Tuesday, January 26, 2010

How to Disappear from Facebook and Twitter

Need to disappear from Facebook or Twitter? Now you can scrub yourself from the Internet with Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, a nifty service that purges your online presence from these all-consuming social networks. Since its Dec. 19 launch, Suicide Machine has assisted more than 1,000 virtual deaths, severing more than 80,500 friendships on Facebook and removing some 276,000 tweets from Twitter.

Once you hand over your log-in details and click Commit, the program will methodically delete your info — Twitter tweets, MySpace contacts, Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections — much like users could do manually. What remains is a brittle cyberskeleton: a profile with no data. Users seem to love it. Testimonials range from joyous farewells ("Goodbye, cruel world!") to good-riddance denouements ("Thank you, microblogging. You are, in fact, totally useless"). Suicide Machine is so popular that thousands of people are waiting their turn for their own cyberoffing. "Our server is so busy handling the requests," says Suicide Machine co-creator Walter Langelaar. (See the 50 best websites of 2009.)

But be warned: As in life, resurrection is impossible. Going through the process means that your Web doppelgänger will croak for good. When it does, you'll receive a cybermemorial on the site. RIP, 2.0. We'll miss you.

What appeals to many of the site's boosters is the simplicity of the exit. When trying to close an online account, users are often asked to fill out a questionnaire. More important, their information and connections aren't then erased; they're just unpublished. By deleting all your data, Suicide Machine says, your private information is snuffed out on website servers. (See the top 10 Facebook stories of 2009.)

Not everyone thinks the proposition is so cool. The uptick in social suicides has put Facebook in a tizzy. In an e-mail to Suicide Machine's founders — Langelaar, 32; Gordan Savicic, 30; and Danya Vasiliev, 31 — Facebook demanded that they "cease this activity immediately," citing a violation of users' privacy. But the founders disagree, saying users voluntarily hand over their log-in details. Though Facebook blocked Suicide Machine from accessing its site earlier this month, Suicide Machine's creators, and the suicides, are continuing. "Compared to the more than 350 million users [on Facebook], we think deleting a few hundred is not very impressive," says Langelaar. "But they picked up on it as a potential threat." LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter have not yet publicly responded. (See a story on Foursquare's social-networking twist.)

Langelaar, who is based in Rotterdam, and Vasiliev, who works in Berlin, first met in 2002 during their undergraduate studies. The pair met Savicic while in art school in the Netherlands in 2007. They describe their work as "geek chic." Suicide Machine isn't the first collaborative new-media project for the trio, who also operate media lab Moddr and are members of the Rotterdam-based artist collective Worm. Inspiration for the Web 2.0–suicide idea took root when Worm threw a 2008 New Year's Eve party themed "Web 2.0 Suicide Night." Recalls Langelaar: "The idea was that everybody would be nice and analog."

See five Facebook no-nos for divorcing couples.

See a story about Facebook's "25 Things About Me" meme.

See the top 10 Facebook back-to-school apps.

No Sex Please! We're Just Kids!

Perhaps it's not that surprising that a mother in Menifee, California, asked the Menifee Union School District to ban all copies of the 10th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary after her child stumbled across the term "oral sex." What is surprising, indeed horrifying, is that district officials immediately complied with her request, and pulled all dictionaries off classroom shelves throughout the Southern California school district, which serves 9,000 kids, kindergarten through eighth grade.

District officials said on Friday that they are forming a committee to consider a permanent classroom ban of the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. District spokeswoman Betti Cadmus said that school officials will review the dictionary to decide if it should be permanently banned because of the "sexually graphic" entry. "It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature," Cadmus said. (Isn't that just what those fourth and fifth graders like to do?!)

Apparently some parents and free-speech advocates believe that district officials are overreacting. No kidding! Let's put this in perspective: every year, public schools across the country receive hundreds of requests from parents, public officials and activists to remove books they consider inappropriate. Between 1990 and 2008, the American Library Association logged more than 9,600 requests to take books away from library shelves, summer reading lists and school classrooms. Most of these challenged books remain on the shelves.

Parents have every right to complain if they disapprove of a particular book assigned to their child. But for the district to pull those dictionaries without consulting parents, teachers, or the school board is not only ludicrous, it is also wrong. Here's the District's Mission Statement: "The Mission of the Menifee Union School District in partnership with students, families, and the changing, diverse Menifee Valley communities is to develop lifelong learners with the skills, knowledge, and desire to be respectful, compassionate, responsible, and contributing citizens by providing a high-quality education in a
nurturing, challenging learning environment in which all children are empowered to reach their full potential."

What kind of partnership exists if one mother has the power to empty bookshelves of dictionaries? It seems that the district has acted in a way that entirely goes against what it claims that it sets out to do. And how on earth can this be a "challenging learning environment" where students can "reach their full potential" if they are denied access to the most basic reference material?

As Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition says "common sense seems to be lacking in this school."

Read more: education, first amendment, freedom of speech, banned books, censorship in schools, parents rights

Somerset authorities seize grenade launcher, weapons cache from Virginia man at motel

BRANCHBURG -- Somerset County investigators seized a cache of weapons including a grenade launcher and hundreds of rounds of ammunition today from the Branchburg motel room of a Virginia man, who also had maps of a U.S. military facility and an out-of-state civilian community.

Lloyd Woodson, 43, whose last known address was Reston, Va., today faces multiple offenses, including second-degree unlawful weapons possession and fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said.

At the time of his arrest, Woodson was wearing a military-style ballistic vest with a reinforced steel plate and carrying a .223-caliber assault rifle that had been altered to fire .50-caliber ammunition, Forrest. He was also carrying four loaded magazines with hollow-point ammunition, Forrest said.

Branchburg police confronted Woodson at 3:55 a.m. at the Quick Chek convenience store on Route 28 after receiving a call reporting a suspicious person. Branchburg Patorlman Steven Cronce noticed a large bulge beneath the green, military-style jacket that Woodson was wearing, which was later determined to be the assault rifle with a defaced serial number, Forrest said.

Woodson appeared "extremely nervous" as Cronce questioned him, and he ultimately ran from the convenience store toward the Regency Trailer Park on Route 22, Forrest. Officers found Woodson hiding in the bushes and he attempted to run, Forrest said.

Officers tackled him and used pepper spray to subdue Woodson, Forrest said.

Detectives later searched Woodson’s room at the Red Mill Inn on Route 22 and found weapons including a .308-caliber semi-automatic assault rifle with a defaced serial number, a grenade launcher, hundreds .50-caliber and .308-caliber rounds, a police scanner, and the maps of a U.S. military installation and an out-of-state civilian community, Forrest said. Woodson, who is a Navy veteran, had been staying at the hotel since last week.

Investigators also found Middle Eastern red and white traditional headdress, Forrest said.

Calls placed to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington D.C. and the FBI’s Newark office late this afternoon were not immediately returned.

The investigation is ongoing, Forrest said. Anyone with information is asked to call Branchburg police at (908) 526-3830, the prosecutor’s office at (908) 231-7100 or Crime Stoppers of Somerset County at (888) 577-TIPS (8477). Citizens can also go online to www.888577tips.org and click "Give Tips" or www.scpo.net and click "Crime Stoppers."

HERE IN IOWA ROADS CLOSED, 50+MPH WINDS, BLIZzARD IN PROCESS, 20 HIGH,

Things here in Iowa are one humongous "cotton pickin mess!"

Its 20 degrees with 50+ MPH winds..

Utility Company's from States which have not been hit by this PINEAPPLE EXPRESS BLIZZARD are here in Iowa working 24-7 in the hardest hit Counties where the high winds have blown down power poles, which has caused these hardest hit counties of Ida and Sac.

Highways are closed. Highway Road Crews have stopped clearing the highways and are turning traffic back or sending to the nearest shelters.

Fortunately, when I read the clouds which told what was coming our way.. I stocked up on the necessary's..

Many homeless who have no shelter or food will lose their lives in this blizzard..

1/25/10 Ron Paul on CNBC's Squawk Box: Debate on Bernanke and the Fed

Click this link ...... http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=9676

WHERE DOES REAL ECONOMIC POWER LIE?

The development of the global market, particularly in the spheres of free trade, the instantaneous movement of capital and the trading of currencies, means that to a very great extent national governments have lost the power to control their economies.

These developments have come about because most governments have accepted the theory that they should not interfere in the running of the economy but should leave it to businesss men and financiers.

The handing over of control of interest rates to central banks is confirmation that politicians have surrendered the economic field to financiers. Further confirmation is in the almost wholesale deregulation of financial markets.

Governments have the same attitude to the global markets. Around $2 trillion are traded daily on global currency markets purely for speculative reasons – to make profits, not to finance legitimate trade – and governments do nothing about it despite the damage caused to the value of their currencies and to their economies.

Further proof that financiers are in the driving seat is that they can make profit by buying majority shareholdings in companies. Then, using borrowed money, they can strip the assets – that is, sell off anything of value – sack thousands of employees and destroy whole sections of industries in order to pay good returns to shareholders and those who lent money. The market value of shares and the dividends paid are all that matter to them. The pivotal role of bankers and other financial institutions confirms that money and the pursuit of profit are the determining factors of economic activity. The financiers and the multinationals are in power, not the politicians.

We are at the mercy of profiteers who determine what shall be done and not done, and governments which stand aside and do nothing to protect the jobs or the well-being of the people.

In effect, governments have surrendered the interests and welfare of the people to the not-so tender mercies of financiers and tycoons. This should be seen as a dereliction of duty on the part of politicians who are there to serve the people.

LEARNING ABOUT MONEY

An essential part of this financially-dominated economy is the way money is created. Despite, the central role that money plays in all our lives, there is an appalling ignorance about it.

This ignorance is caused by the mystique which has been fostered by bankers and financiers that money matters are far too difficult for ordinary people to understand. They have spread the idea, aided and abetted by economists, that understanding and controlling money should, therefore, be left to the experts.

The truth is that the essential facts about money are simple. When they are known by the general public they will start asking questions and demanding that the government should do something about reforming the injustices which bankers are allowed to perpetrate. There will be a demand for governments to right the wrongs which banker control of money is causing.

5 WAYS THE MAN-IN-THE-STREET IS BAMBOOZLED

1. HE THINKS THAT MONEY IS CREATED BY THE GOVERNMENT, THROUGH THE MINT AND THE BANK OF ENGLAND, AND IT CONSISTS LARGELY OF NOTES AND COINS.

FACT – Only 3% of money is in the form of notes and coins created by the government.

2. HE BELIEVES THAT WHEN BANKS LEND MONEY THEN THE MONEY WHICH IS BORROWED IS THAT WHICH OTHER BANK CUSTOMERS HAVE DEPOSITED.

FACT – The money one borrows from a bank is not depositors' money at all. It is new money created by the simple process of writing the amount of the loan on the credit side of the borrower's account. Ninety seven percent of all money in circulation originates in this way. If banks actually lent their depositors' money it would not be available when they wanted it. If someone wanted to draw out money and was told, "Sorry, we've lent it to Joe Blow," he would be justifiably annoyed.

In other words, 97% of money is not "real" money at all but credit, just figures in a bank's ledger or computer. It is created out of nothing. Yet is used and accepted as real money. To all intents and purposes it is money. Borrowers buy houses with it, pay wages and buy raw materials with it, and spend it in many ways. Yet it is just figures in a ledger transferred from one account to another. It is called various things -- credit, bank-money, number-money, cheque-money, debt-money, electronic money. Whatever it is called, it is used and trusted because people know they can obtain real money, notes and coins, if they want.

3. HE BELIEVES THAT THERE IS STRICT CONTROL AND REGULATION BY THE GOVERNMENT, OF BANKS AND BUILDING SOCIETIES.

FACT – The belief that there are strict controls over what banks and building societies can and cannot do is also false. There are no statutory deposits which banks at one time had to lodge with the Bank of England. There are no fractional reserves of currency to be held by a bank as security for loans. All that has gone in the deregulation so beloved by financiers and, now, politicians. The only stipulation now is that banks must deposit with the Bank of England, 0.35% of their assets, which consist mainly of the loans they have made. This paltry percentage shows that borrowers have no real security, no proper regulations to protect them. The banks, however, have the property of borrowers, pledged as collateral, as security.

4. HE BELIEVES THAT THE INTEREST HE PAYS FOR THE LOAN IS A LEGITIMATE CHARGE BECAUSE IT IS OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY HE IS BORROWING.

FACT – Interest is considered to be a recompense for lenders giving up the use of their money, for the sacrifice they make by not spending it on satisfying immediate needs or pleasures.

This may be so for depositors but it is not so for banks which create money out of thin air when they make a loan. They are charging a tribute – interest – for money which did not exist before the loan was made. So they are getting money, in the form of interest, for nothing. It would be legitimate for them to charge a fee for administering the loan but that would be far smaller than the interest they charge.

5. HE IS PERSUADED THAT IF HE CANNOT PAY BACK HIS DEBT THEN IT IS RIGHT THAT THE BANK SHOULD TAKE HIS PROPERTY TO REIMBURSE ITSELF.

FACT – The borrower owes a debt which has to be paid, in regular installments, plus the interest, or legal penalties come into force. If the borrower defaults – cannot pay – then his property which he put up as security for the loan is legally confiscated and used to reimburse the bank, no matter what distress and hardship is suffered by the borrower, be it the loss of a home or a business. Whatever the reason, debts must be paid, and on time. Remember, though, this money was created out of thin air. It was debt-money.

REMEMBER – 97% OF ALL MONEY STARTS AS DEBT

Most people, however, are in debt. The total amount owed is greater than the total money supply. Sixty per cent of debt is for mortgages. Business debt is increasing as more is borrowed to keep enterprises afloat with the intensification of competition caused by the global market.

There is a chronic shortage of ready money, which means there is not sufficient purchasing power to buy all the goods and services on offer. This endemic shortage of spending money is brought about because of the debt burden that most people have.

If they want to keep their homes and businesses they must make regular payments to service their debts.

This is the basic reason that governments are loath to raise direct taxes. It reduces still further people's spending money and the total demand for goods and services. As a result not enough government revenue is raised from taxation to meet essential services.

THE NATIONAL DEBT

The amount of the taxation shortfall is called the budget deficit and is compensated for by government borrowing from the private sector, mainly from banks.

The total of this debt is called the national debt. It has to be paid back, eventually, by the taxpayers. In practice, when the Treasury Bonds, which the government sells as a means of borrowing money from the private sector, are due to be paid, the government issues new bonds – borrows new money – to pay back the old ones plus interest.

Let us consider the money which the government obtains from banks buying Treasury Bonds. Where does it come from? You've guessed it. It is created out of thin air, in the same way as the money for your mortgage was. It isn't real money. It's credit, debt-money. When financial enterprises such as pension funds or insurance companies buy Treasury Bonds, also called gilts, the money used is the savings of their customers so it is money already in existence being recycled, used again.

The money banks use to buy gilts is not. It's created on the spot, out of nothing. So the government is in hock to the banks for money which did not exist until it was borrowed.

At this point you are most likely asking the same question which many people are now asking. If the banks can create money out of nothing to lend to the government as debt, with all the burdens that places on the taxpayer, why on earth doesn't the government create money for itself, at least for public services, and remove the burden of having to borrow money?

GOVERNMENT-CREATED MONEY

If the government funded its budget deficits by creating money (instead of the banks doing if for them, at a high cost to the taxpayer) it would not be debt-money and no interest would be paid. It would be money for the essential public services to spend. It would not have to be paid back.

The cry which we hear so often these days from the government, economists, bankers and other "experts" is, "There is not enough money. Government and council services have to be cut." So nurses are sacked, old people's homes closed, schoolteachers made redundant, the London underground allowed to fall into disrepair, and so on. All this is brought about because not enough is raised in taxes, for the reasons outlined above, and because the government is reluctant to increase the national debt. In fact, it is trying to cut it down. So there is a chronic shortage of money for public services.

If the government created the money it needs, many of these problems would disappear. Why doesn't it do it?

EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES

Again, the "experts" are brought in. Remember, these people are the bankers, financiers, economists, all with a vested interest in things financial staying as they are.

They say, "Government can't just print money for what it needs. It would increase the amount of money in circulation, prices would rise and the value of money fall. In other words, it would cause inflation with all its subsequent woes, which we are desperately trying to offset. The Bank of England Monetary Committee is regulating the interest rate in order to stop inflation. We can't have the government creating money and adding to their problems." Are these "experts" right?

THE WAY TO PREVENT INFLATION

They are only telling half the story. Remember how we pointed out that a mystique has been created around money to the effect that it must be left to the experts?

Part of this mystique is based upon not revealing the facts about money, about who is really in control of it and who mainly benefits from the status quo. When they are forced to do some explaining, they muddy the water, and tell only part of the story. They say that government-created money would be inflationary but they don't say the same about bank-created money. They don't tell us that governments, if they want to, can regulate the amount of bank lending, as they used to do.

The "experts" remain silent on these matters because they don't want a public discussion of them.

They don't want ordinary people hearing the idea that we can have debt-free money, with all its benefits. This would lead to a popular demand for government debt-free money and for banks to be regulated. No wonder the bankers, and the media in which they have investments, don't want it discussed. The least said about it the better, for them.

Monetary reformers want to spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag, reveal the true state of affairs.

Bank lending can be controlled by several methods: statutory deposits can be re-introduced, whereby an effective proportion of a bank's assets must be lodged with the Bank of England. The fractional reserve can be brought back, whereby banks must keep in cash a fraction of the loans they make. Bank-created credits can also be reduced by regulating the terms and conditions under which they are made.

THE REAL REASON FOR GOVERNMENT NOT CREATING MONEY

So the “inflation” bogey is just an excuse especially if legislation to control bank lending were to be put into place.

What then is the real reason for government failing to provide adequate essential services which the people need?

The continuation of the system which puts government, and consequently, the nation, in hock to the banks and other private financial institutions gives the government more political power.

It can push through policies which are unpopular by using the "No money, we must cut back" excuse. It can use the same excuse to stand by and see basic industries destroyed and workers put out of work.

We are not told that money is a man-made device by which to finance the exchange of goods and service and should be used as man's servant instead of his master.

We are kept in the dark about the fact that when something is socially desirable, such as a new hospital or a new school, and when the materials and unemployed builders are available, and when only the shortage of money is stopping the project, then debt-free money could be created by the government and the project could go ahead with the consequent benefits for all.

There is a conspiracy of silence shrouding monetary reform. It is never raised in Parliament, never discussed in the media. The whole topic of government-created money is taboo.

We are trapped in the hidebound thinking of those in favour of the status quo. It is understandable that bankers and those who profit from the present system want to keep quiet about it.

However, it is inexcusable for politicians and the media to go along with it. Why do they do so? Largely, the media is in hock to the bankers and financial tycoons.

The politicians have swallowed the bankers' theory that money matters are best left in the hands of financiers. We have to force them into debate and show that the theory is false.

MOBILISING OPINION FOR FAIR AND SENSIBLE MONEY

So it is unlikely that our Parliamentary representatives, the people with the political power to change the present system of creating money, are going to do anything to put things right without pressure from the general public, from the electorate.

People have to be informed as to the true state of affairs so that public opinion will change and monetary reform can be put on the political agenda.

If they can see that they are going to lose votes then politicians will start to listen.

We need much more public discussion of these vital matters.


Critique of the above

It is not without serious mistakes. The song is the old totalitarian one. JUST LIKE THE ONE WE HAVE NOW - just new dogs in the cellar. Let me in addition (for fun) propose a banknote-printing machine in every home. That would be fine for about fourteen days.

Three central problems:

1. He does not underline that the principle of the central banks on the so-called democratic countries is that they are private founded - and not independent as they tell us they are and must be. INDEPENDENT OF EVERYTHING BUT THE CONSTITUTION'S RULES ON MONETARY ISSUING INCLUDING PUBLIC DEFICITS.

2. When you print money not according to the real production and the velocity you destroy the right that money represents - because more money has to be worth less. MONEY IS NOT GOODS, BUT A RIGHT.

3. The monetary aspect is the only real power ruling of physical individuals. The rest is unconscious mind control including learning of so-called economics. Everything else, especially history, is written/carried out by the paid servants of the power/money-brokers.

So they naturally tell us lies about it, and also tell us lies of everything else to blind us.

Money issuing has to managed - as it is managed now it is like some collective suicide coming sooner or later. A new monetary system without inflation and speculation built in as a profitable aspect and paying off especially to politicians and speculators can be introduced tomorrow.

http://www.united-bluff.com/intmo.html

BUT YOU CANNOT PRINT AS YOU AND THE POLITICIANS WOULD LIKE - that is what they are doing right now. DO YOU REALLY JUST WANT TO TAKE OVER THEIR CRIMINAL ACTS ... LEADING TO COLLECTIVE SUICIDE?

Kind Regards
Ebbe, Denmark
My website is www.lilliput-information.com, and my email-address is mail@lilliput-information.com

"If your heart is filled use your brain"


Signs and Expressions on British Money

There are all sorts of esoteric symbols and words - those with hidden meaning - on British money. Hardly suprising since The Bank of England is a highly secretive private corporation with a monopoly on British money which it, and only it, is allowed to legally counterfiet for private profit.

Notes

Chief Cashiers

CBA Kentfield Chief Cashier
Merlyn Lowther Chief Cashier

£50

BANK OF ENGLAND
I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF FIFTY POUNDS
LONDON
FOR THE GOVERNOR AND THE COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND

£20

BANK OF ENGLAND
I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TWENTY POUNDS
LONDON
FOR THE GOVERNOR AND THE COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND
VIEW OF THE WEST FACE OF WORCESTER CATHEDRAL
SIR EDWARD ELGAR 1857-1934
ST. CECELIA

£10

BANK OF ENGLAND
I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TEN POUNDS
LONDON
FOR THE GOVERNOR AND THE COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND
THE CRICKET MATCH DINGLEY DELL AGAINST ALL MUGGLETON FROM THE PICKWICK PAPERS 1836

£5

BANK OF ENGLAND
I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF FIVE POUNDS
LONDON
FOR THE GOVERNOR AND THE COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND
STEPHENSON'S ROCKET LOCOMOTIVE 1829
SKERNE BRIDGE ON STOCKTON DARLINGTON RAILWAY 1825
GEORGE STEPHENSON 1781-1848

Coins

£2

ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

£1

PLEIDOL WYF I'M GWLAD
DECUS ET TUTAMEN
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
DIEU ET MON DROIT
ELIZABETH II D.G. REG. F.D.

50p

20p

10p

5p

2p

ICH DEIN

1p

Euros

Not British Currency yet - quite possibly soon to become

China Says Worst Sea Ice in 40 Years Starts to Recede

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — China’s worst sea ice in 40 years showed signs of receding after subzero temperatures and high winds froze parts of Bohai Sea, where Cnooc Ltd. drills for oil and natural gas, for more than three weeks.

The ice cover in Bohai Sea in northern China has decreased in size, with 39 percent of the area frozen as of yesterday, the State Oceanic Administration said. Cnooc’s parent, the nation’s biggest offshore explorer, said Jan. 22 it resumed shipments from Jinzhou 9-3 well after stalling deliveries for four days.

China faced its coldest winter in at least 50 years as heavy snowfalls disrupted overland transportation while fog and strong gales shut seaports. Tianjin port in Bohai Bay has been unaffected by the sea ice, which first appeared at the beginning of January, said Yu Rumin, chairman of Tianjin Port (Group) Co.

“There’s no impact on vessels moving containers or commodities because the ice is less than 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) thick,” Yu said by telephone today. “Such thickness only affects fishing vessels in the area.”

Operations at Qinhuangdao, China’s largest coal port, have been unaffected by the ice, David Fang, a director at the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association, said today. The port, north of Tianjin, shipped out 700,000 metric tons of coal on Jan. 22, back to volumes seen before the terminal was closed by heavy fog and high winds twice last week, Fang said.

China Merchants Holdings (International) Co. is using icebreakers to help pave the way for ships carrying cargoes to and from Tianjin, spokeswoman Laura Huang said. China Merchants, the investor in ports moving about a third of the nation’s containers, sees no impact on its business from the weather.

“Unlike Qinhuangdao, Tianjin has not had that much ice,” Huang said. “We are using icebreakers to make sure our clients’ shipments arrive on time.”

Impact on Oilfields

The ice hasn’t had much impact on Cnooc’s overall operations in Bohai Sea, the company said today. Fields in Bohai Bay accounted for 52 percent of the company’s oil output in 2008 and 12 percent of its gas production, according to Cnooc’s annual report.

The freeze halted production at six out of eight oil rigs at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s Shengli field, Hong Kong- based Wen Wei Po newspaper reported yesterday. Huang Wensheng, a spokesman for Sinopec, as the company is known, couldn’t be immediately reached on his office and mobile phones for comment.

Ice currently covers 61 percent of Bohai Bay, the oceanic administration said today. Fifty percent of Liaodong Bay and 57 percent of Laizhou Bay remain frozen, it said.

Northern China has been mostly sunny in recent days while Heilongjiang and Jilin in the northeast will receive snow today, the China Meteorological Administration said. Temperatures in certain parts of northeast China will fall by 10 to 14 degrees Celsius, the weather agency said.