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Saturday Evening OT

by Jerome a Paris
Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 01:23:26 PM EST

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Nope, another evening out, drinking Cloudy Bay NZ wine.

But I thought I'd kick off the thread. Remember : Be Nice to each other, we're all we've got.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 01:28:13 PM EST
Just had an exchange with Ms. ATinNM, Ph.d., who has published a goodly dollop of scientific research papers.

Me:  "I just came up with a good topic for a paper."

Herself:  "Oh?  What is it?"

Me:  "The use of Categorical Syllogisms in a non-Frozen Boolean network."

(Pause)

H/S:  "Who would read it?"  

Me:  "Who cares as long as it get published."

H/S: "There is that."

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

by ATinNM on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 02:59:40 PM EST
A funny factoid: if the US economy has the same GHG intensity as the French economy, global GHG emission would be 7-8 % lower.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 03:14:06 PM EST
Nothing to do tonight.  I suppose I've really become boring over the last few years.  I can't do the loud club scene anymore, not that I was very good with it to begin with, and, if the pub is more than half-full, it's too much for me.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?
by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 04:17:04 PM EST
I take it you've been to the Trip?

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 09:06:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I went back in the summer.  It was a true blessing, since, being built partly into the caves under Nottm "Castle," it was much cooler than anywhere else.  Obviously we had the misfortune of coming during the heatwave.  It was actually hotter on one day in Nottingham than it was on that same day in South Florida.

I like the Trip beer, too, but don't tell Helen. ;)

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 04:17:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Just spent 2 hours in the starbuck near Opera chatting about political campaigning and various things with someone close to a french deputé.

Anyway, three interesting posts by Iand Brown, on IP and the tories in the UK:


 Tory spouts nonsense on intellectual property

John Whittingdale MPI suppose it is hardly news that the Conservative chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport (and chairman of the All-Party Group on Intellectual Property) has been entirely captured by the copyright lobby.

I had the misfortune last week to hear John Whittingdale spout five minutes of decade-old clichés about copyright infringement, ranging from the tired old comparison between filesharing and CD theft, to the "fact" that car boot sales are funding terrorism, and that Digital Rights Management tools are the answers to everyone's prayers. David Cameron had somehow caused me to expect better at this year's Conservative party conference.

Only slightly less absurd were the claims from the British Phonographic Industry: they need longer copyright in sound recordings to create a larger asset base to allow riskier investment decisions regarding new bands. They really seem to believe this phony piece of economics; it is obviously convincing enough to politicians to cause them to keep repeating it in public.
[...]


(read the rest for economics quote by Milton Friedman).

Another one on the very important but not much discussed relation between IP and competition in the european commission policy:


 Does IP trump competition?

Which? has sent an excellent letter to the European Commission's Directorate-General on Competition (via A2K). It asks for clarification of how intellectual property monopolies will be regulated under competition law, which I have always thought is a key way to keep IP under control:


    We believe that the time is ripe for competition authorities to start shaping the intellectual property rights regime to ensure that it protects innovation without unnecessarily thwarting competition and overcharging consumers.

    We would be grateful if the Commission could clarify the extent to which competition rules apply to products carrying intellectual property rights and which rules it considers being superior when there appears to be a conflict between the two regimes.

Competition lawyers and economists are some of the smartest people you ever meet!

Last one on WIPO and Russia:


 10% 'pirate' downloads are causing discord in world trade

The US ıs standıng ın the way of Russıan membershıp of the World Trade Organısatıon untıl ıt shuts down the AllofMP3.com websıte. Sınce WTO membershıp requıres countrıes to adhere to TRIPS (whıch sets ıntellectual property standards) I cannot see why thıs should be a legıtımate demand. When wıll the US stop ınterferıng ın the ıntellectual property affaırs of other states, lıke Norway, Sweden and now Russıa?

by Laurent GUERBY on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 04:28:47 PM EST
Sorry, but there is a Starbucks near the Opera (I assume you are in Paris, Bastille)?!  For shame...  

Our local Parisian bakery (actually run by a Frenchman) that closed down several years ago when Starbucks moved in around the corner is reopening across the street.  Hopefully that will do something for global karma...

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

by p------- on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 07:13:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
We still have no Starbucks here, although I keep hearing rumors that they're coming.  But until then...

That's the great pyramids at Giza, photographed from inside a Pizza Hut.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 04:16:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Am I the only one who finds this sad?

"Ideas or the lack of them can cause disease." - Kurt Vonnegut
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 05:45:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No.

And there's a KFC downstairs.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 06:00:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
OMG. We're doomed.

"Ideas or the lack of them can cause disease." - Kurt Vonnegut
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 06:52:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'll have to look through my photo collection from my trip down the nile I have one of Luxor temple, with a Mcdonalds sign poking over the walls.

We could probably put together a set of World heritage sites, crowded out by the modern world.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 07:44:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sadly, I know exactly the McDonalds you're talking about. And that set of photos would probably be rather extensive.  I'm not sure how easy it would be to capture the sight on film, but there's a TGI Friday's just a few meters away from the Kremlin and Red Square.  And in order to get into the Naguib Mahfouz coffee shop and restaurant in the Khan El-Khalili, you have to go through a metal detector.
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 08:00:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, now don't bash TGI Friday's.  You can take on Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and all of that other garbage, but Friday's has great food.  A nice Jack Daniels steak next to Red Square?  Muy bien.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?
by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 09:45:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I really just don't get the whole chain-restaurant thing.  I'm quite sure there are many lovely places to get a good steak in Moscow. (Wouldn't know for sure, though, since I was still a vegetarian when I was there.)

Anyway, there's a Friday's on the Nile here, one of those sail-nowhere riverboats, and it's really startlingly mediocre.  I would never have gone there, myself, but a visiting American friend (who lives in an apparently Friday-free country) found out about it and insisted we go for potato skins and nachos.  Which were, um, perfectly edible, but I certainly wouldn't pine over them for years if I had to live without them.

Actually, that was the first time I'd been into a Fridays in years, and I could happily live without if for the rest of my years.  It's just not special.  Sorry, nothing personal.  You like what you like....

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 10:34:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Dancers go to El Fishawi in the khanb

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 01:22:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Everyone goes to El Fishawy, but they don't have food.  Naguib Mahfouz has like the best stuffed vegetables I've ever had, and an excellent lentil soup....
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 02:57:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hmmm, sounds likie a date if I get out there again.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Oct 16th, 2006 at 06:56:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I owe you an e-mail, btw.  Haven't forgotten, just have a few too many things on my plate at the mo...
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 03:01:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think it's hilarious.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 10:01:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
American chains are about the only public places in France where you're really free of smokers.

That's really sad, but that's a fact.

Hopefully it looks like the government decided to ban smoking in public places. Some discussions on my blog on this topic (in french).

That said, it's the first time for I went into a starbuck and I didn't propose it :).

by Laurent GUERBY on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 08:01:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm studying string theory tonight in hopes of keeping abrest of scientific thought:

LINK

"When the abyss stares at me, it wets its pants." Brian Hopkins

by EricC on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 04:29:14 PM EST
String Theory and Scientific Thought in the same sentence?

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 16th, 2006 at 07:08:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I went out; eating, drinking and clubbing with a bunch of us who did our PhDs together.  I get home (it's 1.43am here) and the first thing I do is check ET... oh dear.

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 08:43:22 PM EST
2:06, and the girlfriend is snoring on the couch after a night in the village pub

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 09:04:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Welsh nightlife is go, go ,go!!!

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 03:46:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
well it was that or hit the local nightclub and be attacked by drunken Welsh farmhands and Polish Abatoir workers.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 06:53:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Nerdy anti-social night here - been applying Hubbert linearization to world potash and phosphate rock production (2 of the 3 components needed for fertilzer). No idea if there is much validity to it. For phosphate, the curve doesn't fit unless you knock back USGS estimates for world reserves to 1/3 of their conservative estimate...which makes me want to research it more.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sat Oct 14th, 2006 at 11:38:02 PM EST
What did you get for potash?

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 03:48:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I haven't finished potash yet, although I'm sure it will be similar. Presumably the USGS is for political reasons stating that the world has a 300 year supply of just about everything so that we don't have to think about it. I don't know if there is any validity to the method because I don't have a picture of the demand side (among other things - this isn't in my field). Both of them did peak in the 80's and production since that point looks like the "bumpy plateau" people have predicted for oil, though. I'll post what I've found once I do more research.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 04:05:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I've read recently that there are huge reserves of uranium that can be extracted from potash from a certain price level, not much higher than today's prices.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Sun Oct 15th, 2006 at 04:20:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]


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