What the Heck?! Thread (Closed)

[SteelBird]

I supposed everybody here knows that I'm from Cambodia!

 

[Quickie]

New object discovered between the orbit of Saturn and Neptune could be as large as a quarter of the moon's diameter. The other object is on the outskirt of the solar system.

Edit: Reading the article in the video, the description given is not the same as that given by the commentator. The 2 objects is actually one object with its position possibly in one of the locations mentioned above.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Its Planet X!! I knew it!! Finally we know where the North Koreans are being controlled from.

 

[delft]

From Christian Science Monitor:

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After 18 years in jail, Alaska's Fairbanks Four are free but not quite clear

The men, three Alaska Natives and an American Indian, were convicted of killing a Fairbanks teenager in 1997 murder. They have maintained their innocence in the crime; Alaska Native leaders have said the convictions were racially motivated.

By

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December 18, 2015

After spending nearly two decades in an Alaska prison, all four men known as the Fairbanks Four have been freed.

The men, three Alaska Natives and an American Indian, have spent 18 years in prison for the 1997 murder of Fairbanks teenager John Hartman. They have maintained their innocence in the crime; Alaska Native leaders have said the convictions were racially motivated.

One of the four men, Marvin Roberts, was released on parole earlier this year; the other three, George Frese, Kevin Pease, and Eugene Vent, had remained in prison since their arrests in 1997. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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.

The negotiated settlement outlined by Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle provided that the state of Alaska was obligated to dismiss its charges against the Fairbanks Four. The men were allowed to be released under the condition that they withdraw their claim of prosecutorial misconduct and not sue either Fairbanks or the state of Alaska.

On his

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, Alaska Governor Bill Walker said that he was pleased with the outcome.

Cheers erupted in the small courtroom after the hearing ended, and the News-Miner reported that the men then attended a celebration at the local David Salmon Tribal Hall.

"It was what we were looking [for] from the very start. The convictions are done away with. They have no convictions and they're free. It's what we were looking for," Bill Oberly, chief executive officer of the Alaska Innocence Project, told the News-Miner in an interview after the hearing.

The Alaska Innocence Project had long advocated for the four men, forming a case based on the recollections of a Fairbanks man who is now in a California prison on murder charges. They maintain that the recollections of William Holmes Sr., who was a senior at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks in 1997, were not clear enough to correctly identify the Fairbanks Four as the perpetrators of the crime.

The office of Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards said that the settlement was not an exoneration for the men.

"In this settlement, the four defendants agreed they were properly and validly investigated, prosecuted and convicted," the office said in a news release. "This compromise reflects the Attorney General's recognition that if the defendants were retried today it is not clear under the current state of the evidence that they would be convicted."

The Alaska Dispatch News reports that

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, barring the revelation of new evidence.

Mr. Hartman’s older brother, Chris Kelly, spoke to the court by phone during the hearing and said that he did not understand the rationale for the agreement.

"I can't believe it," he said. "I feel like my family is completely wronged."

"If they’re innocent – if you believe that all of a sudden now – I don’t see why you could even justify doing this to them. And if they’re guilty, I don’t see how you can justify making a deal,” he added.

Alaskan state prosecutors have maintained that convictions for the men were properly obtained.

In a statement, state Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D) of Fairbanks said that he was pleased with the outcome, and that he was glad the men would be able to spend the holidays with their families.

"The wounds of this case will eventually heal, but it will take time," Representative Kawasaki said. "It is unfortunate to see that the Fairbanks Four had to settle for a deal like this rather than see justice done, but I emphasize with the desire to be free and with family."

If they were properly convicted they shouldn't be freed. If they were not properly convicted they should receive compensation, even if it is difficult to see what compensation would be adequate. But now it is fudged presumably because Alaska is to poor to pay any compensation.

 

[Blackstone]

From Christian Science Monitor:

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If they were properly convicted they shouldn't be freed. If they were not properly convicted they should receive compensation, even if it is difficult to see what compensation would be adequate. But now it is fudged presumably because Alaska is to poor to pay any compensation.

In a just world, event would be as you summarized, but race politics in the US is especially touchy right now, so who can say with certainty?

 

[Equation]

Perhaps because Papa O came for a visit?

Washington (AFP) - He tasted salmon that had been chewed on by a bear, but passed on drinking his own pee. Thus did President Barack Obama test his mettle in the wilds of Alaska.

Obama was the celebrity guest in an airing of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls," a reality TV shows in which famous people try out their survival skills in the great outdoors.

The presidential episode was taped in September but aired Thursday night.

For Obama it was an opportunity to press his case for protecting the environment -- and do so from a supremely pristine venue -- and speak outside the Oval Office.

The commander in chief alternated between serious talk on battling climate change and jokey banter on what he called "one of the best days of my presidency."

"For security reasons, I am not allowed to have a smartphone," Obama said before taking a selfie with the phone of one of his staffers. Obama said he anticipated some ribbing from his teenage daughters.

As they ventured into an area popular with bears, host Grylls warned the president that the animals are most dangerous when interrupted while mating.

"I think that's probably true for humans as well," Obama deadpanned.

A bit further on, he tasted the leftovers of a salmon that a bear had chowed on and left by a riverbed. Obama said it was good, but would be better with a cracker.

Then, this: in a pinch, would he be willing to drink his own urine?

"I suppose, in extremis, it's something that I would do -- if the alternative was death."

He added: "It's not something I'd make a habit of. And I probably wouldn't do it just for a TV show."

So what is the president of the United States afraid of? When his wife Michelle gets mad at him, she gives him a real mean look, Obama said. But no phobias, thank you.

After eating a marshmallow roasted on a camp fire, Obama spoke about the fight against global warming.

Gazing off at majestic glaciers, Obama said:

"I have two daughters, and I don't want grandkids too soon. But eventually I hope to have some. And I want to make sure that this is there for them, not just us," Obama said.

Obama spent three days in Alaska during this trip, which he took months before the Paris climate summit that ended last weekend with a global accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

His message in late summer on climate change was this: "We are not moving fast enough."

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[Jura The idiot]

What the Heck?!
I noticed at gazeta.ru

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directly quoting
Extreme Oil Bears Bet on $25, $20 and Even $15 a Barrel in 2016

Oil speculators are buying options contracts that will only pay out if crude drops to as low as $15 a barrel next year, the latest sign some investors expect an even deeper slump in energy prices.

The bearish wagers come as OPEC’s effective scrapping of output limits, Iran’s anticipated return to the market and the resilience of production from countries such as Russia raise the prospect of a prolonged global oil glut.

"We view the oversupply as continuing well into next year," Jeffrey Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., wrote in a note on Tuesday, adding there’s a risk oil prices would fall to $20 a barrel to force production shutdowns if mild weather continues to damp demand.

The bearish outlook has prompted investors to buy put options -- which give them the right to sell at a predetermined price and time -- at strike prices of $30, $25, $20 and even $15 a barrel, according to data from the New York Mercantile Exchange and the U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, is currently trading at about $36 a barrel.

The data, which only cover options deals that have been put through the U.S. exchange or cleared, is viewed as a proxy for the overall market and volumes have increased this week as oil plunged. Investors can buy options contracts in the bilateral, over-the-counter market too.

Investors have bought increasing volumes of put options that will pay out if the price of WTI drops to $20 to $30 a barrel next year, the data show. The largest open interest across options contracts -- both bullish and bearish -- for December 2016 is for puts at $30 a barrel.

The number of outstanding contracts -- or open interest -- below $30 a barrel is relatively small. But the open interest for June 2016 put options at $25 a barrel has nearly doubled over the last week.

Investors have even bought put options that will pay if WTI drops below $15 a barrel by December next year. The volume of financial bets at that level is tiny -- 640,000 barrels in total.

Investors buy put options not only to bet that prices will drop, but they also take them as insurance. For example, long-only equity investors, which buy the stock of companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, often hedge their portfolios by buying put options that will profit if prices drop.

WTI fell below $34 a barrel on Monday, approaching an 11-year low. On Tuesday, U.S. oil futures for February delivery rose to as high as $36.26 a barrel. In London, benchmark Brent crude plunged to $36.04 on Monday, its lowest since 2004, before rebounding to as high as $36.72 a barrel on Tuesday.

“Overall it’s still very bearish,” Gareth Lewis-Davies, a London-based energy strategist at BNP Paribas SA, said.

source:

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[Jura The idiot]

you can check the post right above, as now
What the Heck?!
Iran will offer discounts on its exported oil; I noticed the ТАСС announcement

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and located the source which is IRNA ...
Zanganeh: Standard discount in post-sanction oil prices

Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that the Iranian oil sector in the post-sanctions era will offer routine discount as others do.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA here on Sunday, he made the remarks in response to a question about the claim of “attractive discounts” Iran is said to be offering after the removal of sanction to regain its share of international market.

He said Iran will offer discount which is regular and customary in oil markets.

The minister stressed that increasing the volume of its oil exports is the main priority for Iran after the removal of sanctions, noting that Tehran is aiming to go back to the level of its pre-sanctions exports.

In the past few days, certain media have repeatedly claimed that Iran is planning to sell its oil at huge discount.

Zangeneh had already announced that Tehran will add 500,000 barrels of oil per day to its current production by January after lifting of the anti-Iran sanctions.

‘Following the latest report of Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano on Iran’s nuclear activities, it is expected that Iran will add 500,000 b/d to its oil production by the end of the current (Christian) year or early January,’ Zangeneh told reporters.

After a short while, he added, Iran would raise an additional 500,000 b/d to one million.

‘Our plans for increased productions are non-negotiable as we want to return to our previous level of production,’ stressed the Iranian minister.

He also said Iran did not need the permission of any country to increase its crude oil production.

Iran has officially announced that it will increase production for 500,000 barrels a day immediately after sanctions are lifted. Another increase of similar amount will follow within weeks so that Iran’s export will be back to the pre-sanctions quota.

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(I've read the glut in the world now is about two million barrels daily.)

 

[Skye_ZTZ_113]

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I believe this is suitable for this thread. Guess who's back, just in time for the Star Wars release ala Empire strikes back style?

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

My new year's resolution.... The hope that you guys quit using this thread to flame stories you don't like.