This is healthy debate...
Scratches to Sketches
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Are cell towers dangerous? More objections to latest New Canaan proposal | NCAdvertiser.com
Interest human social defence mechanisms are at play again. EMF radiation directly affecting DNA or indirectly? Most arguments saying safety is of no concern speak of weak direct effects rather than indirect. US military says their soldiers are robust. Even direct effects are described in partial terms. People decide for themselves on the basis of what they see and the statements of selected government agencies whether or not EMF radiation is damaging rather than look seriously at the studies that show there are serious neurological communications and other albumen issues such as penetration of brain blood barrier to consider. Hey, we are so complacent!
http://www.ncadvertiser.com/26152/are-cell-towers-dangerous-more-objections-to-latest-town-proposal/
Friday, 15 November 2013
Brain Activity Shows Basis of Near-Death 'Light' : Discovery News
"No doubt some people will presumptuously claim that this is further evidence for life after death, which is doubly silly. Near-death experiences are in themselves just experiences,"
Drug to Reduce Risk of Space Radiation Cancers? : Discovery News
"Researchers discovered that mice irradiated over several days developed more cancerous tumors than mice receiving a single hit of radiation, even though the total dosages were identical, Jerry Shaw, with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research conference in Orlando last week."
Nanowires and Viruses Combine to Create High-Capacity Batteries - IEEE Spectrum
So many false starts....
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Obsessed with Paul Krugman: A disgraced neoliberal’s one-man crusade - Salon.com
Economic historian Ferguson marginalizes himself by being pedantic to the extreme. He has not persuaded anyone that they should not read Krugman.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
The Bill Gates approach to improving the world; does it differ from that of Steve Jobs?
Bill has always been an inspiration and more so because he is still alive and uses his brain. Were he Steve Jobs, we would treated to a long term gradual approach, but Bill is for the here and now. He deserves our attention.
A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN To the citizens of the United States
I have just received in my email the following notice:
A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
In light of closing down of the Government in the USA and thus the inability to govern yourselves, We hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
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1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
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2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
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3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
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4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
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5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
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6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
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7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
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8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
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9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
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10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
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11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
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12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
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13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
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14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
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15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
God Save the Queen!
Fundamental Flaw in Apple's Maps Directions? A general problem with iPad use as a directional device?
Point to point enquiries as done on Google maps was extremely useful.
Try going in Apple's Maps from one place to another without one of the two places being the current place.
I have not been able to do that because one of the points is always overwritten by the current place, and it is very frustrating.
Maybe Google Maps?
Solution is to use another map system for directions. Preferably use one that has a permanent maps feature otherwise you are only likely to get more frustrated.
Rich Tea
Fed Judge Rakoff Sees No Prosecution for Top Wall Street Execs (Update 1) - TheStreet
US Government lax on prosecuting bank criminals.....
Bank: UK Recovery Has Finally Taken Hold
It's a scam to think that a boost in the construction industry is helpful. Brits are so fooled by this ploy! How about better trade figures?
Toronto’s cell tower radiation guidelines to stay | IT World Canada News
Do you have ringing in your ears? Are you suffering from tinnitus? Could you and your friends / neighbours be going gradually deaf through silent noise and blind through dark light and macular degeneration? Do the research, its probably not just DNA.
Time to break free from the tyranny of rising house prices | Business | The Observer
The current policy is unsustainable as is the stupid building industry.
House prices have gone mad, but at least some of us know it | Life and style | The Guardian
The greed comes from the government.
Want an energy revolution? Think beyond the big six | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian
A call for public ownership..
£2,000 fuel bills on the way, consumers warned | Business | The Guardian
Of course, the energy sector expects to make massive profits out of its pricing.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Germany needs to continue to restructure socially in order to help others and Germany realize the European Dream
My colleague and economist Rene and Walker's World asks the question whether Germany is right in having such a great trading surplus. It is an important question and at least one analyst proposes that German pensions be paid only to Germans willing to retire in the countries further south in Europe desperate for tourist or retiree cash flow. That is obviously not something German politicians would entertain, but the possibility that the German growth rate might act as a dynamo for the whole of Europe pulling it forward both to the benefit of Germany and its neighbours is just something that now needs to be seriously entertained if Germany is to remain competitive against China while remaining financial in balance. Having surplus is not a bad thing if it can be used to grow the real economies of Germany's European partners. They must be willing to have German direct investment.
It's curious that I should be asked this question having just had an earful from an individual at Poole Harbour here about how the UK should leave Europe; how key British assets such as expensive yacht building firms are being sold to the Chinese; how British industry and its politicians after the Thatcher era have bled the country of its valuables through dishonest dealing, etc. the list of negatives is so long that I am totally confused as to validity or what can or should be done about the UK situation. Seems pretty hopeless and mixed up. There is no longer any homogeneity or policy framework and all the key policy variables seem to have vanished. The situation almost seems ungovernable.
I for one am not convinced the problem Europe faces is because of Germany. It most certainly isn't something that Germans seem capable of analysing logically even though it requires a uniquely German solution, that of opening wide its doors to the very sort of rainbow mix of people that it eliminated in the early 1940s. The fact of German trade surpluses arises because Germany does a better job of manufacturing and it's efficiency is a result of its willingness to challenge the notion German firms could not be competitive viz-a-viz the Chinese and Asian manufacturers. Inward investment into German thrives on the German work ethic that is absent in Britain. The sleazy nature of current British banking, stock market, housing industries, and political backhanders / cronyism hinders Britain as a destination of ethical finance, rand d, and investment. Get rid of corruption please, it's not helping Britain, Canada, and America.
It is claimed that Britain is absorbing more than its share of foreign resettlement because it is more socially hospitable compared with Germany. English firms benefit from very cheap labour from Eastern Europe that Germany should be absorbing! So there are a number of things going on. German firms as more competitive and enjoying economies of scale and highly trained German workers, but absorbing enough of the enlarged community workforce has its eye on social benefits more than working benefits.
Barriers to entry into German employment of workers from the rest of Europe needs to looked at as well as improvements to the German social benefits streams to encourage inward migration. The security aspects of what happened 70 plus years ago obvious is a scary proposition for those who lost a previous generation to genocide. The consequences and advantages of history are serious facts of life that cannot be easily overlooked. The experiment of Europe will fall short unless Germany is more genuinely willing to develop the social benefits of others resettling in Germany with strong guarantees of long term security.
Germany can grow its economy even faster. Europe's problems are the sleazy nature of American banking capital and not Germany. More on that another time.
Why is the German economy so strong relative to that of the UK?
When one looks at real economic growth not that funded through wasteful credit expansion one is drawn to the fact that some countries do better than others. Could it be that real incomes in Germany are generating the savings needed for long term growth? One has to ask whether the key to success has something to do with the quality of real consumption. In the UK, which is a member of the EEC and can trade on equal terms with Germany, there is no doubt that the build up of real savings in Germany has been greater than the UK.
These higher real savings have meant greater real investment and competitiveness. It has little to do with interest rates as much as how financial markets and banking in Germany work for industrial investment rather than against it. While David Cameron fritters away at the housing industry in an endless pursuit of phoney growth through consumption by credit expansion and wasting of valuable resources, the Germans are actually saving for the long term. Had Britain not opted for the gamblers approach to growth, it might see some industry want to locate there, but now it seems the profits in Britain are artificially created by credit.
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Sketches from scratches is a provocative blogspot that has grown out of the Wuh Lax experience. It is eclectic, which means that it might consider just about anything from the simple to the extremely difficult. A scratch can be something that is troubling me or a short line on paper. From a scratch comes a verbal sketch or image sketch of the issue or subject. Other sites have other stuff that should really be of interest to the broad reader. I try to develop themes, but variety often comes before depth.
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