Bank failures may be in the near future

Oh wow, this is just plain bad news for anybody that has a checking account right now.

FDIC Girds For Bank Failures
Debra Borchardt
02/26/08 - 04:16 PM EST


Shaky loan portfolios continue to darken the landscape for the nation's banks, as federal regulators prepare for the possibility of an uptick in failures of financial institutions, according to recent government reports.

A record-high $31.3 billion set aside by banks for loan losses, record trading losses and goodwill expenses dragged down fourth-quarter net incomes of insured banks to a 16-year low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s quarterly banking profile released Tuesday. The cumulative increase to loan-loss provisions was the largest increase in 20 years.

The FDIC report comes on the heels of study from the Government Accountability Office made public last week, which found the FDIC recorded an estimated liability of $124 million at the end of 2007 for the anticipated failure of some insured institutions and also identified potential losses of $1.7 billion should vulnerable insured institutions also fail.

All of this is happening as the FDIC, established during the Great Depression to provide a backstop to depositors during a rash of bank failures, solicits banks' input on ways to accomplish as orderly a wind-down as possible in the event of a major bank's demise. The FDIC sent a notice out to banks requesting their ideas last month.

"The notion that a bank is too big to fail shouldn't be out there," says Jim Marino, of the FDIC's Division of Resolutions and Receiverships.

The grim picture for banks was reiterated by FDIC's report Tuesday. It noted that non-current loans exceeded reserves for first time since 1993. Loans that are 90 days past due, jumped 32.5% to $26.9 billion, the single-largest increase in a quarter in 24 years. The only loan category with an improving picture was farm loans, no doubt aided by soaring commodity prices.

The fourth quarter was notable for several other firsts and record-breaking numbers. Trading losses came to $10.6 billion, making this the first quarter the industry has ever reported a net trading loss. Less than half of the insured banks reported improved earnings for 2007, making this the first time in 23 years that a majority of the banks have not posted earnings increases. It's also the first time since the mid-1970s that non-interest income has declined. On a positive note, domestic deposits rose to $170.6 billion, the largest quarterly increase. But the bad news is that the industry's ratio of deposits to total assets hit an all-time low.

While no major banks have yet failed in the current crisis, some big names have experienced significant troubles. Washington Mutual(WM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) is one national bank that has been particularly hard hit by poor mortgage and other loans. WaMu cut its dividend and set aside $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter to cushion against greater delinquencies on subprime mortgages and home-equity loans. A number of regional banks, like National City(NCC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and KeyCorp(KEY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) also recently increased loan-loss provisions.

"The problems are in all categories, and given the thin coverage of the banking system for such losses, rising charge-offs and loan loss reserves are likely to bite deeply into earnings," wrote John Hussman in a September market comment for Hussman Funds.

FDIC spokesman David Barr pointed out that even as assets increase, the agency is restricted in its ability to get more income for the Depository Insurance Fund (DIF). The DIF is administered by the FDIC and is funded through investments and payments by insured banks. The payment is calculated both on the balance of deposits as well as on the degree of risk posed to the insurance fund. However, Congress sets the ratio level and even though it was raised last year to 1.25, the current level of reserves to insured deposits is only at 1.22. In 2006, it was 1.32.

"Ninety percent of the banks haven't been paying in because the reserve ratio isn't low enough," he said. "Congress increased the number last year, but exempted older banks. We're restricted to income on Treasuries."

So the FDIC is going to be hitting up banks for more money at a time when many can least afford it. The goal for the DIF ratio is to be at 1.25 by 2009. "The number of problem banks is increasing, but still historically low," Barr said. "However, the assets are increasing."

A rise in bank failures exemplifies the burgeoning problem. Douglas National Bank in Missouri failed in January and the three banks that failed in 2007. The FDIC's Marino said that typically three to six banks fail each year, but there were no bank failures during 2005 and 2006, when banks were raking in fees for loans.

Last month, the FDIC issued a two-part Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking comments related to the potential failure of large insured depository institutions. Marino has been working on this project for two years.

When a bank fails, the FDIC has to be able to look at all the accounts of a depositor and figure out how much is insured. "Banks do not know the insurance status of their customers, nor do they really care," Marino said. "What we're saying to larger institutions is that you're going to have to help us out."

Marino said banks with regulatory problems typically used to fail on a Friday, allowing the FDIC to step in and sort But with liquidity issues, failures can come at any time. Moreover, electronic banking leads to a lot of nightly processing, so it's usually not until 4 a.m. in the morning that the FDIC gets a glimpse of the balances.

The proposed rule the FDIC is considering would require the largest institutions to modify their deposit systems so that the FDIC could calculate deposit insurance coverage quickly in the event of failure.

Today's trouble in the banking sector has a long way to go before it rivals the Depression, when 4,000 banks failed. But the symptoms then were similar: banks were bogged down with foreclosures and left with unsalable assets. The banks struggled with liquidity issues, which the Federal Reserve did little to help.

Today's Fed is bending over backwards to create liquidity. Just last month when the Fed's own reports noted that banking reserves had gone into negative territory, the Fed stressed that by making short-term liquidity available through its term auction facility, the banks would have plenty of money. But that money is achieved through loans and not real capital.

Hussmann in September observed that reserves had fallen to their lowest level relative to non-current loans since the third quarter of 2002 and non-current loans experienced the largest uptick since the fourth quarter of 1990 -- representing the last two notable economic downturns.

"Recall that 1990 and 2002 were periods when recessions were already well underway," he wrote. "If we're already seeing these signs of credit stress at the peak of an economic expansion, the figures we observe in a recession are likely to be a lot worse."

Prince Harry is in Afghanistan

Yeah! I'm glad to hear this news, this young prince sets a fine example. Give 'em hell Harry!

ROUNDUP: Britain's Prince Harry on frontline in Afghanistan

dpa
dpa - International News Service in English

Feb 28, 2008 14:58 EST

London (dpa) - Britain's Prince Harry has been fighting Taliban forces on the frontline in Afghanistan for the past 10 weeks after a long and controversial debate in Britain over whether the 23-year-old should do active service in a conflict zone.

Harry, 23, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, was stopped from fighting in Iraq last year on security grounds.

A lengthy public debate on the deployment prompted the appearance of T-shirt among insurgency groups in Iraq displaying Harry's head as a target.

The Sandhurst-trained prince, who serves in the Household Cavalry, always insisted that he wanted to "fight with his men."

On Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London confirmed that Harry had been fighting in Afghanistan's Helmand province for the past 10 weeks.

The news was leaked on the US website Drudge Report, after the British media had adhered to an agreement with the royal palace that the deployment of the prince should be kept secret.

The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said he was disappointed that the news had come out.

"I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run the story without consulting us," he said.

The move was in "stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude" displayed by the British media, said the general.

Harry, who has a reputation as a "party prince," was understood to have threatened to leave the army if he was not allowed to go on active service.

He is the first senior member of the royal family to serve in a conflict since Prince Andrew, his uncle, fought as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands in 1982.

Harry, third in line to the throne, was told by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, that the decision had been taken for him to serve in Afghanistan.

The queen had always been supportive of his wish, the prince said in an interview Thursday.

He believed the fighting experience in Afghanistan would change his life. "I finally get the chance to do the soldiering that I want to do," the prince said.

In an interview in the restive southern Afghan province of Helmand, Harry talked about life as a soldier on the frontline.

"I haven't really had a shower for four days, I haven't washed my clothes for a week.

"It's very nice to be sort of a normal person for once, I think it's about as normal as I'm going to get.

"I am still a little bit conscious of the fact that if I show my face too much in and around the area - luckily there's no civilians around here because it's ... a no-man's land.

"But I think that if, up north, when I do go up there, if I do go on patrols in amongst the locals, I'll still be very wary about the fact that I do need to keep my face slightly covered just on the off- chance that I do get recognized, which will put other guys in danger.

The fear that Harry might prove to be a "bullet magnet" - or that his deployment might place his comrades in additional danger, returned Thursday with confirmation of his deployment.

The MoD said no decision had been made on whether it was safe for Prince Harry to remain in Afghanistan, where he was meant to complete a four-month tour.

"The operational chain of command is now looking at a variety of options," said a spokesman. dpa at pmc

Source: dpa - International News Service in English

Treaties need the approval of the senate

The Senate should have had to approve this, it's a treaty between us and someone else, this is bullshit.

Welcome to the North American Army
By Judi McLeod Monday, February 25, 2008

Will historians one day record that “It happened on Valentine’s Day” when chronicling the timetable of the North American Union (NAU)?

With no warning, a significant military agreement was signed by the chief Armed Forces commanders of both the U.S.A. and Canada on Feb. 14. The agreement allows the armed forces from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a domestic civil emergency.

And as Jerome R. Corsi writes of the range of domestic civil emergencies, in WorldNetDaily, “even one that does not involve a cross-border crisis.”

The Valentine’s Day pact got zero coverage in the mainstream media whose investigative reporters must have been out hunting down chocolate and posies.

Were it not for a USNORTHCOM photo that surfaced depicting a beaming U.S. air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, USNORTHCOM commander and Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command, the public the media serve would have been left in the dark.

Perhaps the generals won’t get to tell North American Union suspecting citizens that the NAU is the province of only the conspiracy theorist.

Paperwork always comes in handy when bureaucrats cry “Conspiracy Theory”.

Defined by its architects as a “Civil Assistance Plan”, the agreement was never submitted to Congress for approval.

“Nor did Congress pass any law or treaty specifically authorizing this military agreement to combine the operations of the armed forces of the United States and Canada in the event of a wide range of domestic civil disturbances ranging from violent storms, to heal epidemics, to civil riots or terrorist attacks.” (WorldNetDaily, Feb. 24, 2008).

Mind you, reporter David Pugliese, had the story published by CanWest News Service on Friday.

Imagine an agreement that paves the way for the militaries of the U.S. and Canada to cross each other’s borders to fight domestic emergencies not being announced by either the Harper government or the Canadian military.

“It’s kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration,” Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians told the CanWest News Service. “We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites.”

“This document is a unique, bilateral military plan to align our respective national military plans to respond quickly to the other nation’s requests for military support of civil authorities,” Renuart said in a statement published on the USNORTHCom website.

“The signing of this plan is an important symbol of the already strong working relationship between Canada Command and the U.S. Northern Command,” said Lt. Gen. Dumais.

“Our commands were created by our respective governments to respond to the defense and security challenges of the twenty-first century,” he stressed, “and we both realize that these and other challenges are best met through cooperation between friends.”

While Canadian citizens opened their homes to Americans stranded on September 11, 2001, there was no military aid sent to the U.S. from Canada, whose then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien remained silent.

In a program on the first anniversary of the deadly hijackings, Chrétien told CBC TV that a clear signal had been sent to all Western countries: do not abuse your strength or wealth.

“You cannot exercise your powers to the point of humiliation for the others,” Chrétien said. “And that is what the western world—not only the Americans, the Western world—has to realize. Because they are human beings, too.”

Truth is the Chrétien crony Liberals haven’t gone away. They are merely waiting in the wings to bring down the Harper minority government.

The same Liberals who join the Canadian New Democrat Party (NDP) whose mantra is to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

Some Liberal and NDP MPs continue to hold anti-American sentiments.

That’s a strange environment from which to forge a plan whose “challenges are best met through cooperation between friends”, Lieutenant General Dumais.

U.S. Northern Command was established on Oct. 1, 2002, as a military command tasked with anticipating and conducting homeland defense and civil support operations where U.S. armed forces are used in domestic emergencies.

Canada Command was established on Feb. 1, 2006, to focus on domestic operations and offer a single point of contact for all domestic and continental defense and securities partners.

Meanwhile, since the North American Union is a three-nation initiative, when will the Mexican Army be brought in during a domestic civil emergency?


Posted 02/25 at 07:27 AM Email (Permalink)

UAV xbox skills

The Air Force should create a video game for the xbox and PS3 to train up young recruits while they are still in Junior High. Eventually we'll be able to find the guy w/ the best current score on XboxLive and patch him into the cockpit in real time. Saving on training costs and time to fight calculations for the resource planner, thus driving value for the war fighter and budget planner. Eventually the entire defense dept could lower their training costs by publishing force specific software titles.

UAV Jocks Get Respect
February 25, 2008: A year ago, the U.S. Air Force created a new job specialty, UAV pilots. Before that, it was just "temporary duty" for underemployed fighter pilots. Late last year, the air force began recruiting people to be career UAV operators. The new air force program expects to attract those who had applied to be regular pilots, but had been denied because of minor physical faults (eyesight not sharp enough being the most common). But the air force is also aware that the current crop of recruits are the X-Box generation. They grew up on video games, and the military has already found that all those thousands of hours wasted (according to parents) playing video games, developed skills that are quite useful in the military.

Classroom instruction is almost identical to what pilots of manned aircraft get. Flight instruction, however, will take place on a customized version of Microsoft Flight Simulator (MFS), which will emulate the Predator (and perhaps other UAVs as well). The air force was satisfied that MFS had an accurate enough flight model to be used for UAV pilot instruction.

The three month Undergraduate Remote Pilot Training (URT) is training 30 students a year, and in two years will be turning out over a hundred pilots a year. After URT, UAV pilots (who will get wings) will get two or three months instruction on Predator or Global Hawk aircraft. There are also now UAV classes and a school for senior air force officers.

The air force also created a sensor operator job category for the enlisted troops who work with UAV operators. Until now, the airmen who operated the cameras on UAVs were given the imagery analyst job title. This made little sense, but it was just an improvisation. But now UAVs are a career path, and many air force officers and troops see it as the future.

Currently, the air force is getting about two pilots applying for each opening for UAV pilots. That's because the air force is downsizing, and a lot of pilots are forced to choose between retraining on another aircraft, trying a few years of UAV work, or leaving the air force. However, few pilots of manned aircraft want to make a career of operating UAVs. The new training program for UAV pilots will be for people who are stick with UAVs until retirement. At the moment, the UAV pilots appear to have brighter long range career prospects than the folks flying manned aircraft. It will take about a decade before all the UAV operators are people with no prior experience in manned aircraft. In the meantime, every fighter and transport pilot who has done a three year tour as a UAV operator, acquires a database entry showing a "secondary skill" as a UAV operator so that, when they return to their F-15 cockpit, they can be recalled if there is an emergency need for more UAV jocks.

Marx cafe tonight!

All right, no really bad weather, it's not an upcoming holiday weekend, so it's on for sure tonight!

10pm
3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

Hope to see YOU there!

Party in Havana!?

Can we US citizens join the rest of the world and vacation in Havava?!?! Please!?

No change in Cuba policy, U.S. says
Posted on Tue, Feb. 19, 2008

By FRANCES ROBLES AND ALEJANDRA LABANCA
frobles@MiamiHerald.com

The Bush administration ruled out on Tuesday any immediate change in policy toward Cuba, deriding Fidel Castro's most likely successor as president of Cuba, his brother Raúl, as ``Fidel-lite.''

''He is simply a continuation of the Castro regime, of the dictatorship,'' State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters, according to the Associated Press. ``There are some very clear indications out there that what this transition would potentially become . . . is a transfer of authority and power from one dictator to dictator-lite, from Fidel to Raúl.''

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said in Washington he could not even imagine the U.S. lifting the embargo ''any time soon''. The trade embargo against the island has been the centerpiece of American policy toward Cuba since it was first imposed in 1960 and strengthened in 1962.

Cubans on the island, on the other hand, hoped Fidel's decision not to seek reelection may be just the break Raúl had been waiting for to make significant changes in the economy.

''I don't think it will be more of the same,'' dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe said by phone from Havana. ``It's not what we in Cuba want -- we want democracy and freedom -- but this could be the time for some economic changes and maybe, long-term, some political changes.''

Although Raúl has been ruling Cuba for the 19 months that Castro has been ailing, Cuba watchers say he's had his hands tied with the looming presence of his brother. And with Tuesday's announcement that Cuba's 81-year-old leader was stepping down after nearly 50 years in office, Raúl could use the opportunity to enact economic reforms that Cubans so desperately crave.

Castro announced in a letter to the Cuban people Tuesday that his health will not allow him to accept another term as president of the ruling Council of State. His move came five days before the National Assembly meets to elect the new Council of State and its president -- Castro's top official title since the council was established in 1976.

In his letter, Fidel acknowledged that his failing health means he was not up to the job.

''My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath,'' Castro wrote in a letter published in Tuesday's editions of Cuban newspapers. However, ``it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer.''

''This I say devoid of all drama,'' he wrote.

At Miami International Airport, scores of passengers arriving on flights from Camagüey and Havana Tuesday said they saw nothing different on the streets or at the airport and were unaware of the significant development on the island when they arrived in Miami in the early afternoon. Most learned the news from reporters gathered outside the U.S. Customs waiting area at MIA.

''Everything seemed normal. There was nothing different as we headed for the airport. It looked like a normal day in Cuba,'' said María Luisa Morales, 60, of West Palm Beach, who spent three weeks visiting relatives in Camagüey in central Cuba.

''I don't think people know,'' Morales said.

Rafael Almeida, 45, a trucker from Hialeah who was on the same flight, was stunned to hear of Castro's resignation.

''Really? They didn't say anything there. I noticed nothing different at the airport. Are you sure?,'' Almeida queried reporters.

The Associated Press reported that, as radio spread the news across the island, Cubans went about their business as usual, accepting the inevitable with a mix of sadness and hope.

''It is like losing a father,'' said Luis Conte, an elderly museum watchman. Or ``like a marriage -- a very long one that is over.''

Reaction was subdued in Miami's Cuban-American community. Most exiles dismissed Castro's resignation as an insignificant development.

''That's nothing, that's a farce,'' said Jorge Alonso, 79, who was watching other men play poker at Calle Oche's Domino Park on Tuesday. ``With Raúl, there is no solution.''

Miami's arch-conservative Radio Mambí, the Spanish language anti-Castro station, hit on the same skeptical notes they've preached the last two years: This does not represent real change.

News Director Armando Pérez-Roura said Castro's move was a ''pantomime'' typical of ``communists.''

''This is not a change,'' he said in Spanish. ``It's a play by the Cuban government with the help of the European Union and [Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez] Zapatero.''

Castro remains a member of parliament and is likely to be elected to the 31-member Council of State on Sunday, though he will no longer be its president. Castro also retains his powerful post as first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party.

Although there was no indication that the resignation could trigger a mass migration headed for Miami, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the county was prepared for any unexpected event.

''Earlier today, I spoke with Gov. Charlie Crist to assure him that Miami-Dade County is prepared for any issues that may arise. As always, we'll continue to monitor the activities of the Cuban government, which are of great interest to our community,'' he said.

Most Cubans believe that the presidency will wind up in the hands of Raúl, the world's longest-serving defense minister. As head of the armed forces, he wields tremendous power not just over troops, but State Security, the Ministry of Interior and the economy.

''This is Raúl's opportunity to consolidate power,'' Espinosa said.

Laura Pollán, a member of the dissident group Ladies in White, said this is Raúl's chance to prove that he is really interested in reform by freeing the more than 200 political prisoners in Cuba. Pollán's husband, Héctor Maseda, is serving a 20-year sentence.

In Africa, a visiting President Bush said he hoped this was the beginning of democracy and called for the liberation of all political prisoners in Cuba.

''First step, of course, will be for people put in these prisons to be let out. I've met with many of the -- or some of the families of prisoners. It just breaks your heart to realize that people have been thrown in prison because they dared speak out,'' he said.

``I view this as a period of transition; that -- and it should be the beginning of the democratic transition for the people in Cuba.'''

On the presidential campaign trail, Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican John McCain also demanded the release of political prisoners in Cuba.

It remains to be seen whether the 76-year-old Raúl will be elected as the new president, although Castro is widely expected to retain a strong voice in the country's strategic decisions for the time being.

Raúl also may opt to wield power from his current positions and allow the Council of State to choose a younger leader, like the ones Castro alluded to in Tuesday's letter.

''Fortunately, our revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process,'' he wrote. ``Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight in the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. . . . They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement.''

But his absence from the political scene raises many new possibilities for the revolution, particularly considering that nearly two-thirds of the country's 11.2 million people were born after 1959 and have known no other leader but Fidel.

Castro's successor also will take office amid increasing complaints about the system's shortcomings, particularly high prices and low wages.

When Castro was struck by an intestinal illness in summer 2006, he ''temporarily'' turned over the title of president and several others to Raúl. Castro has not made any public appearances since then.

The jubilation felt on the streets of Miami that summer night that Castro ceded power quickly petered out when Raúl's hold on the job proved firmer than exiles in Miami expected. Raúl's 19 months in office were marked by remarkable stability, which served to underscore the strength of Cuba's military and Communist Party.

Castro began hinting late last year that he did not plan to hold on to his job forever. In a December column, he suggested it was time to make way for newer and younger leadership.

Some experts believe the Council of State will tap Vice President Carlos Lage, 54, as president. But others say it's unlikely both Castro brothers will retire at once. Many on the island think Lage will actually succeed Raúl as Cuba's next No. 2.

The Castro brothers swept into power in 1959 after winning a guerrilla war against Fulgencio Batista. Once in office, Fidel, a former lawyer, nationalized properties as the country's elite and middle class fled. He fostered strong ties to the Soviet Union, but watched his economy collapse when the Soviet bloc came apart -- taking its $4 billion to $6 billion in annual subsidies with it and ushering more than a decade of economic hardship on the Cubans.

Experts say Fidel's decision not to seek reelection to the presidency offers hope that it may become the first step in what could be a long process toward change on the island.

''It took the Soviet Union a generation after Stalin and it was three or four years after Franco before there was change in Spain,'' said Dario Moreno, a Cuba expert at Florida International University. ``The challenge for the Cuban community in Miami is patience. The Cuban government has had a year and a half to work on this transition. The lessons of this period we've gone through is that the Cuban revolutionary institutions are strong enough.''

One lingering question is whether Fidel's less charismatic brother can keep the socialist revolution going in the long-term.

Raúl is known as a man who leads by consensus. Most experts believe he will use the strength of the military, the Communist Party and National Assembly to keep a tight rein on political power while embracing economic changes to improve the daily lot of Cubans.

''Although they have some differences, they are one of a kind. They have the same interests, to stay in power,'' said Tony Alfonso, 70, a former political prisoner in Cuba. ``As long as there are no consequences, nothing is going to change. Liberate all the political prisoners, set the foundation for free elections, other than that it will just be cosmetic changes.''

And again, no one is totally counting Fidel out of the picture. Experts agree it's unlikely that anyone - even Raúl - will even command as much influence as his brother.

''I don't believe someone as narcissistic as him will be absolutely removed from power,'' said Andy Gómez with the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. ``He will continue to be consulted. What you may see now are some newer, younger faces.''

Fidel has long been the revolution's icon. While Cubans are fed up with shortages and low salaries, he is still admired and respected as the charismatic chief who defied the United States and kept Cuba afloat despite the post-Soviet economic collapse.

''We are all very sad. We are all Fidelistas in this house. But we understand that he's sick, and physically he doesn't have the strength to continue even though he still has the mental capacity,'' María Cecilia Colón, a woman from Havana told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview.

As for where Cuba needs to go from here, she says, she wants to see ``the country continue to progress. I want to see an elimination of the blockade so that Cuba can be like any other country. We know the a revolution is difficult and rife with challenges, but I believe we can succeed.''

Fidel himself has not taken himself completely out of the picture. He said he plans to continue being a soldier for the revolution, although his weapons this time will only be words.

''This is not my farewell to you,'' he wrote. ' I shall continue to write under the heading of `Reflections by Comrade Fidel.' It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful.''

Miami Herald staff writers Luisa Yáñez, Adam Beasley, Jacqueline Charles, Oscar Corral and Alejandra Labanca contributed to this report from Miami.

Marx on hold, for a week...

Hey all, it's down right nasty outside tonight, ice, freezing rain, all sorts of ugliness. So I elected to stay put and stay dry. See you all next week!

-Matt

Marx Cafe tommorow nite!

Hey all, barring any personal emergencies or unfortunate accidents, I'll be at Marx Tomorrow night at around 10pm or so to make your ears bleed. We're back to every Tuesday night now I'm happy to note, the short lived "Scoop!" is no more. The bar owner has offered me Tuesday night if I wanted to do something exclusive, not sure what to think of that. Anywho, hope to see you there!

3203 Mount Pleasant St. NW

Get a charge out of walking!

Great, now if we can just get this attached to a neon shirt and some laser pants we'll be all set. Look ma, no batteries! wee...

Scientists make unique knee-brace power generator
Thu Feb 7, 2008 5:38pm EST

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talk about a knee-jerk reaction. Scientists in the United States and Canada said on Thursday they have developed a unique device that can be strapped on the knee that exploits the mechanics of human walking to generate a usable supply of electricity.

It generates enough power to charge up 10 cell phones at once, the researchers report in the journal Science.

Researchers have been working on ways to harness the motion of the human body to create power.

A shoe-mounted device was nice and light, but did not generate much electricity. A backpack device that generated power as it bounced up and down while a person walks generated a lot of electricity, but was heavy to lug.

The new energy-capturing knee brace, its inventors said, seems to find a happy medium -- generating decent amounts of power while still being relatively light.

The scientists envisioned numerous applications for such a device. It could be of value to hikers or soldiers who may not have access to electricity, they said. It also could be built into prosthetic knees or other implantable devices whose users occasionally must undergo surgery for a battery replacement.

Arthur Kuo, a University of Michigan mechanical engineer who worked on the device, said it works similarly to the way that regenerative braking charges a battery in hybrid cars.

These regenerative brakes collect kinetic energy that normally dissipate as heat when the car slows down. The knee device collects energy lost when a person brakes the knee after swinging the leg forward to take a step, the researchers said.

"It generates a fairly substantial amount of power compared to previous devices and it does so in a way that doesn't affect the user very much," Kuo said in a telephone interview.

"You could easily power 10 cell phones at once. There are some low power computers that you could power. You could imagine devices like GPS locaters, satellite phones," he said.

With a device placed on each leg, volunteers walking on treadmills generated about 5 watts of electricity walking at a leisurely 2.2 mph (3.5 kph). Each of the devices weighs about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg), which Kuo said was still too unwieldy.

"Even though we've demonstrated this new way to generate power, we don't mean to say this is a usable product at this time. The principle limitations are that our prototype is pretty heavy and bulky," Kuo said, adding that he thinks it can be made smaller and more practical.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Beech)
© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved