Fathoming the Treaty

The basics
Today, 1 December 2009, the Lisbon Treaty has finally been ratified by the 27 European governments. So I thought I’d finally try to get a handle on the ins and outs of this Treaty. That it strengthens the roll of the central government is certain. It must first be said that [...]

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WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN

Here below I’ve updated the old song in line with the latest Climategate developments and the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen
From the film “Hans Christian Andersen” (1952)
(Frank Loesser)
Original lyrics here
For those unfamiliar with this lilting refrain it can be heard here
—————————————————————————
Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen
Friendly old girl of a town
‘Neath her tavern light
On this merry night
Let us [...]

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Copenhagen or bust

Updated 30 November 2009 – new link
“An international satellite monitoring system to check countries comply with new climate change targets was proposed by Gordon Brown last night as a way of binding developing nations into a new deal on the environment.”
See article here
The panic’s really setting in now. While skepticism mounts concerning the motivations of [...]

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In the news

So, join our cheering up club. The headline in the local newspaper reads: “A Dutchman is a happy person”. Well, I’d like to meet him to ask why. No seriously, we do have it pretty good in comparison to many. Yes, we are pretty much shackled to the grindstone of heavy taxation [...]

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The descent

Obama’s going down even further in the estimation of many and it’s his own fault. He who made such a hopeful start has never ceased to disappoint since, except those who are still mesmerized by his charisma or are making a mint from his financial handouts.
Now the “Groveller-in Chief”, as the press is calling him, [...]

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Natural chaos

Last evening we watched an episode of Inspector Morse in which the theory of chaos was briefly discussed. A few years ago I got interested in this subject which led inevitably to the wondrous world of fractals. For any who may not have heard of the word “fractal” it is the name for an unsmooth [...]

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Saturday report

I’m sure our local morning paper is mostly a source of cold amusement or boredom to those of a more skeptical turn of mind, like me – those not easily fooled by shoddy propaganda. Its sudoku is also too easy, damn it! Why don’t I take another? Well I did switch to a national paper [...]

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Racial tendencies

“The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.” – Abraham Lincoln
Those interested in [...]

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Progression

There are those who believe that we
climbed down from some perch in a tree,
and while perusing gathered nuts
saw suddenly some ifs and buts.
These formed new pathways in the mind
those of the search-for-answers kind.
So somehow revelations came.
We stood, and went in search of game
with tools and weapons we had made,
worked by the fire that came to [...]

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Mother of stars

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
Official comment: An eerie pillar of star birth in the Carina Nebula rises from a sea of greenish-colored clouds. More can be viewed here
From Jan: The Hubble Telescope shows us an object containing stars, gas and dust in which new stars are being born. How we [...]

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