Outside my Window Last Night

Chinese Police to Patrol...Italy?!?!

Chinese policemen are in Italy to start patrols with Italian officers in Rome and Milan in a two-week experiment.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday that the aim is to make Chinese tourists feel safe and noted that it's the first time China sent police to Europe for such a project.

Starting Tuesday, two Chinese uniformed policemen will patrol with Italian counterparts in Rome, while two others will patrol with Italian police in Milan. For the second week, the Chinese will switch cities.

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Why Were Hellfire Missiles Shipped From Beirut to Portland (and found in Serbia) in Coffins?

Something very strange is going on with a pair of Hellfire air-to-ground training missiles. Loaded onto a civilian airliner in Beirut, Lebanon, their paperwork said the final destination was Portland, Oregon. But before they could get there, the plane stopped in Belgrade, Serbia, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear right now, where Serbian police and canines sniffed them out. So what the heck is going on here?

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gongjice: China's President Xi Channels Ronald Reagan?

RONALD REAGAN, a sworn enemy of communism, and Xi Jinping, a doughty defender of Communist rule in China, ought to have little in common. Lately, though, Mr Xi has seemed to channel the late American president. He has been speaking openly for the first time of a need for “supply-side reforms”—a term echoing one made popular during Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s. It is now China’s hottest economic catchphrase (even featuring in a state-approved rap song, released on December 26th: “Reform the supply side and upgrade the economy,” goes one catchy line).

Reagan’s supply-side strategy was notable, at least at the outset, for its controversial focus on cutting taxes as a way of encouraging companies to produce and invest more. In Xiconomics, the thrust of supply-side policy is less clear, despite the term’s prominence at recent economic-planning meetings and its dissection in numerous articles published by state media. Investors, hoping the phrase might herald a renewed effort by the leadership to boost the economy, are eager for detail.

Mr Xi’s first mentions of the supply side, or gongjice, in two separate speeches in November, were not entirely a surprise. For a couple of years think-tanks affiliated with government ministries had been promoting the concept (helped by a new institute called the China Academy of New Supply-Side Economics). Their hope is that such reforms will involve deep structural changes aimed at putting the economy on a sounder footing, rather than yet more stimulus. Since Mr Xi gave the term his public blessing, officials have been scrambling to fall in line with supply-side doctrine, designing policies that seem to fit it or, just as energetically, working to squeeze existing ones into its rubric.

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Russian Government Officials Given 400 Page Book of PROPHETIC Quotes by...PUTIN

Officials across Russia have been given a 400-page book of "prophetic" quotes by President Vladimir Putin as a new year gift, it's reported.

The collection, entitled Words That Change The World, was sent to as many as 1,000 people by one of Mr Putin's top aides, Vyacheslav Volodin, according to the business newspaper RBK. Recipients include MPs, regional governors and civil society representatives. In an accompanying letter, Mr Volodin says the book should be seen as a guide to the Kremlin's "values and guiding principles". He's also reported to have recommended it to a recent meeting of officials as "required reading for any politician".

The book is said to include the text of 19 speeches by Mr Putin, and highlights key quotes in bold that the introduction says "predicted and preordained" world events. Among the texts are a 2007 speech in Munich in which Mr Putin accused the US of courting disaster by seeking to dominate the global order, and his 2014 address to Russian parliamentarians fiercely defending the annexation of Crimea.

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Ukraine War Mini Update: отбой, лягушка

This is only a mini update.  The fighting continues in the Donbass.  GRADs and tube artillery are being fired off in limited threatening quantities.  Infantry clashes are ongoing, but rarely is there anything more than the sitzkrieg at this point.

However!

In Crimea, someone blew up the main power station.  Crimea blacked out according to reports.  Emergency generators were brought online in Sevastopol.  These are diesel generators of different stripes, but the diesel supply is limited.  If reports are true that the power plant is significantly damaged, then Crimea is pretty screwed.

Ukraine is getting really nervous about if this was intentional, as seems likely.  Its a perfect casus belli. However, the other alternative is something related to Daesh/IS (this is terrifying for Ukraine because they could flee off the Peninsula and into Ukraine...and Russia would follow).  

One potential scape goat is a radicalized Tatar group.  The Russians have been abusing them pretty hard core (disappearances, murders amongst the regular oppression) and this would give an excuse to crackdown even harder.  

 All we can hope for is this was an easily repairable accident and the Russians declare it as such.

WTF: Energia Patents Placing an Inflatable Module on the International Space Station

Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia has taken out a patent for the invention of a transformable habitable module for the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and future space stations.

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Would you buy a Bama? Its a Genetically Engineered Micro Pig From China to be a *PET*

Over the years, chihuahuas have become chihuahuas and pugs have become pugs because people have bred those dogs to bring out certain traits and inhibit others. A genomics institute in China called BGI is doing the same thing with pigs -- but in a much faster way.

The Shenzhen-based company started with a small breed of pig called a Bama. It then used a gene-editing technique to make that already small pig even smaller. On September 23, the company announced at a summit in Shenzhen that it would start selling the micropigs for 10,000 yuan (about $1,570, £1,037, AU$2,245). Customers will be able to choose their very own pig color and coat patterns, which the company can create through further gene editing.

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Hope long until we see them in purses like the little dogs?

Wait! What?! A Dish to Celebrate the Victory Over Japan in China

A friend sent this to me.  Not sure what to think.

Tanks are BEAUTIFUL! (or put down the vodka before drifting your T-72)

Jump to 1:50.  

Context for the video.

The title here is a reference to experiences on a train in Ukraine in 2006.

Two Bomb Blasts hit Las Cruces, NM Churches Minutes Apart

Two small explosions just 20 minutes and a few miles apart shocked congregants Sunday morning at two churches in southern New Mexico.

There were no injuries from the blasts outside Calvary Baptist Church and Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Las Cruces, a police spokesman, Danny Trujillo, said. Each building had minor damage.

Authorities were trying to determine who planted the explosives, what materials were used and whether the blasts were related.

“It doesn’t appear to be coincidental because of the timing, but you never know,” Mr. Trujillo said.

Several agencies, including the F.B.I., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the New Mexico State Police, were assisting the investigation.

The first explosive device went off at 8:20 a.m. in a mailbox on a wall near the administrative entrance to Calvary Baptist. The police said several worshipers were inside at the time, but services had not started.

Churchgoers said the explosion shook the building, and there was debris around the damaged mailbox. Sgt. Robert Gutierrez of the Las Cruces Police Department described seeing “just a lot of paper shreds.”

The next blast came from a trash can outside Holy Cross at 8:40 a.m. as Msgr. John Anderson was giving communion.

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Russian Navy Missile Launch Failure

We all have heard about the USS Sullivans missile launch failure by now.  While scary and embarrassing, little damage was actually done.  The Russophonic internet has been snarking about it.  They should not:

If that was an intentional test, the commanding officers should be shot.  Kids swimming, sailboats all all round.  Such safety!

Then you have the failure, which it obviously was.  So, the snark can stop.  :)

If this was an accident or unintentional launch in any way, Russia better be damned afraid.  And the officers ought to be proverbially shot.

uh. Did Someone Smoke Something? 420 Unit Building by the Emerald Fund in San Francisco

The naming, # of units and place could only be worse in Denver.  But that's about it.

Bet it either has a hydrponics section or Oaksterdam will move in there.


snork.

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20 Year old Military Satellite Experiences Unexplained Temperature Spike, Explodes

A 20-year-old military weather satellite apparently exploded in orbit Feb. 3 following what the U.S. Air Force described as a sudden temperature spike.

The “catastrophic event” produced 43 pieces of space debris, according to Air Force Space Command, which disclosed the loss of the satellite Feb. 27 in response to questions from SpaceNews.

The satellite, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13, was the oldest continuously operational satellite in the DMSP weather constellation.

Launched in 1995, DMSP-F13 provided thousands of hours of weather imagery to Air Force and Navy forecasters before transitioning to a backup role in 2006. The Air Force said its sudden loss would have minimal impact.

“Because this satellite was no longer used by the National Weather Service or the Air Force Weather Agency, the impact of the loss of this satellite is minimal,” the Air Force said. “We anticipate real-time weather data for tactical users will be slightly reduced without this satellite, but its data was not being used for weather forecast modeling.”

The Air Force still has six DMSP satellites in service following the launch last April of DMSP-F19. A seventh satellite, DMSP-F20, was under consideration for a 2016 launch as recently as November.

Air Force Space Command said DMSP-F13’s power subsystem experienced “a sudden spike in temperature” followed by “an unrecoverable loss of attitude control.” As DMSP operators were deciding to “render the vehicle safe” the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, identified a debris field near the satellite.

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Psycho Lemming is NOT Amused

Some background.

Rumor: Apple to Produce Electric Car by 2020?

Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The timeframe -- automakers typically spend five to seven years developing a car -- underscores the project’s aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors Inc. and General Motors Co., both of which are targeting a 2017 release of an electric vehicle that can go more than 200 miles on a single charge and cost less than $40,000.

“That’s the inflection point -- the proving ground -- that brings on the electric age,” Steve LeVine, author of “The Powerhouse,” a book about the automotive battery industry, said on Bloomberg TV Thursday. “Now you have Apple coming in and this is critical mass. Was GM really going to be able to match Tesla? Apple can.”

Apple, which posted record profit of $18 billion during the past quarter, has $178 billion in cash with few avenues to spend it. The Cupertino, California-based company’s research and development costs were $6.04 billion in the past year, and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is facing increased pressure to return cash to shareholders. The CEO has been pushing the iPhone maker to enter new categories to further envelop users’ digital lives with Apple’s products and services.

Apple’s possible foray into cars follows a similar path it’s taken to break into other industries. The company wasn’t the first to make a digital-music player or smartphone, and only entered those markets once it had a product that redefined those categories.

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I wonder if the same sort of derogatory comments will be made about Apple drivers as they used to for Miatas.  The name which obviously comes to mind for the drivers is 'Apple Tarts.'  Then again, it might be taken as a badge of honor by the young folk, given their decided enjoyment of irony.

There  is some interesting support: battery maker A123 is suing Apple for poaching employees.

Hey! Over There: On the incredible futility of the Minsk accord

I have a guest post over at Noel Maurer's The Power and the Money about my great confusion as to what the Europeans are attempting to do with the Minsk Accords.

Nissan Teaming up With NASA (?!?!!!!) to Work on Self Driving Cars

Japanese automaker Nissan and NASA are teaming up to advance the technology behind cars that drive themselves.

Yokohama-based Nissan Motor Co. and NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, announced Thursday a five-year research-and-development partnership for autonomous vehicle systems so they can eventually be applied to commercially sold cars.

Nissan is excited about the potential of self-driving cars, which executives say could lead to improved safety, a pillar for future autos along with low emission technology.

NASA researchers will be working with Nissan's research unit in Silicon Valley, they said in a joint statement.

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Reality Can be Weirder Than Fiction: Ebola Toys Selling Like Hot Cakes

It may be the only time you will find these words in the same sentence: "Ebola" and "Add to Wishlist."

Giantmicrobes Inc., which makes a line of plush toys based on viruses and other microscopic organisms, has sold out its entire Ebola stock, including the small Ebola doll for $9.95, a Gigantic Ebola doll for $29.95 and an Ebola Petri Dish toy for $14.95, according to the company's website.

"Since its discovery in 1976, Ebola has become the T. Rex of microbes," says the Stamford, Connecticut-based maker of the "uniquely contagious toy" on its website, which promotes them as gag gifts that also have educational value.

With the latest Ebola outbreak, which already killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in West Africa, customers have snapped up the toy, which looks like half a pretzel.

"You do not want to get Ebola," warns the website. "A short incubation period of 2 to 21 days presages symptoms which include fever, aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting, and both internal and external bleeding. And then, for between 50-90 percent of victims, death."

Giantmicrobes lists the World Health Organization as one of its largest customers, along with pharmaceutical companies and the American Red Cross.

Anyone disappointed by the current shortage of the Ebola toys can click on "Add to Wishlist" and wait for more stock to arrive. Or make a different selection from the company's array of other plush toys, including Anthrax, Botulism, Cholera and Dengue Fever.

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Will it Ever be Built?

Cool, but probably not look at the second image.  The group must be flipping the bird at Berkeley.

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