Archive for February 2011
Google alters search algorithm to avoid promoting spam sites
Google has announced a change to its search algorithm that reduces rankings for low-quality sites.
The changes, implemented in the last few days, impacts about 11.8 percent of Google’s queries, Google’s Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts wrote in a blog post. The duo defined low-quality sites as those that are a “low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.”
“At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on,” they wrote.
Singhal and Cutts did not provide too many details about what this algorithmic change entailed; search engine ranking mechanisms are often closely guarded secrets. But they said this week’s change did not rely on changes it received from its “Personal Blocklist” Chrome extension. That tool, introduced last week, lets Chrome users eliminate Google search results from dubious domains. Google did, however, compare the Blocklist data it has gathered with the sites identified by the algorithm, and found that user preferences are “well represented” in the new algorithm.
“If you take the top several dozen or so most-blocked domains from the Chrome extension, then this algorithmic change addresses 84 percent of them, which is strong independent confirmation of the user benefits,” Singhal and Cutts wrote.
Google acknowledged that any change to its algorithm will affect the rankings of sites. “It has to be that some sites will go up and some will go down,” they wrote. “It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”
Time will tell – to use a trite phrase – but, Google’s efforts to stem the flow of dross from the Web to our personal cpu’s is an useful step. There is little in the history of international commerce – especially media-driven commerce – to suggest that there are more than a very few individuals and companies willing to put quality above quantity.
Especially when the results of those decisions are measured in coin of the realm.
Fannie Mae says “No need” for due diligence to prevent fraud
Federal courthouse in Newark, NJ
A New Jersey man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for running a $140 million scheme that defrauded credit unions on loans sold to Fannie Mae, and led to bankruptcy for his mortgage company.
Michael McGrath, 47, had pleaded guilty in June 2009 to two counts of conspiracy, including one to commit mail and wire fraud and one to commit money laundering. The defendant had run U.S. Mortgage Corp, a Pine Brook, New Jersey, lender and broker that filed for Chapter 11 protection in February 2009, and was a principal at its CU National unit serving credit unions.
At a hearing in the Newark, New Jersey federal court on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden also…ordered restitution in a sum to be determined, but which prosecutors expect will exceed $136 million. McGrath also forfeited $14 million of previously seized or frozen assets.
Federal prosecutors said McGrath admitted to conspiring with others from January 2004 to January 2009 to fraudulently sell credit union loans, and use proceeds to finance U.S. Mortgage’s operations and investments for himself.
The Montclair, New Jersey resident also admitted to diverting funds that should have been paid to credit unions on mortgage loans he sold to Fannie Mae, which prosecutors said helped offset his own bad mortgage investments…
Four credit unions are still pursuing civil litigation against Fannie Mae to recover more than $64 million of loans they originated, and which they say were sold fraudulently to the mortgage financier via U.S. Mortgage, court records show.
… Fannie Mae said it had no duty to investigate, and that none of the “red flags” that Picatinny said should have been found at U.S. Mortgage involved loans it bought.
“Fannie Mae buys millions of notes each year,” the filing said. “Its business would grind to a halt if it had to investigate every signature on every note.”
Perish the thought that a government-insured corporation like Fannie Mae live up to the due diligence required of ethical banks and mortgage lending institutions.
The history of sleaze started downhill by Clinton and swelling into a torrent of bad loans and corruption under the incompetence and deceit of the Bush Administration obviously still infects the brains of Fannie Mae bureaucrats. Lack of standards and unwillingness to do your job is not excusable because “it takes too much time and money”. McGrath was able to steal tens of millions in part because Fannie Mae didn’t do their job.
Readjusting priorities, recalling standards dropped by the wayside of corporate greed are tasks still awaiting the green flag in American financial circles. Honesty was not made an out-of-date instruction set by its absence from American business software.
London shop to offer breast milk ice cream
Victoria Hiley
A specialist ice cream parlor plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat. The breast milk concoction, called the “Baby Gaga,” will be available from Friday at the Icecreamists restaurant in London’s Covent Garden.
Icecreamists founder Matt O’Connor was confident his take on the “miracle of motherhood” and priced at a hefty $23 a serving will go down a treat with the paying public.
The breast milk was provided by mothers who answered an advertisement on online mothers’ forum Mumsnet.
Victoria Hiley, 35, from London was one of 15 women who donated milk to the restaurant after seeing the advert…
“What could be more natural than fresh, free-range mother’s milk in an ice cream? And for me it’s a recession beater too — what’s the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash,” Hiley said in a statement.
“I tried the product for the first time today — it’s very nice, it really melts in the mouth.”
The Baby Gaga recipe blends breast milk with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest, which is then churned into ice cream.
If this becomes less expensive – and really popular – O’Connor will probably find himself in trouble sooner or later with either politicians or priests. Or both.
Marines to shrink in size
Yeah – that’s what I thought, too, when I first read it
The U.S. Marine Corps will shrink about 13 percent but refocus as a rapid-reaction force after the war in Afghanistan winds down, a top general said. The service will drop to 186,800 from the current force of 202,000, said Lt. General George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration.
The figure is more than 10,000 troops greater than before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Stars and Stripes reported.
The belt-tightening comes at the direction of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who ordered a “force structure review” to set the service’s future size, roles and missions…
The service does not expect to see “sustained operations in the future” like Iraq and Afghanistan, Flynn told reporters in a conference call.
But the Marines, which date from 1775 and fought in the Revolutionary War, will still be on call to respond to humanitarian crises, evacuate embassies, rescue Americans stranded overseas, train foreign militaries and, if needed, engage in traditional combat, he said.
Washington and the Pentagon do everything in slow motion. They should be getting down to less than what they had at the beginning of Clinton’s Administration.
Let’s get a little back for taxpayers from that “Peace Dividend”.
Irish general election set to result in Fine Gael/Labour coalition
Enda Kenny campaigning in Donegal
Irish people are voting on Friday in what is arguably the most important general election in the republic’s history.
The electorate of more than 2 million will be sending representatives of a new government back to Brussels early next month to renegotiate the terms of the international bailout package that gave Ireland more than €80bn.
Enda Kenny, leader of the main opposition party, Fine Gael, is almost certain to be elected taoiseach and is already planning to travel next week to Brussels to meet his counterparts in the European People’s party bloc.
The meeting will pave the way for an EU finance summit later in March during which a number of debt-stricken countries, including Ireland, will attempt to persuade fellow Europeans to lower the interest payments on the loans.
Up until the final day of campaigning, Kenny and his party have been resisting all calls to reveal who they will share power with after the election. Kenny has also declined to give advice to Fine Gael voters as to where they should place their second, third, fourth and other preferences. Ireland elects its 166 members of the Irish parliament on the single transferable vote system in 43 multi-member constituencies…
Despite a surge in support, Fine Gael is unlikely to reach the magic figure of 83 seats that would allow the party to govern with an overall majority. Over recent days, relationships have been improving between Fine Gael and the Irish Labour party, Kenny’s most likely coalition partners.
Labour has complained of last-minute dirty tricks directed at the party by the Catholic right. Anti-abortion pressure groups have covered lamp-posts along O’Connell Street, Dublin’s major thoroughfare, with stickers claiming: “A vote for Labour is a vote for abortion.” Labour is the only one of the major Dail parties to take a pro-choice stance on abortion, which is still illegal in Ireland…
Despite several unresolved disagreements between Fine Gael and Labour – not least over the issue of abortion – most commentators and bookmakers seem to think the two parties are most likely to form the next coalition with a 30-plus majority in the Dail.
When you have an international theme following 14th Century ideology, you needn’t wonder at the consistency of reactionary political tactics. Whether you’re in Kansas or Dublin the game’s the same even if the name isn’t.
Taking away women’s rights to choice are a pretty consistent piece of that ideology – along with opposition to practices as modern, say, as the 19th Century – like contraception.
Another spring of major flooding likely in north central USA
A large swath of the country is at risk of moderate to major flooding this spring, from northeastern Montana through western Wisconsin following the Mississippi River south to St. Louis, National Weather Service flood experts are forecasting. Today the agency released an initial spring flood outlook for this high risk region and will release a national spring flood outlook on March 17.
For the third consecutive year, forecasters predict moderate to major flooding along the Red River of the North, which forms the state line between eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota and includes the Souris River Basin and the Devils Lake and Stump Lake drainages in North Dakota.
If the current forecast holds, the main stem Mississippi River is at risk for moderate to major flooding from its headwaters in St. Paul, Minn., all the way to St. Louis…
“Excessive precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, coupled with continuously frigid temperatures has yielded a thick snowpack in much of the upper Midwest. We expect significant flooding when this snow begins to melt,” said Lynn Maximuk, central region director of the National Weather Service. “We urge residents in risk areas to closely monitor NOAA’s river forecasts and warnings, and prepare now for flooding.”
For complete details, see the spring flood outlook at http://www.weather.gov/oh/hic/nho.
It would be a chuckle if it weren’t tragic. I don’t see any of the climate change so-called skeptics telling their kin in flood zones to “sit tight and don’t worry about a thing. NOAA experts in weather and climate don’t know nuthin.”
As much as they whine, when valuables, homes and cars are under threat, reality intervenes and – at a minimum – those who walk around on the safe side of sociopath will listen to reason and take precautions.
Meanwhile, I hope the rest of y’all pay attention and check predictions and updates for your own neck of the prairie.
EU sits and waits for US military options for Libya
Yes, part of Libya’s army is called NARC
In the first indication the crisis with Libya could take on a military dimension, the Pentagon is looking at “all options” it can offer President Barack Obama in dealing with the Libyan crisis a senior U.S. military official tells CNN.
The official declined to be identified because of the extremely sensitive nature of the situation but he has direct knowledge of the current military planning effort…
The official said the “prudent planning” for military options centers around the president’s priorities of protecting U.S. citizens and interests and stopping the violence against Libyan civilians. He cautioned against thinking the U.S. military “was about to storm the beaches” but he also declined to specifically rule out the use of military force.
Let’s hope this is limited to the kind of Reaganesque sword-rattling that warms the hearts of fools and military arms vendors.
First off, the essential customers for oil – those who have left the nutter in charge for decades – are European. The oil and natural gas profiteers adding their percentage atop Libyan fees are almost exclusively European.
That means NATO gets to serve as the EU Rapid Reaction Force politicians in Brussels have blathered about for years.
Second, Libya doesn’t have anything resembling a state structure. It’s not Egypt or even Saudi Arabia. Since the overthrow of the Libyan royals, one or another Euro corporation took on infrastructure tasks and left law in the hands of the lawless.
None of this hands any responsibility to the United States other than the safe extraction of our citizens.
Goldman Sachs: Republican cuts hold back economic growth
A $61.5 billion spending-cut bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday would slow economic growth significantly this year, according to an analysis by the global investment firm Goldman Sachs.
“Under the House passed spending bill, the drag on GDP growth from federal fiscal policy would increase by 1.5% to 2% in Q2 and Q3 compared with current law,” according to Alec Phillips, who signed the analysis…
“This nonpartisan study proves that the House Republicans’ proposal is a recipe for a double-dip recession,” said Senator Charles Schumer, a member of the Senate’s Democratic leadership.
Republicans in Congress, especially conservative Tea Party activists who were elected in November, have touted their fiscal 2011 spending-cut bill and upcoming attempts to impose more U.S. budget cuts as the key to improving the economy and creating jobs.
Which illustrates how out-of-touch with modern economics these clowns can be.
Democrats have countered that while there is a need to cut government spending and budget deficits over the long-term, policy-makers must tread softly in the short-term so the fragile economic recovery underway is not cut short…
With Democrats and Republicans facing a March 4 deadline to reach some sort of deal on funding the federal government, there are worries that a failure would lead to a temporary shutdown of many government offices and programs if there is no deal.
The Goldman Sachs analysis points out that a government shutdown “poses less risk” than proposed spending cuts “as long as it is brief…”
In its fiscal 2012 budget proposal released last week, the the Obama administration forecasted 2011 economic growth of 2.7 percent year over year, while Blue Chip economists estimate 3.1 percent.
Background disclaimer: I’ve been asked a few times to either include market analysis in this blog or offer a separate investing blog. I’ve paid little attention to investing other than studies in economics over my life. But, I got pissed-off enough at the shoddy management of what little I had set aside in mutual funds to begin studies and investing on my own in the downhill side of this Great Recession.
I cashed out most of those mutual funds and began investing in equities in November 2008 – just a few months before the bottom in March 2009. Those investments have increased in value over 300%.
Now, as for Goldman Sachs. I won’t invest in them because I think their ethics suck. Their behavior leading up to the Crash was reprehensible and slimy. Greed superseded responsibility to their clients. That doesn’t, however speak ill of their abilities at market analysis.
I think they’ve hit the nail smack on the head in this look at Republican reactionaries and their KoolAid Party class warfare allies. Reliance on 19th Century ideology versus essentials proven in practice from the days of Keynes up through Leontiev’s macroeconomic studies illustrates the irrelevance of what American conservatism has become. Or, rather, the irrelevance of those who claim to speak for conservatism – when their economic practices are closer to Mussolini’s corporatism than anything else.
Gunrunning scandal uncovered at the ATF
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry
In late 2009, ATF was alerted to suspicious buys at seven gun shops in the Phoenix area. Suspicious because the buyers paid cash, sometimes brought in paper bags. And they purchased classic “weapons of choice” used by Mexican drug traffickers – semi-automatic versions of military type rifles and pistols…
Jaime Avila was one of the suspicious buyers. ATF put him in its suspect database in January of 2010. For the next year, ATF watched as Avila and other suspects bought huge quantities of weapons supposedly for “personal use.” They included 575 AK-47 type semi-automatic rifles.
ATF managers allegedly made a controversial decision: allow most of the weapons on the streets. The idea, they said, was to gather intelligence and see where the guns ended up. Insiders say it’s a dangerous tactic called letting the guns, “walk…”
CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. “It got ugly…” said one. There was “screaming and yelling” says another. A third warned: “this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed.”
Sure enough, the weapons soon began surfacing at crime scenes in Mexico – dozens of them sources say – including shootouts with government officials…
Then, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. The serial numbers on the two assault rifles found at the scene matched two rifles ATF watched Jaime Avila buy in Phoenix nearly a year before. Officials won’t answer whether the bullet that killed Terry came from one of those rifles. But the nightmare had come true: “walked” guns turned up at a federal agent’s murder…
Hours after Agent Terry was gunned down, ATF finally arrested Avila. They’ve since indicted 34 suspected gunrunners in the same group. But the indictment makes no mention of Terry’s murder, and no one is charged in his death…
RTFA for a more detailed account.
The Justice Department says the ATF has never knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to suspected gunrunners. But, then, that’s what government lawyers always tell government spokespeople to say. Deny, deny, deny.
When you do something really stupid and deadly, you surely don’t want to admit to the possibility of guilt or responsibility. Especially if you’re paid to prevent crime.
Thanks, Tom
Three tales of Libya in turmoil
Britain’s embarrassing efforts to evacuate stranded nationals from civil war in Libya were condemned on Wednesday night. The Foreign Office finally managed to load 300 Britons onto a plane at Tripoli, but only after it had borrowed the jet from BP.
The plane the Government had intended to use to evacuate Britons waited on the runway at Gatwick airport for 10 hours before taking off late on Wednesday night.
Mr Hague admitted the efforts had been a failure and said he would establish a review to investigate. Portugal, Turkey, France and the EU had already pulled out thousands of citizens…
The attempt to organise an airlift of the 540 Britons stranded in the country stumbled. The first plane the Government chartered was delayed on the runway at Gatwick with a mechanical fault.
A second was due to leave later last night and a third, if necessary, today. HMS Cumberland, a Royal Navy frigate, was on its way to the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi to rescue Britons trapped there.
Doesn’t really build confidence in the plane-rental biz in the UK, does it?
