Light blogging this weekend to attend a family event.
Light weekend
January 8, 2011Perceived versus actual corruption: Chief Risk Officer of Bayerische Landesbank took $50 million bribes
January 7, 2011Transparency International in its newly published Corruption Perception Index focuses understandably on the under-developed and developing countries where the endemic petty bribery and facilitation fees to augment low wage levels are the visible and easily identifiable face of corruption. Of course grand corruption is also present in these countries but perception indices are inevitably skewed and dominated by what is visible and to the number of people affected rather than reflecting the monetary value of the corruption.
My own experience suggests – but I cannot prove – that in monetary terms the levels of corruption in the developed world are orders of magnitude larger but much more sophisticated and very well camouflaged compared to cases in the developing world. But with the much higher living standards the need for highly visible petty corruption has been largely eliminated. But the greed based cases in the developed world – when they are disclosed – are usually spectacular. As has now happened in Germany.
Gerhard Gribkowsky, the former chief risk officer of German state-owned bank Bayerische Landesbank, was arrested today over allegations he accepted bribes during his tenure at the lender. Munich prosecutors are investigating him on bribery, breach of trust and tax evasion allegations, Barbara Stockinger, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors, said in an e-mailed statement today. An arrest warrant was issued and executed today, she said.
The probe is reviewing the sale of a stake in Formula One motor-sports company which Gribkowsky, 52, was responsible for overseeing. BayernLB sold the stake in 2006 without it being properly evaluated, Stockinger said. “According to the current findings, the suspect in turn received $50 million in payments disguised via two consultancy agreements,” Stockinger said.
One instance with $50 million involved to one individual!!!
My $20 facilitation bribe to speed up my visa renewal in a developing country would need to be replicated 2,500,000 times for monetary equivalence with this one case. The corruption perception index would be overwhelmed.
I have the clear impression that the monetary value of corrupt and fraudulent practices in the developed world is enormous but extremely sophisticated and rarely found out. From UK MP’s cheating on their expenses, to selling Knighthoods and other Honours , to European MP’s expense and subsidy fiddles, to billions distributed in carbon trading scams and the enormous cases of corruption/fraud whether at AIG or Lehman Brothers or by Bernie Madoff.
The monetary value of fraud and corruption in the OECD countries is probably one or two orders of magnitude greater than in the developing countries but the number of cases is probably an order of magnitude less.
The CPI is perhaps a measure of visible corruption in the public sector – but does not- and can not – reflect the monetary value of sophisticated – and invisible – corrupt practices.
Dead turtle doves now in Italy
January 7, 2011After all the previous reports now comes this from Italy:
http://www.geapress.org/ambiente/faenza-la-pioggia-delle-tortore-morte-si-colora-di-blu/10343
(free translation)
There are certainly many hundreds, probably thousands, of the collared dove who are dying at this moment in Faenza. They are lying in heaps in the flower beds, crushed by machinery in the streets, horribly hung from trees like Christmas balls. Many, many more, in the fenced land for industrial use.
The WWF has collected others, not all already dead. A dozen, in fact, have been sent to the Center of Recovery The Robin of Modena, where those arriving are still alive but died shortly after.
Over all a mystery. Inside the beak, in some animals, the staining was of a strange blue.
The bluish tint, however, is also typical of potassium cyanide, a deadly poison used, for example, from poachers. Cyanide, however, also causes hypoxia, …. maybe a dove with an upset stomach dies suffocated. Another poison which appears bluish comes from some some types of rat poison.
Wind turbine manufacturers in trouble
January 7, 2011
Suzlon wind energy project: Image via Wikipedia
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/consolidation-likelyrenewable-energy-sector-ey_510295.html
Beleaguered wind power major Suzlon, may be on the block. Sources indicate that Spain’s Gamesa is looking to pick up a majority stake in the company. Suzlon added in its statement to the stock exchanges that the news was both speculative in nature and inaccurate. Market rumours also have it that Suzlon’s founders the Tanti family may sell its entire 55% stake to Gamesa’s UK unit.
Suzlon is the most leveraged wind company with net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ratio of 4.2, say JPMorgan analysts. That compares with less than 1 for global peers.
There are two ways out when saddled with Himalayan debt – either sell assets to pay off the debts, or declare bankruptcy. Suzlon is selling off stakes in assets such as gearbox-maker Hansen. But the question is what could be going on in the mind of promoter Tulsi Tanti, who was the nation’s eighth-richest man in 2006. After all, Mr Tanti had picked ‘Suz’ in Suzlon from the word, soojh-boojh, which means intelligence, and ‘lon’ from the word, loan. One part of it, ‘lon’, seems to have run longer than desired. So, will the other inspiration, intelligence, come into play?
If investors bet that intelligence would play a more dominant role than passion, then they may not be wrong in speculating that a possible stake sale could happen. Of course, at what valuation is anyone’s guess.
Mr Tanti, who once delivered fortunes for private funds such as Chryscapital and Citigroup, now heads a company whose shares are down more than 85% from their peak. The company may have created a record in going for seven share sales in five years, but there may be no one to buy in the next issue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/06/wind-turbine-maker-skykon-in-administration
Britain’s nascent wind manufacturing industry has suffered a blow after the owner of Scotland’s only large turbine plant went into administration. The plant near Campbeltown, owned by Danish firm Skykon, has been closed and more than 120 staff sent home without pay after Ernst & Young was appointed as administrators this week.
A spokesman for the administrators said several expressions of interest had been received for the business and that staff would be updated next week. The future of the plant has been uncertain for several years. The Scottish government last year agreed to provide a £9m rescue loan to persuade Skykon to buy it from Danish rival Vestas. But Skykon has been in insolvency proceedings for months in Denmark after a slowdown in wind turbine orders across Europe. Only about £2m of the loan has already been paid. Ernst & Young declined to comment on whether the Scottish government would get that money back.
The prospects of production resuming at the plant are bleak. The number of new wind farms being planned in Europe is falling because governments are withdrawing subsidies to cut budget deficits while energy companies’ balance sheets are becoming increasingly strained.
Autism activism vs. Big Pharma: A plague on both your houses
January 6, 2011I do not know for sure but it seems likely that there is no strong link between autism and the MMR vaccine.
But the British Medical Journal which has now accused Dr. Wakefield of deliberate fraud with regard to his paper in the Lancet making the link does not cover itself with any glory. It only begs the question as to what standards they actually do have.
The “vaccination industry” promoted by Big Pharma also does not inspire much confidence that anything other than the bottom line is their primary concern. As was seen in the H1N1 vaccination circus, the beneficial links between the medical establishment (WHO) and vaccine manufacturers is widely prevalent and highly suspect. Parasitic lawyers who also have a vested interest in “proving” the link between autism and anything which could help their litigation do not impress either.
Dr Andrew Wakefield, whose research claimed a link between MMR vaccinations and autism, denies inventing data. (Reuters: Luke MacGregor)
Dr Wakefield now accuses Big Pharma (including Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries) and the journalist Brian Deer of running a smear campaign against him. That may well be so but it does not justify his payments of some £400,000 from lawyers pursuing autism litigation. Whether his book is actually to defend his work or has some other motive is highly unclear.
Dr. Wakefield, British Medical Journal, Brian Deer, Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries, The Lancet —-
A Plague on all your houses!
Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/06/3107885.htm?section=justin
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/06/autism.vaccines/?hpt=T1
Northern India shivers: Schools closed in Delhi till Sunday
January 6, 2011Most homes in Delhi have no insulation and no central heating. Double glazing is almost unheard of. No doubt Pachauri’s home in the prestigious Golf Links area of Delhi is an exception. Current Delhi temperatures are running some 45°C lower than maximum summer temperatures. And from my week in Delhi during December 2010 I can testify that it is a mind and body numbing experience when temperatures inside the home are less than 10°C.
The claims that global warming is responsible and Pachauri’s IPCC must seem like bad jokes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12125207
A continuing cold snap has forced authorities in the Indian capital to keep schools closed till Sunday. Delhi has been badly hit by the cold, along with Indian-administered Kashmir, and the states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Temperatures have been hovering around 4°C after dipping to 3.7°C on Tuesday morning, the city’s lowest this winter. The death toll in the cold snap that has disrupted life across northern India has reportedly risen to 47.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/north-india-in-the-grip-of-intense-cold-wave-77387
The cold wave intensified further in Kashmir division, including Ladakh region, as the minimum temperature across the state dipped several degrees further, with Leh town freezing at -23 °C.
Leh recorded the coldest temperature in Kashmir division at -23 °C, which was 2.8 degrees lower than the minimum temperature recorded on Tuesday. The maximum temperature recorded in Leh was three degrees below the freezing point. In Srinagar city, the minimum temperature dipped by 1.3 deg C to settle at -5.4 °C. Kargil town witnessed an extremely cold night as the minimum temperature remained -18 °C for the second consecutive night. In Kashmir Valley, the tourist resort of Pahalgam recorded a temperature of – 11.6 °C which was nearly four degrees lower compared to Tuesday’s minimum of -7.7 °C.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article1032332.ece
Daily wage labourers on their way to work braving the cold and windy conditions in New Delhi even as the minimum temperature dropped below 3.4°C the season's lowest, on 04, January 2011. Photo: V.V.Krishnan
Swedish jackdaws died of external trauma
January 6, 2011
jackdaw: Image via Wikipedia
The birds found dead in Falköping yesterday died of external trauma.
Svenska Dagbladet reports:
Jackdaws found dead in Falköping on Wednesday night died of external trauma according to the autopsies carried out by the National Veterinary Institute (SVA). According to Marianne Elvander the birds died of severe internal bleeding. None of the birds showed signs of infection or disease.
Aftonbladet reports that a professional chauffeur said he had driven over a large flock of jackdaws during Tuesday night at that location. “The man came driving late at night when he saw a lot of birds that were alive. They were probably eating road salt ” said Bengt Ljungberg of the Falköping-Tidaholm rescue service.
The dead jackdaws were discovered shortly before midnight last night. Between 50 and one hundred birds lay dead on the road and five of them were taken to the National Veterinary Institute for autopsy. According to Marianne Elvander, it is unclear what caused the birds to die.
But why they were sitting on the road? Investigations are continuing.
Frigid December 2010 was no local phenomenon
January 6, 2011The frigid December of 2010 was widespread across the Northern Hemisphere and cannot be dismissed as just a local phenomenon.
Sweden: Coldest December in Sweden in 110 years: http://www.thelocal.se/31072/20101226/
UK: 2010 UK’s coldest December since records began: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12122497
Ireland: Met Eireann – coldest December on record: http://www.tv3.ie/article.php?article_id=50973&locID=1.2.&pagename=news
Germany: German Unemployment Unexpectedly Climbs in Coldest December for 40 Years: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-04/german-unemployment-unexpectedly-climbs-during-coldest-december-since-1969.html
USA
Illinois’ December was colder and had more snow than average: http://www.bnd.com/2011/01/05/1539495/december-was-colder-and-had-more.html
Virginia: Explaining the weather: December was a bitter one: http://www2.newsadvance.com/weather/2011/jan/04/explaining-weather-december-was-bitter-one-ar-752921/
Florida:
- December coldest on record: http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/01/05/december-coldest-on-record.html
- Tallahassee marks coldest December on record: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110103/NEWS01/101030308/NWS-Tallahassee-marks-coldest-December-on-record
- N. Carolina: Asheville’s December was 2nd coldest: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110104/NEWS/301040038
Korea: Seoul Has Coldest December in 30 Years, Says Weather Bureau: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-27/seoul-has-coldest-december-in-30-years-says-weather-bureau.html
China:
Mass evacuations as China’s south battles ‘big freeze”: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12117729
Heavy snow grips northern China: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8228676/Heavy-snow-grips-northern-China.html
India:
Cold wave continues to grip North India: http://www.sify.com/news/cold-wave-continues-to-grip-north-india-news-national-lbfmEdjjaig.html
Bangalore is cold but the outskirts are getting colder: http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_bangalore-is-cold-but-the-outskirts-are-getting-colder_1483567
Chill in Calcutta: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110105/jsp/calcutta/story_13392877.jsp
Australia:
NSW had its wettest year in half a century: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-had-its-wettest-year-in-50-years-20110105-19fr7.html
AUSTRALIA has just experienced its wettest year since 1974 and its coolest year of the 21st century: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/last-year-australias-wettest-in-36-years-coldest-in-10/story-e6frg6nf-1225979674792
Now it’s green vs. green: Sierra Club files suit against Calico solar plant
January 5, 2011It had to come.
The unholy alliance between the extremists of conservation and environmentalism and global warming is not sustainable. Faith is set against faith. Now conservationists are beginning to find the vast tracts of undeveloped land needed by solar projects objectionable.
(Reuters) – A leading environmental advocacy group is suing the state of California’s Energy Commission over its approval of a giant solar plant, underscoring the growing challenge to the nation’s renewable-energy goals from within the environmental community.
The lawsuit, filed December 30 in California’s Supreme Court by the Sierra Club, alleges that state regulators improperly approved the plant, known as the Calico Solar Project.
The suit, obtained by Reuters, charges that regulators failed to fully mitigate the project’s impact on rare plant and animal species, and asks the court to void approval and permits for the plant………. Conflicts between solar proponents and foes are taking on growing importance as the industry experiences a boom, particularly for California. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of suits targeting planned solar plants, potentially setting back the development of solar energy and derailing state and federal commitments to lessening dependence on fossil fuels.
Last week, a group called La Cuna de Aztlan, which represents Native American groups such as the Chemehuevi and the Apache, filed a challenge in federal court to the federal government’s approval of six big solar plants.
In December, the Quechan Indian tribe won an injunction blocking construction of the Imperial Valley solar project, under development near California’s border with Mexico by NTR’s Tessera Solar. The Calico plant was also under development by Tessera until the company sold the plant last month to K Road Sun, a subsidiary of New York investment firm K Road Power. Tessera has been struggling to find funding for its plants, which cost about $2 billion.
UK Met Office fears ridicule from public more than from their paymasters!
January 5, 2011The UK Met Office is busy spinning the story that it actually did forecast the coldest December in the UK in a 100 years but secretly informed only the cabinet of the UK government about this in October 2010. Secret forecasts for fear of being wrong! After all kings of old also had their own private soothsayers to study the entrails but they were usually executed if they could not spin their way out of wrong forecasts. But the Met Office story does not stand up and their credibility is in tatters.
The UK Met office (as an institution) is one of the most ardent supporters of Global Warming dogma which is concerned with climate not weather. This can only be a “political” choice or an act of faith since climate trends are of little significance for their main task of weather forecasting. While weather is only a subset of climate I find it difficult to believe that poor weather forecasting can be a sound bottom-up basis for forecasting climate.
I say that climate trends are of little significance for detailed weather forecasting because climate change considers temperature changes of about one degree per century or less whereas the daily variation at any particular location is typically 10 to 15 degrees, seasonal variations at any location are around 40 – 50°C over a year and geographical variation around the globe is also upto 50 °C at any moment in time. Any climate trends of the order of 1°C per century are then immaterial for the immediate weather forecast.
At a cost of some £200 million per year they do forecast the weather with some accuracy for upto about 5 days ahead but are notoriously poor with their long range forecasts (but I note that even their short term forecasts are not more accurate – statistically – than the simple statement that “the weather tomorrow will be the same as today”). As recently as October 2010 the Met Office published weather maps showing warm expectations for November, December and January – but they insist they did not make any long range forecasts. We are told by Harrabin of the BBC that this was because of their sensitivity to the ridicule poured on them after their forecasts of a “barbecue summer” in 2009 and a mild 2009/2010 winter proved spectacularly wrong. But , we are assured by Harrabin, they actually did forecast – correctly – a cold and snowy winter but only informed the UK cabinet secretly.
Presumably any future ridicule or budget cuts by the cabinet of the UK Government for being wrong would be preferable to any public ridicule!!
In any event the cabinet did not do very much with this confidential information (perhaps it was anonymous) and all the counties were woefully unprepared.
Sources:
- http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100070451/how-the-doomed-met-office-tried-to-spin-its-way-out-of-trouble/
- http://climaterealists.com/index.php?id=6963
- http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/bbc-spins-that-met-office-got-winter-right-just-kept-it-secret-from-public/
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8237397/Met-Office-kept-winter-forecast-secret-from-public.html
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1343891/Embarrassed-weathermen-warned-big-freeze.html
The k2p blog 