time*treat's Blog

"We Are All Connected"

"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen committed on Saturday to try and complete its work on agreeing [to] a new global pact by the end of 2010.

"I have been given a note which I understand is the agreed text from the drafting group which looked at ... outcome of the work of the ad hoc working group on long-term cooperative action under the convention (on climate change)."

That was code for the work of climate negotiators to agree a new climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, involving more countries and committing industrialized nations to tougher carbon cuts, at the sixteenth meeting of countries under the convention on climate change in Mexico in November 2010.

"The following changes are in my understanding those agreed in the drafting group. ... would read 'continue its work with a view to presenting the outcome of its work to the conference of the parties for adoption at its sixteenth session'."

The president of the talks subsequently brought down his gavel on that decision at a plenary meeting of 193 countries in the Danish capital.

Good location choice. Perhaps this won't happen...

Does nature have a sense of humor?

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE5BI1B120091219

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704201404574590513148980476.html
Cached link: http://tinyurl.com/ydnaty5

Jacqueline D'Andrea last year lost more than 60% of the 401(k) savings she built over a decade as a Wal-Mart StoresInc. manager, she says. The 1.2 million employees in the retailer's401(k) retirement plan lost 18% as the market plunged, corporatefilings show.

Top executives at Wal-Mart didn't face such risks. Thanks to a guaranteed 6.6% return, Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott Jr.had gains of $2.3 million in a supplemental retirement-savings plan,bringing its total savings to $46.7 million. "We're proud of thebenefits we offer to our hourly associates" which include bonuses,401(k) and profit sharing contributions, and merchandise discounts,said a Wal-Mart spokesman, who confirmed the plans' figures.

One-quarter of top executives at major U.S. companies had gains intheir supplemental executive retirement-savings plans in 2008, even asemployees had sizable losses in the companies' retirement accounts,according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The gains in executiveretirement accounts often stemmed from guaranteed fixed returns onexecutive-savings plans.

The disparity underscores a fact of life in America's corporate-payscene. It's not just bigger paychecks that have led to a growing wagegap—it's the different levels of risk that executives and rank-and-fileemployees face in their retirement plans. That difference rarely hasbeen more evident than the past year, when 50 million employees lost atotal of at least $1 trillion in their 401(k) plans, according to theCenter on Retirement Research at Boston College.

Though the stock market has rallied in 2009, most employees stillhave a long way to go to recoup their losses. The Standard & Poor's500-stock index is still down 29% from its October 2007 peak.

Companies say generally that compensation committees determine thereturns executives receive on their savings, and in some cases do so tooffset the risk executives face by receiving a chunk of their pay incompany shares. Nearly all of the executives with positive returns ontheir deferred-compensation plans worked at companies whose shareprices were down in 2008. Fixed returns are are among the perks thatcompanies say are needed to attract and retain executives to lead theircompanies during difficult times.

Comparing executive and employee retirement returns is possiblebecause, in 2007, companies were required to begin disclosing earningson their top officers' deferred-compensation plans. The Journalanalyzed filings of S&P 500 companies compiled by research firmCapital IQ for fiscal 2008. The latest fiscal year for the analysisended May 31, 2009. The Journal then extracted investment performanceof 401(k) plans at individual companies from their corporate filings.

The Internal Revenue Service limits the amount employees cancontribute to a 401(k) plan— $16,500 in 2009—so companies set upsupplemental plans to enable higher-paid employees to set aside moremoney for retirement.

These deferred-compensation plans generally provide notionalinvestment elections that mirror the returns on mutual funds availablein the employee 401(k) plan. Because of this, many managers andexecutives who participate in these supplemental plans also had largeinvestment losses in 2008. But top executives typically alsoparticipate in more elite deferred-compensation plans, which can faceless risk, largely thanks to guaranteed returns.

ComcastCorp., the cable operator, provides top executives with 12% interest ontheir supplemental savings. This provided Executive Vice PresidentStephen Burke with gains of $7.4 million in his deferred-compensationaccount, helping to boost his total retirement savings to $71 million,according to corporate filings.

Journal Community

discuss

“ Thatis the problem with Big Business today: None of the top guys have ANYskin in the game and if all else fails, then government will bail youout. Great deal if you can get it, but bad deal for the stockholders aswell as the country overall. ”

—Kristina Tharris

Theretirement funds of more than 70,000 workers in the Comcast 401(k) planlost $649 million, a decline of 28%, filings show. Their averageaccount size by year end was $24,000. The company, which confirmed thecalculations, declined to comment.

In their deferred-compensation plans, some executives have access toinvestment options that aren't available to other employees. Forexample, top executives at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. could investtheir savings in a fixed-income fund that had a 6.6% return in 2008;thanks to electing this fund, Steven Elliott, senior vice chairman, hadearnings of $1.3 million on his account, according to filings.

The fixed-income fund isn't available in the bank's 401(k) plan. Theinvestments in the employees' retirement accounts fell 30%, filingsshow. A spokesman confirmed the information.

Top executives at CumminsInc. could choose among three options: the return on the S&P-500index, "the Lehman Bond Index, or 10 year Treasury Bill + 2%,"according to filings. The executives at the engine maker had a total of$1.4 million in gains on their accounts, suggesting that none of themelected the stock index, which plummeted last year.

By contrast, the employees of the Indiana-based engine maker lost29% on their 401(k) retirement accounts. A spokesman says the companydoesn't disclose which option the executives chose, but says: "Theseare more senior people who can be expected to make more conservativeinvestment choices than a 25-year-old in the 401(k)."

At companies that don't provide fixed guaranteed returns, executives often saw losses in their deferred-compensation savings.

For example, Intel Corp. says it doesn't provide guaranteed returnson its executive`s deferred compensation plans, but instead gives themthe same investment options as in the company's 401(k) plan.

In 2008, the four top Intel executives with deferred-compensationbalances lost a total of $5.6 million, or 35% of their account balancesat the beginning of the year. The company's 401(k) also lost 35% duringthe year, filings show. An Intel spokesman cites the company's"egalitarian'' culture. "We don't provide significant special perks,whether it's company limos, special parking spots, a company- ownedjet, country club memberships or even fancy corner offices. The same istrue of deferred compensation."

Some companies note that while fixed returns on executivedeferred-compensation plans protect them from losses, they also limittheir upside.

Executives at Illinois Tool WorksInc., a maker of fasteners and adhesives, received returns of 6.1% to8.4% in 2008, while investments in the employees' 401(k) lost 25%. Aspokeswoman says that so far this year, the average return ofemployees' 401(k) plans has been 23%, while the interest credited tothe executives' deferred-compensation plan is just 5.6%.

Based on those figures, the average employee's account at IllinoisTool Works would have declined 7.8% from the beginning of 2008; theexecutive accounts would have gained between 12% and 14.5% in that time.

With the S&P 500 down a third from its October 2007 peak, someemployees never will recover their losses. Ms. D'Andrea, the Wal-Martmanager, says her retirement kitty bounced back up to $8,000—about theaverage size of employee accounts in Wal-Mart's 401(k) plan—from a lowof $6,000 earlier this year.

But the 48-year-old Henderson, Nev., resident lost her job in Mayand cashed out her account. Now, she vows to never join a retirementplan again. "It's too risky," she says.

[This is why I say stocks and real estate are just as much gambling as lottery and casinos. In all cases you are putting your money at risk against outcomes you cannot control. The main difference is that the stock and house games wear suits and cost more to participate.] ~t*t

Nice addition to any workshop.

Of course I mean the saw.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text

Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leak
Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol

The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.

The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO2, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol – the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions.

The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks".

A confidential analysis of the text by developing countries also seen by the Guardian shows deep unease over details of the text. In particular, it is understood to:

• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;

• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";

• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance;

• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes.

Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted by rich countries without their knowledge and without discussion in the negotiations.

"It is being done in secret. Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the UN process," said one diplomat, who asked to remain nameless.

Antonio Hill, climate policy adviser for Oxfam International, said: "This is only a draft but it highlights the risk that when the big countries come together, the small ones get hurting. On every count the emission cuts need to be scaled up. It allows too many loopholes and does not suggest anything like the 40% cuts that science is saying is needed."

Hill continued: "It proposes a green fund to be run by a board but the big risk is that it will run by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility [a partnership of 10 agencies including the World Bank and the UN Environment Programme] and not the UN. That would be a step backwards, and it tries to put constraints on developing countries when none were negotiated in earlier UN climate talks." [ummm, anyone remember something called the Oil for Food slush-fund .. er.. Program? ~t*t]

The text was intended by Denmark and rich countries to be a working framework, which would be adapted by countries over the next week. It is particularly inflammatory because it sidelines the UN negotiating process and suggests that rich countries are desperate for world leaders to have a text to work from when they arrive next week.

Few numbers or figures are included in the text because these would be filled in later by world leaders. However, it seeks to hold temperature rises to 2C and mentions the sum of $10bn a year to help poor countries adapt to climate change from 2012-15.

[When robbing Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul. You can also count on the robbers to eventually try to cut Paul out of the action. Only then will he begin to see a problem. ~t*t]

Climate-gate email spin 0:00 - 2:10

Greenhouse gas declared threat to public health 2:10 - end

'Cause you know, we cannot wait for the final proof, in the form of a mush ... oh wait, same tactic, wrong jerk.

Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/surveillance-shocker-sprint-received-8-million-law

Don't you feel safer?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6940482.ece

All cash transactions in North Korea have been frozen after the Government’s shock decision to revalue the won currency in an effort to crack down on the country’s burgeoning free-market economy.

In the capital, Pyongyang, today only the few shops and restaurants permitted to trade in foreign currencies, patronised by the privileged elite and the city’s small foreign population, were open for business.

All other enterprises and services based on cash, including markets, long-distance bus services, barbers, saunas and bath houses, have been suspended until the revaluation is completed next week.

There was confusion after the announcement of the measure, which requires North Koreans to swap existing won notes with new ones at an exchange rate of one to 100, knocking two zeroes off their value. There is a cap of 100,000 won (£419) per family, which means that anyone with significant holdings of cash will have their savings wiped out.

“Loud sounds of weeping in every house have not ceased since the news was released,” one South Korean news website quoted an inhabitant of the city of Sinuiju, near the Chinese border, as saying. "Weeping and fighting between couples has not stopped anywhere. The atmosphere of the city is terrible now.”

The website, the Daily NK, citing similarly unnamed sources, said that one elderly couple had killed themselves in North Hamgyong, a province adjacent to the Chinese border across which much illegal trading is carried out. It also reported anxiety among local officials that the currency revaluation would provoke civil unrest.

But a western diplomat in Pyongyang said that, apart from the closed-up shops, the announcement had had no visible effect on the city. North Korea is one of the world’s most tightly controlled and brutal totalitarian states and public dissent is almost unknown.

The announcement was made on Monday via a closed cable broadcasting system which is piped into all North Korean homes, and reserved for public announcements and state propaganda.

It has not been reported in the state media, but it was confirmed the following day in briefings to foreign diplomats in Pyongyang who were summoned to the country’s foreign ministry at 20 minutes' notice.

“It came as a great surprise to everyone,” one western diplomat in Pyongyang told The Times. “Everything literally closed – no notice given. When we made enquiries we discovered it was because the currency was no longer valid. It’s really quite dramatic.”

Households have been told that if they surrender their cash holdings this week, they will be given the new notes from next Monday. Some reports suggested that, after protests from members of the elite, the limit on cash exchange had been raised to 150,000 won, plus 300,000 won in bank deposits which would be made available after investigation into its source.

“One of the worries our North Korean staff have is whether they will have enough food to get through to next week,” the manager of a foreign organisation in Pyongyang said. “Our employees have access to foreign currency, but most people don’t and they could be in trouble.”

Reliable information about the North Korean economy is difficult to come by, but the move appears to have two purposes. One is to control price inflation by limiting the amount of cash in circulation. The other is to destroy the fortunes of black-market traders, money changers, and others who have been profiting from North Korea’s nascent free-market economy.

Officially, the North Korean state provides for the needs of all its citizens through the state-run Public Distribution System. But after the famine of the late 1990s, when several million people starved to death because of floods and crop failures, North Korea took tentative steps towards liberalising its economy.

In the early 2000s, large-scale markets were officially established, and buying and selling by individuals was tolerated. But the benefits of this were felt unevenly, bringing new prosperity to rural areas but even greater hardship to those parts of the country such as the northeast which traditionally relied on now defunct heavy industries.

People in these areas have compensated by smuggling consumer goods across the porous northern border with China. But in a society that presents itself as a perfect socialist state, overseen by the paternal wisdom of the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, the existence of growing inequality between the poor and a new entrepreneurial middle class is undermining the Government. Over the past year, the authorities have clamped down on unofficial buying and selling and closed down the country’s biggest market in the Pyongsong suburb of Pyongyang.

The revaluation is not expected to affect the small number of foreign embassies and aid organisations that operate in Pyongyang. Foreigners are not allowed to trade in local currency and must spend foreign currency. The official exchange rate is 190 won to the euro, but the black market rate is 2,000 won and upwards.

Voluntary, of course. For now.
Mentioned it before.

"Program" -- another word for conditioning.

Turkeys trying to pick our pockets.

Nice title.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1889512,00.html

Two EPA serfs get their Cap & Trade views ... capped
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvllb6FoapE

Verily, a most villainous of videos ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA-QufQzuWU

All views are welcome. Some views are more welcome than others.

Um ... yeah.

Internet Users Guilty Until Proven Innocent - Shelly Roche on RT TV

Things are certainly becoming more "transparent", by the week.

Of course, the same tired "safe for animals = safe for humans" argument is trotted out.

Let's "test" a few chocolate bars on their dog.