Crossing Wall Street: Will the Fed Raise Rates Soon?

One of my forecasts for last year that I got wrong was that I expected the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than most people expected. No only did they not raise rates, but they made it clear that rates will probably stay low for an “extended period.”

A few years ago, Professor Greg Mankiw of Harvard drew up a very basic rule of where the Fed funds rate ought to be. The rule is:

Federal funds rate = 8.5 + 1.4 (Core inflation – Unemployment)

Thanks to the magic of FRED, you can easily plug those numbers in and generate your own graph. Much to my surprise, the Mankiw rule has just ticked into positive territory after three years of signaling negative interest rates.

Does this mean the Fed will soon follow? I don’t know but it may catch the attention of something even more powerful — the bond market.

http://www.crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2012/01/will-the-fed-raise-rates-soon.html

Bikya Masr: Saudi Arabia arrests foreigner for celebrating New Year’s with balloons

 A foreign resident in Saudi Arabia was arrested by the country’s religious police on New Year’s Eve for displaying balloons to celebrate the new year, the daily news website Sabq reported.

According to the report, the man – described as an Arab expatriate living in the country – was arrested as he was walking though the streets in violation of the ban of celebrating the New Year in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

In December, Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Abdullah, the country’s top Muslim cleric, deemed celebrations of the New Year, birthdays and marriage anniversary un-Islamic. . . .

http://bikyamasr.com/52309/saudi-arabia-arrests-foreigner-for-celebrating-new-years-with-balloons/

Emirates 24/7: Farmer slays camel to regain swallowed money

A Saudi farmer immediately slaughtered his camel and delved into his big belly in search of more than $900 of his money swallowed by the animal by accident, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The farmer happily returned home after selling a couple of his sheep for around SR3,525 ($953) and went straight into his barn to feed his camels and other cattle, the Saudi Arabic language news network Alhiyad said.

He place the money notes, his car key and mobile phone on a shelf topping the fodder bins for the sheep just opposite those assigned for the camels.

“The camel fiddled with my things and then suddenly started to devour my money,” said the farmer, Sbabab Al Subai.

“When I saw this, I went mad…I hurried to the house, got a knife and slaughtered the camel…I searched all its belly but the money was not there as it was clearly digested with the other food it had.”

The paper did not mention where Subai’s farm is located in Saudi Arabia but said he decided to distribute all the camel meat to the poor “so he will be rewarded by God the Almighty for his loss.”

http://www.emirates247.com/offbeat/crazy-world/crazy-world-man-kills-toddler-cooks-her-limbs-2012-01-02-1.435423

Japan Times: DIY cesium scanning store may be 'new normal'

Hot or not: Hiroko Aki, a resident of Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, places a food sample in a radiation detector Oct. 11 at Bec-Miru, a DIY irradiation scanning store in nearby Kashiwa. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

The tranquil residential city of 406,000 in Chiba Prefecture rarely enters the national spotlight, except when Kashiwa Reysol, the local soccer team, is playing at home.

But on a street just six minutes from JR Kashiwa Station, the Bec-Miru facility that Motohiro Takamatsu opened in October is turning heads by offering residents a chance to scan their own groceries, garden soil and other items for radiation.

"To have Kashiwa become contaminated with radiation, that was a big deal for me," the software engineer and accidental entrepreneur said in a recent interview with The Japan Times.

Takamatsu imported several LB 200 gamma spectroscopy machines from Germany to equip his new shop, which allows anyone to check items for contamination from the Fukushima nuclear crisis for a fee of ¥980 (US $12.72) per 20 minutes.

The high-tech radiation detectors cost ¥1 million each but can detect cesium levels as low as 20 becquerels, as long as customers provide 1 kg of the item.

The machines have proven popular. People brought in 3,000 items to Bec-Miru for scanning in the first two months, and reservations are now common.

The surreal sight of a do-it-yourself radiation testing facility standing next to a hardware store and an Internet cafe raises a question for Japan: Is this the new normal?

The March 11 earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster set the unthinkable in motion in 2011. Teachers in Tohoku now carry Geiger counters to check radiation levels on school grounds, and cesium isotopes have shown up in baby formula, rice and tea. . . .

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120101f1.html

NZ Herald: 'Transphobic' tampon advert causes outrage

SHRINK

Transgender groups have slammed the new Libra tampon advertisement. Photo / Supplied

Transgender advocates claim a new tampon advertisement takes the cringe factor surrounding women's sanitary products to new lows by stereotyping its community members.

A preview of a Libra ad featuring a drag queen character and a blonde woman was uploaded to YouTube at the weekend to a storm of criticism. It is also playing on New Zealand television.

Both women sneak glances at each other while they get competitive about putting on their mascara in a mirror, lipgloss and adjusting their bras.

In an apparent coup de grace the blonde pulls out a tampon and the drag queen walks out of the bathroom.

Agender NZ president Cherise Witehira, said many in the transgender community were outraged at the ads which were "blatantly transphobic".

"It's extremely offensive because it's pretty much saying the only way you can be a woman is to get your period. . . .

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10776378

Viet Nam News: Plenty of good fruit, but prices too low

VINH LONG — Le Van Thai, a farmer in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Vinh Long, is getting ready to harvest a bumper crop of rambutan in his 5,000sq.m orchard, but he is not a very happy man.
His bumper crop is no guarantee that he can make a profit.

Thai, who lives in Long Ho District's Hoa Ninh Commune, has found it difficult to find an outlet for his rambutan and is having to sell the fruit for just VND1,700-2,000 (nearly US$0.1) a kg.

"The money from selling rambutan is not enough to cover the cost of buying fertilisers and pesticides," he said.
Thai is among many Vinh Long farmers who are in trouble because they are not able to find stable outlets and good prices for their produce. . . .

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Agriculture/219288/plenty-of-good-fruit-but-prices-too-low.html



Unpeeled and peeled rambutan fruit

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

Herald Scotland: Orcadian temple predates Stonehenge by 500 years

THE discovery of a Stone Age temple on Orkney looks set to rewrite the archeological records of ancient Britain with evidence emerging it was built centuries before Stonehenge.

Archeologists have so far found undisturbed artefacts including wall decorations, pigments and paint pots, which are already increasing their understanding of the Neolithic people.

Experts believe the huge outer wall suggests the site was not domestic, while the layout of the buildings has reinforced the view it might have been a major religious site. Archaeologists think the temple was built 500 years before Stonehenge, regarded as the centre of Stone Age Britain.

However, only 10% of the site at Ness of Brodgar has been excavated and it could be years before the scale and age of the discovery is fully understood.

It sits close to the existing Ring of Brodgar stone circles and the standing stones of Stenness, near to the town of Stromness.

The uncovered wall around the edges of the site was built with 10,000 tonnes of quarried rock and may have been up to 10 ft high.

Thermal technology also indicates the site could cover the same area as five football pitches, with some parts potentially older than Stonehenge, in south-west England, by as much as 800 years.

Charcoal samples from beneath the wall indicate it was built around 3200 BC. A 30mm high figurine with a head, body and two eyes, and called the "Brodgar Boy", was also unearthed in the rubble of one of the structures. . . .

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/orcadian-temple-predates-stonehenge-by-500-years.16330802

Bloomberg: Wheat Futures Rise in Record Rally

Milling wheat futures rose for a 12th day in Paris, the longest rally for the most-active contract since the grain started trading in the French capital in 1999, amid concern dry weather will damage South American grain crops.

Parts of Argentina and south Brazil were forecast to have more dry and hot weather early this week, resulting in crop stress for corn and soybeans, AccuWeather Inc. said in a Dec. 30 report. Argentina is the world’s second-largest corn shipper after the U.S.

“The markets are again demonstrating firmness, still in a context of a very dry weather situation for the South American continent,” Agritel, a Paris-based farm adviser, wrote in a note today. “There’s little change expected in Argentina this week, with high temperatures and little or no precipitation.”

March-delivery wheat advanced 1.3 percent to 197.75 euros ($256.03) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe at 3:21 p.m. in Paris, rising 12 percent over a 12-day period. Wheat fell 23 percent in the French capital last year, the biggest slide in three years.

Texas, which grows about 6 percent of U.S. winter wheat according to government data, will remain dry this week and possibly longer after rain in December brought drought relief, AccuWeather said. More than 80 percent of the state is still under severe drought conditions, according to the forecaster. . . .

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-02/wheat-futures-rise-in-record-paris-rally-as-south-america-stays-hot-dry.html

Lebanon Daily Star: Iran's currency slumps 12% as sanctions bite

A street money exchanger, puts US dollars in a plastic bag in downtown Tehran on Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

TEHRAN: Iran's currency, the rial, slumped 12 percent in street trading Monday, accelerating a slide triggered on the weekend when the United States activated new sanctions over Tehran's nuclear drive.

The rial was being exchanged for 17,800 to the dollar late Monday.

Before US President Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law the new sanctions targeting Iran's financial sector and central bank, the rial was trading around 15,500 to the dollar.

Over the past year, the rial has lost 66 percent of its value against the dollar.

The European Union is mulling its own additional sanctions, including a possible embargo on Iranian oil imports. If those are decided at an EU foreign ministers' meeting at the end of this month, Iran's rial could show further strain.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- a passage at the entrance to the Gulf through which 20 percent of the world's oil flows -- if further sanctions are applied.

The United States and its allies have imposed the sanctions to pressure Iran to halt its nuclear program, which they fear is being used to develop atomic weapons.

Tehran denies that, saying the program is for exclusively peaceful purposes: generating energy and providing isotopes for medical use.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2012/Jan-02/158582-irans-currency-slumps-12-as-sanctions-bite.ashx#ixzz1iJaYKtia

Mail Online: A warm welcome to 2012: Daffodils make an early appearance as temperatures hit 15C across the country

What a difference a year makes.The start of 2012 was a suitably mild affair in Britain – after the second warmest year since records began.

Twelve months after the country was frozen at the start of 2011, temperatures reached highs of 15C (59f) as we rang in the New Year.

And yesterday there were even signs of spring ahead of schedule as 15-month-old Maisie Murphy played amidst these bright yellow daffodils at a park in Guildford.

Blooming marvellous: Maisie Murphy sits among the daffodils that have bloomed on New Year's day in Stoke Park, Guildford

Forecasters said the past 12 months have been the second warmest for the UK after 2006, when the average temperature reached 9.73C (49.5F). . . .

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080996/A-warm-welcome-2012-Daffodils-make-early-appearance-temperatures-hit-15C-country.html#ixzz1iJYYEEwJ

CurvyAm: Self-photos

http://imgur.com/a/wY0CW

The high-quality subject of this series more than makes up for the low quality photographic images.

Mind Full, or Mindful?

http://imgur.com/l9u6K

Neoncobra: Ancient Roman coins with sex scenes - sprintia

This is a spintria. They were used in ancient Rome to request and pay for different “services” in brothels and from prostitutes on the street. Since there were a lot of foreigners coming to the city that did not speak the language and most of the prostitutes were slaves captured from other places the coins made the transactions easy and efficient. One side of these coins showed what the buyer wanted and the other showed the amount of money to be paid for the act. . . .

http://neoncobra.blogspot.com/2010/05/ancient-roman-coins-with-sex-scenes.html

ACLU Press Statement: President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law

WASHINGTON – President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law today. The statute contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision.  While President Obama issued a signing statement saying he had “serious reservations” about the provisions, the statement only applies to how his administration would use the authorities granted by the NDAA, and would not affect how the law is interpreted by subsequent administrations.  The White House had threatened to veto an earlier version of the NDAA, but reversed course shortly before Congress voted on the final bill.

“President Obama's action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director. “The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield.  The ACLU will fight worldwide detention authority wherever we can, be it in court, in Congress, or internationally.” . . .

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/president-obama-signs-indefinite-detention-bill-law

Presidential Oath of Office:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pioaths.html

In view of all the "occupying" we've seen in months, where is the popular groundswell of support for impeachment of Obama?

Public Policy Polling: Headed for a Photo Finish in Iowa

The Republican caucus in Iowa is headed for a photo finish, with the three leading contenders all within two points of each other.  Ron Paul is at 20%, Mitt Romney at 19%, and Rick Santorum at 18%. Rounding out the field are Newt Gingrich at 14%, Rick Perry at 10%, Michele Bachmann at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 4%, and Buddy Roemer at 2%. . . .


http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/01/headed-for-a-photo-finish-in-iowa.html

The mainstream media are consistently reporting that Romney is in the lead.  It will be interesting to see how they handle it if Ron Paul wins the caucus.

Global Macro Monitor: Year in Review

Wow!  Who would of thunk it.   The Dow the only major global equity index positive for the year. . . .



http://macromon.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/year-in-review/

Nude Girlsm in Nature: Untitled (petite blonde)

http://asslyy.tumblr.com/post/15145616538