I hope I don't offend anyone but that stuff has about driven me nuts! I'm not a fan of "royalty".
Anyway, thanks to Ozarker for links she sent, be sure to check out her wonderful writing at Conflicted Doomer. Also, thanks to friend of this blog rj who is getting a lot of rain and flooding from the storms. Check out his weekly economic round up today at Global Glass Onion. He usually has it posted in the afternoon.
I love this story!
YahooNews: Man in cow suit robs Walmart of 26 gallons of milk
and this one too. :D
DemocracyNow: Johann Hari: Frenzy Around Britain’s Royal Wedding "Should Embarrass Us All"
As always, I'd like to invite any newcomers to the blog to check out the forums linked at the bottom of this post. If you're looking for a place to talk about current events, or discuss your prepping needs and concerns, you couldn't do better than those forums!
Japan
This just in from our good friend rj.
FTAlphaville: Japan’s ‘stunning’ stats: Yosano’s new nightmare - As variously predicted, the “3/11 effect” on Japan’s economy is starting to kick in. And true to warnings that the impact could be far worse than feared, the latest batch of data is reasonably horrible. Only a day after S&P signaled fresh concerns about Japan’s economy, official data on Thursday showed a far sharper plunge in March industrial production than the consensus 10.6 per cent – a whopping 15.3 per cent fall from February – while March household spending slid an annual 8.5 per cent. Kaoru Yosano, Japan’s economy minister who famously spoke in January of his “dreadful dream” about the national debt burden, was “stunned” by the industrial production figures, according to the Nikkei newspaper. No wonder. Yosano had told the FT just days after the March 11 magnitude 9 earthquake, that the disaster would have little impact on Japan’s economy.
ZeroHedge: TEPCO Releases Video Of Spent Fuel Rod Pool At Reactor 4
enenews: Report: New TEPCO data unequivocally shows ongoing criticalities at Unit 2
Global Conflict
Reuters: CBS reporter Lara Logan recounts assault in Egypt
(Reuters) - CBS correspondent Lara Logan felt sure she would die while being sexually assaulted by a mob when covering the jubilation in Cairo's Tahrir Square after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, she says in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.
Guardian: Fifteen arrested after violence flares at new Bristol protestsDemonstration followed alleged police violence during protest against Tesco store in Stokes Croft area last week
BBC: Libya: Pro-Gaddafi troops 'captured in Tunisia
Hosted: Syrian security forces open fire at protesters
Reuters: Syrian protesters call for Assad overthrow(Reuters) - Thousands of Syrians called on Friday for the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad and pledged support for the city of Deraa where tanks and troops have tried to crush resistance to his authoritarian rule, activists said.
LegitGov: Seven killed in Iraq after deadly mosque attack
TheAtlantic: How the World Let Qaddafi Get Cluster BombsLibyan government forces are deploying the horrific -- and, throughout much of the world, banned -- weapons against rebels, proving that we will have to do more if we want to end their use
Financial News
Another good one from rj.
ZeroHedge: McDonalds Hires 62,000, Turns Away Over 938,000 Applicants For Minimum Wage, Part-Time Jobs - This is what the US economy has been reduced to: McDonalds reports that as part of its employment event to hire 50,000 minimum wage, part-time (mostly) workers, subsequently raised to 62,000 it received a whopping 1 million applications, or a Tim Geithner jealousy inducing 6.2% hit rate. Alas, the US economy is now so pathetic that the bulk of the population will settle for anything. Literally anything. And the saddest part: over 938,000 applicants were turned away. Here's hoping to Burger King needs a few million janitors in the immediate future too. And yes, aside from reality, things in America are really recovering quite nicely.
CNNMoney: What happens if Congress blows the debt ceiling?
ZeroHedge: As First Suggested By Zero Hedge In 2009, Massive CDS Price Manipulation Scanadal Erupts, Everyone Implicated
ModernSurvivalBlog: Core Shoppers Running Out Of Money
CSMonitor: The oil company gusherExxon-Mobil earned 69 percent more during the first quarter than a year ago, and the industry is trying to keep a $4 billion annual tax subsidy
BusinessInsider: Democrats Are Caving Left And Right On The Debt Ceiling
Of course, the real story on the debt ceiling fight is this: The GOP wants austerity now because it weakens the economy in the runup to the election. The question is how much blood they can draw, and how much spending Obama has to give up on.
BusinessInsider: A Frightening Satellite Tour Of America's Foreclosure Wastelands
BusinessInsider: IT'S OFFICIAL: Surging Commodities Are Killing The Labor Market
Caterpillar's just released earnings were strong, but they confirm a trend reported by some others this season: higher commodity prices are being offset by squeezing more out of labor.
GlobeandMail: Canada's economy unexpectedly shrinks in February
ZeroHedge: As One Million Exhaust Jobless Benefits, A Look At What Recent Deteriorating Layoff Trends Means
GlobeandMail: Rising fuel costs hit small businesses
CSMonitor: A tepid quarter for GDPThe first quarter of the year saw disappointing growth in the US economy. Here are the factors that caused GDP to grow just 1.8 percent.
Peak oil and Energy News
The below story sure doesn't bode well does it? See the press release at the link.
There Goes the Data: Major Cuts at EIA Washington
One of my greatest concerns coming out of the financial crisis of 2008 was that, eventually, free services like government data would be reduced or lost altogether. This afternoon I learned from EIA Washington that one of the cornerstones of my own work, and also the work of others globally, is about to be suspended: the gathering of International Energy Statistics. For me professionally, this is among the most important gateways to monthly data on global oil production. As I said, after 2008 I came to recognize my own professional dependency on this free data. But, I never actually expected to lose my access. Well, that’s always the way, isn’t it? Below is a portion of today’s EIA Press Release:TheOilDrum: Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever
ClimateProgress: Oil roulette
ClimateProgress: Paul Ryan endorses ending oil subsidies, even though he voted for them
UPI: Trump wants all of Iraq's oil for the U.S.
EnergyBulletin: Won’t innovation, substitution, and efficiency keep us growing? - Conclusions - The near-religious belief that economic growth depends not on energy and resources, but solely on increasing innovation, efficiency, trade, and division of labor, can sometimes lead economists to say silly things.
Environmental News
WSJ: Unusual Collision of Weather Forces Likely Set Stage for Storm Outbreak
USAToday: Across the South, violent storms left little hope
Hosted: Blowout could spill 58 million gallons in Arctic
NewScientist: The hunt is on for million-year-old ice core
EarthObservatoryNASA: Flooding along the Mississippi River
On April 28 in the afternoon, 62 river gauges reported major flooding, 109 gauges had moderate flooding, 233 gauges showed minor flooding, and 298 showed conditions near flood stage, according to the Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS). Flooding was concentrated in the U.S. Midwest and South, with some in the Northeast.ActivistPost: Radioactive Jet Streams
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired these images on April 28, 2011 (top), and April 29, 2010 (bottom). Flood conditions appear far worse in April 2011 than a year earlier, as the Wabash, Ohio, Black, and Mississippi Rivers are all considerably higher.
I climbed this mountain in North Carolina with Dutch right after publishing “Beyond the Door” on Monday. Even after all the devastating information I have been publishing about the nuclear disaster, I was shaken. It is not easy to understand the implications and follow the math of what is happening in the northern hemisphere but let’s try.AccuWeather: 150-mph Jet Stream a Key Factor in Wednesday's Tornado Outbreak
A 150-mph jet stream was one of the key players in why Wednesday's historical tornado outbreak in the South was so devastating. The persistent presence of a strong jet stream over the South is the main culprit in why this April has been such a terrible month for tornadoes.
Hosted: Blowout could spill 58 million gallons in Arctic
SkepticalScience: Wakening the Kraken
America in Decline
Hosted: Americans wake before dawn to watch royal weddingBleary-eyed Americans woke before dawn Friday to watch Britain's Prince William marry his longtime sweetheart, Kate Middleton, gathering before screens in living rooms and restaurants across the country to watch the spectacle of a royal wedding and the couple's first kiss as man and wife.
AmericanDream: The Royal Wedding, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars And 7 Other Ways That The American People Are Being Distracted From Our Real Problems
Food and Water
Guardian: Rabbit battery farms could return to UKLocal and welfare concerns over planning applications lodged for first intensive rabbit farms since 1990s
Science and Technology
Definitely check out the article below, sent to us by the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer
TruthOut: The Celestial Computers of Ancient Greece
CSMonitor: Space shuttle launch Friday will be last for EndeavourSpace shuttle launch: the US space shuttle Endeavour will launch for the last time on Friday, drawing an estimated 750,000 spectators from all over the country.
WashingtonPost: Shuttle mission includes the launch of a physics experiment
Medical and Health
WashingtonPostFactChecker: GOP lawmakers tout Medicare reform by stretching a comparison to the health benefits they receive
RawStory: ACLU defends cancer patient fired for legal marijuana useThe American Civil Liberties Union urged a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to reinstate a lawsuit against Wal-Mart and a manager in Michigan for firing an employee who used medical marijuana in accordance with state law.
NewScientist: First partial transplant of a bioengineered larynx
WashingtonPost: The three most important health-care graphs in the world
The Kaiser Family Foundation has an excellent series of charts making the point that not only does the American health-care system spend much more than anyone else, but that spending has been growing much faster than everyone else’s, and is now so high that our government spends more on health care than the governments of countries with single-payer systems — and that’s true even though most of our health-care spending is private! But let’s start at the beginning. Here’s what we spend vs. what everyone else spends:Wikileaks
FDL: Bradley Manning to be Removed from Solitary Confinement Tomorrow
RawStory: Pentagon tries to tamp down Manning detention outcry with media tour
WashingtonPost: Documents offer hints of legal strategy in WikiLeaks case
Other News
YahooNews: Convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan says he was manipulated by a seductive girl in a mind control plot
LifeInc: Social Security goes paperless, saves moneyThe Social Security Administration is saying goodbye to the paper check.
Beginning Sunday, anyone who signs up for Social Security benefits will have to choose an option for receiving their payments electronically.
BusinessInsider: 53 Mind-Blowing, Psychology-Proven Facts You Should Know About Yourself
TheEconomist: America's transport infrastructure Life in the slow laneAmericans are gloomy about their economy’s ability to produce. Are they right to be? We look at two areas of concern, transport infrastructure and innovation
IWPR: Telling the Real Story on Social Security
The Forums
TinfoilPalace: When the levee breaks or gets blown up is more like it
TinfoilPalace: An Illuminati Higher Up Defector Reveals All
TheOilAge: Desperate sprawl developer gives away cars with houses
TheOilAge: Planet Easter Island
Hubberts-Arms: Donald Trumps profanity laced speech in Vegas, very interesting.
Hubberts-Arms: This ain't no rubber chicken story: ~25% Alabama poultry slaughter
SilentCountry: north slope now turning to "heavy" oil
SilentCountry: Economic growth slows as inflation surges
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