Do the Democrats have any sense of necessity to prevent disaster?

I was pleased to see the Democrats in the US Senate are standing up for the country. It is their sworn duty to protect the country and the constitution. I am proud of them.

Then Senator Brown was stating in the news this evening they are not another Mitch McConnell. That's obvious! Is there no conviction to stand up for the country, the people?

The late Senator Robert Byrd is rolling over in his grave right now. Don't give in! He never would!

It was about time Chairwoman Yellen increased interest rates as well. This has been on the Fed's agenda for months if not for the past year.

January 31, 2017
By Gregg Rob

President Donald Trump (click here) seems in pole position to get potentially budget-busting corporate tax cuts and infrastructure spending plans through a pliant Congress.

Fed chief Janet Yellen is not likely to be as flexible.

The Fed is likely to respond to fiscal stimulus that requires borrowing by jacking up interest rates. That seems to be the signal that Yellen, and at least one of the central bank’s other top officials, are sending.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––

In a way, that sets Yellen up to seen as the most powerful Democrat in opposition to Trump’s agenda, along the lines of Sen. Mitch McConnell to President Barack Obama.

But this is a narrative that Yellen would reject, experts said.

“Yellen would run, not walk” from any suggestion she was the Democrats’ last best hope in Washington, said economist Diane Swonk.

“The Fed is just walking a very fine line, and it is important for the central bank to be seen as nonpolitical,” Swonk said.

Mark Gertler, a professor of economics at New York University who often writes about the U.S. central bank, agreed. Yellen would “very much resist” such a label and “it’s not fair to give it to her.”...

Wall Street is working on a sugar high compliments of Goldman Sachs that won't stay there. Goldman has been waxing and waning over the past weeks since Trump was inaugurated. It is pulling the largest part of the gains since then.IIt won't last because it is artificial. 

Investing.com (click here) - The dollar held weaker on Tuesday with comments on trade from the Trump administration weighing on sentiment and investors looking ahead to the latest Fed views on rates on Wednesday.

The Fed indicated last month that at least three rate increases were in the offing for 2017. However, traders remained unconvinced. Instead, markets are pricing in just two rate hikes during the course of this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.84% to 99.58. USD/JPY dropped 0.80% yo 112.86 after the Bank of Japan earlier in the day raised its outlook for growth and held policy steady. GBP/USD traded up 0.69% to 1.2572

EUR/USD rose 0.92% to 1.0792.

Earlier, the dollar tumbled against a basket of the other major currencies on Tuesday as the euro surged after President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser accused Germany of currency exploitation. Peter Navarro, the head of Trump’s new National Trade Council, said Germany is using a “grossly undervalued” euro to exploit the U.S. and its trading partners.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the remarks, saying that Germany cannot influence the value of the euro, and that the country has always called for the European Central Bank to have independent policy....

There was a time when investment was real and produced measurable goods and services. Today there less and less real and far more speculation and bubble  and bust. As soon as President Obama was out of office the games started all over again. When Goldman Sachs stock was the near single reason for $20,000 it told me all I needed to know, "The corruption and gambling are to powerful a drug. 

That is the current administration, all hubris while they march in the Ultra White Christian nation. There is no better distraction than Wall Street gambling.

President "H.W." is on his way home to First Lady Barbara. Good news!

30 January 2017

Former US president George H.W. Bush (click here) was released from the hospital on Monday after spending approximately two weeks recovering from pneumonia, including a stint in intensive care, his spokesman said.

The 41st president, age 92, was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital on January 14 suffering from bacterial pneumonia.

His 91-year-old wife Barbara, who had viral bronchitis, was also admitted to the same health facility but released just several days later....

To begin WHAT EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER? Secondly...

...that is an effective vetting process and it may have come to President Obama's attention too late to stop it other than an executive order if such an order exists. Thirdly, that was two Iraqis, not entire masses of people! Someone has to say this? Really?

January 30, 2017

Former president Barack Obama (click here) rejected the idea Monday that President Donald Trump had based his immigration executive order on a policy adopted by his own administration, and endorsed the protests that have been taking place across the country in response to the new restrictions.

Trump has said that his move to ban the entry of migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries into the U.S., and to suspend temporarily the admission of refugees, was based in part by a decision in 2011 by then-President Obama to ban the admission of Iraqis to the U.S. after evidence surfaced that two Iraqis seeking resettlement had been linked to terrorist activity in their home country. Former Obama administration officials have denied that there was ever a halt to the awarding of visas to Iraqis, though the processing of these applications slowed after they were subject to more intense scrutiny....        

The issues in the USA are complicated and domestic.

I have stated this once before. The domestic attacks in the USA have been carried out more often due to issues with Palestine.

I firmly believe the youngest adult generation of immigrants from the Middle East have problems completely relating to the USA and it's foreign policies regarding Muslim countries and more often than not it is due to Palestine.

It is more than picking up guns. When I listen to the young women they are distraught when they discuss Muslims in the Middle East and particularly Palestine. C-Span is a wealth of testimony/interviews of young Muslims in the USA that came here as young children.

Stop to think about it. I have strong Irish identities in my family. Lots of us are here, but, love Ireland. The feelings stated often enough by my Uncles and my Grandparents were angry and full of hate of "The Queen." My Grandparents came to the USA as young children. They had strong feelings as a young married couple about the tragedy of Northern Ireland. My Grandparents and most of my Uncles have passed away. They all lived to a ripe old age.

I think many young Palestinians and other Muslims in this country are upset, frustrated and feeling helpless about the plight of others in the Middle East.

I think it is the Muslim young people with dual citizenship that have difficult times separating their feelings and priorities. They become radicalized.

AND.

There are too many guns on the street. What are we teaching our children

January 28, 2017
By Christina Cleveland

Police said a shooting (click here) that occurred at South Aiken High School after a crowded basketball game Friday night was prompted by a fight outside and the three people shot, the youngest being 13 years old, all appear to have non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect was still unknown as of press time.

The shooting occurred at around 9:05 p.m. after a basketball game where South Aiken was hosting Aiken High School, the Aiken Department of Public Safety said in a news release. South Aiken is located on East Pine Log Road....

This may have something to do with Bannon's sudden appointment to the NSC.

Trump has major control issues about removing sanctions from Russia. It is not political, it is wealth. ExxonMobile will not be the sovereign authority in the Arctic.

January 26, 2017

Washington - US Defense Secretary James Mattis (click here) will travel to Japan and South Korea next week for his first overseas visit since taking office, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Departing on Feb 1, Mattis will begin his trip in South Korea, where he will meet with his South Korean counterpart Han Min Koo and other senior officials. On Feb 3, Mattis will travel to Tokyo to meet with his Japanese counterpart Tomomi Inada.

"The trip will underscore the commitment of the United States to our enduring alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea, and further strengthen US-Japan-Republic of Korea security cooperation," the Pentagon said in a statement.

On Friday, Mattis was confirmed by the US Senate as the new Pentagon chief in an overwhelming vote.

At the hearing earlier this month, Mattis took a clear anti-Russia stance, describing Moscow as a "principle threat" to US security, a position notably different from Trump.

The United States should also check Russia's growing influence in the Arctic region, Mattis said.

Mattis also chose to distance from Trump on other key issues, including the role of NATO, which Trump said should shrink, and on the Iranian nuclear agreement, which Trump threatened to scrap.

Reince looks like he is having fun. After all, Trump will never fire him. It is all just one big fun bash everyday.

January 30, 2017
By Taylor Link

Facing mounting criticism (click here) for omitting a reference to Jews and anti-semitism in a statement honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, doubled down on the language over the weekend.

“I don’t regret the words,” Priebus said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“I mean, everyone’s suffering in the Holocaust including, obviously, all of the Jewish people affected and miserable genocide that occurs — it’s something that we consider to be extraordinarily sad,” Priebus said. “If we could wipe it off of the history books, we would. But we can’t.”

The White House saw swift condemnation for the 117-word statement. Even Jewish groups that backed Trump during his presidential campaign expressed disappointment....

Talking? Really? Well, let's get China to end it's invasion into natural and manmade islands, shall we?

February 1, 2017
By Jing Shuiyu Zhong Nan

China, US can solve any disputes by talking, Commerce Ministry says (click here)

China and the United States can resolve any trade disputes through talks, since bilateral trade and economic cooperation have made the two countries inseparable, the Ministry of Commerce said ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump's taking office on Friday.

Even though there are voices in the United States calling for protectionist trade measures or having a trade war with China, the two sides can work out new solutions, and bilateral ties won't be shaken by such opinions, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Sun Jiwen.

Bilateral trade volume amounted to $519.6 billion in 2016 — 211 times higher than in 1979. Two-way investment also notably surged, exceeding $170 billion by the end of last year, data from the ministry shows.

"The Chinese government is willing to work with the new US administration to generate more benefits for businesses and consumers on both sides," said Sun....

6 August 2016

Japan says China (click here) has sailed a fleet of 230 vessels near Japanese-controlled waters in the East China Sea.

The fleet included fishing boats and coastguard ships, Japan says, and three vessels appeared to be armed. Officials have protested to Chinese diplomats.

The reported incident occurred near the Japan-controlled disputed islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China.

Beijing has been increasingly assertive about waters it believes are Chinese.

In a separate incident on Saturday, Chinese state media said fighter jets and bombers had completed a patrol of airspace above islands in the South China Sea, as part of combat training.

These islands are also disputed, but last month an international tribunal dismissed most of Beijing's claims in that sea.

China said it would ignore the decision....

And then there is this from the "Junior Varsity" in the Republican Party.

January 31, 2017

The Queen (click here) will be hoping a petition to prevent Donald Trump's state visit to the UK will persuade parliament, after a tweet from the new President emerged that embarrasses Kate Middleton.

Back in 2012 Mr Trump took to Twitter to discuss a story at the time where the Duchess of Cambridge was papped sunbathing topless.

The images were published in France, but not the UK. But that didn't stop the now President encouraging paparazzi photographers from making a bit of extra cash....

The immigration ban is isolationism based in irrational fear with political backing.

Osama bin Laden is dead. The attacks within in the USA have been from radicalized homeland terrorism. There is nothing the ban is going to stop. The ban is a very clever political decision to shift concern about the number of radically violent guns on the USA street. The ban backs up the Republican cronies.

January 30, 2017
By Farhad Manjoo

The presidency of Donald J. Trump (click here)) has been noteworthy for its speed. In his first week in office, as the president’s aides won’t tire of reminding us, Mr. Trump has already put in motion plans to do much of what he promised to do while campaigning.

But it’s not just the politician who is moving fast. It’s the population, too.

In a matter of hours on Saturday, thousands rushed to the nation’s airports, beckoned by tweets. The flash protests in response to Mr. Trump’s immigration ban, which continued to grow in many cities on Sunday, were as organized as they were instantaneous. Dispatched online, the protesters knew where to go, and they knew what to do once they arrived: to command the story by making a scene.

Mr. Trump feeds off media attention. Throughout the campaign, the bigger a spectacle he created, the larger he loomed in the public consciousness. What has been remarkable during the last two weekends is how thoroughly Mr. Trump’s own media personage was blotted out by scenes of protesters....

The ban is stating what the USA has done to date doesn't work and compromises national security. DONALD TRUMP is compromising national security for the homeland and for our allies.

Since the radical Ultra White has taken control of the Executive Branch:

January 30, 2017
By Emily Shaprio

Five people are in critical condition at a Quebec hospital (click here) this morning from a shooting at a mosque that killed six and injured eight others, according to hospital officials.

All of the victims from the Sunday night shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre were men between the ages of 39 and 60, police said. One victim was Khaled Belkacemi, a professor at the University of Laval in Quebec, according to the university.

Police had said two suspects were in custody, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said later today that only one person detained is considered to be a suspect, and the second individual is now considered to be a witness....

As with every other terrorist incident in the West this is a domestic radicalized terrorist. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IMMIGRATION!

January 31, 2017
By Nelson Groom

New Zealand's most notorious gang (click here) the Mongrel Mob is on a violent collision course with Australian outlaw bikie clubs after invading the Northern Territory.

NT police are monitoring a newly established chapter of the gang, who have been pictured partying and wearing the gang's patches in Darwin nightclubs....

In Australia:

January 22, 2017
By Andrew Koubaridis, Debbie Schipp, Matt Young and Emma Reynolds

The man police (click here) believe is responsible for yesterday’s atrocity is Dimitrious “Jimmy” Gargasoulas, who was shot in the arm by officers after a 12-hour rampage and is being treated in hospital.

He will be charged with multiple homicides after four people were confirmed dead and 15 injured, with several of them still in a critical condition. The deceased include a man and woman in their 30s and a 10-year-old child.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the incident was not terror-related but was linked to a stabbing that took place in Windsor early Friday morning involving parties known to one another.

Gargasoulas is accused of stabbing his brother Angelo outside their mother’s public housing apartment in Windsor at 2am on Friday, before going on an erratic journey across town and back with a stolen car.

It is alleged he took a woman, who is known to him, hostage in the Holden Commodore. She managed to escape on the Bolte Bridge. Attempts to pull the car over on the bridge had to be aborted because police felt the driving was too erratic...

January 28, 2017
By Rachel Olding

A radicalised white supremacist (click here) who was stockpiling homemade guns and weapons across Sydney had expressed an intention to commit a mass shooting at a popular Westfield shopping centre.

The disturbing case, uncovered by the Sun Herald, has highlighted the evolving threat posed by violent, right-wing extremism in Australia with experts warning against public complacency....

"Heil, Donald Trump!"

27 January 2017
By Alex Lantier

On January 21, (click here) the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president in Washington, a coalition of European far-right parties met in the German city of Koblenz to hail Trump’s installation in the White House.

Attendees included Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front (FN), Frauke Petry of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), Harald Vilimsky of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), and Matteo Salvini of Italy’s Northern League. They all treated the coming to power of a violently nationalist and protectionist regime in Washington as support for their own political aspirations in Europe.

The Trump administration has made clear that the cultivation of neo-fascists in Europe is a priority of its foreign policy. Trump has selected as his top adviser the white supremacist Stephen Bannon, who praised the FN during the presidential election campaign, and whose Breitbart News web site refers to the French New Right—the ideological basis of the FN—as a source of “inspiration.” He also hailed Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, Marine’s niece, as a “rising star.”...

Ah, yes. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I am sure the UK is trying to sort out the degree it keeps Trump close.

The United Kingdom can expect to be greeted with every terrorist attack in history and how many were sustained by the UK. It will probably include the centuries of unrest with Northern Ireland.

Look, Trump is looking to defame the allies and provide the IMAGE of being weak on "terror." We have heard this before from a previous Republican administration. This time it will be a more flamboyant media driven approach. I am sure Russia will receive a positive review to the allies and maybe even some intimidation.

This is from RT (Russian Television).

30 January 2017

The latest targets (click here) of US President Donald Trump’s ire are fellow Republican Senators John McCain & Lindsey Graham, who Trump says should focus on important issues “instead of always looking to start World War III.”...

Graham and McCain are brothers separated at birth. They aren't going anywhere. Their electorate has forgotten there are primaries before elections. Arguing or trying to change the image of these two men is useless. I know for a fact John McCain has experience being a target and he lived through it.

NATO has to remember Russia was an ally in WWII, not so much in WWIII. I look at it this way, the "Axis Powers" lost.

January 30, 2017

By the AP

London — A state visit to Britain (click here) by President Donald Trump later this year will go ahead, the British prime minister's office said Monday, despite increasing calls for it to be canceled over his temporary ban on residents of seven majority-Muslim countries entering the U.S.

"An invitation has been extended and accepted," Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing St. office said.

No date has been announced for the state visit, which involves lavish pomp and ceremony, often with a stay at Buckingham Palace hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.

The visit was announced by May during her visit to meet Trump in Washington on Friday, and hailed by government officials as a sign of the close trans-Atlantic relationship....

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

In case the breed of this rooster is not obvious; it is the "Freedom Ranger." It first came to the USA from France.

Confucius say, "Sex is like Chinese food, always better the next day."

"Good Night, Moon"

The waxing crescent

1.9 day old moon

4.1 percent lit

"Who ever said the moon was the end goal?"

January 27, 2017
By Paul D. Spudis

...Still, (click here) new journeys beyond ISS and low Earth orbit (LEO) were always in the agency’s crosshairs. The idea that Mars should be the next goal came out of Wernher von Braun’s original vision, or rather, a misunderstanding of that vision. Von Braun advocated a systematic, incremental approach to human spaceflight—Earth-to-orbit, space station, Moon tug, and then a Mars spacecraft. But that incremental approach was abandoned with Apollo. Our journey to the Moon was conducted in an emergency mode due to national priorities and security concerns that dictated operations. Thus, technical problems were not systematically studied and considered—they were just bludgeoned into compliance with cash.

Attempts to resurrect an Apollo mode of operation for Mars is inappropriate and has actually hindered our advancement in spacefaring activities for decades. The current NASA budget is about 0.5 percent of the annual federal budget, less than 10 percent of the peak funding level available during Apollo. Given our mounting federal debt and pressing national needs, it’s almost certain there will be no significant budget increases for space in the foreseeable future.

The idea that we can go to Mars using the same template that we used to go to the Moon 50 years ago is ridiculous. It is simply not possible to load up a single rocket, launch and go, discarding pieces along the way. A human Mars mission requires hundreds of tons of equipment and fuel in space, all delivered, assembled and timed to be ready for use at the precise moment every 26 months when a departure window to the red planet opens. The NASA architecture for a human mission to Mars was made in 2009 and has not been revised; it uses several pieces that are unlikely to materialize, to say the least (e.g., a nuclear thermal rocket departure stage). And we still do not know how to land there with a reasonable level of safety. In contrast, several feasible and affordable plans already exist for a return to the Moon using existing technology....

I'll look at the history of iron ore and it's progression over time. I think it will provide insight to understand this industry and it's processes.

There are people in industry that care and their are oligarchs and American billionaires that don't. I'll explore the abuses and the pollution.

Ready for a good laugh.

ALCOA chose to move their smelting plant to Iceland to avoid any problems with Kyoto Protocol. Did they take the bull by the horns and look for a better and more efficient smelting process as the UAE has done? No. The American tin foil maker found out that Iceland is geothermal and is exempt form Kyoto Protocol because it did not produce carbon dioxide pollution.

That is an American company for you. Find a way to cheat and make it a hero's tale. NOT. Alcoa is no more a global hero than any metal production in Third World countries. Alcoa is a Third World aluminum producer and should be followed with intense scrutiny by the global community.

Alongside a glacier-fed fjord by the Norwegian Sea, (click here) Bechtel carved out a job site to construct Alcoa’s first primary smelter in 20 years. Fjarðaál was the largest private investment in Iceland’s history and Bechtel’s first experience in the island nation near the Arctic Circle. 

Designed as a zero-waste-to-landfill project, the Fjarðaál smelter is among the most environmentally sustainable facilities of its type. Mirroring our customer’s environmental commitment, Bechtel worked closely with vendors and suppliers to ensure the return of reusable materials, and we contracted with local firms for recycling. In the end, more than 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills.  For our efforts, Bechtel earned Iceland's highest environmental award, the Conch....

The Icelandic people were and are furious about this Alcoa mess. Guess how they can brag about being environmentally responsible. Go ahead, guess. 

They ship everything in and out of Iceland. The metal to be smelted is brought into Iceland by boat, the product is shipped out of Iceland along with all the waste products. Of course there is no landfill issue, because, Alcoa dumps their waste elsewhere. 

I haven't investigated the possibility, but, it is my guess there has been a boat accident somewhere that resulted in pollution from the Alcoa Iceland plant. Where does Alcoa take it's pollution? Probably China.

February 3, 2016
By Reuters

New York (Reuters) - The U.S. government (click here) has granted aid to workers at Alcoa Inc's Intalco aluminum smelter in Washington state, after they complained that Chinese dumping threatened their jobs, according to a federal ruling.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) granted Trade Adjustment Assistance to the 500 workers at the 279,000 tonne-per-year facility, which is slated to suspend production at the end of the second quarter, in a letter signed late last week and published on Tuesday.

The program provides payments and job training to workers who lose their jobs because of competition from abroad.

The ruling in favor of the Alcoa workers could serve as evidence in a potential trade case as tensions with China's aluminum industry build.

The approval also comes as low aluminum prices have forced U.S. smelters to stop or slow output, and U.S. production in 2016 is expected to be the lowest since the years immediately following World War II....

Remember this because what follows this entry is laughable.

This is the UAE working to solve the problems of smelting to make it more efficient and less polluting. Got that? There are people in this world that actually cares about people and the natural world while making money for investors. 

EGA (click here)

27 January 2017

UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) (click here) filed for four new patents on products and procedures it believes will increase the firm’s productivity and enhance its operating efficiency. Each of the four new patents are improvements upon the Hall-Héroult process for smelting primary aluminium.

The first of the four patents is for a cathode block assembly that incorporates a bi-metallic insert of copper and aluminium that optimizes current collection, necessitating less voltage than the standard steel cathode collector bar. The new cathode block also allows for a more even distribution of the current collected by the cathode, making the cathode last longer and the operating cell more stable.

The second patent is for a copper cathode contact inserted on top of the steel cathode collector bars. Such copper inserts decrease the voltage drop of the cathode, which translates into an improvement in energy consumption. This cathode incorporates a non-contact zone between the inserts and the cathode bar at the end wall of the cathode bar, which is a process previously patented by EGA that decreases the cell’s energy consumption by lengthening the path of the current to the collector bars. This makes for a more even distribution of current and, as a result, a pot that is more stable.

The third patent covers a split anode riser busbar system. This system balances electrical current distribution in the cathode collector bars, minimizing magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and allowing the proper anode-to-cathode distances to be maintained. This lowers electrical resistance and therefore lessens electric consumption, improving overall cell operation.

The final patent filed by EGA is for a busbar system that makes start-up and shut-down of a potline easier. The system utilizes temporarily used crossover busbars (“TUCBs”) that are able to start and end an electrical connection in a reversible fashion. This setup allows for the shutdown of a section of potline independent of the rest. It also allows for pots or potlines to be started up section by section instead of requiring the entire system to be started....

One panda joins the world while two are wrongfully lost.

January 18, 2017

Baltimore (WJZ)– The National Zoo (click here) said Wednesday, Bao Bao, the zoo’s giant femal panda, is preparing for her departure to China.

Bao Bao was born at the zoo on Aug. 23, 2014, and the first cub to survive birth since 2005 at the time.

“As part of the Zoo’s cooperative long-term breeding agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, all cubs born at the Zoo move to China by the time they turn 4 years old,” the zoo said in a statement

China owns all giant pandas in U.S. zoos and requires that cubs born here be sent “home” about the time they reach breeding age.

 

“Bao Bao is very special to us at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo,” said Brandie Smith, associate director of animal care sciences. “She was the first surviving cub born at the Zoo since 2005. She’s captured the hearts of people all over the world who watched her grow up on the panda cams, and she has been an ambassador for conservation. We are sad to see her go, but excited for the contributions she is going to continue to make to the global giant panda population."

 

Bao has been living apart from her mother, Mei Xiang, since March 2015. Giant pandas are solitary in the wild, and cubs separate from their mothers to establish their own territories between 18 months and 2 years old, the statement said....

 

Bye, bye to "Bao Bao" as he joins his new future in the bamboo forests of China.

 

January 19, 2017

By Zhao Yusha

 

Chinese netizens (click here) expressed their outrage after a Shanghai zoo announced on Thursday that two pandas died in December 2016, and slammed the zoo for exhibiting the pandas despite their illness.

 

The Shanghai Wildlife Park announced on its Sina Weibo on Thursday that 21-year-old panda Guo Guo died on December 26, 2016 because of acute pancreatitis and multiple organ failure.

 

The mother panda was quarantined for treatment on December 19 shortly after she showed symptoms of fever, vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache and discharged intestinal mucus.

 

Following the announcement, netizens who have visited the zoo blamed it for the pandas' deaths.

 

"I went to the Shanghai Wildlife Park in December and Hua Sheng was clearly sick. Why did you insist on exposing her to the public?" said a Net user codenamed "yimiaoyishijie."

 

Many also wondered why the zoo announced the deaths about a month later....

Smelting is the primary industry when looking to metal production.

Metals when discovered are not pure. They have to be refined and the way that is done is through smelting. The term smelting is a general term and does not spell out the particular pollutants by particular processes of each metal. 

Mined ores are processed to concentrate the minerals of interest. (click here) In the case of metal ores, these mineral concentrates usually need to be further processed to separate the metal from other elements in the ore minerals. Smelting is the process of separating the metal from impurities by heating the concentrate to a high temperature to cause the metal to melt. Smelting the concentrate produces a metal or a high-grade metallic mixture along with a solid waste product called slag.

The principal sources of pollution caused by smelting are contaminant-laden air emissions and process wastes such as wastewater and slag....

Understanding the smelting process is important to understanding the pollution. One has to realize metal is a component to infrastructure. It is not the metal production that is the focus, it is the pollution and the lack of will to end the pollution. 

Smelting metal takes a great deal of energy. That energy and how it is obtained for the process is important. But, the bottom line with metal production is that this is the year 2017 and the industry is till polluting.

I can only hope Dr. Ernest Moniz had the opportunity as Secretary of Energy to assess and offer opinion on improving the standards and infrastructure of metal production. All to often politicians will jump to conclusions about environmentalists and conservationists as people that want to stop all polluting industries. Well. Environmentalists and conservationists live in the world, too. The same world so many Americans live in. All that is demanded is the industry practice responsibility fir their employees and protection of the environment. It is the protection of the environment most often viewed as to much of a cost burden to pursue.

One of the amazing aspects of Dr. Moniz time at the Department of Energy is his approach to energy efficiency. Industries such as metal production uses a great deal of energy. The energy as well as the production itself can be equally as polluting. There are answers to ending pollution from such operations. It takes gifted people to solve those problems, but, there are answers.

These industries have CEOs that only see the bottom line through old methods of production when they could be making more money for stockholders by streamlining and cleaning up their pollution from both the energy they need and the production process.

I want to go into more detail about metal production from the ground level, so I will pursue same next week with an initial focus on what happens in mining to the transport of the rock.

January 22, 2017

By Kenneth R. Rosen

Windham, N.Y. — See the mailbox? (click here) This is hallowed starlet ground.

Painted to imitate a big top circus tent, the mailbox on Jenny Vidbel’s property hints at the lives she cares for on her farm in the Catskill Mountains. Down in the fields, a group of horses convened at the edge of woodland during a recent visit. From her house, Ms. Vidbel monitored them and a variety of the animals roaming about 70 acres. She is a third-generation circus trainer and the overseer of recently arrived retirees — more than two dozen horses, a few pigs and a rowdy cluster of dogs from the Big Apple Circus.

It was on this farm more than three decades ago that Ms. Vidbel, 41, entered circus life, a result of her grandparents’ love for performing in circuses and training animals. Ms. Vidbel performed with the animals at Big Apple for more than six years.

With the permanent closing of the Big Apple Circus, which it announced last summer after failing to secure financing for another season, the animal performers became unemployed. Animal advocates worried that they might end up in shelters where they could be euthanized. Instead, the animals have come to live with their Big Apple Circus trainer, Ms. Vidbel.

“They retire, and that’s it,” she said. “I’m going to give them this in return for their whole life and make sure they have a great retirement.”...

Third World countries need to stop settling for First World throw away companies.

September 1, 2016

Trucks carry dangerous dust by passing the houses of the residents.

The Collective Stop Pollution (click here) Imphy-Sauvigny-les-Bois has eighteen members. Each of them individually filed a civil complaint against Harsco Metals and Minerals. 

Within the Collective, they are finally eighteen to have individually filed a civil complaint, against the company Harsco Metals and Minerals. Leaning for that on a report of inspection of the industrial site by the services of the State. PV noting that several rules relating to the protection of the environment had not been complied with in the mandatory terms of the authorization to operate this site....

The health of the Chinese and Brazilians have just gotten worse. Metal production in many parts of the world is antiquated and dangerous.

January 23, 2017 
By GlobalNewsWire

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Harsco Corporation (HSC)(click here) announced today two multi-year contracts for steel mill services in China and Brazil totaling more than $100 million over their duration.

 Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has been selected by China’s second largest steelmaker, Hebei Iron and Steel Group, to take over an increased range of onsite mill services at its Tangshan Stainless Steel works, where Harsco already provides environmental services relating to the commercial sale of the mill’s slag co-products. With the new contract, Harsco now adds onsite slag handling, metal recovery and briquetting to its responsibilities. Tangshan Stainless produces premium-grade steels for the auto and consumer markets.

Included within Harsco’s services to the Tangshan works will be its patented steam box technology for steel slag processing. Harsco’s technology provides for faster cooling times, reduced water and energy consumption and more efficient slag sizing than conventional methods. Its environmental benefits include the full capture of open atmospheric emissions, together with the opportunity to utilize the clean steam and heat generated from the steam box.

In Brazil, Harsco has been selected by one of the country’s largest fully integrated steelmakers to extend Harsco’s long-standing services for onsite scrap handling, slag transport, metal recovery, and melt shop support. Harsco has been providing continuous support to the mill’s flat steel operations for more than three decades, and to its mini-mill since its inception in 2014....