Titans of Industry category archive

. . . behind closed doors.

From Asia Times:

At the beginning of this month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed that in 2011 a Pennsylvania family reached an unprecedented settlement with an energy company fracking near their property. It included gag orders on the family’s two children, ages seven and 10 at the time of the settlement, which prohibit them from, at any point in their lives, discussing their experiences living near a fracking site.

This revelation came only days after the Los Angeles Times reported that it had obtained a set of government-censored Powerpoint slides related to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency. The slides conclude that fracking was indeed polluting the aquifer in question.

Critics of the controversial extraction method note that these examples are part of an overall cover-up strategy being employed by the oil and gas industry.

The Sacramento Bee has a nice little article with hints about how to deal with unwanted telemarketers*.

According to it, the best thing to do is to hang up on them, whether they are real or robotic.

Like one of the persons mentioned in the story, we have virtually stopped answering the landline, not even checking the caller ID unless we are expecting a call from a real live human being who we know face-to-face.

________________

*Is there such a thing as a “wanted” telemarketer, other than by the law, that is?

Tar sands oil leaking from no one knows where or how in Alberta, Canada.

Do you ever wonder whether the Titans of Industry have a distinct shortage of clues?

Patent, trademark, and copyright law right now is a mess, filled with trolls and extortionists. The term “patent troll” exists for a reason.

Here’s one example.

More proof that the fashion industry hates women.

Next time you go in to a fast food joint, take a look at the staff. It’s not mostly students working after school.

Der Spiegel interviews a garment worker who survived the building collapse in Bangladesh, that is, one of the persons who makes the clothes you wear for the brands you trust.

A nugget:

Personally, I have no expectations for the future. What should we workers hope for? Everything depends on the whims of the factory owners. For example, it only takes a little bit of rain before there’s mud and water half a meter high. How often did we tell the managers they had to do something? We arrive at work soaking wet and get sick. They promised us they would take care of it. But of course nothing changed.

Read it; see the fee hand of the market at work.

Buccaneer Petroleum’s attempt to spin its way out of trouble does not appear to be going well. Facing South reports:

The last few weeks in the media world have been particularly damaging to BP. Despite their best efforts to muffle the continuing effects of the 2010 Deepwater Drilling Disaster — a muffling which has focused around a multimillion dollar, three-year, non-stop ad campaign — the poor little fellas are suffering from an assault by the truth of the matter.

More on oily lies at the link.

It’s a fracking mystery.

A new rule set for approval by the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission requiring some disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing has been withdrawn at the request of industry giant Halliburton.

(snip)

“Is this the way the commission is going to work?” asked Commission Charlotte Mitchell, a Raleigh lawyer. “There seem to be conversations happening offline and not in public about this rule that has already come out of committee.”

Halliburton claims that revealing the ingredents in its soup will compromise trade secrets.

I wonder whether the potential compromise is more likely to benefit Halliburton’s competitors or the public health.

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Kevin Carey marvels at the magic of the text-book publishing industry, as nice a scam as anyone has yet devised. A nugget:

Calculus hasn’t changed much since Newton and Leibniz invented it in the 17th century. Yet there have been seven editions of James Stewart’s best-selling “Calculus” (list: $245.95), the profits from which allowed Mr. Stewart to build a $24 million home with its own concert hall. And you don’t need calculus to calculate how much money colleges make by charging hundreds of students sitting in a lecture hall standard tuition rates, minus the negligible cost of an adjunct lecturer standing in the well.

Back in the olden days, that figure would have been my textbook budget for two semesters–and I studied history, sociology, and other book-intensive subjects.

Read the rest and learn part of the reason that students a drowning in debt.

Containment.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Via Bartcop.

Buccaneer Petroleum’s legacy continues, from the base of the aquatic food chain on up:

The die-off of tiny foraminifera stretched through the mile-deep DeSoto Canyon and beyond, following the path of an underwater plume of oil that snaked out from the wellhead, said David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer with USF.

“Everywhere the plume went, the die-off went,” Hollander said.

The discovery by USF scientists marks yet another sign that damage from the disaster is still being revealed as its third anniversary looms. Although initially some pundits said the spill wasn’t as bad as everyone feared, further scientific research has found that corals in the gulf died. Anglers hauled in fish with tattered fins and strange lesions. And dolphins continue dying.

The full implications of the die-off are yet to be seen. The foraminifera are consumed by clams and other creatures, who then provide food for the next step in the food chain, . . . .

So much so that they served a cease and desist order on Comcast in Houston to keep it off the air. C&L has the story.

Sign the petition.

Learn more here.

“Biostitutes.” Heh.