31 August 2011 Last updated at 08:09 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14730704

German city of Bonn taxes prostitutes with meter

Bonn's prostitution meter, 31 August The prostitution meter is said to be the first of its kind

The German city of Bonn has installed a meter to tax prostitutes for soliciting on its streets at a rate of six euros (£5.30; $8.70) per night.

Those who fail to pay face fines or even a ban, and 264 euros were found in the meter when it was first emptied, according to AFP news agency.

Tax has been levied on prostitutes elsewhere but Bonn is the first city to use a meter, a spokeswoman said.

But a prostitutes' rights activist said the scheme amounted to double taxation.

Prostitutes are expected to pay the flat rate, regardless of earnings.

The machine, which looks like an ordinary parking meter, has been installed in an industrial area near the city centre which favoured by prostitutes and their clients.

'Consummation areas'

Isabelle Klotz, a spokeswoman for the city, said they expected to get about 200,000 euros per year from the meter.

A "consummation area" in Bonn, 29 August The "consummation areas" are wooden cubicles designed to screen cars

"Women who work in brothels also pay the tax but until now it had been difficult to get women on the street to pay," she added.

"Thanks to this new method we will be able to tax them in all fairness with the others."

There are believed to be about 200 prostitutes in Bonn.

Juanita Rosina Henning, from the Dona Carmen prostitute support group, demanded the meter's removal, saying prostitutes already paid income tax.

"This has nothing to do with fiscal equality," she said.

City officials have restricted the prostitutes' areas of operation to specific quarters but critics say this has made it easier for prostitutes to ply their trade, Reuters news agency reports.

Bonn has also erected "consummation areas", or wooden garages clients may use to visit prostitutes.

Well these Germans are real experts. Plus some of their buildings have a different level for every racial group.
Our originator of this thread must have been studying the subject closely........
One suspects he is in the meter business....

S.

Well, everything to bring forth the black market goods and services to light and TAX them accordingly. Society, I fear could do far worse, no?

I read this piece that will surely be up to your standards: Produce a biodegradable result that does less harm to the environment and leave a small vase of largely calcium deposits for memory.

30 August 2011 Last updated at 06:52 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555

New body 'liquefaction' unit unveiled in Florida funeral home
By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News


Resomation founder Sandy Sullivan explains how the machine works


A Glasgow-based company has installed its first commercial "alkaline hydrolysis" unit at a Florida funeral home.

The unit by Resomation Ltd is billed as a green alternative to cremation and works by dissolving the body in heated alkaline water.

The facility has been installed at the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, and will be used for the first time in the coming weeks. It is hoped other units will follow in the US, Canada and Europe.

The makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal.

Mercury from amalgam vaporised in crematoria is blamed for up to 16% of UK airborne mercury emissions, and many UK crematoria are currently fitting mercury filtration systems to meet reduced emission targets.

"Resomation was developed in response to the public's increasing environmental concerns," company founder Sandy Sullivan told BBC News. "It gives them that working third choice, which allows them to express those concerns in a very positive and I think personal way."


The installation was only made possible after the state legislature in Florida approved the use of the technology, one of seven US states in which the process has now been legalised.

The system works by submerging the body in a solution of water and potassium hydroxide which is pressurised to 10 atmospheres and heated to 180C for between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Body tissue is dissolved and the liquid poured into the municipal water system. Mr Sullivan, a biochemist by training, says tests have proven the effluent is sterile and contains no DNA, and poses no environmental risk.

The bones are then removed from the unit and processed in a "cremulator", the same machine that is used to crush bone fragments following cremation into ash. Metals including mercury and artificial joints and implants are safely recovered.

The machine is patented in Europe with patents pending in other countries.

First, let me state that I have no idea if there exist enough quantifiable and market grade petroleum reserves to make it worthwhile for investors to jump into the fray. But it does interest some of us to know if others have pertinent information regarding this important economic resource.

Here's a video that states the source of oil in Azua, DR.



Uploaded by lobolopez1770 on Jun 15, 2011

"Durante 167 años los Baez y los Santanas nos han estado vendiendo e hipotecando el futuro de nuestros hijos. NOS HAN ESTADO ENGAÑANDO debemos despertar...Corre la voz"

Discussion open.

Scam artist plain and simple.

[QUOTE=anthonyC]



Scam artist plain and simple.
[/QUOTE]


But Tony here's the interesting point: much like Cuba and her long search for oil, something the Soviet Union tried over two decades to find and couldn't-might there really be enough marketable petroleum reserves in DR to draw investors?

Oil Discovery off the Cuban Coast

The discovery of potential deep-water oil and gas reserves off Cuba’s northern coast has caught the eye of the world’s energy-hungry nations. The US could see rigs drilling for Cuban oil only 50 miles off Florida.

India’s state-run oil firm ONGC, already signed up to exploration in the area, has just upped its stake - the latest to place its bets on a Cuban oil rush.

The 44-year-old US trade embargo, meanwhile, continues to bar American companies from doing business with the Caribbean island.

» Source: BBC News

But, some observers are asking, can the US really afford to risk losing out on valuable energy resources only 50 miles (80km) off Key West?

The prospect of nations such as China, Venezuela or India lining up to exploit Cuban oil has already led some politicians to call for the embargo to be relaxed.

They want US oil companies to be able to bid for exploration rights - and for environmental laws to be relaxed to allow drilling in the adjoining US waters.

Others insist the embargo must remain in force in order to keep pressure on Cuba’s President Fidel Castro over human rights.

Gulf promise

Cuba’s share of the Gulf of Mexico was established in 1977, when it signed treaties with the US and Mexico.

A US Geological Survey report published last year estimates that 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie within that zone, in the North Cuba Basin.

By comparison, oil deposits in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - where a Republican-led push to allow drilling was narrowly defeated last year - are estimated at 10 billion barrels.

Cuba had already parcelled its 112,000 sq km (43,240 sq mile) territory into 59 exploration blocks, which it opened up to foreign companies in 1999.

Initial test drilling results and rising oil prices have combined to make the potential deep-water reserves a promising prospect.

Six foreign companies have signed up for 16 of the blocks, according to Fidel Rivero, director general of Cuba’s state oil company, CUPET.

Canadian firm Sherritt has taken the rights for four blocks and is already involved in on-shore oil production in Cuba, off Varadero - as is China.

It gives an indication that the geology of the area must be extremely positive - Jorge Pinon, energy consultant.

India’s ONGC announced its investment in two blocks on Sunday, saying it presented the opportunity of “great finds”.

In May this year it agreed a 30% stake in a separate six-block venture with Spanish firm Repsol YPF. A further 30% share was taken by Norway’s Norsk Hydro.

Jorge Pinon, an energy consultant working for the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, said the involvement of Norsk Hydro - a leading offshore oil producer - was significant.

“It gives an indication that the geology of the area must be extremely positive and has a high possibility of producing oil in commercial quantities,” he told the BBC News website.

However, even if good quality reserves are found, he believes it will be at least five years before production really gets going because deep-water rigs are in short supply.

Rival legislation

The debate over Cuba’s potential oil reserves has been making waves in Congress.

Our current policy doesn’t serve our energy needs, environmental concerns, or economic principles
Congressman Jeff Flake

This summer, Republicans Jeff Flake and Larry Craig introduced twin bills to the House of Representatives and Senate respectively that would exempt American “big oil” from the embargo.

Congressman Flake, who represents Arizona, described the ban on trade with Cuba as “archaic policy”.

“Our current policy doesn’t serve our energy needs, environmental concerns, or economic principles,” he said.

Two Florida Democrats, Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Jim Davis, countered with rival legislation which would deny US visas to the executives of foreign oil firms which drill in Cuban waters.

They warn of the potential environmental threat, should deep-water drilling lead to oil spills.

“At risk are the Florida Keys and the state’s tourism economy, not to mention the $8bn that Congress is investing to restore the Everglades,” said Sen Nelson.

Future thaw?

Meanwhile voices from the Cuban-American lobby argue that loosening the embargo would weaken the US government’s ability to pressure Cuba on human rights.

The Cuban American National Foundation, an anti-Castro exile group based in Miami, has called instead for trade restrictions to be tightened further.

Speculation over a possible future thaw in US-Cuba relations has been heightened by Fidel Castro’s recent illness and temporary delegation of power to his brother, Raul.

While few people believe Cuba’s oil prospects augur an immediate end to the decades-long embargo, some believe it is a step in that direction.

One of those is Kirby Jones, president of the US-Cuba Trade Association, an organisation which seeks to normalise trade relations between the two nations.

“It’s really the 800lb gorilla waiting to knock on the door,” he told the BBC News website.

“As soon as Cuba actually once again initiates exploration - as soon as there’s an oil platform scheduled to be in their waters - I think we will see a lot more interest and US companies very active.

“It’s really the first time ever in the history between the US and Cuba that there is a strategic cost to maintaining the embargo.

“[Cuba’s oil] will be explored, there’s no question about that - it’s whether the US will share it, or maintain the embargo and let it go to China, India, Norway.”

What we are seeing now is a certain level of interest - but not necessarily something that’s really going to up-end the Cuban embargo.

Daniel Erikson, Caribbean programmes director at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group, points out that Cuba has said US firms would be welcome to explore its waters.

“It’s being watched with a fair amount of interest by oil and gas companies in Texas and elsewhere,” he said.

However, he also sounds a note of caution. Few firms have the technology to drill deep enough to reach Cuba’s potential oil reserves - and, if proven, their depth would make them costly to exploit.

“Companies aren’t going to push for any change to US law unless they really know that Cuba has substantial reserves,” he said.

“So what we are seeing now is a certain level of interest - but not necessarily something that’s really going to up-end the Cuban embargo.

Cremation and then hunt for oil? I thought that cremation machine was neat.
Regarding the new legislation by congressman Pellegrin Castillo, (Vincho's son) and one of the few hardworking, honest and capable leaders of the DR congress, regarding oil exploration, it is a must
needed framework to allow the legal bases for foreign oil companies to invest monies into DR oil exploration.
Most of the franchises for oil exploration had already been awarded to companies, such as those owned by the Vicini group, and all areas are already taken by intermediaries, who are awaiting interest by real investors, to set their conditions.
All these previous oil exploration contracts awarded by Mineria, should be cancelled, and new public international bids conducted, and maybe some foreign oil investors would put their money where their mouth is, and invest about US$50 million in location research in a designated areas for oil.
I have also read that the quality of Dominican oil is low, with a high sulphur content, and the rigs have to drill unusually deep, making it unprofitable unless oil prices are above $100 a barrel.
But the fact of the matter is that there is oil, but exploration costs money and the rewards are complicated and difficult at this particular time. If legislation would make it, a downhill venture with certain rewards and guarantees, then maybe some smaller foreign exploration companies, such as the Brazilians, Indians or Chinese, might be induced to take the gamble.

Sex, Cremation and Oil Let's get it right

Since you liked the cremation part, I'll post another development that competes with the above device

Thanks for the info on oil. There are few people who actually know anything regarding this situation. While it's interesting that DR has been in search of oil for many years, since at least the Trujillo Era, the lack of systemic mapping and overall survey of the grounds and waters off the coast of DR may one day bring forth a surprising result, as has happened regarding our sister island Cuba.

Now for that other cremation device....

Here's that other method for the Final trip

Freeze drying

Another "green" alternative to cremation is in the pipeline. Susanne Wiigh-Masak, a Swedish biologist, has for a decade proposed a technology she calls Promession.

The process involves a fully automated and patented machine. Coffins are fed in one end, and the body removed from the coffin within the unit and then treated with liquid nitrogen.

The body is then vibrated until the body fragments, after which the remains are dried and refined further, and then passed through filters to remove metals, including dental amalgam. The remains are then poured into a square biodegradable coffin, again automatically, for shallow burial.



Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak explains how "promession" works, and how the idea evolved

For Ms Wiigh-Masak, it is all about preparing the body for this shallow burial, a process which says is akin to composting. It was in her garden on the island of Lyr on Sweden's west coast, that the idea came to her.

"It only takes two to three weeks before the kitchen and garden waste is soil so this is what inspired me to really see if not only the kitchen and garden waste but also everything organic, including us, could be treated this way to really become soil," she told BBC News.

So far, the technology has only been tested on pigs, with one pig even being fitted with a hip replacement prior to death, to test the efficacy with which the metal joint could be removed during the process.

Ms Wiigh-Masak is now confident commercial operations will begin soon, after the Swedish government promised to introduce new legislation that would allow individuals to use a "burial tax" paid by all Swedes not just for cremation and burial, but also for Promession.

Designs are complete, manufacturers appointed, and four potential sites in Sweden have been earmarked for facilities.

She says 60 countries around the world have expressed an interest in the technology, including councils in England such as Crewe and Nantwich Council and Cambridge City Council (who have also held discussions with Resomation Ltd).

Many individuals have already signed up for the process. The bodies of about a dozen people - including Ms Wiigh-Masak's late parents - are being held in cold storage because, prior to their deaths, they signalled their desire to undergo the process.

How long they may have to wait remains unclear.

Reminds me a bit of the movie "Soylent Green", which is probably what is going to happen in Haiti pretty soon