The John Batchelor Show

Monday 10 December 2012

Air Date: 
December 10, 2012

Picture, above: Pieter Breughel's famous painting of victims of ergotism

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Apple Inc. plans to create a $304 million campus in Austin, Texas, which will add 3,600 jobs over the next decade, more than doubling its labourforce in the city. The Cupertino, California, customer device huge already employs thousands in Austin, whose tasks include handling customer issues and support. “Our operations in Austin has grown dramatically over the past decade from less than 1,000 in 2004 to more than 3,500 today,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said.

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time):   .Jodi Schneider, senior Bloomberg tax analyst, in re: the better tone of the president's remarks on negotiations on the fiscal cliff. No longer a hard confrontation.     Gingrich Says Clinton Would Be Nearly Impossible to Beat

Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time):   .  Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index, in re: Lots of Californians moving to Texas; Jerry Brown and administration almost clueless on how to retain legit California talent and intellectual property.  Maybe Sacramento should move to Austin.  High taxes,  unpredictable regs, litigious population. Skilled workers moving to Texas – and love not having to pay state sales tax.  It now costs more to drive a U-Haul truck from California to Texas than the other direction.  SalesForce.com: cloud computing. Obama for America used their software to manage its core supporters

@jtemple – for tax abatements in Texas

Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time):   .  Larry Johnson, NoQuarter, in re: If you listen to Obama, Panetta and Hillary (the "old war hag,” to quote the Russians), you'd think Russia is selling out Bashir Assad and the Syrian Army. Russia blames Pres Mrs Clinton for her programs. Russia has just sold hypersonic Iskander missiles with a 1500-lb warhead – travelling at Mach 6, Mach7 – to Syria.  These are best used to slow down mass armies.  In fact they’re not effective vs small groups; even sarin gas isn’t best used in that context.  Obama declares one of the Syrian groups as a terrorist organization.  Money to the Free Syrian Army, bought and paid for by the Qataris and Saudis, arms the jihadists in Cyrenaica. From Libya to the Gaza border is one big caliphate of   We're helping to destabilize the entire region – awful for Jordan, Israel, and possible all-out Sunni-Shia war in Syria with Lebanon. Russia has a much better view of its natl interest than the US has of its.  "Throw jello at the wall and see what sticks.:  We have "facilitated" the delivery of manpads to Libya – that's what was going on at the annex that's still inaccurately called a consulate.  In the hands of al Qaeda.  A thousand members of Libyan brigade, and 100o of the ___ brigade, as well as Nigerians, Chadians, mercenaries from everywhere, cutting throats in Syria. Whose throats? The peaceful citizens of Aleppo, because peace-loving" is antithetical to the means of the jihadists.

Pravda – not exactly truth, in this case; author Lisa KarpovaPravda.Ru, writes:  http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/08-12-2012/123062-imperialis...

Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time):   . Bill Vlasic, NYT, in re:  Chinese firm wins bid for auto battery maker: the sale of A123, a battery maker, to Wanxiang Group, a Chinese auto parts maker, is the latest acquisition of an American energy and manufacturing company by a Chinese firm.  This company received a $200mil grant from the US govt to save it; now it's being bought by a firm run by a government that's aggressively antagonistic to the US. It's been subsidized by American taxpayers for American jobs; how can it go to a foreign government? WangCheng already has 3,000 workers in the US.

Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time):   John Fund, National Review Online; Taegan Goddard, Political Wire,  in re: lost generation; Obama nerds.   How the Obama Campaign Is Reframing Its Victory

Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time):   Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re: Gertrude Stein was a Pittsbourgeoise and is still a Steelers fan.  The Millennials need to be reminded of American exceptionalism, as they have no experience to clarify that. JB: I tell my children to travel; that it’s a global civilization.   http://triblive.com/opinion/salena/3090895-74/gallatin-hamilton-government#ixzz2EYi6bI2L

Monday 1035P (735P Pacific Time):   Richard Epstein, Chicago and NYU law schools, and Hoover Institution, in re:   Regulating Google is a bad idea, but mostly it won’t work.  Regulators always step when the firm has already lost power. 

Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time):   .Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Vietnamese police broke up anti-China protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 9 as demonstrators called for an end to Chinese military expansion, AP reported. Twenty people were detained after the protests were dispersed. The two countries hold competing claims over waters in the South China Sea, and the demands of Vietnam's growing economy will only increase the sea's importance and raise the risk and frequency of conflict with China. North Korea's long-range rocket launch window opens amid international pressure.  China cut the _ cable of Vietnam, further enraging a populace that completely loathes China. China claims the entire South Chine Sea as its own, up to the shores of Vietnam, Brunei, Philippines, and neighbors.  Chinese think they own the century and everybody at heand. Just sailed right up to Okinawa, enraging the Japanese.  US has four warships  in the Asia-Pacific region; is thinking of shooting down North Korean missiles. Has China thought this out? Nope. Blind, arrogant, taking steps completely counterproductive to China's long-term interests.  Jang Zemin believed hat the US and China should get along well; it's Hu Jintao who's given free rein to the military. Meanwhile, Jiang's real interest is preserving his family's loot.   Military is testing Xi Jingping about their budgets and power.  Gen MacArthur confronted the new president, making demands and speaking derisively. FDR said, "Gen MacArthur, I'm the president and here's what we're going to do." MacArthur went out to the White House lawn and threw up.

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time):   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Hamas has permission from Abbas to have demonstrations in the West Bank to celebrate twenty-five years or existence.  To be on Thursday in Nablus – which in practice threatens the PA. Israeli elections.

Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time):   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Egypt & Syria.   

Ergot poisoning (pronounced "er-get") has been blamed for hallucinations and convulsions accompanying the dance mania. Nicknamed St. Anthony's Fire, ergotism coincided with floods and wet growing seasons which fostered the growth of the fungus claviceps purpura which thrives in damp conditions and forms on cultivated grains, especially rye. While this could account for some symptoms, many outbreaks did not coincide with floods or wet growing or harvest periods. Convulsive ergotism could cause bizarre behavior and hallucinations, but chronic ergotism was more common and typically resulted in the loss of fingers and toes from gangrene, a feature that is distinctly not associated with dance manias (Donaldson et al. 1997, 203). As for tarantism, most episodes occurred only during July and August and were triggered by real or imaginary spider bites, hearing music, or seeing others dance, and involved structured annual rituals. Also, while rye was a key crop in central and northern Europe, it was uncommon in Italy. Surely a few participants were hysterics, epileptics, mentally disturbed, or even delusional from ergot, but the large percentage of the populations affected, and the circumstances and timing of outbreaks, suggests otherwise. Episodes were pandemic, meaning that they occurred across a wide area and affected a very high proportion of the population (Lidz 1963, 822; Millon and Millon 1974, 22).

Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time):   Henry Miller, Hoover, in re: ergotism and the Salem witch trials. How does GM solve ergotism? What are the Salem witch hunts of GM today? 

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time):   Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re: Russia sells Iran Iskander surface-to-surface hypersonic, pinpoint-accurate missiles

Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time):   Jodi Schneider, senior Bloomberg tax analyst, in re: in re:     

Monday/Tues  1220A (920 Pacific Time):   Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index, in re: Lots of Californians moving to Texas; Jerry Brown and administration almost clueless on how to retain legit California talent and intellectual property.  Maybe Sacramento should move to Austin.  High taxes,  unpredictable regs, litigious population. Skilled workers moving to Texas – and love not having to pay state sales tax.  It now costs more to drive a U-Haul truck from California to Texas than the other direction.  SalesForce.com: cloud computing. Obama for America used their software to manage its core supporters

@jtemple – for tax abatements in Texas

Monday/Tues  1235A (935P Pacific Time):   Jeff Faust, Space Review, in re: NASA cancels two projects: for nanosatellites, for reusable launchers.

Monday/Tues  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.   Seb Gorka,FDD,  in re: Morsi becomes Mubarak and worse.  

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Music (using New York City broadcast times)  

Burning three witches, from hysteria triggered by ergotism?

9 hour: Knight & Day

10 hour: Iron Lady, The Ghost Writer, Crysis

11 hour: Assassin's Creed

12 hour: Knight & Day, Crysis