Get Used to It!

LONDON — Crude oil rose to $41 a barrel for the first time in more than 13 years. At $41, benchmark U.S. light crude futures are at their loftiest level since the all-time high of $41.15 struck on Oct. 10, 1990, two months after Iraq invaded Kuwait and amid the buildup to the first Gulf war.

The break above $40 for U.S. crude is now in its third day. If dealers get comfortable with prices at those heights for the next week or so there could be an extended run of high-priced oil, said Paul Horsnell of Barclays Capital.

"This is not a spike in the oil price due to a single factor," said Horsnell.
--o erosion in spare oil production capacity,
--o the loss of flexibility in first U.S. and now increasingly global refining
--o massive destabilization in the Middle East,

$40 no longer looks at all outrageous."

World oil demand is proving far stronger than expected, thanks to booming economic growth, the International Energy Agency (search) said on Wednesday. It said incremental fuel consumption this year looked set to outpace growth in every year since 1988.

Other analysts think prices are far above levels justified by supply-demand fundamentals and are overdue a downward correction.

Fox News article

Global Dimming?

In the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place.

Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950's to the early 90's, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. In some regions like Asia, the United States and Europe, the drop was even steeper. In Hong Kong, sunlight decreased 37 percent.

Satellite measurements show that the sun remains as bright as ever, but that less and less sunlight has been making it through the atmosphere to the ground.

Pollution dims sunlight in two ways, scientists theorize. Some light bounces off soot particles in the air and goes back into outer space. The pollution also causes more water droplets to condense out of air, leading to thicker, darker clouds, which also block more light. For that reason, the dimming appears to be more pronounced on cloudy days than sunny ones. Some less polluted regions have had little or no dimming.

NYT article

Someone's Abusing Your Network

Dear Reach Global Services,

Someone is running a "phishing" scam and the traffic is coming across your net! What's more, this scam has been running from the same IP address since early January 2004:

61.100.12.150 -- Enterprise Networks -- epnetworks.co.kr

Clearly, Enterprise Networks is unable or unwilling to control these scammers. It now falls to you, as their upstream provider, to put a stop to this. (*information about the phishing scam is provided below)

I thought it would be polite to inform you that this is happening, and give you a chance to take action. But, you should know that this information has already been sent to the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center. It's important that you take appropriate action immediately!

If I hear from you in the next few days, I'll gladly put in a good word for you. However, if I'm unimpressed by your response, I'll have no choice but to:
o report the abuse to your peering partners: Sprint, SBC Internet Services, InterNAP Network Services, and Global Crossing Ltd.,
o notify the local authorities in Wanchai, Hong Kong,
o file a complaint with the FTC.

Please don't disappoint me!

Thanks


(* about the "phishing" scam:
The scammers have sent out email purporting to be from eBay's Support Team, and requesting personal information such as a credit card number. )

Another Reason to Respect Southwest

Southwest played it smart: using the futures market to hedge their fuel needs. As a legitimate hedge, instead of speculation, their margin requirements would have been a fraction of the usual. They turned an $8 million loss into a $26 million profit!


Oil prices squeeze airlines, but Southwest can gloat

As oil prices hit $40 a barrel, squeezing transportation-company profits, one petroleum user is sitting pretty: Southwest Airlines.

The Dallas airline has hedged more than 80 percent of its fuel needs for the next two years at a price of $24 a barrel. And Southwest is the only U.S. carrier to have hedged most of its fuel.

How important are those fuel hedges for Southwest? ``It's huge,'' said Chief Executive Jim Parker in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires earlier this week.

That foresight was the reason Southwest turned a profit in the first quarter, while other airlines bled due to high fuel costs and depressed air fares. Without the hedges, Southwest's profit of $26 million would have been a loss of $8 million.

The hedges have allowed Southwest to keep its air fares low, thus putting the squeeze on competitors as they attempt to add fuel surcharges.

Mercury News article

What the Hawala's Going On?

Blood From Stones

While The Washington Post's bureau chief in West Africa in 2001, Douglas Farah discovered al-Qaeda's diamond smuggling operations there. His coverage for the Post angered his hosts in West Africa and embarrassed U.S. intelligence officials. Forced to leave Africa and to defend his findings back in the United States, Farah continued his investigation. He's just published a book, Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror, that details his findings.

NPR article


Use of the USA PATRIOT Act

"... Informal Value Transfer Systems, such as 'Hawalas,' also present problems for law enforcement. They permit terrorists a means of transferring funds that is difficult to detect and trace. These informal systems are commonplace and appear to serve as an efficient means of transacting in mostly "cash" societies such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Phillippines. In applying provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act we seek to erode the effectiveness of such methods..."

Hello? Hello? Is This Thing On?

FAA Managers Destroyed 9/11 Tape
Recording Contained Accounts of Communications With Hijacked Planes

Six air traffic controllers provided accounts of their communications with hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, on a tape recording that was later destroyed by Federal Aviation Administration managers, according to a government investigative report issued today.

It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one ever listened to, transcribed or duplicated it. . .

Washington Post article

Airport Security is Seriously Broken

Look at all the crap they have to go through for this one minor incident. How much of this is overreaction, and how much is some minor functionary saying "Oh boy! I get to close down the airport and make myself look important!"?


Jail for man who left bag in airport

A plumber who left an unattended bag containing a teddy bear, some fruit and clothes in an airport lounge was jailed yesterday for causing a full-scale security alert. Magistrates sentenced Jose da Silva, 25, to 10 days under public nuisance laws.

Da Silva was waiting for a flight home to Portugal last Sunday when he left the hold-all in a departure lounge while he went for a cigarette at Birmingham nternational airport.

The airport was closed for three hours and 1,000 passengers and staff had to leave as an Army bomb disposal team investigated. Three incoming flights were diverted and 15 planes grounded.


Telegraph article

That'll Teach Him!

Airport security is seriously broken. Look at all the crap they have to go through for this one minor incident. How much of this is overreaction, and how much is some minor functionary saying "Oh boy! I get to close down the airport and make myself look important!"?


Jail for man who left bag in airport

A plumber who left an unattended bag containing a teddy bear, some fruit and clothes in an airport lounge was jailed yesterday for causing a full-scale security alert. Magistrates sentenced Jose da Silva, 25, to 10 days under public nuisance laws.

Da Silva was waiting for a flight home to Portugal last Sunday when he left the hold-all in a departure lounge while he went for a cigarette at Birmingham nternational airport.

The airport was closed for three hours and 1,000 passengers and staff had to leave as an Army bomb disposal team investigated. Three incoming flights were diverted and 15 planes grounded.


Telegraph article

How Were Those "Piracy" Losses Calculated, Again?

NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer agreed with the RIAA on one point - artists were being deprived of money that was rightfully theirs.

Spitzer found $50 million owed to performers -- and managed to do it without shaking down pre-teens, grandmothers, and other internet users.

Spitzer's culprits? A Who's Who of the nation's top recording companies - members of the RIAA - who failed to maintain contact with artists and stopped making required royalty payments.


SlashDot article

You Must be at Least This Tall. . .

Stanley Mordarsky, a 55-year old cerebral-palsy sufferer, was killed Saturday when he was thrown from the Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster.

His mother feels that the park was negligent in allowing Mordarsky on the ride, but the park insists that to prohibit him from riding would have been a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

NewsDay article