The Economist has a piece it has made public (no registration required to view) on the likelihood the Government will try to get Britain into the Euro zone starting in May next year. As a euro-phile I am encouraged at its optimism, although I felt it was perhaps trying a little hard to see the bright side. After all, even if the Government strongly backed joining, the poll they quote suggests the balance of opinion against joining would still be 8%.

Not surprisingly, “Only C2s, Ds and Es (semi-skilled, unskilled and manual workers) remain opposed” to joining…

I recently came across Scidev.net which is about science in the developing world.

It pointed me to an interesting piece about a new campaign to ensure that the developing world is encouraged to use renewable energy and a piece in Nature (one of Scidev.net’s partners) about creative uses of computers and the Internet in India.phone 20 by credit card acceptcredit union community 1stpoint credit union 5akusa credit union federalcertificate course chemistry accreditedaccredited in georgia schools ultrasoundcredit card access visa applicationinternational credit allied Map

I have just finished a review of Dot.Bomb – an interesting and entertaining look at what it is like in the high echelons of a high profile (but doomed) dotcom – Value America – from its birth to its death.14 credit cash loan 10 paydaypayday advance loan online 15 cash21 payday loan linkpayday online cash loan advance 22improvement 2nd equity home mortgage loans10 advance cash payday 7 loanloan payday 15 advance 10 cashloan cash advance payday 13 onlinepaycheck 13 loan credit 19 paydayloan 17 link payday

If you aren’t already tired of reading about Lord of the Rings, I just found a bit of spoof science about how the ring of power might be constructed. Here is a sample:

the Ring looks and feels like gold, but isn’t. The heat of an ordinary fire can’t melt it, although it does cause some glowing letters to appear. To destroy the Ring, you have to throw it into the boiling magma of Mount Doom, which from its description is probably at least 2,000 degrees Celsius. This leads me to believe that the ring is in fact made of silicon (melting point 1,410C), whose surface properties—as discussed in “The Heart of the (Programmable) Matter”—can be dramatically altered through the use of tiny electronic components called quantum dots. In this case, the quantum dots each contain 79 electrons, and behave optically and electrically as though they were atoms of gold. Some of the dots also emit light when excited thermally, which is perfectly consistent with their design and function.

I also refer you if you haven’t already seen it in my archives to an inspired rendition of The Lord of the Rings as a Bogart flick. And if you want to discuss LOTR further and read my own views of it, visit my message board.

Alexander Cockburn points out some uncomfortable truths about the US’ Somalia expedition which were glossed over in the Hollywood blockbuster Black Hawk Down:

• U.S. troops killed unarmed men, women and children from the outset of their mission
• GI John “Stebby” Stebbins, renamed Company Clerk John Grimes in the film, is now serving a 30-year sentence in Fort Leavenworth military prison for raping a 12-year-old girl.
• A subsequent U.S. Army investigation of organized racism in the U.S. Army… concluded the problem was particularly serious in all-white, so-called “elite” and “Special Operations” units.

(Thanks to Utne Web Watch for the link)

A pair of satirical links about Bush (uses Flash) and the war on Terrorism sent by a friend…

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A UK Government scheme to hand out recycled computers to unemployed people has collapsed. It is rather sad to see this as it is a good idea which appears to have been let down by a lack of coordination. It is ridiculous that in some areas including Sheffield “unemployed people receiving the computers had to pay a £1-a-minute help line for advice on how to use the technology, on top of £60 for the basic equipment”.

And apparently, “Suppliers have to buy new operating system licences before they can legally resell machines, but they were not able to qualify for favourable rates under Microsoft’s authorised reseller arrangements as the computers were being sold to individuals.” I would have thought a little government pressure on Microsoft could have changed this?

Hurrah! Amazon made a profit (at least last quarter)… I remember the days when Amazon was the bad guy among some of my friends – it was going to crush small independent bookstores (as if Barnes and Noble et al hadn’t done enough already). The fact is, however, that it does a good job and that it is important for the future well-being of the commercial Internet that someone major be seen to be profitable.account merchant credit card holder washingtoncard casino credit merchant cheap accountunited airlines italy credit alaska cardsphysician for review assistants commission accreditationrecords technician accreditedprotection creditor and plan 529sleep clinics accredited$30,000 credit bad loans Map

This Flash animation based around the game Pong seems a little boring and obvious at first but then it goes on… and on… and ends up rather funny…