U.S. orders $690M in swine-flu vaccine from Novartis, $71M from GSK

The federal government is committing more than $800 million to buy more of the two key ingredients to make the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The money will be used to place additional orders on existing contracts with vaccine manufacturers including GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. The former Chiron Corp. facility in Emeryville is now owned by Novartis, which makes vaccines there.

The government is placing orders for antigen and adjuvant. Antigen is the active ingredient in a vaccine that triggers the immune system to develop antibodies to fight the H1N1 virus. Adjuvant is added to boost the immune system and reduce the amount of antigen needed for the vaccine. The vaccine ingredients will become a part of the pandemic stockpile, for use if a vaccination campaign is necessary.

Swiss company Novartis (NYSE: NVS), which is building a vaccine manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, received an order for $346 million for antigen and $343.8 million for adjuvant. London-based GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) received an order for $71.4 million of adjuvant.

In addition, Sanofi Pasteur received a $61.4 million order for antigen, and MedImmune won a $61 million order for its nasal flu spray.

“We are doing our part to be as prepared as possible for the impact that this infectious disease could have on our country,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “Vaccines may serve an important role in that preparedness.”

via U.S. orders $690M in swine-flu vaccine from Novartis, $71M from GSK – San Francisco Business Times:.

Follow the money?

Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself

You can’t expect a bank that is dumb enough to sue itself to know why it is suing itself.

Yet I could not resist asking Wells Fargo Bank NA why it filed a civil complaint against itself in a mortgage foreclosure case in Hillsborough County, Fla.

“Due to state foreclosure laws, lenders are obligated to name and notify subordinate lien holders,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Waetke.

Being a taxpayer-subsidized, too-big-to-fail institution, it’s possible that one of the few ways for Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) to know what it is doing is to notify itself with a court filing.

In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

“The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale,” Waetke said in an email exchange. “So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo.”

Yet court documents clearly label “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as the plaintiff and “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as a defendant.

Wells Fargo hired Florida Default Law Group., P.L., of Tampa, Fla., to file the lawsuit against itself.

And then Wells Fargo hired another Tampa law firm — Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer P.A. — to defend itself against its own lawsuit, according to court documents.

Wells Fargo’s defense lawyers even filed an answer to their client’s own complaint.

“Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property,” the answer reads. “All other allegations of the complaint are denied.”

This is even dumber than the lending practices that led to this foreclosure mess, yet this is what the court record says. I learned about this from “The Consumer Warning Network” Web site, which posted an article by Angie Moreschi titled, “Have The Banks Gone Crazy?”

“We’ve apparently reached the perfect storm for complete and utter idiocy by some banks trying to foreclose on homes,” Moreschi wrote.

McKillop, the condo owner’s attorney, told me he thinks Wells Fargo doesn’t know what it’s doing, and that its lawyers figure it is all billable hours to them.

“You can’t sue yourself,” McKillop said. “It’s just so ridiculous. .. It’s a waste of paper. It’s a bastardization of the legal process.”

Wells Fargo’s two law firms didn’t return messages to explain their filings.

The condo owner is belly up and hired McKillop to pursue a “friendly foreclosure,” attempting to escape any lingering liabilities after the foreclosure sale.

via Al Lewis: Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself – FOXBusiness.com.

Arsonists burn gnome factory down

An Octogenarian’s prized home-made collection of garden gnomes and miniature figurines has gone up in smoke.

Police believe arsonists were responsible for a fire that gutted a factory in Titoki St, Otaki, where Arthur Ray, 80, has made gnomes and other garden ornaments for the past 10 years.

Searching through smouldering rubble for charred remains of his precious figurines yesterday, Mr Ray said he could not understand why arsonists would target his hobby and livelihood.

“I cannot see why anyone would have anything against us. I cannot understand why anyone would want to do this to us.”

The fire destroyed his entire collection of about 450 rubber or fibreglass moulds and burnt dozens of garden ornaments, including gnomes and eagles, which had been on display inside the building.

“I lost my wife in May, now this. Words cannot explain it.”

Mr Ray had been making the gnomes from the rented premises for 10 years and did not have contents insurance.

via Arson fear as gnome factory burns down | Stuff.co.nz.

Poor guy. I hope the Gnome haters are caught and are forced to work for him to rebuild everything they destroyed.

Time Traveler Tased

A man found naked at a casino claimed he was a Terminator sent from the future.

19-year-old Sean Stanley Smith was arrested on the Nevada border after he was spotted by a motorist wandering around the highway nude. He was ordered by police to stop but proceeded into a nearby casino – where he was then tasered in front of a group of children.

Smith claims he was a Terminator sent back in time from the future – a reference to the film character made popular by Arnold Schwarznegger in the sci-fi franchise. The films usually start with a naked man being transported to the past.

However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator but was in fact suffering from the effects of LSD and marijuana. He was charged with indecent exposure and resisting a police officer.

via Police arrest naked ‘Terminator’ – Yahoo! Movies UK.

Canadian boy floats unharmed down river on toy truck

A Canadian boy celebrating his third birthday was unhurt and apparently unfazed after he floated 12 km (7.8 miles) down a river riding atop his toy truck, police said on Monday.

The boy’s family was camping at a popular park near Fort St. John, in northeastern British Columbia, on Sunday when the boy wandered off unnoticed and somehow entered the nearby Peace River, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The boy’s parents at first thought he was playing with other relatives at the campsite. But police were later alerted and had begun a search when a boater found the boy, and the toy, about 12 km away.

After a nearly two-hour journey down the swift-moving river the boy had no injuries, and was apparently unaware of the danger he had been in.

“He was very excited to see the police,” said RCMP Constable Jackelynn Passarell.

A local news report said the boy also made sure the boater who found him also retrieved the toy truck.

via Canadian boy floats unharmed down river on toy truck | Oddly Enough | STV News.

UFO sightings soar

RECORD numbers of UFO sightings have been reported so far this year.

Unexplained lights in the sky, floating objects and glowing orbs have all been reported to the Ministry of Defence over the past six months.

More than 230 sightings for the first half of 2009 suggest that observant Brits are well on the way to beating last year’s figure of 285.

It is thought better quality camera phones have helped the number of UFO reports soar – as people are able to get photographic evidence to back up their claim.

via Daily Express | Odd News :: UFO sightings soar.

Massive Squid Wash Up in Quake Aftermath

It was an odd start to the morning Saturday in La Jolla, Calif.

First, residents were jostled out of bed at 7.34 a.m. by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 19 miles out in the ocean.

“I was having coffee up on the balcony and I felt it shaking,” Kate Lutkemeier said.

She wasn’t the only one.

“I heard my doors and windows rattling, thinking that somebody was trying to get in my front door actually,” La Jolla resident Mary Skeen said.

The quake was felt all over the county, which isn’t uncommon in San Diego — but what happened just minutes later was a little fishy.

“We just got here about 15 minutes ago and Lilly, what did you see on the beach?” John Feher asked his little daughter.

“Squid, squid, squid, squid, squid.” she replied.

Dozens of dazed Humboldt squid, which were roughly three- to four-feet long and weighed close to 40 pounds, were found flapping around on La Jolla Shores beach.

“It’s like their equilibrium is all messed up and they don’t know what they’re doing and they can’t back out there,” said beachgoer Bill Baumann. “It was like they got — I don’t know — all shook up.”

It didn’t take long for the seagulls to swoop in and start feeding on the squid, so beachgoers ran to the rescue and tried frantically to save them by throwing them back in the water. That proved to be a difficult task for several reasons: they were extremely heavy, very slippery, and when the good Samaritans did manage to get them back them in water, the squid didn’t know which way to go and kept washing back up on shore.

“Some people were saying it was the earthquake this morning that caused them to get disoriented, but who knows? Feher said.

….

“Why are they here? Why are the squid here? I can’t honestly tell you,” Sgt. Rains said. “I don’t know if it’s tied or not to the earthquake.”

According to the lifeguard, swimmers should be wary of the creatures and keep their distance.

“The Humboldt squid can be very big and very powerful and they may be dangerous,” Sgt. Rains said. “It’s just something I wouldn’t mess with until you’re sure that it’s dead. They’ve got a lot of suckers and claws and a parrot-like beak and they can inflict some damage.”

via Massive Squid Wash Up in Quake Aftermath | NBC San Diego.

Scientists Discover Light Force with ‘Push’ Power

A team of Yale University researchers has discovered a “repulsive” light force that can be used to control components on silicon microchips, meaning future nanodevices could be controlled by light rather than electricity.The team previously discovered an “attractive” force of light and showed how it could be manipulated to move components in semiconducting micro- and nano-electrical systems—tiny mechanical switches on a chip. The scientists have now uncovered a complementary repulsive force. Researchers had theorized the existence of both the attractive and repulsive forces since 2005, but the latter had remained unproven until now. The team, led by Hong Tang, assistant professor at Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science, reports its findings in the July 13 edition of Nature Photonics’s advanced online publication.”This completes the picture,” Tang said. “We’ve shown that this is indeed a bipolar light force with both an attractive and repulsive component.”The attractive and repulsive light forces Tang’s team discovered are separate from the force created by light’s radiation pressure, which pushes against an object as light shines on it. Instead, they push out or pull in sideways from the direction the light travels.Previously, the engineers used the attractive force they discovered to move components on the silicon chip in one direction, such as pulling on a nanoscale switch to open it, but were unable to push it in the opposite direction.Using both forces means they can now have complete control and can manipulate components in both directions. “We’ve demonstrated that these are tunable forces we can engineer,” Tang said.

- via Physorg

My Latest Foreclosure Notice, Sale Date Can be Set in 3 Months

I waited my whole life to buy a home. Not what I expected.  Longest sinking of a ship.

Countrywide Home Loans, whom I now consider a predatory lender, talked me into buying a home with an Adjustable Rate Morgtage loan.  I was told by the loan expert that I could refinance even if the value dropped.

Based on this false information, I agreed to the terms and purchased my first home.

Now I’m paying the price:  destruction of my excellent credit, a year of stress and, soon, a foreclosure.

My home’s value fell from $300K to $150K in 3 years.

Countrywide turned down the first short sale offer a year ago. They turned down the Deed in Lieu option. Shortly after that, based on what one of their representative told me, I stopped paying.   Despite several requests, and no payments for a year, they would not foreclose.  Now, finally, the end is in sight.

Read on if you find yourself in the same boat or if you are just curious.