Well, it isn't entirely true that the blog has moved: I'll be moving it back when I get a chance... if you've come here, then you could try this link - I intend it to be the new, more permanent home of the Alphatucana blog:
http://www.alphatucana.co.uk/blog/index.php
It could be up and running over this Easter weekend, with lots of luck. It won't look the same: I have to work on a new design for that page and indeed the whole website. But the blog entries will be there.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
This blog has moved
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Monday, December 21, 2009
Global Warming Once More
As mentioned previously, I don't know whether there is any global warming going on, or whether we humans are responsible for it. The evidence as I see it is too mixed: any search on the Internet comes up with wildly differing views, out of date evidence, hearsay, scaremongering and more. Real, hard information is not really available to Joe Public.
Nevertheless, there is another way to look at the problem that suggests a course of action that we, as individuals, can take, almost regardless of the actual situation. Consider the Copenhagen Summit, where the 'great and the good' (and the bad and the ugly) got together to try and cobble together some worldwide scheme to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that are claimed to be endangering the future survival of our civilisation (at least). Unsurprisingly, they failed to come up with a substantial agreement. China, a vile dictatorship, and a few other countries, it is claimed, held the talks to ransom and refused to agree to cuts in their emissions. Well, I don't like the Chinese government system, so why should I support it by buying their goods? Furthermore, I can help the poor Chinese cut their emissions in the same way: by not buying their goods (when there is a choice, I suppose).
The counter-argument to this is that we should link these dangerous foreign countries to our economies so that it would be too costly to them to go to war with us. Well, it might work, but what psychopathic dictator really cares about the welfare of his people enough to avoid war if he thinks he can gain from it himself? I think that once the sales of goods starts to fall off, even a psychopath's mind can be focused on doing what other people want - or on starting a war to make more profit, and sooner... It is a difficult call to make, really. However, in these days of nuclear weapons, I don't think they'd want to be nuked and it's really not so terrible to reduce pollution and sell more goods, is it? So on balance, I favour not buying their goods where possible.
And... actually, not buying needless goods in general is a good way to go. Bad for the economy? Well, partly: but is an economy based on burning up limited resources to make unnecessary gimmicks really such a good thing? I know we all want a nice standard of living, but it is possible to go too far with that when there are so many people on the planet. Focusing on necessary items like education, especially of third-world females because it has been shown that educated females have fewer children, can help solve both problems at the same time. Where will the money come from for this? Ultimately the economy can be reorganised so it doesn't simply produce junk to be taxed - anyway, most of the money in the system is debt not cash: it is all fiction, and it can be arranged differently, if we really want it to be.
We all want a few luxuries, but do we need them all? Think of the money that is wasted on unproductive junk like ringtones, 100 varieties of mobile phone, 100 varieties of shampoo, and... all those cars.
Yes, cars. I know all the lads need one to impress the girls, and all the girls need one to prove their independence, but those reasons aside, most people could, in fact, use the bus, train or taxi - and it would be cheaper too. In the UK running a car costs at least £4,000 a year. You'd have to travel a lot to pay that much on public transport or even with taxi fares (over 300 journeys at £13.33 each). Yes, cars are more convenient, and possibly for parents with young children, one car may, arguably, be 'essential', even though previous generations seemed to manage all right without any. But cars are expensive, they pollute the environment badly, they are dangerous, and they require enormous quantities of limited resources to make and to run. Mind you, maybe I'm biased: I don't have one. The ridiculous expense, danger and damage to the environment have always put me off. Taxis have always seemed more efficient to me: I can take a journey, and instead of the car sitting by the kerb for the rest of the day getting in the way and rusting, it can be used by other people: one car for some 20 people, instead of 20 cars for 20 people. The saving to the environment is huge.
Think about it. It's your fault. Maybe.
Nevertheless, there is another way to look at the problem that suggests a course of action that we, as individuals, can take, almost regardless of the actual situation. Consider the Copenhagen Summit, where the 'great and the good' (and the bad and the ugly) got together to try and cobble together some worldwide scheme to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that are claimed to be endangering the future survival of our civilisation (at least). Unsurprisingly, they failed to come up with a substantial agreement. China, a vile dictatorship, and a few other countries, it is claimed, held the talks to ransom and refused to agree to cuts in their emissions. Well, I don't like the Chinese government system, so why should I support it by buying their goods? Furthermore, I can help the poor Chinese cut their emissions in the same way: by not buying their goods (when there is a choice, I suppose).
The counter-argument to this is that we should link these dangerous foreign countries to our economies so that it would be too costly to them to go to war with us. Well, it might work, but what psychopathic dictator really cares about the welfare of his people enough to avoid war if he thinks he can gain from it himself? I think that once the sales of goods starts to fall off, even a psychopath's mind can be focused on doing what other people want - or on starting a war to make more profit, and sooner... It is a difficult call to make, really. However, in these days of nuclear weapons, I don't think they'd want to be nuked and it's really not so terrible to reduce pollution and sell more goods, is it? So on balance, I favour not buying their goods where possible.
And... actually, not buying needless goods in general is a good way to go. Bad for the economy? Well, partly: but is an economy based on burning up limited resources to make unnecessary gimmicks really such a good thing? I know we all want a nice standard of living, but it is possible to go too far with that when there are so many people on the planet. Focusing on necessary items like education, especially of third-world females because it has been shown that educated females have fewer children, can help solve both problems at the same time. Where will the money come from for this? Ultimately the economy can be reorganised so it doesn't simply produce junk to be taxed - anyway, most of the money in the system is debt not cash: it is all fiction, and it can be arranged differently, if we really want it to be.
We all want a few luxuries, but do we need them all? Think of the money that is wasted on unproductive junk like ringtones, 100 varieties of mobile phone, 100 varieties of shampoo, and... all those cars.
Yes, cars. I know all the lads need one to impress the girls, and all the girls need one to prove their independence, but those reasons aside, most people could, in fact, use the bus, train or taxi - and it would be cheaper too. In the UK running a car costs at least £4,000 a year. You'd have to travel a lot to pay that much on public transport or even with taxi fares (over 300 journeys at £13.33 each). Yes, cars are more convenient, and possibly for parents with young children, one car may, arguably, be 'essential', even though previous generations seemed to manage all right without any. But cars are expensive, they pollute the environment badly, they are dangerous, and they require enormous quantities of limited resources to make and to run. Mind you, maybe I'm biased: I don't have one. The ridiculous expense, danger and damage to the environment have always put me off. Taxis have always seemed more efficient to me: I can take a journey, and instead of the car sitting by the kerb for the rest of the day getting in the way and rusting, it can be used by other people: one car for some 20 people, instead of 20 cars for 20 people. The saving to the environment is huge.
Think about it. It's your fault. Maybe.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
More Global Warming
So, OK, following Stu's comment to the below global warming article, let's see a bit of the other side of the argument. This video debunks the global warming debunkers... so what the heck is the truth???
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Global Warming: Bad Science?
Ever since I noticed in Al Gore's famous global warming video 'An Inconvenient Truth' that his graphs showed carbon di-oxide throughout pre-history increasing and decreasing 400 years *after* changes in the climate that it was supposed to be causing, I thought that something was up. This video explains pretty well that the world is probably not in fact overheating, with some real science and some real investigative journalism (for a change).
You might also like to look at some of the articles on this page if you would like some more details:
The Myth Of Global Warming
You might also like to look at some of the articles on this page if you would like some more details:
The Myth Of Global Warming
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine: Dangerous?
The conspiracy theorists are saying that the swine flu vaccine is highly dangerous for a number of reasons (poisonous adjuvants, nanochips and more), and that the whole thing is a plot to cull a large number of people for the purposes of power and profit. Now, of course, conspiracy theories can be quite fun, but what is the evidence behind these accusations? Is there any basis to them? Should I avoid the vaccine? Well, I've been doing some reading, and... well, actually... I think I will skip the vaccine. Have a read of the articles below if you like, or just watch this video (Jane Burgermeister has apparently filed charges against various bigwigs in Austria and elsewhere accusing them of plotting mass murder):
This video describes how mercury (present in some vaccines) damages the brain.
What's in the currently approved vaccines?
The following is an old, old book; how true it is I can't say but the author claims the 1918 flu was spread by the vaccine:
Swine Flu Expose
In Britain, a third of nurses are refusing the jab because they feel it is unsafe.
The vaccine is linked to a killer nerve disease, Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
This is an interesting article about the squalene adjuvant used in the vaccines. If an advert pops up you can still read the article with a bit of careful scrolling...
This article, about how there has been a surge in polio in Nigeria following vaccination against it (i.e., that the vaccine is causing polio), seems to have been deleted from a lot of news services - it was on Yahoo! news, comcast, The Washington Post and many others and is now missing. OK, it is currently here.
An article on why to avoid taking vaccines.
A report of a study showing that flu vaccination increases risk of hospitalisation in children.
It seems that GP's (doctors) are also refusing the vaccine out of safety fears.
A rather rabid and not so well written article about the huge quantity of squalene in the H1N1 vaccine. Worth a look. More detail here and here.
Another article about how dangerous the vaccine may be.
Fears about vaccine dangers.
I'll add some more to this article another time... dinner's nearly ready!
This video describes how mercury (present in some vaccines) damages the brain.
What's in the currently approved vaccines?
The following is an old, old book; how true it is I can't say but the author claims the 1918 flu was spread by the vaccine:
Swine Flu Expose
In Britain, a third of nurses are refusing the jab because they feel it is unsafe.
The vaccine is linked to a killer nerve disease, Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
This is an interesting article about the squalene adjuvant used in the vaccines. If an advert pops up you can still read the article with a bit of careful scrolling...
This article, about how there has been a surge in polio in Nigeria following vaccination against it (i.e., that the vaccine is causing polio), seems to have been deleted from a lot of news services - it was on Yahoo! news, comcast, The Washington Post and many others and is now missing. OK, it is currently here.
An article on why to avoid taking vaccines.
A report of a study showing that flu vaccination increases risk of hospitalisation in children.
It seems that GP's (doctors) are also refusing the vaccine out of safety fears.
A rather rabid and not so well written article about the huge quantity of squalene in the H1N1 vaccine. Worth a look. More detail here and here.
Another article about how dangerous the vaccine may be.
Fears about vaccine dangers.
I'll add some more to this article another time... dinner's nearly ready!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Enlightenment
On my enlightenment page I talk about how to achieve that state. This lecture (1h 40m long) discusses it from the point of view of the way the brain works and I think it provides further insight into the process, and how to achieve it.
Enlightenment, Self and The Brain by Todd Murphy.
Enlightenment, Self and The Brain by Todd Murphy.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
World Trade Center Conspiracy Theories
I like to trawl the Internet reading the various conspiracy theories about what's going on in the world, not so much because I believe them necessarily, but because I think it is mind expanding to evaluate different points of view carefully. After all, what if any of it is true?
For a long time now, people have been saying that the World Trade Center 9/11 disaster was sabotage: a set-up; an inside job. Well, that's all very well, and the videos in my previous blog entries show a good deal of circumstantial evidence that is very suggestive and quite convincing in itself, I think, but in the end, I always prefer good old-fashioned hard evidence. Where is that?
Well, guess what? There is hard evidence too. This scientific paper shows conclusively (to my mind) that the twin towers were deliberately blown up:
Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe
If that's a bit heavy, here's a lay person's explanation (it is still somewhat technical, but well worth reading if you really want to know the truth):
Active Thermitics Made Simple
If you just want a quick summary, this TV interview with one of the scientists involved in the above study is pretty good (it is in Danish but has English subtitles):
And for a second opinion, an architect talks about it too:
One question that gets asked is, why would anyone want to do such a thing deliberately? However, it has to be remembered that a) the biggest profits come from i) drugs (heroin from Afghanistan); ii) oil (from Iraq); and iii) war (such as a never-ending ‘war on terror’, and b) as many as 1 in 20 of the Western population is a psychopath: to them, other people are disposable.
So: it's make your mind up time. There is no doubt in my mind that the above demolition could only have been organised by a government. What do you think? Is the world being run by evil people, or not? And what does it mean for our day-to-day lives? What precautions should we take to ensure our own safety and well-being?
For a long time now, people have been saying that the World Trade Center 9/11 disaster was sabotage: a set-up; an inside job. Well, that's all very well, and the videos in my previous blog entries show a good deal of circumstantial evidence that is very suggestive and quite convincing in itself, I think, but in the end, I always prefer good old-fashioned hard evidence. Where is that?
Well, guess what? There is hard evidence too. This scientific paper shows conclusively (to my mind) that the twin towers were deliberately blown up:
Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe
If that's a bit heavy, here's a lay person's explanation (it is still somewhat technical, but well worth reading if you really want to know the truth):
Active Thermitics Made Simple
If you just want a quick summary, this TV interview with one of the scientists involved in the above study is pretty good (it is in Danish but has English subtitles):
And for a second opinion, an architect talks about it too:
One question that gets asked is, why would anyone want to do such a thing deliberately? However, it has to be remembered that a) the biggest profits come from i) drugs (heroin from Afghanistan); ii) oil (from Iraq); and iii) war (such as a never-ending ‘war on terror’, and b) as many as 1 in 20 of the Western population is a psychopath: to them, other people are disposable.
So: it's make your mind up time. There is no doubt in my mind that the above demolition could only have been organised by a government. What do you think? Is the world being run by evil people, or not? And what does it mean for our day-to-day lives? What precautions should we take to ensure our own safety and well-being?
Sunday, June 07, 2009
The Century Of The Self
I watched this excellent documentary the other day. It is about how the public are conned by big business into believing that ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ in the form of free enterprise (business) must go together: we are, it seems, conned into believing that you can't have democracy without free enterprise, when in fact the two have little to do with each other. Also, it shows how we are manipulated into wanting things we don't need so we'll spend our hard-earned money on the products of the rich people's factories. Episode 1 is here; there are four in all on Google Video, each just under an hour long.
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Great Depression Again
Well, it must be pretty clear to everybody now that what I wrote about on my Great Depression page back in 2003 is arriving with a vengeance now, in 2009.
But there's more that I didn't know about then, and it is worth saying. That is, after reading around, and observing the pattern of political pronouncements over some time, I have come to the conclusion that this depression is deliberate. It has been purposefully engineered for a reason.
I used to think that conspiracy theories, whilst amusing, were unrealistic. Surely someone would blow the whistle out of spite, or for money, or some such? But now, I'm not so sure. People who blow whistles can be made to disappear, after all - assuming anyone listens to them, and assuming anyone reports them: and the media do not report them: you have to seek them out.
Firstly: how can a depression be engineered? It is easy, if you are in control of the world's economies (in other words, the banking and political systems). You discard Keynsian economics and adopt that of Friedman and Hayek instead. Market forces are made supreme and deregulation rules. As a result of deregulation, the banks can make dodgy loans. Inevitably, because there is short-term money to be made, they will: history has shown how this works many times in the past - 1929 was only the most recent and it happened in much the same way. Clearly, with the historical record to guide them, people who wanted to engineer this depressioncould have done so by following the template of history.
OK: perhaps they could have, but did they? And what for anyway?
I think the purpose of it, looking at recent pronouncements after the G20 meeting and otherwise, is to introduce, step by step but nevertheless quite quickly, the "New World Order" described by George Bush Sr in 1991 and others (including Gordon Brown). This appears to involve a single world currency - currently being spoken of as a "supercurrency" or a "new world reserve currency to replace the dollar". So what? Consider the case of the Euro. Europe is in depression now, and Italy is suffering badly - but because its currency is no longer the Lira, they don't have any control over it. They can't devalue it, or take other such measures to boost their economy. Their new currency, the Euro, is in the hands of bankers in Germany. And it doesn't suit them to devalue the Euro. Furthermore, in the new European Constitution, which although voted down by the populace of Europe was implemented anyway as a bunch of separate statutes so that no further consultation with the people was required, it states that these bankers are to determine interest rates and so onwithout reference to anyone else whatsoever - not to parliament, not to the European Commission (another undemocratic body) - nobody. They will, inevitably, do what suits themselves. And we all know what altruistic people bankers are.
You can be certain that a global currency will be run in the same stupid and undemocratic way. Countries that join such a currency will have lost much of their sovereignty at a stroke. That appears to be part of the purpose of it. Certain people, presumably bankers, want total control of the world. And, not in a democratic way.
Why are our leaders signing over to it - and clearly they've been moving us in this direction for decades? They are bought and paid for. They see themselves as part of this future ruling elite, I think.
Here are a couple of videos to watch. The first is a bit lurid, but it summarises the idea. And as for microchipping the population, well, it could happen. And wouldn't it be interesting if the prophecy in the biblical Book of Revelation about the Mark of the Beast turns out to be correct? How does one survive without being able to buy or sell? Especially in an urban environment. Remember, the prophecy also says that anyone accepting the mark will not be saved. The Beast will rule the world for a short time only, (maybe up to 3.5 years) if that prophecy is correct.
Video: New World Order
The second video is an interview with David Icke. Yes, the madman who thinks the world is ruled by lizards from another dimension. However, lizards or no, the rest of what he says fits the pattern of what is happening today. Trust me - it is worth watching. It is a long video - 2 hours or so.
Video: David Icke Interview
A few more words about the microchipping idea. Ifevery purchase or sale goes through the system - there would be no cash - it can all be taxed. And indeed, the bank could charge, say, a 5% commission on every purchase or sale of even the poorest people. And what if the bankers decide, in their infinite wisdom, to put interest rates up? 10% commission anybody? The only alternative would appear to be (illegal) independent currencies, and barter, and running your own farm (without purchasing fertilizers, tools, seeds, animals, household items, and so on).
I'll think about that and maybe put some more info here if I can come up with any. In the meantime, if you have another two hours to spare (!) this video, Zeitgeist, is also worth watching if you want to see how the conspirators mislead us. If you are not familiar with this information, you may find it shocking and in part, blasphemous - and a bit boring near the beginning, but stick with it, it soon livens up. It covers the 9/11 incident, the banking conspiracy, and more.
Video: Zeitgeist
But there's more that I didn't know about then, and it is worth saying. That is, after reading around, and observing the pattern of political pronouncements over some time, I have come to the conclusion that this depression is deliberate. It has been purposefully engineered for a reason.
I used to think that conspiracy theories, whilst amusing, were unrealistic. Surely someone would blow the whistle out of spite, or for money, or some such? But now, I'm not so sure. People who blow whistles can be made to disappear, after all - assuming anyone listens to them, and assuming anyone reports them: and the media do not report them: you have to seek them out.
Firstly: how can a depression be engineered? It is easy, if you are in control of the world's economies (in other words, the banking and political systems). You discard Keynsian economics and adopt that of Friedman and Hayek instead. Market forces are made supreme and deregulation rules. As a result of deregulation, the banks can make dodgy loans. Inevitably, because there is short-term money to be made, they will: history has shown how this works many times in the past - 1929 was only the most recent and it happened in much the same way. Clearly, with the historical record to guide them, people who wanted to engineer this depression
OK: perhaps they could have, but did they? And what for anyway?
I think the purpose of it, looking at recent pronouncements after the G20 meeting and otherwise, is to introduce, step by step but nevertheless quite quickly, the "New World Order" described by George Bush Sr in 1991 and others (including Gordon Brown). This appears to involve a single world currency - currently being spoken of as a "supercurrency" or a "new world reserve currency to replace the dollar". So what? Consider the case of the Euro. Europe is in depression now, and Italy is suffering badly - but because its currency is no longer the Lira, they don't have any control over it. They can't devalue it, or take other such measures to boost their economy. Their new currency, the Euro, is in the hands of bankers in Germany. And it doesn't suit them to devalue the Euro. Furthermore, in the new European Constitution, which although voted down by the populace of Europe was implemented anyway as a bunch of separate statutes so that no further consultation with the people was required, it states that these bankers are to determine interest rates and so on
You can be certain that a global currency will be run in the same stupid and undemocratic way. Countries that join such a currency will have lost much of their sovereignty at a stroke. That appears to be part of the purpose of it. Certain people, presumably bankers, want total control of the world. And, not in a democratic way.
Why are our leaders signing over to it - and clearly they've been moving us in this direction for decades? They are bought and paid for. They see themselves as part of this future ruling elite, I think.
Here are a couple of videos to watch. The first is a bit lurid, but it summarises the idea. And as for microchipping the population, well, it could happen. And wouldn't it be interesting if the prophecy in the biblical Book of Revelation about the Mark of the Beast turns out to be correct? How does one survive without being able to buy or sell? Especially in an urban environment. Remember, the prophecy also says that anyone accepting the mark will not be saved. The Beast will rule the world for a short time only, (maybe up to 3.5 years) if that prophecy is correct.
Video: New World Order
The second video is an interview with David Icke. Yes, the madman who thinks the world is ruled by lizards from another dimension. However, lizards or no, the rest of what he says fits the pattern of what is happening today. Trust me - it is worth watching. It is a long video - 2 hours or so.
Video: David Icke Interview
A few more words about the microchipping idea. If
I'll think about that and maybe put some more info here if I can come up with any. In the meantime, if you have another two hours to spare (!) this video, Zeitgeist, is also worth watching if you want to see how the conspirators mislead us. If you are not familiar with this information, you may find it shocking and in part, blasphemous - and a bit boring near the beginning, but stick with it, it soon livens up. It covers the 9/11 incident, the banking conspiracy, and more.
Video: Zeitgeist
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A Wunch of Bankers
...or how the ball got dropped this time around. The government *always* drops the ball in the end, or, as Bob Beckman used to say (paraphrased) "What we learn from History is that nobody learns anything from History."
This author has summarized the development of the banking crisis in straightforward terms:
Economic Disasters and Stupid Evil People
I suppose I should be updating my Great Depression page, written in 2003 (although I've been waiting for this to happen since at least the 1980's). It's about time, really.
This author has summarized the development of the banking crisis in straightforward terms:
Economic Disasters and Stupid Evil People
I suppose I should be updating my Great Depression page, written in 2003 (although I've been waiting for this to happen since at least the 1980's). It's about time, really.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Web Design
People keep asking me to fix or create their web sites for them. Well, OK. Maybe that will be my new mode of income, apart from the film work at the Studio. So I shall be a web designer. Take a look at http://www.shortletbudapest.co.uk for one I've begun... I've done others recently too, now I think about it. I guess I can be a web designer. And, since people keep asking me, I don't think I'll have to search too hard for business. And as people typically ask extortionate prices, I can be more reasonable, I think. After all, I have a day job to go to too.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Three Quarters of a Kid
It seems Spring is making a proper appearance at last, albeit only for a few days perhaps. Anyway, I went out and took some photos in a nearby bluebell woods - you can see the pics via my Image London blog.
If you like animals, you might enjoy The Daily Coyote blog, by a woman who adopted an orphaned coyote. She takes great photos too.
On the other hand, if you are suffering from depression, you might like to try the BROH trick: it stands for Brain Running Old Habits - the article will explain in properly, but basically it is about remembering that you and your habits of thought are two separate entities. Learn to identify but don't identify with those depressing thoughts: don't believe them. They are just a habit.
If you are thinking of getting married... and your maths is up to it, why not try working out what your odds are? Geek Logic might do the trick. According to that I should get married but should only have three quarters of a kid...
If you like animals, you might enjoy The Daily Coyote blog, by a woman who adopted an orphaned coyote. She takes great photos too.
On the other hand, if you are suffering from depression, you might like to try the BROH trick: it stands for Brain Running Old Habits - the article will explain in properly, but basically it is about remembering that you and your habits of thought are two separate entities. Learn to identify but don't identify with those depressing thoughts: don't believe them. They are just a habit.
If you are thinking of getting married... and your maths is up to it, why not try working out what your odds are? Geek Logic might do the trick. According to that I should get married but should only have three quarters of a kid...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Credit Crunch
The credit crunch is all very well - indeed, I've been having my very own credit crunch for most of my life it seems - but in some parts of the world things are, of course, much worse than here. According to Macrohistory, a very good history site, the news for April 9th is:
So... OK, the official inflation rate here is about 2.5%. In reality, food prices rose by 11% over the last 12 months here. Elsewhere, because of problems with wheat and rice crops this year plus increasing demand from rising populations, prices are rising much faster. And of course there's Zimbabwe with 116,000% inflation. That is, "hyperinflation".
Apr 9 People around the world are rioting because of food prices or availability: in Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Guinea, Mauritania. In South Korea there is panic buying. In the Philippines, officials are raiding warehouses looking for unscrupulous traders hoarding rice. The rising price of oil has made food production more expensive. Nations are cutting back on their exports of food in order to have enough for their own people. Egypt's reduction of rice exports is hurting Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. On April 3, world rice prices rose as much as 30 percent.
So... OK, the official inflation rate here is about 2.5%. In reality, food prices rose by 11% over the last 12 months here. Elsewhere, because of problems with wheat and rice crops this year plus increasing demand from rising populations, prices are rising much faster. And of course there's Zimbabwe with 116,000% inflation. That is, "hyperinflation".
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Working Too Much?
I've hardly had time to do anything much lately - too much work! Plus watching the Great Depression unfold, if that is what it is doing (see previous post). But here are a few interesting web pages I've managed to dig up even so. You might want to calculate your global "footprint" at the Earthday Footprint Page. They try to calculate how many planet Earths would be needed if everybody lived like you do. My lifestyle adds up to 1.5 Earths; below average for a Westerner. But really I don't buy all this scaremongering. Yes people could take more care of the planet and I wish we would, but in the end, I believe we will sort the problems out and maintain or improve our lifestyles. Technology rules!
On another subject altogether (or is it?), did you know that Jesus had female apostles? Society up to 400AD and indeed much later couldn't really comprehend that, so the women were largely erased from the record - but not completely. I always thought that the idea that a priest had to have a willy just because Jesus (presumably) did was a bit weird anyway.
And now, even further off the limb: video lectures about really weird stuff - like flying saucers and so on. Enjoy it, but perhaps take it with a pinch of salt. Science requires scepticism of hearsay.
On another subject altogether (or is it?), did you know that Jesus had female apostles? Society up to 400AD and indeed much later couldn't really comprehend that, so the women were largely erased from the record - but not completely. I always thought that the idea that a priest had to have a willy just because Jesus (presumably) did was a bit weird anyway.
And now, even further off the limb: video lectures about really weird stuff - like flying saucers and so on. Enjoy it, but perhaps take it with a pinch of salt. Science requires scepticism of hearsay.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
1929 Recapitulated?
Back in 2003 I wrote an article about the coming Great Depression. Well, the current "sub-prime" banking crisis certainly fits the pattern of a financial bubble finally bursting.
Basically, a wunch of bankers have been lending money to people such as myself who can't afford it, and now they're all surprised as it blows up in their faces. The boss of the Northern Rock bank, Britain's recent casualty, bleated before a parliamentary committee that "nobody could have foreseen this", as if people such as myself haven't been forecasting this outcome for, literally, decades.
I see that UBS in Switzerland has written down billions of dollars against bad debts. How can one choose a bank these days? Well, there can be no guarantees really, but probably it is necessary to do a load of homework first. For example, UBS's share price has fallen 83% over the last year in the lead-up to their crisis. Bear Stearns' share price had been sliding for some time before that crisis broke. It seems somebody had a clue. Probably, if you have any funds that you can't afford to lose, they should be spread between a number of UNRELATED institutions, and a number of currencies. In the UK, guarantees only cover up to around £30,000 on deposits (and the deposits must be in unrelated banks for them all to be protected). Check this article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk for advice.
Is the dollar a safe currency any more? Nobody knows. US interest rates are down, making it unattractive and raising inflation in countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar. If too much money leaves the US to find better rates elsewhere, the US will find itself with the unenviable choice between a collapsing currency raising the prices of imports to unaffordable levels, or raising interest rates and crushing the economy that way instead. That is, slump1 or slump2.
Bankers around the world are afraid of inflation - and certainly, hyperinflation such as in Zimbabwe at the moment or Germany between the wars is worth avoiding at all costs - but generally, a great depression is much worse than normal inflation levels. Inflation, after all, allows people to pay off their debts with cheap money: the debt remains much the same but your wages tend to go up each year. Depression makes debts progressively harder and harder to pay off as money becomes more and more expensive (falling prices means your cash is more valuable (e.g., your wages may fall), which means it is harder to pay things off). The golden rule: cash is king. Hold on to it!
Basically, a wunch of bankers have been lending money to people such as myself who can't afford it, and now they're all surprised as it blows up in their faces. The boss of the Northern Rock bank, Britain's recent casualty, bleated before a parliamentary committee that "nobody could have foreseen this", as if people such as myself haven't been forecasting this outcome for, literally, decades.
I see that UBS in Switzerland has written down billions of dollars against bad debts. How can one choose a bank these days? Well, there can be no guarantees really, but probably it is necessary to do a load of homework first. For example, UBS's share price has fallen 83% over the last year in the lead-up to their crisis. Bear Stearns' share price had been sliding for some time before that crisis broke. It seems somebody had a clue. Probably, if you have any funds that you can't afford to lose, they should be spread between a number of UNRELATED institutions, and a number of currencies. In the UK, guarantees only cover up to around £30,000 on deposits (and the deposits must be in unrelated banks for them all to be protected). Check this article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk for advice.
Is the dollar a safe currency any more? Nobody knows. US interest rates are down, making it unattractive and raising inflation in countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar. If too much money leaves the US to find better rates elsewhere, the US will find itself with the unenviable choice between a collapsing currency raising the prices of imports to unaffordable levels, or raising interest rates and crushing the economy that way instead. That is, slump1 or slump2.
Bankers around the world are afraid of inflation - and certainly, hyperinflation such as in Zimbabwe at the moment or Germany between the wars is worth avoiding at all costs - but generally, a great depression is much worse than normal inflation levels. Inflation, after all, allows people to pay off their debts with cheap money: the debt remains much the same but your wages tend to go up each year. Depression makes debts progressively harder and harder to pay off as money becomes more and more expensive (falling prices means your cash is more valuable (e.g., your wages may fall), which means it is harder to pay things off). The golden rule: cash is king. Hold on to it!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Image London
I have started a new blog: http://imagelondon.blogspot.com. I have noticed various blogs showing photos of various cities around the world on a daily basis, and getting lots of visitors, so I thought why don't I do the same (although probably not daily, knowing me)? There are London blogs already but each has its own style. There is room for one more: the things I like will be the things some other people like, after all.
It is also a get-rich-quick scheme of sorts, since I am putting Google ads on it - just in case zillions of visitors click on them and pay me a penny each or something. Well, you never know.
It is also a get-rich-quick scheme of sorts, since I am putting Google ads on it - just in case zillions of visitors click on them and pay me a penny each or something. Well, you never know.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Forms
Apart from making the occasional entry in this blog, I also make the occasional web site, such as http://www.britishunitedartists.com/ , http://www.cwfstudio.com/ , http://www.actingcourses.net/ (at which I also maintain the blog)... I mention this because web sites require e-mail links or forms of some sort, and this presents a problem: spammers. Spammers fill in the forms, usually automatically, or they harvest the e-mail addresses for later use by a zillion zombies.
I have tried various php solutions but they basically don't work because server administrators change their settings seemingly every week and whatever automated form-to-mail solution I try stops working within days unless I can host the site on my own server, which I cannot. I have better things to do than keep changing the code on numerous web sites.
I have tried obfuscating the e-mail address; this works to some extent, but as spammers' robots get more sophisticated, this solution will not work forever.
Then I found formsmarts.com. They provide a number of simple solutions from a challenge-response web page to a hosted html form which should be compatible with all systems. Fingers crossed, but it seems to be working smoothly enough at the moment!
I have tried various php solutions but they basically don't work because server administrators change their settings seemingly every week and whatever automated form-to-mail solution I try stops working within days unless I can host the site on my own server, which I cannot. I have better things to do than keep changing the code on numerous web sites.
I have tried obfuscating the e-mail address; this works to some extent, but as spammers' robots get more sophisticated, this solution will not work forever.
Then I found formsmarts.com. They provide a number of simple solutions from a challenge-response web page to a hosted html form which should be compatible with all systems. Fingers crossed, but it seems to be working smoothly enough at the moment!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Meaning Of Life
Well, I suppose one can't talk about the meaning of life without thinking of Douglas Adams, for whom the answer appeared to have been "42" (in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
"), and indeed, this web site does just that. But he also indirectly makes an important point about the alternative philosophy of nihilism, which states that life, and indeed everything, is meaningless: if everything is meaningless, then so is the idea that everything is meaningless... In other words, the idea that life is worthless is a worthless idea. To me, that means it is false, or might as well be. So nihilism is imploded by its own definition: if true, it must be false.
I expect that is arguable, but it seems close enough for practical purposes. And the purpose of life - its meaning? Altruism. So there.
Here is a recent photo of Douglas Adams, taken at Highgate Cemetry in London.
And here is a quote from him:
"), and indeed, this web site does just that. But he also indirectly makes an important point about the alternative philosophy of nihilism, which states that life, and indeed everything, is meaningless: if everything is meaningless, then so is the idea that everything is meaningless... In other words, the idea that life is worthless is a worthless idea. To me, that means it is false, or might as well be. So nihilism is imploded by its own definition: if true, it must be false.I expect that is arguable, but it seems close enough for practical purposes. And the purpose of life - its meaning? Altruism. So there.
Here is a recent photo of Douglas Adams, taken at Highgate Cemetry in London.
And here is a quote from him:
"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."On another subject, I rather liked this rather well-travelled photographer's travel photos. And the latest Batman movie trailer.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Democracy and Stuff
Here is a nice 90-second overview of the progress of "democracy" (of sorts) down through the ages, assuming that no tribal systems were democratic, I suppose. And assuming that the modern system of "representative democracy" actually counts given that most such governments seem to claim to listen then do what they like anyway (and then claim to wonder why voter turnout is so low).
The above flash movie comes from Maps Of War and there are several others to enjoy there. If history isn't your bucket of cheese, maybe you need 32 Keys to Life instead. Or maybe watch a movie trailer (one of them mentions cheese, by the way)? Finally a great photo of a forest fire.
The above flash movie comes from Maps Of War and there are several others to enjoy there. If history isn't your bucket of cheese, maybe you need 32 Keys to Life instead. Or maybe watch a movie trailer (one of them mentions cheese, by the way)? Finally a great photo of a forest fire.
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