pay the bills if you fail, so that taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes. (Applause.)

"There are also limits on the size of banks and new abilities for regulators to dismantle a firm that is going under. The new law bans banks from making risky bets with their customers’ deposits, and it takes away big bonuses and paydays from failed CEOs, while giving shareholders a say on executive salaries.

"This is the law that we passed. We are in the process of implementing it now. All of this is being put in place as we speak. Now, unless you’re a financial institution whose business model is built on breaking the law, cheating consumers and making risky bets that could damage the entire economy, you should have nothing to fear from these new rules."

• Barack Obama, speaking in Osawatomie, Kansas, on December xx, 2011 (the text available at http://blogs.courier-journal.com/politics/2011/12/06/obama-u-s-cant-return-to-youre-on-your-own-economics/ )

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The problem with this speech in general, and the banking commentary in particular, is that the Obama administration came to office because of a banking crisis. The economy was always the make-or-break accomplishment of this administration – and it had a majority of the House and Senate in 2009. What did it do about banking? It shanked its opportunity to re-institute stability and sensible regulation, substituting instead a scarecrow of showboating under-regulation, the Dodd-Frank bill. Details are explained in this blog at the October 16, 2011 daily quiddity blog posting, http://dailyquiddity.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-occupy-wall-street-needs-to-know.html .

When Obama’s party held both the House and Senate in 2009, it failed to come up with a health reform bill. Obama backed off and distanced himself from the writing of the legislation. Into this power vacuum the lobbyists themselves put together a bill with congressional support. After months of inane wrangling, and the White House keeping its distance, it was passed in March of 2010. Take a look at the link (below) to an actual color diagram of the final legislation – this is an administrative nightmare that will cost a great deal and benefit only hospital administrators. Link:
http://reichert.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Health_Care_Overhaul_Packet.pdf . There is also the small question of the constitutionality of this legislation, which the Supreme Court will decide this Spring. Think of it – a President who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago pushes for and signs legislation that may well get thrown out as unconstitutional.

Another great accomplishment was supposed to be reversing the "global warming" theory with cap and trade legislation. Thought the Democrats held both houses of Congress, Obama got absolutely nothing at all through those Democratically-controlled bodies for his signature -- nothing.

The inability of Obama to follow-through, to offer concise, targeted legislation to solve the nation’s problems, makes a mockery of his speech in which a rosy partnership is deified between government regulation, private business, and working Americans. Obama can’t and won’t do anything effective wheresoever his core support might be offended, therefore "he deserves a second term." That is the logic of the argument made today in Osawatomie.

On the other hand, a fairly vigorous defense of Obama’s speech is offered at: http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2011/12/president-obama-in-osawatomie-we-shall.html