It's still the week-end in the UK.
It's still summer in Paris.
It's still Monday!

I'm not sure when they count this exactly, but it looks like he's doing his part to improve the 5-year survival rates!

Tonight: champagne.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

The Maunder minimum that led to the Mini Ice Age in the Middle Ages was probably an indication of our future than some aberration. Indeed wasn't there some weather anomaly in the 4th/5th centuries that led to what we call the "Dark Ages", now I know there's volcanic eruptions and social phenomena around the collapse of the Roman empire that can explain it away, but that does have elements of a mini ice age as well.

So, my question is, if we hadn't had a rise in global temps due to human activity CO2 rises, would we be in schtuck right now ? Is global warming keeping us going ?

I know it's too early to extrapolate the current relative solar inactivity and say we're entering another long term minimum, but it's entirely possible we should have been there already.

I know the absence of data is infuriating, but I think it's a useful question

keep to the Fen Causeway

"Well, to start with it's worth noting that the loudest denunciations came from the White House -- an entity with no legal standing whatsoever in the Scottish judicial system. But we expect external interference from the White House: it's what the Imperial Presidency is there for.

What bugs me is the complete lack of comprehension of the quality of mercy that seems to have crept over the US political class this century.

Even if Al Megrahi is a mass-murderer, the fact remains that he is dying. It is long-standing policy in Scotland to exercise the prerogative of mercy when possible; in general, if an imprisoned criminal is terminally ill, a request for release (for hospice care, basically) is usually granted unless they are believed to be a danger to the public.

That's because the justice system isn't solely about punishment. It's about respect for the greater good of society, which is better served by rehabilitation and reconcilliation than by revenge. We do not make ourselves better people by exercising a gruesome revenge on the bodies of our vanquished foes. Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Minister, did exactly the right thing in sending Al Megrahi home to die.
[....]
American attitudes to crime and punishment are unspeakable; disturbing, mediaeval, and barbaric are some of the adjectives that spring to mind. But above all, the word that most thoroughly applies is merciless. The commission of a crime is taken as an excuse to unleash the demons of the subconscious, however dark, however disproportionate, upon the perpetrator. Once labeled a criminal, an individual's right to fair treatment is utterly expunged, and any violation or degradation, however grotesque, is seen as something that they brought on themselves."

(h/t : The sideshow)

keep to the Fen Causeway

Ouch, that must hurt in the Willy-Brandt-Haus...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Super-Europe no more!

Here is my summary:

1. Some nations on the European continent, none of which is part of the Eurozone and some which do not even belong to the EU, are going bankrupt.

2. The ECB can not set rates that perfectly suit all countries in the Eurozone.

3. Turkey might not join the EU anytime soon.

4. Energy security is problematic.

4. Ireland might or might not reject the Lisbon Treaty a second time.

As a bonus the article claims that the Tories reject expansion of the EU, when in fact it is absolutely clear from the party manifesto from the EU election that they strongly support expanding the EU as far as possible.

The Federal Reserve has made a $14bn profit on loan programmes that have provided hundreds of billions of dollars in liquidity to the financial system since the start of the crisis two years ago, according to Fed officials.

The internal estimate is based on the difference between the fees and interest on the lending facilities and the interest the Fed would have earned had it invested the funds in three-month Treasury bills.

<...>

Critics have warned the central bank might lose money on its vast efforts to avoid financial collapse and ease financing conditions for the economy as a whole.

But the internal estimates suggest that the Fed might well make a cash profit on the crisis. They show that the fees earned on the loans were high enough to more than cover defaults to date - leaving a sizeable cushion against future losses on these loans and other parts of the Fed portfolio.

Some politicians have criticised the Fed for using billions of dollars of public funds to support the market and stricken groups such as AIG and Bear Stearns. The Fed's balance sheet has ballooned from $800bn in 2007 to about $2,000bn. A recent Gallup Poll found the Fed had the worst public approval rating of nine government agencies, even lower than the tax authorities.

...as the new leader of the party....
first he explained the party's real (also means 'royal' in Spanish) proposals to deal with the crisis....  
... the party's work in favor of a "federal, solidary and republican" state, as well as its "effort to reach the arrival of the III Republic".

Supposedly, the meeting lasted an hour.  

In the photo, the king looks aged and his new beard over the extra-left-red tie doesn't help, while the lefty has given up that useless, luxury item.  

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

I've been checking e-mail three times a day on my phone, which means I've been pretty much isolated from world events, which is interesting.

Have to work for an hour today, which is why I've pulled out the laptop and am actually on-line properly. I'm not obviously missing anything, from looking at the headlines.