XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Tuesday 31 January 2012

1.35 million condoms handed out during South Africa celebrations recalled; poured water into the condoms and they leak -

1.35 million condoms handed out during South Africa celebrations recalled; poured water into the condoms and they leak - 




South Africa is recalling 1.35 million condoms given away at the African National Congress party's centenary celebrations amid charges some broke during intercourse and others were porous, an official said Tuesday.


AIDS activist Sello Mokhalipi of the Treatment Action Campaign said he complained after “we had people flocking in, coming to report that the condoms had burst while they were having sex.”


Some were panicking because they were infected with AIDS and were concerned for their partners, he said.


Spokesman Jabu Mbalula of the health department of Free State province, which distributed the condoms before the Jan. 6-8 celebrations, said they had recalled the entire batch of 1,350,000 condoms around Jan. 18. He said there was no need for a panic.


But he was unable to say immediately how many of the condoms were used or have been recovered.


In 2007, the government had to recall more than 20 million defective condoms manufactured locally. Media reports said a testing manager at the South African Bureau of Standards had taken a bribe to certify the faulty condoms. In 2008 another 5 million defective condoms were recalled.


The latest allegations involve condoms distributed to hotels and bars in the central city of Bloemfontein, where tens of thousands of people travelled from all over the country for the ANC celebrations. South Africa has the world's highest number of AIDS victims at 5.6 million.


Mokhalipi said the complaints started coming in Jan. 11, prompting his office to run tests on some of the allegedly flawed condoms.


“We poured water into the condoms and they were leaking, not just in one place, they were leaking like a sieve,” he said. Looking at them, “you can see there are small pores.”


He said the health department had distributed a new batch of condoms last week, which did not leak under the water test.
Read more - 
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1123989--1-35-million-condoms-handed-out-during-south-africa-celebrations-recalled-over-flaws?bn=1

Monday 30 January 2012

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners - placed multibillion-dollar bets to keep trapped in expensive mortgages -

Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners - placed multibillion-dollar bets to keep trapped in expensive mortgages - 
Freddie Mac has invested billions of dollars betting that U.S. homeowners won't be able to refinance their mortgages at today's lower rates, according to an investigation by NPR and ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom.

Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.


Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late 2010, the same time that the company was making it harder for homeowners to get out of such high-interest mortgages.


No evidence has emerged that these decisions were coordinated. The company is a key gatekeeper for home loans but says its traders are “walled off” from the officials who have restricted homeowners from taking advantage of historically low interest rates by imposing higher fees and new rules.


Freddie’s charter calls for the company to make home loans more accessible. Its chief executive, Charles Haldeman Jr., recently told Congress that his company is “helping financially strapped families reduce their mortgage costs through refinancing their mortgages.”


But the trades, uncovered for the first time in an investigation by ProPublica and NPR, give Freddie a powerful incentive to do the opposite, highlighting a conflict of interest at the heart of the company. In addition to being an instrument of government policy dedicated to making home loans more accessible, Freddie also has giant investment portfolios and could lose substantial amounts of money if too many borrowers refinance.


“We were actually shocked they did this,” says Scott Simon, who as the head of the giant bond fund PIMCO’s mortgage-backed securities team is one of the world’s biggest mortgage bond traders. “It seemed so out of line with their mission.”


Read more -
http://www.propublica.org/article/freddy-mac-mortgage-eisinger-arnold

Obama campaign dispatches workers with credit card readers... - fundraising platform -

Obama campaign dispatches workers with credit card readers... - fundraising platform - 




The Obama reelection campaign is providing headquarters staff, field organizers and volunteers the ability to take campaign donations with their mobile phones.


Campaign personnel are being issued Square mobile credit card readers, allowing them to process donations with their iPhone or Android phones, a campaign official tells POLITICO. The rollout will happen nationwide, and involve staff at all levels.


The technology is a boon for canvassers and other field staff — potentially saving the campaign hundreds of hours of time processing donations, and giving field staff enormous flexibility. Moreover, it's another good example of the power of mobile technology to streamline and automate otherwise mundane — but nevertheless important — campaign tasks.


Read more -
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/obama-campaign-rolls-out-square-mobile-fundraising-112798.html

Sunday 29 January 2012

More 'iPhones sold per day (402,000) than people born in the world per day (300,000)' -

More 'iPhones sold per day (402,000) than people born in the world per day (300,000)' - 





When the world’s largest technology company reports its largest quarterly earnings ever, context can be hard to come by.


Analysts were left drooling over Apple Inc. when the company reported record high Q1 revenue of US$46.33-billion and earnings of US$13.87 per share after markets closed Tuesday. Wall Street was not expecting more than US$38.76-billion in revenue or US$10.07 EPS, accounting for much of their subsequent salivation.


Selling 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Mac computers also broke records and total cash in Apple’s coffers was nearing US$100-billion by the end of the quarter.


Big numbers to be sure, but what do they mean in concrete, easy to visualize terms. We at FP Tech Desk took to Twitter in hopes of providing a few examples below.