Omens

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

take care fellow oldies the bogey man is after your money and house ...

[Lateralthinking1]

I was going to reply earlier Calum but the computer connection was cutting in and out, then I had to get my father through the new layers of snow to the surgery on foot. Not exactly easy but at least we got done what was needed for now. Anyhow, I can see the argument about preference and passion. I will go further than your words and with self-condemnation call that preference bias on my part. And then I will vehemently refute the contention about overlooking evidence. There is plenty of evidence that business should not be trusted and that economic forecasting is less accurate than the predictions of Jonathan Cainer. Its inaccuracies are generally based on a combination of dubious motive and ineptitude. As economics is a pseudo-science - in truth I would take the theories of David Icke more seriously, if only marginally - how could they be based on anything else? I note that it is a German economist Heinsohn who is behind the theory of youth bulge. This doesn't surprise me. Let's consider it.

He claims that most historical periods of social unrest lacking external triggers, such as rapid climatic changes or other catastrophic changes of the environment, and most genocides can be readily explained as a result of a built up youth bulge, including European colonialism, 20th century fascism, ongoing conflicts such as that in Darfur, the Palestinian uprisings in 1987-1993 and 2000 to present, and terrorism. I note the word "most" which sounds like a get out clause from the word go. I also note that he thinks any social unrest can occur without external triggers. I don't accept this. I note that he considers the examples on the aforementioned list as having an absence of external triggers. This ignores the truths of history. And I note that of those examples, some are top down, like Empire, and others are often bottom up, like terrorism. I find it all at best wishy-washy and at worst disingenuous.

The two biggest revolutions in the last 200 years were the Industrial and Monetarist Revolutions. Both involved destruction and reconstruction. The first wasn't led by teenagers. The latter was largely the product of Friedman and carried forward by Thatcher and Reagan. The Arab Spring is largely a consequence of it, just as to a considerable extent was change in Eastern Europe and China. Further back, German fascism in the 1930s was enforced. I see no evidence that the European revolutions of, say, the 1840s were notable for taking place at a time when the pyramid structures were more pronounced than in many of the decades either side of it. Nor that whenever Continental revolution has taken place, Britain has been less pyramidal. Here, the pyramid structure has varied but Chartism was arguably unsuccessful, ditto the trade union movement, ditto protest in the 1960s and again in the 1980s. The similarity of these failures is marked by very considerable differences in society's shape.

The Teddy Boy did not emerge out of baby boom. The hippy and the punk rocker both did. Sexual reform was taken forward by Roy Jenkins and Leo Abse, neither young. The Suffragettes were successful. In America the bus protest of Rosa Parks had an impact. As for acts of terrorism, moral and immoral, successful and unsuccessful, books could be written about the involvement of women. There were high profile names at the height of the Northern Ireland conflict and now mothers in the Middle East are nurturing their children to become suicide bombers. All such things are too complex to be reduced to a few stats from the card sharp and the societal fetish that is youthful masculinity. Finally, the link from Wikipedia even accepts that "One problem with this line of reasoning (the pyramids) is that under conditions prevailing before the introduction of modern medicine, death rates were much higher than they are now, and almost all societies had youth bulges even when their population growth rate was negligible".

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

this falls in the category of no sh1t sherlock

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

just do not get too cheerful

[Lateralthinking1]

Mercury enters Pisces this evening, and will transit the sign until March 2nd. When Mercury is in Pisces, our thinking processes are highly visual, intuitive, and imaginative. We are more attuned to the world of emotion, which colours both our thoughts and our communication style. We guess well, express ourselves with imagery, and make decisions intuitively. Mercury aligns with Pisces' ruler, Neptune, over the night. Daydreaming, visualization, and prophecy are stimulated.

(Jeremy Grantham - Could almost have been Jeremy Bentham but isn't : the biggest impact of them all is how this crisis is enabling financiers to discredit themselves - more tea leaves essentially as one would expect)

[Lateralthinking1]

take care fellow oldies the bogey man is after your money and house ...

....Somehow we all let this one pass without comment. Rather like the barefoot Hilton - wonder how the artificial rainclouds are coming along by the way - he is peculiarly original and clearly has a lot of issues to personally address, not all necessarily currently in the public domain.

I do wonder how many of these Blair Cameronites exist, appointed by the guru seeking Tony, not fully seen by the insular Brown and now a salaried imagination for Dave to conjur up ever darkening forces. He just beat the lovely Emma to be my Rotter of the Week.

[teamsaint]

just do not get too cheerful

I want to be careful how I phrase this, but when you read this kind of stuff, it makes New World Order theories seem much more believable.

we really need to look at outcomes, such as youth unemplyment, and incomes. They are not pretty. There IS a huge asset strip from ordinary people going on, all over the developed world. And there is every danger that it will get much worse.

[scottycelt]

just do not get too cheerful

Now that we don't seem to be 'headed' for a double-dip recession, after all, it really comes as a huge relief to learn we are now all 'headed' for something even bigger and better ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

"To live in Westminster is a privilege, not a right, because so many people want to live here," a Westminster council press officer explains.

those on employment and support allowance who have been placed in the work-related activity group (Wrag) could be compelled to undertake work experience for charities, public bodies and high-street retailers. The Wrag group includes those who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer but have more than six months to live; accident and stroke victims; and some of those with mental health issues.

In official notes from a meeting on 1 December last year, DWP advisers revealed they were not intending to put a time limit on the work experience placements.

When asked at the meeting if there was a maximum duration to the placements, the reply was: "There are no plans to introduce a maximum time limit."

the crucial point is that unpaid work – bad enough when it applied to supposed "interns", but grim beyond belief when used on the unemployed – is now being built into what some people call The New Normal. Given the thousands involved, it clearly represents a boon to the kind of multinational giants whose profit margins must be creeping upwards thanks to the plentiful supply of people – and please, all you free-marketeers, read this bit slowly – effectively paid a pittance to work for them by the taxpayer

...don't worry it is just the usual graun moanies .... innit ...................

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

"To live in Westminster is a privilege, not a right, because so many people want to live here," a Westminster council press officer explains.

those on employment and support allowance who have been placed in the work-related activity group (Wrag) could be compelled to undertake work experience for charities, public bodies and high-street retailers. The Wrag group includes those who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer but have more than six months to live; accident and stroke victims; and some of those with mental health issues.

In official notes from a meeting on 1 December last year, DWP advisers revealed they were not intending to put a time limit on the work experience placements.

When asked at the meeting if there was a maximum duration to the placements, the reply was: "There are no plans to introduce a maximum time limit."

the crucial point is that unpaid work – bad enough when it applied to supposed "interns", but grim beyond belief when used on the unemployed – is now being built into what some people call The New Normal. Given the thousands involved, it clearly represents a boon to the kind of multinational giants whose profit margins must be creeping upwards thanks to the plentiful supply of people – and please, all you free-marketeers, read this bit slowly – effectively paid a pittance to work for them by the taxpayer

...don't worry it is just the usual graun moanies .... innit ...................

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

whooops no idea how that happened

[Lateralthinking1]

I am not familar with the disability living allowance. However, Directgov appears to show that the absolute maximum is £125 pw and the minimum is £19.55. A 35 hour week at Tesco on that benefit would therefore see pay rates of £3-4 per hour in the former case and between 50 and 60 pence in the latter. I assume this includes cancer sufferers.

I really hope I have this wrong. If right, that means that the disabled and the ill will by law be paid less than one tenth of the minimum wage. Their "wages" will be far, far closer to those of Nike workers in Southern Long An Province, Vietnam than the lowest paid able bodied worker in this country.

The policy is utterly sadistic. Seeing that some will have only six months to live, it is actually worse than a Nazi gas chamber. Which would you choose? I'd opt for the gas. It doesn't affect me now but it makes me feel physically sick everytime I think of it. European courts need to intervene and fast. If not, there will be unprecedented blaze.

Constructive note - Get ready to boycott any company employing people on this basis as in never ever set foot in them again! I have just written to my MP asking for clarification. I have never felt so seriously opposed to a policy as it seems in my lifetime. But what it deserves on moral grounds cannot for various reasons be stated here.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

good omen .... evidence of radical thinking at work in the bank of England!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

more positivity

Exponential technologies: Over the past few decades, researchers have come to conclude that any information-based technology is advancing along exponential growth curves. This is why the cellphone in your pocket is as powerful as a mid-'70s-era supercomputer for a minute fraction of the cost. Besides communication technology, exponential forces are at work in computational and network systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, bio-informatics, nanotechnology, human-machine interfaces, and many more. These technologies will soon enable the vast majority of human beings to experience what only the affluent have had access to thus far. In Abundance, we examine how exponential technologies are being used (and can be used) to provide 7 billion people with clean water, nutritious food, affordable housing, personalized education, top-tier medical care, nonpolluting and ubiquitous energy.

Rising billion: These are the poorest people on Earth, the so-called bottom billion. We have renamed this group the “Rising Billion” because, thanks to the exponential spread of communication and information technologies (like the smartphone), these people are coming online for the very first time. Their voices, which have never before been heard, are suddenly joining the global conversation. Aided by these technologies, the Rising Billion are beginning to pull themselves out of poverty. They are already on their way to becoming a powerful and significant consuming segment of humanity, and many companies are rushing to develop ultralow-cost products to meet their needs. This effort will drive down the price of basic goods and services in a fashion that will benefit everyone. But the Rising Billion have also become a producing and consuming segment of humanity, generating new ideas, insights, products, and services that add to the overall wealth of Earth.

could only be American eh?

[kernelbogey]

more positivity





could only be American eh?

How do you do that red type = link thingy? (looked for it in the How To forum but couldn't find it.)