North Korea is unhappy about the US and South Korea annual joint military drills. An announcer from N. Korea's state run tv station says the event is a declaration of war and a threat to N Korea.
Takeaway #2
N. Korea has cut off communication with S. Korea as well as sealed it's borders with S. Korea, stranding hundreds of S. Koreans working in N. Korea.
Takeaway #3
The tension is heightened due to the N Korea plans of launching a satellite believed to actually be a long range missile test.
Takeaway #4
A military officer from N. Korea warns of retaliation in any attempt at shooting down the "satellite". If it is a long range missile test, it violates a U.N. resolution from 2006.
Takeaway #5
The US is open to conversation, but stands behind the six-party process.
A bill that has passed by a 234-191 vote in the House would give bankruptcy judges an option as a last resort to cut mortgage debt of homeowners in bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.
Takeaway #2
The bill has democratic support, but republicans and bankers are opposed to the bill. House republican leader John Boehner feels American taxpayers are sick of paying for irresponsible people. The senate is expected to consider their own version of the bill.
Takeaway #3
Currently bankruptcy courts can reduce debt on boats, vacation homes, cars or family farms, but not primary residence. Roughly 1 of 8 homeowners with a mortgage ended 2008 overdue or in the foreclosure process.
Takeaway #4
The bill offers protection to `mortgage service firms. The mortgage servicers are currently bound by legal agreements with mortgage backed securities investors who can force the servicers to foreclose, but this will give the servicers protection and the ability to revise bad loans.
Amazon released eBook reader for Apple iPhone thus reaching a much larger market for Amazon that the eBook device that sells for $359.00. iPod touch users can use it too. Must read for iPhone users.
Takeaway #2
"Unlike the Kindle reader, the new application does not link directly to the Amazon e-book store.
"Amazon's core business is selling books, and its job is to get those books on as many devices as possible," said Gartenberg. "And it has a chance of upselling some customers [to the Kindle] who want the functionality of a dedicated reader. This is a win-win for Amazon."
Converting CO2 to useful fuels twenty times better that previous UV based methods in a cycle that eliminates greenhouse gas is no longer a far fetched dream. Researchers at Penn State, led by Craig Grimes has come up with an ingenious method of turning captured CO2 into methane, a combustible fuel, using the energy of the sun. A batch reactor for converting CO2 to methane via sunlight is shown outdoors on a winter day.
Writing in Nano Letters (Volume 9, 2009, pp 731-737).
Takeaway #2
"The team used arrays of nitrogen-doped titania nanotubes sputter-coated with an ultrathin layer of a platinum and/or copper co-catalyst(s). The titania captures high energy ultraviolet wavelengths, while the copper shifts the bandgap into the visible wavelengths to better utilize the part of the solar spectrum where most of the energy lies. In addition, the thin-walled nanotubes increase the transport ability of the charge carriers by reducing the chance for recombination of the electron with the hole."
Web 2.0 is full of examples where one script or site improves on another but this is AWESOME! Really, has anyone merged two different search engines before? Hmm? No you say? Look at the above picture. Thanx to Mark Carey + Firefox + scripts we can know check topics via realtime trends and Google links. How long will it be before the Google devs scramble to make something like this cleaner or….
Cramer says, "Get out of the stock market!". Enough said. Great reading if you are in or out of the market. Cramer reiterates his advice intimating that horrible world-wide depression is underway. Many toss barbed spears at him but he does not waiver.
Am-Ex wwill offer $300 to some customers to close a paid off account (may sacrifice points and rewards earned), but must be done by April 30th.
Takeaway #2
Am-Ex is trying to get debts paid back before other credit card companies. Other companies have been lowering limits, raising interest rates, and cutting back offers.
Takeaway #3
Uncollectible loans went from 7% in Dec, to 8.29% in Jan. Customers at least 30 days overdue went from 4.86% to 5.28%.
Takeaway #4
Am-Ex got $3.39 billion from the US Treasure to build capital, but profit dropped 72% to $238 million during the fourth quarter.
When I saw the Techrunch post this past Friday I didn’t even read it. “Just another case of the RIAA squeezing the online community“, so I thought. Maybe TC jumped the gun on this one…Let’s see who posted the article, ahh, Erick Schonfeld.
Finally the NIH pursues the Vitamin industry finding that manufacturers do not us independent verification of the their testing nor guaranteed calibration of their laboratory equipment. This is a must read is you use vitamins and other popular health dietary supplements.
Takeaway #2
NIST scientists tested and certified the concentrations of 24 elements and 17 vitamins and carotenoid compounds in the tablets.
“We are not saying what a product should contain, but what it does contain,” Sharpless said. “Our SRMs are intended for analytical chemists to use to make sure their methods are working properly, not a benchmark for what a good product should be.” The SRM is standard Reference Materials. Get ready for true vitamins.
I jumped at the chance to try this beta out! Showing stats and traffic is a tried and true way to make your loyal readers come back for more. That used to Bloglog’s job and for a while, it was.