You may want to do a Google Search for “let it snow” right now…

[Quote]:

Bank bosses are fighting furiously behind the scenes to limit any changes to the way they do business. Fears are growing – articulated by Sir John himself – that the banks are successfully thwarting the Government’s plans to overhaul the British banking system and the Treasury is weakening some of the key reforms as a result of intense lobbying.

Mr Osborne also personally met the Barclays boss Bob Diamond, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Stephen Hester and Lloyds’ Antonio Horta-Osorio on separate occasions in the days before the Vickers report.

Mr Osborne will announce his official response to the Vickers Independent Commission on Banking proposals on Monday – it is certain to be scrutinised for any sign that the Government’s resolve to tackle the sector has been weakened.

[Quote]:

The ‘monstrous irresponsibility’ of European banks contributed to the current euro crisis, says Edmund Phelps. But at its core lies a fatal collusion between governments and banks, argues the Nobel Winner in Economics.

[Quote]:

In what is turning out to be one of the best months ever for black-hole fanbois, a team of Dutch, Italian, and US space boffins has detected the "heartbeat" of what appears to be teensiest, weensiest black hole ever discovered.

"Just as the heart rate of a mouse is faster than an elephant’s, the heartbeat signals from these black holes scale according to their masses," said University of Amsterdam’s Diego Altamirano, referring to the newly discovered IGR J17091-3624 and a similar object, GRS 1915+105.

While GRS 1915+105 is a black-hole pipsqueak with a mass only 14 times that of our sun, IGR J17091-3624 is tinier still, estimated to be a mere three times as massive as Ol’ Sol, a size that is close to the theoretical "mass boundary" at which the formation of a black hole becomes possible.

[Quote]:

"The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian engineer told the Monitor, giving the most detailed description yet published of Iran’s "electronic ambush" of the highly classified US drone. "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain."

The “spoofing” technique that the Iranians used – which took into account precise landing altitudes, as well as latitudinal and longitudinal data – made the drone “land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications” from the US control center, says the engineer.

[Quote]:

We share our world with many other species and live in an ever-changing environment. Fortunately, photographers around the world have captured the moments and beauty that allow us to see amazing views of this awe-inspiring planet. This is a collection of favorite photos from The Natural World gallery in 2011, a showcase of images of animals and environment that runs on Boston.com throughout the year. Next week’s posts will take a look at the year in photos, so stay tuned. -Leanne Burden Seidel (50 photos total)

A swarm of bees, partly loaded with pollen, returns to its hive in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP/Getty Images) #

(50 great pictures – I picked this because I immediately had “The ride of the Valkyries” in my head….

Quote

Thousands of children suffered sexual abuse in Dutch Catholic institutions, and church officials failed to adequately
address the abuse or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigation.

The report, released on Friday, by an independent commission said Catholic officials failed to tackle the widespread abuse “to prevent scandals”.

Is nowhere safe from these monsters?