Correct me if I'm wrong, o nitpickers, hairsplitters, fly-buggers, comma-fuckers, currant-crappers and other pedantic maniacs.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

your input on the use of amazon.com, etc. a few days ago.

One more question on the same topic.  I did some buying on Ebay about 10 years ago and, at that time, they put you in direct contact with the seller in terms of billing.  I notice that Amazon takes credit card numbers.  Does this mean that Amazon plays middle man in money exchange; I pay Amazon and Amazon pays the bookseller?

I love the smell of roast chicken in the morning!

Hard to say exactly. I remember picking up a copy on one of my sporadic returns to the Homeland after not having read it for years, and realizing that it was no better than Time (and upon a magazine I have no greater scorn to pour).

That must have been, idunno, early 90s?

There's no such thing as original sin - Elvis Costello

BBC: We won't charge for online news | Media | guardian.co.uk

The BBC has today said it has "no intention" of charging for online news, in a declaration that is unlikely to please James Murdoch and his father Rupert as they prepare to start charging for News Corporation content on the internet.

Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, said the corporation has "no intention of diluting BBC commitment to universal access to free news online" as he outlined the areas director general Mark Thompson's ongoing strategic review will cover.

Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell. Frank Borman

Commemorating my boss, who was Welsh, by the way!

Call for Papers and Panels:
Freedom and Power in the Caribbean: The Work of Gordon K. Lewis UWI, Mona,
June 3-5 2010

The Centre for Caribbean Thought (CCT) UWI, Mona, in association with Africana Studies at Brown University and the Institute of Caribbean Studies, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras is proud to host the VIIth Caribbean Reasonings Conference entitled Freedom and Power in the Caribbean: the Work of Gordon K. Lewis, to be held June 3-5, 2010 at the University of the West
Indies, Mona. Professor Gordon K. Lewis, (1919 - 1991) taught for many years at the University of Puerto Rico and wrote path-breaking books on the Caribbean's history, politics and intellectual development. Texts such as Puerto Rico: Freedom and Power in the Caribbean (1963), The Growth of the Modern West Indies (1968), and Main Currents in Caribbean Thought: the
historical evolution of Caribbean society in its ideological aspects (1983), exemplify the breadth of his interests as well as the range and quality of
his output.

Lewis' work transcended the region's linguistic fragmentation and was consistent with the view that "No one could really claim to be a full practitioner in Caribbean Studies until he came to write ultimately, on the Caribbean as a whole." (Main Currents in Caribbean Thought, (1983) Maingot,
introduction vi).  This conference in 2010 will reopen inter-territorial networks to enable studies across language barriers, a goal the Centre for Caribbean Thought has articulated and continues to realize since 2001 through several conferences and the "Caribbean Reasonings" book series with Ian Randle Publishers. It will also seek to introduce the seminal work of
Gordon K. Lewis to a new generation of young scholars, interested in moving beyond constricting national barriers, in order to study the region in its entirety.

There is limited space on the conference programme for individual papers and panels, thus we are suggesting that proposals that fall within the following broad categories will be given serious consideration:

1.      Critical examination of Gordon K. Lewis's scholarship, particularly The Growth of the Modern West Indies; Main Currents in Caribbean Thought;
Puerto Rico: Freedom and Power in the Caribbean; and Grenada: the Jewel Despoiled.

2.      Critical work on the present state and the future of social sciences research in the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on pan-Caribbean research and inter-disciplinary studies.
   
3.      Critical exploration of the state of Caribbean Thought in the contemporary period beyond Lewis' assessment in Main Currents in Caribbean Thought
   
4.      The state of politics in the Caribbean, forty years beyond The Growth of the Modern West Indies.
   
5.      The existential condition of Caribbean Intellectuals and intellectualism in the 21st century.
   
6.      Reflections on the Grenada Revolution and Lewis's assessment of its collapse in Grenada: the Jewel Despoiled.
   
7.      Critical reflection on the state and status of Puerto Rico, beyond Lewis' analysis in Puerto Rico: Freedom and Power in the Caribbean.
   
8.      Critical analysis of the state and future of Pan Caribbeanism and integration movements.
   
9.      Sports, culture and the future of Caribbean unity.

Abstracts should be sent as a Word attachment to Beverley Sutherland Lewis
at: cct@uwimona.edu.jm

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

A good diary about a macro-economic reality that many of us forget

To break out of this losing game, we must realize - we must RESOLVE -  that, to coin a phrase, the Economy is made by  and for us, and not us for the economy.

keep to the Fen Causeway

I don't have anything insightful or interesting to say. I'm just glad you all are here.  Thanks....

I have to head to campus in a little bit.

Just got a phone call from one of my students, Jaspol, who's taking intro chem, an engineering major.  He started off poorly before hiring me and has been playing catch up ever since.

He had a test today, last major one before finals.  He's thrilled, giddy almost.  He got an 87 out of 100 and now wants to do a double session tomorrow in prep for the final in a couple weeks.  He's also lobbying for sessions on Thurs. and Fri. this week when the library's closed for Thanksgiving.  

Fun is fun, the $'s good, but sometimes some of my students tend to go overboard.  That's it.

I love the smell of roast chicken in the morning!

Koenigsegg backs out of Saab deal

A group headed by Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg has broken off negotiations over the purchase of Saab Automobile, the prospective buyer has said.

"We regret that, after six months of intensive and goal-oriented work, we have come to the painful and difficult conclusion that we are not going to be able to carry out the acquisition of Saab Automobile," said company chief Christian von Koenigsegg in a statement.

The collapse leaves thousands of jobs in western Sweden at risk - as well as the 4,000 people employed at the plant, many thousands of people work at Saab's suppliers. Tens of thousands around the world are employed in Saab dealerships.

Speaking to Swedish news agency TT, von Koenigsegg added that the deal had collapsed because it had taken too long to reach agreement:

"The way things look right now, we cannot complete the deal. The timeframe is unpredictable, there are too many processes that need to fall into place in parallel. Time has dragged on and not everyone has kept up.

[...]

Koenigsegg announced in September that it had teamed up with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co Ltd (BAIC) to buy Saab from GM.

But it still needed a a €400 million ($600 million) loan from the European Investment Bank and wanted the Swedish government to act as a guarantor.

[...]

Koenigsegg Group takes its name from sportscar maker Koenigsegg Automotive, which was founded in 1994, has just 45 employees and produces 18 high-end sports cars a year at more than a million euros ($1.4 million) each. Koenigsegg Automotive is a minority shareholder in Koenigsegg Group, with other shareholders including BAIC, von Koenigsegg's holding company Alpraaz and Norwegian businessman Bård Eker.

US businessman Mark Bishop, who was a shareholder when Koenigsegg Group was founded in June, is understood to have since sold his share in the company.

[...]

This has been a complex game which has been very badly covered by the fawning media. Basically Koenigsegg has been screwing around, maybe to get PR, maybe to gorge themselves on taxpayer money (that's certainly why Mr. Bishop involved himself), while the government has done it's best to not give out loans or loan guarantees to SAAB, while looking like they try to do just that so as not to be blamed for being the one who gave SAAB the mercy bullet.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

LA Times: The zeppelin returns to L.A. skies, after 80 years

The last time something like this was seen in Los Angeles was 1929, when the Graf Zeppelin dropped in on Westchester's Mines Field before starting its nonstop Pacific crossing during its record-setting around-the-world flight...

The 246-foot zeppelin, called the Eureka, can carry 13 passengers and a crew of two. Those on board have views of landmarks through giant plexiglass windows that line all sides of its cabin. So far, the Eureka has made four trips to Los Angeles, and its operators plan more for next year, starting with a two-week visit in mid-January...

A half-hour trip costs $199; a two-hour flight, $950. A daylong excursion between Los Angeles and San Francisco runs $1,500.

A worthwhile video of the Zeppelin NT at the LA Times link. Katharine Board is "the only female Zeppelin pilot in the world."

A sci-fi ish BBC program  just had the  line

"Why did good create economists?....

To make weathermen look good"

Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell. Frank Borman