CNN,  August 31, 2011

....Friday's car bombing killed 23 people and wounded more than 80. Boko Haram, which aims to impose a strict version of Islamic law in Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a brief telephone interview arranged by an intermediary, Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa said a 27-year-old Nigerian named Mohammed Abul Barra drove the explosives-packed Honda Accord into the U.N. building.

"All over the world, the U.N. is a global partner in the oppression of believers," Qaqa said. "We are at war against infidels. In Nigeria, the federal government tries to perpetuate the agenda of the United Nations."....

Waste and fraud in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars has been estimated at $60 billion.  Both wars were started by, screwed up, and irresponsibly managed during the long, sad, and frightening years of the Republican administration of George W. Bush. Bush then handed both bloody fiascoes over to Obama.  This compares to the $896 million ($O.896 billion- 31 July) cost to the US of supporting the Libyans in overthrowing Gadaffi. Republicans claim to be the party of responsible spending and deficit reduction, and they hope voters are dumb enough to believe them. For comparison, the FEMA disaster relief funding for 2011 is $1.95 billion, about 3% of the fraud found in the Bush Wars.

Tropical storm inundates New England washes out hundreds of roads and bridges, the Governor of Vermont declares the time is now to plan for climate change:

Gov. Shumlin: ...Listen, since I’ve been sworn in as governor just seven months ago, I have dealt with—this is the second major disaster as a result of storms. We had storms this spring that flooded our downtowns and put us through many of the same exercises that we’re going through right now. We didn’t used to get weather patterns like this in Vermont. We didn’t get tropical storms. We didn’t get flash flooding. It wasn’t—you know, our storm patterns weren’t like Costa Rica; they were like Vermont.....All I can tell you is that when you see Vermont covered bridges washing down our rivers, those bridges have been there for hundreds of years, so they survived the floods of the 1928 and '30s. And what that means is that, frankly, we're experiencing flooding now in many areas of Vermont that is unprecedented in record keeping. We went through that just eight weeks ago, where we had our biggest lake, Lake Champlain, at flood levels that have never been recorded in recorded history...how are we going to deal with a climate change future, in terms of transportation infrastructure, where we build, how we plan, how we build our highways and transportation infrastructure?

Hurricane Irene killed at least 18 people from Puerto Rico to Connecticut, caused an estimated $3 billion in damage and cut electric power to more than 4 million homes and businesses across the eastern U.S.

The deaths were concentrated in Virginia and North Carolina, where at least 10 people were killed. Virginia also sustained the second-largest power outage in state history. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. home and auto insurer, reported about 1,600 homeowners claims and almost 500 auto insurance claims in North Carolina and Virginia as of 3:00 p.m. local time.

[I only lost tv/internet/phone, myself, but it puzzles me that people complain Irene wasn't as bad as feared. That's like complaining that a mad gunman wasn't a very good marksman.]

The Linux kernel was originally created by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer science student, and first announced to the world on August 25, 1991—exactly 20 years ago today. At the time, Torvalds described his work as a "hobby" and contended that it would not be "big and professional" like the GNU project. But the Linux kernel turned out to be one of the most significant pieces of open source software ever developed.

Over the past two decades, it has grown from a humble hobby project into a global phenomenon that runs on everything from low-cost e-book readers to a majority of the world's supercomputers. Here's how it grew. 

You get used to odd sights in New York, especially in the East Village, a crowded artsy neighbourhood known for a bohemian mix of hipsters and gritty old-timers, which boasts a bar on virtually every corner.

But panic-buying supplies for a hurricane? That was still a novelty for even the most jaded Manhattan eye. Yet there they were: crowds of people lined up outside local supermarkets and thronging "deli" corner stores.

The queue outside the Trader Joe's supermarket on 14th Street stretched all the way down the block, filled with a cross section of East Village life from suited-up young office workers to people clad in gym gear to smartly dressed nighthawks.

Seeing the line it was easy to be briefly disappointed at a lack of fortitude in a city that celebrates a reputation for toughness and scepticism of danger. But, gratifyingly, the line for the cheap wine shop next door was even longer. If these New Yorkers were going to face down a storm, they were determined to do it with a glass in hand. And, suddenly like the much-loathed tourists who constantly earn the natives' ire, many New Yorkers were stopping to gawp and take pictures. "This is crazy!" exclaimed one young woman. But insane or not, this was reality as New York waited for the ominous arrival of Hurricane Irene. The monster storm slammed ashore in distant North Carolina morning but kept heading north-east, putting New York's forest of skyscrapers firmly in the track of the storm. Hurricanes are not supposed to venture into this north-eastern corner of the US, but no one had told Irene. Like a determined, sharp-elbowed New Yorker herself, she barrelled towards the city with no heed for conventions.

[Sharon Astyk sez]

We don't always get a heads up like this about a potential threat - so many come unexpected upon us. When we do, it behooves us to remember that there's a lot we can do to keep safe, secure and be ready - and that lives depend on us taking action. The actions are simple, and easily become part of our basic routine - just like keeping school records or feeding the pets. But now is the time - whether you live in Irene's path or not, to make sure your preps are ready - so that you don't have to ask for help unless you really need it, so you can help others, so you can make sure that resources go to the most vulnerable.

Not sure what the basics are? - here's a list:

German President Christian Wulff has accused the European Central Bank of violating its treaty mandate with the mass purchase of southern European bonds.

In a cannon shot across Europe’s bows, he warned that Germany is reaching bailout exhaustion and cannot allow its own democracy to be undermined by EU mayhem.
“I regard the huge buy-up of bonds of individual states by the ECB as legally and politically questionable. Article 123 of the Treaty on the EU’s workings prohibits the ECB from directly purchasing debt instruments, in order to safeguard the central bank’s independence,” he said.

“This prohibition only makes sense if those responsible do not get around it by making substantial purchases on the secondary market,” he said, speaking at a forum of half the world’s Nobel economists on Lake Constance to review the errors of the profession over recent years.

Mr Wulff said the ECB had gone “way beyond the bounds of their mandate” by purchasing €110bn (£96.6bn) of bonds, echoing widespread concerns in Germany that ECB intervention in the Italian and Spanish bond markets this month mark a dangerous escalation.

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs resigned as Chief Executive Officer from Apple Inc. today. His place a the top of the company will be taken by Time cook, previously Apple's Chief Operating Officer.

Jobs has been dogged by a string of health problems that have dogged Jobs in recent years and forced him to take periodic leaves of absence from the company. Jobs announced in January that he was taking an indefinite medical leave from Apple--his third in recent years--and handing over day-to-day responsibility to Cook.

Alberta's New Democrats have called for a special provincial investigation of controversial shale gas drilling following the release of two leaked government documents showing strong collusion between industry and government on resource development in three western provinces.

A government of Alberta cabinet briefing note dated Aug. 3, 2011 says, "Shale gas environmental concerns in the media and in the public in other jurisdictions are potentially problematic for energy development and environmental management in Alberta."

The note also reveals that one of Canada's most powerful lobby group, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, has approached the Alberta government about shale gas issues in order "to enhance public communication."

"It's another example of Alberta's Conservatives working behind closed doors with industry and keeping it as secret as possible," charged New Democrat MLA and environment critic Rachel Notley. She wants an independent investigation on the technology.

"My biggest concern is that there is a government plan to work with industry on shale gas issues in secret and it's largely about managing public opinion. It's not about science or eliminating the risk to groundwater or the public. It's about telling people they are doing something without actually doing anything."

Another related interprovincial document called for "collaboration and information sharing" on shale gas drilling with the goal of "providing more confidence that hydraulic fracturing use of water for shale gas is well-managed." Yet several pages later it admitted that "lack of complete information" in "a rapidly evolving industry."

Hydraulic fracturing, the practice of blasting deep rock formations with one to five million gallons of water mixed with tonnes of sand and chemicals, has sparked controversy throughout the continent. It's been the subject of lawsuits, bombing campaigns, moratoriums and ongoing U.S. government investigations and studies.

An interactive data base from Bloomberg,  Enjoy.  Their blurb:

"The U.S. Federal Reserve mounted an unprecedented campaign to head off a depression by providing as much as $1.2 trillion in public money to banks and other companies from August 2007 through April 2010.  The emergency loans were intended to help recipients cope with cash shortfalls and keep credit markets from grinding to a halt.  Bloomberg News sorted through more than 29,000 pages of previously secret documents and Fed spreadsheets detailing more than 21,000 loans to compile a database showing which companies go tthe emergency liquidity, and when."