News that matters - Caution possibly 95% of all statistics are lies

Gas prices in USA

2011-08-11T19:03:00.001-07:00

The oil price low point was reached in January 1999 of $17 per barrel, after increased oil production from Iraq coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis, which reduced demand. Prices then increased rapidly, more than doubling by September 2000 to $35, then fell until the end of 2001 before steadily increasing, reaching $40–50 by September 2004. On January 2, 2008, a single trade was made at $100, but the price did not stay above $100 until late February. On July 11, 2008, oil prices rose to a new record of $147.27 following concern over recent Iranian missile tests.
The gas prices are closely related to oil prices.
Historical Gas Price for last 5 years

Rising Oil Prices

2011-04-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

So far the scale of the current oil price shock is relatively small in comparison to the other rises since World War II. Although over the past 8-months, oil prices have risen by 50%, this pales in comparison to the 240% rise over a few weeks in 1973/4, 150% over six months in 1978/9 and 100% over a year in 2007/8 to name a few. Will oil price above $125 per barrel threaten the US recovery?

Power shift to East

2011-01-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

China main goal is to have a stable country and a stable regional environment; it wants uninterrupted supplies of raw materials, and it does not want to depend on the US for that. The oil coming through the Malacca Straits now, is effectively protected by the US Pacific Fleet. China wants to protect that itself. In the region around and beyond Japan, China would like to be the predominant power there over time. So that will take time, building a blue-water navy, if you like, a military power which can project military power and it is not possible to do that overnight. But already in the last couple of years, we have seen the Chinese Navy finally in the Indian Ocean, and building bases along there.

Icelandic krona

2009-04-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Can this happen to your country currency? In case of Icelandic krona it all started in October 2008, when the effects of the GFC brought a huge disruption to the Icelandic banking sector. The value of the krona plummeted, and on 7 October 2008 the Icelandic Central Bank attempted to peg the krona at 130 against the euro. This plan did not work. The krona later fell to 340 against the euro before trade in the currency was suspended. After a period of tentative, very low-volume international trading in the krona, activity had been expected to pick up again throughout November 2008, albeit still with low liquidity, as Iceland secured an IMF loan. However as of January 2009 the krona was still not being traded regularly, with the exchange rate being set only intermittently, as of December 3, 2008 at 290 ISK per euro. The previously high costs for foreign tourists have been drastically reduced, which Iceland's tourism industry hopes to exploit.

Surviving Natural Selection

2009-02-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

According to Charles Robert Darwin natural selection favors the most fit and adoptable organisms around. However those species which survive may not always be optimal form of life. The researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, led by evolutionary biologist Dr. Matthew Cowperthwaite have shown that what may be good in the short run, may hinder evolution in the long run. Cowperthwaite explains "Some traits are easy to evolve - formed by many different combinations of mutations. Others are hard to evolve - made from an unlikely genetic recipe. Evolution gives us the easy ones, even when they are not the best." This research has been conducted using computer models of RNA molecules evolving by mutation and natural selection.

Private Jets for Sale

2009-01-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

Bank of America has the biggest fleet of corporate jets with eight planes each worth $US45-50 million and costing $US10,000 per hour to fly. Thay have put three corporate planes and a helicopter up for sale in a bid to save money. There will be many more of them for sale rather sooner than later. If they can not sell them at reasonable price there is still planty of space in a desert. I think the aircraft storage business should be good.

Oil Price Decline

2008-12-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

I just picked up an old magazine from June 2008 and found the article there with the title: Speculators blamed for rise in oil price. Now that the crude oil went down by more than $100 per barrel, we know exactly how much pure speculation we had there. Back then, some analysts believed that record oil prices are a result of speculation and are certain to head lower. I hope they all made a trade on futures market and having some big party now.

Notice of Default

2008-11-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

How many properties have been foreclosed in USA in last 12 months? It is hard to find national number but I looked at some states. Just in California 28,795 properties were foreclosed in July 2008. The figures from other states are also very sobering. Typical story has been reported on BBC in October - "Poverty and the blues in Memphis". Elvis used to live in there. But there is not much joy in Memphis any more. However I was struck by lack of details in this story. The reporter was saying: "Take Denisa. She bought her home four years ago. Two years ago, her mortgage payments started rising, as interest rates went up. Her monthly bill is now $200 more than it was when she took out the loan. She cannot afford it. Her bank has begun foreclosure proceedings. She is close to losing her home." And that was it. No information about how much the house was bought for, or how much is it worth now. There was also no information about her past or current income. It is very disappointing that the journalist left more questions than answers. Doing a quick research on a $100,000 property, monthly payment is $598 per month - considering 30 yr. fixed mortgage at 6.1% which is a current rate.

Oil Hungry Hollywood

2008-01-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

Hollywood has been promoting itself as being environmentally friendly. But in reality it is just another show since as we might have expected the energy consumed by film production is mind boggling. Recent study released by the University of California at Los Angeles concluded that special effects explosions, lighting and cooling systems, idling vehicles and diesel generators make the entertainment industry a major Southern California polluter, second only to the oil industry.
There is a great need to start measuring carbon footprint, then reducing it, whether through using alternative fuels, reducing electricity consumption or combining trips as it was pointed out by Shelley Billick, vice president of environmental initiatives at Warner Bros Entertainment.

Stem Cell Research

2007-07-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Recently more countries support laws in extending stem cell research. It is worthwile to note that supporters are often using phrase: therapeutic stem cells, when they refer to embryonic stem cells. Unfortuantly after 20 years of research, there are no approved treatments or human trials using embryonic stem cells. They tend to produce tumors and malignant carcinomas, cause transplant rejection, and other undesired effects.

Mission Accomplished

2007-05-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

On the fourth anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" speech, President George W. Bush, citing the provisions setting a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, vetoes an Iraq War funding measure that also improves resting, training and equipping standards for combat troops before their deployment, and sets binding benchmarks for the Iraqi government.

Amex Call Centre Jobs

2006-09-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

American Express wants to bring 160 Japanese workers to Sydney call centre under the 457 visa scheme. Amex claims that recruitment campaign, online advertising and career days have failed to find sufficient number of workers. Due to the widespread skills shortage in Australia, professionals on 457 visa numbers keep rising to an estimated 40,000 foreigners who were granted working visa in the past financial year. However in Amex case, the agreement contained salaries that were nearly $6000 below the minimum $41,850 per annum in current 457 visa regulations. The question is, who is going to be the winner in this race to the bottom?

Donald Trump Fires Carolyn

2006-08-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

Life will go on without Carolyn being part of Trump Empire, but it is not often that we see this kind of performance. Donald became frustrated by her outside projects and she had to pay the price. "She became a prima donna," a presumably close, unnamed "insider" told the newspaper. "She was giving speeches for $25,000 and doing endorsements." Carolyn Kepcher's dismissal was first reported in New York Post.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-06-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

This title is so sharp that I could not try to change it. Here is another apocalyptic vision of climate change. Some of us are trying to frighten people with climate change others with terrorists. Who will be right? What if the both sides are right?
An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a desperate cry to protect the only one earth we all share. "It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely," said Gore.

Perfect Storm

2006-05-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Global warming, terrorism, bird flu and another oil shock are exposing the global economy to much higher risk. And now the insurance industry is worry that it will not be able to cope, when all those things will go wrong at the same time. Some insurance companies like All State for example, declined to cover a lot of homes in New York state because of a statistical prediction that there was going to be a hurricane sometime soon, affecting large New York area.
According to Michael Cherkasky CEO of global insurer MMC "the inability to cover risk will absolutely stifle economic development. There is no question about that and that is an enormous risk, and for people the insurance has just become this unseen thing and don't really associate it. It is in fact what drives so much of entrepreneurialism, the ability to transfer risk or spread this risk out so I think that would be catastrophic".

Credit Card News

2005-12-18T21:39:00.000-08:00

Banks face a government enforced crackdown on credit card lending which could see them forced to review customers repayment ability and stop making unsolicited offers of higher credit to people on fixed incomes. The NSW government is preparing a discussion paper on tighter rules for lenders that could be adopted nationwide. Australians owe $32 billion on credit cards, an average of $1600 for every person.

Air Travel Cost

2005-09-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

Increase in air travel may contribute more to global warming than previously thought. Over 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions are from the air travel. CO2 emissions from automobiles in the US have decreased 9 percent since 2003 and CO2 emissions from air travel have increased by approximately 6 percent in the same period of time. Airline business will face trouble not only as oil prices soar but also when they realize the true impact of their operations on the ecosytem.

Commuting to Work

2005-06-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

If you ever wonder what have you done with your time here is some answers. U.S. Census Bureau published a study that on average, American workers spend more time commuting to work each year (100 hours) than they receive in vacation time (80 hours). The census data revealed that the states with the longest average commutes included New York (30.4 mins), Maryland (30.2 mins) and New Jersey (28.5 mins). The states with the shortest commute times included South Dakota (15.2 mins), North Dakota (15.4 mins) and Nebraska (16.5 mins).

Tainted Victory

2005-05-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Churchill and Roosevelt have not lost the World War Two, but they did not win it either. And while Bush is talking about "the flags of freedom unfurled across Europe and Asia as victorious American and Allied troops brought World War Two to an end," at the same time they let totalitarian Soviet Union to enslave the nations of Eastern and Central Europe for next 40 years. I agree that it was hard to argue with Soviet Union that time, but the leaders sould remember the history.

Money Management

2005-02-27T16:31:00.000-08:00

Most lack understanding on money matters
A study by the Commonwealth Bank, Monash University and Eureka Strategic Research linked poor understanding of money matters to sleeplessness, increased smoking, personal stress and trouble paying bills. Of the 5,000 people surveyed, those with the worst financial literacy scores were more likely to be men (56 per cent), in low-income households (44 per cent on less than $50,000), aged 16 to 20 (39 per cent), students (30 per cent) or unemployed (7 per cent). Improving the knowledge of the most financially illiterate could boost the economy by $6 billion a year and create 16,000 new jobs, the researchers asserted.

Singapore and Outsourcing

2005-02-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

The study, ranks 60 of the world's key economies on their attractiveness as offshoring locations in nine categories, including political and security risk, regulatory environment, tax regime, labor laws, costs and skills, and infrastructure.
Singapore is now the world's top location for outsourcing, a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit said. The republic's 22.6 offshoring projects per million people beat 59 other countries, the study showed. EIU looked at data gathered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). CEOs polled by EIU also ranked Singapore as the world's fourth-most attractive outsourcing location, the Business Times reported today. The study, which was co-sponsored by American software giant Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Dimension Data, ranks 60 of the world's key economies on their attractiveness as offshoring locations in nine categories, including political and security risk, regulatory environment, tax regime, labor laws, costs and skills, and infrastructure. In overall ranking, Singapore came in fourth behind India, China and the Czech Republic. In absolute terms, Singapore's total of 95 offshoring projects puts it in sixth place globally, said EIU. These projects include call centers, shared service facilities, IT services and regional headquarters-related functions.
The UNCTAD trade investment report states that India is currently home to 228 offshoring projects, followed by Britain's 187, China's 132, America's 123, Canada's 98 and Singapore's 95. Behind Singapore are Germany and Ireland with 77 each, Australia with 72 and the Netherlands with 52. The study was co-sponsored by American software giant Oracle Corp, and Dimension Data.

Australian in Detention Center

2005-02-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

What's worse, ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care! This is what has happened to Ms Rau, an Australian resident who has schizophrenia, and was locked up in a Brisbane jail for six months last year when she was mistaken for an illegal German immigrant. After then she was moved to South Australia's Baxter detention centre, where she spent another four months.
The essential question is how could this happen to an Australian? How could a mentally ill person be left in the wholly inappropriate situation of immigration detention for so long? If you extinguish the basic rights of one category of person, because they do not hold the right passport or visa, then the rights of others are also put at risk.

Round World Sailing Record

2005-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Ellen MacArthur crossed the finish line off Ushant, France, breaking the record held by Frenchman Francis Joyon by one day and nearly nine hours. The Isle of Wight-based yachtswoman completed the 27,000 mile voyage in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds. We don't need airplanes anymore when we can sail so fast.

Index of Economic Freedom

2005-01-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

The index, compiled by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation, claims countries with the most economic freedom also enjoy the highest living standards. In its 11th year, the index's authors surveyed 155 countries. They were measured in 10 categories including trade policy, fiscal burden of government, government intervention in the economy, wages and prices, property rights and regulation.
Hong Kong topped the index for the 11th straight year, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg. Former Soviet republic Estonia, remarkably was fourth, Ireland and New Zealand tied for 5th place, followed by Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Australia. For the first time, the USA did not rank in the top 10 and is now on 12th position.

Policy makers who say they are fighting poverty would do well to see the link between economic freedom and prosperity. This year the Index finds that the freest economies have a per-capita income of $29,219, more than twice that of the 'mostly free' at $12,839, and more than four times that of the 'mostly unfree.' Put simply, misery has a cure and its name is economic freedom.

Expert questions

2004-12-21T01:30:00.000-08:00

Yossi Feinberg, associate professor of economics, who studies reasoning and uncertainty says it is not easy differentiating experts from non-experts.
The solution, according to a new paper by Feinberg and a colleague, is deceptively simple: Ask the expert what questions to ask.

"The challenge for the expert is twofold," said Feinberg "The expert needs to pick a question that is so difficult that no one else could answer it if they were not an expert, but also a question that is not too difficult to actually answer."

In the late 1990s, a number of papers started studying the posing of expert questions, but all had negative results. "All they came up with was a collection of tests that seemed reasonable but didn't provide the goods: You could manipulate them one after another," said Feinberg. "Our paper is dramatic in respect to that literature, because it says there is always a test that cannot be manipulated."
There are all kinds of real-world problems that exist for which this theory would have resonance, including weather prediction, economic forecasting, political forecasting, and any kind of repeated phenomenon that is random and about which people claim to possess expertise.

Even if an expert cannot come up with an exact prediction—in cases, for example, when they come up with a probability of a certain event transpiring—they should be able to come up with some property of the resulting answer. "No matter what you know about the distribution, you can always provide a surprising prediction," said Feinberg.
This article is from Stanford Knowledgebase.

‘Snowman’ is under attack

2004-12-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

Controversy Erupts Over Word ‘Snowman’
MAYVILLE, New York – Controversy erupted on Tuesday when City Councilor Joe Tannenbaum encouraged children at home from school as a result of the first major snowstorm of the year to go outside and build a snowman.

The controversy is over the word snowman. The Mayville chapter of Womyn For The Alteration Of Gender Biased Language And Terminology held a press conference, at which its members lashed out at Councilman Tannenbaum.

“Snowman is a sexist term intended to imply that people of the female gender are unable to construct a snowperson,” WFTAOGBLAT President Lynda Mylborn said. “Furthermore, snowpersons are often endowed with carrot noses, intentionally phallic symbols designed to demean women and their rightful rights and place in the world.”

Councilman Tannenbaum responded with his own press conference later in the day. “I am quite aware that the correct word is snowperson,” Tannenbaum said. “I was programmed as a child to refer to them as snowmen, and I have spent the last thirty years trying to eliminate these language faux pas from my lexicon.”

Tannenbaum then went to tears and begged Mylborn and the WFTAOGBLAT for forgiveness. “I have sinned, and you must know that I am terribly sorry for it,” he said. “Ask my wife, and she will tell you that I never permit full carrot noses to disgrace the face of my children’s snowpeople. They just use the stub,” Tannenbaum sobbed. “They just use the stub.”

Getting Married Later

2004-12-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

The most important news in the future?

2004-12-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

Take few seconds to participate in my poll. If you have any other possible news sugestion send me an email or leave a comment.

Two thirds in debt

2004-12-01T15:58:00.000-08:00

The average Australian household spending more than they earn, but most people are well positioned to service and manage their debt. A survey by the University of Canberra shows the average household spends 2.3 per cent more than its weekly income. Mortgages account for between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of household debt. Two thirds of households in Australia have some form of debt, with households headed by those aged 35 to 44 who had the highest debt on average, at about $95,000. From Australian Financial Review.

Important decisions

2004-11-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

What would be some of most important decisions humans have made? Try Google to search for an answer. When you type "decision" the first result is about using a nuclear weapon. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by the first atomic bombs used in warfare.

Outsourcing to India

2004-11-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

According to a recent study in the current edition of the Milken Institute Review each dollar that a US company spends on outsourcing a service job to India generates an estimated 1.13 USD in net value for the US. The study also estimated that India gains 0.33 USD in net value from local wages, profits earned by local outsourcing companies and their suppliers, and taxes collected from all the local companies involved in the operation.
The outsourcing company generates cost savings through lower wages, and many companies have seen additional cost savings from efficiency gains. US consumers benefit from the resulting lower prices. Outsourcing can also boost US exports to India, as the company builds the infrastructure to support the outsourced jobs.

Robert Kennedy and his killer

2004-11-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

The guy who shot Robert Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, goes up for parole every year. Once he even told the parole board that if Kennedy was alive today, he would speak in his favor and say let him go. What a tough break, you know? The one guy who would have supported him, and he shot him.