5 of these links were earlier shared at The Motley Moose
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A path paved in coal
Forty years ago, the Navajo Nation and Southern Ute tribes languished side by side, mired in high unemployment and poverty.
Today, worth billions, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe is one of the richest in the United States, while the Navajo still suffer as one of the most impoverished communities in the country.
The difference? Energy.
While the Southern Utes have natural gas, the Navajo Nation has coal, which has for decades been extracted to feed various large-scale power plants, including in the Four Corners. But that revenue has come under threat by tightening air-quality regulations. At the same time, natural gas, a cleaner fuel source for generating electricity, has grown cheaper and more abundant because of hydraulic fracturing.
The shift has left Navajo leaders in a quandary: either continue investing in coal in the hopes it will remain a significant fuel source, or cut their losses and choose another investment.
Divesting In Fossil Fuels Shouldn't Harm Endowments
College-endowment managers who resist the growing call to divest their holdings in fossil-fuel companies may be doing so for little or no financial reason, according to a new report.
An analysis released on Tuesday by the Aperio Group, an investment-management firm that offers its clients a “socially responsible index,” among other investment strategies, found that while divesting from fossil-fuel companies does not necessarily add value to a portfolio, it does not subtract value from it either, and it increases the risk to investors at such a modest level as to be negligible.
In recent months, student groups at more than 200 colleges across the country have begun pushing their institutions to divest from fossil-fuel companies. A handful of smaller institutions, including Unity College and Hampshire College, have recently adopted strategies to reduce their investments in such companies, but most colleges have responded warily to the notion.
Clothing retailer outsources jobs to India
One of Australia's leading online clothing retailers, which boasts of having local staff, has been relocating its customer service centre to India.
The Iconic, a fast-growing online company, has been outsourcing parts of its email customer service to Hyderabad since December, with redundancy announcements expected on Thursday, internal emails obtained by Fairfax Media show.
It is understood some full-time and casual customer service staff could be made redundant.
On the clothing website, the company claims it has an "excellent team of local customer service consultants [located in our Sydney offices]".
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A customer service employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said staff were told in late November "not to worry" about their jobs. "Don't worry you're needed," they were told.
The Iconic is the name of the store, apparently. Outsourcing, it's not just for/from the USA anymore.
Vishwaroopam ban: emotional Kamal Haasan threatens to leave India
Upset over the hurdles caused by the ban on the release of mega budget Vishwaroopam, an emotional Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said Tamil Nadu does not want him to stay in the state and he might seek a "secular" place in the country or overseas. "When M F Hussain can do it, Kamal Haasan will do it... I am fed up. I am an artiste. After that, I will have to seek a secular state for my stay... Secular state from Kashmir to Kerala, excluding Tamil Nadu... Tamil Nadu wants me out," he said in a choked voice as the fate of the movie is still to be decided in the court.
The actor said he had pledged all his property to make the trilingual movie, estimated to have cost around Rs. 100 crore. He said he might lose his house because of the losses incurred by the delay in the release of the movie.
Haasan said he was still to get interim relief as the film shows were "started and stopped" by police on Wednesday, who sought a physical copy of the single judge's order passed last night, giving clearance of the film.
It seems: a Muslim man made a movie in a Hindu country, and it may not be shown? Any other ideas out there?
Cabinet ratifies Iran pipeline agreement
Despite intense US pressure, the federal cabinet approved on Wednesday a $1.5 billion government-to-government deal with Iran for laying the 785km Pakistan segment of a pipeline to deliver 750 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMCFD) of Iranian gas by the end of next year.
The contract will be signed by Iran’s Tadbir Energy and Pakistan Interstate Gas Company (ISGC) for engineering, procurement, construction and financing of the project.
Iran will provide a $500 million financing payable in 20 years and Tadbir Energy will lay the pipeline through its sub-contractors.
According to Prime Minister’s Adviser on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain, the agreement, which had already been ‘initialled’, was ratified by the cabinet. Because it was a government-to-government agreement, there was no need for competitive bidding, he said. Almost half of the remaining $1bn financing will be arranged through a Chinese loan and about $500m to be raised by Pakistan through gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC).
Israeli airstrike hits Syrian military centre
Israel conducted a rare airstrike on a military target inside Syria near the border with Lebanon, foreign officials and Syrian state TV said today, amid fears President Bashar Assad's regime could provide powerful weapons to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.
Regional security officials said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a shipment of weapons bound for Hezbollah, Lebanon's most powerful military force and a sworn enemy of the Jewish state. Among Israeli officials' chief fears is that Assad will pass chemical weapons or sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah - something that could change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel's ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.
The regional officials said the shipment Israel was planning to strike included Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically "game-changing" in the hands of Hezbollah by enabling the group to carry out fiercer attacks on Israel and shoot down Israeli jets, helicopters and surveillance drones. A U.S. official said the strike hit a convoy of trucks but did not give an exact location.
This looks very new.
Brazil Nightclub Owner Blames Country for Fire
The owner of a nightclub in southern Brazil where more than 230 people died in a fire last weekend deflected blame to "the whole country," as well as to architects and inspectors charged with making sure the building was safe, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Attorney Jader Marques said his client, Elissandro Spohr, "regretted having ever been born" because of his grief over the fire, but still blamed Sunday's tragedy on "a succession of errors made by the whole country."
Police investigating the blaze have said it likely started when a country music band performing at the Kiss nightclub in the college town of Santa Maria lit a flare, which ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling. That initial error was compounded by the near-total lack of emergency infrastructure such as a fire alarms or sprinkler systems, police have said. The club also had only one working door and a faulty fire extinguisher.
Marques insisted in an interview with The Associated Press that "my client's responsibility is having trusted too much in the inspectors and in those responsible for the construction."
My cynicism meter just pegged out.
Crime Story: The Dark World of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater
The man would like to be called "Andrei," which of course is a pseudonym. He was wearing a black turtleneck when he arrived at a Moscow café to speak with SPIEGEL after talking with the police.
For four hours, Andrei sat in the café and spoke breathlessly about the Bolshoi Theater as if he had to get something dreadful off his chest. He says he has dedicated his entire life to the theater. "It's our national treasure," he says, "but now its reputation is ruined." Andrei says the world-famous theater has degenerated into a "den of bandits."
Andrei's behind-the-scenes knowledge of the Bolshoi spans decades. He claims to know who took advantage of the €800 million ($1.1 billion), six-year renovation to decorate their dacha with Stalin-era vases and plates stolen from the theater. He also says he knows who earns money scalping tickets on the black market, and which dancer is an oligarch's current boy toy. He has given their names to the police, he says.
Der Spiegel also has
this interesting article on Hitler's loot.
Gov. Rick Scott wants $1.2 billion more for schools, bonuses for state workers
Gov. Rick Scott will send the Legislature a $74 billion budget today that he says would boost spending in schools by $1.25 billion, but some of that money will never reach students.
As Scott touted the figure on Wednesday, a closer look shows that more than one-third of the money, $480 million, would pay for a $2,500 teacher pay raise that must be approved by county school boards and negotiated in union contracts, if it survives a skeptical Legislature.
Another $297 million of Scott's education increase would shore up an unfunded liability for teachers' pensions in the Florida Retirement System, and $118 million would keep up with enrollment growth as more than 20,000 new students are expected in Florida schools next fall.
State governments are all starting the budget process, I think. Here's Florida's.
SF 49er Player Culliver Apologizes
Here is a statement from the 49ers about Culliver’s comments:
“The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris. There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.”
And here is a statement released Wednesday afternoon by Culliver:
“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.”
The clip can be heard below:
The
Archbishop of San Francisco will likely NOT be issuing an apology for his bone-headed comments.
Softer News
Improving Bathrooms h/t Peter
Improving Bathrooms
They Could Be so Much Better!
Peter Flom
Peter Flom, Yahoo! Contributor Network
The bathroom is badly designed.
In particular, the typical home or apartment bathroom is badly designed. The typical home bathroom could be safer, less wasteful and more pleasurable.
Overall design of the home bathroom
First, let's look at overall design. The typical American bathroom has a toilet, a sink and a tub, probably with a shower, all in one small room. The floor is usually tile. What's wrong with this? A lot!
Tile is slippery when wet and bathroom floors get wet. Putting all those hard surfaced items in a small space means that if you slip you are likely to hit something hard, perhaps with your head. Need the floor be tile? Why? Why couldn't it be covered in a thin sheet of rubber or some similar material?
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