<runs and hides>

You can't be me, I'm taken

Discussing the quarter finals and semi-finals.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers

Chinese warned of record rise in ore price

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have asked their Chinese steelmaker customers to accept the largest ever increase in iron ore prices or risk the interruption of supplies from Australia.

Traders and industry officials said the mining companies have demanded price increases for their annual iron ore contracts in excess of the record 71.5 per cent rise of 2005 and were fighting for increases of 85-95 per cent.

Rio and BHP have warned their Chinese clients some annual contracts will expire next Monday and they would cease supply under the old terms. They have told them the ore would instead be sold into the spot market, where prices are higher.

The bold step indicates that the heated annual price negotiations, already well beyond their traditional conclusion date, are set to move into a hostile phase.

(...)

If Rio and BHP carry out their threat of diverting shipments into the spot market, analysts said the steelmakers would be likely to retaliate by stopping buying for as long as possible. Although China has record high iron ore inventories, the country depended heavily on imports, they said, and it would not be long before it had to cave in and buy into the spot market.

Morgan Stanley said in a report the ore market was under "unprecedented" pricing developments and . . . "remains very tight and in significant deficit".

and this afternoon:

Rio Gets at Least 80% More for Iron Ore From China's Baosteel

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group, fending off a $171 billion hostile bid from BHP Billiton Ltd., said China's largest steelmaker will pay at least 80 percent more for iron ore, reflecting freight costs from Australia.

Rio and BHP have demanded for the first time in the Asian market a bigger gain than Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's largest exporter of the raw material, because their Australian ore costs less to ship. Chinese mills have failed to arrest six years of price increases that drove up costs.

Baosteel Group Corp. agreed to pay Rio $144.66 a metric ton for so-called Pilbara blend fines for the year started April 1, London-based Rio said today in a statement. The Shanghai-based steelmaker will also pay Rio $201.69 a ton for Pilbara blend lump, 97 percent more than a year ago.

I could believe that the United States would be reduced to torture; we have tarnished our history with more and with less, over the last two centuries, and it would be naive to presume it had ended, say, with the internment of Japanese Americans, or with the officially sanctioned witch hunts of the paranoid and rigorously manipulative McCarthy era. But I would have found it harder to imagine, even eight years ago, that human torture would be considered the more noble choice than refraining from it, or that those that opposed it would be met with such mockery, or such flag-waving revulsion

Scientists warn of lack of vital phosphorus as biofuels raise demand - Times Online

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Battered by soaring fertiliser prices and rioting rice farmers, the global food industry may also have to deal with a potentially catastrophic future shortage of phosphorus, scientists say.

Researchers in Australia, Europe and the United States have given warning that the element, which is essential to all living things, is at the heart of modern farming and has no synthetic alternative, is being mined, used and wasted as never before.

Obits:  I can't believe George Carlin died.  Well, partly I can't believe he made it this long.  But what crappy news to wake up to!  In college I had a class where I had to invent and pitch a TV show.  I don't really remember the concept I came up with, but I wanted it to be hosted by George Carlin.  

Sports:  Looking forward to watching Russia kick more a..., er, soccer balls.  Also giddy that the Cubs swept the Sox.  Once again the North has one the Civil War.  I also found myself watching the gymnastics tryouts.  Gymnastics is creepy.  I think points should be deducted for creepiness.  If you can do all of those flips and not look creepy, you should get bonus points.

Society:  I greatly enjoyed the Sirota party, only to learn late in the night that the Sangria I'd been enjoying so much had a significant dose of brandy in it, which might explain why I had such a fabulous time despite the constant assault from mosquitoes.  I expect to perish from West Nile any day now...  Anyway, I think I liked Sirota much more than most of the people there.  That is, only a handful (ok, 4 that I counted: Sirota, myself, an eccentric friend, and the British husband of an acquaintance) of people were brave enough to be even a smidgen critical of Obama.  And after Sirota left, it was also us who had to hang out in the alley to smoke and who closed the party down.  It's my lot in life to find myself among the fringe of a group of people who are already a fringe minority.  I really like the the Brit.  He wanted to talk about Russia and finance and foreign policy.  Anyway, my moment of brandy-induced enlightenment came late that night when I was so thankful that my reallife friends are more interesting than our celebrity guest.  It was a wonderful feeling, until I woke up the next day with a blaring headache and a million itchy welts.

Finance:  Helicopter monies to arrive soon.  Whew.

So, how was your weekend?

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

The McClatchy series on Guantanamo Very good, very depressing.

The conductor keeps the cool, he first finishes checking the tickets, then he looks out of the window. Me too. Only then (three minutes messed) do I see the locomotive driver climb down and walk forward besides the track. He throws a single glance at the front of the locomotive, then walks back, says to the conductor: "We won't go anywhere for a while... suicide... I saw him stepping down the end of the platform, regrettable..."

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

I was very proud of myself this weekend for inventing a delicious little appetizer (and quickly developing a scary addiction to it.)  Goat cheese and nectarine bruschetta.  That's it.  Devilshly easy.  Toasted rustic bread with plain goat cheese, olive oil and sliced nectarines.  Simple and delicious, with a nice Spanish white wine.  

I'm wondering if I can subsist on this all summer...

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

He will, naturally, be taxed on the gift.

And in other interesting news, the band will be exchanging their Goth prosthetics with the new album to be released in October. I have never been within a block of them, but those who have say the stench of the current costumes is overpowering.

You can't be me, I'm taken

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

Arp's a bit camera shy:

But he cooperated at last:

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

I'm at a wedding reception.

Tsvangirai takes refuge in embassy - Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has pulled out of a presidential run-off election because of violence, sought refuge overnight in the Dutch embassy, officials of that country said on Monday.

There was no immediate confirmation from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The Dutch Foreign Ministry said he had not requested asylum but was welcome to stay for his own security.

Earlier, the MDC said police raided its Harare headquarters and took away more than 60 victims of the violence, in which it says nearly 90 of its supporters have been killed by militias backing President Robert Mugabe. Those detained included women and children.

This is Zimbabwe

Hon. Thamsanqa Mahlangu, the MDC MP for Nkulumane constituency in Bulawayo and national youth chairman is battling for his life in intensive care unit after armed Zanu PF militia attacked him yesterday as he and other MDC youth were on their way to the Glamis Arena for a star rally.

Hon. Mahlangu was severely attacked by armed Zanu PF militia who had been dropped at the venue of the rally in army and police trucks. Over a thousand Zanu PF thugs were bussed to the venue.

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/06/secret_satellites

His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far.